Breaking News
"The Nara compound has been breached," a man with peculiar round glasses said while he watched a very pissed figure pace around a darkened room.
The other was much younger than the good doctor, but was no pushover. They understood the consequences of this setback, and Sensei would want an explanation. They needed a plan, and they needed it fast."You don't need to tell me twice," the other said. "I was there."
"It was yours to protect."
"I know," they hissed. "They took my Nomu's, three of them."
"Unfortunately, they now belong to heroes. Unless you decide to retrieve them by yourself, there is no use dwelling on the past." The figure clicked their tongue at the Doctor's comment.
"Why are you here, Daruma?"
"I've come to visit as per Master's instructions. The research you've accumulated in Nara -"
"Are safe," they said. "I made sure the heroes couldn't find it even if they scoured the entire prefecture."
The Doctor hummed. "All for One has requested that you transfer all of them to the Kamino base."
The figure stilled, surprised by the sudden request. "But he promised that he'd let me do this on my own-"
"And you've proven that you, much like Master Tomura, have not fully grown into your role. You are a child that needs to understand that they are not invincible, regardless of your training. Heroes are not to be underestimated, that is the first rule."
The figure curled their hand into a fist. "I won't be lectured by you."
"Yet here we are. Master may think highly of you and believe that you are ready for this, but I do not. You are incompetent and too impulsive. This is my research, you are merely an aid. If I did not respect the wisdom and power All for One has I would've turned you into one of them," the Doctor said.
The figure silently glared at them, and the light in the room seemed to glow brighter at their decreasing patience.
"Move all assets to Kamino," Daruma said, having already noticed the lights around him. "This is non debatable and finished without delay."
"Yes, sir."
The Doctor turned on his heels and for a brief moment looked over his shoulder and made a final note. "It should go without saying that the thorn to our, or perhaps, yourside be dealt with. Lest he worsens your situation even more."
The Doctor spewed out a large mass of black liquid from his mouth that completely enveloped his body until he no longer shared the same space as the other. Meanwhile the figure stood in the dark, clutching an old phone on their hand.
They inputted a familiar number on the keypad and without missing a beat, said, "I want everything on Lucien Akusa."
It's been weeks since the Nara incident, and even though his injuries have almost completely healed, they still hurt from time to time. He couldn't ask for medical aid lest he wanted to be interrogated, so they skipped the first aid and set themselves away from the crowd. Thankfully, Koharu and Kamimura exists.
Kamimura was furious when she portaled in and saw his wounded state. She didn't pry, but it didn't save Hitoshi from a lecture on safety and self-preservation. Kamimura couldn't heal everything, but it was enough to give Hitoshi his mobility back and allow him safe passage home.
Painkillers and constant bed rest kept him company for the next few days. At first, he was relieved he could finally laze around during the break, but he became restless after a while. Aizawa's voice constantly reminded him to keep moving, to keep practicing, keep improving, and yet he couldn't.
Every time he moved to finish at least one set of workout or stretching routine, Hitoshi felt like he would tear a muscle in half. Hitoshi was no quitter, but this was enough to make himself conceded. He knew he needed to rest, but he didn't like it one bit.
Fumei jokingly assured him that it was normal to feel like this after a rough fight. Hitoshi had been in a couple of scuffles in the past, but none of them quite hurt like this one. Which made him curious as to what fights Fumei may have gotten himself into in his middle school years.
He asked, curious about the other's experiences with injuries like this, but Fumei dodged the question. Then, Fumei vanished from the face of the internet. He stopped texting Hitoshi, and even stopped appearing in the school chat.
The world suddenly became peaceful, and Hitoshi would've found it comforting if he didn't find Fumei's silence to be very worrying. He messaged Kureito about it, and despite being Fumei's closest confidant, the latter had no answers either.
Similarly, Akusa had been silent since they returned from the trip.
He didn't even apologize for leading them into danger nor bother to update any of them about the presentation he was supposed to do. Makito was starting to get worried, and while Hitoshi could care less about the madman, he needed that grade to keep his standing.
Hitoshi tried to contact Akusa, but to his surprise, it was Fumei that responded to him. The blond didn't explain why he had Akusa's phone, but he assured them that he and Akusa took care of everything.
Hitoshi almost swore he woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. There was no way Fumei would even let himself stand at least three feet away, much less talk to Akusa after the latter's stunt in Nara.
Fumei hated the Akusa.
"It's a safe presentation," Fumei said. "That's all you need to know."
Almost immediately, Hitoshi knew something was off. It first started off as a feeling, until Kureito asked him too. They both noticed Fumei's sudden change in character, and were concerned. At least Kureito was, Hitoshi was still unsure as to why he was worried.
Kureito managed to get Fumei to admit that he had been talking to Akusa. Neither of them died from it, so they were inclined to believe that it was some kind of blackmail, or possibly witchcraft. Most likely the former.
Hitoshi would've confronted Akusa about it, but some part of him urged him not to, and just keep it to himself. He did ask Fumei about it, and the latter denied Akusa doing such to him.
"He's dangerous, sure, but even I won't tolerate blackmail, Toshi," the blond replied. "If anything was wrong then I'd tell you first, hero. Just relax and enjoy the summer. Get yourself back to shape, Eraserhead wouldn't be impressed with you if you skipped so many training sessions."
Hitoshi hated to admit that Fumei was right, but he was.
He skipped out on too many training days and needed to get to work; or else Aizawa would have his head. Even if he was worried about Fumei, which was odd given that he never once gave a damn about him before, Hitoshi knew that the blond can handle himself. He was easily the strongest person in class; and if Akusa was giving him trouble, then he'd take care of it.
If Fumei couldn't handle it like he said he would, he promised to call him first. It was a small gesture, but Hitoshi felt as though there was a weight of responsibility underneath the statement. Hitoshi kind of liked that.
With that concern out of this mind, Hitoshi started to get his bearings back and conditioned his recovering body for training. He jogged out early in the mornings again, ate healthy – much to his father's amusement – and occasionally hung out with Nagai to work on the capture scarf and the voice changer mask, name to follow.
He asked Fumei if he wanted to train together, but he was once again denied a chance. Hitoshi got the message loud and clear. He didn't want to be disturbed. Hitoshi was a little annoyed that Fumei had the gall to ignore him when it was the same thing he asked for a few weeks back.
He thought about annoying Fumei further to get back at him for everything, but threw the idea away. It wasn't like him to pester others anyway, so he waited, casually dropping hints to Nagai to reach out with the other hero formation members.
Okami, who lived the nearest, then understood the message and regularly asked him out to spar, It would also help her with her own personal training she said.
The more they spent trading blows, the more Hitoshi realized the differences in people's fighting styles. Aizawa was easily the most skilled and experienced fighter he'd gone up against; and his movements were precise and calculated. He was quick, but he never made any unnecessary movement. If Eraser Head moved, his opponent was done for.
Fumei too had his own style in fighting. He wasn't as fast as Aizawa, but he adapted fast. He loved to play around while studying his opponent so people hardly noticed. It was a double edged tactic, but it worked well enough against Hitoshi. Much like Aizawa, Hitoshi has yet to beat him in an actual fight,.
Aizawa wouldn't say it, but Hitoshi can feel it. He was getting faster and more perceptive of his surroundings. He could anticipate and prepare for moves better than he could before. However, speed and agility had nothing against Okami's brute fighting style.
She wasn't quick, but her hits always made Hitoshi take a step back.
It also didn't help that she started incorporating her partial transformations in her style of combat. Hitoshi already found dealing with her regular force hard, what more against the force and weight of a fully grown wolf.
Still, he quickly understood that what Okami made up for strength, she lacked in technique. Aizawa insisted that he always remember technique above all else. Form and balance were important in close contact brawls. One small misstep can become his opponent's weapon, and leaving too many gaps in his defense could be his downfall.
Fortunately, Okami was more concerned in knocking him down than exploiting those windows of error. She kept herself wide open to retaliation because she focused all her thoughts to powerful strikes rather than her form.
Hitoshi was mostly on the defensive because of how aggressive Okami was, but in the end, his mind and patience won him almost every match.
After a few weeks of training with whoever was available, Hitoshi felt well enough to practice something else on, his mobility. Speed and agility was one thing, but he needed to learn to maneuver well in and out of places with ease. Aizawa could do it in his sleep; Hitoshi thought he should too.
Yuuei lacked its usual noisy hustle and bustle because of the summer break. There were still a few people running around within the campus ground though. There were a few higher years scattered about that ran errands while some lower years headed for remedial classes.
When he finally reached the bunker, Hitoshi was surprised to find the lights within the facility open. Aizawa didn't mentioned he'd be here today, so who?
Hitoshi opened the door to the agility course and found Fumei free running along the hurdles scattered around the room. He would vault over them with ease, then he ran towards a curved slope. He latched onto the edge and pulled himself up.
Fumei then quickly made his way down successive steps unto level ground then walked towards a jungle of metal bars. He climbed towards the top with ease, and slipped inside. He swung himself from one bar to another until he reached the end.
He locked his leg on a pole to build enough momentum to fly to the finish without touching the floor. It took a while before he noticed Hitoshi watching from afar. "Toshi," he sighed, darkened skin flushed red from exhaustion. "What are you doing here?"
"Should I not be?" Hitoshi asked back. This was technically his space for training, not Fumei's, even though he had brought him here once upon Aizawa's request. "I need to complete Aizawa-sensei's training sheet before summer ends."
He placed his bag to the side and started stretching. "What are you doing here?" he asked the blond. "With how busy you seemed I thought you'd died."
Fumei laughed and crouched further ahead of Hitoshi. "Yeah it has been quite a busy summer for me. I needed to clear my head and moving helps me do that. It's been a while since I did anything for myself, so I thought this place is the safest to be at the moment."
Hitoshi frowned. "Clearing your head from what?"
"Plenty of things," he said. "You don't have to mind me. It's technically your training space and I'm sharing it. I'll take the smaller course, you can take this one." With that, the blond excused himself and moved over to the neighboring course.
Hitoshi's eyes followed after Fumei as he retreated to the adjacent room, and can't help but feel as though something was wrong. Even if there was, he couldn't find it in himself to ask.
After he warmed up, Hitoshi tried to cross the parkour course in the same way he observed Fumei did. He ran through the hurdles, jumping over the smaller ones with ease, but the higher ones even less so. He decided to just walk around them and tried to power through the curving slope.
Hitoshi attempted to conquer it about four times before he stopped to rethink what he was doing wrong. Despite being taller than Fumei, he just couldn't muster up enough speed or power in his jump to reach the ledge. He clicked his tongue and decided to skip it for another time. He then stared at the metal bars and experimentally tried to haul himself up to the next level only using his arms.
He couldn't hold on for too long and his hand slipped. The back of his head hit a pole as he fell, and he must've groaned aloud because Fumei suddenly popped out from the other room. "That sounded really bad," he said while Hitoshi massaged the sore part of his head.
"It's my fault for trying to copy what you did," he said.
"What I did?" Fumei blinked. "Hasn't… Eraser taught you how yet?" Hitoshi shook his head, and the other dryly laughed. "Of course he didn't. Fine, I'll do it."
Parkour, as Hitoshi thought, was much harder than Fumei made it look. Fumei ran through the course again to breakdown the basics to him. As Hitoshi watched, he recognized that some of the vaults and jumps Fumei did was similar to how he moved whenever he ran and jumped over his quirk's platforms.
Hitoshi couldn't do most of the tricks at first try. There was a lot of trial and error before he could even successfully arm jump over the first three hurdles. His progress was slow, but at least it was there. He still couldn't make it over the high wall no matter how hard he tried, but Hitoshi was stubborn. He wouldn't call today a success if he couldn't triumph against the wall.
Hitoshi fell forward as his foot was caught over one of the hedges, then hit his head on the ground. He got distracted.
Fumei shook his head and yelled, "Maybe you should rest for a while. You've been at this for an hour already."
Hitoshi pushed himself up and begrudgingly walked back to the start. "No. I can still do it."
"Well don't push yourself too much, you're still technically healing," the blond said and tried to poke Hitoshi's ribs.
Hitoshi caught his wrist and pushed it away. "I'm fine."
Fumei didn't stop him as he ran straight into the first hurdle. Completely immersed in the zone, Hitoshi successfully vaulted himself across the obstacles until he paused to face his biggest challenge yet. He briefly looked at Fumei, who watched his next move intently, then held his breath.
He ran up the curved slope and kicked off the ground. He felt his fingertips graze the edge, and he allowed himself to smile. Then he felt himself slip away from his premature victory. He wasn't sure if it was karma, or it was fate laughing at him for being too sure of his path and growth too soon, but he fell back; and landed badly on one foot.
Fumei ran to his side and pressed a firm hand on Hitoshi's shoulder to stop him from moving around and further agitating his swollen foot. "I told you to give it a rest." Hitoshi growled, mostly hissing through the pain but also because he didn't want to stomach through Fumei's passive-aggressive lectures. "Is it broken?"
"I don't think so," Hitoshi said. Fumei gently pressed Hitoshi's ankle, and latter bit his lip on instinct. There was pain, but nothing he can walk off. "I'll be fine," he said. "Help me up."
Hitoshi limped his way back to the rest area and sighed as Fumei pushed him down to a chair.
The blond splashed cold water on a dry towel and pressed it on Hitoshi's ankle. He handed him the rest of the drinking bottle, then continued to massage the other's foot. "Maybe now you'll listen when I say that's enough practice."
"Yeah, yeah." Hitoshi rolled his eyes. "You don't have to rub it in. I get it. You're better at everything I also happen to need to become a hero."
Fumei bit his cheek, offended, and applied pressure on Hitoshi's sore foot. Hitoshi gritted his teeth and smacked the blonde on the head to make him stop. "It hurts, you idiot. Stop that."
"An apology would suffice but knowing you, you won't, so I'm not going to either," Fumei grinned. Hitoshi narrowed his eyes at the former.
"It's just weird how you know parkour too on top of knowing how to fight, and being good with your quirk," he complained.
"Yeah, well, Se – my dad wanted me to be a hero more than anything."
"Oh yeah," Hitoshi sighed. "He had that accident."
Fumei nodded. "That really shattered him, but he never gave up on his dream, so he taught me how to." He chuckled and leaned back, as though reliving a memory. "It's actually pretty funny," he said somberly, "the way he did."
Fumei normally never talked about his parents unless they came up. Hitoshi didn't know if Fumei knew, or if anyone else noticed, but Fumei always had this look on him whenever he talked about them. A look of loneliness or longing. Hitosh couldn't describe it, but he figured it was one of the many reasons Fumei usually shied away from bringing or talking about them.
However, something about today was different.
"Did you break bones or something?" Hitoshi said. It felt appropriate to keep the conversation going.
Fumei broke into a smile and laughed. "You bet I did! I broke anything that could be broken, even sprained enough muscles to get me bed ridden! You're actually way better at it than I was when I started."
All too suddenly, Fumei's smile dropped and he avoided Hitoshi's eyes. "He used to train me, so I'd be better and stronger than he ever was. He was very strict, you know?"
"He sounds really scary, if you put it that way."
Fumei chuckled. "Yeah, he was. He didn't give me a time of day to just play around with my quirk on my own. It's combat training every morning, then he'd leave me twenty feet into the air and ask me to jump. Imagine me, an eight year old terrified of heights, all alone up there repeatedly being told to catch myself once I fall. It was pretty ruthless," he scoffed.
Hitoshi frowned. Through the times Fumei mentioned his parents, Hitoshi could only feel love and longing from his words. He was sad yes, but that was mostly because of the distance between them. Fumei has never expressed dislike towards them; especially not his father.
Then again, Hitoshi understood the contradiction behind it. Hitoshi loved his father, yet he also disliked him when he was younger. His father's behavior was one of the reason's Hitoshi's mother left them. He couldn't take care of himself and he lashed it out on them.
He hated him for not doing more to convince his mother to stay. He probably still did, but since his father started to change himself for the better; Hitoshi couldn't just ignore him. He was atoning for his mistakes and asked for a chance to reconcile. Hitoshi let him, they are family after all. Without his mother, he was all Hitoshi had.
"I hated every second of it," Fumei said, "but to be honest I wouldn't be able to do the things I do now if it weren't for him."
Hitoshi watched as Fumei kept his head low. He didn't need to hear, or see his face to know that the other needed a moment to himself. Something definitely happened, but he wasn't sharing so Hitoshi didn't ask. Instead, Hitoshi reached out to lightly ruffle Fumei's head as some comforting, or silent reassuring, gesture.
Fumei sniffed, and snapped his attention at Hitoshi. His eyes were blown wide, shocked by the sudden intimacy and laughed. "What are you comforting me for? You're the one with the sprained foot."
Hitoshi looked away with a slight frown. "I figured you needed it."
Fumei blinked and stared at him for a moment. Hitoshi avoided the urge to look right back. "Right," the blond chuckled. "Sorry. Forgot you can actually read atmosphere. Well, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine really."
Hitoshi frowned at Fumei, not buying his dismissive tone and raised an eyebrow at him. Fumei chuckled dryly and closed his eyes. "Everything's fine, Hitoshi."
He's lying.
Hitoshi narrowed his eyes, but the latter didn't say anything else. Instead, Fumei pulled out a bandage cloth from his bag and wrapped it around Hitoshi's swollen ankle. "Think you can walk home?"
"I think I could." Hitoshi tried to walk around, but stumbled on his step.
Fumei caught him as thought expecting his fall, and the blonde chuckled. "Always getting hurt, aren't you hero?"
"Shut up."
"Should I bring you home, then?"
"Anything but that," Hitoshi hissed.
"Look, your dad isn't going to be happy if I let you go home by yourself," Fumei said with a pout.
"He doesn't even remember you."
"Really? I thought he liked me."
In the end, despite Hitoshi's insistence to be left alone, Fumei escorted him until the station he got off. For a moment, everything seemed to be back to the way it was, with the way Fumei kept on sharing about his idols and this new game he downloaded on his phone.
However as Fumei waved him off, Hitoshi noticed the strain in the latter's smile.
"I'm home!" Hitoshi said as he opened the front door. He sat down on the genkan and carefully removed his shoes. The swelling on his foot had lessened since earlier, but it still hurt whenever he moved it the wrong way.
When no one responded to his greeting upon entering, Hitoshi looked over his shoulder. "Dad?" he called again as he walked towards the living room where the lights have been left on, but was somehow empty.
Hitoshi read the note attached on the coffee table and scoffed. We ran out of that cup noodles you like, I'll be out for a bit. Don't worry I won't buy too much beer.
"Right, well I'll be in the shower."
By the time Hitoshi emerged from the bath wearing his comfy set of indigo colored pajamas, Hajime had already returned and finished cooking up the instant noodles for dinner. It was something they both agreed to do together now that Hajime had resumed his status as a salary man. Their schedules were pretty much in sync so it was easy to do.
After dinner, Hitoshi excused himself to his room to do unwind. He skimmed through the class chat, which had been surprisingly quiet over the break. There were still small conversations here and there, but at least he wasn't bombarded with a thousand messages over night.
Nagai invited him to play some Heroes: Rising sometime later, and by the next hour, the former dragged him into a first person multiplayer with Kuchisake and Hadesu. They clumped together in a voice call, where Kuchisake mostly trash talked Hadesu for his inability to shoot straight.
"You already have your auto-aim on, dumbass, learn to shoot," she said, and Hadesu whimpered. Nagai laughed on his end as Hadesu tried to explain himself.
"I panic when I see another team!" Hadesu cried. "Then my fingers get all scared and I can't press the right buttons. Just try being in my shoes!"
"Hard pass," Kuchisake said, "Suck it up and get better at the game, idiot. We've been playing this for weeks."
Hitoshi mostly kept to himself while they played, and only talked when he needed to. Even when Kuchisake also called him out for being too cautious in the game, he mostly ignored her and fought the way he knows best.
It wasn't until around nine in the evening that Nagai suddenly cursed aloud then disconnected from the game; then shortly after disappeared from the call.
"What the hell?" Kuchisake hissed. "We almost won that one! Where'd that idiot go? Hadesu?"
"I don't – wait – Zenitsu – I'm in a game – what?"
Hitoshi heard fabric rustling against Hadesu's mic, which caused Kuchisake to yell at him When it did, Hitoshi heard the words attack and villains come from nearby television set.
"Holy shit –" Hadesu gaped.
Hitoshi's phone then buzzed non-stop from a sudden influx of notifications from the group chat registered on his phone. "The fuck?"
He tried to scroll back from the beginning of the spam, but was repeatedly thrown to the most recent message where Nusumi screamed in caps lock, and Tenmei tried to calm her down while everyone else contributed to the former's panic.
Fukuro attached a live stream stream link to the chat, and Hitoshi opened it.
The video opened up with an overhead shot of a helicopter flying over a large forest that burned for miles. There were fire trucks parked in the open space at the other end of the forest, and police cars cordoned off a building that looked like an inn of sorts.
"What –" Hitoshi ran down to the living room when his stream stopped because of the heavy traffic. He scrambled to get downstairs where Hajime already had the television on NHK.
Their eyes, like the rest of the world had their focus glued on the screens as the headline flashed repeatedly on various media outlets all over Japan – BREAKING NEWS: TRAINING CAMP OF FIRST YEAR HERO STUDENTS FROM YUUEI ATTACKED BY LEAGUE OF VILLAINS.
A/N: Writer's block is really a pain. I've re-written this chapter so many times because I also forgot that the kidnapping arc actually happened during the summer and not after it. Had to fix the timeline with the Time Stone (which I had to fight with Horikoshi for because he's taking everyone's time with the new chapters). I think I'm getting really obvious with who the 'spy' is, and I'm a little sad, but their reveal is coming soon, I just need to setup the stage.
Slow updates again for the next few. I ran out of pre-written chapters. See you till then! Don't forget to leave a review, and click that favorite/follow button for more!