Back from the land of 'too busy to write properly' with a new chapter. Should be able to go back to schedule from now on, fingers crossed.

(XX)

Aizawa yawned. "Uhm, are you alright mister Aizawa?" Midoriya asked. The man shook his head.

"No kid, I just want to die and see if they call it Eternal Rest for a reason."

"Sir…"

"I'm just tired kid, relax." Truth was, the night before he got quite the reveal dropped on him by none other than Nedzu and All Might. Frankly, he wanted to forget.

"Must have been a tiring weekend." Midoriya replied.

-x-

"… So to summarize, this All for One is actually a big Japanese Villain that was ruling Japan for over a century and could cripple All Might at his best, turning him into the shadow of himself he is today." Aizawa summarized.

"Yes." Nedzu nodded, looking around the room, and Aizawa did the same. Besides them, Tsukauchi and All Might, they had called in Midnight, Mic, Vlad, Loader, Ectoplasm and Cementoss. Snipe was busy with something and couldn't make it to the meeting, and apparently Inui was All Might's psychotherapist, so he was already privy to the details of All Might's wound, though he couldn't share them. The more you knew.

"And he was supposed to be dead, but somehow survived and now has made a flashy return in the form of destroying Humarise's main force." Loader continued.

All Might nodded stiffly.

"And this guy's Quirk is the ability of taking and giving away Quirks, so he is unpredictable in both fighting style and amount of power." Cementoss finished.

"I see you understand why we are worried." Tsukauchi said, showing a new slide on a large screen, "Our current estimates show he has put together around five hundred ex-Humarise followers now considering him their savior, and that's without-"

"Ohi, wait just a minute!" Mic shouted, "You can't just drop all this on us and call it a day. For starters, why isn't this public news? Or at least something shared with everyone in the Heroes Network!"

"Do you want to share that the Symbol of Peace has a counterpart that can just destroy a country with some effort, Yamada?" Nedzu asked.

"… I mean… I… Why are you telling us at all, then?!"

"Because we believe this man is connected with Handjob and the League of Villains." Tsukauchi explained, changing slide a couple times, "The Noumu we have recovered at the USJ and during the Night Raid show they have multiple Quirks, which shouldn't be possible… Unless All for One was involved. Since those people have targeted All Might and UA before, informing the Hero staff was a necessity." He clicked again, turning to the people in the room, "This also lead us to contact other Hero schools that might be targeted, either because prominent Heroes in the Top 10 graduated from them or because… What is it?"

"Mister Tsukauchi." Cementoss said, blushing slightly, "I think there was a mishap in your presentation."

Tsukauchi turned around, and if anyone asked Aizawa didn't start laughing when his eyes went wide. In his defense, he assumed that he had saved the file ' ', the name of Ryukyu's alma mater, and mixed it up with ' ', a png with wildly different content. To be fair, that bikini was really, really skimpy, calling the picture that wasn't uncalled for. That had to be Miruko in her early twenties at most, so probably some old publicity stunt.

The police detective quickly changed the slide, coughing in his fist.

"Any question?"

Midnight raised her hand.

"No, I will not disclose the origins of that picture."

Midnight kept her hand up.

"Yes, it's official merch, just hard to find, ma'am."

Midnight kept her hand up.

"Please don't tell her, ma'am."

Midnight lowered her hand.

Mic lost it. If anyone asked, once again, Aizawa didn't follow.

-x-

"Yeah, you could say that." Aizawa took the form, "Moving in the dorms? I thought you were from Musutafu."

"I am sir, but my parents are moving and will spend some time in a hotel while they build our new house, so I figured this was the better choice."

Aizawa nodded, tiredly looking through it. "I believe Shoji, Todoroki and Uraraka are the only ones that have moved in so far."

"Actually, I think Himi- Shimura and Mas- Sako will move in too, sir."

Aizawa made to ask a question, but then retracted it. Way too much work, and then Midnight would hound him for the details. "Make sure they deliver that by next week."

"Yes sir. Have a good day." He bowed and walked out of the room. They were going to see each other again in maybe fifteen Minutes, Aizawa knew, so it was a beat weird to get a good bye, but the kid seemed a bit tired himself. He'd have to make sure Mirko understood he needed to be rested for school if he wanted to keep up. She never had an Intern before, so there was a serious risk she might go overboard and-

"Mister Aizawa?" He turned around, to see Jiro, Asui and Tsunotori. "Yes?"

"We are planning to move in the dorms." Jiro explained, showing three forms. Aizawa raised an eyebrow and parsed them. "Noted. I guess Tsunotori makes sense, and I can see why Asui would as well, but don't you live close enough, Jiro?"

"My parents said something about this being 'rocking'." She explained. Aizawa had several questions he didn't voice. It wasn't like they needed a reason to move in.

"Very well, get settled and…"

"Mister Aizawa?"

Aizawa turned around again – what possessed Nedzu to put doors at both hands of the teachers' lounge, he would never know – and he stared at four students from 1-B. All girls, actually. The one that had spoken was… Shiozaki, if he remembered correctly.

"Yes?" He asked, a sneaking suspicion on why they wanted to talk to him.

"We'd like to submit the forms to move into the dorm." The short girl – Komori? – said.

"Shouldn't you ask Vlad?"

"He is not here yet, so we thought…"

"Fair enough. Same for you two, Tokage, Yanagi?" He asked. The two nodded, and with a tired sigh he took their forms as well. "I heard a lot of 1-B students are moving in, is that right?"

"Hiryu and his friend group." Tokage chuckled, "I guess we have all more or less the same reason."

"And that is?"

"We are all friends, sir." Yanagi said, "I think a lot of people will move into the dorms."

Aizawa nodded. Made sense, he supposed. Though he had to wonder why all today. One would think there was a catalyst of some kind.

-x-

Izuku sneezed. "Someone thinking about you?" Masuchan asked from his desk.

"If that was the case, I'd have probably died from too much sneezing by now." He said, pulling out a handkerchief and blowing his nose.

"True. How is being famous, by the way?" Masuchan asked.

"It's weird. Everyone knows me, but I just don't know them. It's always 'Valiant this', 'Valiant that', 'When are you going to catch Handjob Valiant?', 'Where will you be tomorrow Valiant?', 'Who's your girlfriend, Valiant?' and so on." He sighed, "I knew I'd have to deal with the press if I wanted to be a frontline Hero like All Might, but this is… too sudden."

"Well, at least once we move in the UA dorms, you can answer the girlfriend question."

"Or I can avoid that. I can't really have people digging in Himiko's past, right? I don't know how good the 'Shimura' identity is, but if they found out about the 'Shigaraki' stuff…"

"Dude, there are only so many girls in this school, and it will be rather obvious once she moves in the dorm-" He paused. Izuku glanced at him.

"Masuchan?"

"I had an idea, Izukun. The perfect way to hide Himiko." Masuchan replied.

"… Are you going to disclose it?"

"Oh, you will probably notice anyway." Masuchan said, a sentence that filled Izuku with dread.

The fact Masutaro pulled out his phone and sent a message out, and the consequent buzzing from Kaminari, Hagakure, Mineta and Tokoyami's phones, didn't help.

Kaminari's grin helped even less.

-x-

Masutaro Sako was a student at the prestigious UA High School. He was, according to his documents, a fifteen years old with a stupendous track record, having never committed a single act of delinquency against the rules of whatever school he was frequenting.

He was, therefore, not going to break any rules here either. Neither were his friends. There was technically no rule against them doing what they were about to do, they just weren't sure they would have gotten permission.

It was a pure coincidence, therefore, that the moment miss Tsutsumi, the Security guard, walked out of the room they were interested in, Hagakure and Mineta sprouted out of the corner, Hagakure 'kyaying' in a very adorable way as Mineta pretended – and he better pretend or they were having words – to try and look under her skirt. Of course, miss Tsutsumi wasn't going to take this well, as she walked away and towards the duo, that was conveniently running in the opposite direction.

Of course, the door would have immediately closed behind miss Tsutsumi, had Dark Shadow not moved in to block it, slithering stealthily on the floor, reduced in size by the daylight entering through the windows. Thanks to that, Kaminari and Masutaro had an easy time walking in the room.

A little-known fact about Kaminari was that he was a fan of all things electronics. Not a programmer or a hacker, and if you asked him to dismantle something he would look at you with a confused look, but he was good at using machines. After all, he had to learn at least how to keep a battery going with his power. It didn't take much work to make sure the thing was working properly.

Masutaro cleared his throat.

-x-

Izuku looked around. "Something wrong, Izuku?" Himiko asked.

"I don't see Masuchan anywhere." He said, scanning the cafeteria.

"Is that a problem?" Himiko asked.

"I don't know, Himiko, Masuchan can be quite…"

"Hello?" The school's intercoms, that usually spoke with a very different voice, called out, "This is a friend telling all the girls of UA that Izuku Midoriya, aka Valiant, is moving in the dorms." Izuku buried his face in his hands, "I repeat, girls, Valiant is moving in the dorms. He has a girlfriend right now, by the way, but you know… bonding by being close and all that. Good luck from a friend."

The intercom shut down, and Izuku looked at Himiko, as he felt the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria turn around to bore on him.

"I want to strangle him…" He mumbled through his hands.

"I want to stab him." Himiko said, and Izuku saw her toy with her knife.

She was really cute when she was murderous, Izuku realized.

-x-

"This was a Hero student." Tsutsumi said.

"Undoubtably." Nedzu replied, "Several, actually."

"Are we going to punish them?" Aizawa asked, "I can teach them a lesson about fooling around. An expulsion might help."

"Oh, I know who did this, Aizawa, but I won't punish them."

"Why?!"

"Because I find it really funny." Nedzu sipped his tea, "Either way, I have in mind something far more enjoyable than any punishment, for the future." He said with a mischievous grin.

He watched Aizawa squirm as he checked his mails. Ah, what a delicious bunch were the Hero students from this year. He supposed putting them to the test a bit would have to do. That mail he got from the principals of Isamu and Seiai seemed quite well timed.

'It's an excellent idea, but I should expand it a bit. I'm sure older students from Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu would enjoy it too. I just wonder why they named the file 'operation Dual Wielding'…' He thought, frowning. Sometimes, humans confused him.

-x-

"Explain!" Himiko shouted, slamming her hand on the wall next to Masutaro's head.

Masutaro had seen a lot of people angry at him. Angry Himiko was new, but she looked manageable. But now that Izukun stood next to Himiko, staring at him, Masutaro wondered if he had colossally fucked up this time.

"It's to help." He said, raising both hands. Be honest, be upfront about it, and don't make the girl that can probably gut you and the guy that can punch you through the wall, the wall behind that wall, and the window on the other side.

Survival instinct time.

"How does that help, Masuchan?!" Izukun asked.

"Because it makes more girls enter the dorms! Think about it, you want Himiko to remain an unknown as long as possible? Well now they will have to look through a majority of the UA girls if they want to figure it out!"

Izukun stared at him, then sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Masuchan."

"Yes, my best friend in the world?"

"This will work, so thank you, but please, never do something like that again."

"Sure, Izukun, absolutely." Masutaro sighed in relief as Himiko let him go and hugged Izuku, her boyfriend passing a hand through her hair. She hummed as she nestled her hand in the nook of his neck. Frankly, Masutaro had to wonder how the news of who the mysterious girlfriend was hadn't gotten out yet. Probably some unspoken honor code among the girls?

-x-

"I assure you, his girlfriend is Reiko Yanangi." Kendo said with a smile at the journalist, "You should see how she talks about him." The man grinned and walked off, interview in hand, and Kendo waited for him to turn the corner before she walked back into the school. "I hate this."

"It's for a good cause, Itsuka." Hiryu declared, "So, next we should be able to spot a woman from JPH News. Kodai, go tell her Midoriya is in a relationship with…" He scrolled through his phone, "Ibara Shiozaki. Just circulate the story that they aren't making it public because she is a devout Christian and wants to wait until they can get married before revealing it."

"Can I point out that Midoriya never asked us to do this?" Kaibara asked, while Kodai walked off after giving a thumbs up.

"Sen. Sen. Poor, simple Sen. You see, Midoriya had no need to tell me, because it is obvious this is his plan. Remember, we believe he wants Momo Yaoyorozu to be convinced she can enter a relationship with him. Since he is aware I am aware, he trusts me to understand his goals and provide support. If he had to tell me, I can only imagine how disappointed he would be."

"… So you are saying that Midoriya expected you to do this, and has therefore no reasons to tell you to?"

"Indeed. So much so that this morning, when I told him I was going ahead with the plan, he told me 'good job, Hiryu, keep doing everything to plan'."

"He did?"

"Oh absolutely."

-x-

"Good morning Midoriya!"

"Oh god… Hello, Hiryu." Midoriya said, smiling like he did for the cameras. How smart of him, to keep up his smile even when no one could notice it. Clearly, he was trying to convey the message that, even at school, he was still Valiant, by using a more strained smile than normal.

"I am proceeding with our plans, sir. Do you wish for a report?"

"No!" Izuku coughed, probably to hold back a laughter at the thought of his plans succeeding. Hiryu was touched by his trust. "I mean, there is no need to, right? You are doing everything appropriately, aren't you?"

"Of course, sir."

"Then good job Hiryu. Keep doing everything… to plan."

"I won't disappoint you Midoriya."

"I assure you, Hiryu, that is not possible. Just, make sure to not cause damage or hurt someone, alright?"

"Yes, boss." He replied with a bow, Midoriya's smile cracking just a bit. Hiryu smiled at that, knowing he was forcing himself to keep up the fake smile instead of a more complicit one.

-x-

"Wow. He really trusts you."

"Indeed. But it's clear that trust only extends so long as I keep doing my job. So, Kaibara, next, Hero News Live, go and claim that the 'girlfriend' is a cover-up for a relationship with all the girls in Class 1-A and 1-B."

"Are you sure? That seems a bit odd."

"The plan is to murk the water as much as possible. Also, no one listens to Hero News Live." Hiryu shrugged, "Who would even believe something like that?"

-x-

"Poly! Poly! Poly!" Kashiko shouted, shoving the phone in Saiko's face.

"This seems unlikely, but if it's true, Operation Dual Wielding can become Operation Valiantbowl."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, I found it on another forum, is some sort of codename for Valiant having a massive harem." She grinned, "But let's not put our hopes up. We are getting that Valiant d-"

"Saiko!"

"-ate. Date, Kashiko, we are getting that Valiant date." Saiko said, staring flatly at her.

Kashiko blushed furiously. "… Oh."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Kashiko."

"Says the girl that called our plan Operation Dual Wielding."

"I was just being clear on our goals. Either way, I also got a call from the Principal of Seiai. She confirmed Nedzu agreed to a joint training with Isamu and UA. The official announcement will be in a few days, and apparently the first joint exercise will be next week."

"Must be nice to be the daughter of the Principal." Kashiko pointed out. "So we are striking as planned, right?"

"Yup." Saiko grinned, her teeth shining white, "We are going to win this, Kashiko. We are getting Valiant on a date at all costs."

Kashiko smiled. In a week, they would be face to face with Valiant. She couldn't help the thumping of her heart.

-x-

Tooru couldn't help the thumping in her heart. A date with Masutaro. Their second date as boyfriend and girlfriend, and the first one where they would go eat out. She gulped, trying to decide what to wear. For an invisible girl like her, clothes became even more important than for a normal one. Pants and skirts didn't just change who she looked like, but changed entirely the vibe she gave, even more than for any other girl. Having a skirt made it easier to forget she was invisible, especially a long skirt, since it covered her legs and feet, but on the other hand pants made it easier to tell where she was going. She couldn't even start to count the amount of times people had made a mistake on which side was the front, if she was wearing something baggy on top.

Speaking of the top, should she use a shirt alone, or add a jacket? Maybe just the shirt would be better. A muted color perhaps, so it didn't distract from her?

'Gaaaah, this was never so difficult before!' She dumped the clothes on the bed, groaning. She knew why this was so hard, of course. She wanted Masutaro to look at her. She wanted him to see her, to see who he was dating, and he couldn't, not really. She was worried because, surrounded by so many beautiful girl that anyone could see, would Masutaro hold on the one girl he couldn't?

The other day it had been easy, it was just a mall run and an ice cream, but this one was a dinner. She didn't even know where they were going, just that it wasn't some exclusive place because she had made sure to ask. So her options were a lot!

"I need to think this through. I need to…" She paused, "I need to ask for advice!" She grabbed her phone and called the number. "Mina!" She shouted the moment the phone call opened.

"Tooru?! Something wrong?!"

"I need help Mina. I need to go on a date with Masutaro and I don't know what to wear!"

"Did you really call me for an outfit?"

"Yeah! I'm sorry, did you have something else-"

"That's amazing! Alright, show me your wardrobe girl, we are going to create the best outfit!"

"You are the best friend a girl could ask for!" Tooru cheered.

"That's me! Now let's get to it! If Masutaro's jaw doesn't hit the floor when he sees you, I've done a bad job!"

Hagakure couldn't hold back a giddy smile. "Thank you so much, Mina. I'll pay you back."

"Ah, don't worry about it Tooru." She replied, "Although, if you want to help me with Bakugo's situation…"

"Does it involve gossip and dates?"

"You know it."

"Oh, I'm totally in." She replied, "But for now…"

"Clothes girl, show me."

Hagakure smiled. She wondered how Masutaro was handling it.

-x-

"Say Dabi, you have a good drip usually, hitting all the right spots, can you help me with my clothes for a date?" Mustard asked.

"What's in it for me?" The crispy man replied.

"I don't know, what do you want?"

"A bottle of your gas."

"… You know, that sounds really, really suspicious, and I should ask what you plan to do with it." He shrugged, "But on the other hand, I don't really care, so deal."

-x-

Tooru had thought Mina had exaggerated when she said Masutaro's mouth would hit the floor. He had put on the right clothes for the place, a cute family restaurant that gave the right mix of casual and elegant. He too, therefore, was wearing the right mix of casual and elegant, the blue jacket and black shirt mixing well with the grey pants and grey-black shoes, on the darker side but never so dark it felt like a Tokoyami-style outfit.

Masutaro, on the other hand, looked at her and his jaw, she could have sworn, actually did hit the floor. He managed to wrench it back in place and stutter, "Y-You look… Stunning, Hagakure."

She blushed – thankfully something also hidden by his comment – and chuckled, "Thank you, Masutaro, you look great too."

"Thank you." He hesitantly pushed his hand forward, and grabbed hers.

He found it and grabbed it on his own.

Her heart skipped a beat, and without thinking, she kissed him on the cheek. He turned bright red, "Was that…"

"A little reward." She simply said, looking at his eyes. They had gone wide, but after a moment they filled with something she decided was love.

"For what?" He asked, breathing in.

"For being the best boyfriend I could ask for." She said.

Masutaro blushed again, and she smiled.

Yup, she had chosen the right person.

-x-

Masutaro watched Tooru eat her food. It was fascinating. Some would have said scary, seeing the food just vanish in mid-air, but they didn't get it. It was the fact you could tell what she liked and what she disliked, it was recognizing how she enjoyed her time.

Her time with him.

He sighed. He really liked her. Really, really liked her. It was sudden, it was unexpected. It was weird. He had become a Villain because he hated Heroes and Hero Schools. Those Villains had told him to join a Hero School, and he had ended up dating a Hero in training.

And he loved her. He loved their time together.

He had made friends at UA of course, and he was happy having them around. Kaminari and Mineta, who might have been loud and obnoxious at times but were there when you needed them, or Tokoyami that was broody, silent and liked to put up the air of a silent cool guy… except he carried around a jokester in the form of Dark Shadow.

But Tooru was more. She had decided to take a chance on him, and at first Masutaro didn't get why. But knowing her, she was someone that was… bold, ambitious and brave. She had taken the chance because she was someone that would seize her opportunity and take hold of it.

And he liked that.

He would never disappoint her.

'Even if you could do it so easily, if she found out what you are.' Masutaro thought. A fake name, a fake identity, and a lot of very real Villains as friends. If she found out… 'She won't. Eventually… I'll find a way to make this work.'

He'd have to.

"Everything ok, Masutaro?"

"I… Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking I borrowed something to a friend and was thinking what he is planning to do with it." Masutaro replied.

-x-

Dabi groaned, the voices coming from the bar's table growing in volume.

"I'd be a better boyfriend, anyway." Handjob shouted.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure 'a boyfriend that scratches himself like he has lice' is her ideal man!" Hina replied.

"At least I'm not a yandere!"

"That's not even a real word!"

"Not even- Learn your tropes, you monster!"

Dabi passed a hand over his face, glanced at Compress and Stain, and the two men nodded. He turned around, opened the bottle filled with gas, and tossed it toward the table where Shigaraki and Hina were fighting. They stared in shock at the purple gas, before they both fell asleep on the table.

The entire bar went silent for a second, then every villain in the place started loudly clapping. Dabi bowed and grabbed a drink from Kurogiri. Sometimes, a man just had to make a choice. Like putting their boss and another henchman to sleep with a narcotic gas because they were fucking annoying. That one was a very easy choice.

A moment later, as everyone else fell back into their chatter, Beros walked in the bar. "They fall asleep?" She asked in half-baked Japanese.

"Yeah, guess he did." Dabi replied, in his own half-baked English, "The other boss?"

"She has a call. Told to leave the night free."

"Sucks. Want drink?"

"Sure! Wanna talk Savior's plans? I had lot ideas!"

"Sure. Sounds fun." He replied, letting Beros sit nearby. Compress and Stain stared at him, their eyes going wide. He just wiggled his eyebrows. What? Shigaraki didn't have the exclusive on understand hating Quirks, and Dabi had an important advantage. You see, he had actually spoken with a woman that wasn't Hina or 2D in the last ten years.

Compress, from behind Beros' back, passed a finger over his throat while pointing first at Shigaraki and then at Dabi. The burnt man considered his chances with another woman that didn't start screaming when he walked in the room versus his chances of actually being killed if he did manage to get the girl before Shigaraki did.

'Eh, fuck it, I'm probably gonna die anyway, worth it.' And he listened to her explain some deranged theory on how they could destroy all Quirks. "Should we start taking Endeavor Quirk?"

"Excellent idea!"

'Yup, fuck it, every man for himself, Shiggy. Man or woman, Hina is in it too. Good luck to you both, I'm taking the head start while you two try to remember how to talk to a woman.'

-x-

Masutaro kissed Tooru and she walked off, stepping on the train. He whistled happily, walking out of the station. He'd go to sleep immediately, since there was school the next day.

He yawned, passing a hand through his hair to fix them up a bit.

For once, everything was going perfectly.

-x-

The girl stared at the picture, a screenshot of the Sports Festival. She had been spending a lot of time looking at all of them, and now she was sure.

"That's you, Yukio, isn't it?" She wondered, "How are you at UA? How are you using an alias?"

The picture of 'Masutaro Sako didn't answer.

But that didn't matter to the girl. She would get her answer herself. She would drag her brother back home.

(XX)

I'm kinda sad I didn't manage to post this one on Monday, but such is life. Still, some good time spent with Izuku's best bro Masuchan and his friends, some set-up for the upcoming Dual Wielding Arc, and some explanation on how people haven't already figured out who the girlfriend is.

Bless you Hiryu, you are absolutely right, Izuku is playing 10D Chess with everyone, keep at it my man.

And hey, Dabi has been talking about not getting any, of course he will jump at the chance. Hina and Shigaraki better start working hard on this.