Aizawa Shōta sustained the following injuries: an upper arm completely shattered, minor fractures on his face but at best, that is all he had sustained, courtesy to one of the biggest problem children in his class—Fushiguro Megumi. The boy had ranked third in the Entrance Exams and from that point on, did not do any manor achievements worthy to actually be talked about with the exception of easily putting down Yaoyorozu Momo but at the same time, his file also said 'skillful in hand-to-hand combat'. Kugisaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi had such a big impact in the Entrance Exam's Practical Test that even Aizawa had fairly high expectations for them. That is, until their seclusion became more prevalent. It does not take a genius to notice that they like to keep to themselves and it is seen with how they always try to keep their conversations with their classmates short, how they narrow their eyes at certain subjects, and share glances and messages that only they can understand.

Midnight had cooed and said that they must be lovers since this is not the first time that a Duo is actually a pair of lovers. Most Duos are actually lovers which is why Midnight scratching it as a that type of thing is not surprising. But Aizawa does not think that is simple enough. There is something about Fushiguro and Kugisaki that he cannot put a finger to. He had watched the Battle Trials and had sneered when All Might let it develop to such a critical battle between Bakugō and Midoriya, but there is something disturbing about Fushiguro and Kugisaki. How did Kugisaki end up with the conclusion that going straight into the water knowing Kaminari can easily electrocute her is a good idea? And the look in Fushiguro's face as he pinned down Yaoyorozu had been uncomfortable, to say the least. He was bored, unimpressed, and he looked as if he was looking for something more, that he was only doing this just to get over it.

Two students from Hiroshima who have known each other since they were children, had enough of a bond to stick together even in their high school days, and even announced that they were going to be the best Pro-Hero Duo around.

So what is wrong with Kugisaki and Fushiguro?

Aizawa gets to be in the front row seat during what they now call the 'USJ Incident'—Fushiguro ignored both orders and his life-preservation skills, showing more skill and experience that a fifteen-year-old supposedly had. He put down the Villains with his weapon with ease, the same ease with Yaoyorozu but containing the excitement that was not there in his fight with her. His mastery with his Quirk was also displayed but Aizawa has seen all of that already, both in the Entrance Exam and in the Battle Trials but when Kugisaki finally arrives, something clicks. One may think: the way to beat the Noumu is through sheer force but instead, Kugisaki and Fushiguro slice through an arm, use a strange Quirk that had something-something poking out of the Noumu's chest, and Aizawa knows a killing blow when he sees it. For a moment, his heart had dropped until the Noumu rose and the pair were reduced to children again.

(What makes children aim for the killing blow?)

He broods as he sits beside All Might's bed, glancing at Midoriya who remains to be unconscious after the visit of Tsukauchi Naomasa. He learns from Recovery Girl that Kugisaki and Fushiguro are in the other room, purposely separated from All Might to avoid the revelation of his true form. "Fushiguro-kun and Kugisaki-kun both have experiences far greater than their classmates," is what All Might says rather simply.

"Understatement," Aizawa corrects, waving a free hand in the air to dismiss All Might's observation. He huffs. He has too many problems to deal with: there is All Might and his poor teaching along with whatever is going on between Midoriya and Bakugō, Todoroki and his connection with the Number Two Hero, and of course, the topic of their conversation, Kugisaki and Fushiguro. "Kugisaki's Quirk is listed as manipulation of nails through her hammer. Nothing about whatever happened with the Noumu."

"Is her Quirk not called 'Voodoo'?" All Might recalls.

"Right. Fushiguro purposely made a path for her and sliced the arm before he threw it to Kugisaki. When she hammered a nail in with that doll-thing, the spikes appeared in the Noumu. It is Voodoo, in a way," now that Aizawa really thinks about it, he remembers being confused at her Quirk's name not having much of a connection with her actual Quirk. He originally thought that he simply missed that aspect of her Quirk in her sheet but it clearly said 'manipulation of nails through hammer'—nothing that involves whatever she had done. "But it wasn't in her files." The first that Aizawa concluded was perhaps they are part of the League but if so, why did Fushiguro risk his life for Aizawa? Why did Fushiguro allow himsef to get whipped across the room? Why is Fushiguro almost as injured as Midoriya?

Aizawa struggles to draw conclusions.

He thinks he cannot just accuse children but middle school students have the highest rate of getting recruited by Villains, only second to people in their thirties', most especially salarymen that somewhat alleviated the salary laws concerning said people. Aizawa knows that the best option is to just ask Fushiguro and Kugisaki. They are just minors, after all, and as both a Pro-Hero and an adult, Aizawa has a responsibility to guide them. So he stands up, ignoring the questioning gaze that All Might sent him, waves a hand as he exits the room, and finds himself blocked by men in dark clothes when he arrives to Fushiguro and Kugisaki's room. He recognizes them in an instant: Hero Commission.

He sighs, narrowiy his eyes at the pair of guards. "I wasn't informed that the Hero Commissions will be here today," he muses to which one of the officers, raises an eyebrow from behind his unglasses. Not to mention, Aizawa notices that they are in front of the doors of his students' doors for a reason, not because they were invited. Definitely not because of that because if there isnsomething UA is already avoiding like a plague, it is those from the Hero Commissions Office.

One of the officers' head cocks to the side before opening the door for Aizawa without saying another word. Aizawa first spots a tuft of blonde hair before he sees the pair of children. As if sensing his arrival, the blonde woman turns to his direction, greeted by someone fairly young, most likely younger than Aizawa himself. She brightly smiles a business-smile, resembling those guards outside surprisingly well. She pulls out a business card: "Nitta Akari. Nice to finally meet you, Eraserhead-san," she introduces herself, offering said card to Aizawa. As if only noticing the fact that he is heavily bandaged with both of his arms not much of a use, her smile turns awkward. "Ah, I'm from the Hero Commissions Office."

"I didn't expect to see the Hero Commissions Office in my injured students' room," Aizawa dully replies.

The woman, Nitta, only grows more awkward. Her shoulders shift uncomfortably as she scratches the side of her cheek. Aizawa catches his students behind her, Kugisaki sitting on Fushiguro's bed with rather red-rimmed eyes. His suspicion only strengthens, glaring at Nitta who waves her hands around in panic. "I—I'm just their guardian! I swear!" She insists defensively before she sighs in surrender. Aizawa is pretty sure that the guardians listed by the pair is an aged couple who lives in Musutafu, something to be taken note of considering that they claim to have come from Hiroshima instead so does this mean that Fushiguro and Kugisaki are siblings? In a way? Their files become more and more suspicious the more Aizawa thinks about it.

Fushiguro interrupts the conversation politely, poking his head from behind Kugisaki who sneezes her tears away with a tissue box passed by Nitta. "Do you need something, Aizawa-sensei?"

Aizawa shakes his head. "I was just checking up on you two," and he leaves with more answers than questions. Troublesome, he thinks, contemplating on how he should tell Nezu and the others that Midnight's favorite students, their future Pro-Hero Duo, are most likely another unfortunate pair of kids grabbed by the Hero Commissions for their potential. He should... he should probably do something about that. Nothing good comes with associating with the Hero Commissions and those kids—those kids risked their life, didn't they? His frown deepens. Really, really troublesome.

...

"Good for a bunch of high school students but still bad."

Too many things happen in a span of two days, including the now-renowned 'USJ Incident'. Megumi spent the rest of the day of the incident moved from the infirmary to a private hospital near the building he recognizes to be the Hero Public Safety Commissions Office or more known as 'Hero Commissions Office', the place where Nitta had been staying during the past few months while they stayed with the Sugiyama Cuple. Kugisaki had bawled her eyes out when she saw Nitta, despite not really being close to the older woman and only meeting during their mission in Saitama. Kugisaki embraced her, unwilling to let go while Megumi resists the urge to curl to himself. Both of them were relieved and judging by the way Nitta returned Kugisaki's embrace with shaking hands, Kugisaki and Megumi were not the only ones who went through hell in this world.

Nitta's story was simple, full of vague details just like their blinking memories but still, Megumi will receive any story by now: she had been there when the portal arrived out of nowhere and as their minder and the adult assigned to guide them with their mission, she disregarded everything and followed her instincts, jumping from the bridge and diving straight to the portal, lagging behind as does so. That small time difference had an even bigger impact than they had thought—Nitta arrived much later than Megumi and Nobara, already around the time when the same oceans that they were pulled into were already getting watched by the Hero Commissions Office. "They thought it was a Villain attack. You must have left the beach already when I arrived but the Hero Commissions were there before any other Pro-Hero arrived," Nitta explained, "Of course, Dimensional Travel was nothing foreign to them and they actually have laws involving that but it mostly ended up with those Dimensional Travelers being taken by other foreign countries. They wanted to keep me for the same reasons, of course, something about maintaining the balance between heroes and civilians, and that the neighboring countries were already mocking them for having a not-so nationalistic Symbol of Peace. They want as much upper-hand as possible." She waved her hand.

Nitta planned on escaping the moment she was told of that, she said, but the arrival of Cursed Spirits and Sukuna's finger prevented her from doing so. "The same thing that brought us here wanted Ryōmen Sukuna's fingers and because Itadori-kun possessed the most of Sukuna, he was the first target. And when they arrived, he had just eaten another finger. That was just asking for it. Our arrival wasn't counted for, of course, all they wanted was Ryōmen Sukuna," and that much, Megumi can deduce on their own. With the presence of Sukuna's fingers in this world, it is not surprising to learn that whoever brought them here wanted the fingers and Itadori's disappearance only furthers this. "So I struck a deal with the Hero Commissions."

That is how Megumi and Kugisaki end up in the private hospital. For once, they have clothes of their own with the exception of Megumi who is stuck in hospital clothes despite being healed by Recovery Girl already. Nitta insisted for him to continue his stay in the hospital, baffled and unconvinced with Recovery Girl's authenticity even when Kugisaki already tried to convince her. A member of the Hero Commissions Office also accompanies them, a baggy-eyed blond who mumbled that he can be called Mera-san, not before complaining silently that he was supposed to be assigned to another job and not something as heavy as this. "This part of your file—" He points to where their guardians are listed. "One check to this Sugiyama Family's files, and they can easily find out that they're not from Hiroshima, which will contradict your lie that you came from Hiroshima. You should have just said that you're from Musutafu."

Kugisaki flinches. Megumi pretends to be high in painkillers.

"But that's alright. The two of you are going to be affiliated with the Hero Commissions now. We can say that the two of you were born in Hiroshima and we moved you to Musutafu. We can fill the holes in your story. Your real guardians, biological parents, we're going to fix them up," Mera says helpfully. He lifts a finger to point at Megumi and Kugisaki. "The two of you are going to be orphans, most likely. It's easier that way: parents who ran away from the countryside to try the UA exams, thinking that they're going to make it big but failed and became broke, their life unplanned before they found a place in Hiroshima—a common prefecture, abundant jobs, somewhere in the countryside. Got kids at a young age, couldn't take care of their children; classic sob story. Very, very common. Perfect to be recruited at a young age."

Kugisaki scoffs, crossing her arms and leaning on the headboard of Megumi's hospital bed. She proceeds to consume more space than the actual patient. "You're practically admitting to grooming children to become Pro-Heroes. You do know that, right?" She voices out. This kind of thing, however, is not foreign in their own society. Children are raised to be sorcerers and most of them will die before they reach adulthood.

Nitta shrugs. "The Hero Commissions Office already has a bad reputation among Pro-Heroes. Hawks—"

"The Number Three," Megumi recognizes.

"Yes, the current Number Three," Nitta nods. "He's from the Hero Commissions too. Some high-ranking heroes know that he's from the Hero Commissions and put two and two together. You rarely see any hero that didn't come from a hero school, after all. Actually, Hawks is the only hero who didn't come from a hero school—most of them come from the most famous ones: Shiketsu of the West and UA of the East. As I was saying, it's pretty obvious that once you find out that Hawks is associated with Hero Commissions, can't be found in any hero school database but has a high rank, that he was obviously scouted from a young age."

Mera closes his eyes, yawning on his hand. "And that's what you two are going to become. The Hero Commissions are going to back up your horrible backstory—" Kugisaki's eyebrow twitches. "—your horrible files, and all, but that is as long as you hold up on your own end of the deal."

Megumi looks away as Nitta's eyes darken. Kugisaki stretches her legs on the bed. Just as Nitta had said, Mera continues: "This world doesn't need your Curses and you don't need our heroes. We already have our own laws, our own cultures, and our own responsibilities. The Hero Commissions will be willing to support you in any way as long as keep those Curses killed and collect those magical fingers of yours. As Kugisaki-san reported, we have a common enemy: the League of Villains. They have the finger and they're a threat to our hero society. Our goals align."

"And you're going to find Itadori for us," Megumi suddenly says, sitting up from his failed faux appearance of being high in painkillers.

Mera, however, pauses but he relents after a beat. "If it helps with looking for the fingers and the purge of Curses in ours, then the Commission will do its best to find Itadori Yūji. Killing monsters is not the job of a hero."

"If—" Kugisaki bites her lip in disgust. "When we find Itadori, looking for the other fingers will be quicker. He can detect them and, he can help. He can help with your problem with the Noumu. Out of all of us right now, he has the most power output. That's more than enough convincing for your side to search for Itadori."

"As I've said, the Commission will—"

"Mera-san," Nitta surprisingly cuts in, eyebrows creased in a silent threat. "Please don't antagonize us further. Both of our sides are aware of our places: the Commission has to make sure that the civilians and heroes are safe and their reputations unhurt when they find out they can't hurt the Curses, and we can get rid of the Curses and the effects of our power in your world. You back us up, find Itadori-kun, and we'll exorcise—" She emphasizes this, showing the difference between exorcism and 'killing' as Mera puts it. "—the Curses as you wish."

Mera fearlessly meets Nitta's eyes, the two of them sharing what seems to be a stare-off until Mera, obviously over-worked and already more than bleary, yields first when he puts down his head. "Understood," he says, "And about UA's meddling. Don't mind them. Let them investigate the holes. They're just going to narrow it down to 'Hero Commission preys on another golden egg'. And you know, for kids, you two did a good job entering UA. It was the best option you could get."

Nitta finally smiles in agreement. "Mera-san is right. It was unfortunate that I ended up seeing you in the background in a news about an attack but you did a good job holding out on your own for a while, Kugisaki-chan, Fushiguro-kun," she says honestly, "I'm sorry for taking too long."

And a part of Megumi feels like everything is going to be alright now. His shoulder is released of a weight that he does not even know is there and his chest tightens, clenches, and throbs with relief. They did a good job. All those hours of researching, all those hours of arguing with one another, all those hours of pretending to be exorcists, all those horrible, horrible hours of not being able to sleep and simply staring at the ceiling, overwhelmed by the cold of the ocean and the painful ripping of his body in that cold, cold void—all of those are worth it. Because Nitta-san is here.

And they did a good job.

...

The next day turns out to be a break and Nobara itches for something more. Fushiguro has already been released from the hospital early in the morning, much to Nitta's worry since 'there is no way a kiss can heal someone completely', which is honestly understandable. Nobara still wonders how Recovery Girl's kisses manage to speed up the healing process of people and she has witnessed Midoriya break too many bones already, and come out from the infirmary in pristine condition aside from his wobbly walking because of the drain in stamina.

Nobara still has to worry about many things despite the Hero Commission's alleviation of their problems with their background and how much they exposed to their classmates. But despite that help, Nobara decides that she will rather be bald than trust the Hero Commissions. There is already a problem with a group that openly admits to grooming children soldiers. At least deny it, she had thought when Mera only shrugged as Nitta talked about the backstory of Hawks, and when he suggested for their backstory to be similar to said Pro-Hero. So now Nobara is stuck in the Hero Commissions Office with Fushiguro, wearing clothes that were given to them while Nitta left to talk to the Sugiyama Couple. Honestly, Nobara does not want to see the Sugiyamas' faces when they find out that Nobara and Fushiguro are going to leave. She supposes this is practice. Practice for when they leave but it is not like they are going to befriend the people here anyways.

She raises her feet to put in on the table in front of them but stops when she spots the All Might magazine. She puts her feet down, turning away. Fushiguro, beside her, flips through the 234th issue of HERO WEEKLY, featuring someone called Edgeshot, known for his ninja-like appearance and his stealth. "Nitta-san worked hard, didn't she?" Nobara unconsciously says, tilting her head up to stare at the high ceiling, suitable for the office of a Pro-Hero, though unnecessarily extravagant which is nothing surprising for someone so high-up—she purses her lips before her thoughts can stray any further.

Fushiguro focuses on his magazine instead, earning Nobara's ire. She moves her feet to his lap. Fushiguro glares at her. "What."

"I said—"

"So you two are aliens?"

Instincts trickle in Nobara's bones in an instant, the hammer that had been resting in her bag quickly in her hands but she freezes. A familiar blond man stands right behind them, leaning on the back of the couch they were sitting on. Nobara has seen this man countless times from the same magazines that they sell in the convenience store that she realizes she cannot visit anymore. Hawks is not as tall as he is portrayed in the pictures but the charisma is the same, the cheer and the vibrant colors. Nobara grimaces, sensing his personality before he even continues to speak. Unsurprisingly, Hawks continues to speak before neither Nobara and Fushiguro do. "Technically, you guys are aliens, right? Different dimensions and all," he rattles, "I'm Hawks, Pro-Hero."

Fushiguro and Nobara share a look. They nod their head in acknowledgement. Hawks, again, cuts them off before they can introduce themselves, jumping to the couch to sit between them and slinging an arm around their sides. "I guess we'll be working together a lot, won't we, Fushiguro-kun, Kugisaki-chan! As your senpai and as an Earthling, I'll make sure to take care of the both of you, okay? Okay!" He presses the both of them to his body, annoyingly positive. "Oh, right, right! There's also that thing about the Curse-things, right? Think you can tell me a thing or two about it? How come you and Nitta-chan can defeat them but we can't? How about—" He babbles on and on, his mouth not stopping and only letting a few words in from Nobara and Fushiguro.

It's like Gojō-sensei all over again—Nobara rolls her eyes.

...

if you do not enter the tiger's cave, you will not catch its cub.