The sports festival had finally ended. Before packing up the students were asked to meet back at Class A in the late evening. The sky was an orange hue from the sunlight and miserable faces were on many of the students faces for poor showings at the sports festival.
Bakugo who had won, looked miserable and angry, still holding the medal All Might had given him in his mouth. Only Todoroki, Midoriya and Uraraka looked particularly happy like they had given it their all and were okay with their results. Iida was still not present due to a family emergency.
Aizawa stood at the front of the class, ready to dismiss them. Toru could not see his eyes and face due to his heavy bandaging, but she could assume he was ready to go to bed and wanted to be quick about the dismissal.
"Good work." He offered few words of congratulations, "So there will be no school tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit you."
Ha, not me. I looked perfectly boring. Toru thought to herself.
"We'll consolidate everything and announce your offers when you get back. So rest well and look forward to that." Aizawa told them.
The days off were likely to give the pros time to make offers and UA time to collect the results. Toru didn't completely understand why they needed a break from that. Did UA not manage their resources very well? All for One would never allow breaks.
"Yes, sir!" Everybody answered back. And with that they were dismissed to go home.
With the mention of hero offers for internships in the air the grim expressions from her classmates seemed to lessen. Mina especially looked more excited.
"I'm sure I'll get a bunch of offers. I did finish in the top ten after all! I showed off my skills and I'm excited to see what pros want me." She said as she collected her bag and walked out of the classroom with Tsuyu and Toru.
"I hope someone gives me an offer….They might not but hopefully heroes working in the sea will see I'm a perfect trainee." Tsuyu nodded in agreement.
"I hope I made a big enough splash!" Toru lied.
I hope nobody takes notice of me. I was asked to monitor UA after all. Watching my classmates and All Might is what's important to my mission. Interning with some random hero offers no immediate benefits to my mission. And I don't want to start building a relationship between me and a hero. Eliminating All Might was the goal, some random hero that had nothing to do with All Might gave her no benefit.
I should get no offers, but if I do get an offer should I try to find an agency that one of my classmates goes to? So I can at least continue to observe my classmates and reporting on their behaviors. That was an option to give this mission a purpose.
She could only give her reports audibly since she wanted to leave no paper trails that she was observing the young heroes to be. If she was staying in a pro's house or agency it would be impossible to give reports.
She decided it would be best to wait for All for One's call. Giving herself options and making big decisions like this one wasn't in her skillset. All for One was the one who gave her direction, and she shouldn't imagine that she could read his desires and decide to try to intern with a classmate if that wasn't actually what he wanted.
When she got home, she waited patiently for All for One's phone call. He usually called around midnight to check in and he was sure to be curious if she learned anything interesting during the sports festival, or if she made any mistakes.
While Toru waited, she tried to poke around online to figure out what had happened to Iida's family. He had left the sports festival early due to a family incident so there was bound to be something big happening to his pro hero family. Being ignorant about big issues like that would do her no good.
There weren't many new articles out currently about the turbo heroes. Nothing new at least about Iida's family. When she searched Iida's name all the articles were related to the sports festival.
She got several hits like 'UA's Sport's Festival! A review of who to look out for in the coming years!' or alternatively, 'Top Four First Years at UA!'
All the articles about Iida's family were linked to UA's sports festival. UA seemed to take up all the news sites.
Toru skimmed various sports festival articles to make sure she wasn't mentioned, and to see if she missed anything important. She was able to figure out from the articles that the 2nd year tournament was rather lackluster this year, and was overshadowed by the 1st and 3rd years.
The Third-year sports festival mostly talked about three students who had made it to the top three. Articles coined names for them calling them 'UA's Big Three'. It seemed these three students had overwhelmed all of their competition and none of them were related to pro's. They were someone strong to look out for.
Their names were Mirio Togata, Nejire Hado, and Tamaki Amajiki. Apparently, none of them had done well in the previous two sports festivals. There were articles about each of them but it was overshadowed by the sheer number of articles about Todoroki, Endeavor's son. Fame apparently triumphed talent.
There were apparently a lot of articles talking about how great Class A was in the sports festival, and how they had mopped the floor of Class B. People claimed Class A was better because they had personally been trained by All Might, but it was a little clear that the news articles were showing bias in favor of Class A because of Aizawa and Present Mic's biased announcing favoring them.
I suppose it's a good idea to get an idea for how the media views Class A but I would like to know what's actually happening in the world with the Iida family….Toru thought to herself.
Other articles included:
'Winner of UA First Year sports festival, so violent he had to be chained!'
'You'll be surprised as to where the guy attacked by the slime monster is now!'
'Todoroki runner-up in UA Sports Festival! Endeavor declines interviews expressing disappointment.'
'Who is Izuku Midoriya the famed Bone Exploder?'
'UA sports festival became an infomercial.'
They all seemed like interesting articles. It seemed public opinion was mocking Bakugo but displaying interest in him, nonetheless. There was a lot of criticism of Hatsume Mei turning what was supposed to be a bloody battle into a commercial you weren't allowed to skip past. And there was a lot of disappointment in the fact that Todoroki had lost.
Since there's no articles yet about Iida's family perhaps, I should browse some forums? She quickly looked up where each member of Iida's family was stationed for hero work. She then went onto local news forums that were mostly used for rumors, or freelance journalists to look for information.
She eventually found a developing forum in Hosu. The poster claimed they were a nurse in the general hospital who wanted to remain anonymous.
NurseLove: You won't believe it! The Pro Ingenium got maimed! One of my friends is working on the intensive care floor and said they just came back from an intensive surgery.
Anon8989: Maimed? Ingenium? No. He's too fast for any villain to get.
IAMHERE420: I did see on TV that his younger brother left the Sports Festival due to family matters. Maybe something serious happened? Is he alive?
NurseLove: I think so. I've heard other coworkers talk though about how he's in a bad condition. Apparently his spine was hit very bad and his legs might not work anymore.
IAMHERE420: Lol so no more gotta go fast I'm guessing?
Anon8989: Was it the league of villains? The Yakuza?
NurseLove: Idk. I've heard rumors that the Hero Killer is around this city though…Probably him…I should log off. Don't want my boss to see me texting on the job.
There was a lot more speculation on the forum as to what had happened. Toru didn't log on and comment herself on anything, not wanting it to be linked back to her. But other various people in the area claimed that the news was legitimate that the hero killer was rumored to be roaming around and that they had seen many paramedics taking Ingenium away.
She'd have to wait for actual news sites to cover things to hear if the claim that Ingenium could no longer use his legs was legitimate.
Hero Killer Stain has a lot of articles about him…She had never researched Stain extensively, but she knew enough to know what his deal was. She had heard a lot about him on the street from just listening to the rumor mill and gossip do its own work.
He seemed to be a vigilante that targeted heroes due to them being too obsessed with fame and money and not actually caring about helping. He believed murder was the only option to scare the heroes into quitting.
I don't disagree with the fact that there's something wrong with hero society, but Stain always seemed like an All Might fan so I don't think he would ever be a good fit with the league of villains. Toru thought to herself. Since he wasn't a possible recruit, she had never been that interested in learning more about him because All for One had never expressed interest.
Rumor has it that Stain was inspired to kill by the retired hero O'Clock. He started out as a vigilante, not as a villain.
Still at least Toru's question was now answered about what happened to Iida. His brother had likely been attacked. She couldn't generate any pity or sympathy for Iida's plight which was a problem. If he mentioned what happened to her brother in class what was the proper emotion to show? What level of fake sadness fit best for someone almost losing a brother?
I hope he doesn't talk to me. I don't know a thing about what having a sibling, or a family is like. I'm good at pretending to be happy and friendly but I still feel like I haven't completed the ability to fake sympathy and sorrow.
Midnight came. The moment the clock struck twelve, Toru's secret phone hooked up with All for One vibrated silently. She answered it immediately.
"The Sports Festival has been completed." Toru answered. All for One didn't like being kept waiting.
"I saw on the TV screen. You did quite well Toru, you were really quite unremarkable." All for One praised. She could only imagine him smiling on the other end and the expression his lips made.
Toru felt herself grow warm from the praise. She knew she was smiling. All for One praising her was the only thing she could imagine that gave her true smiles. "Thank you! I tried to follow your orders exactly and keep the cameras off me."
"Mmhmm. I believe there were only two moments I counted that the cameras were on you. During the cavalry battle, although the cameras were on most every team at one point, and during your cheerleading." All for One responded.
Toru listened closely "Mmhmm!" She confirmed.
"I do have to ask, why the cheerleading?" All for One finally asked. "I assume that was arranged by you. It seemed a risky move, some heroes might have their attention drawn in due to trying to capitalize on sex appeal. There is a community of people who desire girls of unusual….looks after all." The people who fetishized the mutant types was what All for One was talking about. Toru had long since known about them. They did build into her anxiety about being naked a lot.
"It was not a plan of mine. A classmate of ours named Mineta tricked Yaoyorozu into it. No matter what I said to try to dissuade her she was not convinced. I could not lead them out of the situation so I played along to boost my bubbly girl image." Toru responded.
"…Noted. Is there anything you discovered in the sports festival that was not apparent on TV?" All for One asked.
Toru thought for a moment. "Shinso, the general studies student, has an incredibly useful quirk that is undervalued by UA. Because of being burned quite badly by UA's recruitment program I originally wondered if he could be a potential League of Villains recruit. However, upon further observation he seems to be absolutely obsessed with heroes, so I don't think recruitment is possible. I do think it would be beneficial to prevent his transfer into the hero department because he is dangerous. I could sabotage transfer paperwork to ensure he doesn't get in our way."
All for One sounded like he was listening closely. "There's no need for you to do that. If such an interesting quirk finds it's way into the hero department, why it would give me an easier chance to steal his quirk. So, stand down."
Toru nodded. "Noted. After all he does look easy enough to bypass with just willpower judging by Midoriya's fight."
"Anything else?" All for One asked.
"Iida left because of a family emergency. Upon further research it seems Ingenium in Hosu city was struck down by the Hero killer. I await more information though about the state of the injury." Toru responded.
All for One sounded if he was smiling. "Interesting."
"Is there any student you wish me to be wary of in the future based on the sports festival results, or that you require me to eliminate?" Toru asked.
All for One chuckled. "Your mission is not an assassination mission, Toru. It is to build trust so we can use you to gain information. I believe assassinating someone would be the opposite of gaining trust."
"…Okay." Toru sighed. She wanted to be useful and if All for one had told her to assassinate her classmates, she would have been fine doing it.
"But I have started devising a plan based on the results of the sports festival. You may not have much of a brain of your own, but it would be boring to just lecture to myself, so answer me this. What is it that Shigaraki lacks as my successor?"
Toru thought about that one to try to come up with the perfect answer. "Motivation. He gives up too easily and sees battle as a game that he can just hit New Game+ on."
"Wrong. Although that is a flaw of his, his biggest flaw is that he lacks followers and powerful allies. To be the leader of darkness you need equal soldiers of value to follow you. And Shigaraki really only has you and Kurogiri in his tool case right now." All for One answered.
Toru nodded.
"So I plan to give him more allies. I believe Kurogiri and Shigaraki are trying to win Stain over to their side, but if that fails, I have another plot to gain new allies for him. However, I think a former hero course student could greatly benefit him…" All for One suggested.
Toru thought for a moment, "Do you want me to turn one of my classmates against hero society? Have you figured out who you want to poach, or do you need suggestions on who would make a fine villain?"
All for One sounded like he was amused, "No. I already have the perfect target. Shigaraki has already expressed interest in recruiting him and I, as his teacher am required to help him plan the recruitment. It is the child known as Bakugo. He has great power but there's no way someone of that level of violence would become a hero."
Toru blinked. He really does have future villain written all over his face. She couldn't argue there. He's powerful too. And if publicly recruited he has a tragic backstory now thanks to the sports festival.
She could see the seeds planted for anger against the heroes if Bakugo was recruited. That UA's ability to casually chain children during the finale of the sports festival had humiliated Bakugo so much it had turned him into a villain.
Still…I don't look forward to working with him. There were many villains that only cared about violence. Shigaraki was one of them, but Toru wasn't sure she'd survive Bakugo with how explosive his temper was.
She shook her head. Shigaraki is also as explosively violent. If I can survive Shigaraki's temper I can survive Bakugo's. If she turned on her real personality with Bakugo instead of her fake bubbly one once Bakugo was recruited she'd probably tolerate him much better. Her real personality didn't fear death, nor did she care about her life. She could probably deal with Bakugo then.
"I do not want you to turn him against hero society though. No, that would be far too obvious. I would like Shigaraki to detail the true method of recruiting that boy. But I will give him a helping hand as his teacher."
Toru listened closely to get her orders.
"I want you to work on figuring out when Class 1-A will be going on a long training excursion. They sometimes call it a 'summer camp' I believe. Or it could be winter or fall. Or even Spring. I do not know. I do not go to UA. But I want you to poke around and get the time frame."
Toru nodded. "And the location?"
"No. The heroes are likely keeping the location more secret this time due to the USJ attack. So the only thing for now I want you to investigate is the time frame." All for One explained.
"Got it!"
"I would also like you to work on befriending Bakugo. Since he doesn't seem like the type of person to have many friends you don't have to work too hard but please don't have any negative relationship values with him. Don't make him your enemy is all I'm saying. And there is one other student in the sports festival I want you to keep an eye on—"
Todoroki? Toru wondered although she wasn't too excited at trying to act nice towards Bakugo.
"Midoriya, I believe was his name. He seems smart so don't spend too much time with him but do observe him. Specifically observe his quirk carefully and report your findings on it." All for One instructed.
Interesting. I wonder what Midoriya did to interest Master….She decided not to ask. Curiosity would not get the best of her.
"Are there any further questions you have for your mission before you sign off, Toru?" All for One asked.
"Yes, sir. The first intern program is about to happen due to the sports festival. I tried to not gather any attention so that no heroes recruit me. In the event that I am recruited by a hero or Mr. Aizawa gives us a twist that all of us have to intern based on an approved list of heroes what should my mission be while I am out of UA?" Toru asked. "What should I investigate?"
"There is a possibility UA could do that. From what I hear your class is a highly coveted class due to All Might teaching you." All for One agreed. "Try to choose a hero based in the Kamino ward or near that location. That way in your off hours you can report to Shigaraki." All for One ordered. "Act clumsy, don't be too helpful nor too curious. Ensure the hero does not recruit you in the future without being too obvious that you are intentionally messing up."
Toru nodded. "All right. Mission accepted." There were many boring heroes in Kamino. There wasn't a lot of supervillain crime there due to the League's base being there. They made sure that Kamino wasn't too interesting to heroes because of that. There weren't a lot of robberies nor big battles so as to not draw the hero's attention.
Most of the crimes in Kamino were drug selling based, or tax related. Crimes that weren't related to a person's quirk or power at all. It was a boring place to be a hero, so it wouldn't be too hard.
With that she signed off after accepted her mission.
Split the chapter into pieces again! My passion for fake news articles can probably be seen through this chapter.
O'Clock is one of the main characters of the vigilantes manga. Vigilantes manga has a lot not covered in bnha, like more about Iida's brother, Stain's origin and Aizawa's origin. Anything I use from vigilantes I'll try to cover in my notes in case people haven't read vigilantes.
I'm making a lot up about Kamino and the agency's there. It is not as accurate as that Stain info.