I groaned as I slowly stretched. I was at the training yards at U.A., a half hour earlier than most people would be, giving the stink eye to on Mashirao Ojiro… as well as a few others who had come and were yawning as much as anyone else except for Iida. Not helping matters was the fact that Neito had woken me up early with a series of bizarre and rambling texts. "Ojiro, you're a classmate so I'm trying not to be grumpy… but why did you ask us to arrive at school earlier than usual?" I grumbled.

Ojiro nodded. "Yes, sorry for such short notice but… I noticed something yesterday." Ojiro noted, his tail waving back and forth with clearly contained excitement. "Andros-san, your new form… Blood Stalk? Well, it took a serious hit from Jiiro-san yesterday and yet you seemed to get up without much issue."

"Hey yeah, I was wondering about that," Kirishima added. "I mean I'd have stayed in place, but you got blown back."

I tilted my head to the side. "Well… yeah, I got blown back and it did hurt but… well, it didn't feel like it was forcing me to stay down." I explained. "Why?"

"Well, I need to double check first, which is why we're on school grounds." Ojiro pointed out. For a moment nobody moved, and Ojiro smiled while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "I got permission from Aizawa-sensei yesterday, so we're fine."

I let out a sigh but nodded as I removed the helmet of my suit, before dropping the rest of the containment suit off and stepping out. "So long as we have approval, I'll… transform~!" I declared, the last of those words coming out with a dramatic pose with my left hand held out in front of me, as the Japanese word for transforming – henshin – was always a staple for Riders… give or take a season. Still, as the darker Nebula Gas issued out of my body it swirled around me, I can feel the now more familiar itching as my body changed, an almost second skin forming the makeup of the Blood Stalk 'suit'. Honestly, even now it goes over my head and I don't even try to pretend I know what's going on.

As soon as I'm done transforming though, I take on a pose ready for the fight… and Ojiro charged forwards. One would think that even in a spar my enhanced speed, strength, and somewhat toughness would give me the upper hand, but while Ojiro didn't exactly have Super Strength, you never underestimate someone with immense amounts of martial arts skills and an extra limb, as his attacks swung out fast and hit as hard as he could, with my inexperienced body only being able to block one hit every so often. And yet with the number of hits, and how hard they hit… oh, it stung, and it definitely makes me wince with each impact and force me back but… despite the fact that I can feel the pain, it doesn't bother me as much.

Ojiro stops mid-stance – or so I assume from the way he forces himself to stop – and lets out a heavy breath. "It's just as I thought. The way you moved made it clear that unlike Kirishima-kun, you were definitely feeling the impacts, even if not as hard as most people would. But you seemed to keep taking it for longer."

"Which means it's not a simple toughness booster," Kirishima added. "You were aiming at the same spots for a reason, right?"

Ojiro nodded. "I wanted to see if I was right… you're not super tough Andros-san. You're just able to take a lot of hits. Super Endurance in other words." He elaborated.

I hummed and nodded idly. "That makes sense. While it took a while to knock him out, the original Blood Stalk could take punishment way beyond the level he was meant to take and get back up… but I have a feeling that small difference isn't so small?" I asked. Look, if I have an excuse, I use the voice filter.

"Simply put, with the Sports Festival coming up in a few weeks… you might be the best possible partner for us to train with." Ojiro noted. "Your skills essentially make you the best person to judge how hard someone is hitting, but still be able to keep going."

"High health, slightly higher toughness." Mina summed up. "Simple enough."

"Or in other words, he's a fucking human sandbag," Bakugou said with a… grin that made me feel uneasy. "Interesting…"

There were other mutters in the crowd too, even as an also attending Jiro had the decency to shoot me a slightly guilty look.

"Nebulos-kun's abilities being useful for our training or not, I would suggest that if you wish to use him for such a purpose you arrange it with the teachers," Iida commented, making a chopping motion in the air repeatedly. "For right now, we should start to head to the classroom."

The others groaned but I just sighed, allowing the transformation to drop in the same motion. But the moment I had pulled on the suit and gotten the helmet properly adjusted on Neito ran into the yard.

"Ahrerere? Mei said you'd be here! Trying to get in a bit of extra training with your classmates, are you?" Neito asked as he ran towards me. "Well well, it's good to see you're bouncing back so-"

Rikido, mid-step, swung his hand behind him as Neito passed and caught the back of his neck in a chop. Neito was sent tumbling to the floor and skidded to a stop just a few steps away from me… before he raised a hand. "Thank you Sato-kun!" His muffled voice sounded up before the slightly sheepish Neito pulled himself up and grinned. Frankly, I was just glad that Mina and Sato had picked up on the motion so quickly, means that there's more people to keep Neito in check. Especially when he gets so excited, he falls into one of his rants. "Andros… I looked back over my texts and realize you might not get what's so big about right now."

I slowly blinked and stared at Neito. "Uh… what's so big about right now?" I asked.

Neito grinned widely. "Tintin goes to U.A… and we're going to find him." He explained. Thankfully the rest of the class had gone by this point, so nobody really turned an eye at that statement, even as I went to collect my jaw off the ground. What?

"What?"

WHAT?!

"Tintin, or someone who LOOKS like Tintin, goes to U.A.," Neito explained. "But I've only realized this today… and we need to gather some more evidence on him. Maybe even question him."

"Whoa, what's with this 'we' stuff?" I questioned. "We have classes today Neito."

"Oh yes, and I doubt that even free time will let us get enough evidence by the end of the day…" Neito explained as he reached into his back… before he pulled out a couple of black Bowler hats. "But this could be a good chance to get some investigative training. What do you say, 'Thomson'?"

I looked at the hat for a moment as I considered my options… and then sighed as I smiled to myself… and took one of the hats. "Capital idea 'Thompson'!" I declared, emphasizing as much of my remnants of the British accent I had.

Thomson and Thompson. Two practically identical, comedic and usually-but-not-always inept detectives from the Adventures of Tintin. It hadn't surprised me when I had seen that Neito had ideas for costumes as a kid, but the fact he had broken out as much of them as he could during school time was… impressive. Even if I think that the impression is somewhat lost on me, what with the bowler hat on top of my helmet, the fake black moustache stuck to my screen, and cane in hand as Neito and I walked down the halls.

The sight of Mei catching a glance at us and bellowing in laughter was worth it though. More so the moment that, as we approached separate classrooms, I spotted Aizawa pulling himself up out of his sleeping bag… then stopped and stared at me.

"I haven't had enough of a nap for this…" Aizawa grumbled. "You're not planning on causing trouble with that getup are you Nebulos?"

"I don't think we have any trouble planned do we, Thompson?" I asked as I turned my head towards Neito.

"Certainly not Thomson, we are to stick to normal class activities and plan the investigation around that!" Neito insisted, tapping the cane against the floor.

"Quite right Thompson," I concluded.

Aizawa looked at us both… and then sighed. "If I see either of you using those canes to harm anyone, you'll wish you'd had planned it." He pointed out seriously.

"Yes sensei." We responded together, bowing and only slightly sweating.

I take back everything positive I said about this get-up, the stares from the others are starting to get distracting during class. Everyone and I mean everyone, looked over at me incredulous. And the amount of times one of them would sneak a question about the moustache, the bowler hat, the moustache, the cane, AND ESPECIALLY THE GODDAMN MOUSTACHE was starting to get on my nerves. But given that Iida hadn't raised any issues with it I'm going to guess that technically there's nothing against the rules about it sadly.

Still, as lunch rolled around Neito was there at the door. "Ah, perfectly on time Thomson! Come along, the investigation awaits!" Neito announced.

I just stood there for a moment… before sighing. He was enjoying this FAR too much. "Of course, Thompson, but what ARE we going to do?" I noted with a bit of forced enthusiasm. Still, we started to walk, my step matching Neito's.

"Well, this isn't going to be quick. I caught sight of our young Tintin-" Neito started

"Potential Tintin Thompsons."

Both Neito and I turned back at that in dual shock, and standing there was a massive man, taller than even I was, with big hairy arms, a beard, long hair and glasses. "Couldn't help but overhearing the two of you saying you were looking for someone." The 1-B student – I remembered that much – said.

"Ah yes!" Neito said with a smile before gesturing with his cane. "Andros, this is Shishida Jurota."

"Shishida-kun is fine," Shishida commented, a slight smirk on his face. "It might be extremely western, but you'd have to be blind and dumb not to recognize you two are looking for someone. Thought I might as well help – you'll get nowhere without someone to sniff your guy out."

"Especially as we'll be looking based on a pattern," Neito added with a hum. "Not a bad idea Shishida-kun."

"Except if you hope to find them down the same way scent isn't the only good way to track them," Both Neito and I jumped at that, Shishida having likely seen the new arrival coming given his sudden chuckling. "But I agree it could be useful to test some sensory skills."

"Don't sneak up on me like that Shoji-kun!" I admonished with a sigh and a slight laugh. "Neito, Shishida-kun, Shoji Mezo."

"Anyone who can make Neito jump like that is good in my book," Shishida noted as he finished laughing. "So, you'll do sound and sight, I'll do scent?"

"Agreed" Shoji added with a nod. "While these two make a joke of detective work."

"Oi oi," I called out. "That's just mean. Neito is the one who came up with the idea."

"Ye-hey!" Neito remarked, turning his head around mid-agreement.

It wasn't too long after that Neito, having now mostly dropped character for a bit to actually get some talking down, lead us up another set of stairs… and then stopped at one of the hallways, indicating to a certain side hallway.

"The suspected Tintin-" I rolled my eyes at this but didn't interrupt directly "-turned down into this hallway the other day, and when I looked back, it was like he had vanished. Clearly, U.A. has secrets that they don't tell the students, so we need to try and find where he went to."

And at that, there was a sudden flushing sound, and out from the end of the corridor emerged… Principal Nedzu, from an oversized door. I could see the grin spreading on Neito's face at that.

"Oh? What are a group of students doing looking at one of my personal rooms?" Nedzu asked curiously.

Neito cleared his throat… and I simply stepped forward, cane in hand and a mutter of 'Blustering Barnacles' under my breath. "Apologies sir, but Thompson and I were just investigating the most peculiar thing," I commented. What, if it worked for Aizawa it'd work on Nedzu right?

Neito's grin was only matched by Shishida and Shoji's groans as the act was brought back up. "Quite right Thomson! A peculiar fellow who seemed to resemble Tintin seemed to notice my gaze and vanished down this very corridor, would you know anything about it?"

For a moment there was only silence… and then Principal Nedzu chuckled briefly, not even a full out maniacal laughter… it was unnerving to me. "Goodness, and me without my Snowy costume. I can definitely tell you boys that nobody can get past the door without my unique key." He explained, bringing up a paw with a little key on a keyring attached. "But as you're putting such fine work into this, I'm sure you can figure things out, mmm? Perhaps before lunch ends?" Nedzu simply walked past at that, and I could swear the furry little guy was still laughing.

I sighed, but simply gestured with the can, and we started to look, Shishida sniffing around as he clearly was looking for scents other than the Principal's own.

"I don't think I need to say that the Principal didn't seem like he was lying," Shoji remarked.

I shook my head. "Never assume you can read Principal Nedzu. Beyond clearly being a fan of Tintin-" I started

"Which I'll be honest, I didn't peg him on that." Neito interrupted.

"-he could have lied his ass off and wants us to do this to see if we figure things out." I continued.

"You really think one of the staff would say one thing and then mean something completely different?" Shishida asked.

Shoji looked at me, and then back to Shishida. "You've clearly never met Aizawa-sensei." We responded in unison.

Neito sighed with more than a hint of overacting, but for a moment or two, there was only silence as we spread through the hallway and looked at every nook and cranny, even as I tried to search my memories for who Neito could have possibly mistaken for Tintin. I know there IS someone here, but the name and thus who they are escapes me at the moment. I don't exactly have 'Tintin lookalike' as a detail in my book after all.

Suddenly Shishida stiffened. "Hold on, I've got a new scent. And it's not an old one, it's… fresh." Shishida remarked as he sniffed… and looked up and down the hallway. "But it seems to just end at a wall… what's going-"

"I see someone!" Shoji remarked, and we all turned at that – seeing a set of legs fleeing down the main hall. Neito is the first to react and starts to run, one hand holding onto the bowler hat he put on, while given mine is stuck on I just run after him along with Shoji and Shishida. This fleeing Tintin seemed to have taken another turn down a corner which we followed and saw the suspect – whoever they are – running down the hall with a hat on their head, and a UA uniform… before they duck into a classroom. Neito burst in soon after but soon ran back out, the suspect having exited out the other door in seconds – just how fast is this guy?

"Well, Thompson-" I started.

"Less schtick more legwork Andros!" Neito shouted, seemingly annoyed with the chase enough to drop the act as we chased after him, Shishida seeming to either use his quirk or just push a bit harder as he suddenly dashes ahead, the suspect turning down another corner as Shishida is only seconds behind him, turning the corner with us soon following after and finding-

… nothing but a window, a wall… and a U.A. student's uniform. As Neito and the others approach and look at it I hang back, my gaze locked on the uniform. Uniform. Sudden disappearance. Tintin look. This is all on the tip of my-

…

As the others are preoccupied, I slowly turn my head towards the wall with no way to get through and, sure enough, sport the face of the one U.A. student I should've remembered could give Tintin a run for his money in a lookalike contest. Mirio, Lemillion, the other potential inheritor of One for All. Mirio's gaze met my own for a moment and Mirio simply winked, before he pulled back into the wall fully.

Right, so. We have a seemingly impossible situation, Mirio clearly leading Neito on… but is there a reason for it? He isn't going to fight us on school grounds without asking though, it wouldn't be like Mirio to do that.

… oooh, I get it now. Clever. I'll play along then.

"So, what we have here is a school uniform, but no suspect Neito. How did we manage to lose him in a dead end?" I asked.

Shishida shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. It's no camouflage or the like either, their scent just… ends here." He noted.

Wait did that mean Mirio dropped down, then jumped back up? Goddamn, he has some serious control over his Quirk.

"I don't see or hear anything either," Shoji remarked with one eye-hand turning towards me. "Do you think it could be a villain?"

I shook my head. "The alarms remember? And I doubt the League of Villains would be so quick to try a subtle approach like this less than a week after their attack." I pointed out.

And then came a part that I must admit I didn't expect to happen. A set of hands reached out through the floor… and then RACED off with the school uniform in hand! What? HOW IS HE-

"After that uniform!" Neito declared, and we scrambled after the runaway apparel.

"Is this weird, or is this what life is like in Class 1-A all the time and you just infected Neito?" Shishida queried, although I'm pretty sure he was joking.

"Trust me, this is a first for me too," Shoji remarked…. and then slowly turned his head to look at me.

I shook my head. "The outfits we're in? I expected those when Neito explained things to me, he's had them for years." I explained. "The runaway clothes? That's new even for us."

"But not boring!" Neito remarked as he lashed out with the cane in his hand, trying to get it caught on the clothes. He managed it briefly once before the clothes suddenly increased speed towards the stairs… where the hands let go of the clothes that continued to skid across the floors with the leftover momentum – or they were thrown – before the clothes disappeared over the lip of the stairs. And unfortunately, we got a full view of what happened next.

The blond-haired Mirio Togata, in all his muscled, naked glory, leaped from the next level down to grab his clothes, exposing his naked body for a brief moment before he leapt into the air again – over us this time, giving us all a good look at his face as he did while twisting in mid-air to hide his junk at the least… before he landed behind us and ran off to what I assumed was the toilets, if they were anything like the lower levels.

"My eyes!" Shishida cried out.

Shoji pointedly had turned all his hands back into hands as he just covered his own eyes, as if trying to forget the sight he had just seen.

"D-Don't let the streaker deter you! After him!" Neito insisted.

Me? Eh, I saw worse in my old life and frankly, it wasn't exactly a terrible view he gave. Still, I trailed behind the others as they followed the path, even if Shishida and Shoji seemed far more reluctant now, even as they dashed into the toilets…

And I simply stopped just outside the toilets and started to count. At five seconds a now dressed Mirio slipped out of the GIRLS side toilets, followed by fellow Big 3 Nejire. "Clever tactic, having your friends help you out in the chase senpai," I remarked before speaking up a bit. "But to put the hat to use… I do believe the jig is up, Tintin."

A trio of sighs erupted from the other side of the door. "Alright, we're coming out," Neito said.

"Wait! He's dressed right?" Shoji insisted.

"I usually don't use my Quirk too much on school grounds," Mirio remarked with a smile. "This time was an exception… I didn't want to make it too easy for all of you."

"Oooh, but when did you figure out what was going on?" Nejire asked, leaning WAAAY too close to me… before moving towards Neito as the others emerged from the bathroom. "Where did you get hats like these anyway, they seem really niche but cool!"

I sighed as the girl passed me by and started asking everyone else questions, even as Neito finally pulled himself away from her. "B-but… you look like him. Your face, the dots, the hair even… it looks like-"

"Tintin right?" Mirio finished with a big smile. "Not a lot of people notice that here, apparently, it's something that happens in my family but… it always made me enjoy those old comics. But I've always looked like this."

I sighed at that and slumped. "Blistering barnacles Neito… you've been chasing after a third-year student this entire time thinking he was Tintin!" I muttered.

"You went along with it!" Neito remarked.

"How about we say you're both idiots?" Shishida suggested.

Shoji let out a single chuckle. "Isn't that the character's they're trying to play anyway?" He pointed out

"Oi!"

Meanwhile, in the Teacher's lounge, there was an entire other conversation going on.

"You made the bets people, now come on, no sore losers." Nedzu insisted, a large whiteboard with different teacher's names. Grumbles and mutterings went all around the teacher's lounge as money started to change hands. Many different outcomes had been considered, as well as how fast the boys were expected to manage to find and "solve" the case. That was why Mirio had been able to use his Quirk so freely, because Nedzu himself had found the lad and… encouraged him.

This wasn't exactly an unknown event either. Being a teacher has plenty of responsibilities, but it's not just the students who need to unwind at lunch time, and sometimes they place bets based on things that might happen. Of course, Nedzu himself never participated, he just enjoyed playing things out – and this let him be the one viewing the cameras to maintain student privacy. Although who had figured it was another matter entirely.

"How the heck didja figure it out Midnight?" Present Mic asked. "Ain't exactly like this was tha hot-blooded type stuff!"

Midnight smirked and leaned back a bit with only a slight blush on her face. "Just because someone is youthful and passionate doesn't need it to be hot-blooded Mic. The cool, measured deduction, the dedication to the role to get the bowler hats AND canes, the drive to not go without an answer. THAT is the essence of youth." She insisted, slamming her hand down on the desk in front of her.

Aizawa slowly turned to look at her. "And you know this… how?" He slowly questioned… only for Toshinori Yagi to suddenly chuckle, all eyes turning to him.

"Oh, um, sorry… I just realized how she figured that out." Toshinori noted… before he turned to look at Midnight. "You've read the books as well haven't you?"

Midnight's blush turned scarlet. "Tha- I mean it- What I'm trying to-" She stammered out before the room erupted into more laughter.

And Nedzu could only sit and smile as the stress of the day and of the week beforehand seemed to dissolve away.

"You failed."

They weren't words he liked to hear. The worst part was that they were completely true. Oh, he could have blamed the uselessness of all but one of the help or the untimely arrival of All Might in relation to it, but he had made his decision beforehand.

Kurogiri bowed his head towards the screen. "Sensei, please forgive me. I had built the team with the intention that we would help Nebulos Andros see the truth about this world… but I misjudged just what sort of effect I had on him those years ago. I didn't want to risk him being able to compromise our efforts in the future." He insisted.

"And in the process, he only seemed to become stronger due to factors outside your own control."

Kurogiri's head snapped up – as much as it could – at that. He hadn't mentioned that in his report, he had taken all the blame onto his own shoulders as he felt he should. "H-how-"

"You're far too hard on yourself Kurogiri." All for One chided. "I felt you were being a bit too optimistic in the results you might get – uncharacteristically at that."

And then it clicked. "Which was why the honoured elder was with us." He gasped.

"Exactly." There was silence, only separated by the sound of shifting on All for One's end. "Let yourself take the time to consolidate and plan your next move. And as for Nebulos Andros… let's just say you're not the only one interested in him now."