Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

A couple that will go down in legend

Chapter seventeen: Sympathy for a Devil

"It's great to have you and your brats back in Japan, Aizawa," Sekijiro said as he, along with Aizawa, another man and a teenage girl that looked to be barely fifteen years of age, had a bit of an early lunch at a relatively high-end restaurant that was located a few blocks from U.A. The man that was dining with Aizawa and Sekijiro was the person paying that was for the meal that the three men and the teenage girl were having.

The man was roughly the same age as Aizawa; he was slim and fair skinned, had long black hair similar to Aizawa but it wasn't anywhere near as unkempt-looking, a clean shaven face (another point over the underground hero), and he wore a dark-bluish long-sleeved shirt under a yellow t-shirt that had black sleeves, a pair of baggy cargo shorts that was of a similar color to his long-sleeved shirt also the legs of the shorts ended a few inches past his knees, black socks that were long enough to disappear up into the legs of the shorts, and a pair of black shoes.

As for the teenage girl, she was also slim and fair-skinned, and her bob cut hair, similar in style and length to Uraraka's hair, was a bright, light shade of green. She wore a white sleeveless shirt over a long-sleeved shirt that was of a similar shade of green as her hair, a white skirt that reached an inch or so past her knees, green knee socks and white shoes with green soles and light, bright red shoelaces. She also wore a simple charm necklace with the charm being of a similar shade of red as her shoelaces. A semi-transparent, thirty-two ounce red water bottle with a white flip cap was sitting near the girl's plate.

The man that was dining with/paying for Aizawa and Sekijiro nodded in agreement with the pro hero Vlad King. "I have to agree," the man said, a self-amused looking smirk on his face, "It's been far too long since you and I have last had a chance to talk it up, old friend."

The underground hero, turning his attention to the man, returned the self-amused smile. "After all that I had to deal with while Hizashi, the two volunteer parents and I were leading my homeroom class's recent field trip to the United States," Aizawa began, "I've been rather busy." Gesturing to the man, Aizawa continued, "You yourself have also been rather busy, Loukar, given that you're the chief of the advisory panel for the commission's president."

The man, identified as Loukar, nodded in agreement. "Me and a few of my fellow panel members are trying to convince lady president that more ought to be put into investigating the various threats we've been picking up thanks to various heroes working undercover for the commission, threats that aren't directly related to the activities of the League of Villains, or that group that they formed after supposedly merging with the Meta Liberation Army."

"Well out of all of the members of that panel, you ought to have the most say," Sekijiro remarked, "After all, you're not only the chief of said panel, but you're also the only one who is a licensed pro hero." Loukar nodded again in agreement; it is true that Loukar is a licensed pro hero, although an injury he received to his right leg, where he lost his leg from the knee down thus requiring him to use a prosthetic, made him more or less unable to continue doing hero work. He was still able to get his current job, though, and as he's still technically licensed as a pro hero, he had a bit more freedom than other members of the advisory panel.

Gesturing to Loukar again, Sekijiro continued, "If anything, you being a pro hero ought to give you additional weight in convincing lady president in making the right moves in regards to making sure the public is protected from any and all threats, even if some of said threats aren't the doing of villains."

Letting out a resigned sigh, Loukar remarked, "Well she thinks that we only have to worry about threats posed by criminals and quirked villains. One of our undercover workers uncovered information on this one fellow called Hirajo who, despite not having a quirk, is still a powerful individual who poses a very real danger, not to mention how this Hirajo fellow supposedly has an army of large, rather muscular hulking brutes comparable in size to some of those horrible Nomu monsters that were created by the League of Villains."

"You…you cannot be serious," Aizawa said, a bit of a shocked look on both his face and the face of Sekijiro, "And the president is staunchly refusing to make a move concerning this?"

Nodding twice in confirmation, Loukar explained, "If what the spy told me is true, then this Hirajo fellow is technically not even human. Also, his army of Nomu-like brutes aren't actually Nomus, and none of them are known villains or criminals."

Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Aizawa said, "Geez, and here I thought that my student Mineta was a reckless idiot."

Loukar arched a wry eyebrow when his old friend brought up that subject. "…He's the pervert boy in your class that pissed of a Sacred Heritage quirk user during your class's recent field trip to the States, right?" the handicapped pro hero asked.

Aizawa nodded once in the affirmative as he explained, "Principal Nezu is still considering my request to expel Mineta from U.A., but other works keep him busy at the moment." Gesturing to the teenage girl sitting next to Loukar, Aizawa said, "I would much rather have a student like your protégé Eunice here in my class than that perverted little bastard. As a matter of fact, at this point I'd love to trade Mineta out and trade Eunice in."

"Yeah, she's a real sweetheart," Sekijiro remarked. With a look of curiosity on his face, Sekijiro asked, "Hey Loukar, didn't you say that you actually had to take in Eunice here as a foster child because of what her biological mother tried to do a few months ago?"

With a mildly grim look on his face, Loukar said, "…Yes, that woman was stripped of her custody of Eunice after what she tried to do, which is why I'm glad that woman was arrested." With a hint of sincere amusement entering his expression, the handicapped pro hero said, "I'm actually rather fond of having Eunice here as my foster daughter."

"I hope that you know what you're getting yourself into," Aizawa remarked, "Taking in a foster child who has autism."

"Which is part of the reason why I'm looking to have Eunice enroll into Ketsubutsu Academy High School, which is the hero high school that I graduated from," Loukar remarked, "It's the only one here in Japan that has a department dedicated to working with special needs students. Not even U.A., the best ranked hero high school in Japan, can claim to have that."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Aizawa said, "Unfortunately, U.A. doesn't have such a department because we don't have any special needs students. You see, with the exception of students who are recommended thus they get to take the recommended students' entrance exam, every potential student looking to get into U.A. has to take the exact same entrance exam."

Letting out a mildly resigned sigh, the underground hero continued as he gestured to Loukar, "Nezu runs things this way because he wants to, as he puts it, 'put all potential students on equal footing with one another'. Mind you, wanting to level the playing field so that everyone has a fair and equal chance sounds good on paper, but Nezu is forgetting that the practical portion of the entrance exam is very much geared in the advantage of students with combat-oriented quirks, so those with non-combat oriented quirks, such as my own protégé Shinso, are placed in a very unfair disadvantage."

"The standard entrance exam is also the reason why U.A. has no special needs students, as either one or both portions has a tendency to trip up said kids," Sekijiro remarked, "Since no special needs students have ever gotten into U.A. because they have to take the same entrance exam as every other student trying to get in, there's no special needs department at U.A."

"But my alma mater is different," Loukar remarked, "All that Eunice needs in order to get into Ketsubutsu Academy is for me to bring the necessary information to the principal and have him do the necessary paperwork to enroll her." The teen girl at the table, paying no attention to the conversation the adult men were having, was single-mindedly focused on her meal, which was some chocolate cake type item ordered from the dessert section of the restaurant's menu.

Gesturing to Loukar to get his attention, Aizawa said, "By the way, didn't you say that we were going to be paying Ketsubutsu Academy a visit today?"

Smirking a bit in a self-amused manner, Loukar replied, "Yeah, as a matter of fact. Ketsubutsu Academy is hosting a tournament where their students will take part in one-on-one fights, similar to what you guys at U.A. had during your Sports Festival a while ago." Gesturing to Eunice, the handicapped pro her continued, "Eunice is going to be entered as a guest competitor representing Ketsubutsu Academy, even though she's not yet technically a student there."

"Do you know how many Ketsubutsu Academy students, counting your foster daughter here, will be taking part?" Sekijiro asked.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Loukar replied, "From what I was told by one of the teachers at Ketsubutsu, this one lady named Emi Fukukado, a total of eight students counting Eunice will be representing Ketsubutsu against the eight students from the visiting hero high school, that Vulcan High place that you of U.A. went up against in another recent tournament, that are taking part."

Aizawa arched an eyebrow out of piqued curiosity. "…Some of Joke's brats, as well as your foster daughter, are going up against those kids from Vulcan High?"

"…I saw recorded videos of all of the matches from that tournament, Aizawa," Loukar remarked in a wry tone of understanding, having picked up the hints of concern in the underground hero's tone, "I can understand that you'd be worried about the students of Ketsubutsu Academy, as well as Eunice." With a single nod, Loukar continued, "But you can rest assured that Ms. Joke trains her students well. And since I've personally worked with Eunice, I can safely say that she won't be a pushover for the Vulcan High kids."

Both Aizawa and Sekijiro exchanged looks with each other. Vulcan High, led by Principal Kagura Hojo, had a bit of a reputation as the self-proclaimed greatest rival to U.A. Despite how it's a lower-ranked hero high school compared to U.A., Vulcan High still had some students of considerable skill and power, something that Aizawa and Sekijiro had to admit. In fact, the both of them were amazed that some of their school's own were the ones that stood in first, second and third from that tournament, taking home all the medals, because Vulcan High brought with them some really strong students, one of which was still on the minds of the two teachers.

…Even so, Aizawa and Sekijiro had to respect the confidence that the handicapped hero had in his old alma mater. The both of them figured that going with him to watch the tournament between Ketsubutsu and Vulcan would still be an interesting contest to see either way, and were both glad for the opportunity. Aizawa was particularly keen on watching the performance of Loukar's foster daughter Eunice, as she's the first hero high school student (well, potential at the moment) that he's aware of who is autistic.

The underground hero wanted to see evidence that working out deals for special needs students was a better alternative than having them do the standard entrance exam like everyone else. Aizawa also wanted the practical portion of the standard entrance exam revised to give students with non-combat oriented quirks a better shot. But that's another subject for another time, as he and Sekijiro had a tournament at Ketsubutsu Academy to go watch.

Aizawa and Sekijiro sat in the bleachers with Loukar and Ms. Joke as they and a few other adults watched the first match of the first round of the Ketsubutsu-v-Vulcan tournament. Both of the U.A. teachers were a bit surprised to see that eight students from Vulcan High that were entered in the tournament were the very same eight from the tournament against U.A. from a while ago. As a matter of fact, a very familiar Vulcan High boy was in the first round's first match against that Tatami Nakagame girl from Ketsubutsu Academy.

"Burning Mark!" Akuma Giratina yelled as he conjured black flames in the form of the number 666 before he threw it at Tatami, striking her dead-on and making her cry out in a bit of pain as she stumbled back a few steps. As the Satanist of Vulcan High proceeded to create another attack to throw at Tatami, Aizawa and Sekijiro were both on the edge of their seats.

Looking down in the arena as Akuma threw a second Burning Mark that Tatami dodged this time by using her Telescopic quirk, Sekijiro remarked, "I can't believe that Vulcan High brought that villain boy along to another tournament against another hero high school."

Ms. Joke, upon hearing Vlad King's comment, turned to face him, giving the prop hero a curious, mildly questioning look. "…How is that kid a villain?" Ms. Joke asked, "I mean, sure, he's coming off as a bit unsettling to a lot of people with strict conventional beliefs because he's a Satanist, but I don't see how that straight up makes him a villain."

Letting out a resigned sigh, Aizawa explained as he turned to face Ms. Joke, "Sekijiro is still upset that, during the recent tournament where Vulcan High students went up against our brats over at U.A., Akuma brutalized two of Sekijiro's girls in his homeroom in the first and second rounds respectively."

Nodding once in understanding, Ms. Joke said, "Yeah, Loukar showed me the videos of all of the fights from that tournament. I swear, that magic horse girl looked like she got the worst of it."

"Magic horse girl?" Sekijiro repeated in a mildly surprised and rather confused tone, then added when he turned to face Ms. Joke, "You mean Tsunotori?"

"As brutal as Akuma was in those matches," Ms. Joke began to reply, "That doesn't make him a villain either. There are a number of heroes who can be rather brutal to the villains that they take down in fights."

Aizawa nodded in agreement, remarking, "Just like Endeavor." That made him chuckle a bit to himself, not to mention how it drew chuckling out of both Sekijiro and Ms. Joke.

Shooting Aizawa a thumbs-up, Ms. Joke remarked, "Okay Aizawa, that was a good one." Giving her head a gentle shake, the Smile Hero continued, "What is not a good one, though, is making a bunch of unwarranted accusations towards a hero-in-training just because he just so happens to come off as unsettling to some, and he also uses brutality from time to time, something that actual pros have been known to-"

Ms. Joke was cut off when, down on the arena platform where Tatami was fighting Akuma, the Ketsubutsu girl held both of her hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender as she shouted in a somewhat tired tone, "I yield!" Standing about ten or so feet away from Tatami was Akuma, who had both of his hands engulfed in black flames as he was about to use Blazing Pentagram. Akuma, upon hearing and seeing Tatami's surrendering, willed the black flames engulfing his hands to go out, and then straightened himself out, simply standing there as he kept his eyes on his opponent. "I…" Tatami said as she panted a bit out of exhaustion, "…I yield."

Aizawa and Sekijiro both took note of how Akuma was preparing to launch an attack, but stopped short when his opponent suddenly surrendered. They also took note of how Akuma's hostility dropped significantly. A male Ketsubutsu Academy teacher who was acting as referee first confirmed that Tatami was surrendering before announcing it and declaring that Akuma was the winner of the match.

"…He didn't try to push anything when that Tatami girl was surrendering," Sekijiro remarked, his tone suggesting that his interest was piqued.

"Well it's standard procedure in matches like this between two hero high schools that when an opponent surrenders, the winning student is supposed to accept and not continue attacking," Aizawa pointed out, "Attacking a surrendering opponent is normally grounds for disqualification from tournaments such as this."

Gesturing down where Akuma stood, Sekijiro said when he turned to face Aizawa, "Yeah, but he didn't look pissed off or anything when his opponent gave up before he straight up defeated her in their fight. He looked perfectly okay with accepting his opponent's surrender." Gently shaking his head, Sekijiro remarked, "And here I thought that he was the kind of kid who wants to bring all fights to a straight up finish."

"He's more than what you assume, isn't he?" a female voice said from behind the pro heroes, making them all turn to see a sharply dressed blonde woman sitting behind them. This woman was fair-skinned, had stylishly cut yellow-blonde hair that reached the base of her neck, and had a noticeable amount of weight on her, comparable to what Inko Midoriya had. This blonde woman wore a black long-sleeved dress top with matching skirt that reached her knees, a light purple dress shirt worn under the suit top, shiny black dress shoes, one simple pearl earring in each earlobe, a band ring on her left ring finger, and a simple silver women's chain necklace around her neck.

Letting out a resigned sigh, the woman continued, "Granted, I wish that the girl that my school's student Akuma fought didn't surrender so that Akuma could show off more of his moves, more of his power." With a hint of disappointment in her expression, the woman said, "Surrenders are not a very lively end to matches such as these. At least if you ask me."

"Oh, you're Vulcan High's principal, aren't you?" Loukar asked as he arched a wry eyebrow upon seeing the woman.

Nodding twice in the affirmative, the woman replied, "Indeed I am. Kagura Hojo, at your service." Giving Loukar a look of piqued interest, Kagura continued, "Aren't you Loukar Raioh, chief of the advisory panel for the Hero Public Safety Commission?"

"I am," Loukar replied, "I'm here to watch the tournament as Ketsubutsu Academy is my alma mater. I'm also aiming to have my foster daughter Eunice, who is entered in the tournament as a guest competitor representing Ketsubutsu, enroll in said school when it's time for her to do so."

Kagura went a bit wide-eyed upon hearing Loukar say that he had a foster child that he was looking to enroll into Ketsubutsu. After all, as the chief of the Hero Public Safety Commission's advisory panel, the only person in the commission that outranks Loukar is the president herself. Even so, the handicapped pro hero was still a very affluent person in the hero community (not to mention very wealthy), and having his foster child attend any hero high school would give said school a lot of renown.

Clearing her throat, Kagura remarked, "Sure, I bet that you would be interested in seeing your daughter attend the school that you graduated from yourself, Mr. Raioh. But Ketsubutsu isn't the only hero high school in Japan, you know. I'm just putting this out there, but Vulcan High is a higher-ranked hero high school than Ketsubutsu. I assure you that I and the rest of the Vulcan High staff would not only welcome Eunice with open arms, but we can do so much more for her than what Ketsubutsu could as we have more resources."

Giving Kagura a wry look, Loukar pointed out, "I understand that your school has a higher rank than my old alma mater. However, what Ketsubutsu has that Vulcan High and all other hero high schools in Japan does not have is a department that helps and works with special needs students, something that Eunice will be needing given that she's autistic."

The principal of Vulcan High went a bit wide-eyed in surprise, caught a bit off guard by what the handicapped pro hero had just explained about his foster child. Loukar also pulled the right leg of his long shorts up a bit, revealing a metal rod that was part of his prosthetic right leg. "The good people of Ketsubutsu not only already have the resources to help those with mental and or physical handicaps," Loukar went on, "But they also have a reputation of being one of the best high schools in Japan as a whole in helping out in said cases." Dropping the leg of his long shorts that he was pulling up, Loukar said, "If I had my crippling injury back when I was still a student here rather than get it a few months before I was hired to the advisory panel in the commission, I have no doubt that they would have helped me."

Both Aizawa and Sekijiro looked a bit amused with how Loukar was able to humble Kagura the way that he did. Aizawa also took out a mini spiral bound notepad and a pen to write down a note to remind himself to begin discussions at U.A. to not only set up a proper department to assist special needs students, but to revise the entrance exams to make accommodations for said students if need be.

Aizawa also added a note on how the practical portion of the exam had to be revised to give students with non-combat oriented quirks a better shot, and he underlined this note no less than three times. But that's another point for another time.

The rest of the first round matches for the Ketsubutsu-v-Vulcan tournament went by without too much outlandishness. Loukar's foster daughter Eunice, who has a notably powerful telekinesis quirk, defeated the Vulcan High chinchilla girl. The unnamed Ketsubutsu student with the mask that resembled the bone helmet worn by a certain creature defeated the Vulcan High basset hound boy. Yo Shindo ended up defeating Sakaki Yamamaya, Shikkui Makabe lost to Yuki Hojo (seeing her son win made Kagura cheer a bit in a bragging manner), and Itejiro Toteki lost to Takeshi Kanemaru. All in all, a total of four students each from Ketsubutsu (Eunice was counted as one) and Vulcan made it into the second round of the tournament.

"Both of the competing schools seem to be evenly matched at this point," Aizawa remarked as, with his aforementioned mini notepad, he was keeping track of who all was left in the ongoing tournament between Ketsubutsu and Vulcan.

With a 'humph' that was in a self-amused tone, Sekijiro turned to face Ms. Joke and said, "Back in the tournament between Vulcan and U.A., five of U.A.'s kids got past round one with three from Vulcan, whereas here four from Vulcan got past with four from Ketsubutsu, one of which is technically not a student at the school." Giving the Smile Hero a self-amused smirk, Sekijiro said, "You got your work cut out for you here, it seems."

"Oh ha," Ms. Joke replied, the sarcasm in her tone obvious as she wasn't amused by Sekijiro pointing out an apparent superiority that U.A. had over Ketsubutsu. Aizawa gave Sekijiro a fairly firm backhand smack against his right bicep, telling his co-worker off for trying to get into a pissing contest with a teacher from another school. "Either way, the tournament is shaping up to be one hell of a show," Ms. Joke remarked, "I can't wait to see what round two will be like."

"A shame that Loukar had to bail because he was summoned to an emergency meeting with the rest of the advisory panel in the commission," Sekijiro said, "He'll miss getting to see his foster daughter have her time in the spotlight."

Aizawa nodded in agreement. "Well it's a good thing for Eunice than two men working in the staff of Loukar's mansion are here to keep an eye on her for him," the underground hero pointed out, "I would think that it would throw her for one hell of a loop if there wasn't anyone here to keep an eye on her."

Ms. Joke, with a look of piqued interest on her face, pointed down into the arena as she said, "Speaking of that sweetheart, she's just stepped up to the arena platform since she was selected to fight in the first match of this round." Curious, both Aizawa and Sekijiro turned their attention to the arena and, sure enough, saw that Eunice was on the arena platform. However, both men, Sekijiro especially, were surprised to see who the autistic girl was paired up to fight against.

The male Ketsubutsu Academy teacher who was acting as referee for the tournament held up a hand as he declared, "This match will be between Eunice Sirknight representing Ketsubutsu and Akuma Giratina from Vulcan High. Now then." Swinging his hand downwards in a chopping motion, the male Ketsubutsu Academy teacher declared, "BEGIN!"

…

The match between Eunice and Akuma went on for a while. Eunice had to put her telekinesis quirk into overdrive as she fought against the Satanist of Vulcan High. She tried to use a move where she used a blast of her telekinesis to simply push Akuma as hard as she could away from her, but Akuma, holding his right hand behind him with the palm aimed at the ground, unleashed his Hail Satan attack, with the force of his unholy move acting as a jet burst that let him push back to an extent.

When Eunice's telekinetic push stopped, Akuma instantly unleashed a Devil's Breath, which flew right at Eunice, making her jump to the side to avoid it, but she was caught up in a Hell Burst that Akuma sent right at her. Eunice was soon hit by a Blazing Pentagram, but she was able to use her telekinesis quirk to block and dispel a Burning Mark. She tried once again with a telekinetic push, but Akuma was able to keep it from pushing him back by throwing up a Hellfire Wall that intercepted the attack, although the wall of unholy black flames was pushed a bit by Eunice's power.

Akuma threw another Burning Mark as he prepped a Devil's Breath to unleash immediately afterwards. Once again Eunice blocked and dispelled the flames in the shape of that evil number, but she was hit by Akuma's breath of black flames. The autistic girl stumbled a bit as she tried to regain her footing after having been hit by the black flames from Akuma's mouth, but it was as she tried to regain her footing that Akuma rushed in and, with his left hand, grabbed Eunice by her throat and lifted her up with just his left hand.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," Sekijiro swore as he, Aizawa and Ms. Joke watched as Akuma aimed the palm of his right hand at Eunice's torso, as the scene was eerily similar to what the Satanist of Vulcan High did when he brutalized Pony during the tournament between Vulcan and U.A. "He's going to do that to another innocent girl as well," Sekijiro said as his eyes widened more and more, "And one who's a special needs student, no less?!"

Down in the arena, Akuma kept his eyes on Eunice, watching her struggle as she tried to get him to let go of her. Akuma kept note of the look of refusal to give up in Eunice's eyes as his right hand became engulfed in black flames. The Satanist's brows were furrowed a bit, giving his look a hint of sinister anger and hatred that would make many feel unsettled. The black flames that were engulfing Akuma's right hand were billowing ominously as he was continuing to look the struggling Eunice in the eyes.

…Suddenly, however, Akuma's brows became much less furrowed as he said more to himself than he did to anyone else, "No." None of the adults watching the tournament could hear what the Satanist had said, but they did see it when the black flames that engulfed his right hand faded out. Akuma then turned around while still holding Eunice up as he was, then walked to one of the edges of the arena platform and, while still standing on the arena platform himself, sat Eunice down on her feet outside of said platform.

Holding up his right hand, the male Ketsubutsu Academy teacher who was acting as referee for the tournament declared, "Eunice Sirknight is out of bounds! The winner is Akuma Giratina!" Down in the arena, as a few medics rushed over to check on Eunice, Akuma merely turned around and walked away, to go join his fellow Vulcan High students. As things were being set up for the next match of the second round, the adults that were watching the tournament were all surprised by Akuma's actions just now, in various ways.

"He…" Sekijiro remarked, "…He actually just rang his opponent out of bounds." Scoffing, Sekijiro remarked when he turned to face Aizawa and Ms. Joke, "Why the hell didn't he do that when he had Tsunotori in a similar position when he fought her during the tournament between U.A. and Vulcan?"

"I don't know what to tell you," Ms. Joke replied, "But I did see his expression change a little bit when he decided to cancel whatever super move that he was about to unleash on that poor girl at point blank range."

Aizawa had also observed the same thing that Ms. Joke had observed about Akuma. Turning his head slightly, the underground hero noted that Kagura, who was too focused on the tournament thus she didn't see him look at her, looked rather unamused with how her school's student simply rang his opponent out of bounds. In fact, if he didn't know any better, Aizawa suspected that Kagura actually wanted to see Akuma straight up defeat Eunice on the arena platform.

The rest of the round two matches went by without much fanfare, other than Yo Shindo's match where he defeated the Vulcan High girl who could create a limited number of duplicates of herself. Yo's match was notable for round two as it was the only match of that round where a Ketsubutsu student won and moved on to round three; the other three students that made it to the third round were Akuma (obviously), Yuki and Takeshi.

Aizawa felt that Yo, given his skill and power, could only really be challenged in the third round if he was paired to fight Akuma; the underground hero felt that the vibration quirk boy would be able to handily deal with either Takeshi or Yuki. As for Kagura, she was already counting in her head the number of medals that Vulcan High could potentially bring home from this tournament. Her school, given how many of its students made it to round three, was guaranteed two medals. The principal of Vulcan also felt confident that her son Yuki would be one of the students of her school that will be winning one of those medals.

It's a mother thing.

The first match of round three was announced, and it slated Yuki against Takeshi. The two boys used their respective quirks to try striking at each other while simultaneously trying to evade hits. Sekijiro and Ms. Joke both were mildly impressed with the similar strategies, but Aizawa had a sinking suspicion that the two boys were merely not so much facing each other in earnest, but rather having the equivalent of a dance with each other before one of them forfeited the match to the other. The underground hero was not sure about how things were done at Vulcan, but such a plan between two students was not tolerated at U.A., at least as far as Aizawa was concerned.

Aizawa's suspicions were further confirmed when Takeshi surrendered the match to Yuki a few minutes after it started, stating that he was getting exhausted. Aizawa wanted to call shenanigans on that, and hearing bragging coming from Kagura who sat behind him and the others about how her son is clearly one of Vulcan's top students made Aizawa suspect that nepotism was a factor in the principal's son getting the round three win.

The underground hero pushed those thoughts out of his mind when he and the other adults watching the tournament focused on the match between Yo and Akuma. Unlike with what he suspected went on between Takeshi and Yuki, Aizawa could tell full well that Yo and Akuma were going all out against one another. Aizawa, as well as Sekijiro, could tell that the Satanist hero-in-training was using levels of brutality and violence comparable to what he had whipped out against Bakugo during the U.A.-v-Vulcan tournament a while ago.

However, the vibration quirk boy, much like Bakugo before him, was actually putting up enough of a fight to make Akuma believe that going to such lengths was warranted. The match between the Satanist of Vulcan High and Ketsubutsu's last hope to win first place was by far the most action-packed match of the tournament, with both boys giving each other serious competition in their tournament match.

Eventually, however, Akuma was able to pull off the win when Yo, in a last ditch effort, put a lot of effort into a really big vibration he unleashed into the ground of the platform; even with the bit of built-up resistance he worked hard to achieve, Yo was stunned by how much effort he put into that big vibration, leaving him open to a Blazing Pentagram from Akuma, that was followed by a Devil's Breath which was what finally defeated Yo.

Kagura was putting on airs as her school was now guaranteed the first place medal from this tournament. The principal of Vulcan High bragged about the power of her school's students, and she even remarked about how she felt that her son Yuki was shoe-in to win first. "You do realize that he's facing his schoolmate Giratina, don't you?" Ms. Joke pointed out, "Don't you think it's a bit premature to say that your son will be the one to win the tournament as a whole?"

Shrugging indifferently, Kagura replied, "You're just upset that the last student that Ketsubutsu had in the tournament was knocked out, meaning that you guys won't be bringing home the gold." With a nod, Kagura added, "Besides, can you blame a mother for having such confidence in her children to succeed?" Yes, the principal of Vulcan had all the confidence in the world that her son would be the one to stand on the highest spot on the award podium.

She was sure of it.

The adults that were watching the tournament turned their attention to the arena platform to watch the final match of the tournament, where Yuki and Akuma already stood facing one another. A self-assured, confident look was on Yuki's face, compared to the indifferent with a hint of pissed-off annoyed look on the face of the Satanist of Vulcan High. When the referee declared the match to begin, Akuma wasted no time in spewing a Devil's Breath right at Yuki, making him bounce up to avoid the unholy breath of black fire.

Yuki, although his eyes widened a bit in surprise, still kept himself calm. However, he was slowly starting to worry more and more as Akuma was clearly unleashing the brutality that he was known for from time to time. In fact, Akuma seemed more like a man possessed than the usually annoyed but still more or less dependable fellow schoolmate that Yuki was sure he was supposed to be. "Hey man, you got to take it easy," Yuki said, talking loud enough so that only Akuma could hear him, "I mean, this is just a match, you know. A match between two students from the same school."

Akuma did not respond to the son of his school's principal. Instead, the Satanist began throwing a barrage of Burning Marks at the conceited blonde boy. Yuki dodged the first couple attacks, but one of them clipped against Yuki's right shin as he was in midair, making him falter and land back down on the arena platform, where he was hit by a few more Burning Marks. When the last few Burning Marks he threw were flying into his opponent, Akuma quickly threw out a Hell Burst, which went on to hit Yuki, engulfing him in a blast of black flames that came up from the ground around him.

The adults watching the match between Yuki and Akuma were a bit surprised with how savage Akuma was being. Aizawa and Sekijiro took note of the look in Akuma's eyes, a look that seemed to hold more hatred than they did when Akuma had fought other opponents during the current tournament. Although the men were both distracted, Ms. Joke did see the look that was on Kagura's face, a look that was an even mix of great worry and great anger.

After Yuki was slammed by a Blazing Pentagram, Akuma rushed him, grabbed him by the collar of his suit top (Yuki, like everyone else in the tournament that had a hero outfit, wore his hero outfit) with his left hand, then aimed the palm of his right hand at Yuki as he unleashed a Hail Satan attack on Yuki at point blank range. The same tactic that Akuma used to defeat Pony back in the U.A.-v-Vulcan tournament, the same tactic that Akuma looked like he was about to use on Eunice before he suddenly decided to simply set her down out of bounds.

Only now the Satanist of Vulcan High was using said tactic on one of his own.

The relentless efforts of Akuma were simply too much for Yuki to take, so he was knocked unconscious. The referee made the obvious announcement that Akuma was the winner of not just that match, but of the Ketsubutsu-v-Vulcan tournament as a whole. The referee then announce that the match between Yo and Takeshi to determine third place would be held momentarily when both boys had been treated enough by a Ketsubutsu school nurse that had a healing quirk.

"…Well, there you have it, Hojo," Ms. Joke remarked, a hint of dry amusement in her tone as she turned to face Vulcan High's principal, "It really was too early to count your chickens before they hatched. Your son didn't end up winning first place after all." With a hint of indifference in her expression, the Smile Hero remarked with a hint of sarcasm in her tone, "Look on the bright side, though. Either way, your school ended up bringing home the first and second place wins. That ought to be good enough for anyone."

"I…" Kagura remarked, sounding a bit like she was trying to keep herself in check, "…Suppose that you have a point, Fukukado." Ms. Joke turned back around to look down into the arena with Aizawa and Sekijiro, so she didn't notice the hint of vengeful anger entering Kagura's face as she looked down into the arena herself, down where Akuma could be seen walking over to where some other Vulcan High students were waiting.

Regardless of the point that the Smile Hero made, it still wasn't good enough for Kagura. Not by a long shot, no. The principal of Vulcan High was rather cross with her satanic student, and for more than one reason. She intended to have a serious discussion with Akuma when everyone got back to Vulcan.

A discussion that would have a rather notable impact on the Satanist's future.

The following morning over at U.A. before classes had started, Aizawa and Sekijiro made their way over to Nezu's office, as there was something that the quirked animal principal wanted to discuss with them, something that had to do with a certain guest that he had in his office at the time and that Aizawa and Sekijiro would both get to meet as she and her parents were still in his office, discussing a few points of interest with him. Neither Aizawa nor Sekijiro had any idea who it was that Nezu was talking about, although it sounded strongly like a female student was being enrolled into U.A.

To the surprise of Aizawa and Sekijiro, when they entered Nezu's office, they noticed that the teenage girl sitting in a chair in front of Nezu's desk was Sakaki Yamamaya, the fat cat girl of Vulcan High. Sitting in chairs on either side of Sakaki were a fairly tall and slender man with cat-like ears and a cat-like tail comparable to what Sakaki had (on the girl's left) and a notably fat woman (on the girl's right).

"Hey, aren't you that Yamamaya girl that's been flirting with Aizawa's protégé?" Sekijiro asked as he and Aizawa recognized Sakaki, making her, the two adults with her and Nezu all turn to see him and the underground hero enter the office.

Nezu, with a hint of mild and casual amusement on his face, said, "Ah, there you two are." Gesturing to Sakaki, the quirked animal principal said to Aizawa and Sekijiro, "I'm currently working with Mr. and Mrs. Yamamaya here to work out the paperwork to finalize Sakaki's transfer from Vulcan to U.A." Both Aizawa and Sekijiro, with surprised looks on their faces, took a step each back out of shock.

"She's transferring to U.A.?" Aizawa asked, clearly surprised.

Sekijiro, crossing his arms over his chest when he regained some of his sense of self, remarked, "She's not doing this just so she can be closer to Aizawa's boy that she's smitten with, is she?"

Sakaki gently shook her head in the negative. "…No, I'm not wanting to transfer so I can be closer to Hitoshi," the fat cat girl replied, "Although that is a nice bonus, now that you mention it." Looking at the two hero course teachers, Sakaki explained, "I honestly can't stand being at Vulcan anymore. I'm constantly teased over being fat, even though it's a side effect of my quirk so I literally can't do anything about it."

"Ah yes, I suspected as such," Aizawa remarked in an understanding tone, "Many students here at U.A. have physical alterations to their bodies as a side effect of the quirks that they have, many of which are due to having mutation-type quirks but that's not necessarily the case." With a single nod, the underground hero continued, "Rest assured that such actions will not occur against you here at U.A. At least if others don't want detention."

"There's…something else," Sakaki remarked, her slight change in tone catching the attention of both Aizawa and Sekijiro, "Principal Hojo…she ran the place like a quasi-dictatorship. She cares more about gaining status and prestige than actually doing an actual job as principal, given how she has a liking for stocking the award cabinet at Vulcan with as much as much as possible, as a way to tell other hero high schools that Vulcan is better than them."

Scoffing in an incredulous tone, Sekijiro said as he gently shook his head, "And she has the gall to proclaim Vulcan as the top rival to U.A."

Nodding in somber agreement with the pro hero Vlad King, Sakaki continued, "Principal Hojo also favors winning glory through displays of raw power. During the tournament where we went up against U.A. students, Principal Hojo told us to straight up defeat any U.A. opponent that we were pitted against in the ring instead of ringing them out." Giving Sekijiro a guilty look, the fat cat girl said, "That's why Akuma brutalized that magic horse girl he fought when he already had her held up and beaten, even though he actually wanted to set her down out of bounds like he did with that Eunice girl he faced in the tournament against Ketsubutsu."

Both Aizawa and Sekijiro went wide-eyed with shock, Sekijiro especially so. "He…you're telling me that Giratina actually didn't want to brutalize Pony but only did so because Hojo had basically told him to?" Sekijiro nearly sputtered, shocked to hear what Vulcan's principal did.

Nodding in confirmation, Sakaki went on, "Yes, that's the gist of it. We had to straight up defeat any U.A. student we faced in the ring rather than put them out of bounds, as Principal Hojo said that defeating the students of this school straight up would give you guys more humiliation than if we rang U.A. students out. Similarly, we had to do the same to any Ketsubutsu student that we faced in the recent tournament against them." With a mildly unsure look on her face, Sakaki told the U.A. staff members, "Akuma told me in confidence that he was sincerely grateful to that Tatami girl who surrendered to him, as he hadn't quite worked up the will to defy the order from Principal Hojo to not ring out non-Vulcan opponents at the time."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Aizawa remarked, "I had a gut feeling that a lot of people…" giving Sekijiro a quick look, Aizawa added, "…Present company included…" turning his attention back to everyone as a whole, the underground hero finished by saying, "…Should have given Giratina the benefit of the doubt, just like Toshinori said should have been done." All of the adults in the room, along with the fat cat girl, all nodded in agreement. Sekijiro even looked a bit humbled, as well as a little ashamed of himself.

"Principal Hojo…" Sakaki went on, "…Also told us that if any of us faced Yuki in either tournament, we had to yield the match to him. My guess is that she didn't want Yuki to lose a match if there was something she could do to keep it from happening."

Scoffing in an annoyed, disgusted tone, Aizawa remarked, "And here I thought that the nepotism that Toshinori and Endeavor shows to Midoriya and Todoroki respectively was ridiculous." Giving the fat cat girl a look of wry wonder, Aizawa said, "I bet that Giratina put a real bee in Hojo's bonnet, as he not only decided to place Sirknight out of bounds instead of brutalizing her into defeat, but also decided not to let her special little guy win the match that they had."

Sakaki let out a resigned sigh, a look of somberness on her face. "…Yeah, Principal Hojo was not happy at all with some of what Akuma did during the tournament against Ketsubutsu, even though he ended up winning first place, and a first place win for Vulcan was what Principal Hojo was hoping to get the whole time…"

(FLASHBACK)

"Why didn't you defeat her in the ring straight up, Akuma?!" Kagura scolded as she gave her Satanist student an earful. Other students from Vulcan High, such as Yuki who looked on with a clear look of amusement on his face and Sakaki who looked on with concern, watched at their school's principal chewed Akuma out. "You could have shown more of our school's power, more of our glory with a straight up win!" Kagura ranted on, "But instead you decided to place your opponent out of bounds!"

The Satanist was giving his principal a dry, unamused look. "…Didn't you say that you want to convince that girl's dear old dad to enroll her at Vulcan?" Akuma asked, making Kagura take pause. Seeing that he had his principal in a position where he could argue back, Akuma went on, "Do you think daddy dearest would willingly enroll his kid at Vulcan if he saw me do to his kid what I did to that blonde horse girl from U.A.?" Crossing his arms over his chest, the Satanist added, "By the way, I'm still pissed that I had to do that because you gave me strict orders to not hold back if I fought any U.A. students, that I had to win by straight up defeating my opponents rather than simply ring them out."

The principal of Vulcan High regained a bit of her sense of self, and she was not about to let one of her school's students talk back to her. "Why do you care if you won the way that I told you to win by, rather than win by the way you wanted to do?" Kagura demanded, "You still won that match either way!"

"…If I ended up winning either way, then why do you care which method I used?" Akuma asked. Gently shaking his head, the Satanist said, "I already brutalized one already defeated opponent even though I had no desire to do so, and I'm in no mood to do a repeat." Giving his principal a questioning look, Akuma asked, "Also, didn't you tell us that the girl that I just won against in round two is autistic?"

Once again, Kagura was caught off guard. "…The girl that I set down out of bounds," Akuma went, "The very girl you want as a student at Vulcan because of her big important daddy, is a special needs girl according to what you told us." Giving Kagura a wry look, Akuma asked, "Don't you think that Vulcan would be liable to be painted in a bad light if one of its students brutalized a special needs girl unnecessarily in a tournament?" The Satanist crossed his arms over his chest as he said with a hint of knowingness in his tone, "Believe it or not, I actually am looking out for the best interests of Vulcan."

Kagura had to admit that, in the heat of the potential glory that Akuma could have won for Vulcan in his match against Eunice Sirknight by straight up defeating her in the ring, that Eunice was autistic. She conceded to her Satanist student's point that if he did carry out her orders and won by straight up defeating Eunice even when he already had her beaten, it would make Vulcan look really bad. Loukar would likewise not be liable to be hearing any of Kagura's reasons for enrolling his foster daughter at Vulcan.

Scoffing with a hint of annoyance in her tone, Kagura said, "…Fine. I'll admit that you thought ahead and saved Vulcan High some potential trouble." Turning around to leave, Kagura added as she walked off to go back to the bleachers, "Just remember to not hold back against any non-Vulcan opponent that you face. That goes for all of you. And also don't forget that if any of you faces Yuki in a match, yield the match to him."

"I'll be sure to remind them of your orders if need be, mother," Yuki remarked as he waved his mother goodbye right before she turned a corner and was out of sight. Some of the other Vulcan students looked like they knew what was going on and accepted it, but Sakai didn't seem like she was in agreement. And Akuma, well, he just looked steamed.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

Aizawa and Sekijiro, as well as Nezu and both of Sakaki's parents, were a bit shocked to hear the story that their daughter had just finish telling. Nodding once, Aizawa said, "Okay, now I know it for sure. I owe both Toshinori and Endeavor an apology for grilling them whenever they show favoritism to Midoriya and Todoroki respectively."

"Speaking of blatant nepotism," Sekijiro remarked, "I bet that it threw Hojo threw a loop when Giratina ignored the order to let her son win their match."

Sakaki nodded once in the affirmative. "…Yeah, Principal Hojo was not at all happy that Akuma not only ignored her order to yield his match to Yuki, but had went above and beyond to take him out," Sakaki said.

(FLASHBACK)

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, GIRATINA?!" Kagura bellowed at Akuma as he stood in front of her desk in her office at Vulcan High School; Sakaki, who had a feeling what was going to happen to her Satanic schoolmate when everyone got back to the school, decided to secretly follow him to listen in on what was going on. Sakaki flinched slightly when she heard what was clearly the sound of Kagura slamming her hands down on her desk, in a display to make her vast displeasure with Akuma's actions known to him.

The fat cat girl couldn't make out all of what was said over the next few minutes between Kagura and Akuma, although Sakaki did hear a line of argument from Akuma asking why the principal was so upset since Vulcan High won the tournament against Ketsubutsu as a whole either way. But that line of argument earned another slam of Kagura's palms on her desk, being loud enough again for Sakaki, who heard it, to flinch out of fright. Sakaki also heard Kagura say to Akuma that his actions during the latest tournament as a whole had done more to embarrass Vulcan than they did to bring it renown.

After a few tense minutes of waiting, Sakaki heard the door to Kagura's office open. Akuma, with a single-strap backpack slung over his right shoulder, walked out of the principal's office. He walked past the bench that Sakaki sat on and, upon realizing that someone was there, turned to face Sakaki. Seeing her, the Satanist student gave her a single nod of acknowledgement before he simply said, "Sakaki." Without another word, Akuma turned back around and walked away, leaving the fat cat girl worried about what exactly had gone down.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

With a sigh, Sakaki lamented, "…Yeah, Principal Hojo was very pissed at Akuma for not only not letting Yuki take the win, but beating him the way that he did." A tear for her friend welled up in the corner of her right eye as she said, "As such, Akuma ended up being expelled from Vulcan High."

The adults that were in Nezu's office were all taken aback in shock by what Sakaki had just revealed concerning the ultimate fate of the now former Vulcan High student. Sekijiro, with a look of remorseful guilt in his expression, crossed his arms over his chest as he lamented, "And here I was, thinking that me and other teachers here not giving Giratina the benefit of the doubt was the worst that he had to deal with." With a sigh, the pro hero Vlad King said, "I guess that Toshinori and Endeavor were both right. Giratina really does have the heart of a hero, despite what his appearance and some of his actions may suggest."

"It's a sign of a real hero if they defy unfair, biased orders from a superior that has clearly allowed their power to go to their head," Aizawa remarked, "And Giratina had done just that by ignoring what Hojo told him to do and decided to instead be true to who he really was." Letting out a troubled sigh, the underground hero said, "And look where it got him."

The other adults looked similarly as upset as Aizawa did. Even Nezu, who is normally very hard to bother, looked greatly troubled by what all Sakaki had just told him and the other adults. The quirked animal principal turned slightly to his computer and did some quick looking up of info to see if what Sakaki had said was true. Sure enough, Nezu was able to confirm that Akuma really was expelled from Vulcan High.

Similar to the aforementioned Toshinori and Endeavor, Nezu also felt that Akuma had the heart of a true hero despite his appearance and the air that he gives off; the quirked animal principal felt that the Satanist should look into trying to get into another hero high school. However, with a mix of the air that he gave off as well as his record of expulsion from Vulcan High, Akuma had quite the uphill battle to face if he was looking to get into another hero high school.

…Well, it's a good thing that Nezu was already working on some…special plans…for both Aizawa's class and Sekijiro's class.

END, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Author's notes;

This was something that I had planned for this arc since I was still writing out the matches in the U.A.-v-Vulcan tournament that involved Akuma. He's a far more complex character than what was shown back in this story's first arc, capable of more than what many would have assumed of him at first. Believe you me, I wasn't simply going to just drop a character had as much potential as Akuma after his time in the first arc; I likewise had plans to bring back Sakaki Yamamaya at a later point, partly for the benefit of a certain brainwasher who likes cats.

Anyway, the next chapter or two will be seeing a good bit of action, with said action being the reason why this arc is called the 'Monster War arc'. Said action will also play a role in what I'm ultimately going to do with a certain subplot that had popped up in the latter parts of the previous arc. Said action is also related to the…special plans…that Nezu has for Aizawa's and Sekijiro's respective classes that were mentioned at the tail end of this chapter, with said plans having a lot of impact on chapters and arcs to come.