Chapter 10: Recap With Sensei

A landscape covered in ice, a plethora of citizens forced to wait for their inevitable demises, yet that fate was overturned when that boy appeared.

As Endeavor rushed towards the problems source, that boy was entirely focused on freeing everyone that came his way with unfathomable speed. Ice would be shattered and turned into snow to be carried away by the wind of his blows. The boy had an odd ability outside his incredible strength. If you were blessed enough to gaze upon him, your safety was all but guaranteed, yet that boy still agonized. Such feats may have been acceptable for any other hero that came to terms with their limits, but not that boy who didn't believe in limits.

For everyone he freed he had something that could be considered a bad habit. Despite his blistering speed, he would always slow down to check upon the condition of all those he saved.

" Thank You!" "My hero!"

Gratitude was genuine with tears rolling down the eyes of those her carried in his arms, but everything changed as he walked down the halls of the hospital in which Endeavor had been admitted to.

" Why weren't you quicker?! I LOST MY FINGERS TO FROSTBITE BECAUSE OF YOU."

A single disgruntled voice from the masses he had saved merely questioned why he didn't do more with the power he had possessed. It would have been reasonable for him to ignore those words, but he refused to give in holding steadfast to those feelings of wanting to save people.

" You may find your emotions grow distant. You may forget why you wanted to be a hero in the first place."

Though his heart felt like it would break, the boy continued on with a smile which was not lost on the "King of Night" who was ever watchful.

Jirou, aka Headphone Jack was on patrol with Desutogoro for her internship and she was surprised at what she had come across on the street.

"LOV Blood Drive for the Victims of Wookiees" was an eye catching banner. The League of Villains was quick to act in the face of the tragedy that only those glued to their phones would notice. In the middle of the closed off street was something of a spectacle.

Endeavor Vs Vlad King

Dodging a whip composed of blood; Endeavor closed the distance and aimed his fist at his opponents face while letting off a stream of fire. The crowd reacted with a barrage of booing.

Hell Flame?

The stream was dodged by a hair's breath, but it did not pack the same sort of punch expected of Endeavor, until something in the distance could be seen burning.

Witnessing the fight, Desutogoro had one thing to say, "That's not Endeavor."

Jirou was taken a back, but by eavesdropping on those lining up to donate she understood the short version of what had transpired a few hours ago. Looking closely, the fake Endeavor sported two miniaturized flame throwers on his wrists. When the flames weren't large enough, a stage hand with patch work skin would add to it with an actual fire based quirk. Hiding his face with a cap, the man with patchwork skin was clearly conflicted with something.

" How can any of this be Stain's will, Shigaraki?!"

「You see those orphans? The victims of our little tragedy? They'll make fine heroes and villains in the next. Start tragedies, create victims, save them, inspire them and feed them back into the system. It's a perfectly logical system where tragedy never ends and neither does conviction. Heroes are a valuable commodity in troubled times, but in peace, they're just fakes who smile for the camera. That's why All Might and this peace have to go. We will take back what it means to be a hero.」

The other stagehand of LOV that resembled an iguana was always present trying to reassure him of something, a nostalgic camaraderie which Jirou could sympathize with. The League of Villains (LOV) was the organization that was hired for that live drill exercise Jirou partook in near the start of the year at UA she recalls. Still, it was unthinkable that a circus troupe would have so many capable members and so many willing to risk getting injured. Truly they were fanatics of a sort, but the same could be said of her classmates at UA. LOV and UA seemed to have a good relationship considering the homeroom teacher of Class-B was participating in this event, even if that was the farthest thing from the truth.

In truth, Vlad King was using the opportunity of the blood drive to conduct a quick investigation for the rest of the UA faculty as the opportunity presented itself. The teachers of UA had known that the threats at the lives of Class-A that day was real, but not the students. When one of his students, Monoma had called him out of the blue, he felt like he had to act when he picked up to the interrupted call tone. When he questioned the other students of the class by phone, the League of Villains came up. The attack on the Unforeseen Simulation Joint (USJ) by LoV was passed off as a training exercise to maintain the public trust in the hero system, but it had the unforeseen consequence of painting LoV as something other than what they were to the public and even to UA students who believed it to be a sort of theatre troupe. The time lag between this blood drive and the tragedy at Wookies was simply too short. It wasn't a matter of being diligent, LoV was obviously pulling some strings behind the scenes, but considering how one of his students was ensnared as a volunteer, he wasn't sure if those running this event today were unknowing victims as well.

Public use of quirks is illegal unless one possesses a hero license or is supervised by a licensed hero. That was why theatre troupes like LOV had to partner themselves with hero agencies when conducting publicity stunts. The supervising hero of today's blood drive was Ingenium of all people, though it shouldn't be surprising based on Ingenium's ideals. As someone who prided himself on saving people as quickly as possible during disasters and being hospitalized himself just recently, his motivations were easy to read. Yet, something was off; he could have sworn he was permanently crippled by Stain based on what he heard from the news and his little brother's behavior at school. Ingenium decked out in his white armor minus the helmet, Tensei's face could be seen, so the Ingenium supervising this event was probably genuine. Maybe the media had simply overblown the extent of his injuries. As he looked at the stage hands, the one with patch work skin and the other like a reptile, it was clear that they did not approve of Ingenium, but his thoughts were cut short as a stream of flames nearly misses his face.

Ducking underneath "Endeavor", condensing blood into a single point, a crimson bullet is fired with considerable force into the stomach.

「*Ganta Gun!*」, was what someone running the tent had screamed.

In a splash of liquid, the disguise is undone, revealing the naked figure of a blonde girl with hair buns that must have been around the same age as his students. The males who were lining up to give blood were already leaking it through their noses at this point, but the feast for their eyes was soon replaced by a doppelganger of the Vlad King when the girl licked what she had been shot with.

" She turned into me?"

"It's awkward if you keep staring."

"I am deeply sorry," was what Vlad King apologized with today to the girl as he quickly turned his face to the side. Such an apology would eventually be repeated to his co-workers sometime in the future for not being able to see the obvious intent behind today's event. He would curse his eyes for not focusing on the face.

As he looked into the tent, he spotted a girl with an uncanny resemblance to a certain runner up in the recent UA Sports Festival and an old doctor who was speaking on the phone. A man in what could be called a gimp suit was meticulously taking pictures of each of the blood donors as well as taking body measurements to determine what size of commemorative T-shirt they would be taking home.

/*What is it doctor?*/

"Do I really have to be doing this?"

/*Young Tomura's scheme needed a licensed medical professional.*/

The doctor understood what Shigaraki was trying to do with 「Skill Grinding」. Even if the doctor understood, there was still one thing that bothered him.

"Do I really have to sit next to the little demon?"

/*I didn't know you were a man of faith.*/

As the threats to "evil" were ever growing stronger, All For One needed to cultivate his successor further and faster. All Might already had cheated, getting a good successor pre-cultivated by his allies. Still, the orphan originally named "Tenko" that he took in was born twisted from the start, so there was no doubt he would rise to the occasion. By introducing him to Stain, whose ideals grated on Tomura the wrong way, his successor would grow ever more independent, just as with the case of introducing him to the "demon" even if that resulted in his ridiculous way of speech. For Tomura to take the helm as the head of the family known as the League of Villains, he needed to realize his convictions.

Being able to scavenge plans gone awry and take advantage of such opportunities were crucial for Tomura to become the next him. His direct attack on the number one hero failed and for that reason he decided to attack the number two hero indirectly. Kidnapping Endeavor's wife and making use of an aspiring hero as an unwitting accomplice showed that he was maturing. Even though the hostage escaped, being under "demonic" influence, his successor quickly saw an opportunity to recoup his losses. Endeavor's image as a hero had already been destroyed, so it wouldn't be hard to guess the public reaction. Individuals may be smart, but groups can be stupid, being swayed with the flow of the times. All For One still remembers the day of his defeat, on how the whole world that he had rebuilt from the ashes seemed to turn against him as they were swayed by a symbol.

Collecting blood samples would exponentially increase the usefulness of that Toga girl whose quirk allowed her to disguise herself as anyone whose blood she digests. Allowing Twice to take measurements during the blood drive event would invariably increase the number of useful doubles to be used as decoys. Such doubles could be even more useful if the will of the original could be stripped away, but the "demon" could not be counted to do such things effectively as evidenced with Endeavor's wife. Even with power to turn anything to nothing, Zako was inferior to Deku who possessed infinite power in All For One's eyes. A useless thing that could not visualize victory. A playful defeatist that did everything at her own pace without regard to the concept of victory and probably worked to sabotage the efforts of others so they could not obtain it. He fears for Tomura's future as long as he keeps that thing around. As evidenced with the wife of Endeavor, turning someone's memories into nothing was not enough to get them to follow orders even if combined with image training. AFO wonders if Tomura's next plan of action would involve that hypocrite from the Sports Festival.

Ever since he was crippled by All Might, All For One had accepted his own humanity. The more he watched the bald figure, the more he accepted his place in the world. No matter how long he lives, becoming equal to that bald figure that stands on the very top was a delusion, for what was a man before a literal god? He had spent his entire life carving out order, to quell the disorder caused by the appearance of quirks, yet this world refused to be orderly with mysterious beings and the Caped Baldy running around. He acknowledged that the world was full of contradictions. He had accepted long ago that there were things he could not change with his own power, which is why he had to entrust. Entrust his goals to a successor and his gang of problem children. To have faith that those problem children would destroy the order All Might had desperately tried to create on top of the corpses of his comrades. For all the despair All Might caused him, he wanted him to feel the same despair he had. AFO could not allow someone else to enjoy something he himself could never obtain, especially for someone who followed that foolish woman who was only ever about her ideals and drowned to death in them.

As All For One stares at a computer monitor depicting the scalp of the "Sun", he ponders.

/*What thoughts are running through your mind? */

" Using his hair as a placebo? He's just flaunting it isn't he."

That was Saitama's only thought as he eavesdropped into the "secret" conversation All Might was having with the successor principal Nedzu and his former side kick had recommended for him.

"That's why we're eating udon. Just pretend it's a thin noodle."

"I get why Sir is such a big fan with that sense of humor of yours."

Saitama rubs his scalp agonizing over the relationship between hair and power. Even though it's natural for an old man to be bald, he still envied a full head of hair. For all those years he has lived, he had forgotten the sensation. It was like he never had hair on his head at all. The sensation of running his fingers through his hair, the things he would do to experience it. His beard which served to hide the wrinkles he may or may not have actually possessed did not count. Would he still look like an old man if he shaved it? But alas, his facial hair proved to be as resilient as any other part of his body.

Saitama murmurs to no one in particular, "could my beard be weaved into body armor?"

"My costume is made from my hair," was what Mirio responded with without reading Saitama's mood.

" You're flaunting it too. ***** it all, surrounded by all these beautiful golden locks…"

Lost in thought after making such a remark Lemillion had completely forgot about the strand of hair All Might had tried goading him into eating hidden away under the noodles of udon. How his permeation quirk handles food being partially digested by his body is not something people are keen on thinking about Saitama included. It was for that reason Saitama decided to leave once he saw the boy gagging. He should have left half an hour ago with the perpetually constipated brat.

"I'm out….."

All Might quickly assumed that something he did was at fault.

"The disciple of my sidekick is also my disciple. Did he take offense to that?"

Even though All Might's health was declining, he saw Saitama-sensei as a kindred spirit. Behind the beard, perpetually making the same face the young Kaminari gets whenever he electrocutes himself, Saitama-sensei must have been suffering from some sort of health problem just as he was. Leaving the diner, Saitama decided to seek out his no show disciple.

" So where was that hospital?"

His father was more imposing in his memories, Shoto could recall, that is why he couldn't fathom the weak figure splayed across the hospital bed. The man obsessed with his rank and surpassing All Might never cared for his mother's well being, but now he rests on the hospital bed because he refused to harm her.

"Some like you….I don't understand at all. What are you?"

For Endeavor, his son's question was stupid.

"Isn't it obvious….. I'm a hero."

Regardless of how Endeavor may act, he was still a man who willingly chose to become a hero. Regardless of an individual hero's intentions and goals, a hero's job built on the concept of self-sacrifice, so what he had done was a matter of course. He was a hero regardless of how the public may have perceived him or how they will perceive him now on. Clattering steps without semblance of order could be heard outside in the hallway.

Knock! Knock!

It seems a rambunctious bunch have gathered outside spurred on by the recent news.