Chapter Forty-Four
That Bar
"If you love me, let me go,
Back to that bar in Tokyo,
Where the demons from my past,
Leave me in peace."
- Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) (The Wombats)
Hizashi sat on the empty stage, carefully tuning his old guitar. A long time ago, villains and thugs from all walks of life had come to the bar to watch him sing, but those days were long gone. He didn't miss the grimy spotlight, but he missed the people who had watched him. Kurogiri had first brought him here when he'd only been fifteen, after his failure had been broadcast to the world, and he'd let the blond perform each week to help him settle.
Giran had never missed one of his shows either: he'd always sat at the bar, arranging business deals and the like. Sometimes the information broker had been busy, but he'd always been there.
After they'd gone, it was discovered that the lease had moved to Hizashi's name. His once adoring criminal audience had been flushed from the area, but he'd never been able to do anything with the place. For a moment he saw the hallucination again, of a dark void with a hand reaching out, but he blinked and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
Hizashi strummed the strings and allowed himself to smile at the familiar sound. The paint work had never been repaired from his early days, with a gash from a knife, and some chips from the warehouse collapse, but he felt no need to fix it up.
When he'd first become a hero, they'd forced him to revamp his image, so no more guitar. His mask was gone too, but… Beside him was a small case, the clasps firmly locked, and he went to pull out his phone to check on something, but was interrupted.
"We tracked the location," said a polite voice, and Hizashi looked up to see… no one. However, the sound of rummaging behind the bar told him where his visitor was busying himself. "I think you're right about Aizawa being the focal point for his Quirk."
Nezu crawled onto the counter, and Hizashi's lips stretched into a slight grin as he imagined what Kurogiri would've said upon seeing the rodent on his bar. "You found All for One's hideout?"
"No, but although we haven't had a pinpoint location to it, there's one place in the area that stands out…" Nezu sat on the front of the stage and wiped some dust from his suit. "I went myself to investigate and it seems-"
"Don't mean to interrupt, boss, but you should probably just tell me where it is you're talking about." Hizashi strummed lightly on the guitar strings. "We have a plan in the works. This is the most stable I've been since losing Sho, despite… everything recently. I can take it."
"I was almost positive it came from the old safe house," he said, catching Hizashi's attention. "I went to investigate, and there were signs someone had been there. There was some blood on your old pillow, several days old, so I brought it in to be tested."
"Sho's?"
Nezu paused to mull something over, but soon said, "Yes… but no. It was his blood, but there were some alarming changes compared to the sample we had on record from his school days."
Hizashi nodded and set the guitar to the side so he could take a place seated beside Nezu. "I don't regret taking Simon down," he said softly, "cause we got to save you. You're the only one we have who actually knows what it's like to be one of All for One's toys…"
"Yet you've never asked about it," Nezu said, kicking out his little legs. "I could lecture you, about how the one we end up saving might never be like the man we knew before all this, but I imagine you've been telling yourself that for years now." He lit a cigarette and offered it to Hizashi, but he turned it down.
"You were his toy too," Hizashi repeated, "but look at you now… You're my beacon of hope, yo. I know he won't be the same, but if you can overcome the things he did to you, maybe Sho has a chance too…"
"I'm glad I can be of such unintentional service," the principal said as he took a lengthy drag of the cigarette.
"I need to see his face…" He looked at his own reflection in the clasps of the small black case, heavily distorted by the convex surface. "When I first saw you, I looked into your eyes too. I didn't just see a scared animal in a cage: I saw intelligence. You could say I saw a soul staring back at me, if ya wanna get poetic, and that's what I need to see in Shouta's… One look at his face, and I'll know if I can bring him back."
"...And you were the first one to ever ask for my name." The principal kicked his feet out and smiled nostalgically at the empty bar. "And when I offered my services in exchange for my life… you refused. Well, I've kept my end of the bargain, Present Mic." Nezu pulled the cigarette from his mouth and closed his eyes. "I've never been tangled up in villains since those days."
Hizashi flipped open the black case at last, and slick metal stared back at him. "I guess sometimes it's good to do something heroic."
-x-
Time dragged by slowly as Present Mic waited for Eraserhead to resurface. If he and Toshinori hadn't called off the wedding, it would've come and gone, but he was too focused on school and on tinkering in his lab to pay attention to the public's response. From memory, All Might had told the public something about them being too stressed under the recent events of UA and wanted all their focus to be on the students rather than romantic pursuits.
A lot did happen during that time that he did pay attention to, however.
The Hero Killer was successfully brought down and captured at long last. The media said it was Endeavour, but Toshinori told him it was really Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida. That last name had brought the most mixed emotions: a brother avenging a brother.
If Present Mic and Vlad King had taken Stain down, it would've never led to that, but he knew better than most how impossible it was to change the past. Tensei was still in hospital, but there was talk of a release day, and already the group were planning for a games night that was potentially months away.
However, with Stain taken down, his twisted ideologies were spread before the mass media for all to hear. He spoke of pro-heroes who did not deserve the title: people who only saved others for fame and fortune. Surely Present Mic would've fallen into one of those two categories, had he not been All-Might's apparent 'chosen one'.
If All-Might was the Symbol of Peace, then to Stain, Present Mic was the Symbol of Redemption.
Hosu had experienced further drama at the hands (claws) of more Nomu monsters. Although they hadn't been as indestructible as the one at the USJ, they were difficult beasts to take down, and there was talk of Stain being linked to the League of Villains. Perhaps another SYN was flourishing in the shadows after all this time.
To make matters worse, Hizashi's shapeshifting healer had disappeared without warning, and finding him was simply impossible. He had left Hizashi a quick note informing him of his obligation to run, considering the current dangers in Japan. A powerful Quirk like his had to be hidden away from people like the League and All for One, and so he'd fled the country. If Hizashi needed healing, he'd have to rely on the imperfect Quirk of Recovery Girl.
Despite the villainous activity, there was no sign of Eraserhead, so the time had progressed with mundane exams… Well, except for the practical exams.
They'd had the classes pair off against the school teachers, and the time had been interesting and informative. The teacher had worn weights, and that alone had made Mic nostalgic as he recalled the tournaments from his Sports Festival.
Present Mic had been up against Jiro and Koda, but they'd taken advantage of his entomophobia to steal victory from his grasp (although it was well deserved). The fight he'd been most interested in was Shinsou's. Since there were twenty-one students, he'd had to pair with a random student who'd already lost their match.
He'd been paired up with Kaminari, and together they'd fought against Vlad King. It had been a close match up, with the blond student losing again by over using his electricity Quirk, and Shinsou had lost too since Vlad already knew not to respond to him, so his Brainwashing couldn't activate. Hizashi promised he'd develop him something to help Shinsou achieve his full potential in future.
With that, Term 1 came to a close, and the school holidays began, although Present Mic was never completely free. At least his hallucinations had finally stopped for good. He'd thought about potentially going to the upcoming summer camp with the two hero classes, led by Nemuri and Sekijiro, but when he'd asked them if they felt it necessary, they'd grown uncharacteristically disheartened.
"Sorry Zaza," Nemuri said as she pet him on the back, "but we're keeping it as small and tight as possible. We… were specifically told that we couldn't talk to you about it."
Right, that made sense. He was the ex-villain, after all, and there was still all that talk that he'd potentially arranged everything with the USJ, despite his near-death experience. He'd told them he didn't mind, that it would at least help UA's image. Nothing would go wrong.
It did.
While he was in his lab, putting the final touches on his plan, his students had been fighting for their very lives against the League of Villains. None had been killed, but Bakugou had been kidnapped.
The backlash on UA was devastating, and of course Present Mic's name was often thrown around. What sort of school would hire an ex-villain…? They claimed he hadn't known the location, but of course that hadn't settled the rumours. Hizashi was long past caring about his reputation - that could be repaired after he saved Shouta - but the reputation of the school was another matter.
Even so, they weren't helpless, despite the situation. They'd found the League of Villains' hideout, and of course it was a new bar - Kurogiri was certainly in his element. Not only that, they'd also managed to find the place where Nomu were developed. Their plan was to capture Shigaraki, rescue Bakugou and destroy the production of Nomu once and for all. There was a chance that All for One would get flushed out of hiding, and along with him…
Eraserhead was certain to make an appearance.
-x-
The streets were busy at this time of night, but Hizashi had expected that. As he walked, he held his head high, but managed to go by without being recognised. Overhead, the sky was dark with night, yet the lights of the glowing city meant no stars could be seen. The giant screens were typically covered with adverts, but today something different stared down at the scene, and Hizashi stopped to watch.
On the screen were Nemuri, Nezu and Sekijiro, all dressed in formal business attire as they were interviewed about the recent events. Of course, Hizashi Yamada knew it was a diversion, to make the enemy believe they were helpless while they set up their three different ambush locations, but the audience around him didn't know that. The tension was palpable.
"You spoke about keeping the students safe, Midnight," said one of the journalists on the screen. "But according to our information, you encouraged them to fight on the training camp, thereby putting them in grave danger. What was your reasoning for this?"
"Villains don't hold back, even against children," she said, her tone level headed. "I feared if the students weren't at least given the chance to defend themselves, the events of the camp would've been dire."
"Dire? Wouldn't you already call this a 'dire' outcome? A child was kidnapped under your supervision, and twenty-seven were injured. Sounds dire to us."
"The situation could have been worse. Every student could have been killed without being able to defend themselves."
The camera swapped to Nezu as he went on to talk about the situation, but Hizashi was distracted by his buzzing phone. He pulled it from his back pocket and glanced at the screen. Instantly, his heart began to hammer in his chest, in time with the small blipping light that had appeared. 'In Range' read the small automatic message.
After all this time, Shouta was back.
Back in Hosu, his phone had managed to tab into the frequency of Eraserhead's tracker, thanks to their chance encounter, and this assurance meant their plan was a go. The small dot was so close, yet so far, and he quickly estimated where the villain was.
Shouta must've been hidden in the sea of people - it was too close to be on one of the surrounding buildings. At least the dot had stopped moving, so there must've been too many people around for Eraserhead to make a move.
He glanced at the screen, where the three were still talking in the interview, and Hizashi knew he couldn't make a move yet either, as much as he wanted to move the plan forward. Instead, he was quick to send out a message on his phone, to let his side know about Eraserhead's whereabouts.
On the screen, Nemuri was asked about Bakugou and whether the student would be swayed to the side of villainy, and it caught Hizashi's attention more than anything else, for at the end the reporter added a personal jab. "How can you be so sure he won't become a villain, especially since once of his teachers, Present Mic, used to be one? How do you know he isn't behind this attack?"
He knew how ludicrous the question was.
Bakugou wasn't weak like Hizashi had been when SYN had approached him. His student would've rather died than become a villain, and Present Mic was proud of that knowledge.
Nemuri stood up, and Hizashi almost wanted her to lose her temper, but she remained calm as she bowed. "Katsuki Bakugou is my responsibility. He is a passionate, hot-tempered student, but if these villains believe they can sway him, they are mistaken. Bakugou wishes to become a hero, and nothing the League of Villains can do will possibly sway him from that road. I can also assure you that Present Mic has long since redeemed himself."
"Are you saying all villains should be offered the chance at redemption? Even this League of Villains?"
Nezu was the one to speak up. "If a villain's crimes are forgivable, and they are genuinely remorseful, should they not be able to re-enter society and pursue a career they feel passionately about? If you disagree with this, then you are disagreeing with not just villains, but the criminal system as a whole. Life sentences are rare occurrences. If you recall the USJ Incident, you would know why Present Mic should not be involved in this case at all. He has saved more people than he has ever harmed, and he will continue to help those in need until he can't anymore."
The topic moved on. Hizashi swallowed as he ignored the mixed murmurs around him. Yes, he'd continue to save people, and Shouta would be the next. He glanced at his phone to find the blip hadn't moved, but he didn't make himself look away from the screen, as desperate as he was to see Shouta again.
Now it was a waiting game. The plan relied on Eraserhead trying to take him again, but if he could just lead him there, then it would be action time.
The interviews soon ended, but he didn't move until he received a message from Nemuri: [You ready to party?]
He swallowed and sent back a microphone emoji, before putting the phone away completely. Hizashi looked up at the sky and for just a moment he thought he could see the stars through the dazzling lights, but then he was moving.
His senses warned him he was being followed, and although the idea of being stalked like prey didn't bode well for his instincts, he pretended to be oblivious to the predator as he led him towards the ambush location:
The old bar.
