Talking wasn't much of her strong suit, words were too cheap, too flimsy and frail to stand against the harshness of the world for all its ugliness. Actions, deeds, favors those were how she bartered with life and right now she wanted nothing more than to speak.

The sun was partly covered by snowy clouds that lingered a frost in the air that nearly penetrated the layers she had on. God forbid if her cold bloodedness acted up here on the road. Tsuyu trailed behind the trio of Uraraka, Jiro and Momo, careful not to let her emotions slip out and ruin the mood. None of them seemed much worse off then after the insanity of what happened nearly a year ago at the training camp, sure they had an alertness that only learned paranoia could teach but in general they looked far more at ease about life, and for some reason it pissed her off.

Everything pissed her off lately, from the sea of assignments that they had to take, to her parents nearly withdrawing her out of UA for her own safety, to the fact that nothing had changed for the better. Yet she knew herself well enough to understand these were proxies to her deeper ire towards what happened. If she had just snapped out of it in time then none of this would have happened, if she just reached out with her tongue and flung him away from that insane girl then he wouldn't have been made into such a monster.

Her posture slouched a bit as the countless nights she weighed everything which could have happened in the past year piled up. God did she want to hate herself, to berate the failings of the past until she had beaten the guilt out of her soul. Tsuyu understood that wouldn't help anyone though, so instead the mutant just silently gritted her teeth against the surge of inner anguish. If that had been someone like her siblings...she didn't want to think about that, about what she might do to herself then.

A month had passed and so far Izuku was still practically a stranger to them, even to her he was distant, always just two feet away mentally and silent to a fault unless it was to be polite. The light from his eyes that used to be there was almost completely gone, in its place was this broken sort of survival instinct which belonged more to a wounded animal than a human being. Sure he wasn't violent towards any of them, but he flinched and jumped so much it was disturbing, even more so when he would grow quiet and stare at nothing while his hands seized up, grabbing for a spot on his shoulder near his neck.

Granted Mirio senpai was edging him back in an albeit blunt manner at times, to being social again. She wouldn't say Izuku trusts him or really anyone at this point, but he was more relaxed around the older man then any of them.

As the group walked back from the store with groceries in hand, Tsuyu noticed a piece of graffiti sprayed along the side of a building. It was a crude rendition of a red fanged smile surrounded by a golden border with the words "He's out there" above it. She cringed at the display, suddenly reminded of exactly how badly those monsters corrupted him and what was the end result. The same person who saved her life, who inspired them all with how much he cared was the same person who murdered so many people, who if rumor was to be believed, gave a start to a new wave of madness.

All this because she couldn't act like a hero in that one moment.

She would have mused more on her exact role to play in ruining everyone's life if not for the fact that the convoy of students stopped. Each of the girls, Tsuyu included, felt a deep, gut turning feeling of fear as a man stood in their way.

The man was tall, two meters at least in a thick leather coat that concealed most of his body. His smooth skin was a ghoulish pale that might have been translucent under the right conditions, dirty blond hair was combed back in a style too old to be recognized by any of the girls lounged above a mouth lined with white, jagged teeth which were uncannily crooked. Yet it was the eyes, so black as ink and peppered with an unfeeling emptiness that it may have well killed them with the sense of monstrous evil they gave off.

It only got worse when the man's lips parted into a wide, friendly smile that made it seem like he knew them for years which showed off the horror show of a jaw he possessed. There was a doctor's bag strapped over his shoulder which swung with his minor movements, granting an even more unknown to his person.

Momo, always the leader of her peers, spoke up while taking a protective stance around the others, her eyes firm and unmoving.

"Can we help you with something sir?"

The man kept his smile as a high pitched voice exited his throat, not matching his body type by much.

"Oh yes you can my dear. However I believe it would be better if we discuss this in a more crowded place, less chances for mishaps and misfortunes."

He gestured to a cafe across the street which was set to bursting with people that for all intents and purposes appeared normal. However the sense of repulsion only grew when he spoke again.

"I would suggest we carry on before less pleasant means of interacting begin to arise, I'd honestly hate to see such fine young women...impaired by a simple misunderstanding."

There was a detectable danger in those words which struck them each deep in the core. They knew this man could kill them, yet despite that, despite the suffering and hypothetical pain the girls refused to tow the line. After what went on, they had become far less caring about such things. The youthful faces became hardened and unflinching as the four stared down the one who almost looked surprised at the reaction. A smile, one of pride rested on his demented face then quickly it melted, collapsing the lips into an awkward discomfort that resulted in a hand resting on the back of his neck.

"I apologize if this is due to me simply showing up out of the mist, but...please, I need to talk about my student and this is the few times I can act without causing an issue."

Tsyu blinked at the statement, her mind instantly picking up a conclusion that could make any sort of sense. Her nasally voice puckered when a croak got stuck in her throat along with a realization of what was in front of them.

"Y...You mean Midoriya?"

At once the other students tensed to the point of freezing, causing a far more sadistic smile to stretch across the man's expression.

"Certainly, he was one of my closest companions, like a son to me really. That aside, I wish for this to be as pleasant or as painless an exchange as can reasonably be expected. We're all "off the clock" so to speak and for everyone's sake, especially those that don't have a side in this little game of blanket ideologies, let's keep work off the table."

He lessened the predatory feel around him as a pale hand shifted to cover part of his lower jaw. In a way he almost appeared self conscious and a little ashamed.

"Tell me, how has he been since arriving? Is he eating well? How has he adjusted so far? What about-"

Momo cut the man off at the knees with a heavy mask of stoicism, her brow creasing into anger under the current of her false indifference.

"He's fine, but why should we tell you anything? Who even are you and why are you asking about our classmate?"

The stranger now appeared legitimately perplexed, checking the clothes he wore with a baffled eye. That faded to a polite apathy as he stood resigned in some manner.

"I suppose it really is the shoes that make the man. As to answer your question my dear, I am…"

His disappointment shined a bit more when he reluctantly continued.

"...The Gimp, and we have met previously, if I recall correctly I believe I was attempting to devour your little raven during our burglary in the mountains. Tricky one that. Anyway that aside for now, would you kindly-"

The sound of an electric tune came from the man's pant pocket, forcing him to fish out a flip phone he glared at like it had personally insulted him. Nothing happened in the whole five seconds it took for him to read whatever was on the device, then things changed dramatically with any pretense of civility draining from his thin body as he put the phone back. It was like staring at the visage of a mannequin that sent the same fear one would have when stepping by a snake into the hearts of the girls.

He moved his hands to a compartment of the medical bag, effortlessly grabbing a black envelope between his fingers from inside.

"I am needed elsewhere at the moment so this meeting will have to be concluded here, sadly. Just be sure to show him this and give him my regards."

The package was placed in Momo's hands by the stranger as he turned around and made to walk back to wherever he meant to go, but came to a standstill with his back facing them.

"Oh and one more thing before I vanish, don't leave him alone. His other half has become quite unwell since his leaving and her disposition has deteriorated by a large margin. Much like how it did during that little bondage incident they had."

Not caring to give more context he finally went on his way, leaving the small gang of heroes in training to gaze at the piece of blackened paper in their leader's grasp with snow starting to fall in earnest now. There wasn't a need for conversation as the four of them all ran like the devil was after them to reach the safety of the UA gates. Fear lingered inside them even within the protective safety of the white walls, each looking to the other for unspoken guidance as they reeled mentally from what just happened, the envelope still clutched in Momo's hand in the meantime.

Dozens of ideas swarmed inside their skulls at finding a supposed villain appearing before them in sheltered daylight. Each unsure of what to say, think or even do as they shared the frightened expressions of not heroic crime fighters, but instead teenaged girls faced with an unknown danger made even worse by their rabid imaginations. Then like a viper Uraraka's head snapped up with panic flush across her face from the gathered crowd of the four of them.

"Deku!"

Acuteness grew in her panic which soon spread to the others when they turned almost as one towards the entrance. Yet Momo halted, grabbing both the mutant and the pink cheeked girl with a stoic hardness to her features, causing the others to pause if only to gauge what was going on in her remarkably calm person. No hesitation lingered in her tone and in her voice was the authoritative control of both a den mother and a corporate CEO.

"Wait! We know Midoriya is safe inside the building, elsewise we'd have heard about it. If we were to rush to him with a letter from one of those...people no less, after being confronted there could be more untold hazards to his mental health by us hounding about it. This needs to be handled delicately and above all else, we need to inform the teachers about what happened in order to keep everyone else safe, not just him alone."

She gave a firm tap on the arm to Jiro and motioned for her to follow.

"We'll turn this over to the staff and inform them, you two should focus on checking up with Midoriya since you're both closer to him than us. Remember to handle the situation carefully."

There wasn't another word from the everything heroine as she and the shockwave rocker hurried along the hallowed halls of UA, leaving Uraraka and Tsuyu by their lonesome before granting each other a resigned look, understanding that there were dangerous waters ahead, depths hidden in those nearly two year long darkness which neither wanted to explore, yet knew they must. So with a silent prayer, the pair began to hurry to the dorms.

Tsuyu was by all means, a fairly innocent girl. She rarely cursed and was in many ways a late bloomer, be that due to herself or the obligations she had to her siblings causing her to never have time to look into intimacy or much less relationships. Her life wasn't hard, simply tenuous and again, she had never once felt really lonely thanks to the support of her family. That was it, they were by and large, a normal lower middle class family with all the moral foundations of such an existence. They occasionally went to temple for Christmas and the like, gave to charity when they were able, and generally tried to help society when the chance arose. That was her mindset, her upbringing, which placed her at practical light years from the fringes of civilization and the abuse and depravity of those that dwell in that dank underworld of suffering.

Moreover she, for all her abilities, could not imagine some of the things she had read in certain criminal reports or stories of undercover heroes intermingling with the seedy sub class of citizens that bordered on villainy. It was the fact that she was unable to understand why certain types of people enacted such...horrible things to themselves and others for the sake of a sexual thrill, or moreover why some would willingly invite such torment. The thought of which made her insides curl in a repulsion that superseded fear and burned with a righteous disgust. Worse yet was the idea...no, it was no longer an idea if Bakugou's testimony was correct, the fact that Midoryia was subjected to such depravity.

Even now she could still recall when those green eyes lit up the room with that thousand watt smile which said in a universal tongue "Everything will be alright". Deep down she knew she loathed herself for what happened, how she inadvertently had a hand in creating so much damage to her friend. Part of her was honestly scared of the thought of Izuku not reacting to this at all, that he was so far gone that even an invasion of their privacy by those heathens wouldn't bother him. However she also knew from past experiences in the last month that privacy wasn't high on his concerns.

Once inside the main lobby of the dorms, she cringed a bit at the mental picture of explaining this to her already fragile classmate. Passingly she cast a glance at Uraraka, who was doubtlessly thinking much the same thing. They both halted when they saw the quarry of their search walk in from the western hallway. He marched tensely, akin to one set to being attacked, on guard, but at the same time relaxed yet aware of everything around him. His once soft eyes drifted purposely their way, not hostile while not fully at ease either. Seeing their expressions of hesitation he raised an eyebrow inquisitively, his soul colored with concern.

"Everything alright?"

Uraraka turned her head to Tsuyu, who also did the same. They said nothing as a form of unspoken language went between them which said "we have to". The brunette pursed her lips inwardly and forced a smile that hurt to make, trying her best to remain cheerful.

"Well Deku, ya see, when we were on our way back from the store there was this...guy that ran into us and he was asking about you."

At once, without pause the worry on his face shifted to a deep, baleful scowl as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Let me guess, this fucker had red eyes? No, wait, it was someone you've never seen before but they started calling me by pet names, right?"

She chuckled nervously at the barb in his tongue rubbing the back of her head and shifting her focus partly to the side.

"N-No, it was this really tall guy with black eyes and really messed up teeth...something about him wasn't right and he said he tried to eat our raven? He asked about you, we're wondering if this is someone we need to be worried about."

Izuku's scowl instantly changed into a warm smile with quite a bit of humor in his mirth. He practically lit up like a christmas tree at that, much to the concern of the two girls.

"Oh hell, Moonfish? What's that old bastard been up to?"

She kept the smile on despite a growing sense of dread building up inside her chest, trying not to let it show for his sake at least.

"Who's that again?"

A laugh left his lips as if he was reliving some nostalgic memory. His hand reached to cover part of his face while continuing musing on things, content glee still present. He shrugged with that grin plastered on.

"That guy in the leather gimp suit that fights with his teeth, you know, the-"

The smile faded into melancholy and twing of shame when he finished speaking."

"...Cannibal."

Again the two girls shared a look between them, even more unnerved by the merriment surrounding such a horrible person for their classmate. Uraraka found herself at a loss for words on how to gently approach the topic, but Tsuyu didn't or rather she hadn't it in her to care at that point.

"Whoever or whatever he is, he showed up out of the blue and was asking about you, saying we shouldn't leave you alone because your better half isn't taking it well, whatever the hell that means."

Izuku rolled his eyes with disdain for the person in question.

"Well she can go fuck herself, I stopped giving a fuck when I learned she was dopping me in my sleep."

Tsuyu squinted at him, suddenly aware of the girl he was talking about. Briefly she turned back to Uraraka who blatantly looked relieved she wasn't the one dealing with this messed up situation. The mutant girl knew it'd likely be best to leave it there, but damn it if she was left guessing whatever horrors that blonde serial killer did to him...at least she hoped it was her and not...let's forget that possibility for now.

She lowered her voice and leaned forward, careful not to spook him too much with embarrassment while her hand served as a barrier to mask her voice.

"He also talked about something called…"The Bondage Incident" and said she had deteriorated like then. Midoriya, what does that mean? Is something going on?"

His skin suddenly became pale, his eyes becoming gaunt and his pupils tiny. He stepped away from the mutant girl, sweat gathering inhumanly fast on his brow as he laid a palm over the center of his chest while his breathing began to strain, stealing more and more air until it grew to full hyperventilating. He stepped away from Tsuyu, a tremor overtaking his body and without another word, he ran.

Everything was given red in a splash of vibrant, warm blood in the half second it took for the knife to slice upward. Too fast, too inconsiderate of the hazards for their games. They both stared at the shallow gash which now split his bare chest in twine, seeping out a thin stream of the stuff of life onto the bed sheets, frozen like a deer in the headlights. Five seconds passed as he watched his heart pump behind a now pulsating line of exposed muscle, spitting out more blood like a fountain. Then as the panic set in, Izuku kicked himself off the mattress and launched into the bathroom, scrambling for any of the numerous first aid kits he had.

A trained hand saved him that night while his life depended on seconds, he was going to die tonight, he knew it. Still he managed to staple the gash shut and cauterize the wound like Dabi showed him to do, feeling a deeper terror then he had at any other point. A thud from behind the doorframe of the bathroom made him turn to his partner, who stood up weakly. A profound horror at what she had done glowing in her eyes as she covered her mouth while tears began to stream down her cheeks. Yet for all their love, for all their trust, in that moment the former hero was horrified of her and it showed. Quickly he slammed the door shut, locking it before she could reach him.

Yes he adored her, yes he would forgive her, but in that moment his self preservation overtook even those base feelings as he placed everything in the room against the only barrier he had from the thing that tried to kill him. He was being foolish, just open the door, go to her. Yet his body refused to obey. A loud BANG came from the other side as Himiko slammed her fist over and over again on the barrier, her voice already tight with emotion and guilt as she yelled.

"Izuku, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, my hand slipped and-"

His head hit against the shower wall when he felt the fear of a cornered animal.

"It's alright I forgive you, just leave! I wanna be alone!"

There came another crash as she battered the door again, her voice hoarse and ear piercing.

"Open the door!"

Izuku recoiled at the noise, brushing his back against the tiles of the wall in a vain attempt to make himself smaller. He loved this girl, he did, and he wasn't an ignorant little child playing at hero anymore either. He was a savior to those in need and commanded the fear of every lowlife in the nation with his symbol. The League of Villains was at his back and he slayed professional heroes in the name of justice, but as he sat in the empty bathtub with the sound of his lover bashing herself ragged on the door, he wanted his mom.

He wanted her to show up and tell him what to do or help him change the situation. He wanted a hug from the woman who raised him and told him everything would be alright. His chest stung from the burn and the disinfectant, reminding him of what just happened. How in the hell did this start happening? How did he get this way? For an instant he recalled sitting at his desk in school listening to Eraserhead give a lecture on something, watching his classmates gossip and listen and generally act like nothing was wrong in the world. He remembered being happy then, being sure of himself and not being ravaged by shame and doubt.

It was stupid, a fanasty of a time long gone and no matter how much he wanted to escape away to a better place, he needed to face reality and his reality, his life was with the League and the girl on the other side of that door. Unconsciously his fingers traced the oldest bite mark on his body and he grimaced while fighting against the sudden snap of linked memories that brought him to countless situations between himself and her that made his knees weak.

The door gave way under her weight at last, sending Himiko crashing to the ground while the freed slab of oak slammed itself on the wall as bits of the door frame littered the floor. Tears and snot ran down her face as she scrambled to get up. It was a horrible, pathetic sight that made his very soul hurt. Normally he would have rushed to her, held her in his arms and let her bite if she needed, but despite that, despite his undying love and...frank obsession with the girl, he didn't.

She rose up with her arms outstretched, babbling some sorrow laden nonsense that broke his heart. Her eyes said it all in that desperate, dependent way he knew well. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry and I need you right now." Izuku could read her like a book and still he was trapped by his own will to live. Himiko ceased her sobbing, not in a circular way where she might have come to her senses, but rather in a way he'd never seen before.

It wasn't murderous anger or sadistic annoyance or even mild displeasure. The veins in her eyes bulged wide and inhumanly muddled with the yellow of her cat like irises. Slowly, much like a corpse, she reached out a hand to him.

When faced with this, Izuku for the first time since knowing the insane girl, stepped away from her touch with fear in his eyes.

From the interior of her mind there came a light, barely audible mumble as she watched him and soon came a tremble of her hands that twisted and turned. Without a word she reached into the still open medicine cabinet, taking out a single medical scalpel they had in case something went wrong and to Izuku's utter horror, she brought the short, thin blade to her own neck.

He was fast, faster then he ever had been in his life, to grab her wrist before she could move the tool any farther. His grasp was strengthened by fear and desperation, trapping both her arms in an ironclad grip. They gazed at each other, one fearful of both his own life and hers, the other completely removed from reality in a state of psychosis. Himiko blinked, seeming to come back as tears began to roll down her cheek anew. Izuku listened to her cry, yet he refused to let go of her wrists.

He'd sooner die than risk having...that happen. Quickly and without much effort he dragged her to the bed while she kicked and begged forgiveness. It was strange when forced into a situation that he remembered how different they were in physicality, usually she was a source of lethality in her own right who had admittedly saved his life countless times, but now on an even playing field without weapons or tricks it wasn't even a contest. Springs complained as her weight was forcibly set upon them, he held strong while she bucked and struggled, keeping her in place.

He wouldn't let go, he wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't lose her.

Tears teased at the edges of his eyelids, which he fought down. Izuku understood he needed to be the strong one for them both right now and so he reached down into the box under the bed frame and felt around until he felt the cold touch of rounded, blunt steel crossed with a light fuzzyness. Handcuffs rimmed with a black fur clanked in his free hand, closing around Himiko's wrist and chaining her to the steel rods of the bed frame. Quickly he pulled out another pair and finished subduing his beloved who still screamed and shouted for him to accept her penance.

Metal screeched hellishly under her efforts to reach him, causing Izuku to grasp her torso and put his head on her belly. He didn't want this, he didn't want either of them to suffer like this...is it his fault? Should he have not run? If he hadn't then his time with her would be over forever...so even if it is his fault for all this, he was willing to do it for her sake, afterall he needed her now.

The walls passed him by in a blur with his heart thundering in his ears. Everything was out of focus and nothing, not even the weight of the ankle bracelet could bother him in the panic laced hell he was reliving. "No, no, no! Please, for fuck's sake not her!" He screamed to himself mentally. The race had only started not even five minutes ago and it felt like he was lagging behind, he needed to find the window or just find him, he needed to fix this, he needed an ear.

Pristine white emptied into open air when the young man followed the old path he made during his first day back, hoping to every devil he made a pact with on those unholy nights that he'd find him. Grass crumpled under his feet in his frenzy and somehow he found his quarry, standing off to the side of the median entrance by himself with his back leaning on a stone pillar.

The other UA student turned his head to the sound of running and froze, looking at Izuku like he had just appeared out of a horror movie. Without pause the young murderer rushed up to his sort of aqantice feeling a relief that rivaled anything close to being in her arms. The sentiment wasn't shared however even as the fear in those purple eyes eased, Izuku wasn't in the mood to care.

"Shinso, I need you to tell me to calm down!"

Wavey violet hair flicked this way and that as the eyes atop thick bags scowled annoyingly at the person who so rudely decided to dash in out of nowhere...again.

"Alright, calm down."

Izuku bared his teeth at the wiseass, barely containing himself from throttling his pencil neck of a throat.

"No you fucker, with your quirk!"

The scowl worsened on the mind control user, who maliciously agreed with the idea.

"Fine then, go fuck yourself."

For an instant Izuku felt his hands move on their own as he was forced against his will to act. They grabbed at both the inside of his pants and the old bite wound near his neck and thankfully, their first came the pain of having the digits of his palm break skin, freeing him from the loss of autonomy by pulling his mind to the forefront. Blood dribbled down his shoulder, staining the civilian clothes he wore and in a strange way he enjoyed it or what it reminded him of. Shinso however simply stared at him agape in shock, unable to make anything of this.

"Dude, what the fuck!?"

Izuku felt himself unwind like a cored knot and relaxed a little bit, glad to not be completely focused on what might be happening or has already happened. He remained standing and rather cherished the sensation of pain, if only because it made him safe from his demons.

"I just did what you asked."

To Izuku's surprise, Shinso began to look queasy at the sight of so much crimson. He placed a hand to his mouth and visibly had to force himself from vomiting. Afterwards the insomniac found his will to speak, throwing his hands up in the air exasperated at what happened.

"So you had to rip your goddamn throat out!?

Izuku flapped a hand dismissively at the man, not really understanding why he was acting so uptight. Carefully he touched the bleeding divides in his skin and winced a bit, the clawing memory coming back to view, only to be vanished by him continuing to play with the wound, sending shockwaves of pain that made him forget for a short time.

"I'll be fine, not like I hit an artery or anything. Besides I just got through the first two layers of skin at worst so time will fix me right up."

Shinso's demeanor changed to one of morbid discomfort the more he realized how comfortable and used to something like this his schoolmate was. With that also came an ember of concern that carried in his voice.

"Did shit like this happen to you before?"

Again Izuku shrugged, nursing his self-inflicted injury the best he could.

"Yeah...I guess you could say that's why I'm here bugging you. See, I got a problem...a problem related to my time away from school and need a neutral voice to talk to."

Words couldn't really describe the way the outcast visibly cringed at the request. There was a palpable abborhance in his reaction, as if the very idea summoned the worst his imagination could conjure. Still he remained level head in spite of a reluctance to deal with this.

"Fine, but maybe we should discuss it in the nurse's office? Ya know, before you bleed out?"

Izuku checked the tear in his skin and found the blood was already clotting well enough. Take it a while to scab though. He hated scabs, Himiko always had the tendency to sneak her fingernails under them and rip them off when he was doing other things to annoy him. Slowly he removed his hand from the bloody spot and centered himself.

"Eh, I'll live. Look, I need to ask...if you knew someone you cared about was in danger of hurting themselves, but trying to help them would fuck up your own life, what would you do?"

The other student shot him a hard lined look that actually had some weight behind it.

"Normally, I'd let them sort it out themselves because they'll learn from it, but in your case I'd ask why the fuck do you care? These are people belonging to a group of psychopathic killers who stole you from your home and did god knows what to you and you're asking me if you should go throw your safety and freedom away just to comfort somebody who abused you?"

For all his bravado and lethality, Izuku shrank back from the statement, his posture retreating before he shook his head in dismay.

"Look, it's more complicated than that. Someone I know, someone who I loved might be in danger of doing something really stupid and I don't know if I can or should ignore it for my own sake."

Shinso placed a hand over his forehead, getting more pissed as the moments went on.

"How do you even know this, did one of those psychos give you a call? How do you know it isn't some fucking trap?"

Izuku clicked his teeth at the concept and instantly dismissed it. There were a lot of things Moonfish was, a deceiver was not one of them. If anything he was always a little too open about things.

"One of them talked to Uraraka and the girls while they were out and I know this guy wouldn't lie. At least not about something like this. Besides, if it really was a trap meant for me then he wouldn't have shown his hand by coming into the open like that."

A tried, exacerbated sigh filled the wind as Shinso began to glare at his schoolmate. It was laced with the worst sort of contempt though more directed towards his strange attachment. To him it was as plain as day what he should do, yet Izuku still possessed some lingering loyalty to a bunch of killers and sadists. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome fucking his brain up, yet part of him begrudingly understood that truamic expriences had a lasting effect and honestly he could only guess at what went on between the guy who kicked his ass and those animals.

Dragging a hand down his face relieved some of the pressure and reminded the insomniac to just be cut and dry.

"Look, I'll level with you, it doesn't fucking matter. Whoever tried to slip whatever the hell has got you freaking out isn't out for your best interest. These people ruined your life and you still act like you give a fuck when they likely don't do the same towards you. I mean think about it, these people made their choices to pieces of shit and now they have to live with it. You on the other hand got the opportunity to come back home to a proper society where everyone isn't nuts. Your first property should be about yourself otherwise you can't help anyone. If some crazy criminal is going to get themselves fucked up then walk away, it isn't your responsibility to clean up after somebody who tried to ruin your life."

Izuku stayed still, listening to the explanation with a removed stoicness that soon began to tread into a masochistic sadness as he lifted up one of his hands to stare at it like he held the power of life and death over him. He cringed at the memories, the bad ones which haunted him, not just of Himiko but every little disturbing thing he witnessed and participated in. Did he really deserve this one in a trillion chance when he acted worse than most of them? When his soul was still so tightly wound with such a distrubed person like her?

Closing his hand he looked to the only person he felt remotely comfortable talking to, feeling admittedly pathetic at his emotional reasoning.

"But I made an oath, I mixed blood with her, promised to always be by her side and even though I don't want to, there's still this sense of obligation in me even though she hurt me so much...literally and figuratively."

This brought questions, a lot of uncomfortable, scary questions to Shinso's mind. Most about what the hell mixing blood meant and why he did it. Then he began to wonder momentarily about the gory display just a few minutes ago and how someone could do that before...on second thought he didn't want to know. Pinching the bridge of his nose he placed a hand to the prodigal student and kept his expression neutral.

"Dude, it isn't your fault what some psycho bitch does. You have a life to live and if she's freaking out over it and making you think of giving up everything then it certainly ain't worth going back to hell to appease her. There's all those other villains around to deal with her shit so relax, it isn't worth worrying about someone who's as bad as that fucker in a mask."

Despite the less than flattering words Izuku did feel himself unwind. Shinso was right, the others would make sure Himiko wasn't going to hurt herself, Moonfish would look out for her like he did with him. He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and allowed a small grin to take hold. Everything would be alright, she wouldn't die and he could still have his life.

However upon realizing what exactly was said his interest was piqued, strangely enough he felt a tad...offended at the idea of someone being worse than him or the League.

"Who do you mean by a fucker in a mask? There's plenty of those types walking around."

Shock colored the usually plaid eyes of violet, their half shut lids flew open like the person before him spontaneously combusted.

"You have to be kidding me, you haven't heard of the guy?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow at the surprise in his voice. There was hardly anything in this world that could make someone so detached act like he was.

"Again which guy? The world's full of villains so narrow it down."

Quickly Shinso reached into a pocket inside his shirt and pulled out a small red notebook no larger than his hand, holding it up like the item explained everything.

"The Guy, He Who Grins, The Grinning Slasher, The Golden Jester, The Reaper of The Fallen, The Smile Man. Does any of that ring a bell?"

For once in a long time Izuku managed to feel self conscious at the mention of some of his names, averting his eyes from the young man and hoping to god or Satan that he'd keep to just being himself without his past infamy coloring his present.

"Yeah, sounds familiar, why do you bring him up though?"

Again the purple haired student stared at him like he was insane. Pages flipped until Shinso opened the notebook up to his peer.

"Because that fucking guy killed over fourty criminals and that's just the ones the cops found. Not to mention he also bashed in the skulls of like twenty pro heroes with a steel pipe."

Izuku cringed at the picture of one of his old jobs glued to an upper section of the page, specifically that strange deed where he smashed in the mark's chest and crucified him to a wall while his calling card was carved into the forehead. Yet there was something on the adjacent page that puzzled him. It was another clipping of a crime scene surrounded by hand written notes, all the telltale signs of his own personal MO was there, right down to the smile icon in the corpse, yet the fatal wound was a slash across the throat, one that was jagged and too thin near the start.

Too amateurish for his handiwork or Himiko's. Judging from the inspection he could imagine the perpetrator shaking from either excitement or terror as they were unable to deal with the adrenaline rush. That and the smile was uneven and far too rounded to match his skill. Someone else did this, someone who meant to copy him.

"What's up with this one?"

Izuku said with a finger tapping the photo almost like it personally insulted him. Shinso leaned uncomfortably close to him, conspiratorially bringing the book closer to their faces. A seriousness overtook his expression that matched Izuku's misinterpreted indignation.

"That was done by one of his followers. People started learning about him and like their usual response to urban legends started to discuss it online. However a few actually started emulating him, killing villains and leaving his symbol as a message. From what I've gathered there's a lot more to this than the cops think."

Crossed arms answered in tune with the once quirkless teen's mounting ire at the information.

"Such as?"

Uncertainty covered over Shinso's features, casting him as one who had begun to gaze into a deep, unending abyss only to be unable to see the suggestion of the bottom. He shut the journal, stuffing it back in his shirt and turned from the former villain.

"I don't know, call it a hunch but that guy is still out there and with all this chaos, I think he might be planning something big."

Izuku shook his head in disappointment. "If only you knew." He thought to himself, content to let the man slip back into his solitude when Shinso halted for a moment.

"Hey, everything's going to be alright, you know that?"

Again he unwound internally, finding himself smiling at the mind control user. Finally cured of his anxiety ridden curse for now.

"Yeah, I do."