Hello, so now the plot will start picking up fast.


"Jirou, what the hell?" Shouto wondered out loud.

"That's some way to greet a girl who's helping you," Kyouka retorted.

Shouto was crouched behind shrubs behind the chain-linked fence that demarcated hospital perimeters. Behind him, were Momo and Kyouka, donning light disguises.

When Momo took a different metro line on their way back from their respective internship that afternoon, on the basis of "meeting with Shouto," Kyouka immediately grew suspicious. Instead of going home, Kyouka followed Momo and didn't reveal herself until they'd exited her desired stop. Momo knew that any attempts to dissuade Kyouka at that point would be futile, so she informed Kyouka of her stake-out with Shouto.

"She found out and came willingly," Momo explained, crouching beside him.

"Does that mean she also knows about—"

"Please, I knew about her little crush on you before you did," Kyouka stated, taking the light blush overcoming the couple's faces as compensation.

Kyouka didn't like the idea of Momo trespassing and going off the books alone, especially after she'd just received her provisional hero license. However, when Kyouka confronted Momo at the station, she could tell that Momo's judgement wasn't clouded. If Momo thought that taking action secretly was the best move, then the situation must've been serious. If the situation was serious, then Kyouka had an obligation to accompany Momo and ensure her safety.

"Look, Icy-hot, all I know is this: someone close to you is in that building, something fishy's going on, and you don't want to go to the police because you'd have to tell them about your snooping."

"Icy-hot?" Shouto repeated.

Kyouka tried to avoid eye contact with Shouto, who she knew was staring at her, perplexed. This was the most interaction she'd had with him, and it was already off to an awkward footing. Crap, even when I try to be intimidating, it doesn't work, Kyouka lamented inwardly.

"If we're here to do a stakeout, we're going to do it properly," Momo stated, attempting to refocus their attention, "Kyouka, get down, and Shouto, put this on." Momo pulled a baseball cap over his scar, to which Shouto agreed, knowing that his face was far too iconic.

"Agreed, though, I am curious, why did you come here, Jirou?"

"To back up Momo, of course! And also…If you do get in trouble, I don't want to be useless—not like I was when you guys raided the villain hideout."

To this day, Kyouka couldn't forgive her cowardice that night. While Momo and the others were risking their lives, she'd elected to stay behind and pretend that the five would simply give up after realizing the enormity of the task. When the Katsuki showed up safe, she immediately realized how wrong she'd been. Sure, they accomplished their mission, but they also barely escaped the jaws of death. Since then, Kyouka vowed that she would never leave her friends in trouble, no matter how small.

"Jirou, this time isn't like when Bakugo was kidnapped. Bakugo was someone all of us shared. You owe me no favors."

"Like I said, I'm not backing down from anything anymore," Kyouka replied sternly.

The dual quirk user stared at her in what she inferred was disbelief, although it was always hard to read his face. Shouto looked like he had something to say, and Kyouka braced herself for what she expected to be an indifferent, short-winded acceptance of their aid.

"Jirou, arigato. I'm grateful for your help. I'll make sure you two don't get in any trouble for this."

Jirou nodded and knelt down beside them, attempting to hide her surprise. He spoke in his usual deadpan voice, yet his reply sounded warmer than she was expecting. It was odd. Although he'd always been a honest person, he was never quite so open with his feelings. What did you do to him, Yaomomo? Kyouka wondered.

"Alright, Shouto and I will keep an eye out for suspicious activity, while you keep your earphone jack plugged in," Momo instructed as she handed a pair of newly-created binoculars to Shouto.

"It's five. Visiting and normal working hours just ended. If anything sketchy is going to happen, it's going to be in the next few hours, especially after it gets dark." Shouto added.

The next two hours ticked by slowly as they sat under the scorching sun. As the orange hue of the sky faded to a navy blue, Momo switched out her and Shouto's binoculars for night vision goggles. Meanwhile, Kyouka was growing drowsy from two hours of listening to utter silence, save the chirps of the birds and rumble of ventilation system of the building. This is a complete bust—

A door clicked.

"Jirou, what's wrong?" Shouto whispered.

"Someone's come out of this side of the building, ten o'clock," Kyouka informed them.

The two did as instructed.

"There's a man. He's glancing over his shoulder and pulling out his cellphone. Kyouka, what can you hear?"

Kyouka adjusted her earphone jacks and focused them in towards the mysterious man. She put one finger up to her lip, gesturing for Momo and Shouto to remain silent. The more background noise there was, the harder it was for her to lock into her target.

"Yes, I just sent a batch of syringes and everything else you requested. When's the next due date? N-No, there's no problem…I'll look through the patient profiles and get back to you…Yes, your payment came in…Yes, we're covering up our tracks…Taken care of. We found a reason to fire her. Luckily, she let an unauthorized visitor in to see a patient twice, otherwise we never would have any other excuse that wouldn't arouse suspicion…Okay, just please you'll leave me alone after this is over."

Kyouka heard the door click again.

"He went back inside," Momo informed her.

Rustle.

Thud.

Snap.

"We need to get out of here, quick!"

Shouto and Momo didn't hesitate. The three stayed close to the ground and fled the scene. Using his night vision goggles, Shouto led the way, while Kyouka occasionally stopped to plug her earphone jacks into the ground to approximate the distance of the footsteps that'd alarmed her moments ago. As the sound grew softer and softer, and the their surroundings brighter, their panic waned. Eventually, the three students tucked inside a phone booth in which no one could hear them. As soon as the three caught their breaths, it was nothing but questions for Kyouka.

"Not that I doubt your instincts, Jirou, but what the hell just happened?" Shouto asked.

"I heard really heavy footsteps from multiple people coming towards us, and I didn't like the sound of them," Kyouka answered, still huffing.

"Security guards?" Momo offered.

"No, security was one of the sectors hit hardest by the layoff," Shouto replied, "Jirou, what else did you hear?"

Kyouka then relayed the conversation she'd just heard word-for-word. Towards the end, she noticed that Shouto and Momo grew visibly distressed. They then informed her about Anri's story, about how the man was referencing Shouto on the phone. A cloud of tension began to shroud them as they hypothesized what could possibly be unfolding behind the scenes.

"Shouto, those unexpected patient pullouts could be orchestrated by that man since he was talking about combing through profiles," Momo speculated.

"And timing is in synch with his deliveries, but what are they used for?" Kyouka asked.

"It's uncommon for hospitals to send medical equipment," Momo offered.

"If the people you heard right are connected to that man out back, then those could be the people I asked Anri to look into, so when Anri brought it up, it only made sense to fire her," Shouto reasoned.

"Should we tell someone?" Kyouka questioned.

"I don't know how much good that'd do. Right now, we don't have incriminating evidence. All we have is a vague phone call, which we didn't tape, and complaints from an employee who violated protocol. If we went to the police—who are already swamped—they'd probably push this towards the back. Plus, it sounds like someone is pulling the strings from the shadows, and that person sounds kind of threatening. We don't know enough about what's going on, except for it's probably bad."

"Seriously, Todoroki-san?" Kyouka protested.

"Unfortunately, he's got a point. Our next move should be to look into that person. We can find out who he is, dig up information, and maybe follow him around. Shouto, ask Anri if she's willing to provide any more information, but don't force her."

"Okay, Yaomomo, but I don't like having to drag this out any longer than necessary."

"Me neither."

Kyouka sighed in a sign of reluctant approval of their next steps. Her heart was beating faster than normal, both out of fear and out of the thrill that was surging through her. Although they didn't have much information yet, she had an inkling that whatever she was about to get herself wrapped up in was big enough to merit redemption for her cowardice months ago.