Chapter Nine:

The next morning, Kaiji showed up at Yoichi's door with a paper rose. Very seriously, he asked, "Would you like to learn how to build a gun?"

It took Yoichi a moment to realize that this was, in fact, the promised date. Kaiji had slicked back his hair and put on a button-up suit that was probably the most formal thing he owned. He must have folded the crude paper flower personally, since they still could not leave the safety of their hidden base. The scar on his face had faded from pink to white, giving him a dashing air of danger. His expression looked painfully earnest. Since Yoichi did feel curious about the interior working of guns, he decided to go along with the unorthodox date idea.

Sitting next to Kaiji on the workbench, Yoichi resisted an urge to hand Kaiji random screws. Now that he knew his metapower came with a strange impulse to give stuff away, he could better control it. At one point, he sat on his hands. The distraction made it difficult to listen to the lecture, which was genuinely fascinating. Yoichi had a personal interest in Kaiji's quest to build a gun-flamethrower, clearly the ultimate weapon.

Loudly, someone cleared his throat in the doorway. Hikage dragged in a shovel almost as tall as his body. "I'm here to give the bad guy's brother a shovel talk."

Kaiji groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did Sanzou put you up to this? I swear…"

Hikage shook his head. "No, Big Brother Sanzou fully supports you being seduced by the side of evil. He says that you'd be less tense if you got—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Kaiji barked. "And address Yoichi with respect. He doesn't deserve to be blamed for his brother. Would you call me the bad guy's son because my parents suc—uh, aren't great people? Call him Mr. Shigaraki."

Hikage hung his head. "Sorry, Mr. Shigaraki."

"You can call me Big Brother Yoichi, if you'd like." Yoichi smiled. "Did you have a shovel talk to give me?"

Hikage said, "If you hurt Big Brother Kaiji, then I think I'm supposed to hit you with this shovel." He attempted to lift the shovel, but couldn't get it up very high.

Yoichi tried to keep a straight face. "Very intimidating. I feel very, very threatened. Good job."

"Thank you." Hikage puffed out his chest. "I'm going to be a hero someday, just like my big brothers."

"I'm sure you'll be great at it," Yoichi said.

"You can leave now," Kaiji said pointedly.

Next, Kaiji demonstrated his ability to disassemble a gun in seconds, while Yoichi watched raptly and inserted the occasional "Oooooo." Yoichi ought to learn that skill. It would have made hiding weapons from his older brother much easier.

"I designed and built all the defensive canons around our base," Kaiji said. "Would you like to see?"

"I'd love to," Yoichi said.

From the doorway, Hikage asked, "Are you seducing Big Brother Kaiji so you can obtain our secrets?" He clucked his tongue.

Kaiji stormed over, picked up Hikage by his collar, and carried him and his shovel away. Returning a few minutes later, Kaiji said, "Sorry about that. First off, let me show you the windows."

Pulling a cord, Kaiji revealed the cannons programmed to come down from the ceiling in front of the windows.

"Very nice," Yoichi said. "Do they shoot cannon balls?"

"Nah. Lasers. I'd demonstrate, but we don't want to attract attention." Kaiji next escorted Yoichi to a set of stairs hidden behind a curtain. "We don't have a second floor, but I build a little loft of here as a sniper station."

"It looks cozy," Yoichi said. "What a large gun." The mounted machine gun had a barrel even taller than either of them.

The tour next stopped at the front door. Kaiji opened it. "I'm very proud of this one. Check this out." He flicked a switch on the wall. A dozen barrels popped out of the front of the door.

"Clever!" Yoichi applauded.

Kaiji flushed. (And Yoichi added one more point to his make-Kaiji-blush score.) Kaiji waved at the display. "It may seem like overkill, but I designed each gun to shoot a different projectile for different metapowers—"

Hikage asked, "Why are you turning red? Have you been poisoned?" He poked Yoichi with the tip of his shovel. "Hand over the antidote, villain!"

Kaiji groaned. "You are very close to having no dessert after dinner tonight."

"There's no need to be harsh." Yoichi knelt down in front of the boy and met his eyes. "Do you feel anything dangerous from me?"

"No," Hikage admitted. "You seem nice. Actually, I'm sorta bored so I wanted to come along on the gun tour. I helped Big Brother Kaiji design the traps! He says I'm a natural!"

Over Hikage's head, the adults' eyes locked. Yoichi's gaze was amused, Kaiji's resigned. Yoichi said, "Sure, why don't you show me your traps?"

For their next date, Kaiji showed Yoichi how to sharpen a knife. It was a cute to see Kaiji earnestly explain the difference between whetstones. Yoichi had always found competence attractive.

However, just as Yoichi was about to lean in and see if Kaiji wanted to kiss him again, Sanzou poked his head in the doorway. Today, he'd bleached his bangs and added neon pink streaks to his hair. "Could you help me sharpen the kitchen knives too? Thanks." He unloaded a pile on the bench.

"This is supposed to be a date. You could at least knock," Yoichi grumbled. Unfortunately, Kaiji became hyper-fixated on polishing every knife to perfection. Apparently there could be such a thing as too much competence. Even more unfortunately, as Kaiji explained each knife's different use in the kitchen, Sanzou lingered in the doorway to provide commentary. Yoichi resigned himself to trying for a kiss next date.

Every morning since his promise, Kaiji took Yoichi to the base gym to practice martial arts. Yoichi proposed they turn the next one into a date.

"What's the difference?" Kaiji asked as he tied a headband around his forehead.

Yoichi said, "We focus less on learning and more on enjoying each other's company." He attempted to bat his eyes. Kaiji's facial expression didn't change and he didn't redden in the slightest, so Yoichi had probably failed to get his point across.

Time for a hands-on demonstration. Yoichi put Kaiji's arm around his shoulder. "Suppose you pretended you were about to throw me like this—"

"No, not in that position, I could seriously hurt you." Kaiji pulled back. From someone else, Yoichi would have taken this as rejection, but Kaiji looked deadly in earnest.

Dammit, the sexually tense fighting scenes in his manga made it look easy. Yoichi sighed. "You're not going to actually throw me. It's the perfect position to gaze into each other's eyes and—"

Hikage barged into the room. "You're practicing martial arts? Can I join in? I want to learn too!"

Yoichi cleared his throat. "Normally yes, but this time was going to be a date."

Sanzou came in and went to the weights section. "Don't mind me," he called as he started lifting.

Hikage bounced up and down. "Will you help me put on my boxing gloves?"

"Sure, kiddo." Yoichi patted Kaiji's shoulder. "This idea was a bit of a flop. I'll try to think up a better date idea next time."

Kaiji nodded. "How about knife-throwing?"

Apparently it was very difficult to get privacy when everyone was cooped up inside the same building. Unfortunately, it was also too cold to picnic outside. The forecast predicted snow.

It snowed heavily, reminding Yoichi of another thing his older brother had never allowed him to do—play outside in the snow. Hisashi had been absolutely convinced of Yoichi's frailty from a young age. Supposedly Yoichi would catch a deadly cold and die. According to Hisashi, Yoichi had gotten pneumonia as a toddler from going outside in the winter. He'd been hospitalized and nearly died.

Yoichi had been too young to remember that sickness. But he remembered spending months at a time without seeing the sun because his older brother refused to let him step outside with an inch of snow on the ground. When he'd been homeschooled, he'd never tasted fresh air even once during the winter. In college, he'd been driven to the doorstep of buildings and shepherded up the walkways by a bodyguard with a heat ability melting all snow within a meter radius. It had been humiliating.

Now, Yoichi could do whatever he wanted.

Yoichi shoved his feet into his sneakers, not even bothering with socks. He still wore his thin cotton pajamas, but there was a high fence around the vigilantes' compound. No one could see him. He didn't know where the vigilantes kept their coats and hesitated to take one without asking. It couldn't hurt to take a quick peek outside.

The first blast of cold air as he opened the door almost persuaded him to go inside and look for a coat. Then Yoichi felt the dusting of snow on his face, whipped off the ground by the wind. It felt amazing! Like cold confetti! Snow!

The world looked pretty with white covering everything. Icicles dripped off the tree branches and the roof. Wind whipped up the flakes in a dance. When he stepped forward, his feet sank into snow up to his ankles. The water crept inside his sneakers.

Laughing, Yoichi knelt down and cupped snow in his bare hand. It was the first time he could ever remember touching snow, and it felt softer than he would have guessed looking at it. Yoichi brought his hand up to his eyes. All the flakes looked alike, even though every snowflake was supposed to be different according to his books. He licked the snow. It melted delightfully in his mouth. It tasted like a flavorless snow cone, but much softer in texture. He licked some more.

"What are you doing?" Hikage emerged from behind a tree with his arms crossed. The boy was bundled up with mittens, boots, and a scarf. "You didn't put on a coat? You're a weirdo. You look way too weak to be running around in your PJs. A gust of wind might knock you over."

Those words touched something deep inside Yoichi. Weak. Useless. Helpless. Big brother had always called him such insults, but big brother wasn't here and couldn't stop him.

"I'm not weak." Yoichi grinned in a way that bared his teeth. "I can handle the snow without a coat."

"You can?" Hikage looked a little impressed. "Is that part of your metapower?"

"Sure. It makes my body strong." Yoichi conveniently overlooked that the stockpiling power had largely only made him feel weaker. "What kind of games do people play in the snow? Show me."

"I'm making snow angels." Hikage lay down on the snow and flapped his arms and legs to demonstrate.

Yoichi nearly balked at putting the snow all over his body and bare skin, but he wasn't about to prove chicken in front of the kid. Besides, the snow looked soft and tempting, like a nice blanket.

When Yoichi lay down, it turned out to be a freezing cold blanket. He felt wet and uncomfortable, but he gamely pushed his arms to imitate wings on the ground.

"Aren't you cold?" Hikage asked.

Yoichi lied, "I feel perfectly fine." His damp back tingled.

"Cool. You're tough," Hikage said.

Yoichi beamed, forgetting about the chill sinking into his bones. "What next?"

"Want to build a snowman?" Hikage asked.

"Absolutely," Yoichi said, trying to wrap the tips of his pajama arms around his bare hands.

The snow quickly sank through Yoichi's cotton pajamas and soaked his hands as he tried to roll a ball. His fingers had turned red. He wondered if it would be chicken to go inside and look for a pair of mittens. Eh, surely he'd be fine without them. He could tough it out a bit more. A light-headedness had come over him. He convinced himself that this meant he was getting used to the cold. Surely soon the tingles would warm up his body.

"Whoops!" Hikage slipped and fell against a tree. His legs sank deep into the snowbank. His eyes widened. "Danger!" He yanked on his leg. "I'm stuck! I stepped in a hole and I can't move!" His voice sank to a terrified whimper. "Something bad is about to happen."

Yoichi tried to leap forward to help, but his legs got tangled. His body wasn't responding to him. When had his limbs turned so heavy and numb? Yoichi remembered Kaiji's teachings. He inhaled, then released the stockpiling power when he exhaled.

In a greenish flash, Yoichi shot forward and grabbed Hikage.

A tree branch overhead broke under the weight of the snow and fell. Yoichi barely had time to lift Hikage up and push him away. Then the branch and the weight of the snow came crashing down on him.

Yoichi experienced flashes of light. Pain. Weight pressing down on him on all sides. The vault had collapsed around him and buried him alive, just like he'd always feared. Maybe he'd always been inside the vault and his entire escape had been one long delusion. He tried to scream, Please big brother! Let me out! I can't breathe! But his mouth wouldn't move. He was crushed by wet coldness on all sides.

Brightness hit him. Someone was lifting him out. For a second, Yoichi thought it was his big brother. But no, Hisashi had never helped Yoichi no matter how many times he screamed in the vault. A scarred hand touched his face. Yoichi recognized those scars with a desperate relief. It dragged him back from the brink.

Hikage sobbed. Kaiji shouted, "Why the hell was he outside wearing pajamas?"

The shadow of weak, useless, helpless, stupid hung over Yoichi. He burned in shame. He'd messed up. Now he was suffering the much-deserved consequences. His throat burned and regurgitated vile and blood.

As he coughed, Yoichi felt muscular arms holding him and someone pushing frosted hair off his face. Then, mercifully, he blacked out.

Yoichi woke up covered with several layers of blankets. It felt suffocating, just like his old room at his brother's mansion. He could not remember how he'd gotten here, but he must be back in big brother's care. With a strangled cry, he threw off his blanket and tried to run. His legs didn't respond properly. He fell toward the floor.

"Careful." Someone caught him and lifted him back up into the bed. "You narrowly avoided frostbite. Your back is bruised from the tree branch." The hands arranged him on the bed on his side, to avoid the painful place on his back. A pillow propped up his head. "Do you think you can drink some hot soup?" A spoon lifted toward his mouth.

"Get away from me!" Yoichi screamed, knocking away the spoon and splashing soup on the floor. "You probably drugged it, big brother!"

If only he'd left the knife under his pillow. Instead, he had to scramble for it under the mattress. As he touched the handle, he remembered—why would he have a knife if he was in his brother's house?

Yoichi looked up. Kaiji stood on the other side of the room with his hands raised non-threateningly. He'd left the soup sitting on the end table with steam rising off it.

Yoichi swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kaiji said. "I know your brother left you with some triggers."

"How is Hikage?"

"He's fine, thanks to you. Not a scratch on him. You did good, protecting him. He feels terrible about you getting hurt. I told him not to disturb you, but he wants to see you as soon as you feel up to it. Do you want some soup? Do you think you can swallow painkillers?"

Yoichi sagged back into the bed. A curtain of hair fell over his face, blessedly hiding his expression. He mumbled, "I don't like drugs. I hate feeling out of control." He shivered, remembering waking up underground with mysterious bandages and no idea what had been done to him. He never wanted to take medicine that might knock him out again. He didn't even want to be muzzy-headed.

"Are you sure?"

Yoichi knew he was exposing all the messed-upness in his head in front of someone he wanted to like and respect him. But he couldn't take the painkillers, no matter how much his head throbbed. He mumbled, "I can't. I'm sorry. And…I don't like soup. It reminds me too much of him. Of that place." There had been soup delivered every day in the vault.

"Okay," Kaiji said. "We'll make you something else warm instead." He bent over to mop up the spill before picking up the soup and leaving.

Yoichi rested his head against his knees and fought to breath. He tried not to cry. That would only make the clogging in his lungs worse.

Kaiji knocked on the door. It took a moment for the sound to penetrate Yoichi's haze, then he called, "Come in."

Kaiji brought in a mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of oatmeal. "How about this?"

"That looks delicious. Thank you." With trembling hands, Yoichi took the mug and drank. Each movement sent twinges down his back. He whispered, "I'm very sorry." Thank goodness he'd had the sense to put the knife somewhere out of easy reach.

"Don't be. I didn't mean to startle you so badly. I'll remember next time that you don't like to be fed." Kaiji's hands flexed and unflexed, eager to do something. "Look, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't you put on a winter coat? I'd be happy to loan you one. You can always take anything you need from the closet in the hallway."

Yoichi mumbled, "I didn't think of it. I'm sorry." He couldn't bear to look at his hero's face, afraid of seeing disappointment or scorn. "I've never been outside in the snow before. I didn't realize how fast I'd get cold."

"Never?" Kaiji inhaled sharply.

Yoichi stared at his knees. "I guess big brother was right after all. I can't handle snow. I'm too stupid to keep myself safe. I'm just a frail invalid who belongs in his room." His lip trembled.

Kaiji said, "You're allowed to do whatever you want, Yoichi."

"But all I do is make bad decisions!" Yoichi laughed caustically. "The first time I left my brother, I ran straight to a government team espousing fake ideals who backstabbed me. I tried to stop my brother, but nothing worked. The only time I escaped the vault, he later said he let me do it. Since I came here, I haven't done anything except burden you and attack you when you try to help me. I'll bring more trouble down on you, from my big brother. I don't know why you'd want me around."

Kaiji said, "Nonsense. You saved me and Sanzou on our last mission, and now you've protected Hikage too."

"I'm too dumb to go outside without nearly getting myself killed."

"Sure, maybe next time you should dress for winter, but who's to blame that you didn't know that? Your brother. Do you know what you get when you never let a child play outside during winter? You get a grown-ass man who doesn't have the sense to put on a coat before rolling around in the snow! If he'd looked out for your best interests, he would have taught you instead of forbidding it. Your older brother didn't want you to be able to survive without him. Well, we're going to prove him wrong."

The anger in Kaiji's voice made Yoichi flinch. It took him a moment to realize the anger wasn't directed at him. Yoichi swallowed the painful lump in his throat. "I know big brother made me stupid on purpose. It doesn't change the fact that I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot. You didn't have any experience with snow. We can change that. As soon as you're feeling better, I'll lend you a coat, hat, and gloves. Then we're going outside and having a snowball fight with Sanzou and Hikage."

Yoichi dared raise his head. Kaiji glared in determination. Yoichi whispered, "Do you mean that?"

"Of course." Kaiji scratched his head. "Unless you don't want to play in the snow again, of course. I wouldn't blame you if it took some time to feel comfortable."

"I'd love to. It will be a date." Yoichi was rewarded with another of Kaiji's charming blushes. He attacked his oatmeal with new vigor, determined to get healthy so he could go outside.

Yoichi woke up coughing. He groped at his nightstand for a cup of water.

"Hello?" Hikage called from behind the door. "My big brothers told me to wait for you to wake up to talk to you. You sound awake, but you don't sound good. Should I get help?"

Yoichi drank his water, then wiped his mouth. "No, I'm fine." He didn't want to cause even more trouble. "You can come in."

Hikage pushed open the door. In a subdued tone, he said, "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

"It wasn't because of you, kiddo. I caused a lot of it myself running around without a coat. That measly tree branch alone wouldn't have been strong enough to knock me out."

Hikage failed to look convinced. He shuffled over and offered a folded piece of paper with Get Well Soon written on the front in crayon. "I made you this."

"Thank you. How thoughf—" Yoichi doubled over coughing.

Hikage handed him a cup of water. Their hands brushed. Hikage frowned. "Do you have a fever?"

"Probably not," Yoichi said. "I usually feel even worse when I have a fever." His headache was mild by his usual standards, really. He could talk and mostly think.

Hikage straightened. "I'll get the painkillers."

"Wait, I don't—" But Yoichi spoke too late. Hikage had already run out the door.

When Hikage returned with a bottle of pills and a hopeful expression, Yoichi hated to disappoint the kid. But he said, "I don't like medicine."

"You don't like medicine?" Hikage stared like he'd developed an extra head.

Yoichi felt compelled to explain. "My brother used to give me bad medicine."

Hikage frowned. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, staring at the bottle. "This medicine is good. My power says so. It won't hurt you."

Even though Yoichi had never had any rational reason to fear the vigilantes' painkillers from the beginning, this made him feel better. He took the bottle. "Thank you." Taking the pill made his headache fade. It happened so fast that he wondered if it might be partly the placebo effect. He'd felt safer as soon as Hikage told him so.

Hikage settled into the bed next to Yoichi. "I'll sleep here tonight to protect you from the bad man. You're safe here. My power will tell you if he comes."

Yoichi couldn't possibly turn down that innocent, sincere offer. "Thank you. I'll definitely be able to sleep with such a strong hero protecting me."

Opening the door, Kaiji found them sleeping together that morning. "Ugh, I told you not to bother him, Hikage."

"I'm protecting him," Hikage insisted.

Yoichi smiled. "He did a great job. He even scared my nightmares away."

Hikage beamed at the praise.

Kaiji asked, "How are you feeling? Are you well enough to walk around?"

Yoichi sat up. His lungs felt much better. The medicine had helped. Perhaps the stockpiling power had helped, too. He didn't usually recover this fast. "I feel nearly as good as new."

Kaiji grinned. "If you're up for it, Sanzou and I built two snow forts outside. Do you want to have a snowball fight?"

Hikage leapt out of bed. "Snowball fight! I call the opposite team to the weak guy."

"Hey," Yoichi protested.

Kaiji laughed. "I'll be on your team, then, Yoichi. I'm counting on you to help me win." Kaiji winked. "I have a bet with Sanzou riding on this match. Let's slaughter him."

At the doorway, Yoichi put on a sweater, then two coats. He wrapped a scarf around each of his wrists to ensure that no snow could leak in to touch the exposed skin. Then he wrapped more scarves around the tops of his pinching borrowed boots. After a two more facial scarves, only his eyes peeked out from under his hat.

"You don't need that many layers," Kaiji said. He winced. "Though you could if you wanted to. You can always take off one coat if you get hot."

Yoichi disliked that tone, delicate and careful of his feelings. He knew it was well-intentioned, but he did not want to be thought of as fragile. It stung his pride. He shrugged off one of the coats, saying gruffly, "It was getting a little hot."

The snowy world outside was still beautiful. The snow on the walkway had melted, but snow lay thick on the ground. Someone had shoveled the remaining snow off the walk and trimmed the tree branches. Sanzou stood behind a constructed wall of snow reaching up to his waist, with a pile of snowballs next to him. He waved. Using their stolen shipment of supplies, he'd dyed his hair a rainbow of colors.

Kaiji pointed at the second wall on the other side of the yard. "That's our fort. Look! I built snow guns!" He pointed at the fake turrets sticking out the top. "Ours is way fancier."

"Mine is taller because you wasted your time being artistic," Sanzou said.

Yoichi asked, "How do you win a snowball fight?"

Sanzou raised his eyebrows at Kaiji. Kaiji shrugged.

"They don't know," Hikage said in a stage-whisper.

Kaiji admitted, "Sanzou suggested a bet and I agreed without thinking. Let's say whichever side gets hit the most loses. Hits to the face don't count, because you shouldn't aim there. It can hurt. We'll continue until we run out of snowballs."

"How would we keep track?" Yoichi asked.

"Count your own side's hits!" Sanzou scooped up a snowball and threw it at Yoichi. "One."

"No fair!" Yoichi ducked, too late. The snow splattered on the front of his coat.

"The game's on!" Hikage raced for the wall of his fort. "Hurry up, Big Brother Yoichi!"

Big Brother Yoichi. The name went through Yoichi like a jolt of lightning. He'd been adopted. He didn't know how to be an older brother. It sent a mixture of excitement and fear through him.

While Yoichi was contemplating the complexity of family, Sanzou hit him in the chest with a snowball. "Two!"

"Come on!" Kaiji called, waving him toward the fort.

Yoichi ran. His legs felt heavy as they kicked up snow. To his relief, he still felt excitement at the small flurries around him. At least snow hadn't been ruined for him. Wool pricked his eye and his scarf impaired his vision. He yanked it down. With all his layers, he felt hot.

But he refused to keep being useless. Yoichi picked up a snowball from the pile, then pretended to slip.

Sanzou poked his head up from the fort. "Are you okay?"

Yoichi pegged him with a snowball. "Fine!" he called cheerfully.

"Sneaky!" Sanzou chuckled. "I like it!" He lobbied a snowball at Yoichi, who ducked behind the wall.

The battle continued until they were tied, eight to eight. Sanzou and Kaiji lobbied friendly insults at each other, trying to lure each other out of the wall.

Hikage threw snowballs rapidly, most of them hitting the wall. Yoichi felt a little uncomfortable aiming at the child. But his older brother had always patronized and overprotected him, and Yoichi's mantra as a big brother would be to do the opposite of what his own brother did. Yoichi crept sideways out from behind the wall while Sanzou and Kaiji were preoccupied with their battle. Then he nailed Hikage in the side. "Nine!"

Yelping, Hikage dusted snow off his coat. Then he charged. "Attack!" he bellowed, leaping onto Yoichi.

It would have been easy for Yoichi to hold the child away from him. But his older brother had also never allowed him to win. Yoichi couldn't help wanting to keep Hikage's big, cheerful smile. So he fell onto his back.

"Got you!" Hikage cried, picking up handfuls of snow and dumping them on Yoichi. "Nine! Ten! Eleven!"

"Yes, you got me," Yoichi said, trying not to smile. He squirmed as the snow crept under his coat.

Kaiji came over and picked up Hikage. "No sitting on him. He doesn't need your ass crushing his lungs." He slapped the boy on the back. "You have a mean arm with a snowball. Well-done."

"It looks like we're out of snowballs," Sanzou said.

Hikage leapt free and ran over. "I won the match for us!"

"Yes, you did. You're the hero of the day." Sanzou ruffled Hikage's hair.

"You're a natural," Yoichi agreed, sitting up. He nearly reached out toward Hikage's head, then remembered. His big brother never asked for permission. "Can I pat your head?"

Hikage gave him a funny look. "Of course you can." He threw his arms around Yoichi and whispered, "I'm glad you're better, big brother."

"Thanks to your protection," Yoichi said, patting his head.

"Let's make hot chocolate," Sanzou said.

"I call first mug!" Hikage cried. "I'm MVP!" He ran into the house.

Yoichi noticed Kaiji looking at him with a fond smile. Yoichi remembered, "You had a bet riding on this, didn't you? I'm sorry, I threw the match."

"Nah, it was no big deal." Kaiji shrugged. "I'm happy the kid had fun."

As he walked toward the door, Sanzou called over his shoulder, "You'll be glad I won, Yoichi."

Yoichi raised an eyebrow.

Kaiji said, "We were betting on what I'd suggest for our next date."

Sanzou snorted. "This idiot wanted to throw knives with you for your next date. Thank me after you see what my idea was instead."

"Yoichi likes knives," Kaiji said indignantly.

Yoichi chuckled. "I'll be excited to find out." First he was looking forward to some hard-earned hot chocolate. "Playing in the snow is fun. It's nothing to be scared of. Thank you for showing me that."

"Yeah. It's fun." Kaiji smiled. "And you're not stupid, Yoichi. Don't let any asshole tell you otherwise."

Hisashi rubbed his eyes as he stared at the computer screen. His search for relatives of the vigilantes had hit a dead end. The leader's sister-in-law had left the country, moving several times until he could no longer find her. The other vigilante had no living family. The child who the vigilantes rescued still lived with them, and if Hisashi knew where to find their base then he would have already retrieved his little brother. Hisashi's mouth twisted into a grimace. He longed to take out his rage on someone, but he aspired to be a higher quality of evil overlord than one who killed minions who'd performed their tasks in a satisfactory manner. All the information he'd received had been accurate and swiftly obtained—it simply hadn't been what he'd wanted to hear.

A video from a warehouse guarded by two exceptionally stupid minions revealed that the vigilantes had taken Yoichi out on a mission. (And that Yoichi was a very immature, very childish coat thief who did not sound like him at all and could not fool anyone with more than one brain cell.) It was very worrying that the vigilantes let Yoichi get involved in their dangerous foolishness.

Even more so, it worried Hisashi to see Yoichi smiling. Playing around. Working together with the vigilantes. Getting attached.

Since Hisashi had yet to receive a ransom note, he'd conclude these vigilantes were truly stupidly idealistic. Exactly the type of heroic idiots who would be idolized by his foolish younger brother. If Hisashi simply murdered the vigilantes and recaptured his brother, then they would forever remain shining, perfect knights in shining armor in Yoichi's eyes. Yoichi would hate and resent Hisashi even more. Then Yoichi would never come to understand that he could only count on his family to never betray him.

At least with the government, Hisashi had known they would inevitably disappoint his little brother's ideals. The vigilantes posed a more insidious threat. They might be stupid enough to be sincere.

Still, Hisashi had no doubt that the vigilantes would still betray Yoichi if their lives were on the line. Many a self-proclaimed hero had turned into a sniveling mess before he killed them. He would arrange for circumstances where the vigilantes would have to choose between themselves or Yoichi.

Then, when Yoichi was betrayed again, he might finally understand that he had no one except his loving older brother.

Stupidly idealistic heroes had many weaknesses. Anyone could turn into a hostage. Hisashi typed into his computer, investigating which civilians these particular vigilantes considered under their protection. Or better yet…why not simply take the entire city?

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Brother of the Year

Yoichi: I'm so happy to be in a loving and fulfilling relationship.

Hisashi: Time to mess it up.

#

Omake: You Know Hisashi Would be Smug About Yoichi Getting Sick

Yoichi: Shut up, big brother.

Hisashi: I'm not even anywhere near you in the fic. How could I say anything?

Yoichi: I can hear your thoughts from miles away!

#

Omake: Hikage is Adopted

Yoichi: Oops, I've acquired a cute little brother. How should I act toward him? I've got it! I'll do the opposite of what my big brother always did!

Hisashi: This violates the natural order. My little brother cannot become an older brother! I do not accept any more brothers in our family!

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Omake: Do You Want to Build a Radioactive Snowman?

Second: It's snowing! Want to go outside?

Yoichi: Do you have gas masks and Hazmat suits? Otherwise the snow will melt off our skin.

Second: …Did All for One tell you that?

Yoichi: Yes, why? Was he lying again? Dammit!

Second: The controlling loser probably didn't want you to leave the house.

Yoichi: Ugh, big brother told me a lot of strange stuff. Get this—he told me holding hands could cause pregnancy, unless I wore gloves. Ha, as if I couldn't see through that one.

Second: There's a different kind of glove for that.

Yoichi: I bet he was also lying about rubber growing on trees.

Second: Nope, that's real.

#

Omake: Someone is Jealous

Hisashi: Oh, no, these vigilantes are going to betray and torture my brother! Or worse…befriend him.

Yoichi: Don't you mean better?

Hisashi: I meant what I said!

Author's Note: This story is back on regular updates! I skipped a couple updates for Dad for One week and All for One Demon week, so I didn't want to make everyone wait until Tuesday for the next chapter. I will be updating this fic on Sundays from now on.

For All for One Demon week, I posted two fics roughly in this universe (using the same backstory and characterization for Second and Third). I think of "Operation Get All for One Laid" as the crack ending for this fic and "The Cat Owns You" as the good ending. Needless to say, following canon is the route to the bad ending.

Also, the wonderful 2000DragonArmy drew a commission for me of the first four One for All holders together! I love how little Hikage is imitating Yoichi. They all look very cool! The tumblr link is at:

2000dragonarmy.

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FYI: I'm excited to be planning my first My Hero Academia event! One for All October will be an event in October dedicated to producing Yoichi-centric fics and art. McFaneLy and I will be hosting. This event will run between October 1st till Halloween. There will be prizes, writing and art for both the winning writers and artists! An official announcement with the rules will be forthcoming by September 1. Please let us know if you're interested and help us pick the prompts for our event using the google form at:

aimportantdragoncollector.

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