Disclaimer! I do not own Boku no Hero Academia or any of its characters!

Izuku sighed. Maybe just conversing with a villain wasn't the best idea. At least he wouldn't have been scolded by the police. And he couldn't even snarl at them!

Ah well.

Listening to Shouta speaking, Izuku's thoughts drifted. When would this mission end? Would he finally accomplish his goals? Would he be able to leave these humans behind?

"...We're on the lookout for these villains. And we've had to cancel our usual accommodations at the last minute," his youngling told the class, "We won't reveal our actual destination until the day we depart."

"HUH?"

As the class began muttering among themselves, Izuku heard a soft hissing in front of him.

"You should've killed him."

"C'mon Bakugo! It must have been terrifying for Midoriya! Besides, it's totally illegal to use quirks in a public place!" Apparently, not quiet enough, as Hagakure had heard them and decided to 'defend' him.

"Che. Do I care? Just break those freaking bones."

Taking one look at his youngling's face left Izuku shaking with laughter.

I'm glad at least someone is finding amusement.

Kukukuku~ Of course.

Smirking slightly, Izuku whispered back, "Wasn't worth my time."

Shouta sighed. Wonderful, a bus ride that lasts several hours with 20 overenthusiastic students. Doesn't that just spell chaos?

"We'll be stopping in about an hour. After that, we'll..." Shouta trailed off as he felt a migraine building up. Why hadn't he just expelled all these brats? With all the troubles they were bringing him, Shouta was tempted to just say screw it.

As if you would.

Fuck, Shouta thought, nearly jumping out of his skin. It's been several months and he still couldn't get used to Shishou's voice suddenly interrupting his thoughts.

Really? But its been months.

Fuck you. You have no idea how unnerving this is. Also, aren't you asleep or something?

Shouta could swear that the green-haired vampire was 100% asleep.

I am, but my consciousness is still awake.

What?

Haaaah. That's a lesson for later, little one.

Did you just sigh into my thoughts? And stop calling me little! I freaking look older than you! Do you know how creepy it feels when you, who looks like a preteen, maybe teenager if we're stretching it, calls me, a full-grown man, a child?!

Oh boy. Is this what humans call mid-life crisis? You're 30, stop moping. I'm like... four hundred times your age.

Uuuugh...

Or is this teenage angst? Or was it childish rebellion? Aw, your so cute~

Shut up.

Shouta really, really, really couldn't wait until he could successfully lock the older being out of his mind. Permanently.

Aaaawww, little Shou-chan wants to be a big boy~

Deciding to act his age, Shouta gave the mental equivalent of the middle finger to him.

Kukukukuku~

Goddammit.

Kota felt like punching something. Stupid heroes. Stupid youkai. Stupid auntie and her group of stupid pro heroes.

Dark spirits had begun to gather around and in the forest, yet no one noticed! And no one was listening! They all kept on calling it his imagination, or just trauma from mom and dad's death!

Kota hated this. Why couldn't anyone else see?!

"Rock on with these sparkling gazes!"

"Stingingly cute and cat-like!"

"We're the Wild Wild..."

"...Pussy Cats!"

Kota rolled his eyes. Really hard.

Something felt off though, Kota thought as the hobo-looking man explained what was going on to the dorky looking group of teens.

Narrowing down the ominous feeling to the short green-haired guy, Kota wondered if his mind was going crazy, because there was no way that that was the most dangerous guy here. Maybe he was just going insane from the dark spirits lately? Yeah, he though, that's definitely it, he thought as he watched the heroes-in-training (dumb-asses) get continuously beaten and wrangled by auntie's Earth Beast.

Definitely going crazy...

Izuku felt himself melting a little. Children had always been a slight weakness of his, as indicated with his youngling. But this? This was just precious.

Trying to protect female virtue? Cute.

Fainting from seeing nudity? Adorable, but he is a child.

Falling of a several stories-tall wall? Precious, but humans find that dangerous.

Pretending that he didn't have The Sight and wasn't heading the warnings of Izuku's dangers? Mind-boggling adorable and made Izuku want to coo over the kid.

It was rare for people to The Sight nowadays, and even rarer to not be trained. Probably inherited from his grandparents or something, Izuku supposed, seeing as Mandalay seemed to think that these 'dark spirits' were just products of a child's overactive imagination.

Or maybe the other parent kept it a secret or something. Who knows.

"Kota seems pretty opposed to heroes," Izuku began carefully, after all, humans can be pretty sensitive about anything and everything, "Isn't it pretty unusual for a child his age to not admire heroes?"

"... Right, naturally, there are quite a few people in our society who don't think much of heroes... He'd probably look up to heroes too, if he'd been raised normally."

Normally?

Izuku raised an eyebrow. Maybe there was more to the child's Sight then what it seems at first glance.

"Mandalay's cousins were Kota's parents," explained Pixie-Bob as she entered the room with tea, "They were heroes who died in the line of duty."

Huh. Not so interesting then.

"Two years ago, they were protecting civilians from a villain. There's no better way for heroes to meet their end... an honorable death."

But the child didn't get it, Izuku guessed. Sounds pretty normal.

"But a boy who'd only just started learning about the world couldn't understand that because his parents were his entire world. To him, it was like they'd left him all alone. But society just kept praising them, saying that what they did was great and noble..."

Oh boy.

"I don't think he likes us very much either, but with no other relatives to rely on, he cooperates. To Kota, heroes are nasty people he can't understand."

And The Sight doesn't help either, Izuku guessed. Oh well, if the boy needs help, Izuku decided, then he would help, otherwise, this is none of his business.

Shouta felt like sighing again. These kids were strong, yes, but they weren't ready, not one bit. Maybe some of them were, but in the end, only one being was ready to take on anything, AKA shishou.

"Yes, you have been a lot these past three months. Undoubtedly, you've all grown. But its only your techniques and minds that have matured. Well, and your bodies, a bit. But as you've all just seen, your quirks haven't kept up with the pace. Starting today, you'll improve on your quirks. This'll be so harsh that you'll with you were dead, so do your best to stay alive."

Maybe he shouldn't have worded it in such a manner, as the green-haired vampire took it as a challenge to not only learn better 'control' of One-for-All, but tort - teach Shouta as well.

Time to up the training, he says, not difficult enough, he says. Ugh.

Shouta felt like groaning.

At least Shishou (Midoriya, his mind whispered, as it felt so, so wrong to call someone who looked like a teenager that), was playing nice with Tiger.

Cooking was a human skill... right?

Honestly, Izuku was pretty sure the last time he ate was probably last week, after all he survived off blood, not... human food. He could probably eat it if he desired, but what was the point?

Watching as the other students ate, Izuku felt the urge to hunt. It has been a week, and the night was the perfect time to scout out the forest as well.

And probably bring the child (Kota) some food too.

Human children need a lot of food, right?

Following the child's scent to a cliffside, Izuku carried a plate of... curry (?) with him.

"Are you hungry? I brought a plate of food. It's curry," I think, Izuku approached the boy.

"You! How'd you know I was here?!"

"I followed your sce- I mean, you might want some food."

"Nope. Don't want it. I don't feel like fraternizing with people like you," the boy glared, "So get away from my secret base."

Secret base, huh.

"Improving quirks... stretching them to the limits... all so gross. Flaunting your power like that."

"Hmmm, are we anything like them?"

Izuku gestured toward the forest below them. Below, spirits of all kinds gathered together. Hm, seemed like something dangerous was going to happen soon, as indicated by the numerous jikininki and bakenekos. Oh, there was even a jorogumo. Hm, maybe she'd be interested in a 'conversation' or two later.

"W-w-what do you mean?!"

Izuku turned back to the boy, who was currently staring wide-eyed back, frightened it seemed.

"Don't play the fool with me, Kota. We both know what you're seeing. Don't we?"

"Sh-shut up!"

Kota felt himself trembling. Was greenie as strong as he actually felt? There was no way.

After all, no one else saw what he did.

Yet, in less than a day of properly meeting the guy, he somehow knew about the evil spirits. Did he know what the heck was going on?

No way.

"If you keep rejecting what you're seeing, it'll hurt even more, y'know," the guy remarked, completely calm and casual.

So annoying!

"Shut up! Go away! You don't know what you're talking about! GO AWAY!"

Kota felt like screaming and screaming and screaming. Confusion and fear gripped at his heart. If someone else also saw those things, what did that mean for Kota?

"...I'll leave the curry here. But if you want to know, you can always find me, child," the (dangerous) guy said, putting down the plate before turning around and returning to the rest of the idiots-in-training.

Kota felt himself tremble as he faced the forest and its dark inhabitants.

I don't know what to do.

I don't understand.

I'm scared.

10...

So cute! Those kiddies were going on a test of courage! Aawww! It's such a shame we have to kill them, they're so cute!

9...

Everything's ready. I have my mask, I have my knife. Now I only need blood!

8...

I don't wanna wait anymore~ Almost time~

7...

Dabi's sooooo boring! I can't wait to have some fun~

6...

Almost time~ Al~most!

5...

I wanna to see blood!

4...

I wonder how Izu-chan is? I miss him soooo much~

3...

Why does Izu-chan like that guy better than me? Maybe I should pay him a visit soon and tell him how much I love him!

2...

Ready or not, kiddies...

1...

Himiko grinned a wide, crazy grin, excited for the certain bloodbath that would soon occur.

0...

… here I come~

The game is on.