George had been called to the Police Station by Tsukauchi to join him and Present Mic in a conversation regarding Lion. Then he got there and found out that a commotion was building. Yells of "Freeze! You're under arrest" and "Hands up" were flying through the air. The three looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then they raced towards the lobby in unison, jostling each other all the while, and there he was. In all his obnoxious glory. Grinning and waving jovially and trying to pet Officer Sansa's fur even as the man was placing the handcuffs on his wrists. Lion. An immense rush of relief coursed through Tsukauchi's body. He could see Aizawa visibly relax, and Hizashi rushed forward with a wider-than-usual grin on his face.

"PETIT LION, IT'S SO GOOD TO-" Eraserhead's quirk activated, and Present Mic's shrill voice lowered to non-eardrum-bursting levels- "see you! And meet you! I'm Present Mic and Shouta has told me sooo much about you! You're pretty awesome, little listener!" Lion raised one of his handcuffed hands to shake Present Mic's, gushing.

"Wow, Present Mic! I'm a big fan of your radio show, I listen to it whenever I work out! All the insight about hero work you give is fascinating, honestly. Keep it up, man!"

"Thanks! It's always nice to meet a listener! Hey, wanna guest star on an episode? I bet the listeners would love to hear from a vigilante!" Lion perked up like an excited cub.

"Really?! I'd love to! Hey, Tsuka-kun, Aizawa, didya hear?! I'm gonna be on Present Mic's radio show!" He wiped a pretend tear from his eye and fake sobbed, "It's all happening so fast. Don't worry, I won't forget you guys when I'm famous, okay?" With a snicker, he went back to his excited chatter with Present Mic. The two were going back and forth so fast he couldn't even follow the conversation. They had just met but they got along very well, probably due to their similar personalities. Tsukauchi let out a short laugh of disbelief. Despite the dried bloodstain on the side of his suit, Lion was fine. He was fine! If anything, he seemed more energetic than usual. It was such a relief that he didn't even bother getting mad over the vigilante's antics. Meanwhile, Eraserhead began to walk towards the pair. Lion noticed his approach and gleefully called out to him.

"Check it out, Aizawa! Handcuffs! They're so uncomfortable! Isn't it aweso-" He was interrupted by the erasure hero enveloping the vigilante in a hug. Alexander tensed. Everyone froze. Shouta Aizawa, cold and rational and touch-hating Shouta Aizawa, hugging someone- hell, initiating any kind of physical contact- of his own free will? What was going on?!

"...Um, Aizawa? W-what are you doing?" Hamilton's voice was raised several octaves even through the voice changer. He sounded uncharacteristically unsure.

"Don't do that again, son." Eraserhead's response was only four words, but they had a sense of finality, and the intent behind them was crystal clear. He'd been the most worried out of everyone. Alexander paled at the words, not even thinking about correcting Aizawa. He… Why… The last person to call me that was- was… Then it clicked in Alex's head. General Washington. After a few more seconds, Aizawa let go of Lion and cleared his throat.

"If anyone says anything about that, I'll strangle you with my scarf." Back to normal, then.

"Hm~ too bad, because this is totally going in my blackmail folder," chirped Lion without missing a beat, sounding far too peppy for Tsukauchi's liking. It looked like the vigilante was back to normal too. But he wasn't, it was an act and Alex was the only one who knew it, granted he was the one acting.

"You have a blackmail folder?" Tsukauchi asked, a little scared to hear the answer.

"I do now, ahaha~!" God help him.

"...I'm just going to forget I heard that. Officer Sansa, could you please bring him to the interrogation room?"

"Ooh, ooh, the interrogation room! Sounds fun!" Despite the fact that he was now being pushed forwards by a policeman with his hands cuffed in front of him, he was incorrigibly cheerful as ever. "Could you get the Chief of Police in there too? I actually came here to talk to him. Pretty please?" Tsukauchi's quirk told him that Petit Lion wasn't lying, which brought him to the question:

"What are you going to talk to him about?"

"My oh my, is that jealousy I detect in your voice? Are you sad I didn't come here just to see you? That's so sweet, Tsuka-ku~n," Petit Lion snickered teasingly, but there was no malice in his voice. "I was looking forward to seeing you too~ but I really do need to see the Chief of Police. I have a business proposal to make, actually!" True again. Was that why he'd allowed himself to be captured without even fighting back? Still, thinking he could march into a police station and make demands was ridiculous. Then again, everything about Lion was ridiculous. With all the patience he could muster, the detective smoothed his face and said.

"I think you're forgetting who's in charge here. You're in our custody, remember?"

"That so?" Lion lazily held up a pair of unlocked handcuffs- handcuffs that had been around his wrists seconds ago- with his noticeably unshackled hands. Shock rippled through the room. No one had seen him take the cuffs off; no one had even seen him move! Tsukauchi gaped; Hizashi snorted in amusement; Aizawa sighed, having expected something like this to happen.

"How did you..." Tsukauchi couldn't make himself finish the question. This guy, seriously-! Lion cocked his head and replied.

"Tsuka-kun, you know I wouldn't come here willingly if I couldn't get out whenever I wanted, right~? Would it make you feel better if I put them back on?"

"No, don't bother. I should have known better... ugh. Okay, just- let's go to the interrogation room." Tsukauchi shook his head, and the group started moving. Lion never ceased to amaze him. Eraserhead, Present Mic, Tsukauchi, and some guard officers entered the room. They were followed by Officer Sansa escorting Lion to his chair, and the vigilante sat down without a fuss while Tsukauchi took a place at the other side of the table. The two pro heroes were content to stand by the wall. All the while, Lion was looking with curiosity, leisurely rotating his head to take in the full view as if he were looking at something much more interesting than a plain metal interior and a one-way mirror. He clicked his tongue and commented.

"This place kinda needs a security revamp if you ask me. There are tons of escape routes here, y'know?"

"You're just too good at escaping," came Eraserhead's tired reply.

"Security should always be smarter than the escapee; that's the whole point of security! So~ is one of you getting the chief or should I?" Lion walking freely around the police station and finding Chief Tsuragamae? That could never be allowed to happen, or so help them all. Tsukauchi frantically cut in.

"God, no, you just- no. Just stay here and do. Not. Move. Please."

"Yes, yes~"

Honestly, he didn't understand how Lion could be so carefree in this situation. Though it made the detective a little happy to see his friend was still in high spirits... really, he was happy he could see his friend at all after the scare he'd given everyone. Not that he'd ever tell Lion that. It would go straight to his head.

"Officer Sansa, bring Chief Tsuragamae in here, would you?" He asked the cat-headed officer, and the man gave a nod and exited the room. But he wasn't about to let this opportunity go to waste. "While we have you here, how about you answer some questions?"

Lion pouted and whined, "That's no fun, Tsuka-kun~ questions are boooring!" He threw his head back as he groaned the last word, the spitting image of a kid being dragged along on a dull errand.

"Dealing with all the paperwork you've caused me hasn't exactly been peachy either, so now we're even. Name?"

"Tsuka-kuuun," the vigilante wailed in despair. This guy is really one of Japan's top vigilantes?

"Name?"

"You're such a party pooper~ I'm gonna get you back for this!" The words were spoken in a grumpy tone, but it was clear that there was no real threat to anything he was saying- just bellyaching. Tsukauchi ignored it.

"Name?" Lion gave up with a harrumph, crossed his arms, and turned his face away from the detective as he muttered.

"Fine. It's Petit Lion, you killjoy."

"Your real name, please."

"As long as I've got this mask on, my name is Lion." True. Or at the very least, Lion believed it to be true.

"Fine. Age?"

"Hmph. A gentleman never tells. Besides, I'm not exactly sure what to say." He realized too late that he had said the last part out loud.

"That's not even the saying. And since when are you a gen-" Tsukauchi cut himself off at the sound of the opening door. A creaking echoed through the now silent space. The chief had entered, and with him a heavy tension that would be hard to cut with a chainsaw. All eyes darted to the new arrival. In that moment, an instinctual knowledge like an electric current ran through everyone in the room: something important was about to happen.

"My name is Kenji Tsuragamae, and I am the chief of police. Now, I understand you wanted to talk to me?" Tsuragamae's manner was dignified and dead serious, but his face was crinkled with unmistakable interest. He kept his eyes trained on the vigilante as he pulled up a chair next to Tsukauchi and sat down. Alex followed the chief's example, his demeanor losing most of its playfulness.

"Yes. I'm here to make a proposal."

"And what would you be proposing?" Hamilton hesitated. He let out a soft exhale of breath before giving his answer:

"I'd like to offer my services as a police informant." … No one had been sure what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this.

"That's quite the offer." Chief Tsuragamae made no clear expression, and the gruffness in his voice masked whatever he might have been feeling. It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind.

"Yes, I thought so too," Lion replied mildly. He appeared to be unfazed by Tsuragamae's poker face. "Would you like to hear the terms of the deal?"

"Please, go ahead."

"Okay. So basically, I become an informant. I work in tandem with police investigations whenever necessary, and I gather information on and/or monitor any criminals, villains, groups, syndicates, and so on that you ask me to. In addition, I'll deliver to you biweekly criminal activity reports, based on my patrol findings and on police intel. I'll help you with whatever you need to the best of my abilities. Not only will you no longer have to devote any resources to catching me, you'll also gain a powerful ally who has more freedoms than a regular police officer. And together, we'll be able to drive crime rates down and keep Musutafu safe; it's a sweet deal, if you ask me. However!" Lion held up a finger of pause. "In exchange for these benefits, I have some requests of my own!

"One. The police will no longer make any effort to pursue me. This should be obvious, but just in case. Two. I'm allowed to continue my vigilante work as normal. Three, the police and hero forces may continue to investigate my civilian identity, but you can't interfere with said identity even if you discover it. My vigilante and civilian identities are to be considered as two separate people. Nothing I do as a vigilante will affect my civilian life, and vice versa, unless either identity has committed a crime punishable by law- in which case you can obviously take full legal action. This way, I can continue to live without any changes in my civilian identity and with my privacy intact. I think that's fair enough, don't you?"

This request caused sharp intakes of breath all around. Although it made sense, it was a bit hard to accept not being able to do anything even if they had Lion right in their hands. The vigilante in question appeared to sense their apprehension and smiled. His face may have been covered, but Tsukauchi just knew he was smiling under there. He was enjoying seeing them like this, wasn't he?

As if to answer him, Lion added, "Oh! And you also have to buy me all the coffee I want. Within a reasonable budget, of course~" Never in his life had Naomasa Tsukauchi ever wanted to strangle someone so badly.

"So? Whaddya think, fellas?" Lion leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head in a leisurely stance. All faces turned towards him incredulously. Everything was still as Tsuragamae considered what he'd just heard, scratching his chin in thought, but it was pointless. Everyone already knew what he was going to say. A vigilante as a police informant, and Quirkless to boot? There's no way something like that could happen, no matter how incredible of an offer was made.

"It's a very intriguing proposal, but there are more factors involved here than you know... accepting isn't as simple as you make it sound." But Lion didn't seem to be upset with this answer at all. He stayed in his reclining position and tilted his chin down a little with a slight giggle.

"Isn't it? Well," Lion spoke in a velvety timbre, soft yet dangerously quiet, "how about I simplify it for you?" It was a small change. Small, but significant.

Lion's tone had picked up a trace of smugness, mockery even. His demeanor was still relaxed, but in a different way than before: all his naivety and playfulness had vanished, replaced by an air of absolute and unshakeable confidence. It was the look of someone who knew something no one else did. It was the look of someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

"It's because accepting me as an ally would basically be the same as saying you can't beat me, yeah?" Lion spoke again in that shrewd tone that toed the line between teasing and full-on taunting. "Eventually people would find out you hired me and there'd be a whole mess about the police losing to what society considers to be a subhuman- all very nasty business, I'm sure. And taking into account that many people already see the police as unnecessary due to heroes, that kind of blow might finish you off for good... after all, what's the point of wasting resources on a police force that can't even catch a single Quirkless?" Lion had everyone's full attention now. A room full of cautious faces stared at him as he paused for a beat. Then he came out and stated his point outright: "So you have to stop me in order to appease the public and prove your usefulness, regardless of whether I've done anything illegal or not. Am I right?" Tsukauchi stiffened, and Tsuragamae's eyes sharpened. Neither wanted to admit it, but he'd hit the nail on the head. "But look at it this way: either choice you make will come with criticism. At least if you have me as a police informant, you could keep both me and the damage to your reputation under control. You'd have me on a leash. Maybe you couldn't catch me, but now I'm working for you! I can see the headlines now-" he spread his hands out for emphasis- "'Musutafu's brave officers tame wild, Quirkless vigilante mutt!' Doesn't that sound amazing?" Lion sighed almost longingly and tilted his head to rest it on his fist. His pitch dropped- just enough to be noticeable- as he asked ever so innocently, "On the other hand, what would happen if you refused my offer and continued pursuing me?"

At that question, the air itself seemed to take on weight, and a wriggling nervousness grew in Tsukauchi's gut. The sharp, obnoxious ticking of a clock echoed uncomfortably off dull walls. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Lion stayed silent- maybe waiting for an answer, maybe letting the question sink in. Either way, no reply was given. The atmosphere was becoming heavier and heavier, more and more high-strung, and any second something was going to snap.

Yet Lion pressed further, cunning words dripping with sweetness. "I've never had any problems escaping before, y'know. So I'd just keep doing my work, garnering more and more attention, and you'd be running yourselves ragged trying to arrest me for crimes I've never actually committed. Even if you did catch me, you'd have no choice but to let me walk right back out that door. And no matter what you chose, eventually everyone would still find out that a Quirkless was running circles around the entirety of Musutafu's police force. Except in this version, the police are too pigheaded to even realize they've lost, so you just keep chasing me and plowing on even though you're only making things worse. Any remaining faith in you guys-" he emulated an explosion with his hands- "poof, just like that. And methinks there would be some pre~tty nasty backlash. I mean, whatever you'd face for admitting defeat, drawing it out and going on making fools of yourselves would make it twenty times worse. No one's going to care that your hands were tied; they'll spit at you on the streets and outright refuse to cooperate with you. Pretty soon you might even have some riots on your hands- I'm sure you know how this stuff tends to blow up. Everyone would be turned against you in an instant.

"And y'know," Lion stretched the words out in a honeyed drawl, "all that chaos? I imagine it would royally piss off the government. Budget cuts, pay decreases, downsizing, and who knows what else, all coming your way. From there, every little thing you do would be judged and scrutinized for an excuse to pile more blame on you. At best, the local police force would be crippled and effectively turned into the heroes' scapegoat- well, more so than you already are- and at worst... you get totally shut down." No one had any response to that. Lion's smirk was audible as he leaned forward and steepled his fingers on the table. "As long as you understand the consequences of your choice, Chief of Police Kenji Tsuragamae, I won't argue with you. But if I were you, I'd think carefully… I wouldn't want to make the wrong choice... y'know?"

Lion let out another soft giggle, and the room went quiet again. Tsukauchi clenched his fists in frustration. Lion was right. No one wanted to say it, but Lion was right. It was a lesser of two evils situation: working with the vigilante, with came with many benefits and some drawbacks, and continuing to pointlessly chase him, which would only have drawbacks. No matter what would happen by accepting the offer, whatever happened if they refused would undoubtedly be worse. There had never been a choice in the first place. Lion had made his own weakness, his Quirklessness, into a weapon and completely turned the situation around... he'd walked right into the police station and given himself up, but they'd still lost to him.

No- they hadn't just lost. They'd been utterly defeated. Lion had played them like a fiddle. It looked like Chief Tsuragamae had realized this as well. He stared at Lion in stony silence for what seemed like an eternity, likely combing his mind for some sort of loophole or rebuttal, before coming short and letting out a slumping sigh. With a mumble of "I can't believe I'm doing this", he extended his hand over the table to shake.

"...I look forward to working with you in the future. Welcome aboard, Lion." Lion looked at the offered hand in disbelief (if he didn't know better, Tsukauchi would think the vigilante was surprised his own plan had worked). Then all of his former seriousness and cunning flew out the window in an instant. The vigilante brightened up like a Christmas tree as he jumped out of his seat, sending it flying in the process, to take the chief's paw and shook it so fast that the two's arms became a blur. All the while, he gushed, "Thank you thank you thank you! I definitely won't let you-" Lion paused. He glanced down at his side. Tsukauchi felt worry creeping up his throat again.

"What is it?" Lion rubbed his neck and casually replied

"It's nothing, I just tore another one of my stitches. Ahaha~ you guys wouldn't happen to have any thread on you, would you?"

"You what?! Wait, what do you mean by another one of your stitches?" That's right, Lion had literally stitched up his own wound. What kind of pain tolerance would that even take?! He'd been acting so normal, but that didn't change the fact that he'd received a fatal injury less than twelve hours ago. God, he- "you shouldn't even be moving right now! Just- just stay still, let me get the first-aid kit. And someone call the paramedics!"

Lion gave a start and began to wave his hands in a frenzy, spluttering, "Whoa whoa whoa! I don't do hospitals, remember? No need to waste money, just get me a needle and some thread and I'll DIY it. I know how to make ribbons and everything-"

"You don't DIY stitches, idiot!" Tsukauchi hissed. It was all he could do to keep from grabbing the vigilante by the collar and shaking him. How could this be the same person who'd wrapped the city's police force around his finger mere moments ago? Scratch that, how could any person be so completely and utterly dumb?!

"Well, I do," Lion replied simply. At that, all Tsukauchi could do was let out a groan. He ran a hand over his face, then groaned again, then looked back at the vigilante. He wasn't lying, and that was kind of terrifying to the detective. Had he been treating his own injuries like this from the beginning? How many times had it gotten this bad? Or worse? Tsukauchi wasn't sure he wanted to know. The idea of his friend getting hurt so badly over and over again and patching himself up in some alleyway made his heart ache. He couldn't let this go on.

"Little listener," Present Mic piped up, face scrunched with worry, "Tsukauchi is right! Not getting help when you need it isn't very plus ultra."

"But I don't need it!" Lion protested. "I've taken out bullets before, y'know? I can handle some stitches if it means saving $10,000 in hospital fees." Bullets?! Tsukauchi opened his mouth to protest. But before anyone else had had a chance to speak, Eraserhead interjected.

"If you go to the hospital with us, I'll buy you a candy bar." It looked like he'd given up on reasoning with the vigilante, and had now turned to bargaining. Lion was unimpressed.

"I'm not seven, Eraserhead."

The man grunted. "Seven, fifteen, what's the difference? You're a problem child either way, so just come to the hospital or I'll drag you there." With a melodramatic sigh, Lion turned his head to the side and grumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Tsukauchi asked.

"I said I'm broke, okay?!" Lion burst out, making the detective flinch, before lowering his voice to an embarrassed mumble. "I don't have the money to go to the hospital. So I can't. Hospitals are overrated anyway."

"So that was what you were worried about?" Tsukauchi responded with an incredulous shake of his head. Lion's side was split open, but his first thought was saving money? His priorities would need some work. He continued, "Don't worry about the bills right now. We can handle that part. It would be a shame if our newest police informant died of blood loss, right?"

Immediately, Lion shot back, "How soon do you I have to pay you back and with what interest rate?"

"Look, forget paying us back, okay? Just let us take you to the hospital. Please."

"...You're going to make them draw blood or something to figure out my identity," Lion said doubtfully.

"It wouldn't matter if we found out now because of the deal you made, remember?"

"Doesn't mean I want you to know who I am."

Seriously? "Wha- how paranoid are you- ugh. Never mind. Then we won't have them identify you or anything like that, okay? We won't look at those results. So for the love of God, will you please get some medical help?" Lion stared at the begging trio for a long minute. Then, with an exhale, he crossed his arms and relented.

"...Fine. But the mask and suit stay on." Lion hadn't been sure how he would be spending his evening, but he definitely hadn't thought that he'd be spending it in a hospital bed. For one, the fees were absolutely insane. And if you were Quirkless? Forget about it. They'd add on a bunch of nonsensical charges, as if the base ten grand they were asking for wasn't far enough out of his budget. Besides, he didn't want to have to explain to the police how his civilian identity got injuries like knife stabs and bullet wounds, since it wasn't like he could just go to the hospital in his vigilante persona. At least that's what he'd thought. But here was, lying in a surprisingly comfortable (then again, anything would be comfortable to a kid who slept on concrete and park benches) hospital cot, hooked up to an IV drip, Eraserhead and Present Mic sitting by his bed while Detective Tsukauchi talked with a doctor outside the room.

It should have been impossible, but he wasn't complaining. You'll start complaining when the bills come in... ugh. He refused to let his mind linger on that for too long. He'd only get more and more depressed. The door opened softly, and Lion looked up to see Tsukauchi entering the room with a complicated expression.

"What's the long face for, Tsuka-kun?" He grinned. "I'm the one on the brink of death here, y'know?"

"You were denying that pretty vehemently up until now," Eraserhead deadpanned.

"Well, what can I say? The circumstances have changed. Honestly, Aizawa~ if you make fun of a poor, frail hospital patient like me, I might just keel over and die!" Lion gave a noncommittal shrug and snorted at his own joke before directing his attention back to Tsukauchi. "So? What's the news? Do I only have 24 hours to live?"

Tsukauchi remained stoic and crossed his arms like an angry parent. "The wound won't leave any permanent damage. It'll heal with some bed rest. What's more concerning is the fact that you're severely exhausted and malnourished. Care to explain?" At that, Eraserhead and Present Mic both turned to him expectantly. Concern was clear on both of their faces, and it puzzled him. Why did they care so much? It wasn't like he'd actually died, so what did it matter? It was strange. With the most apathy he could muster, he droned.

"Oh. That's boring." Then he raised his head, forced brightness into his voice in his best impression of excitement, and eagerly asked, "Did the doctor say anything about how good my homemade stitches were? I practiced a whole bunch, y'kno-"

"Don't try to change the subject. Neglecting your health will only make things harder for you in the long run," Eraserhead interrupted sternly, and Present Mic nodded his head with enthusiasm.

Tsukauchi closed the door behind him and continued, "You'll have to stay in the hospital for tonight. You'll be released tomorrow, but the doctor has banned any strenuous activity for the next two weeks, so no patrols. And the IV drip is giving you some nutrients, but you need to eat and sleep properly!" The detective shook his head as his voice raised in frustration. "It's a medical miracle that you haven't fainted from exhaustion by now!"

The vigilante was about to come up with a snarky comeback when suddenly the realization of what Tsukauchi had told him set in. "No patrols for two weeks?! No way!"

"That's what happens when you get stabbed," Eraserhead said dryly. "And if we catch you out on patrol when you should be resting, we'll take you into police custody."

"What?!" Lion spluttered in outrage, and words began pouring out of his mouth before he could even think. "Wha- you can't do that! I- I can't just not patrol! For two whole weeks! People will get hurt and I won't be there to help! They could even die! Who cares if I got stabbed when things like that are happening?! And I've gone on patrol with worse anyway, and- and the injury isn't even that bad! You guys are just making a huge deal out of it but it's really fine and I can still go out there and help people so there's no way I'm not going to especially since it doesn't matter if I get hurt anyway, so there!" Lion emphasized his last word and finished his speech, not even panting for breath. The three men in the room just looked at him.

"...Do you really think that, little listener?" Present Mic finally spoke up. Shit I said that part outloud? I really have to stop doing that. Alexander scolded himself.

"Think what...?" He said, his tone careful.

"That it doesn't matter if you get hurt!"

Lion blinked. "Oh, that? Well, I mean, there are people who have it worse, right? Just because I've got a little scratch doesn't mean I shouldn't do something to help them."

"I don't know how many times I'll have to tell you this, but that 'little scratch' could have killed you." Tsukauchi's face was scrunched with worry and desperation as he pleaded, "You have to be more careful! Even if you don't care if you get hurt, we do." They do? Those words made Lion's airways constrict, squeezing his heart right out of his chest. Why would they say something like that? He didn't understand. Why? It couldn't be true; he knew that much. He'd let himself hope like this too many times, and all it had ever led to was more pain. There was no way someone could care about a disgusting good-for-nothing like him. So why couldn't he detect anything but sincerity in their voices? He didn't understand. He didn't understand, and he didn't think he wanted to. So instead, he did what he always did: put on a smile and went along with it.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." The lie was a practiced one, and it flowed out easy and smooth like melted butter. Still, Eraserhead and Tsukauchi didn't seem convinced. He'd have to figure out a way to avoid them escaping the hospital later; there was no way he was missing patrol. Not tonight, not ever.

"You're going to try to get out of the hospital, aren't you," Eraserhead stated. He didn't even bother making it sound like a question... am I that transparent?

It looked like there was no point in playing dumb, then. "You know me so well~ I'm flattered!"

"I have to pay attention to you, otherwise you'd go off and get yourself killed."

Present Mic snorted, then brightened up and said with a self-satisfied look on his face, "How about this! If you don't stay in the hospital, then I won't let you on my radio show! How's that?"

Lion gave a gasp of mock surprise and put his hand to his chest. "That's low, 'Zashi. That's low."

"'Zashi?" Eraserhead questioned.

"Oh~ are you maybe jealous that you're the only one I didn't give a nickname? I didn't take you for that type, Aizawa-kun!" The hero in question only grunted. Suddenly the door opened again, and a nurse entered, giving a small bow and smiling politely before moving towards Lion's IV drip.

"Thank you," he said. The nurse only smiled in response.

Tsukauchi grinned at Lion. "That'll be the sedatives she's putting in." His smile snapped off his face, eyes suddenly holding distrust.

"...The what now?"

"We knew you'd try to do something stupid," Eraserhead replied, "so we asked the doctor to put you under for the night. You're going to rest, whether you like it or not."

"What?! Why would you do that?!" Lion yelled, outraged. He had to get out there and patrol, damnit! He should have known better than to let these people take him to the hospital! This was what he got for trusting anybody, but shouldn't he have learned his lesson by now?! He was such an idiot!

"It's for your own good," he heard a voice say, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. He was still lost in his own thoughts, cursing himself. His eyelids were already beginning to take on weight even as he struggled to keep them open, but he knew he couldn't fight it for long. How could he have let this happen?

"You... guys... I won't..." he slurred, desperately trying to make his body cooperate with him. The figures of the three men were blurring into vague colors and shapes, and even those began to fade further and further. Everything felt so much heavier than usual. But he couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he wanted to, he had to… He had to go out... and... patrol… That was the last thing he could remember thinking before everything went black.