Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Vlad King's Green Bean

Chapter thirty-five: The Titan

While the raid on the Shie Hassaikai's hideout was ongoing, Gran Torino, backed by Naomasa, led a group of police officers in chasing down Kurogiri of the League of Villains through a wooded area. After getting him within sight, Gran Torino rushed him, striking him upside the head and knocking him to the ground. While he had the mist villain pinned, Gran Torino slapped a pair of quirk suppressing cuffs onto his wrists as he held Kurigiri's hands behind the mist villain's back. That ensured that he would not be getting away.

"Heh," the older pro hero laughed, "With you being caught like this, the League of Villains is bound to fall apart."

"Gran Torino, I hope you didn't forget about this one's quirk," Naomasa said in an advisory tone.

"It's why I made sure to slap the quirk suppressing cuffs onto him first chance I got," Gran Torino replied, "Trust me, he can't get away now."

Kurogiri, realizing that he's caught, relented somewhat in his struggling. "...I don't suppose that you heroes and police have heard talk of the ruffian who lives in this mountainous wooded area, have you not?"

That caught the attention of Gran Torino and the police. "A ruffian, huh?" Gran Torino replied, "Looking to bolster the ranks of the League of Villains with a new recruit, ehh? Well, You can tell us all about it once we get you behind bars, right where you-"

*RUMBLE*

Gran Torino was cut off when he, the police, and Kurogiri heard some rumbling in gthe distance, could even feel it from where they were at. The police turned in the direction the rumbling came from while Gran Torino kept the cuffed Kurogiri pinned. Where he was at, Kurogiri remembered a talk he had with the late All For One, who told him that it'd be up to him to help guide Shigaraki, later and now Dabi as he took Shigaraki's place following the hand villain's death at the USJ, to becoming the top dog in Japan. All For One in that talk also said that, should Kurogiri ever feel uneasy and that Dabi may need some additional power, then the ruffian would be a boon.

The rumbling grew louder, started coming closer. As a large looming figure started to appear over the tree line of the wooded area, Kurogiri gave an amused chuckle as he saw the police, as well as Gran Torino, grow wide-eyed with alarm. "...That would be the ruffian that I spoke of right there, hero and police," said the captured mist villain, "One of the late All For One's most loyal servants, his personal bodyguard who was to All For One what Felgrand is to Dabi." Soon, the police and Gran Torino got a decent enough look at the behemoth of a being, someone who towered over even many of the trees surrounding it.

"Gigantomachia."

The day following Izuku's talk with Sir Nighteye at the latter's agency, the green haired boy and the other UA students that were in the work studies returned to UA. Although there was still time left in the work studies, the students had to be sent back early due to a combination of factors, like the League of Villains getting involved in the Shie Hassaikai hideout raid, a UA student getting killed during said raid, and the need to gather statements on what all had happened so that a case report could be built, among other things.

Izuku, wanting to see something, swung by an area in front of the front office in the main UA building. This area was set up as something of a memorial area to pay respect to the UA students who had died while attending UA, although it was only set up earlier in the current school year as it's the first school year in UA's history to ever see any of its students die while attending UA. It got a decent start to its grim collection of photos of fallen students with photos of Monoma, Mineta, Koda, Sato, and Asui who were all killed at the USJ when the hand villain's League attacked there. Later on after the first internships, Tenya's photo was added to the wall.

Izuku was, simultaneously, both surprised and unsurprised to see that a photo of Mirio had just been added.

It was as Izuku looked up at the wall of photos of fallen UA students that he heard a voice call out from behind, "Hey, Green Bean!" Izuku turned, saw that his friends in Class 1-B, Juzo, Yosetsu, and Nirengeki, along with Uraraka and Tokoyami from Class 1-A, were approaching him. Tokoyami had Dark Shadow out, and it had been that sentient quirk who had called out to him. "...Paying your respects to the fallen, I take it?" Dark Shadow asked.

The green haired boy gave an affirmative nod. "I just wanted to see if Mirio-senpai had been added yet, since he was killed during the raid I was a part of."

"It's darkness of the maddest kind that we lost yet another schoolmate to villainous violence this year," Tokoyami remarked in a grim yet resigned tone, looking up at where Mirio's photo was on the wall, under Mineta's photo and next to Tenya's. "Mirio-senpai makes seven UA students killed so far this year," Tokoyami went on, "Even though one is still too many." The bird-headed boy's eyes turned upwards to the upper right corner of the growing wall of photos, looking at the photo of the lone girl who was being remembered, although none of the others caught Tokoyami's line of sight. "...Too many indeed."

Izuku nodded in agreement, then turned to look at Uraraka. "...I heard Eri just got out of the hospital and is back at UA under protective custody. How is she doing?"

The gravity girl gave a gentle shake of her head. "...I don't have much of a clue, Izuku. I'm far from the only one in my class who asked about Eri's well-being, but all that Aizawa-sensei told us is not to worry about it and focus back on our lessons and training."

"He won't say anything about how Eri's doing?" Yosetsu asked, "Weird. You'd think that Aizawa-sensei would, at the very least, say whether or not Eri is doing fine, at least give you guys some bit of update on her condition."

Izuku was still unamused with the underground hero. ...Well, he's always been unamused with Aizawa, but recent events had turned those feelings up even more. But Aizawa had crossed a line at destroying the provided dose of restoring serum that could have given Eri her quirk back, rather than force her to now live life as a part of the twenty percent of the world's populace without a quirk. If he really was THAT suspicious, then Aizawa could have done what at least two people suggested and have the dose of serum examined first to determine if it was tainted before destroying it, rather than automatically assume it was tainted and destroy it on the spot.

Izuku couldn't help but worry about how Eri was doing.

Izuku's worries about Eri were put to rest later after classes that day when, while he and his classmates were in the common area of their dorm building with some doing homework (the others including Izuku finished all of their homework), Aizawa walked into the 1-B dorm with a few bags, plus Eri following along behind him. Eri looked like she had recently taken a bath showing that she was clean, and wore her usual outfit of white long-sleeved shirt, red pintafore, black leggings, and yellow boots. She wore a tan messenger bag on her person, the strap going from her right shoulder to left hip, where the strap ends attached to the bag.

"1-B brats, where's Sekijiro?" Aizawa said, "I'm here to discuss the arrangement I've made with him."

Before any of the 1-B students could answer, Sekijiro himself came out. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here," the Blood Hero said. Folding his arms over his chest, Sekijiro gave Aizawa a wry and ever so slightly judgmental look. "...Are you sure that you wanna do this?"

"I'm going to be busier than ever with getting my students trained up for what lies ahead," the underground hero said, "So I don't time for unnecessary distractions." Aizawa then handed Sekijiro a spiral bound notebook, saying it had plans for Eri's care written in them, then turned around and took off.

After Aizawa was gone, Sekijiro gathered all of his students up. "Alright kids, here's the deal," Sekijiro said, "Due to... various circumstances... we of 1-B have been given the duty of looking after and caring for little Eri here while she's a ward of UA."

"We're looking after Eri now?" Itsuka nearly exclaimed.

Sekijiro nodded in the affirmative. The students of Class 1-B were surprised that they now more or less had a little sister. Izuku, although he was glad Eri was fine and what's more he'll help to look after her now, couldn't help but wonder why Class 1-B had basically taken over a duty that had been given to Class 1-A, and by Principal Nezu himself no less. A darker part of his throught process reminded him of how he heard Aizawa say he was putting more priority into training Class 1-A, that he didn't have time for unnecessary distractions.

Is... is that what Aizawa now thought of Eri as? An unnecessary distraction? It sickened the green haired boy to his stomach that anyone could view a little girl like Eri as nothing more than an 'unnecessary distraction'. What made that comment especially bad was how Eri, due to a mix of being shot by the last Quirk Destroying bullet that was in existence and Aizawa destroying the dose of restoring serum that was provided to remedy that problem, was now stuck living the rest of her life as quirkless. The underground hero had acted coldly to a quirkless child.

Izuku was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice Eri had come up to him; it took Juzo who stood with Izuku along with Yosetsu and Nirengeki to snap Izuku out of his thoughts and point out to him that Eri came up to him. "Little Eri had asked who Izuku Midoriya was since Nejire-senpai and Mirio-senpai had mentioned you around her multiple times," Juzo explained, "So the lads and I pointed you out to her."

The little girl, now quirkless, looked up at Izuku. "Nejire and Mirio said that you're a good person," Eri said, "Is that true?"

The green haired boy relaxed his expression, knelt down to be more level with Eri. "Yes, Eri. I'm a good person, or at least I try to be."

"Am..." Eri began, clearly nervous, "...Am I in trouble?"

"What makes you say that, Eri?" Sekijiro asked.

The little girl looked down, clearly nervous. "...Because Aizawa can't watch me right now."

Izuku let out a gentle sigh. "That man... has issues that he needs to work through, Eri." As much as Izuku wanted to express how he honestly felt about Aizawa, he knew doing to with Eri here wouldn't exactly make her feel better. "Issues that, for your safety and well-being, he doesn't want you exposed to," Izuku went on, "That's probably why he had asked Kan-sensei to take over for him in looking after you."

"And it won't be just Kan-sensei," Itsuka spoke up, "I'm certain he'll be alright with it if my classmates and I all pitched in with looking after you."

"Oh yeah," Yosetsu spoke up, "You'll have lots of fun with us here! We can have movie nights with you, take you out to have foods kids your age like such as burgers and pizza-"

"What are those?" Eri asked, looking curious.

The students of Class 1-B all looked at Eri in shock. "You... don't know what burgers are?" Jurota asked, looking and sounding surprised.

"She doesn't know what pizza is?" Shihai said.

The students of Class 1-B proceeded to ask Eri what all she knew about food, and to their shock learned that Eri knew very little; she only got a form of nutritional food paste when she was in the clutches of the late Kai Chisaki, and Aizawa when he still had her under his guardianship provided nutritional meals that consisted of actual food items, although it was mainly vegetables and lean meats to eat, and either apple juice or milk to drink. Izuku, although he had practically no respect for Aizawa at this point, had to admit that he was a step up compared to the late Kai Chisaki.

Eri also said that apples were her favorite thing to eat, something Pony said she agreed with. Aside from all of that, Eri knew pretty much nothing about what all kinds of foods are out there. "Sweet merciful Buddha, what the fuck?!" Togaru exclaimed. Pointing at Eri, the mantis boy went on, "This kid knows nothing about what all kinds of foods kids her age all love! This is a problem that we gotta fix ASAP!"

Reiko pulled out her phone, a cheap looking flip phone, and used it to check the time. "...It's close to dinner time at this point." Putting her phone away, Reiko said, "How about we order out for pizza if we can afford it?"

"Well I'm glad to see you kids are taking things seriously here," Sekijiro said, "Not to mention how it apparently doesn't bother any of you that Eri here is quirkless."

That announcement did take the 1-B students by surprise, aside from Izuku who already knew, and Juzo, Yosetsu, and Nirengeki who Izuku had informed about the matter in confidence. Shrugging, Togaru said, "...I don't know about the rest of class here Kan-sensei, but it doesn't bother me the kid's quirkless." Hands on his hips, Togaru went on, "What DOES bother me about the kid is that she's been denied getting to experience trying what all foods kids her age like! Hell, I bet she's never even had sweets, like candy, cookies, cake, and the like! Kids love sweets, you know!"

"They do?" Eri remarked, "Also, what are candy, cookies, and cake?"

Most of the 1-B students looked at Eri with wide-eyed, dropped-jaw looks of utter shock. Starting that evening, the students of UA's Class 1-B made it their mission for Eri to experience all of the tasty wonders that she, in their collective opinion, should have experienced by now. Eri not having tried them was their main and only concern that they had about her; none of them even cared that Eri was quirkless. What they cared about was making sure that Eri experienced a happy childhood.

The following day, as Class 1-B was getting used to their new role as Eri's guardian, Toshinori got a phone call from Gran Torino. "How's it going, Torino?" Toshinori asked his old mentor.

"Well, good news and bad news, Toshi," Gran Torino replied from the other end of the call, "Good news, we've captured the mist villain from the League of Villains."

The former Symbol of Peace pumped a fist in triumph. "Excellent!" Toshinori said, "He's the last loose thread from the attack on the USJ!" Toshinori felt all the better, now seeing that the students and one staff member who were killed had been avenged in full.

However, Toshinori's celebrating was cut off when Gran Torino went on, "Then there's the bad news. When we captured Kurogiri, we also encountered a behemoth of a man who Kurogiri identified as Gigantomachia."

"Gigantomachia?" Toshinori said in surprise; the former Symbol of Peace remembered hearing that name before. The name of All For One's personal bodyguard, this Gigantomachia fellow supposedly can be bested only by Felgrand, Dabi's monster of a bodyguard. That being said, Gigantomachia is still bound to be more than what any one pro hero, or perhaps any dozen pro heroes working as a unified team, could potentially handle on their own. The fact that Gran Torino was speaking to Toshinori now meant that the older pro hero must be an extremely lucky man.

"Yeah," Gran Torino said, "Naomasa and I were both hurt terribly, and most of the police task force we had with us suffered heavy casualties. All that we could do was get away with Kurogiri who we captured. When a return team was sent to collect the bodies of the fallen police, the monster was nowhere in sight, although mercifully he decided to leave all the bodies behind. Gigantomachia, that... that thing... it's a walking natural disaster, Toshi. The area he was spotted in had been completely and totally ravaged. He even took out a large chunk of mountain."

Toshonori felt a shiver go down his spine; yeah, Gigantomachia on his own was too much of a challenge for most groups of heroes. That being said, Felgrand who is boasted as being the only person who can put Gigantomachia to shame is bound to be an even greater one person natural disaster. "Please keep me updated on what all you can find out about Gigantomachia," Toshinori said. The call was ended, and Toshinori, after putting his phone away, leaned back in his seat as he thought about what all he got from his old mentor just now.

Literally the only good thing about what all Gran Torino had said was that Kurogiri was captured; not only did it avenge the deaths from the USJ, it also deprived the League of Villains of their ability to warp to and from everywhere. But Kurogiri's capture came with the bad news of the late All For One's personal bodyguard entering the scene, completely wrecking the area he was in and claiming most of the lives there in the process. It was lucky Gran Torino and Naomasa both survived, but the former Symbol of Peace wished that no lives had been lost to that villainous monster.

Especially since there's already another villainous monster out there, responsible for claiming many lives himself.

Meanwhile, Enji Todoroki, known more commonly as the Flame Hero Endeavor, was visiting Masegaki Primary School in something of an official slash charitable appearance. He walked through the halls while led on something of a tour by one of the teachers at the school, a lady named Komari Ikoma. "I heard that this school has had problems with controlling its young students," Endeavor said, "But that's no longer the case?"

Komari nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, Endeavor. Most of the staff has had trouble controlling the children here since the beginning of the current school year, but we've seen a sudden increase of the children behaving themselves following the Battle of Kamino Ward. They now listen to the staff, do what they are told and when. They are all perfectly well-behaved little angles now."

Endeavor picked up the hint of troubled regret in the teacher's words. "...You speak as if this is the problem I came here to help address as per the request of this school's principal."

"The reason the school staff had finally gotten control over all of the previously misbehaving kids," Komari proceeded to explain, "Is that the kids have all, and by that I mean every last student at this school, been frightened into being well-behaved and obedient."

"...They're scared of the dragon that the League of Villains has at their beck and call," Endeavor deduced, taking into account that the fright-induced obedience and good behavior happened right after the Battle of Kamino Ward took place, with said battle being the debut of the dragon villain Felgrand.

"There's also how it got into the news that Felgrand showed up during a raid the heroes and some police carried out on a villainous group that wasn't the League of Villains," Komari went on, "Now they're even more scared. Not helping matters is how one of my fellow teachers here told the student body at large that Felgrand is a punishment from Kami for how the kids had been misbehaving."

Endeavor wore an unamused brooding look on his face. "...As much as I can understand wanting to get a bunch of rambunctious, misbehaving young children under control, scaring them like that into being compliant is stepping a toe out of line." Not helping was the fact that word was now getting around Japan at large that Felgrand in some circles was being viewed as divine wrath made manifest. "I take it that the children being as frightened as they are is why I was called in?"

Komari nodded in the affirmative. "The school hoped that you, who is Japan's highest ranked pro hero, would be able to reassure the children that they will be fine, while also helping to keep them from going back to misbehaving."

The de facto number one hero in Japan gave an understanding nod. "I got a few tricks up my sleeves, don't you worry. I can tell the children that the heroes of Japan, led by me, will triumph against the villains and their monster, but our job can only go smoothly if everyone in Japan is a team player. I will tell them that part of the plan for the heroes to succeed will be for the citizenry, which will include the children, listen to the instructions of their elders, and that any deviation from that will put many lives at risk as it'll distract the heroes."

"That's the best we can hope for, I suppose," Komari replied as she continued to lead Endeavor on the tour of the school.

A few days later, September came to an end and October was ushered in. Izuku, having finished what homework he had, went downstairs to the common area of the dorm for his class. When he got there, he saw that the girls of 1-B were sharing various kinds of candy with Eri, who clearly enjoyed all of it. She was especially fond of candy that was apple flavored, although the most common form of apple flavored candy was green apple flavor. The little girl still loved it, though.

"I hope you're remembering to brush your teeth regularly, Eri," Itsuka said, "We don't want your teeth getting bad."

"Oh, Izuku and the friendly skull faced boy who's friends with Izuku have me brush my teeth with them when they brush their teeth every morning and evening," Eri told the girls.

"Yeah, Honenuki and I have been making sure Eri brushes her teeth twice a day," Izuku spoke up, getting all of the girls to turn their attention to face him, "As per Kan-sensei's request."

"Izuku!" Eri cheered, getting up and running right for the green haired boy. Upon reaching Izuku, Eri wrapper her arms around him as high as she could reach so she could give him a hug.

Smiling as he looked down at Eri, Izuku gently ruffled the top of her head. "How are you doing, Eri?"

"Oh, oh," Eri said, "The girls say that the school's gonna have a big festival soon, and that all of the classes are going to be doing something for it!"

"Oh yeah!" Izuku replied, snapping his fingers as he remembered something, "And here I was thinking the only big thing was how in the news, it's been confirmed that Mt. Lady has teamed up with Edgeshot to start the basis of a hero team."

Giving Izuku an amused look, Itsuka said, "Midoriya, there's more things to worry about than hero news. We still need to figure out what all Class 1-B is gonna do for the school festival."

"We also need to think about what all wonderments that there will be to enjoy," Yui went on, "Not to mention what all attractions there will be from the other classes, Pony says she's hoping one of the food stalls that will be at the school festival will have candied apples-"

"Candied apples?"

Yui was cut off when she, the other 1-B girls, and Izuku all heard Eri speak up. "...You can make apples into candy?" Eri asked, looking excited.

Itsuka gave a warm smile. "Yeah, candied apples are when you put a thick skewer stick into an apple then dip it into caramel. Usually it's also coated in peanut bits, although there's other things that can coat a-"

"I want one!" Eri said, "I wanna get a candied apple!"

"We'll both get one!" Pony cheered, sounding just as excited as Eri.

Izuku was happy to see that Eri was doing loads better now, not to mention how she was clearly excited for the school festival. It made the green haired boy all the more determined to see to it that Eri, among other things, got the candied apple that she was now craving. But discussions on what Class 1-B would do for the school festival would have to wait until Kan-sensei opened the chance for discussions. Itsuka said she figures that Kan-sensei will bring up during homeroom tomorrow, so until then the students of Class 1-B, with their new little sister, should just relax for the night.

END, CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Author's notes;

This chapter sees a few last minute things covered before the start of the school festival shenanigans; Gran Torino and Naomasa with some police buddies capture Kurogiri but encounter Gigantomachia, Sekijiro and Class 1-B are given the reins on Eri by Aizawa who says he needs to focus more on whipping his students into shape, Toshinori is informed by Gran Torino about what happened during Kurogiri's capture, Endeavor visits Masegaki Primary School to help address how the students are now all perfectly well-behaved and obedient but it's clearly out of fright (controlling students via fright is not something Endeavor likes), and October starts up with talks of the upcoming school festival, not to mention Eri is looking forward to trying a candied apple.

Things will be kicking into high gear for the school festival in the next chapter, where Izuku gets an idea to help Eri fully recover from what all bad experiences she has had in the past, give her the chance to stand in the spotlight and be a star.