I could hear the door closing shut as I joined everyone else.

"Now what?"

"I'm going to find a place for you to stay. My house isn't big enough for everyone." I scanned the area again for any spot big enough to hold all six hundred students. As soon as we were on our way again, we heard a deep rumble. I covered my ears.

"Guys, I think he's here. We don't need a place to stay." I squinted and looked through hours of footage to finally see him. I didn't know where the fog was; maybe it was so far spread out that we couldn't see it. My suspicions were correct. Soon, a purple line swooshed past us, and we had to dig our feet in the ground to avoid being blown away. In the camera's view, I saw Kurogiri fully materialize with the fog. He flew into the air so quickly that the camera footage was now useless.

"Scratch that. He's coming." I displayed a message to everyone.

"Find out what your Quirk is good for, like we did in training? Are you suited for melee combat or long range?" I couldn't scan everyone's Quirks from where I was standing.

"How are we going to get there?"

For once, I was at a loss for words. I looked around for someone to explain for me. Iida raised his hand. "We bring Kurogiri to us."

I heard several variations of "Are you insane?" before he elaborated. "This is the only way for us to take him down without causing any damage to the city."

Now that we really knew what we were going to do, I felt fear like I had never felt before. The heroes in movies went against villains like these all the time, and some of them could easily overpower Kurogiri. Even surrounded by several hundred people, I wanted to run away and forget about my past life. As cliche as it sounds, the only thing that stopped me doing that was my mom. I wanted to make her safe.

All Might whistled, a noise that rivaled Present Mic's screams. "Listen up! We're going to get his attention."

I cleared my throat. "Sir, how do you plan on doing that? He's on the other end of the city."

"Don't worry, I got this!" Bakugo thrust a fist to the sky and created an explosion that almost singed his hair.

Checking more cameras, I saw Kurogiri coming in our direction.

"Guys, this actually worked." The timer in my head kept beeping. "We have about two minutes before he gets here." That was barely enough time to discuss a strategy, and everyone had ideas to share.

"Everyone, write your ideas on the screens in front of you and I'll try to figure out the best one." Soon, I had a wall of text in front of me, and I quickly sorted through it all. We agreed to stay in view of Kurogiri before attacking.

Just then, my timer hit zero. I turned around and saw a massive purple cloud hovering over all of us. For a split second, we stared at it before it dove to the ground at a sickening speed.

"FIND THE BODY!" We scattered before the fog took out a chunk of the ground. It took awhile for me to readjust myself before I pointed at Kurogiri. I created an illusion that made him glow. Instantly, everyone knew where to attack. The air was filled by dust, explosions, and other debris. In the chaos, I disappeared to get a better view of things.

Kurogiri growled. Using his portals, he threw sharp pieces of rock. I wasn't paying attention and felt a pain stabbing through my leg. I've been hit! My Quirk assessed the injury. Meanwhile, the students were just trying to avoid the flying hunks of earth. Present Mic stood awkwardly in a corner. There was no way for him to get Kurogiri without hitting anyone else.

All Might took a leap and raised a fist. Before he could make contact, Kurogiri narrowed his eyes. The fog took on the appearance of a fist before grabbing him and pinning him to the ground. A second portal appeared and an arrow came flying out. Before I knew it, my hand was extended and the arrow was now harmlessly flying a hundred feet away. All Might seemed to stare right at me before escaping Kurogiri's distracted grip.

None of this is working. As long as Kurogiri could see us, there was no way for us to win. The space we had wasn't big enough to fit six hundred people, let alone those with Quirks. I quickly let myself down from my hiding spot and reappeared. "Remember me?" Kurogiri dropped a hand and attacked me.

In the split second before the purple mass reached me, I recalled every scene in every book and movie that I had seen. None of them would really fit, and I had an idea. I snapped, and everything disappeared.

The Pro Heroes and students still existed. I sent a message to Midoriya: Get everyone behind him.

It was just Kurogiri and me. The white floor, tessellated with a square pattern, stretched to infinity. All of it was lighted, but the source was nowhere to be seen. We stood just six feet away.

"Why are you doing this?"

Kurogiri chuckled. "You? You're not a threat. Stop wasting my time."

I needed to convince him to stop, or at least to keep talking. "Could you please answer my question?"

"I don't need Shigaraki anymore. You saw that. I can take him down in an instant."

"You could've stayed in Japan. Why come here?"

"You see, people there are difficult. They're specifically equipped to deal with people like me. After my first attack, I retreated and was surprised at how quickly society was able to recover." Kurogiri's fog slowly dissipated until I could see his human form. "Using my research, I found a way to make me more powerful. There was a second side effect, however. After several trials of research, I finally saw the portal that brought me here. That's also how you arrived, right?"

I tried to move and couldn't. It seemed like he knew everything about my plan.

Kurogiri laughed. His failed attempt at humor made the atmosphere colder instead. "Starting with your world, I saw that it was easier to achieve Shigaraki's goal. Society needs to be rebuilt, heroes or no heroes. The justice system is seriously flawed." His voice rose and he lost his handle on the fog. The white tiles around him were stained purple as he continued to speak.

I no longer listened to what he was saying. I kept looking for ways to understand him, and that came from the very brain itself. The results were as I expected. When I saw his brain, various parts glowed with brighter and brighter intensity.

Normally, I can't focus on memories. They're too unpredictable. Based on what we see and what others tell us, they change and corrupt over time. Kurogiri's memory was different. It was in perfect quality, and none of the details were changed. He had been focusing on this memory ever since it happened. Slowly, the real world collapsed and I was watching the world through his eyes.

It was a sunny day at the carnival. Conversations echoed out of every ride with kids begging their parents to go just one more time. Rides were bustling with people, all eager to experience something new. Overhead, the roller coaster grappled with fifty brave souls who were crazy enough to subject themselves to several loops in a row.

Behind the scenes, there was just as much excitement. Mechanics frantically scurried across the park fixing anything that even looked broken. Vendors were working overtime to meet the demands of every customer. One little boy, ice cream dripping from his chin, smiled as his mother picked him up. "Can I try that one? Or maybe that one!" His hands were a flurry of fingers and chocolate chips.

"Of course you can." His mother picked him up and carried him to the balloon pop. She watched as he steadily held the dart before successfully popping three balloons in a row. He smiled as his tiny fist grabbed the keychain he won.

"I did it!" He excitedly turned around, expecting his mother to be there cheering for him.

She wasn't.

He was dimly aware of people running and screaming around him. He turned his head. What he saw made him freeze in shock. Some… thing, was yelling in rage, throwing anything it could get its hands on. Everything it touched smoldered and burned. An entire refrigerator full of ice evaporated into steam instantly as an indistinguishable chunk of metal pummelled it to the ground.

The villain finally turned its face to the crowd. Up until then, the boy hadn't realized that he wasn't looking at his face. His features were made of charred, molten rock; his teeth stood in jagged, asymmetrical patterns. And then there was its eyes. They had been reduced to red specks. He looked at them and felt the urge to run, run away, run somewhere else that wasn't in his sight.

Making eye contact was a mistake. No one knew why he was about to be the next victim. Maybe because he was standing there, stuck to the spot? Maybe because he had no one to go to? Maybe out of spite?

The lifeless red specks scrutinized him. A blackened arm stretched out to grab a vendor's cart. Its fingers set the wood alight immediately while the paper goods inside shriveled and fell to the ground forgotten. The vendor screamed, his sleeve on fire from the sheer amount of sparks that were flying around. All of this happened in an instant before the cart was sent flying towards the boy.

He had not broken eye contact once; all the while, the cart took up more and more space in his vision- pieces of wood rotted and fell apart, small details on the cart became clearer, he could smell the burned remains, impact was imminent-

None of that happened. All Might flew into the scene out of nowhere. Flashing his signature smile, he punched the villain with enough force to stop a jet engine. The black figure crumpled to the ground before quickly being subdued by the police.

The same people who had been plunged into chaos just moments before emerged from the shadows, cheering All Might and praising him for the hero he was.

"No need to thank me!" All Might's voice rang out loud and clear among everyone else's comments. "Thankfully, we arrived here before any further damage was caused."

The dust settled, and the boy ran to find his mother, his father, anyone he could trust. Something caught his eye that made his heart stop.

Underneath a smoking heap of debris was his mother. Bile forming in his throat and tears in his eyes, he looked into the mask that used to be his mother's face.

"Mom?" He barely choked the words out. "Can you hear me?"

No response.

He tried again. "Mom? It's me, Oboro! Your son." He shook her head violently, hoping for some kind of reaction.

Again, no response.

"Please…" His voice faltered before continuing. "You told me that you would know what to do if something like this happened. I don't, so just let me know that you're still there."

He waited. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. It finally struck him that her glassy eyes would no longer be able to see him again.

There was nowhere to go. Numbly, he walked through the crowd. How are people still celebrating? he wondered. How are people still celebrating when lives have been lost?

All Might was in the middle of answering reporters' questions. "Now I'm going to let everyone describe the horrible incident." He waved, and the reporters scurried away looking for unsuspecting people to give their testimonies.

One reporter spotted Oboro standing there and squatted down to his level. "Hey, kid." His tone was encouraging, coercing him to speak. "Can you tell me what happened here? You're already brave just to be here."

Oboro's eyes were fixed somewhere else. He pointed in All Might's direction, screaming. "You couldn't save my mom! You couldn't save my mom!"

Everyone looked at him with pity, assuming that his mother was fine and he was just shell-shocked from his first encounter with a villain. All Might nervously laughed and signaled for the police to come. They took the boy under both arms while he had yelled himself hoarse.

It was at that moment when he realized that heroes didn't care about anyone personally and only did their jobs for the popularity. He committed himself to convince others of his idea and let them discover the truth about heroes.

This unfroze me and I could finally speak to him again. "How long ago was this?"

Kurogiri's tone became bitter. "Long enough for me to realize the truth about this world. It's unfair, and what I'm doing is giving everyone a second chance."

"By killing innocent people? By destroying entire cities? The death toll from your attacks is already above 10,000."

"As long as society is rebuilt from scratch, I'll be there to make sure it's fair to everyone."

"That's a lot of people to kill. Also, we won't let this happen." I tried to find a way to sympathize with him. "After that, did you ever go to school."

"Someone was kind enough to take me in. He shared my set of beliefs, and we kind of grew closer to each other."

"Who was that?"

"I can't tell you that, and it won't matter once I'm done with you."

I shrugged. "Okay then." I vanished before cutting the illusion.