Dreaming of Stars

by Gushy48

Sanji Inochi, a selfless man who is unable to use his Quirk—Dreams, being considered Quirkless. Through luck and seemingly-impossible odds, he finds his way to U.A. High School in Class 1-B. With what Life brings to 1-B, the society that they live in—the Hero Society—will forever be altered. (x-posted on AO3 and Quotev/bi-weekly schedule)

47. Liberation

Sasaki Kendo

"Master Kendo, the fuck's happenin'?!"

"What's going on?!"

"There's no service! I can't call Shojo!"

"Calm down! There's plenty of capable Heroes in I-Island!" I assure these dolts. I can't blame them for panicking though. I-Island has the same security as Tartarus of all freaking places. Right now, we have multiple No.1 Heroes attending the I-Expo. If anything, security is at its highest . So if there's a threat within I-Island, then it's a threat capable of defeating a No.1 Pro Hero. I don't think we're in danger ourselves. Dammit all… Before I-Island cut off the service, Hayami told me that they were still waiting in the lobby for their ride. I'm glad that Fuyushiro Tokage was an asshole and didn't send a car to pick 'em up. I'd be worried sick otherwise.

Togaru Kamakiri—the son of Executioner Wasp, heard about him—yells, "I fuckin' called it! I knew I-Island would get attacked!"

Manga Fukidashi shouts, "Is this a good time to brag about your bet with Shishida?! They cut off our phones! I gotta get to Shojo 'cause she's probably crying her eyes out right now!"

"They're fine!" Neito Monoma says—at least he's helping me out a little. "Look, I-Island said that they found an explosive device within the complex, correct? They are aware of its existence, but not the exact location. That's why they put the entire island on lockdown just to be safe. Considering that many important people are in the central tower, I'd wager that's where the conflict's at. Not here . We're perfectly safe!"

"Listen to the rugrat here, he's right! We're not that far away from everyone else. Hopefully, everyone who was going to the gala is still in the lobby. We'll just meet up with them, get your friends in Pollux, and figure out a game plan," I tell them. Kamakiri nods, being a moody guy, crossing his arms and all. Fukidashi reluctantly agrees; he's trembling slightly from fear.

But Monoma? He looks irritated. He comments, "Call it intuition, but those 1-A brats are involved in this somehow. They could be fighting Villains as we speak." Wow, Itsuka wasn't kidding when she said that Monoma's obsessed with 1-A. God, I hope Midoriya and the others are making through this. He might be at the gala already, Toshi too.

Kamakiri retorts, "Who the hell cares? After this, there'll be a hellstorm. Newspapers all over the world are gonna go, 'How the shit did I-Island get attacked?' Fuckin' hell, everywhere we go, there's trouble. Can't even go into an arcade without some crazy bastard tryna blow it up to pieces."

"That's a Hero's life for you," I say. "There's no rest for the wicked. Even if you're an old man like me, the Commission can pull any retired Hero out of retirement if something big happens. If that happens, then you know shit hit the fan."

"More like crap hit the jet engine…" Fukidashi mutters. Speaking louder, he asks, "Can we head over to Pollux first? Sorry, but I'm just—?!"

PHSSSSH!

That was an unsettling sound. Reminds me whenever that Todoroki kid is using ice. What the fuck is going on up there? Judging from how faint the sound is, I'd say shit's happening near the top of the hotel. Kamakiri gives Monoma a stink eye, crossing his arms. "We ain't in danger, you say. We're perfectly safe, you say. Well, what the fuck d'ya call that? Are some circus performers gonna put on a play for us while the entire island reenacts the Titanic or some fuckin' crap like that, Broadway?!"

Heh, Broadway. Not a bad nickname, but really, something bad is going on. Shit, don't tell me that some Villains are in the hotel with us. Before Monoma gives his friend a witty comeback, I raise my hand, drawing silence in the room. "Quiet, would ya? If that sound wasn't from a replay of Todoroki's fight with Midoriya, then we're in some hot shit right now. Let's head upstairs and get the rest of your friends."

"Right, I'm with you," Fukidashi says.

"Roger. If we findin' a Villain or some bastard like that, I ain't gonna wait for my Provisionals to cut 'im up," Kamakiri promises, and that's a relief; hesitation will get you killed.

Monoma pats Kamakiri's chest before patting my shoulder; he's probably collecting Quirks. "You're our escort, Master Kendo."

"Let's go. Stay close behind me and if you even think about danger, let me know 'cause your instincts won't lie. Most of the time at least," I tell them, looking towards the door. Before I lead the kids outta here, I hear footsteps upstairs on the floor above me. Five sets of them. Fuck, what did we get ourselves into? Dammit all, we won't be able to reach the rest of the boys before the unknown intruders arrive. Unless we literally break through the ceiling that is, but only one of us here is capable of doing that. Unfortunately for us, he isn't a quick-thinker. By the time I tell him to open a hole in the ceiling, the assholes would've already broken through the door. If we try and chase after them, the corridor in the hotel is narrow and we'll be in a pickle, especially since me and Kamakiri are close-ranged fighters and Fukidashi's attacks take up the entire damn width of the hallway. We won't be able to rescue them before the bastards arrive.

"You guys hear that?" Fukidashi asks, looking up at the ceiling.

Monoma mumbles, "Master Kendo, we should—?!"

BURST!

Yup, the assholes arrived at the room above us. The door sounded like it got torn off its hinges. Shit, that isn't good.

"Woah, who the hell are you—?!"

"—Shut up!"

"Arf arf arf!"

"Shut your fucking dog up too"

Monoma yells, "Master Kendo, they're in danger! We need to—!"

—Five more sets of footsteps. They're on this floor, and they're coming right for us.

I yell at him, and at the other two boys as well, "I understand, dammit! We got our own issues to deal with! More of 'em are coming this way!" This is a shitty situation. We got ten goons against what? Eight? Nine if you include the dog? They're more organized than we are. I could take on five guys on my own, but that's depending on their Quirks. If any of them has a Hardening-type or any other pain-in-the-ass Quirk Types, then it'll be incredibly difficult for me to do my job. I don't have any weapons with me, just my fists.

Kamakiri pulls out a thick blade out from the palm of his right hand, and Monoma's prepared to kick ass. Fukidashi hangs back. His Quirk is too destructive for enclosed areas like this. The footsteps get closer and closer, then before we know it—

— BURST!

"Fuck me."

"Show me your hands!"

We can't do shit. The first guy that comes in decked out in military armor brandishing a military-grade assault rifle. He also has a shotgun slinged around his back, and a pistol at his side. You'd call his armor an EOD suit, which is meant to protect from explosives. Yet I can tell that whatever he's wearing doesn't only protect from explosives, it protects against nearly everything . He's a walking Juggernaut. Mere fists and kicks won't do shit against something like that.

Kamakiri is about to charge in, but he sees the Juggernaut and stops. He swears under his breath, retracting the blade from his palm. Three men and a woman run inside right after the Juggernaut, and the four of us immediately see the terrible place we're in. If we try to pull anything, we'll be shot by the Juggernaut within the second. Dammit, we're gonna get taken hostage. I need to look at the other four to determine their Quirks if possible. The woman, who has really damn messy hair, has hard scales like a dragon; the orange-haired man has his hand on the Juggernaut with a faint purple glow coming from his hand—must be a support Quirk; the skinny guy has a hand on his mouth ready to blow something fierce—Emitter-type; and the last one, the bastard with jagged teeth, he's glaring at us with his jade-colored eyes, glancing at the Juggernaut every now and then—his Quirk involves his eyes.

In summary: Mutant, in the form of a dragon; Emitter, a support Quirk; Emitter, something to do with breathing; and Transformation, something to do with eyes. What about the Juggernaut? Who the hell knows? Guns are used by people who have weak Quirks, or they're outright Quirkless. If Juggernaut has a Quirk, then we can bet that it helps him with firearms.

The Juggernaut yells, "Are you deaf?! Show me your hands!"

Fukidashi asks, "Master Kendo, are we—?"

—I raise my hands. "Fine. I'd ask you to take off that armor of yours, but you have the machine gun here. If I had to guess…" These people are apart of the Meta Liberation Army.

"My fuckin' God…" Kamakiri mutters, raising his hands as well.

"We surrender," Monoma says, following after us.

"...You guys win," Fukidashi follows up, being the last one to raise his hands.

That's how we lost the fight before it even began. We were already put at a disadvantage from a surprise attack. We would have a damn good chance at defeating these pricks if it wasn't for the Juggernaut. The only one here who could beat his ass is Fukidashi, but he would also tear down the hotel. If, y'know, he doesn't get riddled with holes first. Bullets are faster than Onomatopoeias.

Dragon snarks, "Thought you're a pretty strong Hero huh, Master Kendo? You could prolly kick our asses right now if ya wanted to, right? C'mon c'mon, where's your fighting spirit? Never pegged you as a spineless coward."

"Do you really have to taunt him so much?" Glowing Hand asks, taking his hand off of the Juggernaut. "We're here to do one thing."

Crazy Eyes affirms, "That's right. You four could probably guess what's happening right now, can you? We're taking you hostage. Well, that's a harsh way of saying it. More like an 'unplanned vacation'."

Kamakiri snaps, "Fuck off, assholes. Are you the bastards attackin' I-Island right now?"

He shakes his head. "Nah, we're just taking advantage of the opportunity laid out for us." You gotta be shitting me, the M.L.A. aren't attacking I-Island? There are two threats we hafta worry about? Dammit all…

Juggernaut, with his barrel still pointing at us, tells everyone, "Enough talk. Get them outta this room. If they try anything, you know what to do."

The Breath guy nods, walking behind us—specifically me—and barks, "You heard him. Let's go." Dragon and Crazy Eyes wait outside the door. I try and take a step forward, but the asshole pushes me. "You're too slow."

Yup, Villains are usually assholes. At least they aren't treating the kids like this…yet. With my hands still raised in the air, I leave the room with the kids right behind me. Dragon (she has a tail) and Crazy Eyes are in the front; Glowing Hand, Juggernaut, and Breath are in the back. Without further ado, Juggernaut says, "Start walking. I'll tell you when to stop."

And we do. We walk in a tight group. Beside me, Monoma moves up and whispers, "I figured out the Quirk for the skinny man. His breath creates a fog. I—"

"Stop whispering back there!" Dragon yells. "You want me to cut your tongue out for you, you blonde rat?"

"Instead of cutting tongues, we can cut a deal after you tell me who you're working for?" Monoma asks, that idiot!

Dragon stops and snarls, "You asked for it, kid." She turns around and raises her hand—

—I step in front of Monoma, and she stops. A flash of fear runs through her eyes before she turns away, scoffing. She mutters, "Tch, not even worth it." We continue to walk without any more issues, because I give Monoma a glare that could kill him. If he doesn't wise up, he'll get hurt.

But as I thought. They're afraid of me. We know that there are two things preventing me from kicking their asses right now: the kids and the Juggernaut. I'm the biggest threat they have at the moment. That must be the reason why they brought the Juggernaut down to apprehend me. They know I wouldn't be able to do anything against him.

I hear Crazy Eyes whispering something to Dragon, but I can't make out the conversation exactly. I glance behind me to check on Kamakiri and Fukidashi. They're doing okay. Kamakiri looks like he's about to kill a man while Fukidashi is on the verge of tears. Poor guy.

Monoma doesn't seem like talking now. He must be planning something in his head. Wish I know what he's planning so I could say it's stupid because trying anything will get our asses shot.

After a minute, Juggernaut says, "Stop. We're waiting here." I look around and we're stopped at a stairwell. Ah, so that's how it is, huh? We're regrouping with the guys who took the rest of the kids hostage upstairs. Makes sense.

Fukidashi whispers, "Are we…?"

Kamakiri answers for him, "Yup. We're 'bout to get some new friends."

"Damn," Monoma mutters, "we really aren't in a good place."

We wait for a little bit, about thirty seconds until I hear a voice.

"Y'hear me, you aren't gonna get away with this, y'know! I don't know why you wanna take us hostage of all guys, but you're not gonna win!" That's Yosetsu Awase's voice.

Click clack click clack click

Nine sets of feet.

Coming down the stairs, guess who they are? Yosetsu Awase, Kosei Tsuburaba, Shihai Kuroiro, Sen Kaibara, and five more goons. Oh right, Kuroiro is holding Kagesuke in his arms. Three of them are men and rest are women. Two of them have Mutant-type Quirks, one man and one woman. The man has curved blades sticking out of his arms, kinda like Kamakiri's Quirk, but with sickles. And the woman, she has quill-like spikes coming out of her skin. The other three, I can't tell at the moment. There's an orange-haired man, his bodybuilder friend, and a chick who has jagged teeth. They're on-guard ready to strike, so they either have Transformation or Emitter.

The boys see me and the rest of us suckers, immediately slouching down in defeat. Yeah, must suck seeing someone like me being held hostage, huh? Kaibara says, "Master Kendo… What—"

Sickle says, "Be quiet." He ushers the kids, making them merge with our group. Now we're outnumbered from ten to eight—nine including the dog. Four of them—Sickle, Dragon, Crazy Eyes, and Orange Hair—are at the front, another four—Juggernaut, Breath, Glowing Hand, Quills—are at the back, and the last two—Jagged Teeth and Bodybuilder—are covering the stairs.

Awase stands next to me while Monoma and Kaibara are chatting just behind us. Kuroiro is talking with Fukidashi, and Tsuburaba and Kamakiri are just silent—they're probably cursing under their breaths. We're not moving, so there must be something else going on. I speak up, "Who else are we waiting for?"

Juggernaut, in the back, snaps, "You'll see soon. Now hush up."

"Who the hell is coming?" Awase mutters under his breath, glancing at me. "Master Kendo, who the fuck are these guys? I thought you could take 'em on."

"Normally yeah," I whisper back—none of the other goons can hear us luckily. To them, we're just staring ahead waiting for our next guest to arrive. "But did ya see the Juggernaut in the back? He has an assault rifle and can mow us down within the second, not to mention the suit he's wearing. I need my Quirk to even bruise him, and even then, I'd need to store up a lot of force for that too. The only one here who has a decent chance at knocking him over is Fukidashi, or Kamakiri piercing his armor. Either way, they aren't gonna fight."

"Damn… Why are we even in this shitty situation in the first place? I hope everyone else is okay. I don't hear any screaming at least…"

"Yeah, that's usually a good sign. Hayami is still with the party-goers in the lobby, Setsuna is M.I.A., the other half of the kids are in Pollux, and we're here. Anyway, were you able to determine the Quirks of your assholes? Juggernaut's unknown, Dragon's Quirk is obvious, one guy can breath out fog, Glowing Hand can support someone via touch, and Crazy Eyes could do something with his eyes."

Awase glances around with his eyes, not turning his head. Good, he's not making it obvious. "The chick with Quills can shoot 'em out of her skin like darts, Sickle Arms is a dude with Sickle Arms, the lady with jagged teeth has a really nasty Jaw like a shark's, the guy with orange hair can Ignite anything he touches—if you look in our room, some of our shit got torched—and the big dude has some crazy version of Muscle Augmentation."

Great. They're M.L.A. bastards, so they're pretty skilled with their Quirks. Each of them have the fighting capacity of a Pro Hero. At least we know what they can do. Shit though, the Muscle Augmentation guy will be a dick to handle… Guys with those types of Quirks are pure physical strength and they take a lot of fucking hits to bring down.

I reply to the kid, "Thanks for telling me. When we get outta this shitty situation, we have some insight on what our guys have to offer. Luckily for us, Lian is supposed to drop by and watch you guys, but since y'know, we're being held at gunpoint, he might be in the lobby."

"Least we have him. Fuck, I really hope the guys in Pollux are okay." Awase curses under his breath, probably worried about his crush.

"Yeah, hopefully."

"Yeah…" He grits his teeth, looking around at the goons before looking up front, Dragon and Ignite. He yells, "Hey! Can we get this shit over with?! Who are we waiting for, dammit?!"

Dragon snaps, "Shut the hell up! You'll see when they get here, brat! Now shut up before I tear your tongue out, would ya?!"

"What fuckin' bullshit. You guys are fuckin' assholes," Kamakiri mutters, but because I can hear him, he isn't muttering; the other guys can hear him too.

Juggernaut shouts, "No talking! We have orders to take you alive, but I ain't afraid of putting a bullet in your kneecap!"

Kaibara, who's actually muttering, definitely cusses him off. It's so bad that Monoma has a visible reaction to what he said. Fukidashi is leaning against a wall with his head down, not focusing on what's going on. He looks like he's just spacing out; his morale must be pretty damn low. Kuroiro and Kagesuke, I'm surprised that Kagesuke isn't barking his head off right now; he's well-trained especially for a puppy.

Awase shoots me a glare that says, Fuck these guys. Fuck 'em. They oughta go to hell and burn there for all I care.

God, at least these kids aren't crying out of their minds. Looks like everything that happened to them simply hardened their shells. Sure, they're not 1-A who fought Shigaraki and the rest of his gang, they dealt with something worse: being vilified by the public. That killed more people than Villains ever will. Still, having experience does help when you're being led to the slaughter by some liberation-obsessed maniacs. They're remaining calm despite this being their first real Villain attack. If these guys were in U.S.J. instead of 1-A, they would do just fine in terms of mental spirit.

And so, we wait 'round for our mystery guest to arrive. Considering that we're such a large group with no particular leader, that probably means the leader is coming down to grace us with their presence. Give me a break. It's gonna be one of the guys I saw on the first day here; if so, who will it be?

Maybe, just maybe it's—

Tsuburaba steps behind me, towards the stairs where Jaws and the Muscle Augmentation guy are at. Then, before I know it, he—?!

DASH!

What the hell is he doing?!

"Outta my way—!" he shouts, charging towards the both of them! Before Muscle and Jaws could react, Tsuburaba puffs out a platform in front of him, jumping on it and leaping over the two of them, landing on the, well, landing between the two sets of stairs. The idiot is trying to escape! But why is he going upstairs?! It would be better to go down!

"Fucking brat, I'll eat you hole!" Jaws yells, charging after him and—!

CRASH!

She runs into an invisible wall; Tsuburaba created an invisible wall separating them. I can't imagine that it's very strong considering it's literally Solid Air, but it should be enough for him to make his escape. And so he does. He's running upstairs. Awase shouts, "Keep running, Airhead! Don't let those fuckers get you!"

Muscle snarls at Awase, "Shut the fuck up, kid! I'm gettin' his ass, don't you worry one bit! That little jackass will—!"

"—Don't," Juggernaut interrupts him, "he'll run into them pretty soon."

"Who is this motherfucker?" I ask as everyone has their attention turned to us. "I swear to God, if you hurt him—!"

"—Shit!" Tsuburaba's voice rings out above us. "Who are you—?!"

KICK!

The sound of a foot slamming into something hard is heard, and we see Tsuburaba falling downstairs, his back crashing against a wall right in front of our eyes. Three sets of footsteps follow after. One of them is wearing boots, the other flats, and the last one is wearing dress shoes.

"Where do you think you're going, Kosei Tsuburaba?" a man says with a voice filled with an icy malice. There's nothing but contempt and resentment in his voice. All he needs is a reason to hurt someone; he'll do it without hesitation. His voice is enough to send chills down my spine. If his effect on people is this pronounced on me , then imagine the kids…

Jaws brush off her clothes, lowering her head in respect. Muscle does the same thing. All of the goons are lowering their heads, each and every one of them. Everyone is silent, not making a sound until we see the man of the hour…

Geten, the white-haired pretty boy. Instead of wearing a suit, he's wearing a thick parka. Behind him, there are two people waiting on the stairs… Their hands are encased in ice… They're… What the fuck? Setsuna Tokage and Okichi Tokugawa?! They were captured by Geten?! That's why they weren't in the lobby with Hayami and the others!

"...Tokage?" Awase mutters.

"What is she doing here…? With Tokugawa even…?" Fukidashi mutters too.

That isn't the point though. Right now, Geten is cornering Tsuburaba against the wall. The kid's nervous, his eyes are darting back and forth—a clear telltale sign of fear. Yet he's not collapsing on his knees from fright, he's doing his damn best to stand up to the pretty boy. Just as Tsuburaba is about to utter a sound, Geten's right hand snaps forward with an icicle in his grasp, having the tip just barely pressing against Tsuburaba's neck. "That was a rhetorical question; I didn't give you the right to speak."

Man, last time I saw Geten, he was nervous. He stuttered whenever he spoke, but now? He has the charisma of a general. Seems like fighting for the M.L.A. gives him the reason to be confident and proud. Good thing that means he's emotional. But so are these kids. Fighting emotions with emotions will scorch one of 'em, and here, if Tsuburaba doesn't play his cards right, he'll be the one getting burned.

Tsuburaba is looking at me afraid that he might die. He asks, Master Kendo… Can you do anything? Anything at all?! Save me here!

I shake my head. I'll do what I can. Don't try to escape. If you do, you'll have an icicle in your stomach.

Awase tries to say something, but I grab his arm. He bites his tongue in response, sweating bullets as we watch Tsuburaba shivering with the tip of the icicle pressed against his neck, almost breaking the skin.

Geten eases up just a little bit, raising the icicle so it touches Tsuburaba's chin, making him lift his head up. "So you can hold your tongue. I'm surprised none of your other sheeple is speaking up for you. It wasn't my intention to capture most of the men in your class, but I thought at least one of them would curse me out." He looks at me specifically. "Like you, Master Kendo. Do you recognize me?"

I snark, "Is that a rhetorical question or do I have a right to speak? I'm just a wittle sheeple hopping over the fence."

He frowns, grinding his teeth. "Don't mock me. I could kill this brat in front of you right now. You'll regret ever saying a word as you watch his blood drip down the stairs right towards your feet."

Tokage is shaking her head at me, mouthing, What the heck are you doing?!

"Are you sure about that, Geten?" I say, louder so everyone in the audience can hear. "If you kill that boy, he'll be the catalyst for the next war against your disgusting group! In order to prevent that, you would need to kill everyone in this hotel, but how would you cover this up? It's impossible. So 'cause of that, you're gonna keep us alive to get what you want."

Geten's frown gets harsher, but he knows my words are the truth. He retracts the icicle from Tsuburaba's neck, letting him finally breathe again. "Fine, Master Kendo… You win this time."

Tsuburaba sighs in relief. "Thank God—!"

KICK!

And the asshole kicks Tsuburaba down the stairs. Muscle Augmentation catches him and throws him back into the group, and Awase lifts him up, shouting whispers into his ear. Geten walks down afterwards with Setsuna and Tokugawa behind him. Waving his hand, the M.L.A. soldiers lift up their heads. Geten looks around, visibly confused. "Militia, where are my five soldiers? I'd thought they would be here by now."

Juggernaut—guess his codename is Militia—replies, "They haven't come down yet. I thought they were with you, sir."

"Through the walkie-talkie, I reported that they went down to Floor 51 through the elevator. Me and these two brats took the stairs. They shouldn't take this long to capture him."

Militia goes silent for a second. Even though he's wearing a bulky suit with an even bulkier mask, he looks at me specifically. "...I agree, sir. It's strange."

Geten huffs. "Alright then. You two brats," he's talking to Setsuna and Tokugawa, "don't move a muscle." He walks up to Militia and they start to talk quietly.

The "two brats" approach me awkwardly since y'know, their hands are ice cubes. I look at them and quietly yell, "How the hell did you two get involved in this?"

Setsuna answers, "Long story, can't tell you now, but Geten captured me and Okichi in Floor 58. He had five other guys with him, but as you heard, he went to Floor 51."

"Why Floor 51?" I ask.

Tokugawa says, "That's where Mister Inochi is at." What? Sanji is in Floor 51?! Why is he there?! "Upstairs, I acted like I was hiding information; Geten noticed and 'forced' it out of me. I told him that your student is in Floor 51, right in his room."

"And you gave it to him?! You sent five soldiers to Sanji's room?! What the fuck were you thinking?!" I find myself shouting, still in whispers though.

Setsuna sighs. "Master Kendo, these guys want to make an example outta us. They want to punish us. Pollux probably aren't captured like us, so they can bargain for our release hopefully."

"And how are you gonna do that? The rest of us don't have anything worth bargaining for."

Tokugawa corrects me, "On the contrary, we do. We have a flash drive somewhere that acts as our McGuffin, and most importantly, we also have hope."

I bite, "Hope for what?"

Suddenly, Geten commands his soldiers for something. Dragon, Crazy Eyes, Quills, and Sickle Arms are chosen. He asks 'em, "Head to Floor 51 immediately and support your fellow comrades there. When you're done, go down to the lobby. We'll meet you there."

Tokugawa has a shit-eating grin on his face. "Hope that Mister Inochi is stronger than these scum."

---

Sanji Inochi

The impending danger is here. I-Island is being attacked by unknown Villains. Cell phone service is down, which sucks because I can't call Itsuka. Dammit all, think . My phantom, he said that I will need to fight for my life soon. That should make itself very apparent soon. Judging from the sound from earlier, someone with an Ice Quirk is here. Hayami said that no one should be here other than us, but with that noise, that's evidence that someone is here, and that someone doesn't care about the laws. You can use Quirks in I-Island but only in the designated places, and this isn't one of them.

Thus, that's a Villain.

I need to head down to the lobby, but now? I don't think I'd be able to. It's the most logical choice to take the elevator down there while there's still power, yet the hairs on the back of my neck are tingling. I can slowly feel myself going into fight mode. Everything in my body is screaming, Prepare yourself! Something is coming!

And personally, I think it's a bad idea to not listen to your instincts.

Right now, I have to assume that the Ice Quirk has friends with them. If 1-B really is getting attacked, then they need more than one person to capture us all unless they're as strong as Lian.

"So…" I mutter, "I need to get ready for whoever's coming."

My support gear should be in the bedroom in a duffle bag. I run inside, and just for a brief moment, the memory of me and Itsuka flash in my mind. Ah great, now I'm getting anxious. I really hope she's okay while this is going on. But for now, I need to worry about my own well-being—though, it's difficult trying to focus on myself when she's still lingering in my head.

Okay uh, bright side, my stuff is where I left it. Itsuka's gear is here too, but it isn't much. She only has her corset and her equipment belt. Anyhow, I put my duffle bag onto the bed, taking everything out. My gear is much more extensive: armor plates, my two bracers, and my weapons: katana, wakizashi, and a tanto all in their respective sheathes—well for the tanto, it's more of a box than a sheathe. I oughta—?!

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Sir, if you haven't heard already, I-Island is being attacked! We're assigned to move everyone to an area for their safety!" a man yells. Crap, they're here already?! I don't have time to put on everything I need! Well, then it's time to improvise. My katana should be enough here. My room is pretty spacious, but I need to keep in mind of the obstacles that could get in my way.

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Sir, are you in there?!" the man yells again.

"Yeah yeah! Don't worry, I'm breathing just fine! I'll be there in a second!" I shout, grabbing my katana and making my way out of the bedroom—I'm leaving the door open just in case. And it just occurred to me that I shouldn't open the door brandishing a weapon. Right… I toss my katana on the couch in the living room space. It shouldn't be visible from the doorway; the sheathe is the same color as the couch.

Okay, after I open this door, I should expect a fight. But if the Villains are trying to put up this charade, then I might have a better chance at victory.

With a deep breath, I unlock the door and open it. On the other side, five men in suits are there. Each of them look pretty rugged honestly, even for businessmen. The man in front is a silver-haired man with slick hair. Behind him are two guys: one has frizzy green hair like a bush, and the other has blonde hair. Then behind them are the last two: an average-looking black-haired man standing next to a man with blocky knuckles.

The silver-haired man smiles when he sees me, bowing in respect. "I'm afraid we don't have much time to explain, but we've been assigned to escort all of the guests down to the lobby. We need you to come with us."

I awkwardly scratch the back of my head, giving them a carefree smile. "Of course, of course! I understand completely, but can I bring some of my stuff? I was just about to head down there myself, but I wanted to pack my things first before you guys arrived."

The silver-haired man looks behind him, getting nods and shoulder shrugs from his entourage. He turns to me and sighs in defeat. "Alright, go ahead. We'll follow you inside if you don't mind."

"Not at all! Come in, I won't take too long, I promise!" I say, taking a step backwards deeper into my room. This is going great. I would've been defeated instantly if they decided to capture me right then and there—or kill me outright. They really are trying to keep up this game of theirs, huh? I'm lucky.

All five of them step inside, looking around while I head into the living room space. I go behind the far end of the couch because my backpack is there. I zip my backpack up like I'm packing my belongings, but y'know, I'm not. To my right, there's a clear coffee table. I could probably kick that easily. "So uh, as I pack, can you give me a quick rundown of what's going on? I tried to call my friends earlier but I-Island knocked the cell towers down."

Silver Hair replies, "That's what happens during emergencies, I'm afraid. Situations like these are incredibly rare; you could count them with one hand. Anyway, I haven't answered your question. Well uhm, there are reports that armed men took over the gala in the Central Tower." Good God…

"...Really? Damn," I mutter under my breath. Okay Sanji, the men are naturally dispersing themselves out. The silver-haired man is the closest to me; the green-haired guy is in the kitchen, just gotta head forward then right; Blocky Knuckles and blonde hair are to my left; I have no idea where the black-haired man is, he just disappeared.

I stand up with my backpack at my feet, staring at Silver Hair still being aware where everyone else is at right now. He says, "Yeah, like I said, you can count these situations with one hand. After this, you can only imagine the bad press I-Island will get." Silver Hair takes a good look at me before glancing around, then his eyes land on the couch. He points to my katana, "What is that?"

"Oh that?" I say, my voice gets filled with anxiety. "Well uhm, how do I put this… That's my katana. I'm a Hero Student, but not a responsible one admittedly. You see, I'm not staying here by myself. I'm sharing this with one of my classmates, and uh, I was trying to impress her last night with some of my sword tricks."

"...You were trying to impress a girl?" Okay, he's giving me a very disappointed look.

"Please don't look at me like that. I don't wanna be reminded that I'm literal walking garbage," I reply.

Blocky Knuckles laughs, crossing his arms—his arms are actually logs. "Not gonna lie, that was the last thing I was expecting. Who knew Sanji Inochi let his dick choose for him?"

I innocently smile, staring at him. "You know who I am?"

The room goes silent. Five eerie seconds past as we look at each other, remaining in our locations still as a statue. If someone walked in on this very moment, they would think we are mimes or something. Then, to break that silence, the black-haired man runs out of the bedroom, and we turn our attention to him. "Guys, the kid has his stuff laid out on the bed! One of his swords is missing!"

Me and Silver Hair look at my katana. Looks like I've been caught in a lie.

KICK!

I kick the coffee table over; it flies off of the ground crashing right into Silver Hair, making him focus on the object instead of me. To my left, Blocky Knuckles charge forward yelling, "You bastard!"

I grab my backpack off the ground. "Here, catch this!"

TOSS!

And I toss it right at him. While he's distracted, in a single motion, I jump onto the couch, grab my katana, and leap off it like a child jumping off of the furniture. By the time I'm done with that, it's also the same time when Blocky Knuckles hurl my backpack away. Sorry to say, but I'm right above him!

"You—?!

— LEAP!

I smash my feet against his head, using it as a springboard to leap forward right at the Blondie! I pull my katana back behind me, ready to free the blade from its prison. Blondie grits his teeth, but he doesn't assume a stance or anything. I don't think he's particularly skilled at fighting in close combat!

Either way, I'm sorry about this.

WHACK!

"Gah—!" I brought down my katana onto his head in a flash, my blade becoming a blur to an outsider's perspective. Though, I didn't take it out of the sheathe; that was just a feint. I'm not gonna cut these guys unless I have to, so blunt force trauma will make do for now!

Blondie staggers a little from the whack on the head, but he's mostly stable for the most part. He steps forward off-balanced, also over-extending his right leg, then throwing a slow right hook towards me. I spin on my leg to dodge his slow punch, giving him a spinning hook kick into his face, and a loud smack rings throughout the room. He collapses against a wall briefly knocked-out. I was right, he isn't good at fighting!

STOMP!

"Yaaah!" Behind me—!

— SWEEP!

Just barely, I ducked under Blocky Knuckle's right hook and sweep his legs, taking them right from under him! He falls hard onto the tiled floor, nearly cracking the ground from how heavy he is. In front of me, Silver Hair is charging forward along with Green Hair a few seconds after, but Black Hair is staying behind—he must have a ranged Quirk.

As I step over Blocky Knuckles as fast as possible, Silver Hair says, "You should've made this easy on yourself!" He extends his arm with a metal sheen covering the entirety of his hands. Ah, that must be his Quirk! His Quirk is Blade Palms! Behind him, Green Hair's skin is turning into tree bark; everything except his face! His Quirk is Tree Bark then, a Hardening-type! Blade Palms will arrive first, then Tree Bark a few seconds after!

THRUST!

DEFLECT!

Blade Palms thrusted his right hand forward and I deflect his arm upwards out of harm's way. In the same motion, I spin around him and simultaneously strike the back of his left leg with a loud whack , causing him to fall down on one knee.

Tree Bark charges forward like a walking tank. The only way I can hurt him effectively is aiming for his head, and he knows that! He has his body bent down and arms up just like how a boxer would, protecting his face from any frontal attacks! "—Hrrah!" There's no way for me to counter the momentum he's gaining, or no easy way to attack his head. So I'll just leave him for later!

JUMP!

Because Tree Bark has his body bent down and low, I can just jump over him and roll off of his back. His momentum is carrying him forward, acting against him here. With four of the Villains behind me, there's only one left! And that's Black Hair, who's standing right outside the bedroom door.

He glares at me and brings his head back. Before I know it—?!

SPIT SPIT SPIT!

Okay what the heck?! He can spit out projectiles using his saliva?! He spit out three saliva bullets at me, and one of them grazed my cheek, leaving me with a small cut. Okay, these projectiles have the same consistency as metal!

I unsheathe my katana just as Spitball is about to spit out another volley of attacks!

SPIT SPIT SPIT!

PING PING PING!

I deflect his projectiles while at the same time, closing the distance between me and him. Each spitball rings a ping and a ding like in movies, being deflected off into the walls of the hotel room snapping pieces off and leaving dents—let's hope I don't have to pay for the damages later. Spitball sees me heading right for him, increasing the intensity of his spitballs. They were larger before, but now since he's desperate, they're getting smaller.

SPIT SPIT SPIT!

DING DING DING!

Through the barrage, I keep deflecting the spitballs away. A few of them make it past me and graze me, cutting holes in my suit and into my skin, but I'm still alive and well! And soon enough, I'm right about to meet Spitball himself! He grimaces, stepping back to create more distance between us! I jump forward and—?!

WHOOM —

— SHATTER!

The lights?! I'm blinded! Before I knew it, the lights in the room got brighter before they shattered completely! All of them just shattered! That's someone's Quirk alright! It must be Blondie's! He can Illuminate any light source, I guess!

I fall to my knees, trying to shake out the bright spots in my vision. But as I do that, Spitball uses this opportunity to knock my katana and sheath out of my hands, grabbing me by the shoulders and tossing me into the bedroom… And uh, that's where the rest of my support gear is at. Y'know, the support gear that has my backup weapons if/when I get disarmed.

I hear Blade Palms yelling, "Lumen, why did you shatter all of the lights here?! You're useless now!"

Lumen, I guess that's Illuminate, replies, "Don't blame me! That little punk kicked me in the head! I can barely concentrate as it is!"

Spitball yells at them, "He's in his bedroom! Get over here before I get overwhelmed!"

SPIT!

Of course he spits after that! I roll backwards, letting the spitball thud against the ground. I get onto my feet; the back of my legs hit the bed where my support gear is displayed just for me. Well, good thing I dumped everything out before they got here.

I take a stance, glaring down Spitball who's ready to give me a good one in the head. Within the second, the other four Villains meet up with him with Lumen in the back, being the worser one for wear. They crowd around the doorway ready to rush inside. I'm not in the best place since my bedroom is a tighter space, but because I have my gear with me, I think I have a better chance.

Tree Bark nearly trips himself on my katana, kicking it aside out of my view. He crashes his fists together, saying, "Why don't you give up, kid? Last chance. Don't make us break one of your teeth outta your pretty little face."

I shake my head. The Villains change positions. Lumen and Spitball are in the back; Blade Palms, Blocky Knuckles, and Tree Bark are in the front.

Blade Palms tells me, "It's five against one; five Quirks against a Quirkless."

I smirk, reaching behind me to grab my tanto that's sheathed inside its box. It's made out of wood. I let out a dramatic sigh, channeling my inner pride. "To be honest with you... I like those odds."

Blocky Knuckles frowns, cocking his arms like he's reloading them. "Get the little prick—!"

— BAM!

I threw the box right into his head, connecting perfectly with a crack radiating throughout the room! I threw it so hard that blood flies out!

At the same time, Blade Palms charges inside the room first with Tree Bark following after him. Blade Palms does an upwards cut—dodged—downwards slash—dodged—straight thrust—dodged! I jump onto the bed after his third attack, flipping backwards onto the other side grabbing my chestplate.

Blade Palms jump onto the bed and—

YANK!

With one hand, I yank the sheets right from under him, causing Blade Palms to fall backwards onto the ground across from me. Unfortunately though, I also yanked my support gear all over the floor on my side. I need to be careful where I step! If I slip once, that's game over.

Tree Bark, after nearly having Blade Palms fall on top of him, decides to go around the bed instead of going over it. I step over some of my fallen support gear right as he takes a right jab at me!

JAB!

BLOCK!

I use my breastplate as a shield; well, more like a buckler! I deflect his punch off to the side, countering with my own attack!

KICK!

I do a front kick, slamming my feet into Tree Bark's chin. The sound of my shoe crashing against his flesh is like a gun going off. It causes him to take a step backwards, staggering off-balanced, but that's not enough to take him down!

PUNCH!

He does a downwards jab into my stomach, but once again, I use my breastplate and slam his arm down, deflecting his attack again. With this opening, I shove the edge of my breastplate right into his neck! It's protected by his Quirk, but still! I'm shoving something metal against his neck with every ounce of strength I have!

WHAM!

This time, it does some damage to Tree Bark. He starts severely coughing, putting one hand to his throat. I kick him back into the dresser where our TV is on top of. That's him out of commission for a while!

SPIT!

Crap—!

— BLOCK!

Blocked it! Spitball isn't gonna hit me that easily—?!

CATCH!

But that definitely can! That was incredibly close! Just as I put my breastplate away, Blade Palms emerge right in front of me with his left hand aiming towards my right eye. My body moved on its own, grabbing Blade Palms's left hand by the wrist, just centimeters away from my eye. If I reacted too slowly, then I just lost an eye.

"Shit," Blade Palms swears under his breath. He's more than surprised that I was able to catch his wrist like that. Honestly, I'm a little surprised too. My reaction time has gotten faster. "What kind of a Quirkless are you?"

"No idea, but you shouldn't have underestimated me," I say right before I toss his left arm to the side. I drop my breastplate, then in the next second—

BAM!

I drive my fist into Blade Palms's nose. I break it, letting his nose gush out blood. Grabbing him by the collar, I move him towards Tree Bark's direction and kick him over to him. Now they can recover together. Finally, Blocky Knuckles starts to run in, joining the fight again. "Don't forget about me, you bastard—!"

— PUNCH!

WHIFF — !

Obvious punch. I can just step off to the side. Blocky Knuckles tries to punch me again right in the stomach, but I dodge that too. His punches look devastating if they hit, so I oughta keep dodging.

WHIFF WHIFF!

So I dodged a couple more times, and I see something I can exploit: his red tie. It's flying about. Just after his last punch, I extend my left arm forward and grab him by the tie!

PULL!

PUNCH!

Right after I pulled him closer, thus leaving him off-balanced, I give him a punch in the jaw. I stomp the ground, standing tall as I throw punch after punch after punch into his face, letting my arms become blurs as I endlessly batter his skull. He tries to raise his arms up to guard against me, but I simply go around them, eventually breaking his guard altogether. After punching about ten times, I finish up by giving him an uppercut into his chin. With a groan, Blocky Knuckles stumbles back and slips on my wakizashi, falling onto the ground in front of Blade Palms and Tree Bark.

Three close-quarters Villains are currently defeated. They might get back up again, but for now, I have to deal with Lumen and Spitball. Both of them are staring at me with wide eyes as if they realized they bitten off more than they can chew.

Lumen says, "Well fuck."

Spitball replies, "Don't worry, we'll get rid—" With my wakizashi on the ground, I kick it up like a soccer ball, "—of this kid and—" I spin around and kick the end of the hilt, "—capture him—?!"

— BAM!

Just like how Deku kicked a tree into me, I spun around and kicked my wakizashi right into Spitball's head. Like with me throwing my tanto into Blocky Knuckle's head, there's a crack that rings out, but it's much more visceral-sounding than before. He shouldn't have talked so much.

THUD!

And Spitball falls on the ground.

I walk out of my room with Lumen being the last one standing. All of the lights are shattered, so we are practically walking in darkness with the city lights outside the windows acting as the only light source. Off of the ground, I pick up my sheathe for my katana. Spitball, with his dwindling strength, grabs my ankle.

WHACK!

And I strike him across the head with the sheathe.

Lumen, nearly tripping over my fallen katana, picks it up and waves it around like a child with a stick. "Hey, you're gonna regret this, y'know! When the others get to you, you're gonna regret ever deciding to become a Hero!"

"I won't regret anything," I say, stepping forward with the city lights illuminating me in brief flashes.

"Grrr, dammit all! Take this!" Lumen shouts before running at me with my own sword. He pulls it back and thrusts forward, and I react accordingly.

CLICK!

"—?!" By "react accordingly", I angle my sheathe perfectly where he slides it right back inside with a very satisfying click . Before he says something, I knee him in the stomach, causing him to fall down onto his knees ironically enough. "B-Bastard…"

I don't say anything else. I bring my katana back and strike him across the cheek. Lumen falls flat on the ground groaning in pain. He's conscious, but he'll be staying there for a while.

Click clack click…

Ah dammit, the fight isn't over. I turn around and see Blade Palms walking out. Behind him, Tree Bark and Blocky Knuckles follow him. They look terrible, but they have anger welling up in their eyes. I ask them, "Do you guys still wanna fight?"

Blade Palms nods. "We have orders, Sanji Inochi. Our orders were to capture you and take you to the lobby. For our glorious leaders, we'll continue to fight until our bodies refuse to."

"Even if you sacrifice your lives for your...leaders?" I ask again. Whoever these guys are associated with, they mean big business.

"Especially that," he answers, brandishing his Quirk again. Tree Bark readies himself, and Blocky Knuckles crack his, well, knuckles.

I sigh. Man, now I'm starting to feel bad for beating everyone up so badly, but this is the only choice. They won't relent. "Alright then, gimme your best shot."

Blocky Knuckles roar like a wild animal, charging forward like a berserker. With his anger though, his attacks are stronger, yet more predictable. He's telegraphing a wide right hook with the capability of breaking every bone in my face. However—

DUCK!

I duck underneath his arm and swipe at his right leg, knocking him down. Spinning back around, I follow up by slamming the sheathe onto the top of his head.

THWACK!

"Geh—" Blocky Knuckles falls down flat.

Tree Bark is up next. He runs forward with heavy stomps, shaking the room and probably the entire floor too. However, I have a better reach than him. His punches are slow because of all of that weight that's added on because of his Quirk. I can strike faster than he can punch.

WHACK!

So before he even attacks me, I strike him across the face. He's stunned just for a brief second, then I follow up with another attack on the head. His body gets lower, and then once again, I strike him one more time.

THUD!

Tree Bark's Quirk deactivates and he lies there with bruises all over his face. There's blood on the end of my sheathe now.

Finally, it's Blade Palms's turn. Like the rest of his friends, he runs forward right at me. His attacks are fast and swift, but I can dodge them nonetheless. When I caught his wrist earlier, it proves that I'm faster than him. So—

DODGE!

He lunged forward trying to stab me in the chest; I stepped out of the way. He does a wide swipe at the air and I duck underneath the arc. Spinning my sheathed katana around my arms, I counterattack by swinging it upwards right into his chin with a smack following afterwards. Blade Arms is taken off of the ground and goes soaring into the air a couple of meters up. Afterwards, he falls back down with a thud , moaning in defeat.

"You...won't win…" he says, but he's putting his lip service into reality. Blade Palms is trying to get up, so I just have to hit him again.

CRASH!

My sheathe crashes against the skull, and he goes down for good. Lumen manages to find the strength to stand up, and he just watches me utterly defeat three of his allies right in front of his eyes.

He asks me, "...What are you?"

Lumen backs up, and I step forward. He's backing up towards the door. I reply, "I'm no one, really. I mean, you knew I would fight for my life. You had the intention of harming me, so it's only fair that I give the pain right back."

"But you're Quirkless! Sure you have a Quirk, but you're just fighting Quirkless! How can you beat all of us without a Quirk?!" he exclaims.

"Honestly, you guys rely on your Quirks too much. That's your fatal flaw," I say.

Lumen's back hits the door. He gasps and looks behind him, realizing that he's trapped. "Well, I don't care! I'm a liberator! I fight for a world where we can use our Quirks without restriction! You would've been perfect for us! You would have joined our cause!"

...This sounds like the Meta Liberation Army. Oh my God, are they making a comeback? "I don't want any part of this. You're a Villain and I'm a Hero, and there's only one way this could end!"

He grits his teeth. "So be it! Gaaah—!"

Lumen charges forward, but again, I'm faster.

Before he knows it, I'm right in front of him. I jump into the air and send my right foot into his chest. He flies back into the door—

SHATTER!

—and takes it off its hinges.

---

Itsuka Kendo

"Can someone explain to me why Grandmaster, Count, and Lian just brought in a bleeding guy while all this crap is going on?!" Honenuki yells, and honestly, I'm tempted to rip his jaw out of his mouth if he keeps talking! How in the hell am I supposed to know this?! One moment, I-Island has a bomb somewhere in the complex, and in the next, the adults here came in with a random guy who's bleeding!

Mom and Yui are dealing with the bleeding guy while I'm just here trying to wrap my head around whatever's going on! God, the one time I need Sanji and he's up in our room! I need to go get him at some point, my goodness!

Reiko asks me, "Itsuka, are you okay? You look incredibly stressed. Your hair is turning gray even as we speak."

I put my hand out, patting her on the head. "Don't worry Reiko, I'm just peachy. The entire island might be erupting in chaos, but at least you're still sane." I'm glad that the people going to the gala are reasonable, not chaotic people whatsoever. Yui's Yui, Shishida's a respectable gentleman, Yanagi's her calm self, Rin is always dependable, and Mom's reliable whenever you need her to be. But Honenuki? Him? Yeah, he's crazy.

That's why Rin and Shishida are talking to him in an attempt to calm his ass down. Lian too. Grandmaster and Count are talking to each other, so I oughta ask them what's going on. God knows that all of us need an explanation right now. Reiko tells me, "I'll be over with your mother and Yui to see if there is anything I could do."

"Thanks Reiko, I'll go talk to my mentors," I say, watching her walk over to the three of them. From the bits and pieces of conversation I heard from them, the bleeding man is named Hakan, and he works for the United Hero Nations. Makes sense, because he's well-groomed and has a nice suit. He probably specializes in the Middle East considering his name. Anyhow, I approach Grandmaster and Count who are having a conversation to themselves. They stop when I walk up to them, instantly turning their heads to me. "So uh, can you guys explain what's going on?"

The Count shrugs his shoulders, glancing outside. "Your guess is as good as ours, ma cherie. Unless Shindeka can wow us with his amazing deductions, the least we can say that is Hakan, the man who we brought in, got attacked by a Villain."

Grandmaster shakes his head, holding the head of his wooden cane. "Mhm, and there is a high possibility that his assailant is not involved with the VIllains who are attacking I-Island. Really, she took advantage of the chaos as if she knew I-Island would be attacked in the first place."

From across the lobby, Lian adds, "There must have been a large conspiracy to attack I-Island then. Word gets around in the Villain world, so it'd make sense that some Villains would attend the I-Expo just to take advantage of the situation." Behind him, Honenuki seems to be calmed down, but he's just pacing back and forth. Anyway, Lian continues, "Moving on though, we should address something more pressing, my darlings… The sound from earlier."

"What sound?" I ask. "The only sounds I heard came from Honenuki."

Grandmaster says, "You mean the barely audible sound? Whatever it was? I apologize, but I couldn't make out what exactly that sound was, but judging from what I did hear, it sounded like a Quirk activation."

Lian nods. "Ice, to be specific, darling. Someone in this building has an Ice Quirk, and judging from the sound, they're on the top floor. Since this hotel is split into two buildings… I'd say they are in Castor."

Rin jumps into the conversation, "There's another person here? I thought it was just us. All of the suits should be at the gala, and all of the hotel workers are somewhere having a mandatory staff party."

Oh crap, please don't tell me we're right in the middle of a Villain attack. I imagined what-ifs about our, Class 1-B, first Villain attack as a whole, and this wasn't one of them. God, I somewhat expected that 1-A would drag us into their bad luck, but apparently, we did that all by ourselves.

Grandmaster exhales, grimacing. "From your brother's words, it's proven that there is someone unexpected here. And considering the fact that Villains are attempting to use this attack in their favor…"

Hakan stands up with his nice business suit all bloodied up. Mom tries to stop him, but he shakes his head and gets up all on his own. "It means we jumped out of one frying pan and right into another. Look, standing 'round and chatting hypotheticals won't get us out of this situation with the skin on our backs and our pearly white teeth still in our mouths. We need to take immediate action and react accordingly with the information we know, no matter how slim that is."

As soon as he stands up, everyone has their eyes turned towards him. Damn, he has the aura of a natural-born leader. For a guy we just met, he's surprisingly capable. Shishida asks, "Before that, who might you be, sir?"

Honenuki nods. "Yeah, no offense, but we just met you. It's hard for me to follow the words of a stranger who came in here bleeding all over this perfectly nice carpet."

Hakan smiles, laughing at that joke. "I understand, kid. My name is Hakan Aldemir, a U.H.N. official in the International Villains Affairs bloc, and my speciality is in the Middle East. I'm in charge of spearheading operations that involve apprehending Villains on an international scale. Really, something like this is something I deal with often. After all, we have Heroes from Japan, China, and France standing in this room right now."

"So what should we do?" I ask him, crossing my arms. "We're separated. Half of our class is in Castor, including Sanji who's up in Floor 51, and the other half is in Pollux. Everyone is probably confused as hell. Also, two of us are nowhere to be found, so that's great!"

He sighs, taking a second to think to himself. "Well, we oughta—?!"

BANG BANG BANG!

Someone is banging on the doors; crap, I almost got a heart attack! We turn to whoever's banging on the doors, and—?! It's Ishtar! Why is she here?! She's yelling, "Help! Help!" Before I can move, The Count runs over and opens the door, letting Ishtar nearly fall inside out-of-breath. He quickly closes the door, bringing her into the group.

Hakan mutters, "First, we need to have an unexpected guest…"

Mom exclaims, "What are you doing here, Ishtar?! I thought you were at that party?!" ("Who would name their daughter after a goddess?" Hakan off-handedly comments.)

Ishtar takes a couple of heavy breaths before looking up, absolutely shaking in fear. She looks so afraid, almost like she saw the face of death right in front of her eyes. "Oh God, I was just—God, I was—haah, I ran and I ran—I came here and—!"

"Take some deep breaths, miss! Just some deep breaths!" The Count says, having his hand on her back to comfort her. Ishtar hurriedly nods, putting in an extra effort just to breathe right. I honestly feel bad for her. I mean, she flirted with Sanji, but still, she doesn't deserve to be scared outta her mind.

Slowly, she's able to calm herself down. She explains, "God… Before the announcement came on, I had to leave the party because I forgot something here. Then, the announcement came on, so I didn't know where to go—here or the party. But there was a Villain who was chasing after me! They were in control of Shadows or something of the sort, and I ran away as fast as I could here! I don't know how long I ran, but I'm blessed that the Villain didn't take my life."

Grandmaster raises an eyebrow at Ishtar's statement like he noticed something peculiar. "A Villain who can control Shadows, you say? It must be the same one who attacked Hakan."

Nodding, Lian agrees, "Has to be. There are other people with Quirks involving shadows, but two in one place? That's the definition of statistically improbable!"

Reiko raises her hand, speaking up, "Excuse my interruption, but there are more Villains here? The same one who attacked Mister Hakan and Miss Ishtar?"

"Unfortunately yes. We were attacked by the same Villain when we rescued Hakan from her evil clutches. In fact, Lian saved our lives right in the nick of time," Count says, tipping his fedora to Lian, who tips his imaginary fedora right back.

I move closer to Grandmaster, having my eyes on Ishtar. She's looking at the ground with her hands on her knees, breathing softly, but heavily still. Man, I really do feel bad for her… This must be the first time she had to run for her life. Though, there's something weird about this… Whispering, I ask Grandmaster, "Hey, if Ishtar said she ran for God-knows-how-long, shouldn't she be, y'know, sweating a lot? She doesn't look all that sweaty."

Grandmaster laughs under his breath, shaking his head. "Don't worry, Battle Fist. The night is fairly cold, so she wouldn't be too sweaty even when running for her life."

"That's not how it works—"

"—Ah, let's not talk about this more. Miss Ishtar is stressed out of her mind, so we ought to not give her more things to stress about, should we?" Grandmaster asks, but he isn't asking me. He's telling me to drop this. Alright fine, I'll drop this.

"Alright, you're the Hero here. If what you said is true, then it's true," I reply with a few grumbles in my voice. Damn, why is Grandmaster so pushy all of the sudden? Aggressive even?

Hakan clears his throat, refocusing the real issue here. "Alright alright, we should be on the same page. From what Miss Kendo said, you guys are separated all over the place, and the status regarding a couple of civilians are unknown. We identified that there is a possible threat on the top floor in Castor with an Ice Quirk, and there is a possible threat with a woman who has a Shadow Quirk. The latter, we don't have to worry about since they probably ran off. The former is a threat we should focus on first."

Grandmaster says, "And I recommend that we shouldn't invade Castor with all of our might. There are too many unknowns at play here. We are not even sure if the Ice Quirk is the only threat we have in the building. Considering that Ishtar is the only one who interrupted us, no one from Castor or Pollux is coming downstairs. We can either assume that they are staying put until told otherwise, or they are being attacked.

"I'm certain that most if not all heard the sound from earlier, so everyone in this building knows that there is a threat."

Mom presses a hand against her head, trying her best to process everything. "So what do we do exactly? If we consider Castor is a no-go zone, we'd be condemning everyone inside to fend for themselves, including my dad . We can't rule out that there's Villains in Pollux too. There is so much that we don't know."

Lian throws in his two cents, "I understand, darling, but I agree with Grandmaster. I might be a powerful Hero, but I will create more collateral damage than justifiable damage. Anyhow, we need to assume that our Villains planned this attack on you darlings. The sound from earlier is proof of that; no virtuous person would use an Ice Quirk in a hotel. Thus, this begs the question: What is the purpose of the attack? Wouldn't it make more sense to send all of your forces at once? Attacking and felling everyone here in a single swoop? Why aren't we fighting for our lives right now?"

Honenuki answers, "Because they don't wanna kill us. Our deaths aren't their primary objective." His answer seems to draw smiles from the adults here. "I mean hell, if they planned this, then they knew we would be separated in three groups. That's perfect for 'em to kill us while we're split up and confused. So their objective is something else."

"They might want to capture you guys alive, honestly…" Mom suggests. "I mean, how can you cover up the deaths of an entire class of Hero Students? Sorry if that sounds dark, but that's the reality of it. These guys want to hurt you, but also wanna keep you alive , so capturing you is the best option to ensure both. That means the guy in Castor, he's making his way downstairs as we speak. Then… Oh God, then it means everyone in Castor is gonna get held up at gunpoint, or Quirk-point in this case!"

Okay, I think it's time for me to have a say in this conversation. "What the hell… Grandpa and everyone in Castor are gonna get captured by these assholes? Shit, I don't think we can fight them here without any major damage! We should send someone to Pollux to explain to them what's going on! Wait shit, Sanji is in Castor right now! What about him?!"

Grandmaster taps the ground with his cane, responding, "Don't worry! I think this might work in our favor! If what Mister Honenuki says is true, that they knew that we would be separated in three groups, then they didn't anticipate your partner going up to Floor 51! They would only go down to Floors 46 and 47!"

I find myself saying, "Then I'm gonna get him myself. We need him here safe and sound. You say that he's not in danger right? But I don't think that's true. He's in danger as we speak, and each passing second we stand around and talk gameplans, he could be fighting for his life right now."

Hakan laughs; I have no idea why he's laughing in the first place. "You have a lot of spunk, don't you, Miss Kendo? Anyway, I think everyone here has some good ideas." He looks at The Count. "Hey Count."

"Mhm?"

"Head up to Pollux and tell the kids there what's going on."

"Of course. Let's hope they aren't doing anything that they will regret," Count says with a sigh.

Before he can leave, Mom asks, "How can we communicate with each other without any service?"

Ishtar raises her head. "Wait, I know a way!" She runs into a staff room and unlocks the door. After some banging and crashing , she comes out with a tray of eight walkie-talkies sitting on chargers. "We have these walkie-talkies in case of emergencies! We always have them charged, so please, take them! All of them should be set to a channel."

She puts it down on a table. The Count grabs one, and I do too. We check if we're on the right channel, and we are. I'm going after Sanji and dragging him back down here. If our assumptions are correct, which there are a lot of them, then the Villains are going to select floors in Castor to capture everyone there. They thought Sanji would be here in the lobby, but he's in Castor too, so they would go right past him. This doesn't rule out that there could be Villains in Pollux though. It's just that we haven't heard anything that indicates that.

The silence we hear could either mean the absence of Villains or the presence of very-skilled Villains.

Yui, who's finally speaking for once, asks me, "Are you really going upstairs, Itsuka?" Heh, if she's asking me that, then she must be really worried… Aw, I would gush about it, but I'm currently stressed out of my mind.

I hold my walkie-talkie in my hand, nodding. "Of course I am. I'm taking the elevator up there, so if everything goes well, we'll be back here within a few minutes."

Mom hesitates to say something, but she says it anyway, "I'm not against you going, but I'm surprised that the Heroes, and the one official, here aren't trying to stop you. You'll be walking right into enemy territory if we're right."

Hakan states, "Your mother is right; honestly though, call it an ulterior motive, but I want to see Sanji Inochi here. Besides, if the Villains thoroughly planned this, then he's a wrench in their cogwheels. At the same time, he's a wrench in ours too. We don't know what he'll do, and because of that, it could backfire on us greatly. So yeah, I'm giving you my approval. But there are other adults here who need to have their say."

Lian nods. "She has mine, darlings. She's more than capable of fending for herself! I personally do not want to be on the receiving end of her punches! Though, in the event she gets captured, she can report the situation in Castor with that walkie-talkie of hers."

Grandmaster sighs, but he nods too. "I'm not personally supporting sending her there by herself, but desperate times call for desperate actions. Having Inochi here would be a tremendous help. It's a shame that we will be leaving everyone in Castor behind, including your father, Miss Kendo."

Mom bats her hand with a smile. "I'm happy that he's there, honestly. If he's captured along with the guys in Castor, he'll be the anchor that keeps them from doing something stupid. Don't worry about me, 'kay? I was raised by Heroes, I married a Hero, and I'm helping my kids become Heroes."

Grandmaster frowns for some reason. Why is he frowning like that? And why does Mom's smile look so sad?

The Count starts walking towards the elevator that goes up to Pollux. There's two of them and he's taking the right. "I'm going to Pollux now. I'll keep you up to date over the walkie-talkie."

With that said, I start heading towards the elevator that goes up to Castor. To have perfect symmetry, there's also two elevators for Castor, and I'm taking the right also. "And I'm going to Castor. See you guys on the other side, and please, be safe. Keep us updated if something happens."

"Good luck, Kendo," Rin tells me.

"Please be safe. Your safety is my utmost concern," Reiko says.

"Mhm, go get Sanji back." That's Yui.

"If you believe you are in imminent danger, please retreat." And that's Shishida.

I give them my brightest smile, stepping inside the empty elevator—thank God—and give them a peace sign. "Don't worry guys, I'll be your fist! And most importantly, I'll be the fist to the assholes who thought attacking Class 1-B was a good idea."

I hit the button for Floor 51 and the doors close on me; afterwards, I start going up. Luckily, the elevators are fast and don't take an hour just to reach the top floor. I look down at my walkie-talkie, turning it on. I hold down the transmitting button and say, "Testing testing, you guys can hear me, right?"

On the other end, I hear Grandmaster's voice. "You're loud and clear, Battle Fist. Tell us when you arrive on Floor 51, over."

"Roger," I say. Oh right, I need to say that word. "Uhh, over."

Thank goodness my dress comes with pockets. I'm jealous that Sanji gets bigger pockets than me. I mean what the hell, why do I have to sacrifice pockets for fashion? Ugh, y'know what, I need to worry about Sanji's well-being and not my pockets. I put my walkie-talkie inside. It might be sticking out like a sore thumb, but it's better than carrying it around. Speaking about dresses…

RIP!

Sorry Reiko. I know you love my dress, but I need to rip it. It restricts my legs a little too much for comfort. If I need to run, then I can't have myself tripping. There we go… My legs feel a little drafty, but that's better than getting captured, or worse, because of something silly like this dress. Ugh, this entire situation is messed up…

God, you better be okay, Sanji. If I were you, you would be heading down to the lobby after hearing the announcement. But considering you weren't there, you must still be here. I hope you're here, because if not, then I'm gonna worry so much that I'll get gray hairs… In hindsight, it might be stupid of me that I'm going by myself to rescue you. That's a textbook example of letting my emotions get in the way of doing what's logical, and everyone just let me do it! But dammit all…

"I don't like being alone."

"It's because you shouldn't worry so much about me. You really shouldn't."

You make it easy for me to love you. It's cheesy—I know—the girl is running after the guy with only her heart as the compass; still though, I decided that if you don't care about yourself, I'll just care for you as much as two people.

Whoever the assholes are, whoever they belong to, we'll defeat them all the same, right? If we fight Shigaraki's mentor; hell, even if we fight someone from the Order of Assassins, we'll just beat them down together! That's what Heroes do. We fight to keep the peace and we fight to keep lives.

It aches my heart knowing that Grandpa and everyone else in Castor are going through a tough time, and it aches even more at the thought that chaos will break out within the second. If we can just keep everything in control, then maybe, just maybe, we might get through this attack without having a scratch on our skin.

DING!

And here I am, Floor 51. I transmit, "I'm at Floor 51. Going to get Sanji, over."

"Godspeed," Grandmaster replies.

The elevator doors open and—?!

Four people are already here! Three of them have Mutation Quirks from the looks of it. One lady has attributes like a Dragon, one man has Sickle Arms, and the other woman has Quills growing out of her skin. The last guy… I can't tell. His Quirk is a mystery. Okay, looks like there are Villains in Castor. That's confirmed. None of them look remotely related to ice, so they aren't the only ones here.

As soon as I see them, they turn around and look at me. Sickle Arms is the closest to me just about fifteen meters away, then Quills, Dragons, and finally, the Mystery Man. They aren't immediately hostile, although Dragon is giving me a glare that can cut through stone. I step out of the elevator with a smile and wave, hurriedly walking towards Sickle Arms. "Oh hey, I didn't know there was anyone else in the building right now! I was just trying to find a friend!"

Sickle Arms's eyes go a bit wide, but they go back to normal soon enough. "Y-Yeah, but did you hear the announcement? I don't think someone as young as you should be up here right now." He glances behind him, and Dragon jerks her head to the side as if she's signaling that he should just end me. Unfortunately, he seems a bit indecisive.

I can use this to my advantage. I close the gap between us so that we stand a few meters away. I can easily step forward and give him a sucker punch. I'm not gonna play fair when our lives are at stake here. I reply, "Of course, but you gotta understand! My friend's in his room and he's a complete idiot! I need to check if he's alright and not doing anything stupid!" I am terrible at acting. Jeez, can't believe I'm gonna admit that Monoma is better than me at something.

He turns his head away from me, looking ahead where our room should be at. "Seriously, you shouldn't be worried about your boyfriend. He should be fine—Guh?!"

— JUMBO FIST!

WHOOSH!

Gotcha. It's a dirty move, but I just punched that guy into next week. Right as he was turning his head back around to look at me, he didn't see me; he saw my flying fist aiming right at his stupid face. At the last second, I enlarged my hand for the maximum power, and instantly, he flew backwards all the way down the hall towards Mystery Man before landing with a hard thud , rolling on the carpet probably getting rug burns all across his back. From my punch alone, I generate wind pressure that shakes the entire hallway, even the lights flicker a bit. It even pushes Dragon and Quills back a meter or two! I'm on my way to creating All Might-like punches!

"What the hell?!" Dragon shouts, lowering her arms after shielding herself away from my wind pressure. "Dammit, she knows who we are! Get her!"

Quills nods, raising her arms. Aw crap, she has a ranged Quirk! She can shoot those quills out of her body!

ZZPT ZZPT ZZPT!

Not only that, they're fast! She's honestly like a porcupine with how many quills are on her skin!

ROLL!

I roll off to the side, dodging the first barrage of quills coming my way. Quills stands her ground, not letting up for a single second. There has to be a limit to how many quills she can shoot out of her skin, but that's a limit I don't wanna test out right now, 'cause Dragon is using this opportunity to run towards me while Quills have me occupied. Mystery Man is staring at me but he isn't doing anything special just yet. He must have a ranged Quirk too!

One problem at a time though!

ZZPT ZZPT ZZPT!

DASH!

I'm not as fast as Sanji, but I can still dodge these quills coming after me! I race three meters ahead with Quills about ten meters away while Dragon is just about to catch up to her. A few quills manage to nick me a little; the pain is small but sharp. As much as I wanna say that small quills won't take me down, they totally can. If I lose my momentum for just a second, I'll get riddled with them. There's no way that I can keep avoiding these quills. Sanji most definitely can—he might be able to deflect them with his katana even—but not me. I'm not as agile as him.

So I need to do something that's a little more my style! I'm currently making my way down to Room 5101, which is my room. Though right now, I'm standing right beside Room 5110. And fortunately for me, there's a door.

— TEAR!

Yeah, that's more like my style alright: brute strength. Using my pure strength alone, I tear the door right off of its hinges; I didn't even need to enlarge my hands to do that! Right afterwards, I charge forward straight on ahead using this door as a shield! I hear Quills yelling, "—Dammit all!"

Thudthudthudthudthud!

Her quills hit the door, but they don't penetrate through the wood. They're not strong enough to penetrate a thick, solid door! With my left, I tightly grip onto the door handle to act as a, well, handle to hold my shield up, speeding up my charge towards them. The thuds I hear get louder and louder as I approach them, but unfortunately, I also hear something else coming!

"—I got the brat! Don't worry!" Dragon says. I can hear her approaching me. Damn, I can't see her, but she definitely sounds like a wild animal judging from her stomps! Knowing stuff about dragons, they should be pretty agile, right? Since they can fly and stuff? If so, then I know what's about to happen next! She shouts, "Give it up already, kid—!"

— POUNCE!

"Geh—?!" Yup, she pounced right onto the door! She's holding onto the edges of the door with her hands and feet. Because of the added weight, I naturally find myself holding the door upwards while she's latching herself right onto my shield! What a jerk! Dragon pokes her head over the top of the door with a jagged grin. The skin on her face is covered in dark-colored scales just like a dragon. I think I can even see a tail wagging! She has a tail?!

At the very least, Quills isn't firing her Quirk anymore! Why would see when her ally is right in her line of fire? Still, I traded one problem for another. I have her to worry about.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of your boyfriend!" she taunts me. Her smile gets incredibly more sinister as she pushes her weight against the door more, slinging her arm around to—!

— CLAW!

"Woah—!"

DUCK!

Almost got me! She has a longer reach than I thought! I was able to keep my head down just barely so her claws sweep right over me. These guys really are trying to hurt me, huh? They aren't holding back, so neither should I! I shout, "Get off of me, would ya—!"

—I push myself up, drawing the power from my legs all the way up to my arms. I raise the door almost to the ceiling, and like a cat, Dragon still latches herself onto the edges. Then like a sledgehammer, I lean forward and drop the weight—!

SLAM!

"Gah, ahh—!" My opponent let out an annoying wail after I slammed her onto the ground. The impact creates a small gust of wind that floods the hallway, leaving a dent in the floor from how hard I dropped her. I press the door against her body, which isn't the most pleasant thing in the world—for her I mean. You see, on the other side of the door, there are quills sticking out. They are double-sided, meaning they have points on both ends.

As a result, I'm making Dragon a pincushion for these quills. I can hear each one popping into her body right through her suit. And with each one, her whines get louder. I can hear her cursing me through pained breaths, but I'm not focused on her anymore. For right now, she won't be an immediate problem to deal with. I still have Quills and Mystery Man to deal with, and the latter haven't made a move yet! Which, by the way, is really bothering me!

I jump over Dragon, still holding onto the door handle with my left hand. Quills barks, "Are you kidding me?! Why are you so much of a problem?!" She raises her hands again, ready to spit out more of those annoying quills.

As she does that, I open up my defense, having my shield at my side. Normally, one would probably think that this is a stupid idea because I don't have any way of reaching her. That's wrong. I have a way of attacking from a distance. Never thought I would be able to produce ranged attacks with just only punches, but that's the beauty of strengthening yourself!

Just before Quills can react, I clench my right fist and enlarge it! Screaming at the top of my lungs, I step forward, extending my right leg, and do a mighty uppercut! This is my—!

— GALE UPPERCUT!

WHOOSH!

"What the—Ahh!"

"Another gust of wind?!"

Yeah, it's another gust of wind, but there's something different than the time I punched Sickle Arms. Then, the wind pressure was naturally generated because of how strong I am. It's totally unrefined and uncontrolled. With Gale Uppercut, I'm making use of the fact that I can create wind pressure. Because of it, I uppercut so hard that my arm is practically tearing through the air, creating a "blade" of wind that's centered near the ground, violently rushing forward towards anything I want. Though, I'm not doing a full uppercut. I stop in the middle to aim in the direction I want. If I do a full uppercut, then the wind pressure would be directed at the ceiling, and that's kinda useless at this very moment.

Now, with my "blade" of wind, it flies forward right at Quills. It rips through the floor, tearing holes in the carpet and even shattering the lights attached to the walls. Quills doesn't fire any of her quills, only being launched back because of the wind, landing right on her useless behind. Making use of this opportunity, I shrink my right hand and drop my shield—it lands with a thud with a few quills falling off—and charge forward right at her!

When she tries to stand right back up, I'm already there. "Sorry 'bout this—!"

— BAM!

My fist slams into her temple. She falls down with her head smacking against the carpet first, definitely receiving a nasty concussion. I'm pretty sure she's out cold, so let's hope she keeps it that way. And now, it's just Mystery Man!

We face each other about ten meters away. Besides me, I'm at Room 5106. Almost there. His eyes are a striking green, almost like they're emeralds in his eyes, like actual emeralds. Smirking, he says, "You're Itsuka Kendo, right? How about you stop for me?"

"I—?!"

His eyes turn red like rubies, and all of the sudden, I can't move. I'm frozen in place; my muscles are refusing to work. Every part of my body shut down as if Medusa herself froze me right in place. This sucks, but I'm still breathing. I can still breathe, that function hasn't shut down, thank God. I know Mystery Man's Quirk now. It's Stoplight. With his eyes, whenever they turn red, they can probably shut down motor functions. How long though? No idea, so I have to assume it's for as long as he can keep his eyes open.

Crap though, I didn't think he has a Quirk like that! "Sorry kid. You're in the way of our liberation. I wish I could undo that brainwashing you got in ya." What the hell is he talking about?! "Hey Ryu, your turn."

Ryu, that's Dragon. As soon as he says her name, I can hear her footsteps rampaging towards me. In the next second, I—!

KICK!

"—Guh?!"

CRASH!

Ryu kicks me in the side, launching me right against the door of Room 5106. She has quills sticking out from her chest, and 'cause of it, she looks really damn pissed at me. I'd be too, honestly. At least she snapped me out of Stoplight's Quirk. I can move again. Luckily, the door doesn't break after I slammed into it, but it's probably hanging on by a single screw. Though, I have a more pressing issue to deal with: Stoplight. If I move back into the hallway, I'd just be stopped again by him.

So think, Itsuka! His Quirk, how does it work? It must be Transformation, since he can transform his eyes from green to red. It's pretty much like that game: Red Light Green Light. Whenever the stoplight is red, you stop. However, it doesn't seem to work on Ryu, only me. She was able to kick me while I was frozen. Maybe to activate the effects of his Quirk, I need to make eye contact with him. Might be just for a single second or even less than that, but I'll get frozen all the same.

To prevent that, I can't even look at him. I can consciously do that, but I can't trust my subconscious. Out of instinct, I will naturally gravitate my eyes towards him because my body is stupid. In order to counter this, then I'll just have to shut my eyes and fight blind.

With my back pressed against the door, I shut my eyes, tuning my ears to Ryu's breaths. I need to rely on deductive reasoning and my senses to anticipate Ryu's moves. Given her Quirk, she fights erratically just like how a dragon would. She'll do wide attacks with the tools she got. Maybe she'll even use her tail, I dunno. Still, I won't be able to rely on my eyes for the next part of the fight. She yells, "Why are you closing your eyes for—?!"

— CLAW!

DODGE —!

I dodged her first attack, managing to step back into the hallway instead of being pinned against a door. She tried to claw upwards with her right hand. Instead of tearing me to ribbons, she instead put some scratches into the door—at least, that's what it sounds like. Jeez, she's just a human-sized cat, honestly. My body isn't stopped in place, meaning Stoplight's Quirk isn't affecting me. Good, looks like that worked out! Stoplight says, "The girl's closing her eyes to stop herself from being affected by my Quirk!"

"The brat's smarter than she looks! Thought she was just the average knucklehead tomboy!" she says, and I gotta say, I'm fairly insulted. Is it that obvious that I look like a tomboy to everyone else? I mean, you can see the muscle on my arms, but really? Ugh, I can't worry about that right now! Ryu asks, "Let's see if you're any good at fighting blind!"

Stepping back, I reply, "Let's see if you're ready to get your ass kicked." I raise my arms, putting up a high guard. I hear Ryu huffing under her breath, stepping forward with her left foot. Judging from the sound, she will need to take another step to reach me. Let's eliminate the possible options: she isn't gonna jab at me. Her claws aren't made for taking jabs at people. She could uppercut me, but she already did that before. She might go around to take a wide swing at my head, yet with my guard, I can block it with one arm and use my other to knock her lights out. The best option to hurt me is by attacking my body. It's completely exposed because a high guard protects your head, not your body.

STEP!

She takes another step with her right. I don't think she can kick well in her position, so the only option for her is to take a wide swipe at me with her right claw, aimed at my lower body. She exclaims, "You have buncha openings, little brat—!"

— SWIPE!

WHIFF —!

Sorry Ryu, but this little brat knew you would do that! I moved off to the side, narrowly avoiding the wide swipe. Her claws only injured the air much to her dismay. Now I'm on her right. Her leg is extended and her right arm is in no position to attack me immediately. This is my chance! "Hyaah—!"

BAM!

Boom! Uppercut! My fist satisfyingly crashes into her chin, knocking her head upwards. Her moans are a mixture of pain and surprise that I was able to not only dodge her attack while blind, but also land a counterattack while still being blind. "—You stupid bitch!"

She's gonna swipe at me with her other hand now, isn't she? Here we go again!

CLAW!

WEAVE!

This time, I weaved right under her left arm, dodging her second attack just like the first. I pull my left arm back and slam it right into her side!

WHAM!

"—Fwuh, ah—?!" Her body recoils from my punch, which is said to have the hitting force of an eighteen-wheeler—thanks Setsuna. I follow up with an immediate right hook into her jaw, but unfortunately after that, she's still standing! She isn't going down just yet! Dammit, she's tougher than I thought.

Ryu spits on the ground, gasping for air after getting hit with three of my punches. "Haah—! Y'know what—? I'm not gonna stop for shit—! Take this, dammit—!"

SCRATCH!

She's dragging her feet back so hard that it tears through the carpet and into the floor. It sounds like it's her right foot. That's it, she's gonna kick the hell outta me, isn't she? Well then, come on—!

"Yaaaah—!"

"—Hrrraah!"

CLASH!

I stepped forward just as she started to kick. I block it perfectly, pushing my left forearm against her shin. Moving up closer, I do a quick jab into her throat, and almost immediately, she begins to gasp painfully. Gripping onto her suit, I lift her up in the air and slam her on the ground again!

SLAM!

Her back was damaged earlier when I used the door the first time around! By targeting her back again, there's no way she would wanna get back up after this! Though, I can both ensure her defeat while also taking care of Stoplight with one move—killing two birds with one stone, I'd say.

While she's laying down in pain, I grab her tail and swing her around. Then, right towards the general direction where Stoplight is, I just let her go.

TOSS — !

— BAM !

"Guh—?!" Yup, judging from the sounds of that, looks like I got him. Man, that was honestly lucky. Stoplight is a terrible teammate. He was just standing there watching Ryu getting beat up by me. He could've done something, but because he was so focused about his Quirk, he also limited himself in terms of fighting capabilities.

I open my eyes and look ahead. I see Ryu practically dead with Stoplight under her, groaning in pain. Behind me, Quills is groaning on the floor. She's conscious, but I don't think she wants to get back up after what I did to her. Alright, fight's over! You better be okay, Sanji!

I run down the hallway, approaching Ryu and Stoplight, but just before that, I get proven wrong. The fight is not over, because Sickle Arms is just getting up. Dammit, he's standing right besides Room 5101! Wiping the blood from his mouth, he glares at me, making sure I can see just how sharp his blade arms are. "You're not...getting past me. I'll—!"

— SHATTER!

WABAM — !

All of the sudden, the door of Room 5101 just broke off of its hinges. The door crushes Sickle Arms—not literally crushing him, but y'know what I mean—underneath both from the weight of the door and from the weight of a blonde-haired guy laying on top of it. The blondie slides off the door, crawling away from the room while Sickle Arms is just defeated altogether. And out comes the room is the man of the hour, Sanji Inochi. He's holding his sheathed katana in his right hand, and uhm, the end of his sheath has a lot of blood on it. There's even some blood on his pristine white suit too… My God, he fought against some guys of his own, didn't he?

He sees me and smiles brightly as ever. "Hey uh—" Sanji sees the blondie still trying to escape, "—Just a second." Without any mercy, he walks over to him and gives him a hard whack on the head. Now, the fight is really over. "H-Hey Itsuka, sorry that, uh, you had to see that."

I shake my head. "You lughead, it's fine. I'm not bothered by it. We have to do these kinds of things to survive, y'know? It's not our fault that they value killing us more than they value their own well-being." As I say that, I step over Ryu and Stoplight, walking up to Sanji so that we stand face-to-face.

He nods, awkwardly rubbing his mouth. He's definitely uncomfortable, but I don't know what he's uncomfortable about. Sanji isn't the kind of guy who gets remorseful after a fight—he's like me: if someone deserves to get punched in the face, then we won't feel sorry for punching them. "Itsuka," he says, "what the hell is going on? I-Island is getting attacked, and as you can see, the hotel is under attack too. Even that, I think I know who's attacking us too."

"Really? I—Wait, one thing at a time! I need to report this to Grandmaster! He's at the lobby with everyone else!" I tell him, taking out my walkie-talkie and turning it back on.

"Itsuka Kendo, are you there? Repeat, are you there?" Grandmaster whispers over the speaker. Why is he whispering? Either way, I should whisper back.

I transmit, "I'm here. Sorry 'bout that, but I encountered four Villains on Floor 51. Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine and I defeated all of 'em. Sanji's right here next to me, give me an update."

Grandmaster lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness… There has been a major update. The leaders of the attack have appeared themselves in the lobby, and not only that, their soldiers brought your friends—and grandfather—from Castor into the lobby as well. They want the rest of you in the lobby as well. As we speak, Claude is escorting your friends in Pollux down to the lobby. Then, we'll see what they want." God… The leaders are here? Plural? Who could they be?

Sanji grabs my hand and moves the walkie-talkie closer towards him. "Grandmaster, it's Sanji. We need Ibara Shiozaki over to Floor 51 in Castor immediately, please tell The Count that! If they have the audacity to capture our friends and family, then we'll bring their soldiers right to them!"

"Claude," Grandmaster addresses him, "did you hear that?"

"Oui," The Count says on his end. "I'm sending Miss Shiozaki there as we speak. There shouldn't be any threats, correct? Please tell me there aren't any more of those bastards waiting to wrap a noose around our necks…"

I reply, "Shouldn't be. Sanji's right though. We have those bastards laying on the floor around us. Anyway, Sanji says that he knows who's attacking us."

Sanji nods. "Yeah, I think… I think these guys are trying to bring back the Meta Liberation Army." The what?! The Meta Liberation Army?! Those guys are nutjobs! Sure, I understand that they want to ease up on Quirk laws, but to literally siege countries and threaten lives? That's absolutely inexcusable. These guys are radicals and won't hesitate to become martyrs for their cause! They don't believe in God because they think that they themselves are gods!

Grandmaster and Count go silent for a second. Finally, Grandmaster informs us, "You're right, Inochi, but you're wrong on one part. They aren't trying to bring back the Meta Liberation Army; it has already been brought back."

"What…?" he mutters.

"What are you saying…?" I ask.

"The second advent of the M.L.A. has already poisoned our institutions. They have soldiers within every aspect of Japan: government, corporations, medicine, and most importantly, heroism. We are dealing with one of the largest Villain groups in Japan—maybe in the entire world. And the leader of them all is Rikiya Yotsubashi, the son of Destro."

---

Shindeka Oji

"Everyone is here," I tell them, just standing across from the lobby with eyes that seem to gaze at our very souls, searching for a weakness to exploit and crush. On the other side of the lobby, there stands the Meta Liberation Army and their leaders: Rikiya Yotsubashi, Chitose Kizuki, Koku Hanabata, Gajin Nobuto, Kabeya Rugami, Hiro Takaiki, and Geten. They have six soldiers with them, and most importantly, they have hostages with them. Their hostages include: Togaru Kamakiri, Neito Monoma, Yosetsu Awase, Kosei Tsuburaba, Shihai Kuroiro, Sen Kaibara, Manga Fukidashi, Setsuna Tokage, Okichi Tokugawa, Kagesuke, and Sasaki Kendo. Normally, I'd say that the hostages would be able to overpower their captors, but one of them is wearing military-grade armor with an assault rifle in his hands. With that gun alone, he could kill every single hostage in a second. In fact, he could kill everyone in the lobby within five seconds if he wanted to.

What about on our side? We have: Myself, Claude, Lian Fei-Long, Hakan Aldemir, Ishtar, Hayami Kendo, Jurota Shishida, Hiryu Rin, Reiko Yanagi, Yui Kodai, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kinoko Komori, Pony Tsunotori, Shojo Fukidashi, Kojiro Bondo, Shoda Nirengeki. We also have Sanji Inochi, Itsuka Kendo, and Ibara Shiozaki, but they are not currently here right now. Likewise, the M.L.A. is missing nine of their soldiers.

Hakan stands beside me with his arms crossed. He's doing well despite the fact that he was stabbed earlier by our Shadow Villain. For this negotiation—or whatever this is—we both will be the spokespersons for our side. After all, because the M.L.A. have hostages, we are at their mercy. Yet they are not aware that we have a few cards of our own.

For the Meta Liberation Army, Yotsubashi and Kizuki will be their mouthpieces. I hear worried and anxious whispers behind me, then Miss Kendo's voice shushing them, telling the kids that they have to be quiet. We made it explicitly clear that they should not under any circumstances speak during this. They could jeopardize the negotiations—or again, whatever the hell this is.

Rikiya Yotsubashi puts his hands together with a smile, as if he's an innocent businessman who is working for the common good. Yes, that is a farce. That is the biggest farce in history, I'd say. "This is not everyone," he says, "you are missing three. Where are Ibara Shiozaki, Itsuka Kendo, and Sanji Inochi?"

"Itsuka Kendo and Ibara Shiozaki went to find Sanji Inochi. We can communicate with them using this walkie-talkie—" I show them the walkie-talkie that Ishtar gave us, "—I'm sure you heard me in the back whispering on my walkie-talkie. That was me trying to receive a response from them, but I received nothing but silence. For now, unless we wish to wait all night, we will have to make do without their presence."

Hakan nods, adding to what I said, "So let's cut to the chase: what do you want? As we all can see, you have some of our own as hostages. If you haven't realized already, I'm quite an important man in the United Hero Nations. I'm sure I could pull some strings around to get whatever you want—once we get service again."

Kizuki laughs, cocking her head to the side and leaning forward like a curious journalist. "We're not interested in anything physical per se. We're more interested in something else. We—Actually, I'm getting far too ahead of myself! Yotsubashi, we need to introduce ourselves, don't we?"

Yotsubashi nods. He puts a hand over his heart. "That we do." He steps forward, his eyes scanning us. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young Heroes and Heroes alike. Some of you, we've met already. My name is Rikiya Yotsubashi, the CEO of Deternat. Though, as you may have gathered already, I'm what you refer to as a 'Villain'. Such an awful name, associated with us. Never would I even imagine that we would be called mere 'Villains' just because we fight for a cause that you, the Heroes, disagree with.

"In our eyes, you are the villains in our story. You stand in the way of our grand liberation for a world where we will not bend the knee to mere words on a paper regarding our Quirks! A world with free Quirks—no, our Meta Abilities , that is a world worth fighting for. And yet, you so-called Pro Heroes are brainwashed to believe in the flawed society we live in, parading around the streets like wolves but in actuality, you are just mere sheeps puppeted by your imperfect heroism.

"But we are just, for we are the new Meta Liberation Army. I will say again, my name is Rikiya Yotsubashi, the son of Chikara Yotsubashi. I am the Grand Commander, Re-Destro! My Top Executives, why don't you come out and introduce yourselves individually?"

Kizuki is first. "Of course. Amazing words, Re-Destro! If only I was able to capture the looks on our foes' faces! To interview them while they're filled with emotion would be a dream come true, but I'm afraid that'll remain a dream! Ah, before I digress even more, I am Chitose Kizuki; Curious."

Koku Hanabata. "I suppose I will follow after. Welcome young ones to this grand festivities of liberation. I am Koku Hanabata, the leader of the Hearts and Mind Party. I'm sure most of you ill-educated children didn't know I, nor my party, existed until right now. As for my codename, I am Trumpet. Rugami, you're next."

Kabeya Rugami. "Fine. I am Kabeya Rugami; codename: Stalwart. I don't believe any of you kids know me, but I am the CEO of Bastion, a lifestyle support company just like Deternat. I don't have much to say, frankly. Though, I'd say that for the rest of tonight, you'll see hell. Nobuto, your turn."

Gajin Nobuto. "Very well. I am the CEO of a support company called Ronin. Actually, it would make more sense to say that after I said my name, I apologize. I am Gajin Nobuto, and my codename is Vainglory. I can see the pride and arrogance in each of your eyes; the epitome of youth. Don't be too insulted, you're just like the other kids your age. You believe you can take on the world, but you don't realize that the world will kick you on the ground until every single bone in your body is broken. Takaiki, I'm finished."

Hiro Takaiki. "Alright, I'll make my introduction brief. Look brats, I won't repeat myself. My name is Hiro Takaiki, the current owner of Quirked Minds. Codename: Indignation. You might have read some articles published by my outlet, especially about your precious Sanji Inochi. You should be glad that we didn't run him through the mud harder, but damn, after this, you haven't seen anything yet. If you still wanna be Heroes after this, anyway. Geten, you wanna talk?"

Geten sighs, nodding. "I suppose so. I rather not say my real name, but refer to me as 'Geten' or 'Apocrypha'. I'm not involved in Japan like my other comrades, yet believe me that I have a heart hardened by fire. Our world that we envision, it will be the world where your Meta Ability will determine your ranking in society; a world where the strongest will naturally prevail. And I believe that you? You brats and scum? You deserve to live at the bottom."

Hakan snarks, "Charmed."

Claude comments, "That's my line."

Re-Destro takes a closer glance at my face, seeing that I'm not too particularly surprised at this revelation. "Grandmaster, you don't look surprised by our grand reveal. I can't say the same for the kids behind you, but you? Unless you're amazing at poker, you must have already found out our secret, haven't you?"

I nod. "Of course. I knew that you were a crooked man, but I didn't find out how exactly. Until this trip that is. With the information I possessed, I was able to come to the conclusion that you were leading the second charge of the Meta Liberation Army. Though, I never anticipated that you would attack Class 1-B.

"Why? During the U.S.J. Incident, the League of Villains aimed to kill Class 1-A. That was more than obvious, evidenced by Eraserhead's injuries and Thirteen's near-death. Yet here, you took the time to capture the men of 1-B, so you clearly are not trying to kill these kids. So I ask again: what is your game?"

"What do you think? You are a detective, are you not? A master at deductive reasoning?" Re-Destro asks me, challenging me to answer his question. Well, I suppose I bite. Let's see, they do not want anything physical like money or some sort of fancy technology, so it has to be something abstract. They're using the attack on I-Island to launch their own attack on this hotel, signaling that they do not want this incident to be public. To launch a hidden attack to fulfill an abstract motive, we have to look at their background. The M.L.A. want to dismantle society to create their own world, so how would this attack fulfill that wish?

These children are the backbone of society because they are the future generation of Pro Heroes. Thus, if the M.L.A. attacks them, then they are hurting society as a result. Yet they do not wish to kill them. That means they, the Meta Liberation Army, wants to break their spirit. They want to destroy their morale. They want to get rid of Class 1-B to fulfill a couple of purposes. One: they wish to remove a possible nuisance in the near future once they finally lay siege to society; two: through this attack, the Commission will be demoralized hearing that an entire class of students was traumatized because of the M.L.A., and thus weakening the Heroes as a whole.

That is what they want.

I answer him, "You wish to break these kids, do you not? Break their spirits, their souls? You are unable to kill them outright, so whatever you have planned would suffice instead. Through the implications this has, I would imagine that death is a preferable alternative to what's about to happen next."

Re-Destro nods. "Correct on both, Grandmaster. Normally, this wouldn't have happened if Setsuna Tokage didn't do what she did; I'll let her explain it herself in a few moments. Really, if she wasn't so impulsive and zealous, all of you would have gone through the night without any worries… Well, that's mostly a lie because there is an attack going on as we speak, but you wouldn't have to deal with us.

"Unfortunately, you are dealing with our grand cause. Your lives are guaranteed, yet your innocent minds won't be. I would apologize, but you volunteered for this war yourselves. From the moment you first step foot in U.A., you become a soldier. Now, it's time to experience life as a soldier during wartime."

Hakan frowns. "Cruelty doesn't seem to have any borders, huh? I've seen the implications you're making firsthand. The Middle East is a mess that's in desperate need of cleaning, y'know. We're swapping one sicko with another with another with another on a constant basis, especially the Order of Assassins. I thought you Japanese had notions of civility and honorful war, but nope, seems like we'll re-enact the Nanjing Massacre, just without the bodies."

The Nanjing Massacre… You wouldn't be able to call the event a "battle" during World War Two. That event is the epitome of cruelty in its highest form. Just remembering what occurred in the battle sends shivers down my spine. We progressed since then, yet there are still some who would gladly turn into monsters. That's what these Villains are.

Behind me, I hear Kinoko Komori whispering, "What's the Nanjing Massacre?"

Miss Kendo replies, "You don't wanna know, and you won't get to find out what it is. We'll get through this, promise."

Lian speaks up, "The past is in the past, and I rather not repeat certain events from history, if I say so myself, darlings. Curious, wasn't it? Give me a pretty little smile from your darling face so I could knock your teeth out and tell you that your plans will never come to fruition. Like hell it will."

Curious laughs. "Of course it will, Shangdi! Even you can't stop this. We have your young ones as hostages, and whenever you misbehave, we'll simply hurt them until you stop. If you think our numbers are weak, we have another one hundred soldiers waiting for our word. Sorry to say, but your actions are very limited when we have them."

"So what's the point of this talk, then? This isn't a negotiation, is it?" Hakan asks.

Re-Destro shakes his head. "No, just to inform you of what's to come. Like what Curious said, we have one hundred soldiers waiting on standby. It's impossible to fight against this. Really, we are asking for your surrender. This is the peaceful way of going about it, but of course, we have the non-peaceful method if you wish to go down that route."

Lian steps forward, ready to fight. Hakan tries to hold him back, but Lian pushes him aside. "Then do it, dammit! You wish to show us hell, that's nothing compared to the hell I'm ready to unleash upon you fools! I'll make sure that your iteration of the Meta Liberation Army will be nothing but a footnote in textbooks!"

Just before Re-Destro could reply, Tokage suddenly runs in front with a panicked look on her face. "Hold on! Look guys, there's a flash drive with all of the information from Re-Destro's laptop! I—?!"

BAM!

"Setsuna!"

"Don't hurt her, you asshole!"

"Stupid jerk!"

The armored soldier ran up and struck her across the head with the butt of his rifle, causing her to fall down. I'm barely able to maintain a composed posture at the sight of it, but Lian? It takes Hakan, Claude, and I to hold him back from activating his Quirk. Re-Destro orders, "If Setsuna tries something like that again, don't be afraid of putting a bullet in her."

Tokage, through pained groans, still continues, "With that, we'll expose the M.L.A. and take them down—!"

Re-Destro apologizes, "Well, I warned her. Go ahead—!"

"—WAIT!" I yell at the top of my lungs, stopping everyone from escalating this any further! Out of my pocket, I pull out the flash drive that Tokage mentioned! A series of gasps erupt from the M.L.A., and the soldiers look at each other wondering how did I acquire it. Tokage lets out a relieved sigh, seeing the flash drive in hand. "Unfortunately, I have something to confess! Setsuna Tokage wasn't the only one guilty of instigating this event. As you can see, I have the flash drive in hand. My dear, this is the flash drive you spoke of, correct? Confirm it so."

It can't. It won't. Everything I said is a lie. I only found out Tokage's place in this incident once it was mentioned, and the existence of a flash drive through her own words. With this information in hand, I could leverage this to my advantage, and I have. This is our leverage. This flash drive is just something I always carry around with me. As a Hero who needs information on a daily basis, having a spare flash drive comes in handy more times than one would think. For example, this is a great instance where I can use this!

Tokage nods with a smile. "Yup, that's the stupid thing alright. Okichi, wanna confirm it too?"

Okichi Tokugawa nods as well. "Yes. Grandmaster, that is the flash drive that contains the information taken from Re-Destro's laptop."

I tuck it back in my coat. "So it's confirmed. Alongside Setsuna Tokage and Okichi Tokugawa, we—The Count and I—retrieved the flash drive."

"That's a lie," Curious accuses. "We were watching you from the start, Grandmaster. You couldn't have possibly fetched it because you were in the lobby the whole time. You never left once. The real flash drive is somewhere in Castor."

"That's correct, yet…" I look behind me, specifically at Claude. "The Count left the lobby, didn't he? Do you have proof that he didn't go to Castor and didn't retrieve the drive? What's stopping me from saying that he did and gave the drive to me for safe-keeping? Unless you have access to the cameras, which I doubt since the security room is in the lobby we are standing in as we speak, it's impossible for you to prove otherwise. I apologize, Curious, but the flash drive you speak about and the one I possess are one and the same."

Re-Destro visibly gets angrier, but he still maintains his innocent demeanor. He motions for Geten and asks, "Geten, when you captured Setsuna and Okichi, what did the flash drive look like? Was it the same one as Grandmaster has?"

Geten looks down at the ground. "I-I'm sorry, but it was too dark for me to make out the exact design. For all we know, Grandmaster is telling the truth."

He scoffs, putting his hands together and glaring at me with incredibly violent eyes. "Grandmaster, you are lying through your teeth. That drive is nothing but trash."

"Yet, can you prove that?" I ask him. "I can give this flash drive to Shangdi and have him escape the hotel; you know he can. We'll die as a result, yet so will the Meta Liberation Army. Will you risk that, Re-Destro?"

He doesn't say anything.

Curious picks up where he left off, "Well then, this turned into a negotiation, hasn't it? We both have what the other wants. What do you want? Do you want these adorable men back? And us to leave? That is a tall order, even with that drive."

They realize that their leverage on us is weakening, so they are trying to hold onto their hostages. Without them, they lose. By attempting to belittle the importance of the drive, they are hoping to start a battle. Unfortunately, that is a battle they cannot win.

Hakan says, "I would like that, but you people are difficult. What if we have something to spice up the pot a little?"

"What do you mean—?!"

DING!

"Right on time," he mutters with a smirk.

That was the ding of an elevator. We watch as the elevator doors open, revealing our missing persons: Sanji Inochi, Itsuka Kendo, and Ibara Shiozaki. Behind them, there are nine captured M.L.A. soldiers wrapped in vines that Shiozaki created using her Quirk. They look beaten to hell and back.

Inochi walks into the lobby first with his sheathed katana in hand, which is stained with blood. "Sorry that we're late. The M.L.A. soldiers refused to be captured, so I had to hit them a couple more times."

Kendo, Itsuka Kendo, nods. She gives us a small wave. "You would think that they would give up, but nope."

Last, but not least, is Ibara Shiozaki. She's carrying the nine soldiers with her Quirk, placing them in front of Hakan, Claude, Lian, and I. "You sinners deserve Hell. We were eavesdropping on the entire exchange through the walkie-talkie. I'm not one to condone violence, but your disgusting soldiers deserve their pain."

The three of them stand behind us, and we stand behind the M.L.A.'s captured soldiers. I start, "Five of your loyal soldiers. Five, I say again. Five soldiers who have the same fighting power as the average Hero. Five against one Sanji Inochi, who is legally Quirkless. There are only a few cuts on his body, yet as you see here, your men have countless bruises! They were humiliated by him!

"Four of your loyal soldiers. Four, if I may repeat. Four soldiers who have the same fighting power as the average Hero. Four against one Itsuka Kendo, the daughter of Master Kendo. Can you see a scratch on her body? No, you cannot! Just like Inochi's fight with your men, she humiliated her batch with only a few punches!

"Nine of your soldiers are equal to two of our own! Nine is an odd number, so how about we round down to four? Four soldiers is equal to one student. There are twenty-two students belonging to this very room, correct? Four times twenty-one is equal to eighty-eight. Hold your applause, there's more! We have Heroes such as myself, The Count, Shangdi, and Master Kendo! The Count and I are ten soldiers each, so twenty. Master Kendo can handle fifty, and Shangdi can take on one hundred men by himself—maybe one thousand. We also have the aid of Hayami Kendo, Hakan Aldemir, and Ishtar. So in total, we have the fighting power of about 260 of your soldiers! You said that you have over one hundred soldiers lying in wait, correct? Well then, we are double that and more!"

Re-Destro immediately replies, "What are you trying to say—?"

"This is our terms of agreement!" I announce, "We will exchange our hostages for yours in the condition they were brought in!"

Curious asks, "What about the flash drive?"

"I will not hand it over. You will have to pry it from my hands first," I say. From my words, everyone on my end gives me a shocked look. Yes, this means we will fight them, but I know we will win. If we let the Meta Liberation Army go, they will be left with ruined pride from the nine soldiers that my two interns defeated. However, if we fight them with all of the force they have and win , not only will they receive damage to their morale, Class 1-B will receive experience fighting actual Villains!

In essence, this is a testing ground for what's about to come in the future! We will fight the M.L.A. at some point, so to prepare them, this is the best way of going about it!

Hakan whispers to me, "What are you doing?! Do you really want these kids to fight them?! Is that what you went on about before?!"

"Of course," I reply, "we have a gifted bunch this year, Hakan. This is the strength of Class 1-B. We will be able to defeat them, I'm sure of it. Even then, I am sure that they want revenge for what the M.L.A. already did to them."

Re-Destro says, "What you're proposing is: We will exchange hostages, but not the flash drive? The only way to get it is through a fight, our glorious movement against first-years. From what you said earlier, you truly think that your children will be able to defeat us? Honestly laughable."

"We're with them, aren't we, darlings?" Lian reminds them. "It's not far-off in the realm of possibility. In fact, it's right in the ballpark."

I clear my throat, bringing everyone's focus back towards me. "Nevertheless, you have two options, Meta Liberation Army. I am willing to give you the flash drive if you so demand, but you will have to leave and never bother us for the duration of the trip—the coward's way out, in my opinion…"

Behind me, the others walk up and stand side-by-side with us. We form an impenetrable wall that they cannot simply breach. With the look of anger across our eyes, we await to see the Meta Liberation Army's answer. And I, Shindeka Oji, finish, "Or, you can take my first offer and engage in a battle—Villains versus Pro Heroes.

"What is your answer?"

---

Setsuna Tokage

"So we're actually fighting them?"

"Yup, we're actually fighting them."

"Kuku, now Class 1-A won't be the only ones who encountered Villains!"

"Why is that the only thing you think about, Monoma?! We're literally fighting the Meta Liberation Army!"

"I had a feeling those guys were still around… Guess they just wanted to have freedom , right? Right guys? Guys…?"

"...Shut up, Honenuki."

"Order in the court, order in the court!" I shout, waving my imaginary gavel because holy crap, that worked out better than I could ever have imagined! When Okichi told Geten about Sanji's location, I was ready to kill him until he explained it to me. I have to give it to him. If he didn't take that gamble, we probably would end up at a very different ending than the one we have planned. "Look guys, after what happened, we need to shut up and come together. We were given 45 minutes to prepare, so we need to make the most of it. That's why we need to listen to the adults in the room so we can come up with the best plan of action."

Itsuka speaks up, "First, you should explain why you got us into this mess in the first place. You too, Grandmaster, since you're involved in it too."

I correct her, "Actually he isn't. Only me and Okichi were involved in this miss. Grandmaster was totally lying." Grandmaster nods, confirming what I said. "Long story short, back at the Hero Course Tutoring program, Curious and Re-Destro were there watching the fights. I found out that they were apart of the M.L.A., Okichi did too and proposed a plan to take them down, I joined him. It involved sneaking into Re-Destro's room while he was at the gala and taking some information off of his laptop. Obviously, that failed since they knew somehow, and that set off the chain of events that have us standing where we are tonight. So uh, you guys got the fight you were looking for."

Hayami comments, "Not really no. I'd prefer that Grandmaster wouldn't, y'know, send my kids off to war without my permission! But yeah no, I'm totally fine! We're only fighting over one hundred M.L.A. soldiers including their wackjob leaders! It's a piece of cake! They got this in the bag!"

I can hear The Count whispering to Itsuka, "Your mother is scary when she gets sarcastic…" Itsuka nods, and I kinda agree, not gonna lie.

Grandmaster sighs, lowering his head in a bit of an apologetic manner. "I understand, but I genuinely believe that we can defeat the Meta Liberation Army here. If we deal a blow to them now, we'll be beneficial to us in the future. What Re-Destro said is true. Your children signed up for this war, and they need to be amply prepared. This is the best way to prepare them. I promised that I would teach your kids, and this is how I will do just that.

"We also need to find and retain the real flash drive as well. The M.L.A. is surely suspecting that what we have is a fake, so even if we give them the flash drive, they will find out that it was fake. Then, a fight would be unavoidable."

Hayami huffs, walking off to the side. Master Kendo chases after her, being a good dad and all. Hakan Aldemir, the official from the U.H.N., is currently talking gameplans with Lian. Ishtar is sitting by herself because she got dragged into this mess somehow. Hakan, after finishing up his conversation with Lian, addresses the entire party, "Like that Setsuna says, we have less than 45 minutes to come up with a viable plan. We will be fighting against over one hundred Villains where each of them have the same strength as a Pro Hero. All of you, to the last, will fight."

Awase says, "Gimme a how and I'll do it."

Tetsutetsu knocks his knuckles together. "Hell yeah! I'm ready to give these punks a taste of Real Steel!"

Togaru crosses his arms and nods. "What they said. I ain't gonna ease up on these fuckers."

Sanji tells them, "Calm yourselves for just a moment, guys. I wanna fight them as much as you—believe me, look at the blood on my sheath to find out how badly I beat them—but these guys are serious. They will not give up unless you bring the pain. They're more than willing to become martyrs for liberation, keep that in mind."

Shojo decides to say, "I really really can't believe this is happening! I mean, holy crap, I didn't expect to get threatened by Villains! I feel like I'm gonna pass out from anxiety, ugggggh…" Manga walks over and gives his sister a few pats on the back. Even Kagesuke is brushing against her leg, what a good boy.

I look towards Hakan, asking him, "As the man with the plan, what do you think we should do? We obviously can't hold both Castor and Pollux with our numbers. We need to divide and conquer, honestly."

He nods, agreeing with me. "To tell ya the truth, those bastards might be looking to sneak into Castor to possibly find the flash drive. But like what you said, we need to divide and conquer. They will act according to how we will act. That way, we can manipulate them. I propose that we create a few groups.

"Alpha: They will stay in the hotel, mainly Pollux, defending it from any M.L.A. goons and their leaders.

"Bravo: They will focus on getting the flash drive in Castor before the M.L.A. does."

I suggest, "We should expand on that, if you think my opinion holds any water. For example, these guys will be worried about Lian, right? How about we send him off to the back of the hotel and have him wait there? Naturally, the M.L.A. will build up a force to apprehend just him because they know he's the biggest threat."

Lian gives me a look saying that he agrees. "The darling's right. If I'm by myself, I won't have to worry about any collateral damage. It will just be me and my many, many opponents."

Grandmaster chimes, "And if I may propose, we should take advantage of our false flash drive. With this, we could pretend to escape, but in actuality, we would draw out a number of soldiers away from the hotel itself."

Honenuki puts in his thoughts, "I mean, if we're talking about reducing numbers, I'm pretty sure some soldiers would be staying in Castor. We should make sure that they stay in Castor after Bravo completes their objective instead of leading them right into Pollux."

Monoma says, "We oughta make use of the rooms within the hotels as well! Hallways and tight-enclosed spaces are too dangerous for my taste. We place ourselves in open areas and lay traps for them, taking them out in large numbers."

Itsuka replies to him, "I agree with Monoma. Sure, I might be a bit better for tight environments, but some of you guys aren't!"

Sanji, with his infinite wisdom and pretty boy face, comes in, "We know that nine soldiers are in a terrible shape. Thankfully though, ee and Itsuka were able to adapt to their Quirks, which leads me to my point, we should share what we know about their Quirks."

The Count exclaims, "Oh yes, I almost forgot! You see… Me, Shindeka, and Master Kendo also found out about the Army's existence just the other day! We identified the Top Executives and accessed the Quirk Registry List of Japan! We know their Quirks!"

Master Kendo nods. Hayami seems to look happier, I think. She still looks upset, but not so upset that she's refusing to cooperate. Anyway, Master Kendo says, "That's right, we know their Quirks. They're stronger than the average schmuck, but with this information, we can come up with counters to 'em."

Hayami tells us, "You don't have the time to change into your Hero Costumes, so get what you need and that's it. Hell, I'll even MacGyver some support gear up if you need me to. And please, don't ask me what 'MacGyver' is if you don't know the reference."

Ishtar suddenly stands up. I think she realizes how she can help. "Hold on a second! There's a parking garage under here, and in there, there's a staff elevator that the M.L.A. probably don't know about, and I have the keys to it. You can sneak into Castor without them knowing."

Oh, I think I should ask this too! "Before we say anything else, we need a good name for this operation. Sure, we're not trying to push two people together or trying to prevent someone from dropping out of U.A., but we are doing something more important than that, defeating Villains. Maybe something like Operation Hero Force Army ?"

Hakan tells me, "In the sake of time, let's go with that. I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you kids argue about the name because we got bigger fish to fry. Anyway, with your considerations in mind, let's do something with Operation Hero Force Army, shall we?

"Alpha: Everyone will be stationed in certain places, defending Pollux from the Meta Liberation Army. Make some traps, do whatever you can to have the upper hand. These guys aren't playing fair, so neither should you.

"Bravo: Through the staff elevator, everyone here will be involved in retrieving the flash drive in Castor before the M.L.A. does, and after that, we should find a way of making sure these guys stay in Castor.

"Charlie: This group will be trying to 'escape' with the fake flash drive, being a distraction to lure away a few soldiers. Expect that you will encounter a Top Executive here, or maybe the Grand Commander himself. They won't let you escape without a fight.

"Delta: It's Shangdi. He's by himself doing what he does best: fighting. Let's hope the M.L.A. give him a lot of bodies.

"Echo: This is a personal request actually. Since Ishtar is the only civilian here, I'll be accompanying her alongside Grandmaster, The Count, and Master Kendo. I won't answer any questions you have for me, sorry about that.

"This goes without saying, but each group will have a 'leader' or 'leaders' that will have a walkie-talkie. We only have eight of 'em, which is not enough for everyone. Also, some of you will probably be assigned to two groups, doing double duty. Does everyone understand?"

We nod. I won't ask about Echo; Hakan is smart enough to know what he's doing. At least, that's what I hope. Still, the Pro Heroes for a single civilian? Kinda suspicious.

Anyhow, I walk over to Itsuka and Sanji, giving them a pat on the back. "Hey you two, ready to fight the good fight? C'mon, I know you guys are already! I am! My head might be pounding, but I'm ready!"

Sanji doesn't give me a laugh, he just frowns. "I'm ready, but you should seriously get some ice."

Itsuka points at him. "What he said. After this, I need a vacation from this vacation. Preferably, without you trying to take down a massive Villain group capable of taking down Japan."

"Eh, can't promise anything, sweetheart." I smile, giving her a thumbs-up. "Anyway, let's go cheer everyone up! We need to have the right minds to handle this kind of threat! C'mon Class Rep, do your job!"

"Jeez, fine…" Itsuka replies with a groan. "Hey guys, let's do a roll call! We should do it just so we know that everyone is here!" And everyone lets her.

"Thanks. First is, well, me. I'm obviously here."

"Awase, still got your headband?"

"Yeah, and stop calling me that, dammit!"

"I know Sanji's here."

"I should be, hehe."

"Kaibara, you here?"

"Yup. Ready to take on the M.L.A., just a normal year for us high schoolers."

"Kamakiri?"

"Alive an' well, kinda. Ready to dice up these bastards like tomatoes."

"Kuroiro and Kagesuke, you two still being dramatic?"

"Arf!"

"Kagesuke is here, yes. And so am I, a member of the abyss."

"Yui, I know she's here."

"Mhm."

"Kinoko, think you can grow your mushrooms?"

"Of course! Very mush!"

"Ibara, I know you're here too."

"That I am. I am more than prepared to deliver God's wrath on these fiends."

"Shishida, your glasses still intact?"

"Fortunately, yes. If they do break, I will still be able to see, do not fret."

"Hey Shoda, still kicking?"

"Yeah… I honestly have trouble processing this."

"Pony, ready to kick butt?"

"And then some! Gonna kick a lotta butt today if my name isn't Pony Tsunotori!"

"Tsuburaba, I heard that you tried to spring an escape attempt."

"...Not my brightest moment, but I would've gotten away if it wasn't for that white-haired pretty boy! I can't believe we have to deal with another one." ("A-Another one?" Sanji mutters.)

"...Tetsutetsu. Please don't scream."

"I'm not gonna scream, Kendo! I'm just pumped up and ready to punch stuff! I'm more than ready to fight some Villaisn!"

"Setsuna's here, obviously."

"Yes, that's my name. Please clap for me." (No one claps for me.)

"Fukidashi twins."

"Anxious, but alive! That's what I always say…"

"Yeah, let's hope Shojo doesn't pass out. I'm serious, she might pass out."

"Honenuki."

"Yo, ready to liberate these guys from life." (Shoda exclaims, "We're not killing them!")

"Bondo, it's hard to miss you."

"...I dunno why I'm th-this tall…"

"Oh boy, here's Monoma."

"That's me! Don't worry, we are more than capable of—"

"—Yeah shut up."

"Reiko, you're still stunning as always."

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I will dirty this dress soon."

"And Rin."

"Right here. Ready when you are."

"And onto everyone else. Mom, Grandpa?"

"Right here, sweetheart."

"Mhm. Guess I'm finally fighting again."

"Grandmaster and Count."

"Oui, je m'appelle Count."

"I'm here as well, if that wasn't obvious before."

"Lian."

"I am here, little fire."

"Hakan and Ishtar."

"Fufu, I'm actually apart of the group."

"Naturally, you stumbled into this mess at the worst possible time."

"Kendo, what about me?"

"What about you, Tokugawa?"

"...Never mind."

"That's it. That's everyone. We have everyone here. So let's get started."

Sorry Dad. You're probably incredibly angry that this is happening—well, if you knew that this was happening in the first place. First, I went behind your back and fought Catharsis; now here, I went behind your back and challenged the Meta Liberation Army. I hope you can forgive me after this, but I do believe that this is the right way of going about things. This has to be.

We, your army of stars, are fighting against these guys. And we will win, don't worry. Because if not, like I said, this would be an awkward ending.

---

Operation Hero Force Army

Alpha:

Team Lizardry: Setsuna Tokage (Leader), Okichi Tokugawa, Juzo Honenuki, Togaru Kamakiri

Team Phantom Thief: Neito Monoma (Leader), Shojo Fukidashi, Sen Kaibara, Kosei Tsuburaba

Team Hayami: Hayami Kendo (Leader), Kinoko Komori, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Bravo:

Team Armory: Sanji Inochi (Leader), Hiryu Rin

Team Maria: Ibara Shiozaki (Leader), Manga Fukidashi, Shihai Kuroiro, Yosetsu Awase, Pony Tsunotori

Charlie:

Team Battle Fist: Itsuka Kendo (Leader), Yui Kodai, Shoda Nirengeki, Kojiro Bondo, Jurota Shishida, Reiko Yanagi

Delta:

Team Shangdi: Lian "Shangdi" Fei-Long (Leader)

Echo:

Team Hakan: Hakan Aldemir (Leader), Shindeka "Grandmaster" Oji, Claude "The Count" LeNoir, Sasaki "Master Kendo" Kendo, Ishtar Mikhail

---

Hey guys! Sorry for not posting a chapter last week. Last Saturday, I went on a family trip. And today, the chapter is late because it's kinda a national holiday. I had real life things. At least I posted the chapter!

Post-chapter Stuff:

The Structure of the Chapter: Just so you have an insight on how I build my chapters, I have this here. You see, my chapters are getting really long lately and because of that, I'm getting a little burnt out. And that's because of the structure of the chapter. Here, I designate two points: beginning and end. For example, in this chapter, the beginning is the capture of Castor and the end is Operation Hero Force Army. In-between, I have to move the plot to reach that point. Thus, Master Kendo will narrate the capture of Castor, Sanji will narrate his fight, Itsuka will narrate the lobby coming to terms with the attack and her fight, Grandmaster narrating the negotiations, and Setsuna being the narrator to end the chapter. There aren't much internal thoughts because the chapter is fairly fast. Even though there is only "five" scenes, each scene is *long*, made up of beats. For example, Master Kendo's scene has: Recognizing the threat, being captured, Geten's appearance. For Grandmaster, he has: Revealing MLA's intentions, lying about the flash drive, Star Duo's appearance, counteroffer. Each "beat" needs to be developed to a point where I'm satisfied and move on. And frankly, that's a little draining. For this arc, all of my chapters are 20k words long. Well, more than 20k words, more like 24k-26k, with this chapter being 23k. I publish this (I try to at least) on a bi-weekly basis, so that's almost (or it *is*) 50k words a month. If you don't know already, 50k words is what most people would consider the length of a novel. Basically, I'm publishing a novel every month.

You can ask, "How the fuck do you write so much?" My answer is...! Well, I have a mental plan of the story. The plan has major beats yet I'm not planning every little detail (I do have plans to have some funny scenes/cool action if I can lead into it). Originally, for Itsuka's fight scene, I wanted her to punch someone's head against a wall, creating a crater. However, I didn't have a way to "lead" into that, so I just didn't do it. For me, it's really easy for me to write knowing what I need to write instead of improvising everything (but believe me, you'd be shocked at how much of this fic is just improv). I can just let my fingers type and type. I'm also used to long projects despite being 17 (my birthday was last month wooo). I have experience in world-building and creating characters which translates quite nicely here. Really though, my biggest weakness is procrastination. Youtube is a fucking killer, I gotta say. Sometimes, you just need to sit down and freaking write. You just need to sit down, tell yourself "You're gonna write today", and actually do it. That's what I did when making this chapter. I just told myself "Hey Gushy, go fuck yourself" and wrote.

Anyway, that's how I try and write. Poggers.

Back onto the story, I'll just cover what I think it's important. The first being: Sanji and Itsuka's fight. So what's up with them fighting? Well, they fought MLA soldiers and won with barely a scratch on them. Yet there's a clear difference in their fights... Sanji had to keep knocking his guys down while Itsuka more or less gave them a few punches and they're down. That's the difference between them. Sanji is weaker, but out of the two fights, he came out in a better shape than Itsuka. Itsuka is stronger and was able to one-shot Sickle Arms, yet she got kicked by Ryu. You also get to see just how far the MLA is willing to complete their objective because the dudes with Sanji just wouldn't stay down.

The next is Grandmaster's scene, which I liked more than I thought I would. Of course, it's him coming in clutch with the negotiations. The implications that the MLA made was pretty scary, but with Setsuna's help, he was able to step in and gain leverage for his side. You have to admit that these characters are really smart. Okichi helped everyone by gambling that Sanji would be able to defeat 5 soldiers, and that Setsuna threw away the flash drive knowing that it could be used as leverage against the MLA. And Grandmaster recognized that he had an opportunity and took it. Though, he's also the one who wanted to fight the MLA. You can say that it's pretty stupid, because it kinda is, but it's the best way of giving 1-B the experience they need for the future. (Because us manga readers know that they need it.)

Anyway, I'm just gonna talk about the next chapter. Hero Force Army will have a bunch of fight scenes in it, and judging from the teams, you can see who's going to do what. Expect that something happens in each of the five groups, and I hope you'll be satisfied.