Dabi hadn't been there when Twice's faulty recruit had murdered Magne, but he was assigned to clean up duty. After all, what better way to get rid of the evidence than flames hot enough to melt steel. It was the deal he had with the Handyman; if Dabi wasn't needed, he wasn't there. Dabi had his own goals to pursue, and while the league's objectives were currently in line with his own, that didn't mean he would stop for every group session.

Or Dabi liked to tell himself that at least, and pretend that, if he could shed tears, he wouldn't have let some fall for Magne. Nor did it erase the gnawing guilt that clawed inside the ruined thing that was his heart because if he had been there, Magne would likely still be here- useless. Dabi guessed his goals could wait until they dealt with this upstart yakuza.

While Dabi was always down for some well-deserved revenge, he was less of a fan of high-speed highway chases. Fighting down the increasing need to vomit, he tried to focus on anything else, like how the crusty bastard would risk sitting on the roof of a swerving vehicle just to make it to the dramatic entrance—another reminder of the childishness that still lingered on the leader of the League of Villains.

"In shogi… you just gotta capture the enemy's king, right?"

Craning his head to look at the dark mass of edge and red sneakers, "It's not quite that simple."

Really it wasn't. Shogi was an incredibly complex game of strategies and planning; something Shigaraki obviously didn't understand. Made evident by their leader losing Twice and Toga to Overhaul, and not for the first time Dabi wondered how Shigaraki had been trained to defeat All Might

After cleaning the minor burns he received from using his quirk from the chase -he scoffed honestly barely five minutes of use, and his body had rebelled painfully- Dabi made his way to one of the few rooms not deemed hazardous. If Dabi's flames didn't kill him, the unsanitary places the league chose to hide out would.

The remaining league members huddled over a somewhat clean section of the floor, and Toga was the only one brave enough to sit on a decrepit couch that looked like a tetanus risk waiting to happen.

"Hey, Dabi, come over here." "Get Away." Twice simultaneously waved him over and shooed him off.

"What are you idiots doing?"

"Spinner is trying to teach our esteemed leader the rules of shogi," Mr. Compress commented. Dabi took his eyes off the fingers of his newly acquired prosthetic arm that he wouldn't have needed if Dabi had used his flames before Mister could have gotten in close. Useless.

Dabi glanced down at the poorly set up shogi board and cringed at the Touya part of his brain, crying out at the butchered strategy.

"You can't have two pawns in a file." The words spilled out before he could stop them.

Hair still dripping from a recent shower and absent of the usual hands minus 'Father' Shigaraki didn't look nearly as gruesome as he had only hours when he had unarmed Overhaul. Red eyes behind pale fingers glared into Dabi's blue.

"What? Are you a shogi expert?"

He gave a half shrug, "I've played."

"So, what do you know about shogi?" Best start there. Dabi hoped they at least knew the basics; it would be a pain to start from zero.

"I watched half an episode of March Comes in Like a Lion, and Toga knew how to set up the board. But that's about it." Spinner answered.

"I sliced up a cutie who used to play it." Was Toga's contribution.

Dabi groaned. This was turning out to be more of a hassle than what he had expected. He should have just kept his mouth and moved on. Mr. Compress shuffled over to give him some space in the small circle. Placing his coat on the ground, Dabi gingerly lowered himself to the ground, wincing at the uncomfortable pull of staples on healthy skin. He ignored 's concerned look at the fresh bandages; whatever damage was done today would not slow him down tomorrow.

He cleared away the disgraced game and began placing the pieces in their correct spots. Muscle memory moving his hands without much thought, he used to play with two very different players, and the motions were as familiar to Touya as Dabi's fire.

"How do you think you will ever surpass All Might if you can't even manage a simple game? Reset the board."

And so they played. At times for hours, until Endeavour would become annoyed with his failure or begin training again. When Touya played the game with his father, there was no enjoyment, only strategy made by agonized decisions met with gruff acknowledgement or painful retribution. These games came before and during training, rules and tactics drilled into his brain, and how to apply them in hero situations. All in the process of becoming the tool, Endeavour would use to defeat All Might. Touya hated these shogi sessions.

However, this was not the only time Touya would play the game. As one of the few Endeavour approved activities, on the days when his mother didn't finch at the of him after she tended to the new burns, she would set up a game for the two of them. They never played more than one game at the time, but each move was made in peaceful silence and the gentle coolness as his mother activated her quirk would smother the title waves of pain that racked his fragile body. There were no reproaches, only the occasional praise. Shogi games with his mom never failed to make Touya smile and erase some of the fury growing stronger and stronger inside him, threatening to drown him day after day. The rare moment when it was just the two of them, or later when Fuyumi, Natsou and fewer still when baby Shouto came to watch, Touya could pretend they were a normal happy family. Absorbed in the game, he could ignore the threat of future training or the angry burns that were beginning to scar his arms.

Even those games had come to an end in the months before when Rei's mind broke, and she was stolen away from them for damaging Endeavour's prodigy. For the few weeks afterward, when he had continued to be Touya Todoroki, and Shouto was placed on medical rest to heal when Endeavour resumed Touya's training in order to develop the perfect method for his masterpiece. Those few weeks when as long as it was Touya being hurt, he could pretend things were ok. If the burns allowed him to, Touya had played shogi with Shouto, trying desperately to keep the precious tradition of after training shogi games he had loved to play with Rei. But try as he might, Touya was no replacement for a mother's love, and Shouto had slipped away like water beneath his fingers.

These games had, of course, also ended when Touya burned.

Dabi never thought he would play shogi again; life as an A-class villain didn't present many opportunities. Not that he had looked for any either, for a long time, shogi had become just another part lost to Dabi's fire. But here he was explaining them to Japan's most wanted, the rules of a game foreign to Dabi, but no stranger to Touya. Other than a few questions, they didn't interrupt and listened quietly to his explanations. It was strange to have people actually listen to what he had to say; a tight warmth spread in his chest. A feeling had to be reserved for the siblings hanging on his every word.

"And that's it. All you need to know about shogi." Careful not to tear any of the staples, Dabi got to his feet. This whole thing had brought up too many memories Dabi had thought disintegrated in flames along with Touya.

Shigaraiki, who had remained silent throughout his explanations, tracked his slow movements with piercing eyes. For the second time that day, Dabi wondered what training he had gone through with All for One. During the Kamino ward, Shigaraki's master had sacrificed himself for his young protégé, seemingly endlessly patient and willing to wait for Shigaraki to complete his goal. Groomed for the same purpose, Dabi envied the different teaching methods.

"How did you learn?"

Meeting Shigaraki's gaze before placing his hands in his pants' pockets and making his way to the exit. Beneath the causal question, was the deeper question left unspoken. Why do you know this, and I don't? Not that he blamed Shigaraki for wanting to know. Dabi had put on the disguise of a lowly criminal with a powerful quirk; there was no reason why he should know shogi as well as he did. However, he had no intention of revealing any further secrets that night, Dabi had a bird to meet.

"Classified" lingered in the room, along with the shutting of the door.