Shoyo flapped his wings to keep up with Yamaguchi. The freckled boy was running so fast that it was nearly impossible to stay with him on foot. He was close to picking up Kageyama and flying them alongside Yamaguchi, but that would arouse too much suspicion.

Finally, Yamaguchi stopped in front of a large apartment building. "This is it," he said quietly.

"This is where Akiteru lived?" Kageyama asked, every other word chopped off by another breath heaved.

"Lives," Yamaguchi corrected, going over to the side of the building.

Shoyo rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought he was in the hospital because of a-"

"He'll come back here once he's cleared," Yamaguchi interrupted. He waved a beckoning motion with his hand. Once the two tiptoed over, he whispered, "The fire escape that leads to his apartment is on this side. We can sneak in through there."

"What's that?" Kageyama pointed to a dark splotch on the ground.

Shoyo walked cautiously forward, crouching down to investigate. "It's blood," he reported, touching the splotch. "It's warm. And wet." He looked up at the others. "Is it Tsukishima's?"

Yamaguchi's face darkened at the sight of the blood. "It might be." He looked to be on the verge of tears. "But even if it's not, whoever's blood it is, they're hurt. We have to help them." He pointed behind Shoyo. The redhead turned around to see a trail of blood. "That way."

They followed the trail, Yamaguchi in the front. They walked until Yamaguchi pulled them to the side, hiding behind a jut out in the wall. He pointed to ahead of them, where a tall, blond boy was standing with a shorter boy with spiky brown hair.

Shoyo gasped. He knew that head of hair. "Seki!" He ran out from behind the jut.

Sekimukai turned around and smiled. "Sho, hey!" He looked at the jut. "Why did you come out from there?"

"We were trying to find one of my friends," Shoyo explained, waving his hand.

"'We'?" Sekimukai questioned, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah!" Shoyo turned around. "Guys, it's just Sekimukai! And I think Tsukishima's here, too!"

Yamaguchi slowly emerged from behind the jut, followed by a hesitant Kageyama.

Kageyama's eyes widened, as he watched behind the redhead. "Shoyo, watch out!"

Shoyo tipped his head to the side. He was confused on why Kageyama would shout that so suddenly, and use "Shoyo" instead of "Hinata". Before he could ask, however, he felt a sharp pain in his back, right between his wings. He wailed, the pain too much for him to hold in.

"Sorry, Sho," Sekimukai apologized, "but this is all for you."

"H-Hinata…" Tsukishima strained. Tobio watched as the taller boy struggled to turn his head. "Tadashi...Kageyama…go…!"

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi screeched. "What's going on?"

"His quirk…! Don't let him...lick your blood!" Sweat beaded on Tsukishima's temples.

Hinata was on his hands and knees. Tears streamed down the redhead's face. It made Tobio angry. "You-you have a quirk?"

Sekimukai's expression remained the same. His smile was so sad, his eyes seemed kind. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Sho." He reached down to take the knife out of Hinata's back. "I wanted you to reach your full potential."

Yamaguchi glanced at Tobio. "Kageyama," he whispered too quietly for Sekimukai to hear.

"On it," Tobio muttered back, fishing into his utility belt slowly. If that guy takes the knife out of Hinata's back, he pondered, then he'll be able to do whatever he did to Tsukishima, to Hinata. We can't let that happen. It seems like Yamaguchi and I are on the same page.

Hinata moved out of the way so Sekimukai would miss the knife. "Full potential? That sounds really dumb." He army crawled over to Tsukishima's feet. "Besides, I never asked you to do that!"

Sekimukai shook his head gently. "I'm sorry, Sho."

"And stop calling me 'Sho'!" Hinata scolded. "I grew out of that nickname! It's Winged Giant to you!" He shakily sat up, grimacing at the pain. "Do you hear me? Winged-" He his voice caught. "Ow, ow, ow…You really hurt me, you jerk! You jerk- ow, why would you-"

"Stop talking!" Sekimukai finally snapped. "I wanted to only use my quirk on you, but now you're being annoying! Guardian!"

Tobio watched Tsukishima reach down robotically and pick Hinata up by the neck. Hinata extended his wings, his legs dangling. Swearing under his breath, Tobio took out a piece of metal from his utility belt and pinpointed it right at Tsukishima's hand. It hit his desired target, causing him to drop Hinata on the ground.

Tobio ran over. "Hinata, are you alright?" Hinata held his neck and nodded. Tobio sighed. "Good." He turned around at Sekimukai, who was just standing there. "What do you want?"

"Like I said, I want Sho to reach his full potential," he answered, smiling. "But with you people, he won't be able to do that, will he?"

Tobio stood up. "Of course he will! He's training with me to become a hero!" Tsukishima twitched at the edge of Tobio's vision. Tobio decided to keep up with the conversation. "Besides, it's not your decision what path Shoyo takes, it's his. You should be supportive if you're really his friend."

"You see, that's where you're wrong," Sekimukai sighed. "True friends are self sacrificing." He shoved past Tobio and wrenched the knife out of Hinata's back (accompanied by a short wail from the ginger). "True friends love their friends so much that they'd set them straight." He licked the blood off of the knife, causing Hinata to go stiff. Tsukishima fell to his knees. "True friends defeat their best friends' fake friends." He pointed the knife at Tobio.

"Then we'll just have to defeat you."

A/N: Okay, so, I'd like to have a whole chapter devoted to explaining some of the things in the story that won't ever get explained within the story. It won't be till after this arc is done, so don't worry about your regularly scheduled angst getting disrupted ^^'.