Disclaimer: I do not own Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

My Hero Academia: Entreri Gaiden

Chapter thirty-six: Swordsmanship and a confession

The latest round of internships was still going strong, and the pro heroes from the legendary year of UA were doing their utmost to teach the newest generation of students, their own kids, how to be heroes. But heroes tied to UA weren't the only pro heores out there, UA wasn't the only name in the game. As an example of this, there are pro heroes from Ketsubutsu, the very hero academy that the late pro hero Ms. Joke had taught at for many years, and they just like other pro heroes were contributing to the effort to round up what influence of the Fine Wine gang was still out there roaming the streets.

Basically Ketsubutsu was helping to clean up a mess UA had made.

"Wow, I still can't believe that Fine Wine turned out to have been a former UA student," a male pro hero with an octagon theme said to a female pro hero with a cell phone theme, "Makes me glad that the both of us graduated from Ketsubutsu. Our old school still has a clean record."

"Our old school is still standing," the female pro hero replied, "Fine Wine had his men take his old school down in that siege, remember?"

The male pro hero burst out laughing. "Yeah, they clearly got what they had coming! Hey, did you hear how the remnants of the Fine Wine gang that eluded capture had regrouped and are now in the process of trying to get their old boss back?"

"I heard that they're in three separate factions entirely," the female pro hero said, "Although I'm not sure why. I mean, if all of them ultimately want to liberate their boss, then how come all of them aren't working tog-"

"AHHHHHHH!"

The two Ketsubutsu pro heroes stopped short upon hearing a panicked cry, making them turn back around and run to the direction that the cry came from. The two of them ended up running into an alleyway, going in deep. By the time they had gotten into the thick of the alleyway, the pro heroes looked around, trying to find the civilian who had made the panicked cry. However, the two of them had failed to find anyone.

"...You heard that cry too, didn't you?" the male pro hero asked, looking mildly concerned.

The female pro hero nodded in the affirmative. "...Yeah, there has to be someone around here who had cried out for help. Unless of course some kid thought that it'd be all in good fun to cry out in false alarm." Looking around, the female pro hero continued, "The last thing we need right now is for people to give false alarms to distract us. We need to focus on cleaning up the mess that the failure that UA created had wrought."

"You speak of Minoru-sama in a disrespectful manner."

The two Ketsubutsu pro heroes stopped short upon hearing an old man call out to them, sounding firm and mildly annoyed. Turning around to face the direction that the call came from, the two pros spotted Hochu Sunoni walk up to them. The male pro hero's eyes narrowed a bit as he and his fellow Ketsubutsu pro saw the older man casually approach them, before stopping about a meter in front of them.

The male pro hero's eyes narrowed a bit as he and his fellow regarded the old man. "...Hang on, aren't you one of those big name guys working to try to get your boss Fine Wine out of jail?" the male pro hero asked, pointing to Hochu.

The older man let out a gentle breath. "The boss needs to be free in order to revitalize the gang and restore it to the former glory it had before that traitorous harlot that I intend to locate had gone and ruined something being done for the betterment of the nation."

"Yeah, I'd like to see you try," the male pro hero said, "I know that you're one of the guys being hunted who is quirkless." Assuming a stance for fighting, the male pro hero said, "I'd like to see a quirkless old man like you try to stop two pro heroes that both have-"

The male pro hero never got to finish talking as Hochu, in one swift motion, unsheathed his sword from the cane he was using and slashed at the two pro heroes, slicing their throats and jumping back before the blood started spraying. Both pro heroes from Ketsubutsu dropped, with the female futily trying to cover up her throat as she tried gasping for air that would not ever come to her again.

Hochu looked down in disappointment as the two Ketsubutsu pro heroes laid bleeding out on the alleyway ground. "...The over-inflated sense of stock placed into having a quirk has made the ones that have quirks overly reliant on them. They had allowed their quirks to make them a weak lot, incapable of surviving without special powers. True power doesn't come from having a special power like overly enhanced physical strength or super speed, but rather what you make of yourself. The wonders of what humans can do to improve themselves."

The older quirkless man gently shook his head in disappointment as he continued to look down at the two Ketsubutsu pro heroes, who by now had bled to death. "...Unlike you, Minoru-sama sees value where others see nothing. That is why he must be freed from jail and lead the gang back to the former glory it once knew. And when he is free, the woman who ratted on him will be brought before him so that he may punish her as he sees fit."

Hochu, clean and without any blood on his person, whipped his sword before him, flinging off what blood was on it before sheathing it back into the cane and turning around to walk away. Let the heroes deal with this mess.

Hochu has other more important things to do that required his attention.

Over at Izuku's agency, Izuku himself was meeting in his office with a sidekick who worked at his agency. Ichimichi Veldora, otherwise known as the Orgess Hero: War Oni, stood in front of the desk that the number one hero sat at. Ichimichi's hero outfit looked very reminiscent of what girls in the gladiator class in a certain video game normally wore, the only difference being that Ichimichi lacked the dark green cloth headband since her singular black pointed horn growing out of her head would get in the way.

Gesturing to Ichimichi, Izuku said, "Given the situation involving one of the three faction leaders, I was hoping you'd be able to give some insight, Ichimichi."

The Veldora family cousin had a bit of a somber look on her face as she looked down a bit to the floor. "...I doubt that there's much that I can tell you that Hikari hasn't already provided to you, sir. My cousin Makoto wants to kill that Mineta fellow whose actions had driven his little sister Kolulu into committing suicide. Makoto loves our family, cares for all of us deeply. It's why Kolulu's suicide had torn him up as much as it did."

Off to Izuku's right side stood his wife Ochaco, and off to Izuku's left stood his and Ochaco's son Fuyuki, who Izuku has as his intern during the current round of internships. Next to Fuyuki stood his classmate Hikari, Ichimichi's younger cousin and the student his mom got as an intern. All of them were present as Izuku was working on trying to come up with a game plan involving the Veldora family, given how they turned out to be more connected to Mineta's actions than what could have been guessed, even though the Veldoras by no means intended for it to happen.

Gesturing to Ichimichi, Izuku said, "Well I'll be needing you for what I got planned in dealing with Makoto. I'm hoping to try to get him to yield and surrender peacefully by appealing to his love for his family."

"...You want to try to have Hikari and I talk Makoto down," Ichimichi said, realizing what the top hero had in mind. Deku nodded in the affirmative. Ichimichi let out a sigh. "...Well, if there's one thing Makoto won't do, it's seriously harm any of our family members. Seeing me and or Hikari show up in and of itself will be enough to make him take pause at the very least."

"If it helps any," Ochaco began, "Although your cousin has been confirmed to have killed people, all of said victims have been other thugs, members of rival gangs, and even a few lesser villains. In short, Makoto when you get right down to it has only ever killed other 'bad guys', to put things in oversimplified terms. He has never harmed an innocent person, and one of the lesser villains that he killed was about to kill an innocent civilian otherwise."

Both Ichimichi and Hikari looked rattled to hear that Makoto had been confirmed to have killed people, but took some comfort in the fact that, in oversimplified terms, all of the people he had killed had been other bad guys. "I'm hoping that, when we get a solid enough lead on Makoto," Izuku began, "You'll be ready to join the team thrown together to deal with him. If all goes as I'm hoping, then we can capture Makoto without actually resorting to violence."

"From the sounds of it," Fuyuki spoke up, getting everyone to turn to face him, "Makoto is still a good person deep down. He just needs a little bit of help because he's really upset right now is all." Izuku nodded in agreement with his son. Hikari looked thankful towards the boy she was in love with, happy to hear that he was giving her older brother the benefit of the doubt.

...

After Ichimichi took her leave, Izuku let out a resigned sigh. "...It still bothers me that the Veldora family had been turned on their heads by Mineta's actions. Not to mention how badly Ryumaru had fallen due to Kolulu's suicide."

"Speaking of Ryumaru," Ochaco spoke up as she looked in the one corner in the room, "Where did his kanabo go? It was leaning in that corner of your office ever since it had been released from evidence." Indeed, after everything that Ryumaru's kanabo was needed for had been taken care of, Izuku took it to his office and placed it leaning in the one corner that Ochaco pointed out. But now the kanabo was missing.

Izuku let out a resigned sigh. "I'm...not at liberty to discuss that, dear. President Mera's orders."

As Ochaco nodded in understanding, she was about to speak up when Ichimichi came running back into Izuku's office. "Deku, sir!" the Ogress Hero called out, clearly having urgent business, "Your sister-in-law Rocketti and her daughter are here! They say that two sidekicks that worked at Dynamight's agency had been found dead in an alleyway!"

"What?!" Izuku said as he stood up from his desk, as alarmed as Ochaco and the teens. Everyone took off from out of Izuku's office and went out to go talk to Pony and Inko, who were both waiting on the ground floor of Izuku's agency in the main lobby. The number one hero was worried where this may lead to.

After the group met up with Pony and Inko, the former began explaining things to the others. "It was Mina, Kyoka and their respective sons who came across the two dead sidekicks that had been working for Katsuki," Pony explained grimly, "We have reason to believe that they were both killed by Hochu, given that Katsuki has been focusing on tracking him down out of all of the faction leaders."

Izuku held a hand to his chin, a look of deep concentration on his face. "...Hochu is one of the two faction leaders that's quirkless, and yet he can kill pro heroes who both have quirks. What I feel about him is true, he shouldn't be underestimated."

"How is it that a quirkless man," Inko began, "And one who's as old as that old fart, is such a threat to pro heroes? Even those sidekicks shouldn't have had no problem in the least dealing with such a person!"

"He's a master swordsman of peerless skill, if the reports on him are true," Ochaco began to explain to her niece, "He is highly unlikely to go down to a lone opponent in an up close fight. We will need to surround him but keep a distance, and use ranged quirk attacks to defeat him."

Izuku turned to look at his sister-in-law. "Pony, it's a good thing that Kacchan is one of the heroes working on trying to track down and capture Hochu. Kaccchan is one of our best bets at defeating him and bringing him in."

Pony nodded in agreement. "If there's anyone who can take down any villain, it's Katsuki." Inko nodded in agreement with her mom.

"We're also going to need to get Todoroki in on this as well," Izuku pointed out, "He can also use powerful quirk attacks at a distance, so he can back Kacchan up if need be."

"Where's Bakugo now?" Ochaco asked.

Pony let out a sigh. "...He's talking to the families of the two sidekicks who were killed. The male sidekick had a mother and a younger sister who's in her last year of high school, and the female sidekick had a physically disabled father who's a widower."

Izuku was the next one to let out a sigh, his sounding very much troubled. "Okay, once Kacchan is done talking to the families, we're going to need to speak with him. We'll need to coordinate on tracking down any possible lead on Hochu, then when we get a-"

*GRRRRRROOOOWL*

Izuku stopped short when he and everyone heard a stomach loudly grumble. Everyone turned to look at Hikari, who was looking down at the floor out of embarrassment as her face lit up. "Wow, I never heard her stomach growl like that," Ichimichi said, "Even when she was chubby."

Ochaco sighed gently, knowing that her intern was still starving herself. "Hikari, you seriously need to eat."

"I have a proposition," Izuku said, "We dismiss our interns for lunch and let them relax a bit, then we call them back and reconvene once we get a gameplan going." The pro heroes all agreed, and after Pony called Bakugo to let him know, the teens were sent to go get themselves a bite to eat. Inko told Fuyuki and Hikari to follow her, as she knows a great place. As such, Fuyuki and Hikari followed the daughter of Dynamight.

The three teens ended up going to a taco place that was near Izuku's agency. While they ate, Inko was telling Fuyuki and Hikari all about how much ass her dad was kicking now that he was back in command of his agency that he had started up. She even told the others a story she got from her dad about the state he found his personal office in while it was being used by Pinky, the highest ranked person working at the agency, while she was in command.

Fuyuki took a sip from his soda, then sat it down before he responded. "...Yup, that sounds about right for Ragna's mom," Fuyuki said in a dry, unsurprised tone.

Inko snorted out a laugh at her cousin's response. "Dude, my dad said that Mrs. Sero had so much pink in the office that he thought his eyes were going to explode from sheer rage. He had all of it removed, with the promise that any that remained by the end of the work day would be tossed into a dumpster before the contents of said dumpster were set on fire."

"That is exactly what I would expect out of Uncle Katsuki," Fuyuki said dryly. The son of Deku turned to look at his slender, nerdy horned classmate, saw that she hadn't even touched her food at all. He looked to Hikari's face, which prompted her to turn to look at him. She blushed a bit when the boy she was in love with, the boy she felt that she had betrayed, was looking right at her with a wry look.

Fuyuki let out a troubled sigh. "...You know, the reason why my parents had sent us on a lunch break was because your stomach was growling, Hikari," Fuyuki pointed out.

"Let me guess," Inko said dryly, getting Hikari to turn to look at her, "You're starving yourself skinny because you got it bad for one of the boys."

Hikari froze up at that accusation, her face blushing all the harder with embarrassment. Seeing that his cousin's guess looked to be right on the mark, Fuyuki let out another sigh. "You know, I was worried that you were starving yourself to lose weight in the hopes of getting a boy to-"

"I am starving myself over a boy, yes," Hikari began, cutting Fuyuki off and getting him and Inko to look at her. Both teens looked to their slender, horned nerdy classmate as she spoke. "...And yes, I am hoping to get him to one day like me. But I'm not starving myself because I hope the results will make me more appealing to him. I..." Hikari scrunched up out of embarrassment, the blushing on her face becoming very vibrant.

The other two teens looked expectantly at Hikari. "...Yes?" Inko asked, "You're starving yourself over him because you-"

"Because I betrayed my feelings for Fuyuki!"

Both teens looked surprised when Hikari cried out, even leaning back a bit out of surprise, as Hikari began crying. "I allowed that cruel scheme that Rem had pulled to trick me into turning on Fuyuki, siding against him because he had been made to look like a lewd, dirty pervert. I actually thought poorly of him because of it! And now everyone knows that it was all Rem's doing due to how she was jealous of him! He never did anything!"

Hikari then laid her arms on the table, laid her face into her arms and then proceeded to start crying at full volume. Both of the other teens were stunned by what all Hikari had confessed to just now, Fuyuki because a girl had just confessed to having feeling for him, and Inko because the girl in question was suffering because of a scheme that Inko herself was the true culprit of, with the late Rem being offered to public knowledge in order to protect Inko.

Fuyuki let out a troubled, mildly resigned sigh. In truth, he actually had always found Hikari to be rather on the cute side, and he appreciated how she performed well in her academics like he himself did. As a matter of fact, had it not been for what all had happened to get him expelled in the first place, then the son of Deku could have very easily seen himself accepting Hikari's feelings, allowing the two of them to begin being an official couple.

...But now? Fuyuki was simply too emotionally hurt by his experiences to want to date anyone. But that did not mean he would never want to date. On the contrary, Fuyuki would like it if he was able to eventually find love, and Hikari clearly wanted to be the one to provide it to him. But he just couldn't do it right now. The son of Deku turned to look at Hikari, patted her gently on the back to get her to look at him.

"...Listen, Hikari." The slender, horned nerdy girl perked up and looked at the boy she was in love with, her eyes a bit red and tear streaked. "...To be honest, I actually do appreciate how you have feelings for me," Fuyuki began, "And under other circumstances I would be happy to go out with you. But given what all I've been through ever since I had been framed by Rem, I just don't feel like I can give a relationship the effort it needs at the moment."

Hikari teared up a bit more, and Inko looked a bit guilty, knowing the truth behind the matter since she was a part of it. "...However, I would still like to give it a try eventually." Both girls gave their full attention to Fuyuki as he spoke. "...Again being honest here, I've always found you to be a girl that I would like going out with. Your cuteness aside, I really like how intelligent you are. I just need two things from you first."

"What?" Hikari asked, perking up at the possibility that she could actually get Fuyuki to like her back.

Holding up two fingers, Fuyuki said, "First, I still need time to deal with and get over the trauma that had been forced onto me due to the events that were beyond my control. I'm still not all too trusting towards other people." Hikari looked a bit sad at that, but circumstances being what they were, she had to accept it. "Second," Fuyuki went on, "Is that you have got to stop it with the self-imposed torturing."

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked.

Sighing, Inko said, "I think my cous here is talking about how you've been starving yourself a lot as of late. Seriously, have you seen how skinny you've gotten?! I think that led to your stomach growling earlier, Hikari!"

With a dry look on his face, Fuyuki arched an eyebrow as he said, "Inko has a point. Hikari, you have got to start eating again. Starving yourself like this is by no means a good look for you, so if you want me to consider dating you, then you have to eat something."

Hikari blushed with embarrassment when she was told by both Fuyuki and Inko that she actually had to gain some weight. To be completely honest, they did have a point on how she looked like she could sure use a few burgers, or as the case is given where they were all getting lunch at, tacos. Slowly, Hikari grabbed one of the tacos on her tray and began eating it, drawing nods of approval from Fuyuki and Inko.

The son of Deku and daughter of Dynamight were glad to see their slender, horned nerdy classmate was finally eating again, because hot damn does she need it. As the atmosphere of the teens having lunch began to relax again, Inko perked up when her smartphone went off. She answered it and saw it was a text from her mom Pony. "...We got to bounce, like, now," Inko said, "Another sidekick from my dad's agency had been found dead."

Fuyuki and Hikari both looked shocked at that. "Seriously, Inko?!" Fuyuki nearly exclaimed.

Nodding in confirmation, Inko said, "From the looks of things according to what my mom texted me, the sidekick was killed by that old fart Hochu." The other teens looked grim as they heard that one of the three faction leaders was causing more trouble. Having to toss out what food that they still had, Fuyuki, Inko and Hikari all took their leave from the taco place. Although the three teens were worried, at least some worries were being laid to rest.

Hikari, at least, was healing.

END, CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Author's notes;

This chapter starts a few things that I've been wanting to kick off; the heroes dealing with Hochu, and Hikari's recovery. Yes, Hikari will slowly recover from her self-imposed torturing, but it will take a while, especially since there's still the three factions to deal with. Their respective leaders will be an especially big threat to the heroes, even though two of the three are actually quirkless. And one of the two quirkless men will be cropping up in the next chapter some more.

Later, skaters.