As mentioned before this chapter has manga spoilers regarding Kurogiri's backstory.

There was absolute chaos surrounding Toru as Ectoplasm's hurriedly swarmed grabbing villains and looking for students. A lot of heroes were going to the main area to help All Might while others were focusing on rescue efforts. Toru managed to avoid them and eventually came to the landslide area which had many villains stuck in thick ice that hadn't yet started to melt. Half of the mountain in fact was in a thick layer of ice.

Todoroki must have been here. She realized. That was perfect. Todoroki was completely aloof and didn't seem to realize when other people were around him. It would have made perfect sense for her to be in that area.

She waited for the heroes to come and rescue her.

"Todoroki must have been in this area…" Three of the Ectoplasms were the ones who had happened upon the landslide zone. Dressed in their typical trench coats with their dark faces and toothy grins they looked around.

One touched what Toru could only assume to be an ear piece. "Have you found the navel kid or the invisible girl yet? I believe that's the only two kids we have yet to find…"

The navel kid is Aoyama, right? Toru remembered. That was the guy Mina had sat with on the bus over Toru. The one she had accidentally burned the cape of. It was somewhat interesting that Aoyama hadn't been found yet. She briefly wondered where Kurogiri had sent him or if he had somehow not survived and his corpse was buried somewhere.

She didn't hear what the answer for Ectoplasm was, but he replied. "Good to know. I'll keep searching for the invisible girl, but if I can't find her, we might have to get Hound Dog on this or in the worst-case scenario calling on that student Shoji to help locate her."

Toru decided, just for fun and to play up her energetic girl angle to sneak up on Ectoplasm.

He didn't seem to notice despite the fact that she was no longer pressing on the ground as lightly as she tried to do to hide her sound. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just invisible to people because they're not paying full attention. Some people just did not notice anything even if it was right in front of them.

"Um…I couldn't help but notice you were talking over an earpiece or something about me?" Toru said. "I'm right here!"

The three Ectoplasms whipped around and one sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank god. That makes you the last one. Where is your hero costume? You aren't wearing the boots and gloves assigned to you I see." Ectoplasm noticed.

"I ditched them as soon as that scary purple guy found us!" Toru said truthfully, "I thought the situation was dire and we really needed to do anything we could to survive so I decided to get serious and get completely invisible."

Ectoplasm nodded. "A logical move." He agreed. "And even without your hero costume on you I'm sorry we didn't notice you. I must have been distracted by all the ice in this area and collecting the frozen villains." Ectoplasm explained. "Were you in the landslide zone this entire time?" He asked

"Yep!" Toru replied. "As soon as we were all teleported by that…warp gate I think it was called? Doesn't matter!" She enthusiastically told her story, "I hid right away! That might not be the bravest thing to do but I knew we didn't have our hero license and it's only been a week since we started training so I thought that was the best move." Toru bobbed her head apologetically even though Ectoplasm couldn't see it. "I'm sorry if it made it difficult to find me." She apologized.

Ectoplasm tried to listen patiently even though Toru was chattery. "No, the fault is mine for having difficulty." Ectoplasm assured her. "You made the right choice to hide. Against villains after a week of study you wouldn't have stood a chance. Do you have any injuries?" He asked.

Toru shook her head "Nope. But I'm a little chilly…Can we move away from here?" She chattered her teeth loudly as if to illustrate her point.

Ectoplasm nodded. "Of course. The other students are all gathering outside the front gate. I will escort you." One of the Ectoplasm's split off from the rest to escort Toru to the front gate.

She smiled to herself. They bought my story. Nobody suspected anything.

Before rejoining her classmates, Toru picked up her shoes and gloves at the entrance so that people could see her somewhat again. She then left USJ and rejoined the rest of the students.

Toru was surprised to see how uninjured her classmates were. Some of them had a few scrapes and bruises of course. Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Kirishima and Ojiro to name a few, but nobody looked seriously injured.

Shigaraki's forces couldn't do anything to any of them? He really had been picking at the bottom of the barrel. The only student injury seemed to be Midoriya in fact who was not present with the group and likely required medical attention, and Toru knew that all of Midoriya's terrible injuries were self-inflicted.

Despite the low number of injuries nobody was smiling and everybody looked grim or emotionless as if they were trying to process what had just happened to all of them.

A police officer briefed them on the situation and Aizawa's injuries and that they wouldn't be questioned today. And with that the students were all just supposed to get in the bus and go back to school.

While they were waiting for the buses to let them on though, Toru decided to make sure her classmates knew that she had been in the landslide zone.

She chose Ojiro to share this information with. He's the gullible, nice guy. He won't question my story at all and will instantly believe it. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"Ojiro. I heard you were fired up this time." It was a pun cuz Ectoplasm had mentioned the classmate with a tail was in the fire zone on the way back. "You were strong by yourself, huh?" Ectoplasm hadn't mentioned anyone else in the fire zone.

Ojiro smiled at Toru since she was trying to talk to him. "I thought everyone else was by themselves." He admitted. "I managed to survive using hit and run tactics."

So he managed to take out some villains. Toru hadn't gotten the best impression of Ojiro's skills in the tactics training together, but it seemed like he was legitimately strong.

"Where were you, Hagakure?" Ojiro asked.

Toru pointed over at Todoroki who didn't seem to fully be listening. But she decided to say it loud enough for any of her classmates who were listening in to overhear. "In the landslide area! Todoroki was super strong! I was surprised!"

This will work great too because Todoroki wasn't talking at all about how he was in the landslide area. He wasn't someone who was chattery with friends. He'll assume I really was there because I know he was there. She of course knew he had been there because of all the ice left behind from his wreckage.

Todoroki made no comment. Toru couldn't see his expression, but she saw a slight shake in his shoulders meaning he had heard what she said. Since he wasn't saying anything it was likely that he hadn't noticed she was there and was embarrassed or something.

"Anyway, I'm glad you aren't hurt." Ojiro smiled

Toru nodded and bounced her gloves. "I'm so glad everyone is safe!"

She glanced at Mina who nodded in relief at the statement.

The teachers gestured for all the students to get aboard the bus.

The bus ride back to campus was uneventful and rather quiet. This time Mina did sit with Toru.

"This…Wasn't my first-time face to face with a villain, you know." Mina whispered.

"Oh?" Toru was curious. "So, you had a bit more experience than the rest of us! I'm glad you were okay." She realized she was being a little loud when Uraraka and Tokoyami glanced at her. She quieted down.

I'm still not great at displaying the correct emotion in the face of tragedies. She was good at being energetic, but the emotion and tone of her voice she needed for tragedies was something she needed to work on. The greatest tragedy the middle school girls she had hung out with had faced was a bad hair day or gum on their shoes. And it wasn't the greatest example of how to act in a tragedy. It felt superficial and petty.

She tried to mimic her classmate's hands, resting her hands gently on her lap instead of bouncing them around.

"…A little bit." Mina admitted. "The villain I faced before was scary. I managed to run in front of my friends and get him away from us. But I never saw anyone hurt like what happened to Thirteen. It…Was a lot scarier than last time."

"I know how you feel." Tsuyu piped in. "I've never faced a villain before face to face but the ones with the disintegration quirk put his hand on my face. It's only thanks to Mr. Aizawa I'm alive. I'll…Be eternally in his debt." Tsuyu wasn't her normal calm self, little tears were in her eyes.

The other classmates on the bus were listening closely.

"You faced the hand guy face to face, Asui?" Kirishima asked. Based on his facial patterns it seemed he knew what Mina was talking about when she had been talking about another villain.

"Yep! I was there! I'm so glad he went for her the first time instead of me. I almost peed myself!" Mineta loudly proclaimed. "But everything turned out all right."

"I should have blasted at that shitty hand guy instead of the warp gate then." Bakugo leaned back in his seat, sitting next to Kirishima.

"Are you all right? It's not every day that we face the doors of death after all." Tokoyami asked his voice slightly worried.

Everyone's attention was now on Tsuyu and somewhat Mineta who had almost died.

"I'm fine." Tsuyu replied, and although her voice sounded fine, Toru could tell she was clearly lying. "I'm just worried for Aizawa since he took hits way worse than any of us. …I hope he's all right."

"He'll be fine." Momo tried to tell her. "He's our teacher after all and he's faced situations like this before."

"…I wish I hadn't stayed in the storm zone. When I arrived there, I told Koda that we should remain there and wait for the staff to find us for our safety. But if I had known my other classmates were facing such foully perhaps it would have been a better idea to group up and help you and Aizawa." Tokoyami paused.

"Kirishima, Bakugo, and Todoroki did do that." Sero pointed out. "And besides Todoroki freezing that Nomu guy and Bakugo grabbing that warp gate once they didn't do all that much to help. I think All Might just saw them as in the way so you coming over wouldn't have done that much either."

"We can't change the past." Shoji reminded.

"Speak for yourself! I did great!" Bakugo yelled.

And with Bakugo's normal yelling returning a lot of the students started laughing, the stress of it all trying to relieve itself somewhat.

Present Mic and Midnight who were riding the bus, listening were silent throughout entire conversation.

Although it was late when they all got home Toru called All for One anyway to report her findings immediately.

She described what she had seen in great detail as requested of her. "It seems Shigaraki tends to give up when the going gets rough. Not only that but he didn't do enough research before going in. He also tended to taunt his opponents by giving them important information thinking that there was no way he could lose." She finished.

"The information you have given me perfectly matches what Kurogiri shared." All for One told her. "Besides having a second pair of eyes and disrupting the alarm system what else did you offer the mission, Toru?"

Toru found herself shaken. Had her conclusions really matched Kurogiri's? Then what point did she add? All for One was right. "I…I witnessed Kurogiri acting a little odd." She admitted, ratting out her co-worker, essentially. "I was assuming you ordered him to do such precise actions but…Why didn't he kill Thirteen when ordered to? Why did he let a student escape? Why did he warp over when Shigaraki was about to kill Aizawa to report his failures? Were these parts of the plan or is Kurogiri compromised? These are some things I witnessed that Kurogiri could not."

That was who Toru could be. A security camera on even her fellow league members that would police even the smallest action. She was All for One's eyes and ears after all. Trusting someone besides All for One was a pipe dream.

All for One was silent for a good moment. He sighed. "So…the previous him still remains." He didn't sound surprised, just disappointed. "I will send word to the doctor to examine him. You did good to tell me, Toru."

Toru absorbed the praise even though she likely put someone else in a bad situation. So, none of his actions were part of the plan just as I suspected. Can an exam really fix him though if he's going to betray us?

"Who is Kurogiri anyway, Master?" Toru finally asked. She didn't usually ask questions, but she felt in this case Kurogiri warranted more analysis. "Can he really be trusted if he's not killing on Shigaraki's command?"

All for One was silent for a moment, probably deciding how much information to give Toru. "He can be trusted. This occurrence isn't common and is just a flaw of technology."

"Technology?" Toru asked.

"Kurogiri is a high class Nomu. He will follow my every command. He can not disobey them so there is no reason to distrust him." All for One explained.

A Nomu? Toru had worked with Kurogiri for years and she had had no idea. She had thought Nomu's always had their brain exposed and looked like the one Shigaraki had been given. "I wasn't aware Nomu could talk and think and have personalities."

"I'm not exactly sure if he's aware he's a Nomu. His memories have been heavily suppressed but he's one of the Doctor's best creations. That's why this information has to be kept a secret that I'm sharing with you, Toru." All for One told her.

Toru nodded. She was good at keeping secrets. That was her role after all. But it still shook her a little that Kurogiri might not know who he was. He sometimes talks about fate and his purpose being to look after Shigaraki…I suppose he wasn't joking. He was made for that.

Kurogiri was a lot like her. A tool. A very literal tool. It worried her a little because if Kurogiri wasn't aware of his past, having possible fake or suppressed memories how could she be sure she wasn't the same? If high class Nomus could talk and think was there a possibility she was one too? Had she been born to be a tool instead of choosing to be one to survive?

I guess if I was a Nomu it wouldn't really matter anyway. I don't care much if I was born a monster. As long as I can exist for Master's bidding that's what gives me purpose. Toru thought.

"Are you wondering if you are perhaps a Nomu too?" All for One seemed to register her silence. "Do not fret, high class Nomu are made in extremely specific ways. They are made using corpses. If you were a Nomu the original Toru would have had to die."

"So Kurogiri is a walking corpse?" Toru asked. No, All for One had said the previous person in Kurogiri's mind needed to be suppressed. "Who is the corpse that Kurogiri originally was? Why would that cause him to not kill Thirteen?"

"He was a UA student." All for One replied. "I won't tell you any more than that. It's a pity that his bias towards heroes might have caused more people to live than required from the attack." All for One sighed continuously disappointed. "I suppose I should make sure he doesn't interact directly with people from UA again."

With that decision, All for One signed off leaving Toru to think about all of that.

I've been interacting with a dead hero all this time? It was weird to think about the fact that Kurogiri's mind was a heroes. Although he was a tool now she wasn't sure if she could look at him the same. She just couldn't trust him, since he hadn't chosen to serve All for One he was forced to. There was always the chance that technology could fail again.

What generation was he a UA student though? He's clearly an adult now….Do corpses age? Toru silenced her curiosity.

The things she had seen Kurogiri do made her suspicious. Did he know Thirteen? Aizawa? He had essentially saved both of their lives.

It was weird to think about the possibility that Kurogiri knew Toru's homeroom teacher. She catalogued that piece of information in her brain deciding it was too weird to think about.

The school was closed down for repairs Sunday, so Toru was not able to start her training with Shoji. Once Monday rolled around though when the students entered class 1-A they were not greeted with Aizawa's familiar face but instead Midnight's.

Aizawa's probably still in the hospital from USJ. Toru was honestly a bit surprised school hadn't been canceled today in fact from such a big incident. UA had probably shuffled around teachers schedules quickly to let Midnight substitute.

Another thing Toru noticed as she took her seat was that not a single student was absent. None of their parents had forced them to stay home and even Midoriya who should have been in a hospital merely had his arms in slings and big bags under his eyes from Recovery Girl's extreme healing.

Once class began the students barraged Midnight with questions.

"Is Aizawa going to be okay?" Tsuyu asked.

"Yes! He should be discharged tomorrow!" Midnight replied trying to look optimistic for the students.

Sighs of relief happened around the room.

"Although you will go through your normal school day today, Present Mic had a suggestion for this class and Principal Nezu and Hound Dog approved it." Midnight smiled. "You all will be regularly called out of class today to have a one-on-one session with Hound Dog just to check in and make sure you're all right. We don't want our students traumatized after all."

Bakugo grunted. "Huh? Why would we need something like therapy? We were attacked by villains. No big deal. None of us are traumatized or anything."

Midnight huffed. "That's not a great youthful attitude to have. And we just decided it's good to check in. After all you might have done fine but other people might have had an awful experience." Her eyes glanced at Tsuyu.

Ah. I get it. Midnight and Present Mic were on the bus with us returning to UA. They heard Tsuyu mention casually that she had almost died, and they probably freaked out. Toru realized. School was not canceled so UA could try to take responsibility and make things right or something so that they wouldn't be sued over this.

Was that all though? Was that the only reason Hound Dog would be seeing everyone in class? To try to dodge lawsuits? No, that doesn't sound right….Toru thought again. After all if they wanted to take responsibility they wouldn't need to call everyone away, only people like Tsuyu who experienced something traumatic. She tried to figure out the true purpose of this so called 'therapy'. And then it dawned on her.

I overheard something as I joined the rest of the students that the police wanted to question us to gather a report. Principal Nezu told them no that it would overwhelm the students. But I bet this therapy actually exists so that Hound Dog can question us and compile the police report for them and not overwhelm anyone. Toru realized.

They were all minors, and it might overwhelm some of the students to be questioned by the police. So, UA had said 'Good-bye patient confidentiality, this is better for our students!' Although Toru doubted they would even bring up that there was such a thing as patient confidentiality in this faux therapy session.

I had wanted to avoid Hound Dog to the best of my abilities…But I suppose I will have to meet him eventually. Toru sighed. She just had to make sure Hound Dog didn't think she was traumatized or anything to require regular sessions.

So this chapter and the next chapter were originally one chapter but I decided to split them up because I thought it was smoother that way. If you think that was the wrong choice, please review and I can make them one chapter again.