Midoriya had indeed gotten the wrok study with Sir Nighteye he dreamed of; he came back to tell us right away, and I had to watch on the sidelines with Bakugou as Iida and the rest gathered around Midoriya to congratulate him.

"The gap behind us just keeps getting wider. We've got to catch up," I muttered under my breath. Bakugou simply huffed.

Uraraka and Asui were working with Ryukyu, the number ten pro. Kirishima had been employed by Fatgum, and Tokoyami had been recruited by Hawks, the number thr- number two, now, pro hero. My classmates, one by one, were pulling ahead.

"We've really, really got to cat-"

"Shut up!" Bakugou snapped at me.

I'd done my best to prepare a good system for him, as per Gang Orca's instructions. He'd given a very difficult ropes course to me. We were training around the clock. Gang Orca's program was both exhausting, and also long and tedious. It was an intense crash course. I knew I was getting better, yet it felt like I wasn't moving forward at all.

In the meantime, I worked on improving my gear and my quirk at school. I had learned how to use fire and ice at the same time during the license exam. I had to practice the balance to make sure I could sustain that weapon and use it in the key moments, if there was someone in need of saving. I kept up with my studies, and wrote to mother.

"Todoroki, you've got a request," Mr. Aizawa told me unexpectedly, after class one day. "Mr. Tsukauchi and Gran Torino have asked you to come down to the police station."

"The police station? Why?"

"They didn't explain. You'll need an escort, given the recent events. i've volunteered."

"Thank you..."

It was a very quiet ride. Mr. Aizawa had never been the type to make much small talk. I racked my brain for what the police could want with me. Gran Torino was the pro hero Midoriya had done his internship with. Was this about the Hosu incident? Had they decided to uncover my role in that? If it comes down to it, I'm the only one there's any evidence of having attacked Stain. Midoriya and Iida...I can just claim they arrived afterwards and are covering for me, if they say anything.

"You're not in any trouble," Mr. Aizawa said, as if he'd read my mind. I jumped a little. "Right."

"You've been struggling a bit in class lately," he added. "It seems as if your confidence has been steadily falling since the Sports Festival. And unsurprisingly since the License Exam."

"I suppose I'm not as sure of myself as I used to be," I admitted. IT felt natural to talk to Mr. Aizawa about this. "Maybe that's a good thing."

"Just don't let it stop you from trying."

We pulled into the station and he led me into an interrogation room. Gran Torino was there with a man in a trench coat and hat. Tsukauchi, who I remembered seeing outside UA after the USJ incident.

"Hello, Todoroki," he smiled at me. "Sorry to bring you here so abruptly. But we're trying to carry out this investigation without any leaks. Based on your track record, we're fairly confident you're a trustworthy person. At the very least, we want to ask you a few questions about the League of Villains."

"The League of Villains?"

"Yes. More specifically, the villain who kidnapped Bakugou. It seems you got the best look at him of any student - according to eyewitness accounts, you were very close to him."

"Yeah. I remember him, pretty clearly."

"Well, you see - there are two members of the League of Villains whose identities are a complete mystery still despite our investigations. The first is the warp gate villain, Kurogiri. The second is the villain you faced, who goes by the name Dabi. Every other member has been identified, for all it helps us to catch them. But we have no idea who Dabi is. And we'd like to gather all the information on him we can, if we're to identify him. You got the best look at him in Class 1A, so we're asking you."

"I see." I thought back to that brief encounter. "I'll tell you whatever you'd like to know."

"We believe he uses some kind of flame quirk that heats up enough to be blue. You can confirm that?"

"Yes. I saw him use it on Shoji and Midoriya."

"You're a fire user yourself. We have asked your father, but I'd like to get your opinion on blue flames as well. Have you ever heated up to that extent?"

"No. It's nearly impossible. My father did claim that - " I stopped.

"Yes?"

I sighed. "He's...dead, now, but I did have an older brother with flame powers. Toya. I never met him, but my father said he could create blue flames. But it took a toll on his body."

"If blue flame heat takes a toll on the body, that might explain Dabi's patchwork face," said Gran Torino.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Tsukauchi said, as I avoided eye contact. I usually avoided thinking about Toya. I'd been very young when he'd died. I only had vague memories of a white-haired, sulky teenager, who got to play ball with Fuyumi and Natsuo while the damned old man shut me up in the back room. I knew he'd most likely killed himself in an effort to impress my old man, who considered him the first of his three "failures" before he'd gotten me. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to our family, including mom throwing boiling water in my face and getting banished to the asylum. Nobody liked to talk about it, except when the old man wanted to throw Toya's failure in my face to motivate me.

"Mm."

"What can you tell us about what this villain looked like? We have some basic details, but you saw him more closely than anyone else." He pointed to a third officer in the room, who held a sketch pad. "We'd like a close description."

I shook off the bad memories and concentrated. On more bad memories, but at least ones I could do something about. "He had very spiky black hair, a bit like Bakugou's. He did have a patchwork face, with the skin burned off I guess, or sewn back on. His eyes were blue, and very light blue. They slanted downward a bit. He had the sewn on skin underneath them like dark shadows, and across his jaw..."

By the time I'd finished they had a reasonable sketch of the blue flame villain. I could still hear his voice in my head, sneering "poor little Shoto Todoroki" as I spoke, and though I was pleased to help I was glad to get out of there. I needed to do something easy, to forget about all the problems in my life for a while...

I should splurge a bit on soba on the way back.

(Author's note: I'm going to have fun with everything Dabi related for quite some time. Manga readers know what I mean ::) Well, anime watchers will too in a few months.)