Not me, back again with another update! Hope y'all enjoy! 3

Aizawa let a small smirk grace his lips at her comment. Of course, he knew that this was dangerous. Looking into specific quirk types in full, unabridged detail was certain to draw the attention of any number of dangerous people.

Whether those people were random criminals who were trying to protect themselves, organized villain groups looking for new recruits (or victims), or even the government or Hero Commission looking to cover their tracks and keep anyone from digging into their dirty corruption, although it was always hard to guess which until it happened.

He knew from second-hand accounts, rather than his own experience. He'd never been brave enough to look up the more dangerous topics and he'd never really had a reason to. But frankly, he hadn't ever wanted to deal with the consequences simply to sate his curiosity. That was highly illogical, after all.

According to a friend that had once cashed in a favor with Aizawa for his assistance in creating a new identity, it usually took at least a day for potential threats to make themselves known. But given that the loops would reset, he was most likely in the clear and chances were that nobody would even know of his newfound knowledge.

Sure, he had a real reason for this search, but he had the feeling that this would be his only chance to look up all sorts of important information without the life-threatening consequences.

Probably…

Of course, he wouldn't go trigger-happy and look up everything he had ever considered checking up on—no, that would be too suspicious and would probably draw enough attention to risk ruining everything.

But if he didn't find anything helpful in what he was looking or in this loop… well, it wouldn't hurt to come back again in the next loop, right?

Granted, that was assuming that there would be another loop after this. But frankly? He wasn't all that hopeful about finding the solution to this problem on his first try. Bakugou had planned to corner someone at school that he had suspected to be responsible after school, but Aizawa personally wasn't holding his breath. There was no way that would end well.

But at the very least, it was something that kept Bakugou busy, out of his own head, and away from the miserable emotions while the experienced pro-hero could handle the heavy lifting. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't trust the kid to do his best or that he lacked faith in the kid's abilities, but rather the fact that he shouldn't have been involved in something like this in the first place.

Eraserhead would rue the day that he ever willingly allowed children onto the battlefield and into real life before they were ready for it. That was why he pulled logical ruses and expelled kids before they got the chance to truly fail. Bakugou, as shitty of a kid as he seemed to be, had a good head on his shoulders and the capacity to have a good heart.

But even if he hadn't, the blonde didn't deserve something like this. Frankly, this kind of torture wasn't something he would wish on almost anyone, some of which were even the worst of villains.

But that wasn't the point here. He had to focus.

So he took a deep breath and pushed through his mixed feelings, "I'm well aware. But I have a good reason for this and it is more than necessary. But I assure you that I am well-equipped to mitigate the risks."

Well-equipped was stretching it, honestly. The time loop completely erased most risks, excluding the possibility that this was all a trap for him, but once again, that was an absurd notion.

She shot him a disbelieving glance before sighing deeply. Instead of dignifying his comment with a response (she was well aware that overconfident fools were the ones that would die first), she shuffled into another part of the room that was blocked from sight by a wall in search of the materials he had requested.

Aizawa allowed himself to glance around the surprisingly empty basement, wondering if he would find anything useful. However, before he could get too deep into his own thoughts, the librarian returned with a logbook and pen in hand.

She gave him a shrug as she held it out to him, "You know the drill."

He reluctantly accepted it and recorded his hero name in the proper blank, filling in a few other lines that required things such as the date and the category of information he sought. He answered all the prompts truthfully, but as vaguely as possible. What could he say? Paranoia saved lives when you were in the Underground.

Once he handed it back, the retired pro turned librarian scanned over the page with a nod and retreated once more into another room. He wandered over to the other section of the basement, opposite of the one the librarian had gone into, sitting down at the table that was there.

As soon as he got comfortable in the less-than stellar furniture, a pile of hand-bound, unpublished manuscripts appeared before him. With another heavy sigh, he got to reading.

Bakugou wished that he could have said a wave of calm determination had washed over him, but the only thing he noticed was the nauseating feeling of apprehension and dread crawling in his lungs and churning in his gut. The man took his time closing and locking the door behind him, a drawn-out action that only served to feed into the blonde's growing anxiety.

So when the man finally joined Bakugou in the living room and gestured at him to sit down on the couch, he lashed out verbally instead.

"I will ask again, bitch. What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?" Bakugou spit, "And how the fuck do we fix it?"

"Watch your tone, brat. You don't even know what you're asking," Takaki smirked, despite the anxiety clearly swimming in his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure I fucking do, so don't give me that bullshit! Your quirk has something to do with the fucking timeloop I'm stuck in right now, so either you fucking tell me everything or I'll make you wish you had," he glowered, reveling in the way the man flinched away from him.

"Th-that has nothing to do with me! You're the one that did something!" he retorted with gritted teeth and clenched fists. At this point, Takaki was shaking.

Bakugou could tell that it was out of dread and nerves rather than anger like this bastard seemed to want to pretend. There was always something about the way cowards shook that was different—recognizable, even.

"The fuck you mean, I did something? I didn't do shit!" Bakugou barked.

"Well someone must have, because I didn't do a single fuckin' thing to you! I don't remember doing jack-shit!"

"The fuck you mean? Why did you bring me here if you didn't know what I was talking about?!"

Takaki sputtered, "That's not—hold on. Are you that brat that ran into me yesterday?"

It was Bakugou's turn to freeze up, his mind cranking in order to think back to what had happened during the yesterday that wasn't a part of the loops.

The man just stared at him incredulously, "You can't remember what happened yesterday?"

The blonde snapped, "I've been in a loop for at least two weeks' worth of days now, so fuck off!"

"T-two weeks?" he stuttered weakly.

"Fuck this! Fucking tell me about your quirk already, or just turn it off already, goddamn it!"

"Only if you tell me whether you were that little shit from yesterday!" the man forced out sternly.

"Fine! Yeah I think that was me! You happy now?" the teen hissed, literally bearing his teeth.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Takaki groaned, "No wonder I feel all kinds of fucked up today."

Bakugou just stared at him as he rubbed his hands across his face. What the fuck was up with this guy? It's like whiplash how he goes from one emotion to the next.

"Fuck! Fine. Yeah, I think might have activated my quirk by accident."

No way. A part of him had been hopeful that he had found the truth, but most of him had been skeptical. But this was fucking it!

"Then just fuckin' turn it off already!" he shouted in relief, "Why couldn't you have tried that as soon as you thought it was a possibility?!"

"Of course, you'd think it was that simple. Brat, I don't remember activating my quirk."

The blonde just blinked in confusion. Seeing the confusion written all over his face, Takaki sighed heavily.

"Kid-" he started, only to be cut off by an indignant child.

"Why the fuck does everybody seem to want to call me kid?! And why the fuck wouldn't it be simple? Even if you don't remember, can't you still just fuckin' turn it off or something? Like a on-off switch or something? Isn't that how most emitter quirks work?"

Takaki just glared at him, "Shut up and sit down, kid. I'll tell you about my quirk if you promise not to tell anyone. Got that?"

"I don't need to know shit about your quirk! Just fuckin' turn it off!"

"I said I fucking can't, kid! So is that a yes or a no. Because otherwise you'll be in this loop forever and neither of us want that!"

Bakugou clenched his teeth and looked away for a moment, "Fine. Go for it."

The man just glared at him before walking past him and sitting on the couch. Suddenly self-conscious of the awkward atmosphere, he decided to join the man in sitting, though he chose to sit across from him in order to maintain some distance between them. Something about this man still set him on edge.

"I'm registered as quirkless, but my quirk is a time looping quirk. I didn't discover it for a long time, but by that point, there was no point in registering it. Besides, a lot of people don't believe that time quirks even exist, so I doubt that I would easily be able to prove it without getting charged for illegal quirk use or some shit," he huffed out, trying his best to keep his voice even. Despite his efforts, however, the entire explanation was shaky.

Bakugou couldn't help but feel like there was something else he was missing here. The problem was that he had no idea what it was, so he couldn't just point it out. So he just let him continue.

"It's activated by touch and a key phrase. The phrase is random, but usually I hear it after the first loop-"

"You normally loop with another person?" the blonde breathed in surprise.

It was the man's turn to blink, "Well, yeah. Otherwise I wouldn't ever know to turn off the loop. But I can't use it only on myself so…"

"Hold on, you said you used your quirk accidentally, so then somehow you weren't included in the loop? How the fuck does that just happen?"

"Don't ask me, I barely know how to use this stupid quirk anyway. I'm afraid that I can't do anything without the key phrase. It's actually a simple quirk, something like this has never happened before. The only thing is that normally I get more and more tired as the quirk uses my own energy to reset. But instead of feeling tired, I just feel so… condensed? That doesn't make sense, but I can't explain it. Sorry kid. I have no idea how you're gonna get your hands on the key phrase, but that's the only way this can stop."

The middle schooler nodded, deep in thought. Once again, it all made sense. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. But there was too much new information for him to consider and process for him to pursue that line of thought. How on earth would he get that phrase? But besides that… there were no other side effects besides the loop…? But then that would mean—

His head, which had tilted down towards his lap without his noticing during the explanation, snapped up to attention in a panic, "Wait, but if there's some phrase for deactivation and there's no other side effects besides the looping then…"

Bakugou looked at the man in horror, a realization dawning in his eyes, "Then why does Deku keep killing himself?"

Midoriya scrambled away from Takaki-san's house, trying to ignore the way his heart burned, the way his eyes leaked.

He had thought that maybe Kacchan was getting slightly better, that something had happened to make him open his eyes and realize… But no, maybe that was the problem. He had thought. Hadn't Kacchan always told him to stop thinking? To stop assuming things? Kacchan was amazing, so wasn't he right?

He would always be a Deku after all.

Whatever Kacchan was trying to do at Takaki's house, he shouldn't interfere. Kacchan knew what he was doing, so there was no reason to worry about it! And Deku would only get in the way.

Deku would always get in the way.

His heart sank in his chest and he slowed his run into a walk. Before he knew it, the numb feeling that had pestered him earlier that morning returned, and his thoughts couldn't help but drift back to what he had been considering on that roof.

He had no idea why Kacchan had been so… desperate. He would have assumed that Kacchan would have been ecstatic to see Deku gone, but maybe that was the problem? Kacchan's career would have been ruined before it had even started if he had been seen standing by and ignoring a suicide. In fact, he had said that to Deku on the roof, so he couldn't be wrong in assuming that to be the case. Kacchan always preferred it when he listened, so the blonde had probably been trying to teach him another lesson that he had been too oblivious to understand right away.

Unless… what if it was an indirect order? It wouldn't have been the first time that he had been given an order in an implicit way, and he had been too stupid to get it last time and had paid the price. Maybe Kacchan would like it if he tried again, so he could save him more publicly, and get a head start on his career! He would be an amazing hero, so it would all be worth it in the end. Not that, of course, Kacchan needed his help. But maybe he could show Kacchan that he wasn't completely stupid! (Nevermind the fact that he was disobeying a direct order to go home and stay there.)

And maybe—just maybe—it would be enough to distract Kacchan so that he wouldn't burn Deku for disobeying him… But that might be too much to ask for from Kacchan. Not that it mattered. After all, a hero shouldn't do things just for something in return! Although, Deku couldn't help but consider the possibility that Kacchan might fail to save him… but well…

He would be dead; it was a win-win either way. He couldn't see anything wrong with this plan.

A tired grin spread across his face. He just wanted everything to stop. He just wanted everything to stop existing. But if he couldn't do that, then maybe he could find something useful to do. Maybe someone would realize that he could actually do something—anything—useful and then he wouldn't feel so empty, so broken.

But Deku was too tired, too weak.

He let his feet finally halt their half-hearted steps in the middle of the street, his grin falling into a numb expression.

Where should he do it?

There hadn't been much useful information on the subject of time-based quirks. Most of the records were only examples of quirks that could manipulate the time of objects or the time-perception of people and the like rather than time loops or time travel. But even then, the frustration didn't end there. Most examples of time quirks were from all the way back during the Quirk Wars where vigilantes ran rampant, and quirk-users were hunted down by governments. The most recent one he had come across was over a hundred years ago, and it was only listed because the quirk was touch-based and froze people's time. Apparently, the effects outlasted the user, so when he had died, they were unable to move the body without getting affected and frozen in time.

He had to admit, however, that he wasn't surprised in the slightest with the results. Governments everywhere sought after these rare quirks because they were so powerful. It was likely that many more people had time-based quirks but never put them on record because of the risks. Aizawa could hardly blame them. Even his own quirk—Erasure—had put a target on his back, not only in school, but also by a few villain groups that had deemed him a real threat.

At the current moment, he only had about two books left after the one in his hands. This particular book seemed to be a series of Hero Commission documents and paperwork that left Aizawa wondering who had leaked them. This one was a collection of quirks that the Commission had apparently sought after for some kind of special program that was completely redacted.

Despite his efforts to stay focused on the topic at hand, he skimmed the entire thing. (He had to ignore the way his heart burned at the realization that the description of one of the quirks that they had seemingly succeeded in claiming was much too similar to the number three hero, Hawks, for it to be a coincidence.)

Once he finally got to the section about time quirks, he was a little bit disgusted to realize that the government had a hand in securing certain quirks for certain jobs, and that the two organizations collaborated and did many favors for the other in order to share the service of several different quirks. One of them was reminiscent of the late hero, Nagant, although some of the reports and descriptions painted an ugly picture of undesirable missions and ethically questionable practices. The other quirk was entirely unfamiliar to him, but apparently it could lengthen a person's life by slowing down the effects of time—and by extension, ageing—on their body. It made him sick that there were over a hundred pages of request forms for this quirk.

And people claimed that corruption was dead.

In the very back of the book (the most recent section), which was about seven thousand pages in, was where he stumbled across it. The final section was summarized as correspondences regarding underground operations for a particular unnamed villain that sought very specific, very powerful quirks. It appeared to be outside intelligence gathered from information brokers rather than a mole or spy, but it was a very thorough list of quirks and the dates from which this villain actively sought it out. It never specified whether this villain got their hands on each one, but it was extensive and stretched back almost fifty years.

The date that listed time quirks were very recent: starting merely twelve years prior and ending just four years ago. The thing was, although some listings were marked with final dates from a while ago, the majority of them were all listed as ending on the same day. The same day, about four years ago.

Curious, he flipped to the last page in the book.

Aizawa's eyes widened as he frantically re-read the single paragraph that only took up a quarter of the page of readable text—the rest redacted—desperately hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. However, in spite of all his foolish wishing and pleading with reality, the name All for One - Deceased stood out on the page, mocking him.