AN: Hi everyone! If you've gotten to this chapter, please take a second to look back on the two that came before it. They've undergone heavy revisions and had at least one new scene added, so reading those first will probably make this chapter make a lot more sense!

Content warning for this chapter: Mostly Bakugō being a dick, per usual.


The next day was a lot like the one before. Tiger kept drilling everyone like he had a degree in it, which at one point ironically made Kaibara throw up. Izuku spent the day in yet more strength exercises, noting only distantly any problems the other students had during the course of their own particular torture sessions. It wasn't that he didn't care—it was a lot more that Tiger had a way of making everyone feel like they were going to die, all the time.

Aizawa-sensei had warned them.

"I think I know what Shinsō-kun feels like," Izuku mumbled, staggering his way back toward his training spot. At least the line for the bathroom hadn't been long. "Except Tiger is way tougher."

"You can only push someone so hard outside of Quirk training," was Todoroki's somewhat distracted reply. He was still sitting in a tub of hot water, right hand out and prepped to ice the immediate area. "I think Iida-kun's run ten kilometers today already."

Izuku made a little noise of agreement, gulped, and picked up his pace before Tiger "had to come find him." He'd already spoken (briefly) to Aizawa-sensei about any other pros ending up out here, gotten a negative, and known deep in his thrice-broken bones that All Might wasn't gonna save him from that.

Dinner that night went smoother. Kacchan got himself taken off of fire-starting duty permanently, but he was quick with a knife and cutting board. Izuku ended up on fire prep duty, because, well, why not? Everyone was working on other jobs. Even Iida had picked up a potato peeler, though it was pretty clear he didn't know how to use one.

"Hey, Midoriya-kun," said Jirō, making Izuku nearly drop the latest piece of firewood.

"Um, yeah?" Izuku craned his neck to see her, and spotted Kōda right over her shoulder. Jirō was calm, and Kōda…well, he was never really calm, but he seemed even more nervous than normal.

"You went into the woods last night, right?" At Izuku's nod, Jirō went on, "Did you see anything…weird?"

Izuku let out a nervous hiccup that almost sounded like a laugh and, pretending that Todoroki wasn't staring at him, said, "Ah… Uh, define 'weird' for me?"

Kōda whispered something, mainly to the top of Jirō's head, and she said without missing a beat, "Kōda-kun says the animals have been really worried over the last few days. They weren't specific, but did you see anyone?"

Izuku did not want to talk about ghosts. At all. Frantically, he flipped through his mental scrapbook of last night's events, then said, "I saw a…lot of paper? The only one out there besides me was Kōta-kun, but I don't think he did it."

"Paper?" Todoroki repeated, forgetting to pretend he wasn't eavesdropping.

"Yeah, like…" Izuku mimed placing a sticker flat on the brick sides of the grill. "Like just stuck there."

"I see." Jirō turned back to Kōda and said, "Well, we have litterbugs."

Kōda could not have looked less convinced if Jirō had told him the sky was green.

"Um," Izuku broke in, before he could think better of it. When the other three were looking at him again, he mumbled, "The paper didn't…exactly look like that . They were more like ofuda, now that I think about it more."

"Why would someone raid a shrine just to plaster talismans out here?" Jirō wanted to know.

Well, that was fair.

"Oooh, maybe there's some secret mountain shrine out here!" Ashido suggested, almost literally headbutting her way into the conversation. "Or a ghost!"

Kaminari, likewise, popped up out of absolutely nowhere. "Are we gonna tell ghost stories? It'll be perfect for the test of courage later!" He grinned. "Come on, Midoriya, don't leave us hanging like that!"

"It's, uh,"—Kōta's safe spot— "not really my business, Kaminari-kun. And we're supposed to be making dinner right now."

"Ghosts aren't real, you idiots!" Kacchan snapped, not even looking up from his cutting board. "Just shut up already!"

Izuku flinched at the sound of his voice, but luckily, no one noticed.

"Why don't you come with us, then?" Jirō challenged. "Or are you actually scared?"

Izuku rapidly finished placing firewood, then got out of the blast radius.

"WHAT WAS THAT, EARLOBES?!"

Uraraka jumped, and a potato floated away.

"This is getting out of hand. Let's not be here," Todoroki said, as he and Izuku both retreated from a potential explosion-slash-food-fight.

"Right!"

It wasn't until they were safely out of range of the teachers' wrath that Todoroki went on, "Is there a reason you didn't want them following that trail?"

"Not really, I just…" Izuku sighed. "Kōta needs a little space. The only place I know to find all the paper slips leads right to him."

Todoroki's expression softened, just a little. "I get it."

"Great, but—"

Before Izuku could even complete his thought, Jirō, Kaminari, and Ashido disappeared into the forest. To be fair, it was a pretty short run, and Iida was busy yelling at Kuroiro and two other kids from 1-B to notice their escape. They'd be back soon enough.

Izuku honestly had no idea how they expected to get away from food prep long enough to actually investigate, and it turned out he didn't need to worry.

Because they came back. Immediately.

"Um," said Izuku, as the three of them looked blankly at each other. "What just…?"

Todoroki cocked his head to one side. "Wait for it?"

As they watched, all three of them about-faced and headed back into the woods at a trot. It looked like they were following the same path Izuku had the night before. It wasn't like it moved.

…Or did it? Because, right on cue, the three of them emerged from the woods exactly as they had before, only more out of breath like they'd run a marathon.

By now, Todoroki and Izuku's blatant staring was a communal activity. Uraraka and Asui to start, then Sero and Tokoyami and Ojiro. Shōda had his hand out to poke Monoma and get his attention, and it seemed like word was spreading fast.

Iida still hadn't noticed yet.

Ashido looked like she was ready to tear her hair out. "What the heck! We followed the path and we didn't turn even once, so why are we back out here?!"

"What're you even talking about, Raccoon Eyes?" Kacchan snapped. "Get back to work!"

"Not until we figure out this mystery!" Kaminari shouted back.

Jirō groaned and didn't join in the third time the forest expedition left, trudging back over to where she'd left her basket of carrots. Apparently, the appeal of taunting Kacchan had worn off. "This is pointless."

"Is there someone around with, uh, a disorientation Quirk?" Uraraka asked Kendo. "Or maybe illusions?"

"Not in our class," said Kendo. She frowned thoughtfully. "Yours?"

"Nope," said Asui. "Did you see anything strange, Jirō-chan?"

Jirō shook her head. "It's just really weird. I swear we were walking in a straight line the whole time, but—"

At this point, two screams rang out from just beyond the treeline.

Iida snapped awake, or something, because Izuku honestly didn't know how he'd missed the stuff happening just over his shoulder. His head-count procedure was faster than any kindergarten teacher's, and he came up two short.

That was when Ashido and Kaminari came barreling out of the woods like they'd seen their own deaths, and Iida met them before they could hide in the crowd. "Where have you two been?!"

"Th-th-there was a face!" Kaminari stammered, shaking like Todoroki had just iced him over.

"That's not even original," Jirō scoffed. Everyone avoided telling her that only taking the first two trips with Ashido and Kaminari didn't actually make her innocent of skiving off work. Or a skeptic.

"It was like a noh mask!" Ashido wailed, not even paying attention and apparently doing her best to suffocate Jirō in a panicked hug.

Iida didn't listen to their excuses. "Back to work, you two!"

And thankfully, no one besides Todoroki and Uraraka could see the color drain from Izuku's face.


After dinner and cleanup duties, everyone was supposed to gather in a clearing for the test of courage. Basically, the two hero course classes were going to take turns scaring each other silly. Class B had the first turn, since they'd won the coin toss between Iida and Kendo. They left early to get set up, which didn't bode super well for 1-A's chances of leaving with their nerves intact.

This was going to be…fun. Sort of.

When 1-A was finally given permission to head into the forest, Iida had to lead the way because he was responsible. Uraraka and Todoroki, though, hung back as Izuku dragged his heels a little.

"Hey, Deku," Uraraka said, while the rest of the crowd trudged on.

Izuku blinked, shaking off his thoughts. "Yeah?"

"You looked kinda pale earlier. Are you sure you're okay?" Uraraka had held off from calling someone to take Izuku to the infirmary, which was nice of her. But then, she'd been there in the mall when Shigaraki showed up, so maybe she had more reason to be concerned than most.

Izuku laughed nervously. "I'm fine."

Todoroki eyed him. "You might be, but something's on your mind."

"Oh." Izuku slumped a little. "Am I that obvious?"

"More like a bad liar," Todoroki replied.

Fair enough. Izuku bit his lip, then said, "Um, do you remember the USJ attack?" When he got two solemn nods, Izuku continued, "When we were all separated, uh, I saw someone in a white mask there, right next to the villains. I think I told you that, Uraraka-san? The one that showed up right after that red monster."

Uraraka nodded, though her brow was now furrowed in concern.

Todoroki didn't, because he and Izuku hadn't spoken for the first time until midway through the Sports Festival, but he prompted, "And…?"

"I saw someone like that again." Twice. In two days. "Uh, once next to Kōta-kun, when Mineta-kun got thrown off the wall."

Uraraka grimaced, but said, "I thought he fell?"

"Yeah, because Kōta-kun pushed him." Which, frankly, Mineta deserved. Izuku hit his stride, though, and that meant couldn't stop to worry about that. "But right behind him, there was somebody else. I tried asking Mandalay if Kōta-kun has an illusion Quirk, but he doesn't. I don't know who that could've been, but I have ideas now."

"I don't remember anything like that," Todoroki said, frowning just as much as Uraraka. "Are you sure it wasn't—?"

"I'm sure, because I saw them again last night when I went to go talk to Kōta-kun," Izuku insisted, though he hated to interrupt. It felt like his heart was trying to crawl up his throat. "And when Kaminari-kun and Ashido-san ran into the woods earlier, they said they saw a scary white thing, so…"

"A villain?" Todoroki suggested, and that gave Izuku pause.

"I…no? Maybe? That's what I'm not sure about." Izuku covered his mouth with his scarred right hand, trying to force his thoughts into some kind of order. "No, they—if there's more than one—they never hurt Kōta…"

And they'd never hurt a UA student; not really. At the USJ, the bird mask guy set the red monster on the League of Villains. They kept their backs to the UA students almost the whole time, cutting off attacks and keeping Nōmu from hurting Aizawa-sensei more than he'd already been. That red monster had been the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen, even past the Nōmu and every villain there, and Shigaraki two months later, but at the time he hadn't realized the truth: It only cared about hurting the Nōmu. Even when All Might arrived and sorted everything out by punching both monsters out of the dome, the bird-masked guy hadn't actually done anything besides yell until his voice cracked. Then he left, the same as the League did.

Izuku followed hero news more avidly than even most pro heroes he could name, and he remembered the reports of creepy white-masked figures that sprang up after the USJ incident. But, once again, nothing actually happened besides a lot of people posting shaky cell phone videos and making bad analysis editorials on their Youtube accounts. The reports had even died off recently, dropped entirely by the news in favor of basically anything else.

Todoroki tried his best to interrupt gently. "Um, Midoriya?"

Izuku snapped back to reality with a jolt. "Huh? What?"

"You've been muttering this whole time…" Todoroki said, expression blank.

Izuku's face had to be on fire—nope, not going there. "I—oh. I was?"

Uraraka nodded. "Don't be embarrassed, though. It's fine!" She pressed her fingertips together in a nervous gesture, then said, "Though if what you're saying is true, they're probably not bad people…whoever they are. And that might be the real problem."

Heroes didn't hide their identities. It wasn't what heroes did. Which meant they were dealing with vigilantes.

"How did they even find us here, though?" Izuku wondered, even as he noticed they were catching up to the rest of the group. "Aizawa-sensei said this camp is so secret not even All Might knows where we are. It's all to keep us safe from villains."

Oh no oh no no no no why do they know where we are—?

"Do you think the red monster's here, too?" Izuku muttered in a squeak, half-frantic as he stared at his friends. It was safer than looking into the woods.

Todoroki and Uraraka didn't look like they'd thought of that, and that the idea, once planted, was not a comforting one. Because while the red monster appeared to be on their side, it had a deeply unsettling, Nōmu-like mode of pure savagery that covered half the central plaza of the USJ in blood. Izuku didn't have to think too hard to imagine what it might've been capable of doing if it hadn't decided that Nōmu was the only target it cared about. Worse, whatever-it-was just showing up had done almost as much to freeze everyone in pure terror as seeing Aizawa-sensei get smashed into the concrete in front of them.

Maybe the bird-masked guy hadn't brought it this time.

Maybe Izuku needed to tell someone right now, only to be stopped dead by this thought: Mandalay knows.

The coat the other day hadn't belonged to any of the Pussycats. He'd known it instinctually and not made the connection.

"DEKU, SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"

It took him a couple of seconds to realize the high-pitched kettle whistle was coming from his own throat. He clapped his hands over his mouth before anybody could say anything else and managed to stop, but it was a close thing.

"Deku? Deku, you're, uh, not looking so good…"

"Wow, class B hasn't even gotten started yet! What's going on with you, kitten?" Pixie-Bob asked, and Izuku finally snapped to attention to realize that every single person in the clearing was staring at him.

"Um." Izuku swallowed hard. After a few slow breaths, he said, "It's… Sorry, this is really getting to me!"

As long as no one asked what "this" was, he'd be in the clear.

Kacchan scoffed outright, and Pixie-Bob seemed to leave the issue alone in favor of trying to hype everyone else up for the walk through the creepy woods. It wasn't that the woods weren't creepy during the day—especially with earth monsters running around everywhere—but night made it so much worse.

"It's okay, Deku," said Uraraka. She patted his shoulder with four fingers. "Look, let's just concentrate on seeing who ends up having to go first."

"R-Right…"

"Midoriya," said Aizawa-sensei, which stole the calm Izuku had almost managed. He stood a bit apart from the other pros, so the Wild, Wild Pussycats could tell everyone more about tonight's events, and Aizawa-sensei could catch a nap in the meantime. Maybe. He always looked like he needed one. "A word, please."

"Y-Yes, sir," Izuku said, and followed him to the edge of the clearing. They weren't exactly out of earshot of everyone else, but Tiger's shouting covered for a lot of things.

"Calm down, Midoriya. You aren't in trouble." Aizawa-sensei sighed. "Or maybe I should ask what's wrong. So?"

Izuku took a careful breath. Under Aizawa-sensei's impassive stare, he forced his hands still and his voice even again. It worked, to some degree. "Somebody's lurking around the camp."

Aizawa-sensei…blinked. Waited, like…

"Did you…already know? About the masks?" Izuku asked, his voice pitching upward instantly.

The sigh Aizawa-sensei let out was the loudest Izuku had ever heard from him. And he'd been close enough to listen when All Might slammed the classroom door open on the fifth day of school. While Izuku stared, Aizawa-sensei reached up to slowly pinch the bridge of his nose like Izuku had just given him a headache.

"Midoriya, don't worry about that," Aizawa-sensei said. "They aren't worth getting worked up like this."

"But—wait, them?" How many were there?

"They're not dangerous to you students." What? "Just stay on the forest path tonight and you'll be fine."

"But Aizawa-sensei—"

"Midoriya, we know." He nodded toward the forest, hands in his pockets now. "They're not as public as UA teachers, but they're here to help."

…What? Are they underground heroes? "But—"

"Do I have to get one of them over here to apologize for giving you nightmares?" And true to his natural poker-face, Izuku wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

"Uh…"

Aizawa waited until he got a more coherent response, which didn't happen. Izuku's brain skipped like an old-timey record.

Instead, he looked out into the woods and said in a grumble, "Well? Don't keep us waiting, Wolf."

As Izuku watched, a branch just above head height shook slightly, and one of the masked shadows faded into view in a crouched position. The mask wasn't birdlike—this one had a series of red marks and a prefabricated face that, in the moonlight, looked a little like a stylized wolf. A dark gray overcoat—not completely black, not one color—hid the rest of the body shape from view, aside from metal-backed gloves and solid combat boots.

Izuku did not squeak.

Aizawa-sensei just said, "Are you apologizing or not?" without even looking directly at the figure.

It—he?—nodded once.

Izuku barely managed to nod back, which would have to stand in for a bow.

"Good. Now get lost."

And the mask, the person, and the weight on the branch just…disappeared. Like a mirage.

"Um, Aizawa-sensei?"

"What is it?"

"Can I go back to the group now?" He needed to tell Todoroki, Iida, and Uraraka now.

"Go."

Izuku staggered back to his friends, very much done with anything besides the test of courage. Holy crap. Holy crap. That happened!

"Deku?" Uraraka said.

"I think I just saw a ninja," Izuku replied, still a little numb because holy shit!

"Other than Aizawa-sensei?" Todoroki asked.

"Uh-huh…" Izuku slumped a little in place. "Can we just get this test of courage over with?"

"WHAT KIND OF ATTITUDE IS THAT, MIDORIYA?!" Tiger demanded.

"You still have to draw lots for your turns, kittens!" Pixie-Bob said. She held out a cat-like glove filled with little paper slips, then shook it like doing so would scramble the draw. "Choose your partners!"

Izuku groaned.