Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chuuya was walking down the street of Musutafu, trying not to scrunch his face in disgust. All the hero regalia around a random city street was enough to make him want to gag.

But he had to keep up his appearances for this new mission. So he swallowed down his revulsion and kept walking.

He, along with Dazai, was sent to Musutafu for a few reasons. One, they had been made aware of someone in the Port Mafia being a spy for an outside entity. They were selling information on the Port Mafia and Yokohama general to someone outside. While the spy had been caught and was under observation, their buyer was still at large. Mori wanted Dazai and Chuuya to find him.

Which led to problem number two. Shortly after the spy was caught, the man was squealing like a pig about everything he could. He revealed that while he didn’t know his buyer, he did know that the mysterious man was keeping an eye on information regarding Sakaguchi Ango.

And that was a major problem. Sakaguchi was someone who had most of the Port Mafia’s secrets either in his head or in his files. He was indispensable, and having an enemy getting their hands on him was a definite no.

So they had placed him under guard, since he was a noncombatant member and couldn’t protect himself fully. Apparently Dazai knew Sakaguchi on a personal level—some sort of recent relationship built off of being drinking buddies at the same bar—so he had his other random drinking buddy and little Akutagawa keep an eye on him from the moment they found out.

The next issue arose when Akutagawa and the other guard, Oda, went missing while protecting Sakaguchi. The man himself had managed to make it back to mafia headquarters while being defended, but the other two disappeared without a trace. Not even a body part left behind.

Their shred of hope came from Sakaguchi managing to get a read with his Ability on some of the items the would-be kidnappers had on them. So now they had a lead on who the mysterious buyer was.

And if it wasn’t just the icing on the cake that they discovered it was none other than Japan’s HPSC, the government in charge of heroism throughout the rest of Japan minus Yokohama.

That didn’t bother Yokohama much. What annoyed them was that this Commission was trying to get into Yokohama borders and was apparently after their secrets. It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried this, but it was the first time anyone had managed to actually get information out of Yokohama before being shut down.

But that wasn’t it. No, it was bigger than just Yokohama. After Sakaguchi poured through everything he could, and by contacting the government about the breach of information, the true motive was discovered.

The Hero Commission was after information on Abilities.

The existence of Abilities was kept under lock and key inside Yokohama. While Ability Users are born everywhere, they usually assume themselves to be Quirked individuals. And, for unknown reasons, ninety-seven percent of Ability Users are born in Yokohama.

Of course, Yokohama is still a majority Quirkless city, known as such to the public. Ability Users take up less than one percent of the entire world’s population, after all.

Finding out that the Hero Commission was trying to find information on Abilities was jarring enough. But to discover that a villain by the alias of All for One had been kidnapping and experimenting on Ability Users for decades now was even more of a discomfort.

He was apparently a villain who had terrorized the rest of Japan while Yokohama was safely out of the loop. Everyone thought he’d been defeated years prior, but apparently he was just working from the underground now.

Chuuya hated experiments. Apparently, there was evidence of countless Ability Users born outside of Yokohama having been taken by All for One and toyed with until they died. And from what their evidence suggested, the HPSC wasn’t much better.

And now, to find out that poor little Akutagawa was in the hands of such monsters…

He couldn’t stand the thought.

So this wasn’t just a mission to put a stop to the HPSC digging into Yokohama. It was a rescue mission to get Akutagawa and Oda back from them before something worse happened to them. And they also had the added goal of shutting down this All for One guy before he could commit any more horrors against Ability Users.

And, since Mori was Mori, he didn’t want it to be just that simple.

So there was an added objective to the mission: to send a message to Hero Society and everyone in it. Why they couldn’t just make a big scene and leave the heroes to pick up the pieces, Chuuya didn’t know. He never understood Mori.

It was probably just the boss’s sadistic nature; he wanted to play the long game, even if there was a quick, easy and effective solution that Chuuya would have much preferred.

So Chuuya and Dazai were meant to put a wedge between the HPSC and the citizens’ trust, as well as upend Hero Society’s criminal underground, and wreak as much havoc as possible.

And the Yokohama government had let Mori take over and pull the strings however he wanted. Chuuya supposed they figured Mori had the right because it was his members that went missing, and more of the Port Mafia’s secrets were laundered than just Yokohama’s in general.

Plus, Yokohama had always been a bit morally grey. Some of those geezers in their government definitely wanted to see Hero Society squirm a little for their mistakes.

Which normally, Chuuya wouldn’t mind. But those from Musutafu were the self righteous type, who thought they could just invade wherever they wanted because they couldn’t understand the idea of not everyone wanting to partake in Hero Society. He’s sure when their mission gets into the gritty areas that he and Dazai are going to be dealing with idiots who cannot comprehend why they’re so against accepting heroes.

Thus, Chuuya and Dazai were here to blend in and play the long game for Mori’s entertainment, so that they could finally get rid of the pests, among their other goals. They had to be subtle, acting as normal civilians whilst sowing seeds of destruction little by little until they would set them off all at once. Only then would they reveal that Yokohama was behind it.

The heroes had been given their warnings in the past, more chances than Chuuya could count, but they went unheeded. This was just the natural next course of action, especially with a few of their own on the line.

The HPSC had their members and some information, All for One was vying for their biggest secret to become his personal weapon, and Chuuya was done with this bullshit.

Honestly, Chuuya would have preferred to just head into Musutafu and set out to demolish their ideals and shiny heroes, but Mori liked to make everyone—and by extension Chuuya—suffer.

So, with all that in mind comes the final layer to their mission: eradicate All for One and all his followers—that’s Dazai’s job—and kill All Might while dismantling as much credit the HPSC has as possible—that’s Chuuya’s.

One might ask why All Might was a target. Simply put, he’s a liability as well as the primary pillar of support for the world. If he crumbles, so does the HPSC and Hero Society as best as Chuuya will be able to manage.

Doesn’t mean it’ll be all cupcakes and rainbows, though.

Chuuya sighed, clutching his hand tighter around Q’s.

Yeah, he was also stuck babysitting, as his identity apparently required. While Dazai got to go mingle with Musutafu’s underground and wreak havoc the good old-fashioned way, Chuuya had to play the caring big brother and hero wannabe.

Sickening. But Mori had made a good point in that Dazai was more suited to manipulating the harder targets. They would both have an easy time with manipulating hero students, but Dazai had a special skill of getting under the skin of those who felt more untouchable.

But Chuuya also felt like Dazai wouldn’t even last a day pretending to be nice to hero brats. So he took that as a win as well.

He adjusted Elise on his hip. Mori had hated to part with her, but she played the role of a toddler well, especially since Mori could change her looks, age and personality to his liking. So as far as anyone knew, she was a sweet little three year old, even though Chuuya knew she still very much had the same mind she always did.

Q clenched his hand around Chuuya’s, scooting a bit closer to him as they walked down the crowded street.

“Where are we going?”

Chuuya frowned, knowing that Q was unused to this kind of environment. This mission really only required him to sit tight and pretend to be an innocent kid for Chuuya’s facade, but he knew that Q was also going to enjoy the freedom for a while.

“I’m going to drop you off at our new place. I have to take my entrance exams later today.”

Q frowned, but nodded nonetheless. “Kay.”

Chuuya rounded a few more corners, the streets getting less crowded and more rundown the farther they went, until they came upon a dingy apartment building. Chuuya hated the look of it, but this was all for appearances, he supposed.

He took them both up the stairs—no working elevator, figures—and opened up the door to their new apartment. It was a single bedroom and bathroom, with a small kitchen and living room. Extremely small, and disgustingly filthy, but he’d do his best to clean it later.

There was no place to do laundry, but they had a small balcony, so he supposed he could wash outside on that.

Chuuya sighed, letting go of Q’s hand and setting Elise down.

“Alright, I’ll leave you both with some money if you get hungry. I’ll get some cleaning supplies on my way back from my exams.” He set his hands on his hips, looking around to see if anything needed his immediate attention. “Elise, you’re in charge.”

Elise yelped in excitement while Q made a scandalized gasp.

“Hey, no fair! I’m older!”

Chuuya shot him a flat look. “Elise is older than both of us.”

Q pouted, crossing his arms. “Well, right now she’s not.”

Elise stuck her tongue out towards him, and Q clenched his fist as he glared at her.

Chuuya sighed, putting a hand to his temple. “No fighting, you two. We need to pretend to be each other’s family. All we have is each other, remember?”

They both grumbled, but nodded nonetheless. Chuuya had faith in Elise’s acting skills, as she was programmed whatever way Mori wanted for this mission. Q would be a bit more work, but Chuuya figured he could manage. He could afford to be a little moody, since his character is a slum kid.

He got a message on his phone—an old flip phone, courtesy of Mori to make him look even poorer. He flipped open his phone and saw that Dazai had messaged him.

Mackerel>> on your way yet???? wouldn’t want 2 b late!!!

Chuuya curled his lip at the way Dazai texts. He glared at the screen as he typed out his response.

<< shut your trap. Heading out now.

Regrettably, Chuuya wished Dazai was here with him. He’d be coming down in a few weeks, for when his part of the mission starts after Chuuya—ideally, for Mori that is—starts school. Right now, Chuuya was setting the stage.

“Alright,” he turned to Elise and Q, who were both bickering about what food they were going to buy. “I’m heading out. But I’ll be back in time for dinner. I’ll pick something up for you.”

Q waved him goodbye while Elise snatched the money from him, cackling in victory. Chuuya just sighed, turning and shutting the door. It was going to be a long trip to the school, since it was way out in the best part of town and Chuuya was in the worst.

It was still nowhere near as bad as the slums of Yokohama, which Chuuya had grown up in.

As he approached the school, Chuuya fixed the small communications receiver in his ear, small enough that it wouldn’t be noticed behind his hair. He put in his clear contacts, both high tech cameras perfected for this occasion.

Truth is, Chuuya does not know much about basic school subjects. How could he, when he grew up in the slums since age seven and had no memories of how he lived before that? All he knew was that he was in a lab until age seven, and the Port Mafia doesn’t exactly prioritize education.

Of course, when he had been in the slums he had done what he could in spare moments to try visiting libraries, and even now in the mafia he did his best to educate himself. But the process was slow and he had to prioritize missions, so in terms of knowledge he’d probably put himself somewhere in mid-elementary school.

So, Dazai was going to help him cheat by looking through his eyes and talking in his ear. It wasn’t ideal, but they had tried to teach Chuuya a little more of what he’d need to know for the exams before this and the information just was not sticking fast enough for the upcoming exams.

So he’d have to learn on the side, probably teaching himself or watching online tutorials for how to learn basic math and reading comprehension. Chuuya hated the amount of work he was going to have to do for this mission, and he was convinced Mori was punishing him for something.

As soon as he sat down at his desk and flipped over his test sheet, Dazai’s voice popped up.

“Eeeewwww! Algebra? I hate algebra!”

Chuuya tried not to let his irritation show on his face as he bent over his desk.

“Hiya, chibi! How you liking Musutafu? Do you have a favorite hero yet?”

Chuuya bit his tongue and tapped a little on the paper.

“Sheesh, tough crowd. Fine, fine. Circle C.”

Chuuya did. He normally wouldn’t trust Dazai with this kind of thing, but he didn’t really care if he was making Chuuya circle wrong answers. If Dazai botched the mission, it meant less work for Chuuya and Dazai getting chewed out by Mori.

Dazai yawned obnoxiously. “Kay, I’ll walk you through the equation so you can show your work.”

Dazai was a fast talker, but Chuuya was used to it, managing to keep up as he walked him through the test. It wasn’t long before he was finishing up his last written exam, walking out without having to have done any of the actual work. He knew he’d have to make it up later, but right he could relish in knowing that Dazai had to be the one to really take those tests.

“Hmm~” Dazai hums in his ears. “Naturally, I made sure you got enough wrong so they don’t expect much from you, but I calculated how many you needed to get right to pass, and I gave you a little extra out of the kindness of my heart!”

Chuuya bit back a sigh as he did his best to maintain his facade.

“Also, I googled most of them! I didn’t feel like solving all those problems!”

Chuuya’s brow pinched, nearly popping a blood vessel in his forehead. Of course the bastard wouldn’t actually put a lot of care into his mission.

Chuuya just swallowed down the irritation, making his way to the auditorium where he was going to get instructions for the physical exam.

“Remember to score first place, Chuuya!” Dazai sang into the comm. “Mori said you just need to pass, but I have the feeling those who are scoring you will be able to tell if you hold back too much. Besides, my plan requires that you stand out. So just hold back enough to get first without making you look like the god you are, m’kay~?”

Chuuya reached at his ear, taking the comm out discreetly and shoving it into his bag. He fumbled with his contacts as well. He wouldn’t need them for the practical exam anyway. And he was done listening to Dazai for the day.

Chuuya finished the exam. He wasn’t really counting how many robots he took down or how many people he saved—yes, he figured out pretty quickly that people would get points from rescuing others; he’s not that stupid, it’s a literal hero school—but he knew he passed anyway. He took down at least ten or so more than the second highest scorer in his field.

He walked out of the building towards the entrance of the school, looking for the two he knew would be there. It was part of the plan, after all.

Just as expected, he saw Q and Elise standing outside the gate to UA, holding up a horrendously doodled sign reading: Yay Oni-chan!

It had an ungodly amount of glitter and exclamation points, but it just made it all the more selling. Other students standing around him glanced over, some muttering while others smiled. He saw a green-haired kid almost physically melting at the sight.

Chuuya put on a smile, not entirely fake. He was actually kind of glad to see them. At least they were familiar to his normal life, and he was relieved they had survived this long with him being gone.

He walked up to them and knelt down in front of them, ruffling Elise’s hair and setting a hand on Q’s shoulder. Elise’s face briefly changed to one of irritation before putting her innocent, proud smile back on her face.

“Hey, I hope you weren’t waiting too long.” Chuuya chuckled as he took in the sign. “Wow, did you two make this for me?”

Q wouldn’t meet his eyes. He could tell the poor kid was embarrassed by the artwork he was forced to participate in.

“Y-yes…” He huffed a bit. “We made it for you.”

Elise bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. “Do you like it?!”

Chuuya smiled earnestly, taking the sign from them into his own hands.

“I love it so much. Thank you both.”

He wrapped his arms around them both, receiving slightly forced hugs in return. He sighed softly, knowing that this was going to take some getting used to. The only reason Chuuya could stay in character was because looking nice and pitiful was a key skill necessary to surviving in the slums as a kid.

He pulled away and stood up, rolling up the sign and putting it into his bag.

“Nii-chan…”

Chuuya glanced down, noticing Elise making grabby hands up at him.

Q scowled just slightly. “Nii-san is probably tired from his long day of testing, Elise. Don’t be a bug.”

She stuck out her tongue at him, and Chuuya just sighed. Truthfully, he was mentally exhausted, but the actual tests weren’t the issue. He was just exhausted at the prospect of having to pretend to be this innocent kid for the foreseeable future.

“It’s alright, both of you.” Chuuya smiled as they both turned to him. “I’m never too tired to carry you.”

Elise lit up in joy. Chuuya knew she was unused to being in this age’s form, so he could understand that having longer legs for however long she’s been manifested as Mori’s Ability would make it hard to adjust to suddenly shrinking significantly.

He leaned down, letting Elise climb up into his arms and settle comfortably on his hip. He absentmindedly reached for Q’s hand as he adjusted his grip on Elise. He got comfortable with Elise on his hip just as Q reached up and took his hand, shyly looking down at the concrete sidewalk.

Chuuya felt himself smile a bit as he tugged him forward.

“Alright, let’s get home.”

Taking a closer look at the apartment now that he had time, Chuuya realized how much worse it actually was. Dust coated everything, there were cobwebs in every corner and he’s pretty sure he saw a few roaches here and there.

So he left immediately, heading to the nearest store and buying every type of cleaning supply they had in stock, waltzing straight back with the intent to deep clean the whole place before even thinking about furniture.

He scrubbed down every surface he could see using a heavy-duty scrubber and went over everything with cleaner and rags. He couldn’t do much about the peeling wallpaper, but then again he wasn’t supposed to make this place look nice. He was still trying to keep up appearances as a poor kid with the only income of the house.

But he refused to live in absolute filth ever again.

He used his Ability to kill whatever roaches he saw. He swept, vacuumed and scrubbed every surface: the floors, walls and ceilings of the entire apartment. He placed down as many roach traps as he could in every room, including the closets. He didn’t want those little bastards multiplying in his presence.

Now, with the house feeling generally clean, he felt a bit more relaxed. He wiped down all the kitchen counters and appliances. It was a small kitchen, luckily, so there wasn’t much work to do.

Chuuya made sure all the water taps and lights were working, filling up a bucket and scrubbing down the balcony as a last touch. He needed to buy furniture now, but he had a portable bedroll that would work just fine for one night for the three of them. It was getting late, and they were all tired.

He rolled out the bed mat in the bedroom and sat on the kitchen counter to type up his report to Mori. He could almost hear Dazai laughing at how much work he’d had to do for this mission already, just on the first day.

Finally, he shut his computer and took a quick shower, changing for the night in the bathroom before heading to bed. He crawled into the bedroll between Q and Elise, both of them having kept as much distance between each other as possible.

Chuuya just sighed, closing his eyes and opting to not stare at the stained and peeling ceiling.

He felt Elise wrap her tiny hands around his arm, and Q’s head gently pressed against his other side. They both remained fast asleep, clinging to his warmth.

This was fine. He had been a big brother before to plenty of Sheep members. What were two more? This mission should be a breeze, right?

He could do this. Probably.

He woke up early enough the next day, sending Q and Elise out to buy groceries while he bought furniture. He knew he had about a week until test results came out, and he was spending the rest of the break before the start of school cracking down on his studies. So he had time to kill.

He bought two futons, figuring they’d be enough to share amongst the three of them. Since all three of them are pretty small—Chuuya’s sixteen now, but he’s sure he’s not done growing—they won’t need more than that for now.

He bought a couple pillows and blankets for when it got cold, as well as a heater. Their apartment didn’t exactly come with heat, apparently. It had a really old AC system though.

He bought a carpet and a couple fold-out chairs, along with a small, low-standing table. He took the cheapest set of kitchenware he could find, as well as generic bathroom and hygiene materials. He would take Elise and Q out for clothes another day. They could make do with what they had for now.

He carried it all in, coming into the apartment to find Elise and Q back with food. He decided to just briefly set up the chairs and coffee table to make a quick meal so that they could eat.

Q and Elise went to put away the bedroom and bathroom stuff while Chuuya fixed up the living room and kitchen. He fixed the carpet under the coffee table to make for a decent sitting area, and then put away the kitchen tools rather quickly.

Once he was done, he surveyed everything. The apartment didn’t look nice by any means, compared to how he’d been able to live with his Port Mafia salary the past year and a half. But compared to his days in the slums, he’d consider this a dream.

“Chuuya!”

He pinched his eyes shut, groaning. What now?

He wandered into the bedroom, seeing Elise and Q tugging on a green blanket.

“Tell the brat I grabbed it first!” Q yelled, scowling as he tugged on the blanket.

“Tell the bitch it’s ladies first!” Elise yanked back on the blanket, huffing when she didn’t make much leeway.

Chuuya refrained from rolling his eyes, his face neutral. “Hey, green!” He said with fake enthusiasm, walking over and snatching it from in between them both. It slipped from both of their grasps easily. “My favorite color. How nice, I think I’ll take this one.”

He threw a random blanket at Elise, and another one at Q, not waiting for either of their reactions as he set his blanket down in the middle of the two futons—he knew those two would rather die than sleep beside each other—and he reached into his bag to grab his computer. Mori made sure to send him with an old one, so it wasn’t too nice.

He pulled up some random movie he’d seen Elise watching once, setting it down on the futon and grabbing his phone as he left the room.

Neither of them followed, nor made any further fuss. He supposed his distraction had worked. For now, at least.

Chuuya sighed as he sat down on one of the fold-out chairs in the living room, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

This was going to be a long mission.

Chuuya frowned as he once again walked into UA. He wasn’t sure why he was being called in for an interview with the principal of the school. He didn’t remember that being a part of the application and entry process. But he wasn’t going to argue.

He waited outside the allotted room until the door opened, and some weird creature stood in the threshold.

“It is I, the principal!” The thing exclaimed, throwing an arm up into the air enthusiastically. “What am I, a bear or a mouse perhaps? No one knows!”

It began laughing, and Chuuya made sure to put a polite smile on his face as he stood and bowed his head.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“My, my!” He heard the thing drawl in amusement. “Such a polite one, you are! Please, come in. This will only take a moment of your time, I assure you.”

Chuuya made sure to follow into the office, being led to a couch instead of the chair in front of his desk. He figured the principal—Nezu—would want to grill him, but the environment was calm and relaxed.

“Would you like some tea?”

Chuuya blinked, and nodded politely with a smile. “That would be lovely, thank you.”

Nezu smiled again, pouring two cups of tea. “An excellent answer, young one!”

Chuuya blinked at that, a little shocked to be referred to as something so… infantile?

Nezu chuckled as he brought the steaming paper cups over, handing one to Chuuya. He thanked him as he took it, and Nezu sat on the couch across from him, taking a long drag of the tea.

Chuuya brought his own cup up to his lips, sniffing it discreetly to see if there was anything added that shouldn’t be. He could have slipped a truth serum or something in, and wanted him to divulge all his secrets. Although that was unlikely, as the mission hadn’t really started yet.

“Now,” he began, setting his cup down in his lap. “I suppose you are wondering why I called you here today, correct?”

Chuuya smiled sheepishly and nodded. “In truth, sir, I am.”

Nezu chuckled again, shaking his head slightly. “There is no need to be so rigid, lad. This is not an interrogation. But because of your unique profile, I need you to answer a few questions for me so that we can process your application.”

Chuuya managed to contain himself from going completely rigid, nodding. “Yes, sir. Of course. What is it you would like to know?”

Nezu hummed, sipping some more tea. Chuuya took a sip of his own too, so that he might appear more calm and relaxed.

“I just have some basic questions. The first of which is, tell me, there is no listed school on your application, for either junior high or elementary. Can you tell me why that is?”

Chuuya nodded, lowering his cup into his lap. “I did not go to school formally. Though I still studied school subjects.”

It was true. Back in the slums, he often took the kids in the Sheep, and even those before them, to the public libraries when they could. Chuuya knew how to read, though he could not remember how he learned, and he taught the other kids how to as well. He took in as much knowledge whenever he could.

Nezu nodded in turn. “My next question is, you have no listed guardian anywhere on your application. Why is that?”

Chuuya allowed himself to grimace a little for the character’s effect. “You see, I don’t actually have a guardian… no parents or anyone who looks out for me.”

Nezu hummed lowly. Dammit, Chuuya couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He reminded Chuuya of Dazai in a way.

“I see.” Nezu finally said. “And, how would you say that you make a living, then?”

Chuuya frowned a bit, the question feeling a bit invasive but he still had a practiced answer just in case something like this came up.

“I take up spare jobs. I go with my siblings anywhere I can to make enough to support all of us.”

Nezu nodded, his expression looking less dark now. He was probably wondering if Chuuya stole to get by or something. Pest.

“So you take care of your siblings, then? Without a guardian, who taught you the school subjects?”

“I taught myself.” Chuuya said easily, which wasn’t entirely untrue, though he wouldn’t have gotten far without knowing to read by some unknown means. “I teach my siblings, and we often go to public libraries to get our schooling done.”

Nezu hummed, nodding and taking another sip of his tea. “I see. And, also on your application you neglected to put an address.”

“Oh…” Chuuya took another sip of his tea. “At the time that I applied, I was homeless. I just moved to the city not too long ago and got a loan for an apartment. The plan was to live there and work odd jobs to go to UA and support my siblings.”

Nezu had no visible reaction, but the air in the room seemed to dry up a little. His gaze was intense. “So, you’re not homeless anymore, then?”

Chuuya nodded. “I can put down my address now, if you’d like?”

Nezu smiled and hopped off the couch. “That’s just what I was going to ask! I have your application just up here somewhere.”

Chuuya watched him fish around in his drawers for a moment. He took another sip of his tea, which was getting a little cold, though it was still good nonetheless.

“Aha!” Nezu came waddling back with a piece of paper. “Here we are.”

He placed it on the low table in front of Chuuya, pulling out a pen from his vest pocket and handing it to Chuuya. He took it with a polite smile, pulling out the godforsaken flip phone to check his new address. He hadn’t memorized it yet.

Once he found it, he wrote it on the line for the address and shut the phone, sliding the piece of paper back over to Nezu. The principal grabbed it and looked at it with a smile that quickly turned into a frown.

“This… your address is pretty far out.”

Chuuya knew he wasn’t actually commenting on the distance. He knew what Nezu was implying: really? You live in the worst part of the city?

Chuuya shrugged sheepishly. “It was the… best I could get. I hope to be able to move in a few years.”

Nezu hummed, seeming to contemplate this before his smile was back on his face.

“Well, let it never be said that UA doesn’t care about its students. If you get accepted into our school, I’m sure we can find a solution to help you out with the long travels. It can’t be easy coming from all the way out there.”

Chuuya smiled sheepishly, internally grimacing. “Thank you for the offer, sir.”

Yeah, thanks for being afraid of the slums of Musutafu but not actually being willing to put in any work to improve it.

Nezu just nodded. “It’s always my pleasure. And you should be admired for the work you have put in to remain on your feet. It can’t have been easy work.”

Chuuya chuckled awkwardly. “Truly, I can’t say I believe it myself.”

Because I’m not as fucking gullible as you-

“Well, that is all I called you here for today.” Nezu stood from his seat, and Chuuya took the hint and stood as well. “Why don’t I have one of my teachers drive you home, since it is rather late in the day?”

It was early afternoon, but he could tell Nezu was worried about sending him through the slums alone.

He really was going to get into this school based on pity points, wasn’t he?

He bit his lip and lowered his head sheepishly.

“I would hate to impose on your kindness anymore, sir.” He waved his hands around for effect. “I can make it home myself, I don’t want to be any trouble for you when I’m not even your responsibility.”

Nezu just waved him off, which Chuuya kind of figured would happen.

“Nonsense. I can assure you that it is no inconvenience, and here we like to look out for children, even if they aren’t our students.”

That word stung Chuuya—he hadn’t been a child for a long time. He’s now a Port Mafia executive, a member of Double Black. Before then he was a valuable subordinate to Mori. Then the King of the Sheep, as much as he detested that name. Before they considered him king, he was just their leader from pretty much the get-go. And before that…

Just an experiment of some sort. And before that he was nothing.

Maybe he had been a child, once. If he was even the original version, that is. There stood the chance that he was less than human… that he didn’t even exist before he was seven years old. That he was just a copy of Nakahara Chuuya.

No, he didn’t think he had ever been a child.

Still, Nezu seemed to be taking the lead on getting him a ride home without noticing Chuuya’s internal conflict. He hated how he so easily got swept up in his thoughts whenever the topic of his humanity came into question. It was stupid, a simple detriment that he needed to get rid of.

Nezu put down the phone he had apparently been talking on, walking back over to Chuuya.

“Follow me, Nakahara-kun. I have one of our teachers going to get his car to drive you home.”

Chuuya did his best to put on a smile. “Ah, I can’t thank you enough, sir…”

He followed the mouse thing out of the school and towards the road in front of the UA gate. He supposed this would be where the teacher pulled up.

“I’ll drop you off here.” Nezu nodded at the student as he apparently turned to go. “It has been quite the pleasure to meet you, Nakahara-kun.”

Chuuya kept his face straight at the jarring honorific—this man wasn’t Mori, he had to remind himself; only the boss and Kouyou would ever speak to him like that—and bowed respectfully.

“The pleasure has been all mine, sir.”

Nezu smiled and turned on his heel, marching back into the school.

Chuuya waited until the rat was almost inside the building before sighing lightly. He couldn’t let his guard down too much, but he was tired of the facade today. He wasn’t sure he could keep it up as long as Mori wanted him to.

He heard the faint sound of an engine and tires crunching asphalt before the car even came into view. He’d had years of experience looking out for incoming threats that he wasn’t even sure how he still got any sleep at night.

It took a few more seconds before a car came into view, turning out from a side street and onto the street by which Chuuya was waiting. He gripped the hem of his shirt nervously, unsure of what to expect from a teacher of this school.

The car pulled to a stop in front of him and the window rolled down, revealing a disheveled looking man dressed like a hobo.

“You can get in, kid.” The man called, and Chuuya bit back a retort at that stupid word again. “I’m Eraserhead, one of the teachers at this school.”

Chuuya was beyond wary, as he had never been to school but he was pretty sure teachers didn’t look like this. But he knew better than to argue, and worse comes to worst he could definitely take this guy in a fight.

So he stepped forward and opened the door, sliding into the car and shutting the door behind him. The teacher pulled his car back out into the road and began driving. Nezu must have already given him the address over the phone.

“So, you’re one of our hero-hopefuls?”

Damn. Chuuya had been hoping this guy wouldn’t be the talkative type. So much for his hopes and dreams.

He gave him a soft smile and nodded, looking into his lap. “Yes, I am.”

The man gave him a small smile of his own that looked genuine enough. Chuuya hadn’t pegged the man for someone emotionally adept, so he supposed hero society must be full of surprises that he was not looking forward to.

The man seemed to be studying him without looking away from the road. It set Chuuya on edge, but he was better at hiding his emotions than people gave him credit for. He liked to blow up at Dazai, but if he wanted to he could keep a level head for the most part around his asswipe partner.

Chuuya pretended that the silence didn’t bother him, looking out the window and watching as the scenery passed by without attempting to make awkward conversation. It put him more in control of his environment.

Finally, the man chose to speak up again.

“I remember seeing you in the entrance exam.” He remarked calmly, keeping his eyes facing away from Chuuya. That didn’t mean, though, that the man wasn’t observing his reaction. “You did very well. Your Quirk control is excellent, and you seem to have a sharp mind.”

Chuuya turned back to him with another sheepish smile—he was getting sick of these—and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“You think so? I’m flattered you would say that…”

The man sighed softly. “I’m not saying it to flatter you. But I want to make sure that those I examine in the tests know their own capabilities. If you underestimate yourself, you’ll never reach your potential.”

Chuuya wished this man would cut the crap already. Clearly he was probing deeper for something. Did this man try to psychoanalyze every potential student he met, or is Chuuya just lucky?

Maybe the sheer emptiness of Chuuya’s application had set off some suspicion among the staff? They hadn’t, after all, met him yet, and he’d only just cleared everything up with Nezu. He must come off as a little strange to the other faculty members. Maybe this man was trying to get some answers for himself. He didn’t seem like the type to usually volunteer to drive a random teenager home.

Chuuya hummed noncommittally, as if pondering what the teacher had said.

“I suppose that makes sense.” He turned and gave his best optimistic smile. “Though, I’d say I’m pretty confident in my abilities.”

‘Pretty confident,’ as in I could probably beat every member of your staff, all of your school’s students, and then some without even using my hands.

The teacher seemed to accept his answer, not attempting to make any further conversation. Chuuya knew the tactic of creating and perpetuating awkward silence in order to force the other to try and fill it and give away information about themselves. But Chuuya was perfectly content to sit in silence for the rest of the car ride.

When they finally pulled up in front of Chuuya’s apartment, he felt relief flood through him. This nightmare of a day talking with hero school employees had come to an end. Though, he knew this was only a taste of what was likely to come.

As he was unbuckling his seatbelt, the front doors to the apartment complex opened and Elise came rushing out, Q hot on her heels.

Chuuya initially felt a surge of panic before realizing that a hero wouldn’t hurt them. And having them here in front of this Eraserhead guy could maybe work in his alias’ favor.

He smiled and stepped out of the car, closing the door quickly as he jogged over to meet them.

He scooped Elise up into his arms as soon as she was within reach, stepping quickly to get back to the sidewalk.

“No running into the road.” He chided, but he smiled down at her as she giggled.

“Sorry, nii-chan!”

He ruffled Q’s hair and turned back to where Eraserhead was still sitting in his car, probably waiting for Chuuya to go inside. He bowed to the man one last time before turning around and reaching for Q’s hand, pulling him gently into the building.

He didn’t let out the breath he’d been holding until they were halfway up the apartment stairs. He could hear Elise giggling in his arms.

“Mr. High and Mighty Executive bowed to that old geezer, eh?”

Chuuya scowled at her. “Sounds like the words of someone who’s walking up the rest of these stairs.”

She gasped as Q let out a shrill cackle. “Noooo!”

Chuuya just rolled his eyes. “That’s what I thought.”

Chuuya stared at the stupid hologram with little enthusiasm—i.e. none.

So he had gotten into UA. Whoopie. This was only the beginning, he knew. A whole lot of shit was going to go down from this point on.

He received a sheet detailing instructions on how to draw what he wanted as his hero costume, and gave the information on where to go to get a school uniform. Chuuya really didn’t want to do either, but he figured he had to.

Chuuya didn’t bother trying to illustrate what he wanted; he was horrible at drawing anyways. Instead he just wrote a list: pants, sleeveless compression shirt, combat boots, gloves, compression sleeves, cloth face mask, all black.

He frowned. This was an outfit meant for simplicity, efficiency and agility, with minimum clunky pieces. But he supposed it was going to need more than just that.

He put down a utility belt and a visor to go over his eyes, just in case of shrapnel. That way, his costume might look a little more hero-like, instead of random dramatic civilian, or even villain of sorts.

But he would be damned if he looked as ghastly as current heroes he’d seen in pictures. This was all he was putting. He was aware that the instructions said that inadequate illustrations would lead to the designers taking liberties with the costume, but he frankly didn’t care. He thought he detailed it enough.

He looked at the last date to get his uniform, deciding to go closer to that date. He knew that the place would be packed as soon as it opened up for students, so he was going to wait it out, even if it meant getting the leftovers. It didn’t matter to him if his uniform was a little too big or too small. He could deal with it.

He sighed as he walked to the nearest post office. His apartment didn’t have incoming or outgoing mail because of how bad his side of town was, so he had to find somewhere else to send UA his filled-out form.

He dropped it off in the outgoing mail slot and left with his hands in his pockets. It was getting later in the day, and he still had some studying to get done. He sighed, shuddering a bit at a gust of wind.

Maybe he should’ve put in for his costume to have a jacket. But oh well. He had a few in his closet that would pair well enough with the rest of the costume.

Shouta walked up to Nezu’s desk wordlessly, looming over as the principal kept typing without looking up.

“Need something, Aizawa?”

Shouta just sighed. “That kid who scored the highest on the practical exam, Nakahara? He’s been accepted, right?”

Nezu nodded again without ceasing his work. “Yes, he passed all of his written exams. Why, did you have an opinion on that?”

Shouta ignored the question. It didn’t warrant an answer. “I would like to request he be placed in my class.”

That got Nezu to stop what he was doing, setting his hands down on the desk and finally looking up at Shouta.

“I see nothing wrong with such a suggestion. But I must say that I am rather curious.” He leaned forward on the desk a bit. “Why are you asking for such a thing?”

Shouta sighed. He should’ve known Nezu would pry for the details.

“My conversation with the kid was brief but informative nonetheless. And his performance in the practical exam was exemplary. He’s a kid who worked his way up from the very lowest of circumstances and seems to appreciate what he has worked for.”

Nezu’s grin widened. “But?”

Shouta’s brow pinched slightly. Nezu could read him like a book.

“But,” he began reluctantly. “There’s something about the kid, some sort of feeling I’m picking up from him.”

Nezu just sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I am afraid I cannot justify putting him in your class if you are only suspicious of him. I wouldn’t want it to affect your teaching habits nor his learning process. I know there has been talk among the teachers pertaining to his strange circumstances, but I do not want any of that perpetuated in the classroom.”

“That’s not it, Nezu.” Shouta shook his head. “Quite the opposite, actually. I am not asking for you to put him in my class because I am suspicious of him, but rather because I think he’s blind in what he’s searching for.”

Nezu’s grin was back. “Oh? Do tell me what you mean by this, Aizawa.”

Shouta sighed again. “I met the kid. He seemed confident in his abilities, and sheepish in everything else. He took his exams no problem, and he seems to know how to communicate, but he’s still keeping his head down. He claims to not be underestimating himself, but somehow he still is. I just can’t figure out what part of him he doesn’t think is whole.”

Nezu nodded, seemingly more pleased now that Shouta had stated the root of the issue. “I know how much you consider potential to be important. I figured that must have something to do with your request.”

Shouta bit back another sigh. It was useless to argue with Nezu or try to claim he couldn’t read every intention clearly.

“It is true, Nakahara is likely just used to having to keep his head low to get by under his circumstances.”

Shouta shook his head. “I considered that to be the reason, but in that case I am not sure he could have gotten here if he subconsciously kept his head down as something instinctive. He wouldn’t have been shooting for the top spot in the practical exam, and he wouldn’t have such confidence to reach for the goal of the greatest hero school. You can’t just ignore the ingrained sense to keep your head down, and I don’t think it’s that he’s just masking the instinct well.”

Nezu hummed, considering. “You make a fair point. Very well, then. I will have Nakahara placed in your class, but under the condition that you bring out his potential fully. If you’re going to end up pushing his buttons and cause him to retreat from success, then I would see no benefit.”

Shouta nodded. “Understood. Thank you, sir.”

Nezu just sighed lightly and went back to typing on his computer. “You never cease to surprise me, Aizawa.”

Shouta just nodded and turned to go, biting back the retort of and yet you never seem as surprised as you claim to be.

Shouta was glad that he had succeeded in getting what he went to Nezu for.

There was just something about the kid… the way he talked to his siblings versus the heroes. The way he and his siblings had all looked at Shouta like he was something standing in their way, some sort of threat looming over them. The way the kid had seemed so confident and yet so… empty. Like he didn’t quite believe to his core that there was any completeness to himself.

Shouta wanted to extract that, expose it in the limelight, and help Nakahara fill that void with something substantial.

He didn’t know everything about Nakahara’s background. That was private information in the kid’s file that he was only supposed to know if it became necessary later. What he had gathered from the information he’d been given was that he’d spent his whole life in poverty as the sole provider for himself and younger siblings. He also had likely been homeless more than once in his life. He couldn’t claim to know Nakahara, or his ambitions and motives.

Part of him got the feeling that the kid was only going to UA to have a solid future to support himself and his siblings. But the other part of him felt like there was a deeper motive.

Perhaps the kid was subconsciously looking for a way to complete himself? In any case, Shouta is a teacher, and as such it is his job to help guide students to do just that.

He just hoped a kid who seemed as closed off as Nakahara would allow himself to be changed.

Chuuya hid his grimace as he stepped into his classroom. He made sure to be extra early, so that he would make a first impression as someone innocent and over eager to be a hero. He was the first one in the classroom, taking a seat up front at the other end of the classroom.

He really was not getting paid enough for this, he decided as more students began showing up. It started with a strange kid with blue hair, escalating with a loud blonde that reeked of explosives. Chuuya wondered if it was the kid’s Ab- no, Quirk, or if he was secretly in some shady business.

He doubted it was the latter, though. The kid didn’t look gritty or intimidating enough to make it in a gang or mafia setting. Chuuya had seen more threatening toddlers in the slums of Yokohama back in his days there.

Chuuya ignored any conversation going on around him, finishing up his reading section. He’d gotten pretty good at math and science, as they consisted just of a lot of principles to memorize and apply. But reading comprehension and English were still not his strong suit, and he didn’t want to look like a total idiot to the teachers.

He continued his reading until everyone simultaneously quieted down, and he glanced up to see some hobo—hey, it was that same guy who had driven him home that one time—crawling out of a sleeping bag.

“Put these on.” He held up some ugly looking uniform. “Meet me out in the field.”

With that, he left the classroom. The wall beside Chuuya opened up, revealing numbers that he supposed were shared with their desks. He sighed as he stood and went to pick up his own.

He followed the other students to the locker rooms, pulling off his shirt and pulling out the other one. He supposed this was the school’s P.E. uniform or something.

“Um,” he heard someone murmur quietly behind him. He snapped his head around quickly, staring at a yellow-haired kid looking at him nervously.

He cocked his head, trying to remind himself of his facade before he snapped at him.

“What is it?”

The kid didn’t seem to know quite what to say, and Chuuya looked at him with confusion. What was the kid so nervous about?

Someone else, a boy with spiky red hair, came up behind him. It was only then that Chuuya realized that most of the guys in the room were silent, looking at him directly or from out of the corners of their eyes. The only ones seemingly not paying much attention were the annoying blonde kid from earlier and some guy with split hair and a scar on his face.

“You’ve got a lot of scars, man.” The redhead began, forcing a smile that made Chuuya want to cringe. “I don’t know if it’s our place, but…”

It’s not, Chuuya wanted to snap. He was never self conscious about his scars, as in the Port Mafia scars were often considered a statement. They were like battle trophies. Although, Chuuya hadn’t been scarred during his time in the Port Mafia. That was his pride: the fact that no one could land a hit on him. Matter of fact, all of his scars were from his days in the slums, or before that… when he couldn’t remember.

Chuuya just shook his head and smiled. The facade he was going for was reminiscent of a shonen protagonist with zero personality except for being ‘nice’. He hoped he was pulling it off well enough.

“Don’t worry about it.” Chuuya slid the shirt on over his head. Now he was hesitant to change out his pants because he knew almost everyone would be staring. Still, he forced himself to move quickly, giving the gawkers almost no time to take in the scars on his legs before he quickly pulled the gym pants on.

“They’re nothing to worry about, I assure you.”

“A-are you sure?”

Chuuya glanced at the green haired kid who had piped up for a brief second before turning to shove his stuff into a locker.

“Positive.”

He gave them all one last smile and waved at them as he swung the locker room door open to head out to the field.

He almost dropped his face into a scowl, but then he reminded himself that there were probably cameras throughout a hero school like this. He didn’t want anyone knowing he was hiding his true personality at this school, even if that alone shouldn’t tip anyone off as to what he’s actually doing.

And that would be causing chaos and sowing discord, all while looking for clues to finding their missing members.

Akutagawa, my boy… I’m coming for you.

Midoriya happily listened to their teacher explain what they were doing instead of orientation. He was a bit nervous to perform in front of and alongside his class, but it seemed straightforward enough.

Aizawa turned to look at a specific student… the short red haired kid with all the scars. Midoriya felt his heart wince at the image he remembered, though his classmate had effectively brushed off their concern.

Midoriya wasn’t quite sure how, though. It shouldn’t be possible to dismiss worries about scars like that, and of that quantity. Somehow, this classmate had managed to really make them sound like not a big deal.

“Nakahara,” Aizawa said, and his classmate stood a little straighter—must be his name. “You finished at the top of the practical exam, right?”

Midoriya’s eyes widened, and he stared at the student. That was shocking, considering Kacchan’s skills and strengths. Speaking of the blonde, Midoriya swore he saw several veins in his forehead pop.

The student, Nakahara, seemed to have to think about it—strange—before nodding.

Aizawa continued. “In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?”

Nakahara just cocked his head, as if the question didn’t make any sense.

“Uh… I did not go to junior high.”

Midoriya blanched, and he saw Aizawa’s eyes narrow slightly.

“Homeschooled, then?”

“Self-taught.”

Midoriya wouldn’t have believed it, but… well, Nakahara hadn’t hesitated, and he didn’t seem to be lying or exaggerating either.

Aizawa furrowed his eyebrows, but didn’t push the topic.

“That doesn’t matter now,” Aizawa gestured for him to come forward. Nakahara looked a little tense, but stepped forward without complaint.

“Try doing it with your Quirk.” He tossed a softball to Nakahara, who caught it easily. “Stand in the circle and throw as hard as you can out into the field. If you think you’ll break something, aim higher.”

Nakahara frowned, but stepped into the circle clutching the ball.

He glanced back at the class and Aizawa, as if wondering if he was actually being serious. Midoriya supposed this exercise would seem a little ridiculous if you’d never done it in a school setting before.

He watched Nakahara turn back around and wind up for the throw. His stance seemed practiced and balanced. He became encompassed in a slight red hue, and Midoriya cocked his head. Was that part of his Quirk? And when he finally threw the ball…

Midoriya’s eyes blew wide. He watched the ball disappear into the sky completely, going faster than Midoriya would’ve thought possible. It was faster than things Kacchan threw with his Quirk, at least as far as he’d seen.

The rest of the class was gaping as well, and Aizawa turned around as nonplussed as ever, holding up a screen that displayed the infinity symbol on it.

“It went too far to determine the exact range, but it basically amounts to this.”

The entire class erupted into cheers and shouts, some of them patting Nakahara’s back as he returned to the crowd. He looked a little shocked and uncomfortable, as if he wasn’t used to receiving such joyful praise.

“This looks fun!”

Midoriya couldn’t see the poor soul who said that, but he guessed the student was receiving a lot of glares now because Aizawa began to take that phrase and run with it.

“It looks fun, huh?” And oh, Midoriya didn’t like that tone. “You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?”

Midoriya frowned. Was that such a bad thing?

But then Aizawa grinned, sending chills down Midoriya’s spine.

“All right.” And he looked far too pleased with himself. “Whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential… and will be punished with expulsion.”

Chuuya passed all the tests with flying colors. He was first in every field. He felt a little bad about it, as he could’ve held back more for the other students—the kid whose entire schtick was speed lost to his time in the race—but Dazai had told him to be the best out of the students whenever he was pitted against them. He still didn’t know what Dazai was planning, but he would prefer not to argue and potentially elongate this mission if he could help it.

So at least he knew he wasn’t getting expelled. He knew there was more to ‘lack of potential’ than just not scoring well, but Eraserhead had only said that he would expel whoever came in last. He wondered if this was the kind of teacher to go back on his word.

Probably, damn heroes.

Still, Chuuya didn’t care much. If this mission flunked, then they would just go about bringing hero society to its knees the easy way.

Eraserhead apparently seemed done with them after the results of their tests were done—no one was expelled, shocker. He dismissed them for the day, which Chuuya wouldn’t complain about. He hadn’t left Elise and Q alone in the apartment this long since the exam day, and he was worried they might have caught something on fire by now.

Dazai found himself being thrown into a bar. It felt strange, as usually he was getting thrown out of bars that he was no longer welcome in. He hit the floor with a thud and suppressed a grin. He lifted his head as best he could and looked up at the crusty blue-haired guy sitting on a stool.

“What’s this?” His voice was scratchy and hoarse, nearly making Dazai cringe. He sounded like a worse smoker than Hirotsu.

“I found him sulking out front.”

The man on the barstool huffed. “And what did he want?”

The man who had dragged him in—a man literally made of black smoke- wait, was this what the blue-haired guy was smoking?—just shook his head.

“He hasn’t said anything.”

The man finally turned to him, revealing his face that was covered with some sort of plastered hand. It looked hella gross.

“Tell me why you’re here before I kill you.”

As tempting as the offer was, he was here for a mission that he found exciting for once. So he decided to play along with Mori for now, at least until he got bored.

Dazai grinned up at him. “There have been whispers in the underground for quite some time now about an up and coming villain group making some plans. I deduced your location and figured I would come and offer my services.”

The man laughed—more like wheezed—maniacally before hopping down from his barstool to look over Dazai better. Dazai pushed himself up so that he was sitting properly, looking up at his new prospect eagerly.

“And what makes you think I’d let you join?”

“Well, I heard you’ve been picking up just about any willing soul.” Dazai shrugged. “Besides, I’m not useless. I can use a variety of weapons—guns and knives and such—and I’m great at stealth and extracting information. As long as I’m asking questions, I guarantee you’re receiving answers.”

The man marched forward and squatted down in front of Dazai, reaching up with his crusty hands and wrapping a few fingers around Dazai’s neck.

Dazai didn’t know the man’s Quirk—didn’t care, to be honest—but he figured based on context that it was some sort of instant kill kind of thing. He was honestly more bothered by the man’s dead skin getting all over him rather than the highly probable death that awaited him. After all, Dazai’s Ability didn’t work on Quirks. They’d tested it out to be sure.

“Let’s say I do let you join.” The man mused, seemingly enjoying this ‘threatening’ he was doing. “Who’s to say I’ll keep you around after our upcoming game?”

Dazai just grinned. “I can prove to you during said game why I’d be an asset.”

The man seemed to stare at Dazai for a while. “You should be more scared than you are. You don’t even know what kind of danger you’re putting yourself in.”

The man put his other hand out and grabbed one of the barstools. Before the other smoky man could make his noise of protest, the chair had disintegrated.

The man was probably grinning like a fool under his hand mask thing right now.

Simpleton.

“Still want to work with me?” His grip around Dazai’s neck got a little tighter.

Dazai reached up slowly and pressed the man’s fourth finger to his neck, grinning like a madman. The blue-haired man tensed, seeming to pull back slightly.

“Show me how to live,” Dazai said, voice dripping with a morbid eagerness. “By showing me how many others can die.”

Even with his face covered, he could feel the grin that overtook the man before him.

“I’m Shigaraki Tomura.” He took his hand away from Dazai, much to the latter’s disappointment, and stood back up. “Welcome to the League of Villains.”

Chapter Text

Battle trials… it just had to be something that would force Chuuya to interact and compromise with other students.

He knew his ultimate objective. All Might would be dead by the end of his mission. It would be so simple to just do it now, with him just within reach. So tempting.

Buuuut… that would be a lot of paperwork and a lecture from Mori about conforming to the plan. So he refrained, for now at least.

For the first time ever trying on his hero costume, he had to say he wasn’t that impressed. It was mostly what he asked for: all black, simple pants, sleeveless compression shirt—they made the gloves he asked for fingerless, but he wasn’t going to put up a fight over that—compression sleeves, and a cloth face mask to go over his mouth and nose.

However, the combat boots he had asked for were blood red rather than black, along with his utility belt and the visor for his eyes. Plus, they had thrown in a flexible leather-like jacket in the same blood red color. It was something that he hadn’t asked for but supposed it looked good anyway.

Regardless, it just felt like a usual mission outfit, which he supposed was what he was going for rather than style or for some sort of hero-vision.

Regardless of how comfortable the outfit was, he was still in a bad mood at these battle trials. It was a pretty stupid concept, but at least it kind of felt like learning on the field he supposed. He would give them that.

But there was also a lot of potential for students to get hurt like this, which lost points for the whole exercise. Especially in the situation Chuuya was currently in.

It had become very apparent to him that… his partner hated their opponents. Or at least one of them.

He was on the villain team, meant to be guarding the missile thing with his teammate Bakugou. They were meant to be playing villain characters, which Chuuya knew he could do well—but he was downplaying it in his acting abilities; he didn’t think his facade playing a villain facade should be very good at it—but it became clear to him that Bakugou was not acting.

Damn hero students.

Now he had to police him. Chuuya had tried going over a plan, to no avail. He knew Bakugou was going to take off the second he was allowed to move after the bell went off.

So when the bell sounded, Chuuya activated his Ability, freezing Bakugou to the floor.

“What the hell?!”

Chuuya frowned, shaking his head. “I can’t just let you wander off like that. You’re going to jeopardize the exercise.”

“Like hell I am!” Bakugou tried to struggle, but there was no escaping from one’s own gravity. “Let me go, dammit!”

“Listen, Bakugou.” Chuuya stepped forward, lowering his voice. “You dislike Midoriya. Whatever, I don’t care about that. But if you go off, you’re just giving his team more of an advantage to win against us. Would you rather prove a point to him and lose, or beat him now and give him your two cents later?”

Bakugou still seemed to be fighting his hold on him, but his movements slowed a little.

“I can beat that damn nerd! Watch me!”

Chuuya just shook his head and let him out of his hold on gravity. “I’m warning you, you’re going to make us look like fools.”

Bakugou just stormed off, yelling unintelligibly. Chuuya sighed, crossing his arms as he formulated a plan in his mind to show off like Dazai wanted and to still look like a poor child getting the short end of the stick in life.

Midoriya knew Bakugou personally, that much was obvious. As such, Midoriya probably knew that Bakugou would go after him. He was likely planning on having Uraraka slip past Bakugou while Midoriya distracted him.

That pretty much removed Midoriya and Bakugou as factors, since Midoriya wouldn't make an attempt to go after the missile so long as he kept Bakugou away.

That would mean that Chuuya could basically leave the missile unattended so long as he captured Uraraka.

He hid his grin from the cameras as an idea began formulating in his head.

Midoriya stood his ground against Kacchan, ready for another blow when another person entered the room.

“Bakugou, I know we’re playing villains, but I don’t think we’re supposed to seriously injure our classmates.”

Nakahara stepped into the room, Uraraka floating behind him with capture tape around her.

Midoriya felt his chest swell with panic. The plan to have Uraraka take the missile had failed. That meant it was up to him, but-

“SHUT UP, EXTRA!” Bakugou cried. “I’m about to win this for us!”

He held out his hand, sparking with fizzling energy. Midoriya held his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the blow as he charged his arm with One for All. Kacchan shot as Midoriya released his attack on the ceiling to hopefully create a shorter distance to the missile, or even have it fall directly to him.

He vaguely heard All Might’s voice over the receivers. He heard the explosion, smelled the smoke and felt the heat, but for some reason he didn’t feel the pain, the blow itself. He blinked his eyes open, confused.

As soon as he did, he felt his entire body become doused in horror, staring up with wide eyes at the sight before him.

Nakahara was in front of him. The light from the blast died down, and the smoke hadn’t quite cleared yet, but Midoriya gaped as Nakahara gasped shakily. He looked at Midoriya with eyes filled with tears, and he gave a weak smile.

“You alright…?”

Midoriya could barely make himself say anything. The smoke cleared, and Kacchan’s face went from one of malicious joy to shock and anger.

“N-Naka-”

Without time to react, Nakahara wrapped the capture tape around Midoriya’s wrists. He wouldn’t have been able to react even if he had seen it coming, he was so shocked.

Nakahara fell to his knees, sputtering. It gave Midoriya a good view of his back, and he felt vomit rise in his throat. The flesh was all ripped up and singed, charred and bloody patches visible across his whole back.

If that wasn’t enough, dust and other debris from Midoriya using One for All on the ceiling was falling and settling on top of all of them, getting into Nakahara’s wounds.

It took a few moments of stunned, horrified silence before All Might was calling the match in the villains’ favor. Midoriya felt a spark of anger at All Might for not stopping this sooner, but he quickly felt bad about that. After all, this was…

He glanced up, trying his best not to glare at the person standing in front of him.

This was Kacchan’s fault.

Midoriya ripped out of the capture tape and knelt down beside Nakahara. He had released his hold on Uraraka’s gravity, and she was also struggling to get out of the tape. Midoriya would’ve helped her, but he was too split-brained to think clearly.

“Are you alright?!” He cried, reaching out but not wanting to hurt Nakahara. He didn’t know where he could even touch his classmate without causing him to be in more pain. “L-let me help you…”

Nakahara flinched as Midoriya tried to get closer, and he stopped in his tracks. His mind was moving a million miles a minute.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and All Might was next to them holding some nurse bots to take Nakahara away.

He leaned down carefully beside the injured student and lifted him up from under his stomach, doing his best to carefully settle Nakahara onto the stretcher.

Midoriya’s poor classmate grimaced and groaned a little, but All Might was right there to comfort him.

“It’s alright. I already notified Recovery Girl.” He gently stroked Nakahara’s hair. “You’ll be all healed soon. You’re okay.”

The stretcher rolled away, and All Might turned to the rest of them. He helped Uraraka to her feet and removed the capture tape from her wrists and ankles, sending her to stand with the rest of them.

“That was reckless, young Bakugou.”

Again, Midoriya felt guilty about the anger that built in his gut against both of them. That was all he was going to say? With Nakahara in that condition?

“And young Midoriya,” All Might turned to him, and he went rigid. “That final attempt could have had the opposite effect in a real situation. It was also very reckless, especially to purposefully allow yourself to get hurt in order to do so. While as a hero self-sacrifice is an admirable quality, you must keep in mind that you are a student right now.”

He looked at Kacchan again. “You are all students. Which means that even while playing the villain, you should be keeping in mind the safety of your classmates.”

Kacchan just looked away with a glare. Uraraka stepped up, frowning. She had beads of tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Is Nakahara-kun going to be okay?”

All Might smiled and the tension in the air all but disappeared. “He’s going to be fine, young Uraraka. Recovery Girl will fix him right up.”

She seemed to relax at that, nodding. “He really was excellent. He captured me so fast I barely noticed until it was over.”

Midoriya nodded as well. “Yeah, and he’s so quick on his feet-”

“Whatever.” Kacchan spat. “Damn extra was getting in the way most of the time.”

Midoriya shot him a glare, but it went ignored as Kacchan was looking the other way.

He clenched his fists, though his injured arm screamed at him not to. “You didn’t do anything. Nakahara-kun did all the work. All you did was get your teammate hurt.”

Kacchan snapped his head towards him, but All Might stepped between them. Midoriya’s mentor seemed to want to say something before deciding against it, shaking his head.

“Let’s get the rest of you back to the observation room for evaluation.”

The rundown for their battle trial was brutal. It consisted of being told everything they did wrong, how badly they failed, and how horrified their audience was. To be fair, Midoriya completely understood and agreed with their sentiments.

He had known Kacchan would target him, so they had split up. He planned to distract Kacchan while Uraraka would hopefully sneak up on Nakahara and use her Quirk on him and get to the missile. She would also use her Zero Gravity on herself to keep from touching the floor where Nakahara would’ve been able to use his Quirk on her.

He hadn’t foreseen that Uraraka would be so easily taken down. According to her, she had gone up and he hadn’t been anywhere in sight. She’d made a quick break for the missile and he’d been on the ceiling waiting to tackle her.

Then he’d gone to find his partner. Maybe he was worried about Kacchan, or maybe he had been more worried about Midoriya. He was sure it was the latter, as Nakahara seemed to walk in knowing exactly what the scene would look like. How else was he so quick to respond and take the blow for Midoriya?

It just made him feel worse that he had gotten Nakahara hurt protecting him from Bakugou, when Nakahara wasn’t even responsible for Midoriya or on his team in the first place. Nakahara should’ve been rooting for Midoriya’s failure, but even then he would rather save Midoriya before bothering to capture him.

He truly was admirable. He’d even asked how Midoriya was doing after taking an explosion to the back.

He really wanted to go check up on Nakahara after they received their evaluation where everyone pretty much agreed that Nakahara was the MVP of the battle, but All Might had kept them all there to watch the other matches.

Why they were still continuing on with the matches even after how the first one had gone was lost on Midoriya. But he wasn’t going to speak out against All Might. So he stayed and did his best to observe until he could go to the infirmary for his own injury.

Pretty much most of their class—save for Kacchan and Todoroki, who apparently was expected home by his father immediately—went to the infirmary to check up on Nakahara after school got out. But when they got there, Recovery Girl told them that he’d already left.

“He said he wanted to hustle home quick.” She tutted, frowning. “I only healed half of his wounds, though. He had too many for just one session. You might be able to catch him at the gate if you hurry.”

And once Midoriya’s arm had been healed, hurry they did, but they didn’t see him anywhere. He must’ve already made it off campus. Midoriya was nervously chewing on his fingernails thinking about Nakahara going home by himself in that state, but Uraraka and Iida were doing their best to assure him.

He just hoped his classmate was okay.

This was nowhere near the most pain Chuuya had ever been in. But he liked to say he played the part well, convincing them that he was absolutely wrecked by the blast.

Oh, please. A little burnt flesh and ripped up skin was nothing. He got home just fine.

It did mean that he had to endure Elise and Q making fun of him all night for having to get himself injured to play up his identity though.

“Watch your mouths.” He snapped at them as they snickered. “It might be even more convincing to my sad story if my little siblings suddenly got hit by a bus and were in critical condition.”

That shut Q up real fast, though Elise just smirked.

“I’d like to see Rintaro agree to letting you get me hurt!”

Chuuya just scowled at her. “I might just ask him!”

“Do it!”

They had a brief staring contest before Chuuya eventually caved. Yeah, there would be no persuading Mori into letting that happen. But a boy can dream. Maybe he’d get permission to let Elise at least appear injured? She could change her form, after all, so who’s to say she can’t look the part?

She gave him a self-satisfied smirk and sat herself on the carpet around the coffee table.

“I want juice.”

Chuuya rolled his eyes. “I’m injured. Get it yourself.”

Elise just gave him a look. “What’s this I hear? I thought you were our provider, who’d do anything for his little slum siblings no matter what happened to himself?”

Chuuya groaned, but he wasn’t going to fight her on this. He hobbled over to the fridge and got out a sippy cup for her. It really helped sell the look, and never failed to amuse Chuuya. He poured her some juice and used his Ability to send it over to her while he put the juice away.

He almost thought he hallucinated her quiet thank you, but when he spun around her chubby toddler face was covered in a red hue.

Chuuya felt himself smiling a little as he came and sat in the folding chair beside her, gently running a hand over her head a few times. This time, he was careful to not mess up her hair.

She hummed happily as she drank from the sippy cup, choosing not to complain about it like she usually did.

Sitting across from them, Q made exaggerated gagging noises, causing both of them to laugh and flip him off together. They all shared a chuckle.

This didn’t seem so bad.

“An informant?”

Dazai was happily kicking his legs beneath the barstool he sat on, sipping a whiskey Kurogiri had reluctantly made for him.

Shigaraki sighed roughly from where he was sitting a few stools away. Dazai had sat himself next to him, and his leader had promptly moved away.

He sat down his own glass of apple juice, fixing Dazai with a glare.

“That’s what I just said. Weren’t you listening?”

Dazai hummed thoughtfully, a grin still present on his face. “So this informant of yours at UA mentioned a field trip coming up, eh? What even is the USJ?”

Shigaraki clenched his fist. “Do you seriously live under a rock, psycho?”

“No,” Dazai turned to face him. “Currently, I live in your basement.”

From what he could see, Shigaraki was rolling his eyes.

“It’s a training facility for UA. It’s where I’m planning on debuting the league.”

Dazai nodded. “You just plan on popping in and defeating All Might? That doesn’t seem too thought out all the way through.”

Shigaraki just chuckled. “What would you know? You’re just a lackey like the others.”

Dazai hummed lightly. “If I was just like everybody else, you would’ve kicked me out of the bar when I got here this morning.”

Shigaraki was silent, trying to glaring holes through Dazai’s impenetrable wall.

“Face it.” Dazai giggled. “You like having me around. I’m more useful than those lackeys you brought in for this USJ thing.”

Shigaraki huffs, turning back to his drink. “We’ll see. You have to actually make it through the first level before I’ll consider you anything more than a lackey, psycho.”

Dazai didn’t know about that so much. He could tell this guy had abandonment issues, and got attached really easily to people close by. While he had yet to hear Shigaraki’s ‘master’ speak, he knew of the bond of one-sided codependency they had going on. Weird shit.

All for One… sly bastard had a protege, it turned out.

Dazai downed the rest of his whiskey, ignoring the yelp that came out of Kurogiri.

“Can’t wait, boss!” He cheered, setting his glass down on the counter. “Anywhosies, I think I’m gonna bounce. I want to get some blood on my hands before dinner.”

Shigaraki just scoffed. “Be my guest. But I won’t come looking for you if you get caught.”

Dazai just chuckled, stepping out of the bar.

Yeah, this guy was going to get attached sooner or later.

When Chuuya arrived at UA the next morning, he wanted to die.

Firstly, his body had only gotten more sore the longer he went on with unhealed injuries, so he’d had a hell of a night’s sleep. Then he’d made the entire suffering journey to the school, only to find…

Reporters. Dozens of them. With no way around except through them to get into the school.

He wished the UA gate would crush a few.

He was covered in bandages and still-visible welts. He was a bit early, as he was supposed to visit Recovery Girl before classes started, but now he doubted he’d have enough time for that.

Regrettably, this was exactly what Mori wanted out of Chuuya’s part in this mission. He wanted to drag people’s faith in heroes through the mud before ripping the rug completely out from under them. Sow distrust, and then expose the worst actions to a crowd of eager, gullible listeners.

So he hobbled up to the gate as politely and pathetically as he could.

“Excuse me…” He said in a meek voice, trying to politely make his way through the crowd.

Reporters saw him—injuries and all—and then they grinned.

Fuckin assholes.

“Young man,” a woman rushed up to him, sticking her microphone in his face. He stepped back a bit, eyes wide and innocent. “What’s it like to be trained by All Might?!”

Her enthusiasm was disgusting. Chuuya wanted to gag.

“I, uh… well, it’s a little rough…” He glanced down at the bandages and state of his health. A few reporters looked sympathetic, some shocked, others delighted in the information.

“All Might let you get this injured?” She sounded skeptical, as if she didn’t quite want to believe it. Chuuya understood that these people were brainwashed, but he wouldn’t be lying if he said that All Might had so many opportunities to stop Bakugou before it got this bad.

Chuuya shrugged loosely, as if he were trying to put it lightly. “I mean… kind of? B-but I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, he just wants students to train hard and become strong heroes.”

A few cameramen shared looks, and Chuuya bit back a smirk.

Ingrain that information into your thick skulls, morons.

“This is how UA trains its students…?”

He relished in the hesitancy in her voice. It brought him great joy to see that his efforts were proving fruitful.

He continued to try to get through the crowd, but someone grabbed his arm. He was yanked back, and cried out a bit at the pain that shot up into his body. Without any comments for hurting him, another reporter stuck a microphone in his face.

“Would you say All Might is a responsible teacher?”

Chuuya bit back a wince and tried to smile, though it was strained without him even trying to make it so. “Uh… I really think his skill is in saving people.”

A few people shouted their questions at the same time when a new voice piped up.

“Oh, Nakahara-kun?”

His gaze snapped over to where Midoriya was standing. Relief flooded him as the reporters began swarming his classmate instead, at least until he was knocked down and had numerous legs kick him.

He held his head down and did his best to shield himself with his arms, waiting for it to be over. His entire body ached and burned. He could’ve gotten himself out of this, but…

It’s all for the mission. Just grit your teeth and deal with it.

Suddenly, gentle hands helped him to his feet and pulled him along. He didn’t move his arms from his face until he stopped moving and a voice he didn’t quite recognize spoke to him.

“Are you alright, Nakahara?”

He peeked his head out from behind his arms, blinking. It was the kid with the scar over his face, red and white hair perfectly split down the middle of his head.

Chuuya would never understand Quirk genetics.

Slowly, he nodded, trying for a smile.

“You should learn to avoid reporters.” The kid said quietly, his tone monotonous. He must be fun at parties, if he ever attended any in the first place. “The more you think you’re appeasing them, the more they’re going to want from you.”

Chuuya was a little jarred at the way the kid talked, but he figured he was just awkward. He sounded a little like Akutagawa in that he was trying to convey his point but didn’t quite know what the right way to talk to someone was.

Chuuya felt himself soften a bit. His heart ached at the reminder of Akutagawa, who was stuck captive somewhere under the HPSC’s thumb.

“You sound like you know what you’re doing.” He smiled softly. “Do you deal with the press often?”

The kid blinked, as if there was something weird about the question. Chuuya thought it was a pretty normal question, though.

“I… you don’t…?”

Chuuya cocked his head, confused. “Am I… missing something?”

The kid just shook his head. “No, I… my father’s a hero, so I have to chase off the press sometimes.”

Chuuya nods. He didn’t like the kid’s tone. “Must be a hassle being a hero’s kid.”

His classmate nodded, seeming confused. “Quite.”

Chuuya shrugged. “Makes sense. Must be several reasons why it’s a nightmare.”

His classmate frowned. “You could… say that.”

“Say,” Chuuya looked right at the guy’s face, trying to remember his name but being unable to recall. “What’s your name?”

The kid blinked again in surprise before schooling his features.

“Todoroki Shouto.”

The name didn’t ring a bell to Chuuya, but he stuck out his hand anyway, hoping Todoroki would be gentle with his injured extremity.

“Nakahara Chuuya. A pleasure to meet you.”

Todoroki reached for his hand, hesitating a bit upon seeing the bandages, before shaking his hand lightly. Chuuya smiled, glad at the thoughtfulness. He already liked this guy much better than the others he’d met.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nakahara.”

“You can just call me Chuuya.”

Todoroki stalled for a moment, hesitantly letting go of his hand.

“Do you… want me to?”

Chuuya smiled a bit. It felt good to smile for real every once in a while. “I’d prefer it, if you didn’t mind.”

He had absolutely zero feelings of attachment to his familial name, so what was the point? Sometimes he couldn’t even realize people were trying to talk to him when they addressed him as Nakahara.

Todoroki nodded. “Alright then, Chuuya.”

Chuuya smiled, glad that he had regained something familiar. This guy reminded him a lot of Akutagawa, even down to the two-toned hair colors—though it was also reminiscent of Q—so he felt more comfortable being called by his first name.

Suddenly Midoriya and the fast-running guy from his class pushed through the crowd, the blue-haired one yelling that they were going to be late if they dawdled any longer.

Chuuya just chuckled and followed Todoroki to class.

Dazai nearly spat out his third drink of the morning upon seeing the news playing on the bar television.

So the chibi was on TV, eh? How hilarious!

And…

Why did he look like that?

Only due to years of practice did Dazai keep his face from dropping into a cold glare.

He knew that this mission was supposed to be make Chuuya out to be a poor pitiful orphan baby and then publicize it and all that but apparently it hadn’t sunk in yet that Chuuya was going to be throwing himself into the direct line of fire at any possible chance that he got.

Dazai really didn’t like that, especially seeing what a good actor the chibi really was from all those undercover missions serving as practice, plus days in the slums. He played the part perfectly and Dazai hated it.

He wanted to see his abrasive Chuuya again. He knew contact between them was risky at best and could expose their entire operation at worst, but he itched to go and actually experience his fiery Chuuya before he forgot him completely. What if this Chuuya replaced the real Chuuya in his memories?

“Would you say All Might is a responsible teacher?”

Do you see the fucking bandages he’s covered in? Dazai had half a mind to ask Chuuya if it was too late to trade their targets. Dazai had a bone to pick with All Might for completely unrelated reasons.

Chuuya seemed to wince a tiny bit and gave a strained smile.

“Uh… I really think his skill is in saving people.”

Dazai slammed his glass down on the table, letting out a cackle.

“Dazai-kun…” Kurogiri sighed exasperatedly.

“Ne, Kurogiri…” Dazai leaned far over the counter, his smile wide and excited. “Can I go there? Can I kill some reporters?”

They had it coming, especially as they kept harassing Chuuya to the point of hurting him. He was itching to go out. Thankfully for him, his part of this mission pretty much gave him free reign to submit to all of his sadistic whims.

While Kurogiri didn’t exactly have a face, it was still very obvious that he was looking at Dazai with disapproval. “I don’t think Shigaraki wants any of his members to make a debut before our plan at the USJ.”

Dazai huffed, laying down on the bar.

“Fine~”

Kurogiri sighed, picking up Dazai’s empty glass and beginning to wash it.

“Relax. It’ll only be a few more weeks. We’re still gathering reinforcements, and we have plenty of time to prepare. If your problem isn’t anxiety, but boredom, I might suggest you get out of the bar every once in a while. No one knows your villain reputation yet, correct?”

Dazai huffed, blowing the hair from his face. The bandages over his right eye were starting to itch a bit. It was probably time to change them.

“Where’s the fun in pretending to be a normal teenager for a day?”

Kurogiri just shakes his head. “I suggest finding some way to pass the time so you’re not driven up the wall during the wait.”

Dazai just huffed, pressing his face against the counter.

“...why are we attacking the USJ again?”

Kurogiri sighed heavily, now wiping down the glass with a towel.

“All Might will be there. Shigaraki hates him.”

Dazai raised an eyebrow. This… was the protege for All for One?

He slowly picked his head up from the counter and looked at Kurogiri.

“There are plenty of better ways to attack All Might. If he’s just doing it for that-”

“Well, it’s also his and the league’s debut. And the master has also arranged for this to be the moment since it’ll be isolated.”

Dazai pursed his lips. “All Might is probably more than capable of just punching a hole through the door and evacuating the students.”

Kurogiri’s golden eyes narrow at him. “I will act first to separate the students throughout the enclosure.”

Dazai’s eyes narrowed in return. “All Might is faster than you.”

Kurogiri just stared at him. “It will be fine, Dazai-kun. The master has thought of everything.”

Dazai stared at him as well. “I’m sure.”

To be honest, this plan only sounded like it would work without All Might present, but then the plan would be useless because he’s the target…

Should he try to stop this? All Might was Chuuya’s target for the end of the mission. They were supposed to keep them mostly alive for as long as possible until the crucial moment of impact when they brought Hero Society to its knees.

But, to be honest, Dazai didn’t think he needed to put in much effort at all. After all, he didn’t think that with the league’s current forces that they could beat All Might, or even those hero students honestly.

But a part of him knew there was something else All for One had up his sleeve that he was planning on bringing to the party. After all, if he was so clever he would know Shigaraki, and the league as it was, stood no chance at victory. There must be a trump card at play.

But Dazai chose to keep his mouth shut for now. He’d play the game, even if the game itself was stupid.

Who knows, maybe he’ll be surprised enough to not be bored.

“Today you will be picking your class representative.”

Chuuya literally did not care. The day just started and he was already assaulted at the front door and had to sit through the class day with his injuries that he was supposed to get healed this morning.

Iida immediately shot up to create a formal system to be able to vote. Chuuya didn’t really want to participate, but since there was a glaringly obvious answer in front of him he decided to go with that.

Although, he was getting some side-eyes from other classmates. He didn’t like that at all. He didn’t want anyone even considering to cast a vote for him.

Of course, if worse comes to worst, Chuuya would probably just appeal to someone that he didn’t have enough time on his hands with all the responsibility he had outside of school caring for his little siblings and whatnot.

So he put down Iida as his vote and didn’t bother thinking about the consequences of whatever.

Sure enough, just as he’d feared, he’d been voted the class president. He sighed, figuring he should accept for now and then state his excuse later after giving the old college try. That way people would assume he put in the effort before delegating the responsibility to someone else.

He was headed to lunch when he got a tap on the shoulder.

He did his best not to immediately swing violently at whoever was behind him, a habit he’d been forced to pick up. He turned around as slowly as he could manage, coming face to face with Midoriya.

“Hey, congratulations on winning the presidency!”

He was smiling genuinely, but it just felt like an insult to Chuuya’s injury. Speaking of, Chuuya had plans to go to Recovery Girl’s instead of lunch to finally get these stupid injuries fixed.

Chuuya smiled sheepishly, turning to face Midoriya head-on.

“Thank you. To be honest, though, I’m not totally sure I’m cut out for the position.”

Midoriya blinked, eyes wide as he shook his head. “What do you mean? You were so cool and decisive during the battle trials-”

“Well,” Chuuya frowned a bit. “That doesn’t really mean I’d be a good leader. I couldn’t even get my teammate to listen to me.”

Midoriya shook his head more adamantly. “No, no! That’s just how Kacchan is! He doesn’t really listen to anyone.”

These kids definitely knew each other before the school year started. That much was obvious from all that he had gathered about the two of them. Still, Chuuya didn’t care much about his classmates’ personal drama.

Chuuya just shrugged. “Well, there’s also that I think I’m too swamped as it is to really devote myself to the leadership position. I was going to try it out, but I don’t honestly think I’m a permanent fit.”

Midoriya cocked his head. “That’s… a pretty humble assessment. I know it must be frustrating to have to give up being president.”

Not really.

“I’m sure someone better will come along to fill my shoes.”

Midoriya smiled, stepping a bit closer. Chuuya fought the urge to back away and keep the distance between them.

“Say, would you like to join me for lunch? I’m eating with Iida and Uraraka.”

Chuuya supposed there wasn’t any harm in making some friends this time around. They would probably bring more completeness to his identity.

So he smiled softly, nodding. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

Midoriya smiled and began walking to the lunch room. Chuuya figured he could spare a few minutes for lunch and make some connections before going to get his injuries fully fixed.

He ended up never getting to heal his injuries during lunch.

Uraraka and Iida were both good, hard working kids at the end of the day. And Iida had seemed to almost have a heart attack when Chuuya had admitted that he had voted for him. His confidence seemed to soar upon hearing Chuuya’s assurances that he thought he’d make a great leader.

He had planned to finish up lunch early and head to Recovery Girl’s, so he’d waved goodbye to the trio of students and departed.

…and not even two seconds into his journey down the hallway and the alarm was going off. He barely had any time to react—he would’ve been faster if he thought the alarm was of actual concern, like Dazai trying to come visit him, god forbid—before a swarm of students came barreling down the hallway from all different directions. It seemed as though every student in the cafeteria had run out to trample him to death.

They ended up body slamming him head on, knocking him onto the floor. He was unaware of how long he was stuck there and what was going on around him as he shielded his face and tried to avoid getting stepped on.

For the mission for the mission for the mission-

He ached with bloodlust. It was in moments like these where he could actually hear Arahabaki’s voice.

“Don’t you love the smell of blood?”

Chuuya clenched his jaw, sucking in a breath. Shut up.

“Haven’t you missed nuisances being at your feet, begging for the mercy of a merciless god?”

Chuuya’s fists clenched involuntarily. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to concentrate on the feeling of getting trampled rather than the voice of that ancient calamity who did nothing but take and take and take-

“Don’t you want to-”

Someone stepped on his ankle, and his mind went too blank to listen to Arahabaki for a moment. Pain seared up into his leg, his nerves feeling like they were on fire. The rest of the injuries he already had weren’t enough for the universe to laugh at, he supposed.

He bit his tongue too hard, tasting metallic iron on his tongue. But then people stopped moving, and he heard a distant voice yelling. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but suddenly the mass hysteria was gone in the blink of an eye.

A little late, bastards.

He sat up when people started walking away, some of them shooting him troubled glances but no one stopping at all. He cursed them in his head to one day taste the rot of the slums. Chuuya wasn’t above wishing the worst on his most minor enemy.

The hallway all but cleared until he heard someone’s sharp intake of breath.

“Oh my god, Nakahara-kun?!”

Suddenly there was a pair of hands trying to help him to his feet, causing him to yelp as they tugged on the burns.

“Shit, sorry! I’m sorry!”

He shook his head and forced a smile, looking up at the face of… ah, Kaminari. One of the most stupid people he’d ever met. Maybe it was just because his only peer was Dazai, but Chuuya would swear that when some of his classmates opened their mouths he could feel his brain cells dying.

“No, it’s- it’s fine. I’m alright, Kaminari.”

The kid blinked, looking him over with uncertainty plainly evident in his eyes, worry written all over his face.

“Are you sure? No, wait, I should get you to Recovery Girl, huh?”

A presence Chuuya could sense behind him since it got there suddenly leaned down over his shoulder. Spiky red hair, mouth pulled into a deep frown. Kirishima.

“Yeah, you don’t look so good. Did they trample you?”

Chuuya sighed softly, nodding his head. “I was on my way to Recovery Girl anyway. I need to get my injuries from yesterday healed.”

Kaminari looked over his wounds, grimacing. “You got trampled with all that still…?”

Chuuya opted to ignore the comment and pushed himself to his feet. He instantly felt that his ankle was fractured by whoever had stepped on it. While normally it would be no problem for him to walk it off, he figured why not take advantage of the situation further?

He cried out and dropped back to the floor. Kirishima reached out frantically to catch him. In his panic he activated his Quirk halfway, his arms slightly hardened. Chuuya didn’t like the thought of being touched, especially by something that hard that would probably irritate his burns, but…

All the better for his plan.

When he hit Kirishima’s arms, he winced and swallowed another cry. But Kaminari and Kirishima caught it just barely. He quickly pulled his arms away, trying to shake off the hardening.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realize-”

Chuuya shook his head, grimacing and offering them a strained smile.

“It’s- it’s fine. No problem, it was an accident…”

“Here, let’s get you to the nurse’s office quick!”

Kaminari quickly looped Chuuya’s arm over his shoulder and hauled him to his feet, this time being mindful of his ankle. Kirishima hung back on his other side, flanking him protectively.

Damn idiots.

He allowed them to hobble with him to the nurse’s office, Kirishima bursting through the door unceremoniously and holding it open for them.

Miss Recovery Girl was sitting at her desk, looking vaguely unsurprised. She’d probably seen worse in her years of experience at a hero school. She looked over Chuuya’s injuries, taking in the dirty shoe marks on his uniform and the swelling ankle and apparently piecing it together.

She sighed deeply, hopping out of her chair and gesturing to a nearby cot.

“It seems UA needs to hold an assembly on how to behave during an emergency.”

Kaminari dragged Chuuya over to the cot and set him down as gently as he could. It was inexperienced enough that Chuuya could’ve let himself wince or cry out, but he decided that it wasn’t worth it. There were only three people here and he already looked pitiful enough.

She walked over, checking him over and making quick notes on her sheet before setting her clipboard and pen aside to take his hand.

He vaguely remembered this from yesterday; her kissing his hand and suddenly he felt all better. He had honestly just thought in his delirium that it was because he’d never been kissed lovingly before, but now that he saw her do it a second time it made more sense that it was how her Quirk activated.

She gently pressed her lips to his palm, and his skin began tingling. He felt the rest of his old injuries fade into nothingness, and the ache in his ankle dulled into a barely noticeable throb.

“Since the ankle is so fresh, I shouldn’t try to heal it all the way.” Recovery Girl explained, not that he was complaining. “It’s not broken anymore, but the fracture isn’t fully healed. If it doesn’t feel better by tomorrow, you can come back here and I’ll finish the treatment.”

He nodded, standing up and folding his hands together. He bowed lowly to show his appreciation. This wasn’t part of his facade at all. He just felt like being polite and appreciative to the one who healed his injuries was appropriate.

“Thank you, Miss Recovery Girl.”

She laughed softly and patted his head. He chose not to make a fuss about that.

“So sweet and polite. I’ve never had a student bow before.”

He stood up straight and raised an eyebrow in genuine confusion. “Why not? I figured it was an appropriate way to thank you.”

She merely tutted and shook her head. “The school nurse is usually a thankless job.”

Chuuya’s eyes widened in surprise. “That… doesn’t sound right.”

She patted his arm and gestured to the door.

“You boys had all better run to class before you’re late.”

Chuuya listened to her words without hesitation, silently swearing to protect that damn little old lady from the rest of the ungrateful hero brats.

One of the many benefits to living in Shigaraki’s basement was Dazai’s proximity to his electric cables.

That night, he went snooping into the dark recesses of the basement, nearly turning up empty before finding all of the cables. He grinned, knowing exactly how to hack into their different networks through a setup like theirs.

So he got to work with his laptop. He knew full well that All for One would be able to tell if and when someone hacked in. He could spot the security measures a mile away. And while he could take the time to get around them all, he honestly felt like this would be more fun.

He knew All for One was hiding something. He was dying to know what, mostly because he was so bored.

His computer made a noise and he perked up. An IP address and building number were displayed so kindly in the corner of the screen. He made sure to memorize them quickly for later use.

He went through the feeds of the different cameras he had hacked into, most of them tunnels or entrances that could be used to try to infiltrate All for One’s secret building. But something that caught his eye…

A bunch of purple tanks with… mutants in them? No, those weren’t mutant Quirks. They were something entirely different.

They looked inhuman, mindless, almost… mechanic.

Aha. What a dangerous game All for One was playing. Now Dazai really thought he and Chuuya should switch targets. Once Chuuya found out All for One was dabbling in human experimentation to this extreme, he would be itching to get to tear the man limb from limb.

Dazai was willing to bet that a number of them had been Ability Users. All for One had been swiping them for decades to use in his experiments, somehow remaining undetected until now. He was probably trying to find a way to harness Abilities for himself since his Quirk wouldn’t allow him to steal Abilities, which were tenfold stronger than Quirks.

His screen glitched a little, and he instantly knew that All for One was now aware of his presence in the monitors, and was likely even watching him through the computer camera.

He pretended not to notice, smiling unbothered at the mysterious tanks.

“How neat…”

Honestly, the dedication was solid, but Dazai would be damned before he actually honored the man’s efforts.

His screen began glitching again, a few pixels at a time before most of his screen had shorted out. Dazai let out a displeased though unbothered hum, waiting until the screen went black.

Dazai bit back a smirk. He wasn’t foolish to think All for One would let him off the hook that easily. So he playfully knocked on the screen of his computer.

“Hello~? Anyone home?”

He heard something crackly, and then a voice came through his computer.

“Honestly, I expected more from you, Dazai-kun.”

Dazai just grinned. “Mr. Main Man himself. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

The man sighed languidly on the other line. It was a sound Mori made all the time, and it instinctively made Dazai want to cause a problem.

“Perhaps I should ask why you are snooping into my private affairs.”

It wasn’t a question. Perhaps Dazai should’ve taken it as a command. But he wouldn’t be the bane of the Port Mafia’s existence if he didn’t have a little fun with the world’s worst villain.

“Shouldn’t you already know the answer if you’re the kind of man who sees all possibilities? I doubt my intrusion surprised you.”

The microphone was dead silent for a moment, but Dazai’s grin didn’t waver as he waited for the inevitable reply.

Finally, it crackled to life again. “...you doubt me, Dazai-kun.”

Dazai grinned wider, laughing airily. “What gave it away?”

All for One returned with a chuckle of his own. “I’m glad that you’re skeptical to trust those you haven’t met. It means you have a good head on your shoulders. I’m sure you have quite the mind.”

“Eh.” Dazai shrugged. “Nothing too impressive going on up here, really.”

All for One merely sighed again. “Perhaps I should be less forgiving towards your slights against me, but it is simply in my nature to nurture the talents in my possession.”

Dazai hated the way All for One talked about him like something he owned, a toy to play with and throw away later when it became insignificant. It almost reminded Dazai of how Mori would talk about Elise, which nearly sent a well-practiced shiver up his spine.

Dazai let his eyes sparkle in amusement, tailoring his persona to this man’s ideal.

“Talent? Do tell.”

All for One chuckled softly, seemingly amused. “Dazai-kun, I have the feeling things will spin out of my direction with you here, but I am curious to see what course you might lead Tomura down.”

Dazai grinned, feeling a spark of genuine excitement.

“Oh, believe me. It’ll be the most fun you’ve ever had in your life.”

Chuuya humbly bowed in front of the class, biting his tongue.

“I don’t think I can properly fulfill what the position of Class President requires. I do hope you all understand. I just don’t think I’m what you’re looking for.”

The class was silent for a moment before someone stood up—it didn’t surprise Chuuya when he lifted his head to see it was Iida. No matter how badly he wanted the position he was even more dedicated to making his dejected classmates feel better.

“Nonsense, Nakahara-kun! You displayed your tenacity and caring nature in the Battle Trials! If that’s not befitting of a Class President-”

“With all due respect,” Chuuya stood up fully to face the class. “What I did was incredibly stupid and reckless. It’s the same thing All Might lectured Midoriya against.”

Said classmate went a little rigid, trying to keep his yelp sustained.

“And besides that, I also broke character and disregarded the objective of the exercise. I may have stopped someone else from getting injured, but I ultimately didn’t stop injuries from happening. I just gave them to myself. Stepping in the way of Bakugou’s blast didn’t teach anyone what a real villain fight would be like. I wasn’t thinking in the moment and acted on impulse.”

He let that sink in, shuffling a bit awkwardly as no one did anything but stare wide-eyed at him.

“And, uh, besides… I think Uraraka was the real MVP of the battle.”

Said student squeaked, quickly standing up from her chair behind Iida. “W-what makes you say that, Nakahara-kun? Even with all that you said, you still caught both me and Deku!”

Chuuya tried not to cringe at the nickname. Wasn’t that an insult that the Bakugou kid used for Midoriya?

Eh, not his business, he decided.

“With everything I did wrong during the battle, I think it counterbalances my accomplishments.” Chuuya admitted sheepishly. “While you were eventually captured, you followed your team’s plan, listened to your teammate, and remained focused on the objective to the very end. It was only because of inexperience that you were caught. My sneak attack wouldn’t have worked so well if you had combat experience.”

Uraraka blinked at him, stunned into silence. Had no one ever praised her prowess before? Sure, the fighting skills of these hero brats were pathetic and sorry enough that Chuuya almost took pity on them, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t have extreme potential.

He ignored the look Aizawa seemed to be giving him from the corner of the room.

He turned back to the class, deciding to drop the topic of the battle trials for now.

“I planned on abdicating anyway based on personal reasons. But when I found out that Iida was the one who stepped up during the panic earlier today, I knew that I shouldn’t just step down, but I should advocate for him to be Class President.”

Iida’s mouth dropped open, but his eyes were also shining. He looked like he might cry if Chuuya wasn’t careful.

And Chuuya was rarely known for being careful.

He sent his most sincere smile Iida’s way, hoping that he pulled it off well enough.

“I truly think that with him in charge, our class will be in the best hands.”

Yaoyorozu stood up as well. She had been voted his Vice President. She nodded and turned to address the full class.

“I second Nakahara’s motion. I think that Iida will take our class in an excellent direction.”

The students of the class began voicing their agreement, some also standing up with gusto. Iida definitely was holding back tears now.

He walked up to the front of the classroom and Chuuya stuck out his hand.

“Do this class proud, Class President.”

Iida’s lips wobbled as he gripped his hand and shook it rigidly. For a moment Chuuya was worried that Iida was about to pull him into a hug, but his taller classmate seemed to refrain for the time being.

Chuuya smiled and sat back down in his seat, ignoring Bakugou’s muttering. He didn’t really trust the kid to sit behind him anymore, what with how he ended up the last time his back was to the live bomb. But he refrained from making a fuss, glad to have shirked off the responsibility of Class President. He honestly would’ve rather joined Dazai in a double suicide—not that he’d ever admit that to the damn mackerel.

So he watched with calculated pride on his face as Iida and Yaoyorozu stood in front of the classroom with their backs ramrod straight and their chins held high with the expectations of the rest of the class.

When school got out, Chuuya noticed traffic cones around the UA gate. As he and the group of people he was tagging along with for some reason passed through, the small flash of the sensor Chuuya usually noticed didn’t go off.

So the high-tech multi-billion dollar gate of the most expensive school in Japan just stopped working? Yeah, Chuuya wasn’t stupid.

He briefly wondered if it was Dazai causing havoc against him just for the fun of it. He could’ve seen Chuuya on the news this morning and thought it would be funny. But he hoped that wasn’t the case, since Dazai was supposed to stay away from him for now.

His group, consisting of himself, Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka, took a turn suddenly, and he saw that they were all heading to the subway entrance. Chuuya, knowing he had absolutely zero money on him, decided to say goodbye here.

Midoriya cocked his head, confused. “You’re not going to take the subway home?”

Chuuya just shook his head. “No, I walk home. I don’t have the money for a subway ride.”

Iida frowned and stepped forward, chopping his hands in the air. “That’s no trouble. I can pay for your ticket!”

“No, I wouldn’t want you to do that for me.” Chuuya waved off the request. “Besides, the subway doesn’t even go into my part of town, so there’s no point.”

They all gave him a confused look, which Chuuya understood. He hadn’t even known that fact until he got to Musutafu, but the city’s subway went between the better parts of town and the middle of the road parts of town in a circle. At best it would shave off maybe fifteen minutes of travel time for Chuuya, who lived in the absolute poorest part of the city.

“How far out do you live?”

Chuuya spared Uraraka a look. She had previously talked about how even though she rode the subway her walk home was quite substantial. He gave her a bit of a shrug.

“About the end of town, near the outskirts.”

Their faces were each a different level of their eyes popping out of their heads. It was kind of funny to watch. He turned away from them a bit, looking over his shoulder.

“It’s not really that bad. It gives me a lot of time to exercise my legs and think a bit.”

He waved over his shoulder as he turned to start walking.

“Oh, uh, stay safe Nakahara-kun!”

He didn’t respond, not quite sure which of them had yelled that as he kept going. Sure, the walk was long, but once he got far enough into the slums, no one would bat an eye at illegal Quirk use. He always would activate his Ability once he got far enough away from any law enforcement.

After all, not many heroes were willing to step into his part of the city.

It took him about a half hour to get home. The shortest distance was to the convenience store he used as a marker for when to activate his Ability, and then it was smooth sailing from there despite having most of the trip still ahead of him.

He pushed open the door to the apartment only to see Q with a chunk of Elise’s hair in the middle of a pair of scissors. They had clearly been wrestling and Elise didn’t look happy in the slightest.

Chuuya blinked for a moment, standing there in silence as they both looked at him with wide eyes. Saying nothing, he simply shut the door, toed off his shoes, and walked into the bedroom.

He heard Elise’s scandalized cry from the other room. “You’re not going to help me?!”

Chuuya merely huffed, rolling his eyes though he knew she couldn’t see.

“You can change your appearance at will. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

He could hear her whine and Q’s triumphant cackle, and the continued scuffle going on through the wall. He merely sighed and pulled out his homework from his backpack, spreading it out over the futon.

Every. Time. Damn kids.

Dazai breathed in the salty air of the port city, kicking aside the decomposing body of a beggar long dead and left for the dogs. Ah, home sweet home.

It felt weird to not have Akutagawa waiting at the entrance of the Port Mafia headquarters for him to return so that he could nag Dazai incessantly. But he brushed that thought aside and traversed through the doors.

It felt good to see the lackeys around him either cower or duck out of his vision as he came strutting past. Clearly his time away hadn’t done anything to diminish his reputation around HQ.

He burst into Mori’s office with no decorum, fully expecting to see the man monologuing to himself while staring out the wide windows overlooking the city. However, the boss wasn’t there.

Dazai glanced across the long room towards Mori’s desk, noting the way the boss was slumped over on his elbow, mindlessly flipping through reports. He didn’t even spare Dazai a glance.

“Wow, you look dead.” Dazai mused as he approached the desk leisurely. He had to say, this was a good look on Mori, looking all miserable. “Is this Elise withdrawal?”

Mori gave a long-suffering sigh, looking up at Dazai with a near uninterested look.

“Unfortunately for both of us, I don’t have a lot of time to go along with your musings today Dazai-kun.”

Dazai just shrugged. “I mean, I never really cared much if you had the time for it anyway.”

Mori just shook his head, clearly disappointed though he smiled wryly. “You know I hate to draw you away from the field, but I can’t risk sending more information than a simple summons into Musutafu. I am truly remorseful to have to see you so soon.”

Dazai just grinned. “Likewise.”

Mori raised an eyebrow, sighing languidly. His cool demeanor was returning.

“Are you not going to inquire about why I called you back to Yokohama?”

Dazai just sighed and cocked his head. “Are you not going to get on with it?”

Mori smiled sharply and stood up from his desk, circling around until he was standing a few feet away from Dazai.

“Sakaguchi has been taken.”

Dazai felt the sharp sting in his chest, though he forced it back down. There was no need to get worked up over a drinking partner- no, a Port Mafia clerk. That’s all he was.

“The HPSC, I presume?”

Mori nodded, grabbing one of the reports on his desk and holding it out for Dazai.

“He was taken late last night, the guards I assigned to him were in the middle of rotating shifts.”

Dazai hummed noncommittally. “So it was orchestrated by someone with insider information.”

Mori nodded with little enthusiasm. “We’re working on figuring out who was behind this. I currently have all the guards in solitary, though I let them be for a while so that if it was one of them they could conspire with their HPSC contact for a moment. We’re analyzing their personal belongings as we speak.”

“Ne, boss.” Dazai flipped through the report with little interest, not even really reading the words. “If Ango was taken, doesn’t that mean we need to get him back as soon as possible? He has all of our information, after all.”

Mori just smirked cooly and shook his head. “There’s no need to rush into things. Sakaguchi won’t crack under torture, and I have enough of my own agents infiltrating the HPSC to know that no one with a Quirk that can extract his information is accessible to them. For the time being, proceed with the plan.”

Dazai sighed and dropped the file back onto Mori’s desk. “Is that all you called me here for?”

“Considering this may change the game, yes.” Mori just smirked at Dazai. “Do make sure Chuuya gets the message. It’s more risky for me to contact him than you, so I assume you will be able to find a way to pass on the information soon.”

Dazai just hummed out an airy sigh, turning his back on Mori.

“As luck would have it, I have a commitment in a few days with my lovely little league where I’ll run into Chuuya quite conveniently.”

He could hear the smirk on Mori’s face. “I do hope you’ll behave yourself after going so long without seeing Chuuya-kun.”

Dazai donned a smirk of his own.

“Not to worry, boss~ I have everything figured out.”

Iida had everyone lining up in a succinct order to get onto the bus. Chuuya honestly didn’t care much, since he’d never actually been on a bus before. Thus, he had no qualms about wherever he got seated.

Upon entering, he makes a quick beeline for the back, noting how most of his classmates were sitting together in the same space, the very center of the bus. He was hoping for a more peaceful ride, so he took the seat beside Todoroki, smiling sheepishly when said student glanced up at him.

“Hope I’m not intruding.”

Todoroki just shook his head, opening and closing his mouth a few times before finally answering.

“It’s fine.”

Chuuya would take that, he supposed. He settled in his seat, surprised at the hardness of the seat. He was expecting a bit more out of a common mode of transportation. The trains in Yokohama were always comfortable, so he didn’t understand why buses weren’t.

Whatever, there was no use dwelling on any of it. He let himself retreat into his mind and focus on the movement of the busride. Todoroki also seemed to be tuning out the noise of their classmates ahead of them, keeping his eyes closed and his head leaned back.

He could tell Todoroki wasn’t sleeping by his breathing, but he decided to leave him be. Still, he only found his mind wandering back to thoughts of Akutagawa, hoping the kid wasn’t too scared or alone wherever he was.

He knew the kid was strong, as much as Dazai liked to claim the opposite. He could handle himself. But that tiny voice in Chuuya’s head that used to be the reigning voice of his reason when he looked out for the Sheep was muttering about finding him as soon as possible and keeping him close from then on.

The damn Hero Commission… Chuuya would never forgive them.

He wasn’t really tuned in as they filed off the bus, nor was he paying much closer attention as the Pro Hero Thirteen explained the purpose of the USJ to the class. Sure, it sounded neat and everything, but he doubted these sets could capture exactly how a real crisis felt.

He was just in the process of musing the potential whereabouts of the previous twelve versions of this hero when the lights flickered a bit.

This school can’t even afford proper lighting? No, that’s not it…

His eyes caught on a murky dark mass generating in the center of the arena, dozens of people emerging from the portal. It didn’t bother Chuuya, though. He could tell just from a glance that these people weren’t much of a threat.

At the forefront was a man covered in weird plaster hands—were those real at one point?—and he was flanked immediately by a fuckin’ huge bird-looking thing. It was ugly, was Chuuya’s first take on the thing.

And then, stepping out from behind the bird thing-

Chuuya’s breath caught in his throat. The dark coat, the bandages, the ruffled hair and lazy grin…

Dazai fucking Osamu.

Chapter Text

Dazai was fairly pleased with the morning so far.

He was allowed to sleep in for quite a while before being rounded up and forced to join the group Shigaraki had been assembling. While he was told to blend in and try to not look any different from the others, he couldn’t resist staying close to Shigaraki and his new pet.

Nomu… an intriguing concept.

Dazai had known that All for One was hiding something up his sleeve for the big moment. He expected All Might to be here, a hero faster and stronger by far compared to Shigaraki. Plus, he also anticipated a class of twenty hero students and at least two more heroes accompanying them. Obviously he had more plans than just some mediocre forces gathered from the streets.

Dazai had to admit, it wasn’t his first instinct to expect that All for One would include his human experiment. Not until later, that is. After quick thinking, Dazai deduced that it was the only logical explanation. This would not only be Shigaraki’s debut, but also the Nomu’s.

Here is where the heart of the plan would take root. Dazai immediately could tell that All Might wasn’t here. Not in immediate sight, and the gathered students and heroes alike looked far too stressed. If their precious number one hero were really here, or had any hope of showing up, they wouldn’t be so afraid.

At least, Dazai hoped not. He hoped that they had a little backbone to not look like they were going to piss themselves if they still thought All Might was coming to their rescue.

But alas, that was one thing Dazai couldn’t be certain of!

He caught a glimpse of burning sunset red among the students, and felt his grin stretch wider.

Now, Chuuya… it’s almost time.

Of course, for the mission they couldn’t really interact outside of villain and student. But Dazai knew that Chuuya was thinking the same thing as the chibi’s eyes moved from Dazai to the Nomu.

He knew what it was. And he knew what Dazai wanted him to do.

After all, he had told Chuuya to stand out as much as possible without raising alarm bells. Dazai had known All for One would have enough dirty tricks up his sleeve to try to compete with All Might. He was just too predictable.

This Nomu should be strong enough to at least give All Might the fight of his life, by what standards they currently held the man to. All Chuuya had to do… was be better than All Might.

While that wouldn’t be difficult, it might be harder for Chuuya to not be so outstanding that it raises questions about him. He needed to excel just enough for Dazai’s plan to be able to take root.

Of course, Dazai hadn’t informed Chuuya of his motives for having Chuuya stand out in that way. This way, it’d be loads more fun for Dazai. Oh, he couldn’t wait to see the look on the chibi’s face! He was sure to be flabbergasted when the time came!

Dazai bounced on the balls of his feet as Pro Hero Eraserhead jumped down to fight them. The other rookies began to swarm him, but Dazai knew better. While he had brought plenty of weapons, he wasn’t looking to fight Eraserhead today. Matter of fact, he wasn’t looking to fight anybody…

His only plan was to put on a good show and have a little fun.

He looked up and smiled as he saw Kurogiri’s dark smoke overtake the students, hearing their cries of fear and surprise.

This is going to be so much fun!

Fire. It had to be fire.

Ojiro was no expert on the USJ, but was it really safe to design a place intended for students that was constantly on fire? If they put out the fire after every use that would be one thing, but with the fire going on non stop—even when students weren’t training—there was quite a bit of smoke built up in the dome and settling towards the bottom. It made it exceptionally hard to breathe.

Ojiro wondered briefly if his parents would approve of him getting poisoned by smoke inhalation courtesy of UA.

Ojiro had called out for any of his classmates to see if anyone was in here with him. But he heard no response from another student. Although, he did find out quickly that wasn’t alone in the dome, so there was that.

He rounded another corner in an effort to outrun the villains in the Conflagration Zone with him. They must’ve all had Quirks that made it easy for them to adapt to fire and smoke, since they didn’t seem to be slowed down at all by the environment.

Ojiro had knocked out several villains already, but it felt like more kept replacing them. He wasn’t sure how many of them were in here, but he recalled there being quite a few villains that appeared from the black fog. He wasn’t optimistic about his circumstances.

His feet carried him as fast as they could, his legs aching with the strain. He wanted nothing more than to go home and pretend like he had a head cold so that he wouldn’t have to come back to this godforsaken place.

A villain’s hand landed on his shoulder, and he felt searing pain and could smell an acrid scent. Filled with dread, he realized it was the smell of burnt flesh—his flesh—as he swung around wildly to hit the man with his tail. He got the man to let go of his shoulder, but he didn’t back away.

Ojiro readied his fists for a fight, knowing it would’ve eventually come down to this anyways. He planted his foot and pivoted on his heel, spinning gracefully and knocking the guy into the side of a crumbling building.

These villains… weren’t that strong. It made Ojiro uneasy. The villains had seemed so confident, sure that they were a threat. But Ojiro was able to beat a good amount already, just on his own even at an environmental disadvantage.

Something… just wasn’t sitting right with him. It was like these guys weren’t the main event. Just keeping them occupied, probably so they couldn’t join the battle with the undoubtedly bigger threats: the hand guy, the one with the teleportation Quirk, and that weird not-quite mutant guy with the exposed brain.

Ojiro heard the sounds of scuffling feet and figured more villains were on his trail again. He took off in a sprint down the alley he was trying to go down earlier just in time to trip over something hunched and distinctly human.

He was about to let out a cry when the person wrangled him down and clapped a grimy hand over his mouth. Ojiro wanted to shout, but then he heard a distinctly familiar, hushed voice.

“Shh…” the person murmured hoarsely. “They’ll find us.”

Ojiro blinked. His eyes were stinging. He reached up and pried the hand away from his mouth.

“...Nakahara?”

Maybe Dazai was cheating a little. What else was new?

The moment the battles began, he took to the shadows. He laid low on the outskirts, far away from any conflict, and just made to observe. Shigaraki had wanted him to go to the Downpour Zone since his gun would prove effective there, especially against the two kids they’d stuck there—Animal Guy and Shadow Bird.

Dazai had quickly decided that he would not be doing that. He’d rather observe and wait for the proper moment to make his appearance. And really, did Shigaraki actually expect him to follow instructions? He certainly knew Dazai better than that!

Dazai had seen the exact moment when things started going wrong.

The kids in the Shipwreck Zone had made their escape faster than anticipated. Dazai couldn’t have them getting in the way of his plans for Chuuya—he’d spent a whole five minutes coming up with this plan, and he wasn’t about to have to rethink it even for a second!—but he wasn’t going to involve himself this early.

He watched with apathy as Eraserhead got beaten to a pulp, and he watched with vague curiosity at the green kid’s attempted attack.

The Nomu sure could move… not that it made it any easier of a pill to swallow for Dazai. The Nomu was likely an Ability User, or more than one, put together in an effort for All for One to gain a monopoly on Abilities.

Of course, it didn’t work. Dazai had discreetly touched the creature and there wasn’t a hint of evidence of their Abilities still being there. He would’ve felt No Longer Human activate.

After all, his Ability didn’t work on Quirks. Honestly though, going as Quirkless for his persona felt much more rewarding. Beating these pathetic losers all without using his Ability and coming off as the kind of person this society would deem the “most helpless” was just so funny!

From the corner of his eye, Dazai could see the Landslide Zone go up in ice. Not that he cared much. The hero brat could make his way down here all he wants. The only thing that would make this more troublesome for Dazai would be if All Might arrived. That would mean he’d take on the Nomu instead of Chuuya.

Dazai thought for a moment. The students at the front of the USJ were fighting against Kurogiri to get an opening to let out their fastest runner, that kid with the engines in his legs. Dazai could not allow for All Might to arrive too early. However, letting them open the door only meant that the ability to signal for help would be restored. They could call for help, though it would take a minute for the signal to come back on. The UA staff would be alerted, but there was no telling how fast they’d get here. Plus, there was no telling if All Might was even at UA right now.

Now with a plan in mind, he tapped his comm.

“Kurogiri, I think I can help~” He sang. “Oh! But I’ll need a portal.”

Though it was hard to see in the dark alley, especially through all the smoke, Ojiro could vaguely make out Nakahara’s form.

“Yeah, Ojiro, right?”

Ojiro made a sound of agreement. “Yeah, it’s me. Is anyone else here?”

He made out the movement of Nakahara shaking his head.

“Think we’re the only ones here.”

Ojiro’s vision started to adjust a bit to the darkness, gaze catching on a glint somewhere down by Nakahara’s leg.

He felt his stomach twist as he realized what it was that was glinting in the light of the distant flames.

“Nakahara-”

His classmate clapped his hand over Ojiro’s mouth again to keep him quiet, but Ojiro kept his eyes on his leg. A large shard of glass was jutting out from between his shin and calf, seemingly lodged into the muscle.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Nakahara rasped, drawing his hand back. “Tell me, have you taken-”

Nakahara broke out into a coughing fit then, and Ojiro worriedly put his hand on his friend’s back. He felt his classmate flinch a little, but he didn’t try to pull away.

“Sorry,” Nakahara rasped, gasping a bit as he got himself under control. “Have you taken down any villains?”

Ojiro nodded quickly, still worried about the state of Nakahara’s lungs and leg but deciding to drop it for now.

“I took down four.”

Nakahara huffed a bit. “Good, good. Means there’s less.”

Ojiro felt himself puff up in a bit of pride at that. Having the praise come from the top scorer in the entrance exam—and the classmate who was just by far the most impressive—felt like a huge compliment.

Nakahara gripped Ojiro’s shoulder, pulling their faces closer and making the image of his face clearer. He lowered his voice.

“I think I took down around twelve. We should be nearing the end of their numbers.”

Well, that was a reality check. Still, Ojiro wouldn’t dwell on it right now.

“What do we do?”

Nakahara huffed a bit, pulling his hand away.

“Let’s see… we don’t know how many are left, but it should be enough for our combined efforts. The issue is the fire and the smoke wearing us down. The longer we stay in here, the worse off we’ll be.”

Ojiro nodded. “Then, should we make ourselves targets? I mean, they’re here to keep us busy, so if we defeat what’s left of them we’ll be able to leave.”

Nakahara hummed. “There’s also the possibility of them just toying with us. They don’t need to fight us, just keep us here. I’d say we rush the exit and take down anyone who’s in our way. If we’re lucky, they may not even notice we escaped.”

Ojiro felt himself breathe a sigh of relief. Saying it like that, Nakahara had made it sound so simple.

“Alright.” Ojiro stood, offering a hand to Nakahara. While his classmate seemed to hesitate, he took the hand and stood up shakily.

“Let’s not die.”

Ojiro could agree with that.

They did it. Iida got through the doors. It was game over for the villains. Except…

It wasn’t.

Uraraka wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting once Iida got through the doors. But it wasn’t… Iida immediately walking back through the doors looking as white as a sheet.

“Iida-kun?” She stepped forward in shock. The others seemed to freeze around her. “What are you…?”

And then she saw it. Someone standing right behind him, someone who looked strangely young with bandages around his right eye and arms as much as she could see. He wore an expensive looking outfit in black, and…

He was smiling. Calmly. Without a care in the world.

The guy sighed languidly, nudging Iida through. While Uraraka couldn’t see, she guessed there was some sort of Quirk involved.

“My, my, Kurogiri~” The guy’s voice was eerie, and it sent shivers up Uraraka’s spine.

The guy’s visible eye scanned over the group of students, and Uraraka went rigid as the lifeless brown passed over her. “Looks like you’ve got your hands full with a bunch of kiddies…”

The mist guy just sighed and seemed to shake his head. Uraraka hated the way she couldn’t move, couldn’t run to help Iida, couldn’t stop her legs from shaking. They had failed. Their one chance!

“Yes, thank you for the assistance.”

“And the foresight!” The guy winked. Something about him was so casual it reminded her of a student, but also so undeniably wrong that she thought she might get sick to her stomach. “Had it not been for my quick thinking, this little guy would’ve wound up alerting the heroes for sure.”

The mist guy—Kurogiri, it would seem—didn’t seem that grateful.

“The signal will be restored shortly if we don’t intercept it.”

The guy just waved his hand casually and shoved Iida forward again. Uraraka felt dread sinking into every fiber of her being, and then she saw it.

A gun. A weapon not very commonly seen in the hands of villains. They tended to rely on their Quirks alone.

The guy seemed to hold his gun casually, not caring where it was pointed or if his finger was on the trigger at some points versus others. It made Uraraka’s body freeze in fear.

Where… What about Deku? He always has a plan! Surely there is a way to salvage this…

The villain in front of her just waved off Kurogiri’s concern without a care.

“Ah, who cares? Let’s just wrap this up then. We have plenty of time.”

Kurogiri had apparently moved away from them and back to the hand man’s side, though the volume of his voice didn’t diminish. Truly, Uraraka felt her hope dwindle right then. She wasn’t sure what this villain was getting at, but she didn’t like it one bit.

“And how do you expect to ‘wrap this up’ as you say?”

All Might… please…

The villain looked over the crowd in almost… excitement. Uraraka took an instinctive step back, as did some of her other classmates.

“Why,” he flashed the gun, barrel glinting. “By finishing them off, of course!”

A couple students cried out, some frantically stepping away from him. Uraraka’s eyes followed the gun. She couldn’t even bring herself to scream for her life.

Unexpectedly, Shouji immediately moved forward to rush the villain, hoping to catch him by surprise. Uraraka almost thought that the villain had no time to react since he didn’t move at all, until-

Bang!

A loud, sharp sound exploded so close to where she was standing. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the villain had effortlessly fired his gun, taking off one of Shouji’s extensions. Luckily, it wasn’t any of his main arms, but something told Uraraka that the intended target was hit perfectly.

The villain smiled coldly, twirling his gun a bit as Shouji cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Uraraka’s blood went cold.

“Oh, quit whining already,” the villain rolled his eyes. “Are you telling me a gunshot wound is the worst pain you’ve ever felt?”

He stepped up to Shouji and kicked him away with a look of cold indifference, as if he’d just killed a fly. Uraraka found herself moving on instinct as she stepped forward and dropped to Shouji’s side, trying to get a look at his injury.

“That was a warning, by the way.” He sighed, rolling his eyes a bit. “I still have to get confirmation from my boss.”

At this point, Uraraka didn’t dare take her eyes off the villain in front of her, so the hand villain’s response was lost on her. But she guessed what it must have been.

“Aww!” The villain with the gun dropped his shoulders and sighed. “You’re no fun, Shi-”

There was another loud bang at that moment, and for a brief second Uraraka thought she’d see All Might burst in to save them. But no, it came from the fire dome…

Something was flying towards them, something… red?

It landed in the middle of the students, Nakahara visible as he dropped Ojiro—unconscious—from his back and rushed forward. He kicked the villain to the side swiftly—not using his Quirk for some reason—and threw the USJ doors open.

“Iida, go!”

Iida immediately listened, dashing forward without a second thought. Nakahara chased after the gun villain. A couple students tried to rush through the doors as well but Kurogiri suddenly blocked the path.

Although just a moment ago things were hopeless, suddenly Uraraka felt just a little bit of hope spark.

Nakahara… she’d treat him to whatever he wanted after this.

Dazai groaned from where Chuuya had cornered him, on the outskirts of the USJ behind some rocks from the Landslide Zone. He’d been hiding here earlier.

Honestly, Dazai’s usefulness was done for this portion of the plan. All he needed to do now was have his fun. Even if All Might would be on his way, Chuuya was perfectly set up to do what he needed to do now.

So, Dazai did his best to sit up despite the pain.

“Now, how about that Nomu, huh?” He raised an eyebrow to taunt his partner, and as expected a vein popped out on Chuuya’s forehead.

“Play dead, mackerel.” Chuuya spat, coughing slightly. Dazai was a little glad to see that Chuuya could still act like his normal self after so long in character. Not that he’d ever admit it, though.

Dazai’s eyes trailed over Chuuya’s form unapologetically, taking in the ash and soot, eyes stopping on the large shard of glass in his leg. At least it was still in there so blood loss was minimal for now. But it had to be painful.

Dazai felt his mood darken a bit, eyes narrowing at the wound. But he kept up his easy smile without difficulty.

“Did the slug do that to himself, or did one of those pathetic rookies get the jump on you?”

Chuuya huffed and looked down at the injury, an ugly scowl present on his face. This expression looked much better on him than any of that fake politeness.

“It was necessary… the boss said to get as hurt as possible in any encounter so long as it wouldn’t debilitate me.” He sighed hoarsely, giving Dazai a hard kick as if just for fun this time, proving that the injury had in fact not debilitated him. “But that’s none of your business.”

Dazai just shook his head and tutted. “That is no way for a good dog to behave. I ought to sign you up for obedience classes.”

Chuuya took an immediate step forward, planting his foot into the ground. Unfortunately for him, it was his injured leg, and he bit back a curse as he looked down. Dazai bit back a chuckle.

“One more thing, before you go.”

Chuuya looked up at him, annoyance present on his face. Oh, how Dazai had missed this!

Dazai waved Chuuya over, and as soon as he was within reach he grabbed his partner’s wrist and flipped them over, causing Chuuya to let out a cough as his back hit the ground. If anyone saw them, they’d look like they were still fighting. Though, the precaution was likely unnecessary. But Mori had wanted him to pass this highly sensitive information to Chuuya somehow, after all.

“The fuck are you doing, bastard-”

Dazai pressed a hand over Chuuya’s mouth, keeping him with his back pressed into the ground. He chose not to tease him this time for the blush on his face, almost as red as his hair!

“Don’t you know, Chuuya?” Dazai cocked his head innocently. “The king’s council hardly shares their records with others. So greedy they are, wouldn’t you say?”

Chuuya looked confused for a moment before schooling his face and nodding. Dazai just had to hope he’d understood the message. If not, he could decode it himself later.

“Remember that. Though, do take it slow, since kings are also lazy and often unqualified.” Dazai shrugged, removing his hand from Chuuya’s mouth. “But that’s a lesson for later. You have more pressing matters to deal with right now.”

Chuuya glanced past Dazai towards the central plaza, huffing. His breath rattled in his chest in a way Dazai chose to ignore.

“You want me to fight that thing, right?”

Dazai grinned and nodded. “Better get on it, before number one gets here.”

Chuuya just rolled his eyes and threw Dazai off of him, quickly getting to his feet. “Whatever, bastard. I mean it when I say play dead. This’ll probably get ugly.”

Dazai sat up fully and began dusting himself off a bit. “Then it’ll go perfectly with your look today!”

Kicking Dazai back down into the dirt one final time, Chuuya took his leave quickly. Dazai just leaned on his elbows and watched him go, knowing that no one would think to come looking for him until the rest of the villains were dealt with.

Chuuya was number one for their class, after all. They probably assumed right away that he’d beaten Dazai unconscious before going to fight the Nomu.

All he needed to do now was bide his time for the right moment, and catch his partner off guard when he least expected it!

Chuuya had to admit, the feeling of fighting Dazai came with great relief. Finally, he could look like himself, talk like himself, act like himself at least for a moment.

And, honestly, the feeling of No Longer Human washing over him was a comfort he hadn’t felt in a long time. Arahabaki was a constant thrum of energy, a vague hum in the back of his mind that got progressively more riled up during fights. It had been bordering on giving him a headache since this attack started, and he was getting sick of it. To have the noise silenced even for a moment was a huge respite.

Of course, it came with the catch that he had to be wary in case anyone could see or hear them, but he was sure they were in the clear. He and Dazai hadn’t sensed anyone nearby, and everyone would be focused on the main conflict in the central plaza anyway.

He felt the thrum of Arahabaki returned as he made his way down the rubble towards where the giant thing was—Dazai had called it the Nomu.

Chuuya’s leg hurt like a bitch, but that was the price he’d had to pay. When he’d been launched into that fire zone thing he’d been able to catch himself enough to make sure that he didn’t die on impact, but he allowed for injury to happen because he figured it would make it more believable. Also, it fit the objective for his role set by Mori in this mission.

Just his luck that allowing for injury had ended up getting the most huge fucking piece of glass stuck in his leg, but whatever. It wasn’t important right now. He’d dealt with worse, and right now his focus was to be on the Nomu.

Of course, that still didn’t mean what Dazai had said was erased from his mind.

“Don’t you know, Chuuya? The king’s council hardly shares their records with others. So greedy they are, wouldn’t you say?”

Chuuya got the message, loud and clear. The king’s council was the Hero Commission, the ‘records’ they don’t want to share is Sakaguchi, the Port Mafia clerk. This is shit news for sure, but at least it came with a bit of good news.

“Though, do take it slow, since kings are also lazy and often unqualified.”

The Hero Commission must have been moving slowly—hence, lazy—and not have the equipment or manpower at their disposal to get the information out of Sakaguchi—unqualified.

Still, that didn’t make this shit any better. He despised Dazai for telling him now of all times, but even he understood that there likely wasn’t going to be a better time to inform him.

He shook the thoughts from his head. Dazai wasn’t telling him so that he would do something about it now. His objective in the mission was the same as before. Dazai had assured him not to rush, that this wasn’t a current issue. Right now, there was but one issue at hand.

He saw a couple classmates trying to fight the Nomu, but it seemed to possess regenerative capabilities. He hated to think of all the experimentation that went into creating this thing—it made his skin itch, the back of his neck where his ID number sat burned like fire—but he pushed his thoughts aside and quickly jumped into the action.

The Nomu’s back was to him, so he landed a swift kick between its shoulder blades. Unlike Midoriya’s blows, which failed to move the Nomu even a millimeter, Chuuya’s kick sent the thing flying. That’s what happened when gravity was involved, after all.

His classmates who were fighting the thing all looked at him in surprise and relief. Well, except for-

“The hell, extra?!” Bakugou spat at him from a few meters away, glaring at him furiously. “I had him!”

Chuuya ignored the comment, wanting nothing more than to punt Bakugou next but figuring that would be inappropriate.

Dazai wanted him to fight this thing. And since he was supposed to show off as much as possible, he figured that meant fighting it alone. Though, getting his classmates out of the way might prove to be a problem.

Luck seemed to be on his side, though. Because the villain had taken notice of him.

Chuuya wasn’t stupid, he could pick out the main boss. The guy with all the hands had been all bark and no bite, and the Nomu seemed to listen only to him. Plus, the smoke guy too.

While he couldn’t see the man’s face, he could tell he was watching Chuuya closely. While this normally wouldn’t be ideal, impressing this villain should be enough to take care of the classmate problem.

As luck would have it, the villain did exactly what he wanted.

“You’re a strong one,” he rasped, voice scratchy and gross. “No one has been able to move my Nomu.”

Chuuya didn’t know how heroic it was to accept a villain’s compliment, so he chose to move on from that. He ignored the villain altogether and shot after the Nomu, who was tottering back over to its master.

“So, that’s how it’s gonna be?” The villain huffed from behind Chuuya. “Fine then. Nomu, teach this hero brat a lesson!”

As hoped, the Nomu was now fully focused on Chuuya. His other classmates could involve themselves in their fight if they so dared, but now Chuuya set the playing field, and the Nomu just had to catch up.

One thing was for certain, Chuuya was faster than anyone here. He was leagues ahead of his classmates and these villains, so he decided to set the pace fairly high to dissuade any of his classmates from getting involved.

Knowing Bakugou, he’d still try. But even so, he wouldn’t be able to keep up with them at all.

Chuuya didn’t bother waiting for the Nomu to make the first move, instead launching himself right at it without hesitation.

Alright… time to see what the shitty mackerel’s plan really is.

Nakahara fought like a beast. It was both fascinating and terrifying to watch.

This was a creature specifically bioengineered to keep up with All Might. That’s what the villain had said. But now, from Midoriya’s point of view, it looked like Nakahara was leading this thing around on a leash, a game of cat and mouse.

He hadn’t had the chance to express his concern for Nakahara before the fight had begun. His classmate was covered in ash and burns, had blood dripping down his leg from a shard of glass sticking out of it, and could still occasionally be heard coughing.

Obviously, he’d wound up in the Conflagration Zone. It couldn’t have been easy being thrust into that situation. Midoriya felt lucky that he still had fresh air and an open space to deal with the villains, plus Asui and Mineta. He didn’t know if anyone else had been in the Conflagration Zone with Nakahara.

Kacchan was trying to join the fight, but always seemed too late. Once he chased them down to their newest stopping point, they began the chase all over again.

Midoriya could tell that Kacchan was getting frustrated. When it came to Nakahara, he was naturally angry. He had beaten Kacchan’s score in the practical entrance exam, and had upstaged him during the battle trials. Midoriya knew Kacchan long enough to know that he held grudges worse than anyone, and always took someone else’s strength personally.

Kacchan tried to go in for a blast just as the Nomu dodged. For a moment Midoriya was worried that the explosion would hit Nakahara, but luckily their classmate managed to dodge the attack.

“Bakugou!” Nakahara gasped, briefly lunging away from the Nomu. “I’ve got this handled for now! Go help the others escape, please!”

Midoriya really admired Nakahara for how he was handling the whole situation—it had to be straining to be fighting something almost on par with All Might, and annoying for a stubborn and persistent classmate insisting on getting in the way of the whole thing—but his efforts were all in vain.

After all, there was no way Kacchan would willingly step down from a challenge.

“Those extras can fend for themselves!” Kacchan launched at the Nomu, and would’ve been hit in the neck with the speed the Nomu dodged and launched its own attack had Nakahara not deflected the blow with one of his own.

Of course, Kacchan didn’t take that as a personal defeat, continuing to keep attacking.

“I’m not letting you surpass me!”

Midoriya wanted to scream that Nakahara had already surpassed Kacchan a long time ago, but right now that wasn’t what they needed to worry about. Having to not only fight off the Nomu but also repeatedly save Kacchan had to be taking a toll on Nakahara, who seemed to be the only one who could fight off the Nomu anyway. They had to help him somehow.

Midoriya turned to Todoroki and Kirishima, grabbing both of their shoulders and ignoring their surprised reactions.

“It might be unorthodox, but we have to get Kacchan out of there.”

He didn’t appear to need to explain himself to the two of them, immediately receiving their nods of confirmation. Todoroki stepped forward, his right arm forming ice crystals as a chilled fog curled off of it.

Midoriya grabbed Kirishima in his arms, an unspoken agreement forming between them as they waited for the right moment.

As soon as Todoroki’s ice wall went shooting up beneath them, Midoriya braced to launch, calling upon One for All. He could feel the bones in his legs break as he hurled himself upward, but at this point the heroes should already be on their way. He had nothing else to offer but this.

After all, Kacchan would die at this rate, and might take Nakahara down with him. Then the Nomu would turn on the rest of their classmates. They couldn’t afford for it to go on like this any longer.

The ice wall had separated Kacchan from the rest of the fight for a brief moment, catching him off guard as Midoriya launched right at him, Kirishima in his arms, and tackled him in midair before he could gather his bearings.

Kirishima hardened himself as he wrapped his arms around Kacchan, keeping him from being able to wriggle out of his hold. Another tall slope of ice went up right where they were falling from. A good thing too, since Midoriya had no plan for how to land.

They slid down the slope of ice towards the ground quickly. Kacchan started thrashing and yelling in their grip.

“DAMN EXTRAS! LET GO OF ME! DON’T GET IN MY WAY!”

Midoriya bit back a sigh, ignoring most of his comments as they slid off the ice and tumbled a bit on the ground as they lost their momentum. Midoriya let go of Kirishima as soon as they stopped, though Kirishima kept his tight hold on Kacchan, doing his best to subdue him.

Midoriya frowned as the adrenaline began to wear off a bit, the sharp pain in his legs bordering on unbearable even with his blood still pumping. He hardly noticed that Todoroki was running over to them until he was at Midoriya’s side.

He didn’t know Todoroki all that well, but he was at least glad that his classmate understood teamwork and helping others. He had been worried that he would be like Kacchan and demand to do things on his own. While he seemed to be like that sometimes, there were other times like these where he prioritized his classmates. Midoriya was glad that it was now, since during a villain attack was when the situation really called for it.

Todoroki immediately used his Quirk to ice Midoriya’s legs. He was as gentle as possible, but there wasn’t a lot he could do with no supplies and so little time.

“We need to get out of here.” Todoroki muttered lowly, giving Kacchan a glance as Kirishima tried to calm him down. “The battlefield is expanding, and with us not being in the fight we should make our way to the exit.”

Midoriya nodded. While the exit still seemed to be blocked by the dark mist guy, it was their best bet with the shape a lot of them were in.

Besides, it would be best to give Nakahara some space during his fight so he wouldn’t have to worry about liabilities.

“Good idea, Todoroki.”

He let Todoroki lift him up onto his back as Kirishima struggled with dragging Kacchan towards the exit with them. At the very least, it seemed like Kirishima was the best choice since his hardening was mostly immune to Kacchan’s explosions and he fared well against his temper.

They neared the top of the stairs when they heard one of the ice walls crashing down. Midoriya looked over his shoulder to see that Nakahara had pushed the Nomu through it. He seemed to be attacking faster than the Nomu could regenerate.

It was truly amazing. If Midoriya had been walking, he would’ve stopped in his tracks. As it was, Todoroki kept hauling him up the stairs.

The mist villain was still blocking the exit, but it seemed that he wasn’t making any moves to attack. He was only keeping the rest of the students here. Midoriya wanted to suggest that Kacchan should get rid of this villain instead, but he knew that Kacchan was hellbent on taking down the Nomu.

“Deku!”

Midoriya’s attention caught on Uraraka, who looked to be bent over Shouji. She seemed to have wrapped up one of his appendages.

“Uraraka!”

Todoroki walked over to where they were and set Midoriya down. Uraraka immediately leaned over to check up on them as Todoroki began melting the ice off Midoriya’s legs.

“Oh, you’re hurt! Here, we have bandages.”

Uraraka passed a roll to Todoroki, and began patching up his left leg as Todoroki finished off the ice from the right.

They all casted a wary glance towards the mist villain, as silent and immobile as ever.

Midoriya made sure to keep his voice low so he wouldn’t be overheard. Of course, with Kacchan yelling a few feet away, it would be harder to hear him anyway.

“We need to do something about the mist villain.”

Uraraka nodded. Shouji also leaned in, seeming hesitant.

“Last time, we only managed to get Iida out because of Nakahara…” He looked down, seeming nervous. “What if that villain shows up again?”

Midoriya found himself frowning and sharing a look with Todoroki.

“What villain?”

Uraraka glanced at Shouji and frowned.

“There was this… villain. We got Iida through the gate, but there was someone waiting outside for him.”

Midoriya froze. He hadn’t thought about whether or not the villains had backup outside.

“From what I could tell,” Uraraka continued, still wrapping his leg. “He was the only one, and he came in with Iida. Nakahara took him down and let Iida out, and the villain hasn’t popped up since.”

Midoriya sat forward a bit, wincing slightly. “What was the villain’s Quirk?”

Uraraka shook her head. “We don’t know. He never used it. He just used a gun, and he shot Shouji.”

Midoriya’s eyes bugged out of his head, his mind racing a mile a minute. Didn’t use his Quirk? Used a gun instead? Was it like Snipe’s Quirk where it worked on bullets, or did the villain have a different reason? Maybe he just liked using guns-

“Deku,” his attention snapped back up to Uraraka, who gave him a small smile. “It should be fine. Nakahara-kun took him down a while ago. We’re just worried that something like that may happen again. That villain…”

She shuddered, and Shouji nodded in agreement, turning to meet Midoriya’s eyes.

“He was terrifying. Something about him felt worse than the guy with all the hands.”

Midoriya frowned again. He didn’t like the sound of this guy. He remembered the feeling of terror he felt when the hand villain had nearly disintegrated Asui—would have, if not for their teacher.

Had it been like that? Or was it worse?

He was glad Nakahara seemed to have taken care of him, then. That way the pro heroes could deal with him when they got here.

Still, a part of him was set on edge by the fact that they didn’t know the guy’s Quirk. Could he have been saving it for the right time to use it? Had that time even passed yet?

Suddenly, the mist villain piped up.

“Shigaraki Tomura, it seems like the heroes are almost here. Shall we withdraw?”

Midoriya didn’t even know if said villain had been listening, too busy throwing a tantrum over the fight with Nakahara and the Nomu. But Kacchan had been listening.

“Running away?” He tried to lunge at the mist villain. “I’ll beat you! That’ll really give you a reason to run scared!”

Kirishima made the wise decision to let Kacchan go as soon as he finished his declaration, the Nomu forgotten for now as he lunged, his hands crackling with light.

Midoriya just hoped that it took him longer to defeat the mist villain than it took Nakahara to defeat the Nomu, so that Kacchan wouldn’t try anything.

Uraraka quickly took over Todoroki’s wrappings so that he could join the fight. She settled herself on his right side and patted his arm gently.

“The pros will be here any minute…” She muttered, seemingly more to herself than to him. Midoriya understood that, though. He was strung so high up that it would probably take him weeks to come down.

He looked over his shoulder to observe the state of the other villains. The hand villain—Shigaraki Tomura—wasn’t making any moves to protect the mist villain, and the Nomu seemed to literally be shredding apart at the sheer force of Nakahara’s attacks. With the pro heroes likely minutes away, Midoriya finally felt himself begin to relax a little.

Then the Nomu managed to rip the large shard of glass from Nakahara’s leg, causing his classmate to cry out. Midoriya suddenly became very aware of the possibility of Nakahara bleeding out as he watched the formerly slow trickle of blood start to flow more freely.

Nakahara didn’t slow down, didn’t give himself a moment of respite with how fast his battle was going. At times they were moving so fast Midoriya’s eyes couldn’t follow, but his classmate likely couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer while losing so much blood.

The terror began to sink into his chest again.

If Dazai were anyone else, he would’ve been worried about his partner.

He had scooted a little closer to the fight while still laying low in the rocks. He just wanted a better view of the fight, honestly. It was getting intense!

He knew Chuuya could easily have just touched the Nomu and crushed it to death under the weight of gravity from all sides. That likely would’ve traumatized some classmates though, even if the Nomu wasn’t a real person. Chuuya was likely trying to preserve his image. On top of that, he was dragging out the fight to really show off what he could do. He was wiping the floor with that thing.

He saw the moment the glass was ripped out, pure unbridled rage encasing Chuuya’s face. To anyone else it might look like a grimace of pain, but Dazai could sense the bloodlust rolling off of him.

He made a mental note to touch Chuuya once more before they parted ways, just to make sure that he could calm Arahabaki before it became a problem.

Chuuya picked up his speed, the Nomu matching for a while before it too began to fall behind. Blows landed on every inch of the Nomu’s shredding form before its regeneration seemed to fully halt. Chuuya kept going, attacking from all sides and all but tearing this thing apart. Or rather, he let the thing tear itself apart. Chuuya wore it down to its very base, until its skin must’ve been as thin as paper.

From the corner of his eye, Dazai saw that Kurogiri was putting up a decent fight before suddenly vanishing and reappearing beside Shigaraki. Dazai didn’t even have to look to know that the pro heroes had arrived.

Or, just All Might for now, it would seem.

“Young Nakahara!” The large man’s voice shook the entire dome. His presence seemed as if it would be intimidating to normal people. “Fall back! I can handle it now, because I am here!”

Dazai made a show of gagging even though he was perfectly hidden from everyone’s sights.

But Chuuya did not listen, instead dealing one final blow that blew a hole larger than the chibi straight through the Nomu’s chest and abdomen. The creature showed no sign of getting back up, its eyes freezing open and its brain deflating humorously as if it were truly dead.

The air in the room seemed to freeze, everyone speechless as Chuuya stood up and dusted himself off, ignoring the burns and blood covering him.

He coughed horribly, but nonetheless looked up at All Might and gave him a grin.

“I think I got it covered, sensei.”

Dazai bit back a chuckle and nodded. That was all he needed, and now it was time for his fun!

All Might couldn’t believe his eyes at what he was seeing.

Running into young Iida was by chance, and to find out the situation had left him shaken to his core. He didn’t want to think about what the kids were all going through, so he’d rushed here as quickly as he’d been able while having just about spent his limit today.

He thought he’d arrived just in time to save one of the students from being finished off by some giant mutant, though whispers of human experimentation in the underground had been prominent lately. He could figure out that’s what he was looking at.

And then… as quickly as he had identified the threat, it vanished. Gone, with one last thrust of Nakahara’s fist.

The arena remained silent for a moment before the villain covered in hands began to throw a fit.

“What did you do?!” He screeched, his fingers coming up to scratch at his own neck. “You- you destroyed it!”

Young Nakahara turned to face him, frowning.

“Well, you’re the one who told it to chase after me, so…”

It wasn’t good that young Nakahara was talking back to a villain, especially one who looked so mentally unstable at the current moment. He readied himself to swoop in and get him out of harm’s way when young Bakugou tried to launch himself down towards the plaza.

All Might was faster, intercepting him and bringing him back up to where the remaining students were gathered. He wanted to set the student down, but knew young Bakugou better than that.

He was about to chastise him to get him to sit still and stay put when he saw several of the students freeze, each looking down at the plaza in terror. Without putting young Bakugou down, he spun around quickly to see what had them so scared.

It was… a young kid, seemingly around the same age as the class. He didn’t seem to be in any kind of hero uniform, wearing a nice black formal outfit. He wasn’t holding any weapon as he rushed over, and his body language didn’t seem threatening in the least. All Might didn’t recognize him, though.

Why were the students…?

He rushed right up to young Nakahara, against the cries from several students as well as the hand villain shouting out.

“Hey!” The hand villain took a step forward, but went no further as the young kid reached his target.

Young Nakahara had turned to look at him a little too late before the kid was grabbing onto his wrists and pulling him closer to him.

“Please marry me!”

…what?

Chuuya was furious.

Furious at the Nomu for putting him in more pain than was necessary, furious at All Might for underestimating him—though he wasn’t surprised—and furious at Dazai. Just what was the idiot trying to pull?!

But more than anything, he was furious that he was so caught off guard he couldn’t even be fully furious, and was mostly just confused and flustered.

“H-huh?!”

Dazai pulled him in close to his face, his visible eye shining with excitement.

“You were like an angel out there! I simply must make you mine!”

Dazai would never… and in front of so many people? This…

This was the bastard’s plan, wasn’t it? Why he was so adamant that Chuuya stand out. It was all so he’d have a reason to punk Chuuya and make this embarrassing and obnoxious declaration.

Chuuya ignored the relief he felt at Arahabaki’s voice quieting at Dazai’s touch, pulling his arms away and stepping back, but the mackerel just kept following him, as if prowling.

“Oi, psycho!”

That voice sounded pissed, and Chuuya briefly glanced over to the hand villain, who seemed more outraged than even Chuuya.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“Didn’t you see it, boss?” Dazai glanced over at the man with a grin. It was weird hearing Dazai call someone else ‘boss’ for a change. “He was incredible! You can’t blame my fascination!”

There was a sudden gust of wind, and Chuuya would’ve been swept up by All Might’s incoming arms had Dazai not pulled him away just in time. His chest was pressed up against Chuuya’s back, his arm wrapped around his shoulder, under Chuuya’s chin. He bit back a curse as Dazai brandished his gun.

“Not so fast, mister!” He laughed with his fake cheer. “You can’t split us apart so easily! The whole star crossed lovers thing is so overdone! Why, if Romeo had just killed those who opposed his love, he never would’ve lost Juliet!”

Chuuya wanted to stomp on Dazai’s toes for comparing him to that stupid play—especially that character, did he really think Chuuya would kill himself to be with Dazai?!—but he tried his best to act more properly afraid of being held against his will at gunpoint.

That didn’t mean he was happy about this, though. Dazai better have a good reason for why him having an obsession over Chuuya would be helpful to the mission.

“You can’t just bring a hero brat to our base, idiot!”

For once, Chuuya found himself agreeing with the villain.

He caught All Might’s eye. The man looked panicked and sympathetic, as if trying to assure Chuuya that he’d get him to safety but not knowing if he even could or not. Was All Might faster than a bullet? With that facial expression, Chuuya would put his bet on no.

Dazai grinned, his grip tightening a bit around Chuuya’s chin, and Chuuya coughed a little. He hoped no one questioned why he wasn’t using his Ability. Best case scenario, they thought maybe he was in shock or too scared to use it, or thought he wasn’t fast enough to outrun a bullet aimed at him.

When it seemed all hope was lost—for everyone else; Chuuya was just waiting for Dazai to get bored of the charade—the gate to the USJ swung back open, and in walked Iida with the pro hero faculty of UA behind him.

Chuuya heard the class’s president making some big announcement about his return with the pro heroes. He could hear the audible sighs of relief from the students. But All Might didn’t relax. It seemed that he had no faith in his coworkers.

He must assume that if he feels helpless, then everybody is.

What an idiot.

Nezu’s gaze fixated on Chuuya, and for once Chuuya thought he might see worry in that beady-eyed rodent’s face.

“Let our student go, villains!”

Chuuya didn’t know who had said it. Many of the heroes were already moving to take down other villains, help the injured, and expand to the disaster zones where some students hadn’t yet come out from.

Dazai turned his head and put his lips directly against Chuuya’s ear.

“Good dog~ I love the acting. Do you think it’s enough?”

Chuuya’s face went up in flames, but enough was enough. If Dazai had said that, it meant his act didn’t have to go on any longer. So Chuuya took great joy in sticking his leg out—injured or not, he didn’t give a shit—and swinging it back into Dazai’s shin.

The annoying mackerel lurched back, though he’d likely expected such a reaction, and Chuuya swung his leg around and landed a swift kick to his side. He jumped away, as if pretending that he was too frightened to stay close by.

Dazai laid on the ground, looking at Chuuya as if lovestruck, eyes shining in what appeared to be awe.

Damn. The mackerel was good at pretending, Chuuya wouldn’t lie.

Still, Dazai got up and dusted himself off. Chuuya had no time to react before All Might had swept him up into his arms and quickly brought him to the rest of the students.

Chuuya’s head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy, from the blood loss he guessed. He was set down as gently as possible, his classmates immediately crowding around him. He couldn’t hear them over the headache forming, coughing a bit.

Damn. Smoke inhalation was a real bitch, it would seem.

At least now being away from Dazai meant his blush had gone down. That was probably the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him. He just knew Dazai would lorde this over his head for months, if not years.

Damn mackerel… I’ll end your fucking life support when given the chance.

He ignored the looks from his classmates as his vision started to go fuzzy. Whatever, his work for the day was done according to Dazai. He should be allowed to take a break.

Thus, he allowed the feeling of unconsciousness wash over him as he fell backward.

That had gone even better than expected!

Dazai was thrilled at his partner’s reaction. Chuuya really hadn’t seen it coming!

Despite all the fun, his treatment of Chuuya did have a purpose. If he had an obsession with Chuuya as far as anyone knew, it wouldn’t be odd for him to single out the chibi during future attacks, potentially pass along information or get some time to reconfigure plans. Besides, for all his talk, Shigaraki actually didn’t care about Dazai’s philandering so long as he was useful.

That being said, Shigaraki dragged him backward towards the portal Kurogiri was starting to make for their escape. Out of the corner of his eye, Dazai caught the movement of one of the heroes, a familiar glint catching his eye.

The glint of light on the barrel of a gun.

Must be Snipe. Dazai grinned, wondering how ethical it was for a hero to carry a weapon that not even villains in this society typically used.

Well, he wasn’t known for aiming for vital points, but if Dazai got himself in the way he might just be able to die. And he’d go out on such a happy note too, right after teasing and embarrassing Chuuya!

So as he saw Snipe raise his gun and aim at Shigaraki, Dazai waited for just the right moment before jumping in front of his boss, taking three consequent bullets in the shoulder and leg before the bullets stopped. He couldn’t see Snipe’s face, but judging by his body language he was shocked.

Shigaraki also seemed shocked, standing over Dazai with wide eyes. He hesitated for a moment before grabbing one of Dazai’s arms and hauling him up.

“We’re leaving.” He muttered, dragging him towards the portal.

Dazai just grinned, looking back at the heroes and students across the room. He decided to tease them one last time before departure.

“Take good care of him for me! I’ll be back soon, dearest!”

Then they passed through the portal.

Shigaraki was honestly dumbfounded.

That was honestly the worst way things could have turned out. The kids were meant to be kept away from the fight, and yet most of them either didn’t get caught in Kurogiri’s portal or escaped soon after. The Nomu was defeated by a short injured brat when it was supposed to fight All Might.

Who wasn’t. Fucking. There.

It could not have gone worse. They had gained nothing, fought no one in particular, and the Nomu was fucking dead. And somehow his subordinate had ended up with a crush on one of the students? Fucking hell!

The plus side? He now knew at least that Dazai was loyal. It wasn’t just anyone who would take bullets for their boss. Dazai had proved to be a subordinate worth keeping around.

Shigaraki immediately collapsed onto a bar stool, looking at Dazai with a dumbfounded expression.

“What… the hell?”

Dazai chuckled from where he was laying on the floor, his blood staining the wood flooring. He waved off any attempt from Kurogiri to inspect the wounds.

“Not to worry! I’ll deal with this myself.”

Shigaraki watched, flabbergasted, as Dazai picked himself up off the floor and dusted himself off.

“You- that kid, the one who defeated my Nomu-”

Dazai immediately looked him in the face, excitement shining in his usually dull eye. Shigaraki hadn’t taken Dazai to be a romantic, but apparently he’d been wrong.

“Wasn’t he just astounding?” Dazai did a few unadvisable twirls, completely ignoring his dripping injuries. “Just… ethereal! A true deity of grace…”

Shigaraki shook his head, moving past all that.

“How did he defeat my Nomu? It was supposed to rival All Might!”

He couldn’t blame Dazai for how entranced he was for the kid. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to defeat the Nomu, and Dazai was just a teenager after all. But Shigaraki had more questions than admiration for the student.

Dazai sighed and shrugged, as if not really caring about the whole thing. In the underground, Shigaraki met a lot of unstable individuals, but sometimes he felt like Dazai took the cake. Just when he thought he’d figured the kid out, he went and did something Shigaraki would literally never have expected.

Crush on a hero student… of course it had to be that. When do I ever get what I want in a simple way?

Dazai started walking to the door suddenly, and Shigaraki scowled after him,

“Where are you going?”

“Hm?” He glanced over his shoulder, cocking his head. “To take care of these, of course.”

He vaguely gestured to his wounds before stepping out of the bar.

Shigaraki bit back a sigh as Kurogiri took a step forward.

“Should I stop him, Shigaraki Tomura?”

Shigaraki just waved him off. “Don’t bother. I need a drink.”

Chuuya woke up with a start, disoriented but alert. He shot up from where he was laying down—a gurney. And there were flashing lights in the corner of his eyes. Was he hallucinating?

No, they were police lights. Glaring and obnoxious. He hated them.

The paramedic who was standing a little farther away came running up to him, settling his hands on Chuuya’s shoulders.

“Hey, relax. You’re safe now.”

Chuuya’s lungs ached, his breath short from the smoke he’d breathed in. But from the looks of it, he’d been mostly healed. Probably a Quirk from one of the paramedics here. He supposed Miss Recovery Girl wasn’t the only one around with a healing Quirk.

He looked around. Judging by the calmer atmosphere, the villains had either been captured or had fled.

So that meant Dazai was out of the picture yet again. Maybe he should be relieved that he doesn’t have to put up with his shenanigans for a while, or that Dazai wasn’t going to blow their covers.

But… he just felt alone. Usually, whenever he got injured or passed out during a mission he would wake up to Dazai being right there. While the mackerel wasn’t always a huge help or a comforting presence, the familiarity of having him there was nice.

But Chuuya couldn’t say any of that. He was a UA student who just got attacked and personally victimized by villains. Regardless of how little energy he had, he needed to keep up his facade.

He looked at the paramedic with wide, worried eyes.

“Are my classmates okay?”

The paramedic blinked for a moment before smiling, patting Chuuya reassuringly on the back.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Actually, all of your classmates are around the other side of the ambulance.”

It seemed those in need of medical attention were huddled in a secluded section of the cornered off scene. There were plenty of reporters outside of the police barricades, and swarms of people. It wasn’t every day that UA got attacked, after all.

Felt like it though, damn.

Chuuya didn’t even have to work for his pathetic facade. This damn school handed it to him on a silver platter every time without him having to even ask.

He wondered what the state of everyone was. He remembered Ojiro’s injuries from the fire dome, and how he had been knocked out in their rush for freedom. He remembered that Midoriya had used his Quirk to stop Bakugou from interfering in his fight with the Nomu even though his Quirk damaged his body. He was probably significantly injured.

What about the others? From what Chuuya had seen, Dazai had brought a gun, and he doubted his idiot partner had left today without at least shooting one person.

The paramedic stepped away and leaned around the ambulance, waving a hand as if to signal to someone. It only took a few minutes before All Might rushed over, carrying Principal Nezu.

“Are you alright now, young Nakahara?”

Chuuya ignored the question as Nezu was placed on the gurney with him, waddling up to sit closer to Chuuya.

“Nakahara-kun, now may not be the time, but I want to make sure we don’t lose the details by waiting too long.”

Chuuya cocked his head in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Details for what?”

Nezu sighed. “It’s about that villain who grabbed you. We arrived late and couldn’t get all the context as everyone was being treated. I’ve been told… what others saw. But, I want to know from you why that villain was grabbing you.”

Chuuya willed his face not to flush and looked down at his lap. Damn Dazai… he’d pay for this.

“He… I don’t know,” Chuuya sighed. “He seemed to be obsessed with me. Something about how mesmerized he was by how I took down the Nomu.”

Nezu hummed. “I was afraid of that. It’s never good when a villain develops an obsession with a hero.”

Chuuya nodded. For anyone else, this probably would’ve been terrifying. But Chuuya knew the idiot wasn’t going to pull anything crazy, and that his life wasn’t actually in danger.

“We were thinking,” Nezu looked up at him hesitantly, as if worried how Chuuya would react to whatever he was going to say. “Maybe UA could provide a watch at your home? A pro hero to look after you for a little while just to make sure that villain won’t pose a threat to you at home.”

Maybe the suggestion was coming from a good place, but Chuuya would be having none of that. He wasn’t about to let any damn heroes anywhere close to his home.

Elise and Q were there, not that it mattered. They could easily defend themselves, but…

“I appreciate the offer, sir,” he ducked his head in as much politeness as he could muster. “But I have to decline. My siblings are wary around strangers and won’t trust any pro heroes you send.”

Nezu frowned, as if he expected such.

“I do hope you’ll reconsider, for the sake of your siblings as well. The heroes only want to make sure you all are safe.”

Damn lies… all of them.

If that’s all the heroes wanted like he said, then why did the Commission kidnap Akutagawa? Or Dazai’s drinking buddies? Their lies made no damn coherent sense.

There was a bit of shouting from the other side of the ambulance, and Nezu sighed lightly.

“It seems your classmates want to see you, if you’re up for it.”

Chuuya nodded. Honestly, he’d even take another villain trying to seduce him than continue this conversation with Nezu.

Ojiro was ecstatic when Nakahara walked towards their group. After he’d been knocked unconscious, he was worried to see the state his classmate had ended up in. He hadn’t been given the chance to see him until now, since they’d both woken up.

He must say, he was glad to see how Nakahara was doing. The glass was removed from his leg and his burns were a lot better. The paramedic he saw obviously had a powerful healing Quirk, though perhaps not as strong as Recovery Girl’s.

He ran up to his classmate without thinking, wrapping him in a hug in an effort to thank him for everything he’d done for him and for everyone else.

Nakahara went rigid under his touch, and Ojiro grimaced and pulled away. They both did their best to stifle coughs—it seemed their lungs still needed recovery time.

“Sorry, I just-” The words seemed to fail him, so Ojiro just bowed instead. “Thank you, for everything.”

Nakahara quickly stood him up, and Ojiro was a bit surprised to find his classmate flustered.

“You don’t need to do that…” Nakahara stammered out. “It’s- it was nothing, really. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Ojiro smiled warmly and nodded in relief. It seemed Nakahara was back to normal.

“I still can’t believe the audacity of that villain, though!”

Ashido approached them with some others following behind her. Ojiro grimaced, having not been awake at the time but having heard by now that a villain had supposedly declared his undying love for Nakahara after a display of his capabilities.

Nakahara rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking down.

“It was… unexpected.”

“And totally uncalled for! You’re so polite even when speaking about a villain.” Ashido came up and patted Nakahara’s arm. “You’re better than me. I would’ve bypassed the leg and gone in to kick his crotch if a villain ever tried that with me.”

Nakahara chuckled a bit, letting out a slight cough at the end.

“It really… wasn’t so bad.”

Kaminari nodded in sympathy. “Yeah, you were probably more worried about the gun, huh? Sorry you had to go through that, man.”

Nakahara blinked for a moment, and then nodded. “Ah, yeah… I guess I just froze in the moment. I… wasn’t really thinking.”

“Hey, that’s so understandable!” Ashido clutched his arm reassuringly again. “Guns hardly make appearances these days. I wouldn’t know what to do either if I was in your shoes. That guy was scary enough when he cornered Iida at the gate!”

Ojiro listened to his classmates rambling about the villain attack. Honestly, he was glad that most of them seemed to be bouncing back already, but he could really use a nap and some of his mother’s homemade soup. And maybe a good cry.

He felt his lip trembling in relief, as well as the fear he’d felt all day finally melting away and giving way for the realization of what they’d just been through. But looking out at them, happy and healthy again, made his eyes water.

He wordlessly stepped forward, ignoring their looks as he took as much of the group into his arms as he could.

They initially froze in confusion before arms slowly began wrapping around each other. He heard other classmates walk over and begin to surround them as well in their arms.

They had a moment of silence among them. He heard some sniffles from some of them, but no one commented on it. They settled in this fragile silence for as long as the world would allow.

Chuuya was still on dinner duty despite the domestic terrorism earlier today.

Whatever, not his problem he supposed.

Nezu had tried to convince him several more times to allow a pro hero to watch over their apartment for the next week or so to make sure he was safe, though Chuuya had insisted on refusing. He wouldn’t put it past that rodent to go ahead and do it anyway, so he figured he’d better lay low for a while.

Still, having two days off of school was nice. For the trauma, he supposed. It was the least they could do.

He served Q and Elise their meals silently, having not put in too much effort since he didn’t feel like standing over the stove for a while after spending a good chunk of his day inside one. He sat down on one of the foldout chairs as Elise had propped up his laptop on their low table and was watching something with Q. It was a good way to keep them occupied and not too focused on complaining about the bland meal.

He ate mindlessly, just tired from carrying the entire class on his fucking back today. Everyone got to go home and have their parents shower them with worry and love and attention. Chuuya got to walk across the city by himself, come back to his crappy apartment and make a shitty meal.

There was a knock on his door, and Chuuya bit back a groan. He half expected it to be a hero having come to insist on looking out for them. But when he got up to open the door…

“Hey, chibi.”

Chuuya grabbed Dazai’s arm and yanked him inside before registering his stupid grin. He couldn’t be seen with him here, it would-

But there were no curtains over the sliding glass doors to the balcony. So he ignored Q and Elise—who both didn’t care anyway that Dazai had made a surprise visit—and dragged Dazai into the bedroom.

He did his best to shove the mackerel onto the futons and closed the ancient dusty blinds the apartment had come with.

“This is where you’re living, huh?” Dazai glanced around, an amused smile on his face. “Gotta say, I think my shipping container is better than this.”

Chuuya threw a shoe at Dazai, who began whining.

“Don’t aggravate my gunshot wounds!”

Chuuya blinked. “Your… what?”

Dazai cocked his head. “You didn’t know?”

The next two hours was Dazai explaining all the events that day from his perspective while forcing Chuuya to clean his gunshot wounds for him. The scene felt so familiar that Chuuya didn’t bother complaining.

Elise came in at one point because she was tired and wanted to sleep, and when Dazai began reaching out for her, Chuuya smacked his hand away. If he nullified Elise, that would be a whole shitshow trying to get her back out here.

“Don’t even think about it.” He muttered as Elise stuck her tongue out at Dazai. Chuuya bit back a laugh as Dazai gasped, affronted. Elise was already in her comfier clothes, getting under the blankets behind Chuuya to keep him as a barrier between her and Dazai.

“Aw, do I get to sleep with the chibi too?”

Chuuya smacked him over the head, not bothering to hold back. Dazai whined, but made no further comments.

“Don’t even think about staying. You’re going to get us both caught.”

“Nothing to worry about. I killed that pro hero before I came inside!”

Chuuya froze, looking up to glare at his partner.

“You what?!”

“Well, I figured you wouldn’t have agreed to let the pros look after you.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “He must’ve been an uninvited guest, so I showed him the way out. No one’s going to know for a while anyway. Besides, them thinking you’re in even more danger is good for your character, right?”

Chuuya swatted his head again, glaring holes into him.

“Only if I want them to insist on surveillance! They’re not going to let me say no now! Acting like a happy family all hours of the day and night is going to be exhausting!”

Dazai shrugged. “Eh, I won’t make any more surprise appearances, so they’ll leave after a while. Happy?”

Chuuya was, in fact, not happy. Dazai couldn’t do anything as Chuuya chased him out the front door. The mackerel was grinning though.

“See ya later, love!”

Chuuya just slammed the door.

Chapter Text

Hizashi drove as fast as the law allowed to the outskirts of the city, Nezu in his passenger seat and All Might sitting in the backseat. Everyone in the car was on edge, panic having seeped into their very bones.

Hizashi thought about cursing All Might in his head. If their stupid number one hadn’t spent all morning going around the city wasting his energy, he could’ve gone ahead of them and already be there by now.

Nezu had—albeit against the wishes of their student—set up a pro hero to watch over the Nakahara residence. He was meant to check in early this morning to update them on the safety of the kids, but never had. A police officer had sent them a dispatch confirming the pro hero’s death, but couldn’t proceed into Nakahara’s apartment. If this really was the work of that villain from the USJ, and he was in the apartment, it was considered not in the police officer’s ability to head inside.

This is where the laws for pro heroes and policemen fell flat. Hizashi felt like a police officer should be allowed to check on an apartment of kids if their lives were at stake. But the HPSC dictated the law, and had forbidden such.

Shouta had nearly had a heart attack, his heart monitor spiking drastically in his hospital bed. If Hizashi hadn’t been there to hold him down and insist on going in his place, Shouta would’ve leaped out of his hospital bed still in his flimsy robes and driven down here himself, injuries and all.

Hizashi remembered arriving at the USJ, the doors being thrown open to find such fear in his students’ eyes. To see Shouta so injured. To see Nakahara so injured.

He remembered how several students clutched him like a lifeline, his unconscious body, because he was the only safety they’d had. Because he was dying from blood loss and possibly smoke inhalation from the looks of his skin and clothes, those injuries gathered by being put in such a situation and then carrying the safety of his class on his back.

He drove a little faster.

The neighborhood was one of the worst places Hizashi had ever been to. He almost couldn’t believe this was a part of Musutafu at all. He pulled the car over and they all hopped out.

The scene where the pro hero was found dead was roped off, but had since been cleaned up. No one had come to check on Nakahara or his siblings, though. They were all waiting for the heroes to arrive.

Hizashi rushed up the stairs with Nezu in his arms, All Might finally transforming into his muscle form. The elevator didn’t work, just their luck. This area really wasn’t meant for kids.

He set Nezu down once they reached the apartment number and knocked as urgently as he could.

For several moments, they seemed to hold their breath. Small, young voices could be heard seemingly debating with one another. It made Hizashi feel a little better, and more hopeful that the family was okay. Finally, the lock clicked and the door creaked open slowly.

Hizashi didn’t know what he was expecting, but he had to look pretty far down only to meet the strange eyes of a young boy, his hair split like Todoroki’s, only dark brown and white. He must’ve been pretty young.

Hizashi did his best to smile as he crouched down. “Hello there. Is Nakahara Chuuya home? We’re some of the pro heroes who work at his school.”

The kid blinked, stepping aside wordlessly as he opened the door further. He seemed rather meek. Nezu marched right in, though, so Hizashi and All Might followed.

They entered the tiny apartment. It somehow looked even older on the inside. The wallpaper was peeling, the ceiling and floors had water stains, and the only furniture was a low table and two folding chairs. The kitchen was small, and there seemed to be only one connected door to the entire apartment. Probably the bedroom.

A little girl, significantly younger than even the little boy who’d let them in, was at the table, seemingly coloring. She gripped a crayon in her hand and looked up quickly upon hearing them enter. She stared up at them with wide eyes, gaping.

The look made Hizashi feel a little more conscious. Clearly, these kids weren’t used to heroes. Though, from what he knew about Nakahara he supposed maybe he should’ve expected this.

“We want to make sure your brother is alright,” Nezu started, folding his hands calmly. “Is he home?”

The little girl’s eyes snapped to meet the little boy’s for a brief moment before she looked back up at the heroes and began crying.

Hizashi’s eyes widened in panic. He wasn’t sure what they’d done to upset her. He stepped forward unthinkingly to comfort her before realizing that it may not be the best idea.

Before they could do anything about it, however, she stood up quickly and ran to the bedroom door. She scrambled to reach the handle, and the little boy ended up having to help her open it. She rushed in, crying and babbling incoherently, and the little boy kept himself standing between the heroes and the door as if to act as a shield.

Hizashi felt his heart wince. Clearly, the little ones had trust issues, whether or not they were heroes.

“Oh, dear.” Nezu hummed softly, hand clenched at his collar. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

All Might leaned forward a little. “Should we-”

“No,” Nezu shook his head. “We don’t want to make it worse for the children. We just have to hope waiting for a bit will prove helpful.”

Hizashi didn’t want to wait. He was worried about his student and the longer he was kept from making sure Nakahara was alright the more high strung Hizashi got. It was only the day after the USJ incident, after all. And the longer he sat here and listened to a toddler cry, the more antsy and helpless he felt.

Her crying went on from the other room for a few more moments before it seemed to temper out a little. He couldn’t hear anything else from the room except for the vague sounds of shuffling.

All of a sudden, the bedroom door was pushed open a little more, and Nakahara stepped out, ruffling the little boy’s hair. He was clutching the little girl in his arms.

All at once, Hizashi felt himself deflate. His student looked fine, and his siblings seemed alright as well.

“Mic-sensei?” Nakahara cocked his head, rubbing his eye with his hand. Apparently, he had just been woken up, and was probably decently confused. “And All Might and Principal Nezu? Is there…?”

“Ah, forgive us for intruding, and so early at that.” Nezu bowed in apology. Nakahara blinked, still confused it would seem. “Last night, we have reason to believe the villain from the USJ who had a fascination with you attempted to visit you.”

Nakahara’s hold on his sister seemed to tighten just a bit, and the kid by his leg stepped a little closer. He looked up at Nakahara as if to ask what that meant.

Poor kids…

“Are you sure?” Nakahara seemed more awake now, stepping a little closer despite his younger brother’s nonverbal protests. “You know this?”

Nezu nodded again. “As a precaution, we still sent a pro hero to look after you. I apologize for the invasion of privacy, but I do hope you’ll understand.”

Nakahara sighed at that and nodded. “I figured as much. Did this pro hero see the villain?”

Hizashi pressed his lips into a thin line, sharing a look with All Might. They didn’t want to say this in front of the kids.

Nakahara seemed to understand what they were trying to say, casting a glance at the kids.

“Don’t worry. They grew up in the slums with me. They know about death and all that.”

Hizashi didn’t like that idea one bit, but Nezu seemed to just take that with a grimace and nod.

“I see. Yes, he… it would appear the villain took out the pro hero we had watching you. We came to make sure you and your family were still safe.”

Nakahara frowned, nodding. “It would seem that me being under surveillance must’ve scared him off. We didn’t experience any disturbances last night.”

The little girl kicked her feet and leaned in to whisper to Nakahara. Although, her whisper was still very loud.

“Nii-chan, did he explode?”

Hizashi frowned. She seemed so nonchalant about the thought of a man dying right outside their apartment, having died because someone was after her older brother.

Nakahara just smiled softly and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, Elise.”

“Yeah…” the little boy muttered slightly quieter. “His head probably exploded though, like from the guns.”

The little girl—Elise—nodded, her mouth dropping in revelation. “Oh.”

Hizashi shared another look with All Might, not at all liking the state of these kids’ knowledge about guns and death.

Fortunately, Nakahara seemed to also dislike it, and shook his head.

“No, nobody exploded. You’re both morbid.” He set Elise down, though she protested, and ruffled her hair gently. “Did you finish your drawing?”

Elise nodded and rushed over to the table, handing it to Nakahara. He looked at it with a smile at first, though it quickly turned more forced.

“Um, that’s very well done, Elise.”

The little boy looked at the drawing from under Nakahara’s arm.

“She got the costume all wrong. It was yellow.”

Hizashi raised an eyebrow at that. He wasn’t quite sure why that stuck out to him though.

Nakahara stood up and folded the drawing, shoving it in his pocket.

“Why don’t you guys go practice your numbers? You’ve been making lots of progress lately.”

Elise pouted a bit, but the little boy just grabbed her arm and hauled her off.

“Oh, Kyusaku,” Nakahara called, turning around to look at them. “You should also practice writing them out.”

The little boy huffed a bit but nodded nonetheless. Nakahara nodded as well as he shut the door and turned to face the pro heroes again.

“I, uh…” He shoved his hands in his pockets, then pulled out the folded drawing again. “You must be right… about the villain.”

Hizashi frowned, looking at the folded piece of paper. “Do you doubt the villain came here last night?”

Nakahara sighed and stepped closer to them. “Well, not… not anymore.”

He held out the drawing to Hizashi, who took it in slight confusion. He unfolded it slowly before his eyes widened in horror.

It seemed… little Elise had known more than she let on.

“What is it?” Nezu asked, stepping over to him and looking up expectantly. All Might also leaned over, and he looked just as queasy as Hizashi felt as he handed over the drawing to Nezu.

Despite the drawing being sloppy and done by a toddler’s hand, the image was still very clear: a man with bandages over his right eye standing over a man in an orange suit who was clearly dead. The former held a gun pointed at the latter, and there was red crayon all over the rest of the sheet.

The pro hero who had been sent to watch the apartment last night had been wearing a yellow hero costume.

Now it made more sense.

He looked up at Nakahara, who also seemed distressed. Either from knowing that the villain had come back for him, or from knowing that his sister must have witnessed the crime to some extent. Both, probably.

Hizashi settled a hand on Nakahara’s shoulder, and his student flinched a little. It just made him feel worse for the kid.

“Are you alright, young Nakahara?”

All Might stepped forward, and Nakahara seemed to be trying to compose himself a little, nodding.

“Y-yeah, just…” He frowned. “Uh, confused, I guess.”

“Oh, dear,” Nezu sighed again. “This certainly is troublesome. I’d hate to ask your little sister to give a statement of what she saw, but…”

Nakahara frowned. “Is there… would we be losing anything if she didn’t?”

Nezu frowned, seemingly pained to make such a request. “Unfortunately, anyone’s witness statement could lead us to his whereabouts, or possible DNA evidence left behind…”

Nakahara didn’t seem to like it at all, but he nodded nonetheless.

“I- I understand.” He sighed a bit. “But… she doesn’t trust police… or heroes, really.”

Nezu frowned, and Hizashi felt that. Now was not the time to be asking questions, though.

“Classes are back in session at UA starting Monday. If you’d like, you can bring her with you to make the environment more casual when we ask her. You could also be there with her.”

Nakahara nodded a bit. “What about Kyusaku? I can’t just leave him here alone.”

Nezu nodded in understanding. “He can come too. We’ll make sure they’re looked after while you’re in class and you can take them home at the end of the school day. How does that sound?”

Nakahara pursed his lips, but ultimately agreed.

“Good,” Nezu smiled, a bit more relaxed. “I also think it would be best to put some additional security around your apartment to keep you safe for a little while. Just until we can conclude that the villain won’t try anything else.”

Nakahara still didn’t seem super enthused about that, but he nodded nonetheless.

“It’s… probably for the best, for now.”

Nezu nodded, smiling tightly.

“I’m glad you think so.”

What a wonderful way to start the fucking day!

Chuuya hadn’t been expecting to be woken up by Elise bawling into his ear, but at least that had rightfully tipped him off that something was wrong. Elise would never bawl—she was too much of a brat to sink to a real toddler’s level—so she must’ve been putting on an act. That could only mean that people important to his facade were in their home.

He’d told that bastard Dazai that killing the pro hero watching them would only cause problems, and here they were! But no, he just had to inconvenience Chuuya and make him clean his bullet wounds when they both very well knew Dazai could do that himself.

He was going to kill that little shit bastard the next time they met.

It had been luck that he could at least get something out of this—he was going to drill Elise to the bone to properly milk the my-poor-little-sister-witnessed-a-murder card—and being under supervision for about a week shouldn’t be too bad. Dazai shouldn’t come back, and it just gave Chuuya another opportunity to come off as sad and pitiful.

So he supposed he had damn good fucking luck!

Yeah, fuck no. He was pulling it off fine without all the added stress, but whatever. He just had to survive the next week or so without killing anyone. Should be a breeze, hurray…

He had begrudgingly accepted Nezu’s offer to bring his family some lunch after everything that had happened, since he didn’t feel like cooking for the ungrateful brats anyway.

He sat in one of their chairs, writing up a report to Mori on his phone while he ate. This time, Q and Elise weren’t watching cartoons on his laptop. Instead, Q was putting together a puzzle and Elise was discreetly removing pieces when he wasn’t looking.

If not for the shitshow this morning, it would’ve felt like a normal day.

He didn’t know when surveillance would arrive, nor how close they’d actually be. There was no way in hell he was letting a hero into his apartment. As much as Q and Elise annoyed him, he was wary of letting anyone get close to them. They were… valuable Port Mafia assets, and vital to his fake family.

“Hey, didn’t I put this piece in already?”

Chuuya suppressed a small fond smile—that was not allowed to happen genuinely.

“Huh? No, I don’t think you did!”

“I swear I put the flower pot together though.”

“Are you sure? I didn’t see it. Maybe you’ve put this puzzle together before?”

“Hmm…”

Chuuya finished his report and sent it straight to Mori. They only had a one-way communication link for occasional updates, in order to keep from getting caught. Chuuya had to jump through a lot of hoops to avoid leaving a paper trail.

He sighed, and he looked up to see Elise right as she was grabbing another piece out of the puzzle. She sent him a mischievous smile and put a finger to her lips.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly but smiling anyway. He got up to throw away his trash from the meal they’d been brought.

Damn, he wished he had his motorcycle with him. It was times like these when he could really use a good ride around town to clear his head.

But he didn’t have it here in Musutafu, so he’d have to make do with stretching across the futons in the bedroom and closing his eyes to pretend like he’s back in Yokohama, even just briefly.

“Hey, I saw that! How long have you been stealing my pieces, cunt?!”

“For about as long as you’ve been an easy target, thot!”

Chuuya pressed his lips together into a thin line, fighting the urge to smile or—fuck forbid— laugh.

Maybe… in little ways, it was still like Yokohama. At least in the apartment with their little family.

Elise was sick of this stupid game Rintaro was playing.

Honestly, it was even worse than when he made her play dress up. At least then she felt pretty and praised. Right now she was stuck in a toddler form meant to come off as a sweet little innocent bumbling idiot.

When she got home, Rintaro was getting the silent treatment. She’d already made up her mind.

Chuuya put her in an unflattering set of faded, old overalls they’d bought at a cheap thrift store—ugh, she’d never worn something so poor in her life— and he gave her a stupid frog hat to match her shabby green undershirt with moth holes in it. And on top of that she had crusty socks with holes and a dirty pair of slip-on shoes.

She just about threw up in her mouth.

She was so going to torment Rintaro for this.

A small consolation was that Q didn’t look much better, though he at least wasn’t forced to wear overalls or childish hats. He just wore ratty shorts and a shirt with plain socks and a pair of thrifted shoes.

Sure, they were meant to look pitiful, but did they have to look like they never left the slums?

UA was huge, just as she remembered. Last time she’d been here it had been to pick up Chuuya from his entrance exams. She hadn’t been eager to come back here, especially since this time she’s expected to do something for the heroes.

Whatever. She and Chuuya had gone over it plenty of times now. She knew what to say, probably more than Chuuya did. Elise was used to playing all different kinds of people. Rintaro altered her as he saw fit.

So she waddled uncomfortably into UA property, trying to ignore the looks she was receiving. Most of the students they passed fawned over their little family, but some still watched them in concern or pity.

Figures, being dressed like this.

“Nakahara-kun!”

Elise’s attention snapped behind them, always on alert, as a boy with green hair ran up to them, glancing curiously at her and Q.

Immediately, she jumped into action, playing her role perfectly as she clutched onto Chuuya’s pant leg and hid herself behind him. By just barely keeping an eye on the kid, she could see him stall in his tracks, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows and a slipping smile.

And then Q finally remembered that he also was meant to put on a show, stepping in front of Chuuya and staying close to him, as if trying to step up as a protector while still being a scared little kid.

To the classmate, it might look like Chuuya was pained by the actions and fear of his little siblings. But Elise could tell that he was just trying not to react to the absurdity of the situation. Q would surely rather throw Elise in the line of fire, and Elise would surely rather tear the threat’s throat out before even remembering that cowardice is an option.

Chuuya recovered from his initial shock and pulled Q back to his side, giving his classmate a strained smile.

Huh. Chuuya might be just as good an actor as Elise.

“Sorry, Midoriya. They’re not used to being around strangers.”

Elise hid her shit eating grin behind Chuuya’s leg. She wanted to tear this kid apart. She wondered if she could get away with a little psychological torture. Though, Chuuya might not like it.

She tugged on Chuuya’s pant leg, lowering her voice into a whisper that was way too loud to be effective.

“Nii-chan, is he going to hurt us?”

This Midoriya guy’s eyes widened in alarm, taking a step forward with a hand stretched as if to console her. She just pressed her face into Chuuya’s leg, holding it tightly and hiding from his classmate.

She suppressed a laugh as Chuuya’s hand gently came down to caress her hair.

“No, Elise. Nothing like that. He’s a friend of mine.”

She bit back her retort—since when did Chuuya have friends?—and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

“Was the man from last night your friend?”

She forced herself not to snicker as more people began walking up, their body language familiar. They must’ve been some more of his classmates.

“Hey, Nakahara-kun. Are these little guys your siblings?”

Chuuya opened his mouth to respond when Q cut in.

“He obviously was not Nii-san’s friend. He shot that guy.”

The older kids around them immediately gasped, their eyes bugging out comically and looking back and forth between Q and Elise.

Elise tightened her grip on Chuuya’s leg.

“I know, I saw it!”

She puffed up her cheeks and willed her eyes to water. She always was good at getting herself to cry, almost as good as she was at bringing tears out of others.

Chuuya immediately knelt down, forcing her to let go of his leg, and took her into his arms like the good big brother he was pretending to be.

“He’s not here, none of them are going to hurt you.” He gently stroked Elise’s hair again. Despite it all being an act, it still felt nice to have such a kind hand treating her like this. So she let it slide. “You’re here to talk to my teachers about the man from last night.”

Midoriya stepped forward hesitantly, his voice low and soft as if that would keep Elise and Q from overhearing.

“Nakahara-kun… what’s all this about?”

Chuuya bit his lip and glanced at his little siblings.

“...I’ll tell you later.”

“Nakahara.”

Elise glanced up the stairs where a tall man stood, covered head to toe in bandages. Other than that, he looked like a hobo.

Elise stared at him with wide eyes, playing up the doll-like appearance she was so graciously given by Rintaro.

She tugged on Chuuya viciously, gaining pretty much everyone’s attention.

“Nii-chan, is it him?” She looked up at her confused big brother. “He has bandages.”

“Band…” She saw Midoriya’s eyes widen out of the corner of her eye, putting the small hint together.

Chuuya shook his head, quickly scooping Elise up into his arms as he stood, as if to avoid anyone else from prying her for information. He hustled quickly up to the man she knew wasn’t the killer from last night—Dazai was way too distinctive, and far too silly to be this guy.

She looked over Chuuya’s shoulder as he hurried with Q in tow to talk to this bandaged man. She observed the looks of concern and alarm that the handful of gathered students were sending them.

She hid her smile in Chuuya’s shoulder as they entered the school.

Nakahara didn’t look good when he came into the classroom. Midoriya could tell from the way his shoulders were set high and yet his head hung low that something was amiss.

Considering that Mr. Aizawa wasn’t there yet, Midoriya figured it would be alright to try to talk to him. So he walked up to his desk as casually as he could.

Nakahara’s eyes were on him before he even got close. While Nakahara was usually jumpy, it wasn’t typically so obvious. It set Midoriya on edge, a sense of dread building in his chest. He wondered if it had anything to do with the reason he brought his siblings to school with him today.

His little sister had said something about a bandaged man. Midoriya didn’t remember much of that specific villain at the USJ—it was as if the villain conducted himself and fixed his appearance to be easily forgotten or overlooked—but one thing he remembered clearly were the bandages.

“Hey, Nakahara-kun…”

“Why did your siblings come with you today?”

Midoriya wanted to turn and slap a hand over Ashido’s mouth. But the question was already out in the open. It couldn’t be taken back now.

Nakahara looked at the small group having gathered around his desk for a moment, looking as though he had wished they would have forgotten by now.

“Yeah, on the topic,” and then Kacchan of all people from the seat behind Nakahara’s piped up. “Why the fuck did your sister say something about Teach’s bandages?”

Judging from the tone Kacchan had used while asking, Midoriya could guess Kacchan had also already put it together. Kacchan wouldn’t involve himself with this otherwise. He must already suspect.

He caught Midoriya’s eye and proceeded to glare at him. Midoriya quickly looked back at Nakahara instead.

Nakahara finally sighed and put his head in his hands. Midoriya immediately felt guilty for trying to bring it up. Despite all the times Nakahara had been injured or thrown into the line of fire, Midoriya had never seen him so vulnerable before.

“That villain… from the USJ…”

Midoriya felt a cold dread sink into his chest. His worst suspicions…

“He tried to see you last night. Is that it?”

A few others—Kaminari, Kirishima and Uraraka—all glanced over at him, as if partially thinking he’s crazy and partially hoping he is.

Nakahara said nothing for a few heart beats before nodding. Several people gasped, but Nakahara began to speak before anyone could butt in.

“There was a pro hero watching my home in case something like that happened. The villain never made it to see me.”

Most of them let out sighs of relief, but Midoriya’s brain was still connecting the dots at lightning speed.

Nakahara’s brother said something about a shooting. That pro hero… there was a reported death of a pro hero in the outskirts of the city. Death by gunshot.

Nakahara lives in the outskirts.

Midoriya gasped. “The villain- he shot that pro hero, didn’t he?”

The others turned to him with horrified looks, but Nakahara just nodded solemnly.

“He died…”

Midoriya understood that tone immediately. The tone of guilt, of self-blaming. Nakahara thought that the pro hero’s death was his fault. He couldn’t let him think that. But before he could even begin to console his friend-

“My little sister saw it happen.”

Midoriya froze. The others froze. Hell, time seemed to freeze as the horror of the situation seemed to sink in for everyone.

That tiny little girl… so cute and innocent, so young…

She had seen that?

“Wait!” Kaminari waved his hands around. “But she-! She had seemed so-”

“Regrettably,” Nakahara began, cutting him off as he finally took his hands away from his face. His eyes were fierce. “This would not be the first time any of my siblings have seen something like this.”

“Wh-” Kaminari shook his head around for a moment.

“What the fuck?” Sero finally said, eyes wide.

Nakahara sighed. “We grew up in the slums. It’s not an uncommon occurrence. That’s why my sister… doesn’t seem to find it strange or scary.”

Midoriya hated that. The slums? Such little children? How could anyone let them grow up like that? Or see things like that?

Nakahara had lived like that too, at one point?

“But what-”

“OI!” Kacchan’s ear splitting yell from the desk behind suddenly interrupted whatever Ashido was going to say next. “Can’t you idiots drop it already?! It’s clearly not an easy conversation for Ginger here to have!”

Immediately they all began apologizing, quickly heading back to their desks to avoid overwhelming their classmate. Midoriya tried to smile at Kacchan in approval for sticking up for Nakahara, but only got a sneer in return.

As soon as he sat down in his chair, the classroom door swung open and suddenly Aizawa was there, covered head to toe in bandages.

“Alright, class.”

Midoriya glanced at the back of Nakahara’s head. He couldn’t imagine any of this happening to someone. Even worse, someone as sweet and caring as Nakahara.

He only wished there was something he could do…

Q sat with Elise on a small mat inside the teacher’s lounge, bored out of his fucking mind.

Seriously, there was nothing to do around here! They gave Elise some toys to play with, but even Q could tell she wasn’t entertained by them.

And they were just supposed to sit around and wait for Chuuya to get out of class before they could start this interrogation.

Q wanted some sort of chaos.

He made sure to glare at any of the pro heroes who got close to them, a warning to stay away. As much as he didn’t like Elise, he couldn’t claim that this was solely an act. He didn’t want those heroes anywhere near them.

It was strange, since Elise wasn’t even a person. She was an entity, a created being morphed into this image by her maker. He had no obligation to worry about her, because she couldn’t die as long as the boss was alive.

That didn’t mean Q’s mind could be put at ease, though.

According to the mouse man, Chuuya’s class was getting an announcement for some festival today. Thus, his class would get out early to prepare for it.

And what better way to have some fun than to fuck shit up?

He gently squeezed Elise’s shoulder, a brief warning to let him do what he needed to do. Chuuya would surely worry if he suddenly disappeared on this hero campus of all places, but in this black and white society there was no way anyone would cause harm to a helpless little child like himself.

So he made sure no one was looking before he slipped out of the room quietly, not a soul glancing up as far as he knew.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sent on this mission for no reason. Sure, Chuuya’s facade was only bolstered by having small siblings who seemed just as sad and pathetic as he was. But that wasn’t their sole purpose.

Elise had her own part of the mission, things that only an Ability could really pull off. And Q… well, he had his part as well.

It was a more subtle part, really just to add to the overall horror during the final stages of the mission. When Chuuya and Dazai would set Hero Society alight with panic and destruction, it could only help to have amassed a large army of brainwashed civilians to wreak more destruction. Especially with an unknown cause.

Of course, Q was really just running around during the day, bumping into civilians and occasionally getting into alleyway scuffles with other kids from the outskirts. Nothing major.

But, they hadn’t foreseen that there would be an opportunity to get him into UA. It really was genius of Chuuya to figure out a way to get him to come as well. Although, Chuuya was more likely just thinking about how Q would create trouble if left home alone.

Still, with access to hero students from the best hero school in the country… the strongest rising generation of heroes in all of Japan, right at his fingertips.

How could he refuse?

Thus, he wandered the empty halls as classes remained in session, looking out the big bright windows. Only Mori had the audacity to have such accessible windows to his office on the top floor of the Port Mafia headquarters. These hero students are sitting ducks in hallways like this, easy targets for guns and long-ranged Abilities- no, Quirks.

Q wandered down the hall until he got to a classroom with their door ajar.

“What’s someone like you going to even do during the Sports Festival?”

He glanced into the classroom, eyes falling on a purple haired kid sitting at his desk and a weird mutant-looking student standing above him, looking smug.

“I mean, how is a brainwashing Quirk going to do anything against the hero students from Class 1-A and 1-B?”

Brainwashing? Interesting. Very interesting, in fact.

The purple haired kid just smiled, but Q could see the hidden malice in his eyes.

“I guess we’ll see.”

The students in the classroom were packing up their things. They were being let out early then. Q was considering moving on when a student suddenly exited the classroom, turning sharply and running into him.

They cursed, looking down to where they had knocked him over. He scrunched up his face, about to scowl before he remembered he was supposed to be a helpless kid.

So instead of immediately activating his Ability and controlling them to hurt the ones they love the most, he widened his eyes and pursed his lips.

“The hell?” The guy raised his eyebrows. “What’s a kid doing here?”

A few students in the classroom perked up, and then the teacher stood up from their seat.

Q suddenly became very aware of just how many heroes were around him.

He backed up as another student came out of the classroom, kneeling down.

“Hey, bud. Are you lost?”

The kid who ran into him leaned down, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. “How’d you get into UA grounds?”

Q backed up and ducked around them just as that kid with the brainwashing Quirk stepped out of the room. He tried to grab Q’s short collar but he ducked and kept running. He didn’t want to be caught by these hero kids today.

He ran until he no longer heard shouts from students, ducking into a storage closet for cleaning supplies and hunkering down behind some spare buckets. He strained to hear until he could tell that the danger had passed.

He had only gotten one of those students to hurt him. That wasn’t enough.

So… where to go from here?

With his class having been dismissed, Shouta wanted to relax somewhere. He left his students to deal with the growing crowd outside of their room while he went into the teacher’s lounge.

And it was only then that he realized he had something to do during the break. He had to ask an innocent little girl about the gruesome murder she’d witnessed.

And yet, when he got to the teacher’s lounge, all he found was chaos, teachers rushing about and a little girl crying her eyes out on the floor.

What the hell?

And then his blood ran cold when he realized. There’s no little boy. There’s no little boy.

And suddenly he had a whole new problem on his plate for the day.

He didn’t want to delay this interrogation any longer, but there was no way they could search all of UA for the kid in the amount of time they needed for the questioning. And Nezu was already on his way.

“What happened?” He hurried over to Mic, who was on the phone with someone unspecified. “Where’s Nakahara’s brother?”

Mic set down the phone after a moment and turned around.

“He left at some point. No one saw him go. But some kids just came by a few minutes ago to tell us that they found some kid wandering around.”

Shouta’s heart jumped into his throat. “They found him, then?”

Mic sighed, shaking his head. “They said he ran when they tried to help him. Little Elise has been throwing a tantrum ever since. Nemuri has been trying to calm her down, but for some reason her Quirk doesn’t affect her.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow at this, but wondering if something was wrong with Nemuri’s Quirk was not the priority right now. A kid was wandering around the school, lost and unsupervised, with apparently more skepticism towards heroes than Shouta thought, if he would even run away from hero students.

“Kyusaku is missing, I presume?”

Shouta turned around quickly, locating Nezu standing in the doorway.

He wished he could deny it, but Nezu would be able to tell if they were covering something up.

Thus, he just sighed and turned to face the principal.

“No one knows how long he’s been missing. He ran from a few students who found him.”

Nezu nodded, casting a glance at the three year old crying in the corner, refusing the gentle touch of Nemuri.

“...someone get Nakahara-kun in here, please.”

“Wha-?” Someone squeaked. “What’s this?!”

Denki looked up to see a huge hoard of students from other classes huddled together in front of their classroom, muttering to themselves as they scrutinized him and his classmates.

“They probably came to scout the competition; the class who actually fought villains,” Bakugou suddenly piped up, looking smug as he marched over to the crowd. “They want to see what real heroes look like.”

He came to a stop in front of the large crowd of students who were clustered in their doorway, blocking their exit.

“Not that there’s any point.” Bakugou grumbled, scoffing to himself. “Out of my way, extras!”

Midoriya made a strange sound, taking an indignant step forward. He had been getting more bold lately in regards to Bakugou.

Huh. He guessed witnessing Nakahara get so injured by him in the battle trials had scared more than just Denki into action.

“Stop calling them extras just because you don’t know them, Kacchan!”

Denki just sighed. There was no winning that argument. He and Kirishima had already tried and failed.

Suddenly, someone from the crowd spoke up.

“I came to see what Class 1-A is like,” said a voice, a student with purple hair emerging from the crowd, observing them with deadpan eyes. “But you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this?”

Denki immediately started shaking his head vigorously, catching a few of his other classmates doing the same out of the corner of his eye. Clearly, their class was already gaining a bad impression, and it would likely only get worse the longer Bakugou kept talking to them. He certainly was not the face of Class 1-A.

“There are quite a few of us enrolled in general studies who applied for the hero course but didn’t get in.” The purple guy said, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized them. “UA is giving those of us a chance. If we do well in the Sports Festival, they may transfer some of us into the hero course.”

Midoriya suddenly squeaked again, taking another step forward hesitantly. Confusion was evident on his face. “B-but, there’s no room in the-”

“Which means,” the guy said, completely ignoring Midoriya and his attempt at communication. “They’ll be transferring hero students out to make room.”

Denki held his breath.

Shit, I’m screwed. Well, goodbye hero course.

Others, it would seem, were not so intimidated by the proclamation.

“What is this, then?” Kirishima stood up suddenly, squaring his chest. “You came here to, what, gloat?”

The guy just gave him another one of his signature once-overs. “I guess you could say that I came with a declaration of war.”

Denki tensed. War? The other classes were starting a war with them?

You’ve gotta be kidding me?!

There was no way Denki would survive an all-out war between their classes. He was already struggling as it was to maintain his grades enough to not be put on academic probation! If he didn’t show off enough in the Sports Festival, then it was lights out, Denki.

Before anyone could respond in kind to the declaration of war, another student from the crowd jumped up.

“Hey, hey!” A much louder student shoved his way through the crowd, coming to a stop beside the guy with purple hair. “I’m from Class 1-B next door! I heard you fought villains and wanted to hear about it! Don’t get so full of yourselves, Class A!”

Bakugou just ignored that one, shoving through the crowd despite the shouting from plenty of the students. He disappeared in moments.

Well, that certainly didn’t make their class look any better…

Suddenly, Nakahara stood up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking up to the crowd.

The loud guy’s attention snapped to him, giving him a harsh glare. Denki would hardly stand for that, about to step up. How could someone look at Nakahara like that? He was the kindest and most heroic person here!

“What?! Are you going to mock us?! Just because we’re not in the beloved Class 1-A doesn’t mean we’re not worth our salt!”

However, instead of responding with words, Nakahara immediately lowered his head, bowing politely at the crowd of students.

“Eh-?!” The loud guy stepped back suddenly, shocked.

“Na-? Nakahara?!”

Denki was uncertain who called out. Maybe it was him. But he was too stunned to think. Why was he being so polite to people so disrespectful?!

“I must apologize for the behavior of my classmate.” He stood back up, giving the crowd a look of absolute sincerity. “He doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”

The guy with purple hair blinked, but soon regained his composure as he smirked.

“Appreciate it, I guess. It would seem not all of you are oafs.”

Denki barely caught sight of Nakahara’s jaw twitching, only because he was looking so closely.

“I want to make sure we’re on good terms with other classes, our new opponents.” Nakahara began, his tone careful and measured. “But that is a two way street. Please respect our class as well, so that we may all get along and have a fair relationship.”

Denki felt pride swell up in his chest. Nakahara always knew how to be the bigger person, despite how small he was.

But then someone in the crowd shouted, and it began to part again, from the opposite side this time. Denki watched, confused, as Aizawa stepped into the doorway. He seemed surprised to see Nakahara right in front of him.

“Ah, Nakahara. Could you please come with me to the teacher’s lounge?”

Something in his tone was off… Aizawa had never sounded quite like that before.

Nakahara immediately tensed. “What is it? Is something wrong with Elise?”

Right, he’d come with his little siblings. Did this have something to do with that? Was his sister okay?

“No, it’s…” Aizawa sighed. “It’s your brother. He disappeared.”

Nakahara’s eyes widened, taking a step forward. “Disappeared?”

“Wait,” the purple haired guy blinked. “Was that the little kid in the hallway earlier?”

Denki didn’t know what they were talking about, but it sounded bad. The little boy was missing?

Aizawa’s head turned to the purple haired guy. “You saw him?”

The student nodded, looking vaguely confused. “Yeah, I, uh…”

Nakahara stepped up and grabbed the guy’s wrist. “Come with me.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, immediately rushing through the crowd, pulling the purple haired student behind him. Denki could hear him muttering excuse me through the entire hoard, Aizawa hot on his heels.

Suddenly, Kirishima was at Denki’s side, fists pumped.

“Guys, we should help them look!”

Denki began nodding, and plenty of their classmates joined in. Some people from the crowd even began nodding in agreement. It was a hero’s job to look after the innocent, after all.

Somewhere along the way, Midoriya began splitting people into tactical groups fitting their Quirks. Denki split off with Kirishima and Uraraka quickly.

They would help Nakahara, maybe even repay him for how much he’d done for them already.

Elise was still sobbing by the time Chuuya rushed into the room, several teachers jumping at the sound of the door being slammed open.

Good. She was getting tired of crying. Her eyes hurt. It felt unnatural.

She held out her arms, demanding like a brat.

“Nii-chan!”

Chuuya spotted her quickly, something akin to relief spreading across his face as he rushed over and scooped her up into his arms.

Yeah, right… relief, as if she was a person. She was fundamentally a tool implemented by Rintaro. There was no need to care.

Still, she let herself relish in the warmth his body provided her, immediately allowing herself to calm down in his arms. Her chest hurt from forcing herself to cry this much. She only ever usually cried to set Rintaro on edge and get him to beg and buy her things.

She barely listened as the teachers conversed with Chuuya and some other student with wild purple hair—he was giving her weird looks; was it concern?—letting herself lean into his chest as if he’s the only safe place in the world.

Honestly, that might not be half wrong.

Eventually, he pulled away, looking down at her with sympathetic eyes—real sympathy. She knew that look all too well, the only look of sympathy from anyone that she ever got for being attached to Rintaro all the time.

It made her chest tingle, and her eyes began to sting again. She didn’t know what that meant.

“Elise,” he said softly, stroking her hair gently. “I’m going to look for Kyusaku. Are you alright talking to the teachers by yourself?”

It was a legitimate question. Chuuya was really asking her if he’s okay being left alone with them.

Damn him… she’s not a baby… he doesn’t need to worry so much.

She nodded silently, letting herself slide out of his arms as he stood up.

“Okay. I’ll make sure to come right back once I’ve found him.”

She pursed her lips. “Is Kyu-nii okay?”

Chuuya nodded, softly patting her head one last time.

“Of course. He’s just exploring.”

It’s not like she was actually worried about the brat… but Chuuya’s words did put her more at ease.

He exchanged a few more words with the teachers before leaving quickly, promising to return soon. Elise honestly didn’t know when he’d be back, but it was Chuuya, so she knew the promise would be kept. Of course he and Q would return safely.

But the next time that little bitch slut bastard decided to go exploring, Elise was coming with him, dammit!

She hugged her knees as she sat on the little kiddie carpet. She had been ready and eager to traumatize some poor pro heroes, but now all she wanted to do was go home. She guessed she had tired herself out.

“Hey, Elise-kun.”

Her eyes snapped up to the woman who had tried to calm her down earlier. Her Quirk must’ve been some sort of airborne vapor sedative, but it wouldn’t work on her since she was an Ability.

Elise pursed her lips, looking up to see that rat again—she hated rats, they could rot for all she cared—and that sleepy teacher covered in bandages.

“Is it okay if we ask you a few questions?”

Resigning herself back to her cutesy facade, she nodded shyly.

Dazai scrolled through the news, bored. There was a picture of Chuuya’s class that had gone viral. It was from after the USJ incident, the class hugging each other outside of the building.

Chuuya was so tiny that only the slightest hint of his hair could be seen through the other students. Not that Dazai was looking. He simply happened to notice and thought it was funny.

He’d certainly had quite a lot of fun as the news droned on about the USJ attack, yapping about the horrible villains and the poor children.

Yawn.

So far no one had given much attention to the death of that hero. They probably didn’t want the masses to worry about Dazai, an apparent trigger-happy villain who’d mercilessly killed a hero, on top of stalking a hero student. So they minimized the media coverage and left out basically every detail besides how he died. How… typical of a corrupt organization.

Shigaraki was sleeping, Dazai supposed. After coming out of the basement, he had realized that only Kurogiri was in the bar, wiping down a glass as he always was apparently.

It made Dazai wonder if Kurogiri was the one drinking all the alcohol whenever Dazai or Shigaraki were absent.

Kurogiri seemed content to remain in silence and let Dazai mess with the television all he wanted. He only seemed to raise an eyebrow when Dazai turned on the kids’ channel briefly.

Dazai switched back over to the most popular news channel, which was doing a current segment on what the USJ attack could mean for the upcoming UA Sports Festival.

Dazai raised an eyebrow, glancing at Kurogiri.

“Ne, Kurogiri. What’s the UA Sports Festival?”

The misty hands stopped rubbing down the latest glass, and the man turned to look at Dazai fully.

“Sometimes I really do wonder where you come from, Dazai-kun.”

Dazai just grinned cheekily. “Hey, what can I say? I pride myself on not knowing what the fuck goes on with other people.”

Kurogiri just sighed in return. “Please, Dazai. We’ve talked about your language. Shigaraki Tomura is quite impressionable. I’d hate for him to have to unlearn poor speaking manners.”

As if Shigaraki had any manners to begin with.

Kurogiri seemed to be able to tell just how seriously Dazai considered that warning, merely sighing again and turning back to the sink.

“The UA Sports Festival happens every year. Each year of students competes in activities where one will be named the winner of each year. This is an event to help hero students get their names out to prospecting heroes for potential work studies and internships. It is a large event that outshines even the Olympics.”

Dazai nodded, pretending to give a shit. Ha, Chuuya would have to show off in front of the whole world!

What a perfect opportunity to show the world why he had a villain so obsessed with him. Dazai would make them see Chuuya’s divinity.

“So, Class 1-A will be competing?” Dazai leaned further over the counter. “On camera?”

Kurogiri glanced at him, seeming to know where Dazai was going with this. “Yes, they will likely be a main focus of attraction after the USJ.”

Dazai let his face light up. “So my beloved will be on our very screen?”

Kurogiri sighed, nodding his head in a placating manner. “Yes, he will be.”

Dazai jumped up from the barstool, squealing in fake joy.

Kurogiri just gave him a suffering look. “Do you fall in love with everyone who beats you up?”

“Nope!” Dazai grinned, bracing his hands on the bar counter. “Just cute little gingers who annihilate Nomus!”

Kurogiri seemed to debate giving a response before deciding to just drop it. He set the rag aside and stood up straight.

“Perhaps you should attempt to curb your enthusiasm slightly.” Kurogiri began carefully, as if Dazai’s emotions were as fragile as a certain someone’s. “Shigaraki Tomura probably will not appreciate such… expressions of delight over a class of students who bested him. He likely desires revenge.”

Dazai pouted, slumping over the counter. “Aww, but Kurogiri! I can’t just not fangirl over my beloved!”

Kurogiri seemed to pause. “...fangirl?”

Dazai grinned, pushing himself off the counter. “I get what you’re saying, Kurogiri!”

Kurogiri seemed to get over his earlier confusion, blinking. “You… do?”

“Mhm!” Dazai nodded knowingly. “Since I won’t be able to control myself when I do see my future pet on the television, I should just go in person so boss won’t see!”

That seemed to set off alarm bells in Kurogiri’s mind, and he instantly went rigid.

“That is not a good idea, Dazai-kun. Someone could recognize you.”

Dazai just waved off his concerns. “Nah, don’t worry! Everyone who would recognize me would be focused on the events, right? Like, UA staff and students are all going to be either in the Sports Festival or in charge of it. No one’s gonna notice one measly attendant in the crowd!”

Kurogiri seemed only further upset by this. “Dazai-kun, this is most certainly not-”

“Let him attend, Kurogiri.”

Kurogiri instantly shut up. Dazai turned his never ceasing smile to the monitor on the wall, displaying a black screen as usual. You never could tell when the creepy old bastard was listening.

Not that it bothered Dazai that much.

“Aww, yay! Thanks boss!”

All for One sighed on the other end of the monitor.

“I do not see why you wish to attend such an event with so many pro heroes in attendance, but I also do not see why I should not let you. After all, it is not as if you will give away information on the league should you get caught.”

Dazai’s grin turned even sharper, giving the screen a bug thumbs-up.

“You got it, sir!”

Kurogiri just shook his head, while All for One chuckled lightly.

“I trust you will not disappoint, Dazai-kun.”

Dazai himself chuckled back jovially.

“Count on it.”

Shouta wanted to ask to leave.

He was already sick to his stomach about having to be involved in interrogating Nakahara’s toddler sister about the murder she’d witnessed. Now that the little boy was missing, Shouta couldn’t do anything for his nerves.

He was itching to help find the little boy, but alas, he was needed here. As an underground hero, he had much more training dealing with the darker sides of hero work, as well as handling traumatized toddlers with far more frequency.

It was the only part of his job he considered to be something he actually hated. While he loved saving young kids, it was never easy to look children in the eyes after all the horrors they had seen.

Nonetheless, he set down a bunch of various toys for the little Elise to entertain herself with. He hoped she would feel more at ease if she was allowed to feel more like a child rather than a witness.

“Now, Elise,” Nezu began smoothly. “We’d just like to ask you a few questions about what you saw a few days ago outside of your apartment. Is that okay?”

Shouta had little doubt that Nezu would try to squeeze more than just that kind of information out of her if he could, but he was hoping Nezu would go easy on her. He didn’t want all of Nakahara’s family secrets to be aired because his sister saw something awful and he trusted his teachers to take care of her.

“What are you?”

The sudden blunt question caught Shouta off guard, and he had to stifle a startled laugh as Nezu blinked.

“Ah, I’ve been told I look like many different animals!” Nezu chirped, his smile returning in full force. “A bear, a mouse, even a monkey! Do you have a guess?”

Elise didn’t even hesitate as she answered. “Rat.”

This time, Shouta did laugh, but only slightly. Nezu shot him the tiniest of looks from the corner of his eye before turning back to Elise.

“Ah, I’ve never heard that one before.”

“You look just like a rat.”

If this kept up any longer, Shouta might have to excuse himself for other reasons besides worry.

Nezu just smiled at the little girl, but Shouta could see the miniscule annoyance. It wasn’t often someone managed to piss Nezu off, even in the slightest. He was slightly impressed with the little girl. She certainly had talents of her own, just like her exceptional big brother.

“Elise-chan, could you describe the man you saw with the gun?”

Elise pursed her lips, but she didn’t seem to think much of the questions.

“He… had brown hair. And bandages. Like him.”

She pointed at Shouta, who yes, was still covered in bandages. Though, his injuries were mostly healed now. He was just in recovery, and it was mostly just his skin that was still irritated.

“Hmm, I see.” Nezu nodded. Behind Shouta, he could hear the scratching of Ectoplasm’s pencil as he took notes. “Anything else?”

“He wasn’t as tall as the man in yellow.”

Nezu seemed to perk up a bit, as did Shouta as well as he could manage with stiff shoulders. An estimate on the villain’s height would be a great start.

“Do you know how tall he was?”

Elise hummed for a moment. “Hmm… his head was a little past the man’s chin.”

She pointed to her own chin, probably at where the villain’s head would be in relation to the hero’s chin. Since they knew the height of the hero, it would be easy to figure out the villain’s height. At least, if her memory was accurate.

“Alright, that’s good.”

Shouta knew Nezu was using the praise to soften Elise’s exterior to him and be more forthcoming, but he couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t seem to work at all. In fact, Elise brought her hands to her outfit’s pockets and stuffed them inside, as if retreating away.

Nezu frowned, but didn’t bother mentioning it.

“Did anything happen before he… before the incident occurred?”

Nezu didn’t want to say it. But Elise sure didn’t give a shit about doing so.

“Nope. He just came out of the alley and shot him in the head right away.”

Shouta was back to feeling sick to his stomach. He didn’t like the idea of how easily she could speak of it, how she didn’t even tremble at remembering. It was… unnatural. She shouldn’t be so used to such a life.

It seemed Nezu was going to jump on that opportunity.

“You don’t seem put off by his actions. Did you grow up seeing a lot of this kind of thing?”

Elise pursed her lips again, crossing her arms. She looked away.

“That’s my business.”

Nezu frowned, as did Shouta. He hadn’t expected her to shut down so easily, and it was clear Nezu hadn’t anticipated this either.

“That’s okay… you don’t have to share things you don’t want to.”

“I wasn’t gonna anyway.”

Nezu and Shouta shared a brief look—Shouta caught the message loud and clear.

Find out what you can from Nakahara. These kids need serious help.

Shouta couldn’t agree more.

When Chuuya found Q, relief was evident on his face.

And it was real relief, Q could tell. He was unused to such genuine emotion being shown his way, it caught him off guard.

Chuuya ran up to him and hugged him. Honestly, Chuuya was the only one that Q allowed to do such a thing. He didn’t trust anyone else to not have ulterior motives upon approaching him.

And Chuuya… well, Q wasn’t scared of his Ability when around Chuuya. After all, his supposed ‘older brother’ never hurt him, even once. He never had to worry about Chuuya accidentally setting it off or falling under its curse.

It was reassuring, in a way.

Chuuya held Q close in his arms. Q almost missed the near unnoticeable trembling in his superior’s frame.

Had he… actually scared Chuuya?

No, nonsense. That absolutely would not happen.

Though, the thought was nice…

Q had been found by some kid with six arms, paired with a girl with a perfectly neat ponytail. She kind of reminded Q of Gin in a way.

He, of course, hadn’t let them get close. But they’d been able to get a hold of someone to inform Chuuya.

Chuuya, who apparently didn’t care that he currently had an audience of his own two classmates watching him have this very emotional moment.

Q tried to remind himself that it was all a part of Chuuya’s character—he was supposed to come off this way!

…but Q also couldn’t ignore how real it was.

Finally, finally, Chuuya pulled away, settling his hands oh so gently onto Q’s shoulders. Their eyes met, and Chuuya’s were so soft Q thought he would be able to swaddle himself in that look if he tried.

“Are you okay?” He murmured, seemingly too soft for even his classmates to hear. But… that was the whole point of the facade. Did Chuuya just not care right now? “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Dumbly, Q shook his head. He didn’t quite know how to take the whole situation.

Chuuya didn’t need him to, it would seem. Instead, he carefully lifted Q into his arms, tucking his head into his shoulder as if putting a baby to sleep.

“I’ve got you.”

And somehow, that’s all Q needed to hear. He allowed Chuuya to carry him, his classmates following silently behind.

“Let’s go check on Elise. My teachers might let me take you both home early.”

Q certainly hoped so. What a busy day he had of wandering off, gathering his army, causing mass panic, and… experiencing warmth? Love? No, he wouldn’t go so far as to say that…

But he could almost… fool himself.

Instead, he murmured a quiet agreement, tucking his head into the crook of Chuuya’s neck and shutting his eyes. He trusted he’d be fine so long as he was right here, with his big brother.

He let himself think that, no matter how dangerous that notion truly was.

Chuuya was driven home by Present Mic, who was strangely quiet during the car ride. Chuuya didn’t know whether this teacher was on the search committee out looking for Q, or was listening to Elise’s testimony, but either way he didn’t seem like he enjoyed the day.

Yeah, that fucking makes two.

Whatever. A day spent faking politeness and misfortune was becoming Chuuya’s regular. He honestly wasn’t that perturbed by it anymore.

So he let himself get dropped off at his grungy apartment without complaint. Q had fallen asleep in his arms sometime ago, so Chuuya let Elise cling close to his legs while he guided them both to their room.

They could drop the act, they all knew… but something about this sense of peace and warmth around them was fragile, yet precious. None of them wanted to break it.

So Chuuya set Q down on the futon, tucking him in gently and closing the blinds. He tried to set something up on his laptop for Elise, but she just bypassed it and clutched his pant leg tightly in her chubby toddler fist.

“Where are you going…?”

The question was so… raw. It was unlike Elise. But Chuuya wouldn’t comment on it. Not today.

Instead, he knelt down to face her, gently stroking her hair in a way that wouldn’t mess it up. She hardly seemed to register that he was doing something that would normally annoy her. She must be tired.

He smiled softly at her, trying to channel his most caring instinct. Wasn’t it human nature to empathize?

Not human, that stupid voice in the back of Chuuya’s head whispered.

Not now. He chided back.

“I’m going to train.”

Elise pursed her lips, crossing her arms with a huff.

“Train? For what?”

Chuuya chuckled, standing up as he noticed her old self returning slightly.

“Haven’t you heard?” He grinned a little as she looked up, confusion evident on her face. “I’m gonna be competing in the UA Sports Festival.”

Hitoshi wasn’t spared a glance as he returned home. He knew his mother had probably left for work by now, and his father was in his home office. He just toed off his shoes at the entrance and passed through the house silently, heading to his room.

He dropped his bag onto his floor and sighed, plopping down at his desk.

He had two weeks to prepare for the Sports Festival, a place where he could finally prove his worth and show up those brats from the hero course who had the audacity to mock him. The only reason they had even earned their spot was because they had flashy and explosive Quirks that held merit in the entrance exam.

If being a hero depended on whether or not you could blow someone up, Hitoshi didn’t think that was a good system.

Regardless, Hitoshi was looking forward to showing UA just how wrong they were about him, and how it was a mistake to write him off just because he couldn’t defeat a couple robots.

Those hero students wouldn’t even know what hit them.

Although… he did have to admit, a couple of them had impressed him. When that student’s little brother had been missing, so many others unexpectedly aided him in the search. Even Hitoshi had helped.

Now, he didn’t know why someone’s little brother was randomly walking around the school, but that wasn’t his business to pry into.

That student was interesting, though. He had been very polite and respectful of Hitoshi and the others in the crowd, but also hadn’t stood for anyone’s bullshit against his classmates. That had Hitoshi’s respect.

He wondered just how well such a respectful person would last two minutes in a cutthroat Sports Festival.

Hitoshi smirked to himself. This would be fun.