Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 47:

Zach stood at his new dresser, a small one that came in a box he had to put together himself, using the blender he had on top of it. He had decided once they found out they were not doing internships that he could not just rely on the idea of his own cashflow coming in soon. He wanted to ask the school for more furniture before using his Aunt Maye's card anymore, but he also felt like bringing up his monetary situation to them was a good way for the principal to force him back into contact with his aunt. So he realized the best way to just not contact her, may be to just use her card to show her that he's still fine. Each time he used it and found that it still worked though, he felt a pang of guilt knowing that she still cared enough to let him do this, and he was trying hard not to reciprocate any of those feelings.

The tub of protein shake powder he got on his last shopping trip with Kirishima was going down fast despite it coming in a large container. He was sweating and wearing a black tank top with yellow letters on the front spelling out 'ALL MIGHT' with the 'ALL' above the 'MIGHT' centered over the chest. Even though it was still February, the dorms had heating so working out in his made him pretty sweaty. He had just finished his workout though which was why he was blending up the protein shake powder along with some fruit and milk he bought and a scoop of peanut butter. The peanut butter was just his personal preference, but it did add some more protein in it too so he made sure it was a big scoop.

Knock Knock

Zach nodded his head up and down with a pair of headphones in his ears. All he could hear over the music in his head, was the churning of the ingredients of his shake in front of him. He held a hand down on top of the lid of the blender as it was shaking a lot, but it stopped and he reached over to his cup and popped the lid off it. He poured the whole shake into the cup and put the top on, then he shook the special cup for post-workout around a couple of times himself before taking the first sip. The bitter taste of the powder make him scrunch his face a little, but there were enough tasty ingredients in it that he could ignore that taste, especially since he knew it was going to help him out anyway.

"Hey Zach?"

Zach turned towards his door and he popped a headphone out of his right ear. "Huh? Someone there?" He started turning down the volume then he stopped and took out the other headphone too as he heard a response from the other side.

"Yeah man, you free?"

Kirishima? Thought I heard Midoriya? Maybe both of them. Zach walked over to his door, shoving his headphones down into his phone's pocket of his red shorts and shaking his cup around on his way over. "I guess, what's up?" Zach asked. He reached for the door and pulled it open, then he looked next to Kirishima and Midoriya to see two others who he had not heard. "Oh, hey," Zach said, getting a little more self-conscious at the two girls who were there with Kirishima and Midoriya.

Uraraka and Tsuyu smiled and said 'hi' back to Zach, then Kirishima said, "Hey, you using the stuff we bought the other-"

"Yep, couldn't you hear the blender through the door?" Zach wondered. "Also sorry, had headphones in too," he said, as he wondered if they had knocked first and he just did not hear them.

Zach thought they were noticing he had just worked out, from the sweat on his arms and on his face a bit; even the sides of his hair were kind of damp. It was Saturday and he decided against going to train at the school. He still felt too many strange looks about the video, even though he was glad Kaminari turned out to be right and nothing about it was coming out on big news programs. There was another reason he did not want to work out in front of people though, especially if he was wearing a tank top like he was now.

After Tsuyu and Uraraka greeted him, the two of them both started staring at his left arm. Zach always wore long sleeves, which made some sense considering it had only been winter since he came back from, wherever he had been. This meant neither of them had seen his left arm since January though, and though they had noticed the scar on the back of his left hand, they did not realize it was consistent up his whole arm. He had scars on his forearm, his bicep and tricep, and over his shoulder. Zach pretended not to notice their stares when he realized after a second that they were not just thanks to his workout sweat, and he said to Midoriya who he first heard call in to him. "Anyway, what's up? You guys need something?"

"Actually," Uraraka started, and she lifted her gaze to Zach from his arm fast, suddenly feeling more confident about why they were here. "We wanted to talk to you about our internships."

Zach sweatdropped and leaned back a little, and he muttered, "Sorry. I didn't think, they'd cancel them-"

"Dude what are you talking about?" Kirishima asked. "No one's blaming you for this semester."

"Oh," Zach said, and the others besides Kirishima opened their eyes wide as they realized that's actually what Zach was doing.

"Yeah, it was like Aizawa-sensei said," Midoriya agreed with Kirishima quickly.

"Yeah, I know," Zach started. "I just thought, people might blame me," he muttered. I thought it was my fault at the start, but what Aizawa sensei said actually made sense. Still, I could see why other people would just blame me for any changes at U.A. I did make a big- well, whatever. "Then, did you mean your last internships?" Zach asked, before any of them could start trying to convince him of something he already pretty much believed.

Uraraka hesitated since she was about to say something encouraging, then she nodded her head. She opened her mouth to continue, but Zach stepped back with wide eyes and said, "Oh shit- sorry, you want to come in?" He realized he was standing in front of his doorway, then he turned and grimaced as he wondered if his room smelled a bit of sweat. The air was circulating though so he hoped since it had been a couple of minutes since his final set that it was not too bad.

The others walked in after Kirishima who immediately mentioned, "Hey, you got a dresser. Gotta get some stuff to make this room less boring though."

Zach smiled a bit at Kirishima, then he looked at Midoriya and then down to his own tank top. "Maybe I'll get an All Might poster, or something," he said, suggesting it to himself while thinking on how his hero might be a good motivator while he was working out.

"That's a great idea. But there are a lot of different All Might posters. If you get one from the Silver Age online at…"

Zach sweatdropped while Midoriya quickly started going on about what seemed like his greatest passion, buying All Might merchandise. He muttered after a few seconds, "Or maybe, a Grappler poster." Midoriya froze with his mouth open, then Kirishima started laughing as Zach did not seem to want to be a part of this strange All-Might-obsessed culture. Zach opened his protein shake as he did not want it getting warm, and since it was pretty warm in his room he knew the blended-up ice would not last. He took a big sip and then said while he lowered it, "So, internships? And you guys can sit if you want." What are they doing here? Are they suspicious of stuff I did while they were interning? Did they hear rumors about a creepy guy called Reaper whose description matches my Nightmare form? Or are they just looking for information? I did tell Kirishima a lot about Trigger and Apocalypse the other day.

Tsuyu walked over to Zach's bed and sat on the side of it, which made him try hard not to let a pink shade come to his cheeks. The other three stayed standing, though Kirishima leaned back against his desk as he gained a more serious look on his face. Zach still had a calm expression after taking his last sip, slightly confused and interested, but an expression that made Midoriya and Kirishima both feel like he was hiding everything he was thinking, which he really was. He could see it on Midoriya's face that he wished Zach was not hiding his feelings at the moment, but Zach was too nervous by what they wanted to talk about to show them, as it would give away that he was worried about what they might know.

"Zach, we really wanted to talk to you, about Eri," Midoriya started.

Eri. That's the girl Kirishima got really serious when he asked me if I knew about her. Something bad must have happened. "Who?" Zach asked. He glanced towards Kirishima when the red-haired boy looked at him with a narrowed gaze, but Zach looked at him not in confusion but with a look to show he did recognize the name just still did not know who it was.

"Eri-chan is," Tsuyu began. She paused for a second, her expression saddening before lifting so she could finish, "A little girl. Very sweet and innocent."

"She was," Uraraka started. "Being used by these villains, in the fall-"

"But that's not what we wanted to talk about," Kirishima added, glancing at Uraraka who shook her head in agreement that she was going to get off track there.

They don't want to talk about internships? Just about this girl? I have a, bad feeling about this. Zach nodded at Kirishima to continue, but it was Midoriya who started again.

Midoriya spoke in a softer tone, keeping eye contact with Zach as he said, "Eri, thought she was cursed." Zach's eyes opened wide as he stared at Midoriya, and he cursed in his head that he reacted that way. His eyes stayed wide though as Midoriya continued, "When her Quirk appeared, she made her dad vanish with her power. And her mom, thought she was a," Midoriya hesitated for a second, not wanting to say it about the girl or because of what it would insinuate here with the fact that they were bringing this up to Zach in the first place. "She thought her daughter was cursed, so she gave her away, to her father who was in charge of, the Eight Precepts of Death."

Zach's eyes widened more, then they darted back to Kirishima who had told him a bit of his fight against one of the Eightfold Cleansers. He realized now why Kirishima brought up that girl while they were talking the other day, but it did not make him feel any better. Are they comparing me to this girl? I mean, not that it sounds too crazy different. She actually sounds, like she's had a really rough time of it.

"That's, not all," Midoriya continued. Zach looked back and into Midoriya's eyes, and he could see his friend looked more hesitant than before to continue. He glanced at Zach's left arm and then back into Zach's eyes though, and he continued in a soft voice, "But her grandfather left her in charge of, Chisaki." Midoriya's teeth clenched for a second and he whispered with a shake of his head, "She's only six years old, but Chisaki's Quirk, Overhaul, it could take apart and put back together-"

The second Midoriya said 'Overhaul,' Zach's expression darkened and his fists started to clench. He had to stop himself because he almost squeezed his cup hard enough that the plastic would have bent in and splashed the protein shake out the top. Midoriya stopped talking, and the other three who were involved in rescuing Eri from Overhaul all stared at Zach with wide eyes at his reaction. "His Quirk, was called Overhaul?" Zach muttered. "Sure that wasn't, his name?" He asked, lifting his lowered gaze back into Midoriya's wide eyes.

I don't want to talk about this girl. It sounds like, like this Chisaki guy tortured her. I can't see why they would bring that up to me, unless they're suspicious about where I got my scars. Even after I lied again to Kirishima, though I'm thinking he probably believes me more than the rest considering I told him how Shigaraki had "beat" me. Zach took a deep breath as Midoriya confirmed that Chisaki used his Quirk's name as his villain name too. How to deflect this conversation. How to- Overhaul. You fuck- damn it. Zach's hands clenched tighter again, then he snapped his head to his right and grimaced. Zach walked back to his dresser and put down his shake, then he reached for some paper towels on the floor next to the dresser since there was no more room on top of it, and he wiped his hand before wiping off the cup he accidentally squeezed too tightly.

"Did you, know him?" Kirishima asked. When he asked Zach about Eri and saw he did not know anything, he just assumed Zach had no idea what any of the stuff he was talking about with his internship was.

Zach looked back and grimaced more, but there was no hiding what he had already given away. "Yeah, I met him once," Zach admitted. His face was disgusted, and the top half got half-shadowed over just looking full of dread at what he was thinking about.

"Whatever you're thinking about him," Kirishima started. "He's even worse. The Quirk-Destroying drug, they were making that out of Eri." Zach turned towards him in confusion and then with widening eyes as Kirishima continued in a dark tone himself, "Using her blood, and when she couldn't make any more, he'd- he'd disassemble her, and put her back together." Zach closed his eyes, clenching them shut tight at the sound of that.

Doing that, to a little girl. Over and over again. That's just, tears pushed at the corners of Zach's eyes, and he lifted his left arm to rub his face fast. Stop it. They're going to try and switch this to talking about you in a second. I know it! "That's, horrible," Zach started, lowering his arm and replacing his sad look with one of fury. His eyes were still wet, but he looked pissed-off all of a sudden and his fists balled at his sides. "If he did to her, what I think- I saw him, blow someone apart-" Zach stopped himself and grit his teeth even harder, his face so angry but frustrated too as he thought back on it. "I didn't, even like the person who…" Zach lifted his left hand and rubbed the side of his head while his classmates started staring at him in shock now, because of how angry he was getting at himself as he tried talking about this.

Six Months Ago

"I don't care if you don't like me," Zach muttered to the taller person on his left side. The transgender woman with dark red hair and a pair of sunglasses on looked down at the boy on her right side who stood there with his arms down at his sides. "I'm not here to make friends with you all. Just to save people."

"Well we're going to be working together, honey," Magne said down to him. Zach lifted his head a bit and glared up at the villain next to him who frowned back for a second before lifting her lips into a grin. His eyes widened, and she said to him, "I'll forgive you for stopping me from catching your little friend as he escaped." Zach thought back to how he knocked Magne off balance and stopped him from sending other villains after Bakugo while he was escaping, and his eyes opened wider. Then Magne's grin lowered and she said, "But you'll have to work much harder before I can get over Mr. Compress."

Zach's wide eyes narrowed down and his fists clenched at his sides. He deserved it, Zach thought. They all do. I should just start killing them all right now, except, they let me save those people. They really let me save them. "Why would you try to get over that?" Zach muttered. "I killed your comrade, not that you thought of him like one I'm sure. But if you're going to pretend like you need to get over it at all, then you should know normal people don't forgive stuff like that."

"Hmph, it's stupid to hold a grudge like that," Magne started. Zach turned his head to the side and then his bottom lip lowered as Magne continued, "I got to meet an old friend of mine just the other day. Even though she knew what kind of things I'd done, she didn't care. There are certain things that go past common sense-"

"Oi, Twice is back. Look sharp…"

Present

Zach lowered the hand he was scratching the side of his head with, then he started in a low voice, "Chisaki, he, he wanted to be the Kingpin. He started a fight with us…" Zach's classmates stared at him nervously as he started this, and Midoriya's eyes darted around to the others in the room with them. Does Zach realize what he's saying? He told me some stuff about fighting other villains, but he said he didn't say that stuff to the court. He said he wanted to keep that stuff secret.

"Zach-chan," Tsuyu began. "Don't you mean, he fought with the League of Villains?"

Zach looked towards the frog-girl sitting on the side of his bed, and he frowned so deeply at her question. "Us?" "I was-" he started, then he bit down hard. "It was just after, the court case. I was," he stopped himself again but then shook his head, realizing he could not finish it here without leaving things worse than the way they were at the start. "At the time they still made me wear the box over my right hand whenever I was around. They thought I would try killing them, and I don't know if they were wrong. It was the first time I ever, did anything other than just going around saving people. While I was still working out the kinks, and training my power, and the name 'Lifebringer' hadn't even really gained traction yet. They, Shigaraki he- he took the box off my hand to make the League look like they had more members in front of a new potential ally."

He shook his head and looked down, "That's all I- I thought that if, that was all I had to do, then it would be worth it. He said he wouldn't let me go out and save more people for the rest of the week otherwise, so I just said 'fine,' and I got ready to stand in the background and not do anything." Zach looked around, and he saw nervous looks in each of his classmates' eyes at what they were hearing. He knew this was more than he should tell them, he had even forgotten why he had started in the first place. He was so frustrated by it though, and frustrated that he could not stop here without leaving them assuming all kinds of things about him. "But when Overhaul, he started talking about how the League had been losing so many strong 'pawns,' and I had even grinned as he said that… But Magne," Zach whispered. He shook his head, while Midoriya thought about the large woman with dark red hair who had attacked them in the middle of the training camp forest.

Zach took a deep breath then narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists in more frustration. "I hated her. I really, I did. But right before Overhaul walked in, she talked about forgiving me. I, I got so confused, and angry about that. She was mad at me, because I killed Mr. Compress. I thought maybe she was just trying to trick me, but I could never find out, because a minute later Overhaul blew her apart. She ran forward from right next to me, and I got Magne bits all over me. Just guts and blood covering my whole-" he blinked his eyes a couple of times and then lifted his gaze to Midoriya whose eyes were huge and shaking, and Zach did not even want to look around at the others. "I was only there to save people," Zach muttered while looking into Midoriya's eyes. "So I had no idea what I was supposed to do, as they all started trying to kill each other. The Eightfold Cleansers busted into the base, and Shigaraki killed one of them, and Toga threw a knife into this guy's eye, and it was a bloodbath in seconds. Dabi set the building on fire…"

"Hey Zach, you don't have to think about that," Uraraka started, waving her hands in front of her as Zach was looking way too distressed compared to his good mood they found him in when they came to his room. They had come in order to try and help him anyway, ask if he wanted to meet Eri, and Uraraka wanted to question him about the real nature of his scars when she got a glimpse of more of them going up his left arm. Already without even talking about where he got those though, he sounded way too depressed.

"Yeah," Zach agreed with her after looking her way for a few seconds. He shook his head around to try and get all those thoughts out of his head, bring himself back to the place he was in before he started thinking about Overhaul. He could not just switch back that easily though, but he tried moving past that day at least. "After that, I told them I was done with anything like it, that I was just going to save people and nothing else." Midoriya stared at Zach closer, as he knew that was not true but wondered if he meant for just a little while, or if he was trying to convince the others in the room. Either way, Zach continued, "But when I heard from Dabi that they started working with those guys after that, with Overhaul, I hated them all even more. I couldn't figure it out, when they had all seemed angry over Magne, but I knew they were villains so there was no point in thinking of it like that… or at least, I thought that was true, until they told me they betrayed and took down Overhaul. And I was glad, because I hated Overhaul more, for some reason…" Zach shook his head some more, trying to shake off the dark rant he had only been trying to finish by implying that he was not involved in the rest of the stuff that happened afterwards. He looked around at the others and then corrected himself in a quicker voice, "I mean, not that it was just them who stopped Overhaul. I know you guys, and the heroes did stuff too- I just, didn't have access to the news for a few months, at the time. So I didn't really know what had happened."

"The League of Villains attacked the police who were transporting Overhaul," Kirishima said. Zach turned to him and Kirishima looked pissed as he muttered, "They dragged him out of the truck and killed him, and a hero while they were at it." Zach pursed his lips and clenched his eyes shut, thinking of how a moment ago he mentioned how he was "glad" that Overhaul was taken down. Damn it. They were, killing heroes. While I was with them, they were doing such, such evil things. Things I ignored as long as I was saving people.

Kirishima leaned back after the pained look that spread over Zach's face, and he cursed in his head. Why would I say that? Yeah it pisses me off, but saying it to Zach I know how he'd feel… "But it's good to know that other stuff too," Kirishima said, and Zach opened back up his hurt eyes to look into the red-head's. "Like, I didn't know that Magne villain was killed. Don't you think that's stuff you oughta tell us?"

"I told the judges at the retrial," Zach said softly. "That he was dead, at least," he added in a lower whisper, which made his classmates go wider eyed for a second as they wondered if that meant he left out how he had seen it himself.

"Zach," Uraraka began. "Are you-"

Knock Knock

Everyone in the room spun towards Zach's door, then his eyes opened wide and he reached into his pocket and checked his phone. "Oh man," he said, shaking his head as he saw the time. He walked over to the door and opened it up, "Hey," he started after opening the door wide and showing the tall girl on the other side his room and the people inside.

Yaoyorozu's mouth opened in a surprised 'o' and she said, "Oh. I thought we-"

"Yeah, my bad Momo," Zach said, then he turned back to the others in the room, three of whom were staring at him with big eyes after what he just said. "You guys mind? I actually asked for some help with my research paper idea, we were going to work on that now…" he trailed off and looked down at himself, while Yaoyorozu behind him was staring at his left arm with a hurt gaze, seeing those scars covering his skin. Zach turned to Momo and said, "I was actually going to take a shower after I worked out-" he grimaced and turned back while the others were moving towards his door.

"Oh!" Midoriya just realized something with his eyes widening more. "Sorry we kind of, took you by surprise-"

"It's fine Zach," Yaoyorozu started. "How about I come back in thirty?"

Tsuyu tilted her head to the side as she looked past the others and to Yaoyorozu whose room was just down the hall from hers. Uraraka also tried hard and failed to hide the red shade to her cheeks especially when Zach turned back to her and called her 'Momo' again as he said that sounded good.

Kirishima frowned as they were leaving Zach's room. He glanced back while Zach was jogging over to grab his towel, chugging the rest of his protein shake he did not spill. In the end, we never really said the stuff the others wanted to. I told them how Zach said he got those scars, but they wanted to make sure or get the "real" reasons out of him. I didn't doubt it, but the fact that he prevented anyone from asking at all. I didn't even notice. He just, ran the conversation towards Chisaki instead of Eri. It looked like it hurt him to think about that too though, which- which might just be him using something actually believable to distract us and himself with? Could he do that? I feel like he totally could, but why would he talk about that painful stuff, instead of just let it get around to his scars? He didn't sound that broken up about them when he told me. Are you still lying? Are you always just, lying?

Zach turned after grabbing the rest of his bath stuff and started for the door Kirishima was standing just on the other side of. Zach smiled at him and then got a confused look as to why Kirishima was looking back so seriously. Kirishima shook his head at that look and he laughed to himself, What am I thinking about? Zach's not like that.

Saying Momo's name in front of the three who hadn't heard me say it before derailed their thoughts completely. Now all they're thinking about is my relationship with Momo, and Kirishima's trusting enough that any suspicions he have shouldn't last. I'm not telling you guys. I'm not telling anyone. I don't even want to tell Momo, or Softy, stuff like that. I told Softy the psychological stuff was the worst, and some of it was really that bad, but I don't want to think about these scars. I can get over sleep deprivation, because I barely remember how I was thinking in those weeks spent alone and insane. It's hard to put myself in that same mindset. I just remember how insane it made me. But these scars, Zach was walking downstairs, and he glanced at his left arm as he walked still in a tank-top. Half the girls just saw it. Barely anyone hasn't seen it yet, and I'm sure they've heard about it anyway… I don't want to think about how I got them. Because they were punishments, when I didn't answer questions, or when I answered them wrong- Not Life- Damn it! Take a shower and get back to your room. You're making Momo wait, even though she wants to help with the research paper.

Zach lifted his left hand and smacked himself on the cheek a couple of times to regain his composure. He headed over to the bath area and washed up quickly, though a little slower than he had initially planned since his workout had cut it close with when he was supposed to meet up with Yaoyorozu. Now he had thirty minutes so he took a bit more time to actually bathe instead of just wash off his sweat.

As Zach was taking his shower though, Midoriya and Uraraka sat on opposite chairs at a table in the common room on the same floor. They stared at each other over the table, and then Uraraka whispered, "'Momo?'"

Midoriya nodded his head with a serious look. He may have suspected that Zach was doing something to shift their attentions and break focus of what they had been talking about, but at the time most of them wanted to conversation to change anyway because of the dark mood that had filled his room. The main reason he did not notice though, was Yaoyorozu's reaction to when Zach said her first name. "She didn't seem, surprised," Midoriya whispered back, and Uraraka nodded her head fast as she had noticed the same thing.

If anything, she smiled, Uraraka thought, lifting a hand to her chin and thinking hard with a loud hum. Then, for a second she thought back on the original reason they went to Zach's room, and she turned to look over towards the bath area. Thinking about it made her lower her hand from her chin and start staring closer, then she turned back to Midoriya and said, "Deku." He looked at her wondering if she was going to give her theory on it, only for Uraraka to ask in a soft voice, "Does the rest of his body, look like that arm?"

Izuku's gaze shifted down to the top of the table between them. We got distracted pretty easily. He doesn't seem to want to think about it though, and we shouldn't force him to. He nodded his head, but then he lifted his eyes up slowly towards Uraraka. She thought he was going to continue about it, only for him to whisper, "Do you think, they're, t-together?"

Uraraka's face turned red, even though she realized Deku was changing the conversation back. She would rather talk about this though anyway, knowing now what the answer to that question was. "Together?" Th-That's, I don't think so. Maybe it's just like, Tsuyu? Everyone calls her by her first name, and, and I call Momo by hers too. A lot of people do, Uraraka thought, nodding her head as she made that point to herself. Her nodding head made Midoriya's eyes open huge though, and then she said quickly to him while waving her arms up at his misunderstanding, "No that's not it! A, lot of people call Momo, 'Momo,' right?"

Midoriya nodded in agreement for a second, then he whispered, "Do any other guys?" I'll, I'll just ask Zach myself later. I should apologize for just showing up like that too. I didn't realize he had a whole schedule for what he was doing today and we were interrupting it. I hope he's not mad, I just wanted to tell him about, Eri… Though I guess I never really made the point I wanted to. Zach, you should meet her.

Zach finished up in the shower and headed back to his room. He cleared his head a little under the hot water so he was feeling good as he walked up the stairs. He ignored what he talked about with the others right before cleaning himself up, and he just focused on what came next, as he often did. Yaoyo- Momo's coming by. I should buy a new chair next time I'm out. People wind up being in my room a lot more than I felt like they would. How are we going to work on… I hope the others actually believed that. Out of everything I told them, I mean most of it was the truth anyway, but I feel like the thing they'd disbelieve the most is Momo coming over so we could do schoolwork. Especially since I called her Momo. That was a deflection, but it may have worked too well. We're friends. We're just, friends, Zach repeated it again in his head, even though he was not trying to convince anyone else at the moment. He shook his head around and just smiled as he walked back to his room, She totally saved me back there though. I was talking way too much. Uraraka, Tsuyu, it's not like I suspect either of them, but I don't have a lot of reasons not to suspect them either. Even if they're not spies though, I shouldn't just trust everyone with that kind of stuff. That's stuff that could get me in a lot of trouble.

He slowed down on his way up the stairs when he was at the third floor, glancing down that hallway and frowning deeply for a second. He shook his head and continued to walk, thinking, I guess Jirou's not the spy. It would make sense for her to use those earphone jacks to spy on everyone, but she wouldn't have told Momo she heard us. She looked like she felt bad too when I went to talk to her about it, though I just told her not to worry. He shook his head around some more as he tried to stop thinking on that, as he knew who he would start thinking about if he got too into the conversation they had.

Zach went back to his room and he cleaned the place up a little. He reminded himself to get air freshener the next time he was out, even though he could not smell any sweat like it was a room recently worked out in. He made his bed, then he went over to the blender that was still pretty dirty from when he made his shake. I don't have time to go wash it out downstairs. But this looks gross, like I don't take care of my things. She knows I just finished up though- I shouldn't have taken such a long shower. Zach reached down and grabbed the paper towels, grimacing as he wasted some money but cleaning out the inside of the blender with a few of them anyway and tossing them in the trash afterwards.

Yaoyorozu showed up back at his room exactly thirty minutes after they were first supposed to meet, and Zach let her sit at his desk chair while he sat on his bed a few feet away. "Did you get it cleared?" She asked him while she was taking out some papers of her own to put on his desk.

"Yeah, after school yesterday," Zach said. "I got it cleared with Principal Nezu, but I still need to workshop the idea. It's still a little broad."

"You must be careful about narrowing it down too much. With such an idea, if you do not look at the bigger picture there will be many contradictions to it. The points you want to argue have counter-points, so it is necessary to have counter-points to those counters."

Zach nodded and scratched the back of his head. "So to make sure it's a good paper, I need to find all the reasons why my idea wouldn't work too? Argue against myself, and still try to find reasons, hmmm," he hummed and scratched his head a little faster, then he just grinned and lowered his hand. "That makes a lot of sense. Plus, I do kind of like arguing. Think I'm pretty good at it too."

"And if you really have been thinking about this for a while, then I'm sure you have thought about reasons for the other side already," Yaoyorozu added.

Zach nodded his head in agreement and she smiled. Then Zach said, "And even though I get the other side, it doesn't mean I'm any less sure about mine. Now I've just got to back it up with facts though, add statistics, and I do not know how I'm going to go up there and speak in front of all those people…"

"Me neither," Momo admitted, a bead of sweat on the side of her face.

"What are you talking about? You're great at speaking in front of everyone. Remember combat training at the start of the year?" Zach said, laughing at the idea of her having trouble public speaking. "No one in class knew each other yet, but in front of all of us and All Might you broke down that first match so well." Yaoyorozu's cheeks got a little red, and she looked down at the papers for her own research paper she brought with her. Zach continued as she looked down though, "I'm sure you're going to crush this paper. As for me though, I've got zero experience speaking in front of people. Well, from the heart," he added, and he turned and looked towards his window that had the blinds open so he could see the bright blue sky outside. Times I've spoken in front of a bunch of people. Let's see: a middle school project, then… the rest of it was me acting like a villain, towards the others at the camp so they wouldn't chase me, towards Shigaraki and the villains in Camino Ward, and at VTS where I scared the crap out of them. All of that was just because I needed to though, things were intense- well I guess I spoke at the trial too. Though I kind of freaked out there, oh man I'm not ready for this at all.

"You'll do fine," Yaoyorozu assured him, and Zach turned his gaze to see she was looking back at him again. "You can practice just with me a few times to make sure you know what you want to say. If I could, practice with you too-"

"Yeah, of course," Zach said quickly, nodding his head as that sounded like a great plan. He relaxed a bit too, since knowing he would be able to prepare for the public speaking reminded him how the rest of those times were different in-the-moment sort of things. "We have to write the essays first though," he added, and he put his hands on the back of his head and leaned back. He let out a deep breath, then he got a more serious look on his face as they were not here to relax, but to prepare. Even though they had time, he had missed the entire second term. He wanted to make up for whatever finals and other things he missed that term with an amazing final project to finish the year off. He clapped his hands together and then reached for his backpack resting between his legs, "Let's get to work."

---

Zach lifted his left hand and scratched the back of his head with a frustrated look as he faced the paper in front of him. He scratched it around a few times while curling his lip down at the right corner, then he lifted his head with a sigh and stared out the window to his left. Zach stared outside and watched as a couple of birds flew by the second story window and landed on a tree branch sticking past the glass. He found himself staring at the birds as they jumped around tweeting for a few seconds, then he shook his head around as he knew he had to focus.

It's already mid-March. Making good progress, but I can't get complacent. Have to correct and edit, and add when new stuff happens. He stared down at all the printed out papers of his draft, all the red lines marking the pages, the entire crossed out sections that he was starting to regret crossing out, even though he knew that the version on his computer still had them down. Zach pulled his phone out of his pocket and he searched a new song he turned on before lifting up an archived report he was going through. The archives at the Musutafu Public Library were almost as extensive as the ones at U.A. itself, but though it had less of a selection than the best hero school in the nation, there were things this library had that the one closer to home did not. Zach nodded his head with his black hoodie's hood up as he continued studying up, occasionally marking down statistics on his draft papers along with citing of the records he got them from.

I like this library. The one at school, I know everyone's staring at me. No one here would expect me to show up though, so they wouldn't be looking any closer seeing someone in a hoodie. Can't even wear this in the library at school. Zach smiled a bit as he continued flipping through records he felt he could include in his paper, Maybe I should add a graph to the presentation. No, I can just add the stats in the paper itself. A presentation with a bunch of graphs and numbers would be too boring. Can't rely on stuff like that. One visual is enough. The focus should be on me and what I'm saying. Taking attention off myself seems like a good thing, but that's just because I don't want everyone staring at me for ten minutes. Is it really going to take that long? I feel like I'm stuttering or pausing too much when I practice how I might present, even on my own. So if I can cut that out, maybe I can shorten it a bit.

Zach turned his head and looked out the window again, but he frowned as the birds were all gone. Keeping it a secret is tougher than I thought. It's such a big thing that everyone's talking about their ideas. I asked Principal Nezu to keep it a secret too though, really just because I don't want to have to talk about it at all leading up to the presentation. I feel like maybe my classmates might have some ideas for it though, like Momo did, but it's supposed to be my presentation. If they start suggesting things left and right, I'm going to feel like I should include them just to make the others happy. Ignoring their ideas and opinions and giving mine despite them would be rude, but really I just don't want to talk about this until I've got it all ready myself. Arguing a point I'm still trying to construct and defend myself is a good way to- I am still getting too distracted! He snapped his attention back to his papers and shook his head around a few times to get back on track. It's because Midoriya asked me this morning why I wouldn't just say. I get that not saying makes it seem like a mystery, or something bad, which probably just makes people more interested… Focus.

Zach actually shook off the distraction this time and got back to work. He worked hard for a few more hours, but as the sun started setting outside he decided he should get back to U.A. soon. He had actually gone through the main office instead of just asking All Might for permission to head out today, as a test more than anything. It had been in the back of his mind the entire time he studied, but the later into the day it got the less he thought on it. When he finally got up to leave though, he sighed as he started away from the small table he had been working at. So it's probably not anyone in the main office. I really thought I'd be able to narrow it down easier, but the spy could know what I'm doing. It still could be someone there, one of the teachers who knew where I was going today. I didn't tell my classmates, but it's not like one of them couldn't have asked a teacher to figure it out either… Though if something had happened and one student asked about where I was, that would be pretty damning. I don't think I was hoping there would be an attack, but I just want something to get rid of this paranoia. Something to narrow the field down other than my feelings on the matter.

He started down the stairs towards the main entrance of the library, but as he was walking down the flight, he heard fast footsteps behind him. His head snapped to the side and his eyes darted up, only for his face to relax a bit at the expressions of the two guys who looked to be high schoolers like him. They both froze where they were on the steps, big nervous eyes at the expression Zach just snapped at them. They just recognized me. You're a hero, smile. Zach smiled, easing up his tense attitude and just giving them a more confused look. He reached up and took out the headphones he had at a very low volume, to make it seem like he was not listening to things around him while also giving him the music he wanted to hear. "Sorry, thought you were sneaking up on me," Zach said at the nervous looks while he took his headphones out.

"Oh no- our bad," one of the two guys said. He was wearing a purple hoodie with the hood down, and he had spiky yellow hair that spiked up most in a single line above the center of his head. His buddy was a foot shorter than him and had black dots all over the top of his otherwise bald head. The two light-skinned boys glanced at each other, then the yellow-haired guy kept going down the steps with a more confident look though he still had a bead of sweat on his face. "Just, I thought I recognized you, and I did, and I wanted to say something, so when I saw you going…" the boy who looked just a little older than Zach reached up a hand and scratched the back of his head, then he lifted his other hand and said, "You mind signing something?"

"Sure," Zach said. Kind of thought that's what they wanted. He kept his hood up but reached forward his right hand for the sharpie the guy was holding out. The guy looked down at Zach's right hand with wide eyes, but Zach was a righty so he did not reach with his left like he usually did. Zach took the sharpie and popped off the top, then he took the book the blond boy pulled out fast for Zach to sign the cover of. It looked like his school binder and had a couple of stickers on it, and Zach signed right under a couple of them. "Here," he said. Signing it like that, is a step towards accepting it again.

"So cool," the blond boy said as he took his book back, with 'Lifebringer' signed over the cover of his binder.

"Could you sign my board?" the shorter boy said as Zach was about to hand back the marker too.

"Board?" Zach asked.

"My skateboard," the boy said. The two older teens had backpacks on, though the blond wore his over one shoulder and was able to swing it around the front of his body easier to shove his binder back into.

"I really gotta get back to U.A.," Zach said. He saw a disappointed look start to form on the older boy's face, which felt awkward for him being younger and all. He pulled back the marker though that the blond was about to grab, and he said, "If you catch up to me though, while I'm walking, I'll sign it." He grinned while turning and walking down the stairs again.

"Yoo, cool," the shorter seventeen year old said. He jogged down the stairs and his blond friend ran with him, turning and thanking Zach though he added they'd see him in a second after they grabbed their boards.

Zach smiled a bit more as he watched them run off. Weird. Maybe they didn't see the Lifebringer video. Guess it might not be that popular- or maybe they saw it, and they don't care? I kind of want to ask, but if they haven't seen it I don't want to give them a reason to look it up. He shook his head and decided not to mention anything about it. Zach walked out of the library and started down the sidewalk in the direction of U.A., but he heard calls of his name behind him after a few seconds. He grimaced and darted his gaze around from under his hoodie, but the sidewalks were not too crowded and he only saw a couple across the street look his way in surprise when they called out 'Lifebringer.'

"You guys can call me Zach," he said when they ran up to him. That's a step up from just saying "Not Lifebringer." He thought of it in a positive light since after he said to call him by his real name his mind immediately tried to start thinking a dark thought.

"Cool, alright Zach," the blond guy said. He pushed his foot down on the ground next to him and went past on his board, while the teen with black spots on his head stopped in front of Zach and kicked his foot down on the back of his skateboard.

"Here," the shorter guy, a couple of inches shorter than Zach even, said. He had a patchy mustache and beard just on his chin though, but he still looked like an excited kid while Zach pulled the sharpie back out of his sweatshirt pocket and signed the bottom of the board. "I'm Nico by the way," the shorter guy said while Zach finished up signing.

He handed the board back, right as the blond did a small jump ahead of them and spun himself around during it. He rolled back over and Zach tossed him the marker when he was a couple feet away. "Whoa," he lifted his hands and bobbled it, but he caught it and let out a quick breath of relief that he didn't just embarrass himself. "I'm Riley," he said after shoving the marker into the side of his backpack he nudged around him again. "Quirk: Numb."

"What's that do?" Zach asked, turning his head left while Riley spun his board again and started rolling at a walking pace. Nico was on Zach's other side, and he felt a strange feeling of normalcy as he just started talking to these two guys who had treated him like a celebrity a minute ago. Could they be spies- he had the thought then cracked a bigger grin. Now that's some paranoia. Two random guys are… well, they did come up to me. And if someone at the school did tell the League that I was at the library. Oh shit what does Numb do? If he makes me go numb and I lose feeling, Zach's grin went away and his right hand twitched at his side, though he kept his fingers hidden in his glove despite his suspicion.

"I can numb any pain I feel, or others' too," Riley said. "Though not for a very long time."

"That's a pretty nice Quirk," Zach said, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. Maybe if he could actually train his Quirk, he'd have an offensive way for it. He could stop villains in their tracks if they couldn't feel parts of their bodies, or even make them injure themselves further if they try moving using parts of their body that are too badly injured. "You use it when you skateboard?"

"Sometimes," Riley replied, then he froze and his eyes opened wide.

"Dude," Nico said past Zach in a deadpan tone.

"Don't worry," Zach said. "You think I'm one to tell you not to use your Quirk like that?" He asked it then sweatdropped as he wondered why he was talking to these guys so casually again. I don't even know them. He seemed pretty nervous there though that I was going to call him out on it.

"Ha, haha, yeah," Riley said, tapping his foot on the ground a few times to catch back up with Zach who did not slow down when the other two had. "Guess that's, true," Riley said, though now he was sweating a bit and looked like he wanted to say something else.

Don't do it. We barely know each other, Zach thought, darting Riley a look out the corner of his eyes. Riley eased back at that look, then Zach reminded himself what he thought when he first saw these guys heading down the stairs to talk to him. He smiled again and asked, "Anyway, where do you guys go to school?"

"Hoshien Academy," Nico said, and Zach turned right to the shorter boy. "Sure it's okay for you to just let Riley go though?" Nico asked. "Using his Quirk like a total villain. Doing tricks on his skateboard and not even feeling the punishment when he falls, which is most of the time." Zach grinned, because at first he thought Nico was being serious. The more he said it though, the more Zach realized that the shorter boy thought Zach was telling the truth and didn't care about hiding it anymore.

"Dude, stop it," Riley said on Zach's other side. Zach was still smiling when he looked back towards Riley though, easing the taller boy's worries he had since seeing a dark look cross Lifebringer's face a minute ago. "Yeah well," he rose a hand and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't get out of all of it. Not like it lasts more than ten minutes."

"Could still be a really useful Quirk though," Zach said. Riley looked at him in a bit of surprise, but Zach continued, "Sometimes people go into shock from pain at accidents or villain attacks. So since you could numb others' pain too, could be a good Quirk for a hero."

Riley's eyes widened even more, then he rubbed a finger under his nose in a cocky way. "Heh, I've always thought so," he said.

"Haha, he complains about his 'useless' Quirk all the time," Nico remarked, and Riley got an annoyed look on his face that Nico was calling him out again in front of Lifebringer.

Zach glanced back skeptically towards Riley for trying to play it differently a moment ago, and Riley grimaced instead of shouting at Nico that he did not. "Well, when I gotta compare it to Nico's, it's really not fair."

"Why? You have a strong one?" Zach wondered in surprise, turning to the boy next to him on the right. The black dots all over Nico's head started to pop out of his head with thick trails behind them. It almost looked like hair except each strand was a couple centimeters thick. They waved around in the air over his head a foot high or more, but they sucked back into his head fast as Nico saw a few people walking around a corner up ahead. "How long can you make those?" Zach asked, still thinking about them even as Nico's attention had shifted away.

"I don't know," Nico replied. He looked back at the slightly taller boy on his left while they walked, his skateboard under the crook of his left arm. "They're pretty strong. Can pick things up with them at least, but I haven't really tried to see how long they can get. It hurts my scalp if I make them more than five or six feet."

"Huh," Zach said, a thoughtful look on his face. "That's pretty good too though. You could whip those around yourself, make for a really good defense if they're strong enough to lift things."

"Well I guess," Nico said, smiling at the idea of it. "Not planning on being a hero though," he added. "So hopefully I don't have to think about that."

"Might want to practice it on your own though," Zach suggested. Nico's eyes widened and so did Riley's on Zach's other side. Zach realized what he just said in a suggestive tone right there and he slowed down, a frown forming on his face. "I mean, not that you should use it," he continued. He glanced back towards Riley, then to Nico again and said, "It couldn't hurt to have that defense prepared though, right? So in case you need it you're not just waving them around in a panicked way."

"In case I need them," Nico said softly, looking back forward and humming to himself. "Does seem like a more likely possibility these days."

"Only reason I say something," Zach agreed. He lifted his left hand and rubbed his head though afterwards, and he laughed as they kept going, "But hey, don't say I said anything about it. Shouldn't really be thinking of defending yourself with your Quirk anyway. Just run if you're in a bad situation," he finished. Even as he let out another laugh and started listening to the others' responses, Zach's thoughts were more grim, You won't always be able to run though. And a Quirk like yours, it could actually protect yourself pretty well against a lot of different types of villains, as well as protect other people… Zach shook his head around and then his stomach growled and he rubbed it for a second.

"Well, I'm heading back to school," Zach said, suggesting with his tone that the other guys finally leave him alone. Gotta go grab some snacks before I go back. Really should try to make it a shorter trip if I can, but I need the extra meals with the new workout regimen. I didn't realize how much stronger Nightmare form got physically from training in it. I don't like eating in Nightmare form, but I wonder if getting my nutrients and protein in it would help too?

Zach had a more serious look on his face as he thought about his training, and the two guys who kind of wanted to talk with him more decided to let him go. "Thanks for signing my board," Nico said, dropping the skateboard in front of him and putting a foot on it.

"Yeah, thanks for the autographs. And thanks for saving that girl a couple of weeks ago," Riley added. Zach stopped where he was and stared at the blond boy with a spiky kind-of mohawk over his head. Riley started kicking down next to his board to speed up too, and he called out, "She's an upperclassman at Hoshien. Gonna be the valedictorian this year or something. Cool girl." Riley reached up and grabbed his purple hood, then he popped it over his head and pushed down on his spiky hair. He turned his head sideways as he rode off, and he called back, "Keep rockin' Lifebringer!"

Nico shook his head while he skated after his friend, but he turned his head too and called a 'Thanks' back to Zach for their senpai too. Zach watched as the two of them raced off and then sped around a corner just down the sidewalk. He shook his head fast, Don't get too distracted. If the spy told them I was at the library, they could be waiting to ambush me on the way back. That was why I wanted to walk with others... really? I wanted to drag them into it? Can't convince myself of that, but damn I was barely paying attention at all during any of that. Zach shook his head some more then he kept walking, thinking about his carelessness to stop from smiling too wide at what they told him at the end there. I'm really glad I didn't pass out from the pain. A valedictorian. A high school girl. Another person, he shook his head and just kept smiling, as it did not really matter to him who the person was after all, it made him feel good either way.

As he kept walking down the sidewalk, he rubbed his stomach again and thought, Oh yeah. Real reason I wanted them to head off. Do I go get a meal in town too- no, I don't want to waste money when I don't need to. I'll eat at the cafeteria when I get back. Just grab some snacks, protein bars, actually I need another tub of Muscle Milk powder. I went through that fast again. It's great though when the results are showing. Even if I did feel sore just sitting at the library all day.

Zach headed for a convenience store near the school where he took his hood off once he entered. He smiled towards the old man behind the counter who smiled back towards him and nodded a greeting. Unlike most places outside of U.A., this was one he frequented so the owner was not surprised to see him, and Zach actually knew what to expect from him after a conversation they had a few weeks back. 25% off isn't bad. Any more and I'd feel like I was abusing the owner's good will, any less and I'd feel like the guy was being cheap considering he said I saved his cousin's daughter's husband. Well, not cheap. He's got a business to run after all. Zach went around picking out some things he needed, though he was disappointed that his favorite protein snack bar was sold out.

As he walked towards the register, he thought about a different conversation he had in this building not with the convenience store clerk. Webb's been quiet since we met with Mr. Ganji. Don't even know anything about my anti-hero costume. Midoriya introduced me to Hatsume, and she had some cool ideas for my costume when I told her about the bone stuff that I want to add on to my anti-hero costume. Thought if I got word from Webb sooner, I could tell Mr. Ganji before they finished with my costume. I don't want to use that card- seemed all super special or something- just to ask for an edit to my costume. That's for emergencies only. I'm sure Ganji's costume-maker contractor will make an awesome costume though. The one at school's working out pretty well, though now I just look fully white with a dark translucent exterior in Nightmare form. It's kind of cool, and I took the black off of the school one again, but as long as I can't force the black veil inside my costume, I'm going to look too similar in the black one I wear as an anti-hero, though the masks are different enough it might make the difference.

Still, wonder what I did? I noticed it on the way down the elevator and out the building. Did we part on bad terms? I couldn't really tell, but usually when I head off on my own Webb said something like he'd call me again. This time I said I'd be waiting for his next call, but he didn't seem very enthusiastic in his response. It's not like villain activity has gone down at all. "Hey Tanaka-san," Zach said as he got up to the register after waiting for a few people to buy their things. "Just this today. No Super-Power Bars in stock," he added with a sigh.

"Actually, just haven't had the time to stock the shelf yet," the older Japanese man behind the counter said, and he smiled at Zach's surprise hearing that. "I'll grab you a couple. How many you need?"

"Ummm, six?" Zach said after a second's thought.

"Haha, alright then," Tanaka said, and he walked off behind the counter to go grab a box in a side room just next to it.

As Tanaka went to the side room to grab the protein bars, Zach turned to the side and looked at the sliding doors of the building on his left. There was a woman in line behind him, and one more guy in the store over at the manga and magazine area. Zach kept track of where they both were and where their eyes were focused, but he was surprised that the woman behind him did not even seem to recognize his face as he turned sideways. That's more suspicious than if she was interested- oh, there it is, he saw her eyes glance towards his face and then widen at his hair and the split on his left ear that was closer to her. Zach was not really focused on her though, as he was looking out in the street for a reason.

Thought I heard something loud. Like a crash. Should go check it out, in a second, he looked back at the counter and pulled out his wallet to pay. Tanaka totaled up Zach's goods and the six protein bars he just came back with, then he tapped a button on the register that knocked a quarter of the price off. Zach smiled wide as he saw that, and he said, "Thanks Tanaka-san."

"Here you go," the man said, handing over Zach's bags which the boy took gratefully in his left hand. "Have a good one," he told the boy who turned in his hoodie and waved with his right, before grabbing his hood with that waving hand and pulling it back up over the top of his head.

It was nothing, Zach told himself as he walked out of the store. No one's acting like they heard a thing. Must have been my, imagination… Zach frowned as he tried convincing himself of that, as he turned his head right a bit and saw two girls standing at the edge of an alleyway across the street, looking in at something. Could be anything, he thought, only to see them both turn and start running down the sidewalk with nervous looks on their faces. Zach sighed and he glanced left in the direction of his school, and the setting sun almost on the horizon to the west. He sighed though, and he jogged across the street while lifting his right hand just a bit to be ready.

He ran to the alleyway he saw those girls looking in on, and he immediately backed up to stand with his back to the corner of the building on the sidewalk. Oh shit, he thought. That, didn't look good. No no no, I knew them! But still, carrying sacks over their shoulders like that, all they need are dollar signs on them and ski masks. Though without ski masks, he grimaced and stepped back out, looking down the alley towards the man he saw down there, and the shorter girl in front of him who lowered the phone she was recording with.

"Gentle! This came out really good!" Manami Alba called out excitedly. The girl was as short as Mineta, with long thick red pigtails falling down to the sides of her body. Zach frowned towards that three-and-a-half-foot tall girl who looked young, but he felt like was probably actually a few years older than himself. His eyes narrowed more back towards the tall man in front of her who stopped posing with the big brown sack over his shoulder similar to the one his accomplice was carrying.

"Bravo, La Brava," Gentle said. He rose a hand and put a few fingers to his forehead and then leaned his head back, saying, "Now let us be off. We cannot linger too close to the scene of the crime…"

Oh shit, Zach started into the alley. What crime? This is bad, he lowered his left hand and dropped his bags on the floor. "Hey!" Zach called out. The man with nicely combed gray hair and a luscious mustache and beard that matched spun his head in the big popped purple collar of his costume. The left strap of Zach's backpack was sliding down his arm, and he called over while keeping his head bowed a bit so the hood would shadow his face, "Put the bags down, Gentle Criminal!"

"Who's that?" La Brava called out, spinning towards the person jogging towards them in a black hoodie.

Gentle's eyes narrowed at the bag the boy was taking off, and he turned to his partner and said, "It does not matter. But he knows my name," he added in a happier tone. He laughed a few times while stepping towards La Brava, then he reached down a hand and grabbed her hand while her face flushed red. "Goodbye, my loyal fan!" Danjuro Tobita, or Gentle, called down as the ground beneath them turned elastic thanks to his Quirk and bounced him and La Brava high into the air.

"Oh no you don't," Zach snapped his right arm up from the backpack he had half over his arm, and he aimed and fired while Gentle was lifting up. The Gentle Criminal's head snapped down with wide eyes, and La Brava looked down as well only to drop her jaw at the sight of the hooded boy rising up after them holding a grappling gun in his hand. Zach lifted his head and his hood came off because of the wind pushing down on him as he rose, exposing his terrified face as he flew dozens of feet off the ground and above the tops of the buildings on his sides. Holy shit! If he knocks me off I'm so dead! Why did I think this was a good idea?! "Ahhh!" Zach yelled, pressing a button on the grappling gun and retracting the wire to pull himself even faster towards the rising pair higher above him.

Zach shot up towards them while screaming in panic, while both Gentle and La Brava lost their ideas of shaking him off when they saw the face of the boy flying towards them. "Lifebringer?!" The two shouted, right before Zach wrapped his arms around Gentle's leg that the grappling hook wrapped around in the first place.

"Holy crap. Please don't drop me!" Zach shouted. He snapped his head up and said, "I've already got my right hand on you! Lower us to a building gently, Gentle!"

Gentle's eyes were wide, but he narrowed them and then said in a holier-than-thou tone, "If you touch me though, you'd plummet to your death. You sound far too panicked otherwise." Gentle swung an arm next to him and they all bounced farther through the air, Zach letting out a yelp of surprise at the sudden burst of speed, though he only gripped Gentle's leg tighter.

"I'm serious! If I squeeze too tightly my fingers will come out of the glove!" Zach bluffed, though he knew it would work. "So stop freaking me out, or you're going to get all three of us killed!"

Gentle's eyes grew wide again, and this time he actually listened to the kid. He swung his arm again and made the sky elastic behind him but at an angle that would drop them towards the roof of a nearby building.

"Gentle, we have to keep running," La Brava said. "Let's shake him off when we're close to a roof."

"And give up a chance like this?" Gentle asked. La Brava's eyes opened wider, while Zach's gaze just shot up from the building he was gratefully watching approach below them at a gentle pace. He glared into Gentle's eyes as the older man looked down at him, and Gentle said in an ominous yet still gentlemanly tone, "I think not. What we pulled earlier will only be the tip of the iceberg." La Brava's eyes started shining at what he was saying, then he kicked his left leg forward and Zach let go, because they were about to drop down at the roof of a ten story building anyway.

Zach hit the roof and fell down to one knee while skidding backwards. He let his backpack that had swung wildly during the flight fall off of his arm, and he frowned more thinking about how he left his groceries in that alley to get stolen. He had other things to focus on though, and he got up and rose his right hand in front of his chest just in case.

Gentle lowered down across the roof, and he put La Brava down. The short girl smirked towards Zach after Gentle's declaration a minute ago, and Zach did not like how Gentle was looking at him. "Zach Sazaki," the Gentle Criminal began. "My videos these past few weeks have been getting close to zero views thanks to that Lifebringer biography of yours. But this, will be my breakthrough! To write-"

"Your name down in history. Yeah, I know," Zach said, and he kept frowning even as Gentle narrowed his eyes and smiled at the boy's recognition of what he was about to say.

"La Brava, start recording," Gentle said. "I want this to be-"

"Wait!" Zach shouted, throwing his hands up and waving both palms at the other two. "Stop. You don't want to do that."

"Hah! You think you will defeat me? Are you pitying me, boy-"

Gentle started it and then glared angrier at Zach as he interrupted again. "Just think about it," Zach said. He spun to La Brava and pointed his right palm at her, "Please, just a second." She had her phone half-lifted, and she felt no reason to listen to the high schooler over Gentle. Zach continued while spinning back to Gentle, "Is that really how you want your breakout video to be? You want everyone to be watching you just because I'm in the video?" Gentle narrowed his eyes more, and Zach continued, "You just said you were mad because of that stupid Lifebringer video, which I hate too by the way. If you put up a video with me in it, it'll just make you feel more unsatisfied."

"Do not pretend to know my reasons, Lifebringer," Gentle said, leaning back and smiling at the boy again. La Brava turned to Gentle and she still had her phone only half-raised, but she could see a more hesitant look on Gentle's face now. "You think people will only watch for you, and that may be true, but what will they think of the Gentle Criminal after he foils Lifebringer's plans to capture him?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to try and capture you," Zach said. He lowered his arms, while thinking, Ah, this might get really bad. I think I get this guy though. I've seen his videos.

"Excuse me?" Gentle said, lifting an eyebrow and looking at the teenager skeptically. "Are you really going to act like that, after you just confronted us in an alleyway of your own accord?"

"Well, it looked like you stole something," Zach said. "And you talked about the 'scene of the crime,'" he added. He glanced at La Brava again, but he saw she still did not know whether to start filming or not, which was good since he hoped he was getting somewhere. "I couldn't just let you run off, without knowing what you did. I can't capture you though." He held up his palms defensively as Gentle narrowed them in a threatening way with a grin on his face. "Really, I can't," Zach repeated. "I've seen the videos. Heroes try to stop you all the time, a bunch of them at a time. No idea how you stop them, and I'm not going to just kill you so can't use my hand."

"An impressive bluff, but a bluff nonetheless," Gentle said, and he lifted a hand to dramatically rub his forehead. He saw La Brava raising the camera in the corner of his eye, but he took his forehead-rubbing hand off to hold a palm at her to wait. She looked surprised, as did Zach who thought he was about to attack after calling that bluff. Gentle did not want to make this about Zach though, and he continued while off camera, "Everyone knows you captured two of the League of Villains who attacked your school. Captured, not killed. And I saw the end of the Lifebringer video. The 'demon of Japan' can do more than-"

"Don't, call me that," Zach said, wincing and then biting his lip after he said that reactively to the villain in front of him. Gentle's eyes opened wide, and he and La Brava both watched as Zach took a couple of deep breaths and clenched his fists down at his sides. "I'm not, like that," Zach said, lifting his gaze back up to Gentle. "And I don't want to fight you. I didn't even want to confront you two, when I saw it was you, but then you mentioned the 'crime' and I had to at least check it out. So what's in the bags? What did you do?"

Gentle continued to stare at Zach in some surprise for a few seconds, not really knowing how to react to the boy's reaction at what he was saying in a cocky tone a moment ago. "Did anyone, get hurt?" Zach asked, narrowing his question down.

"What are you asking for?" La Brava snapped, getting angry at the teenager. She stepped forward and swung an arm across her body, "Gentle only commits gentlemanly crimes. He's the Chivalrous Thief!"

"So who'd you steal from?" Zach asked, his eyes darting back to the sacks each of them still had with them, though Gentle had dropped his behind his legs after landing.

"Does it really matter, to a hero like yourself?" Gentle inquired. He scratched his chin a few times, then he said, "And I don't think I believe you. You are too interested in our crimes, to just let us go from here. If La Brava were to record us fighting, my popularity, my reputation, they would be made!"

"Or you might lose," Zach said. "And if you really are too strong and force me into a corner, what if you die?" Zach asked. "What'd be the point? Why do we have to do something, like that? I really don't, have anything against you," he shook his head a few times and then pursed his lips as Gentle narrowed his gaze and still had a skeptical look on his face. "Aren't you, trying to be a hero?" Zach said.

La Brava's eyes opened huge and she spun towards Gentle, then back to the arrogant boy ahead of her and to her left, as she had moved to the side to record a good angle of the possible fight. "What are you saying?!"

"I've seen your videos," Zach said. "Robbing stores, because the big companies that own them have crooked business practices. It's not very heroic, or villain-like. But it seems like you're trying to do good."

"You don't know anything about me," Gentle responded, sighing at the boy's naivety. "Making my mark on this world. Leaving a legacy behind. To be known by millions!" Gentle shouted, throwing his head back and his arms to the side in dramatic fashion. Then he lowered his head and glared towards Zach while smiling again, "To do that, I'd go to any lengths-"

"Would you though?" Zach asked, and Gentle's smile dipped down at the corners. The man stepped forward and got ready to say that he would, but Zach stepped back away from him and said, "If so, why haven't you already? If you had recorded flashier crimes, more violent ones, a lot more people would know who you are!" Zach's eyes shot open huge as soon as he yelled that. Oh man. If this guy goes around doing more violent stuff because I told him to- Have to argue better! "It seems to me like going down in history doesn't matter more than the work you're doing. But you're not doing good stuff either, just kind of, weird, in-the-middle, stuff," Zach said, and he immediately regretted it at the look on both Gentle and La Brava's faces.

"You don't know how hard Gentle works for this! How much this means to him!" La Brava shouted. "And you and your publicity stunts don't make things any easier!"

"I hate being on camera!" Zach snapped towards the girl, making her lean back with wide eyes at his frustrated look. He spun back to Gentle, "So I would love it, if you could become this media king or whatever that you want to be. If your videos got all the hype, then maybe people would stop making ones that call me a demon and tell everyone I killed my mom!" He started panting after shouting that, and he glared at Gentle who was staring back at him with wide eyes. "Do you want to know, why your videos don't get a lot of views? It's not because your crimes aren't very violent," he corrected himself from earlier, glad he managed to keep them there long enough for him to do so. "You know why people watch videos about me?" He asked, then paused and replied for himself, "Because I was saving lives."

"I am not a hero," Gentle said. "I was never cut out for that sort of thing. Not in this society-"

"Really?" Zach asked, sweatdropping as the man said that to him. "You're going to play that card, with me?"

"This society welcomed you back, most with open arms," Gentle said, looking down his nose as the boy tried to be coy with him.

"And if the 'gentlemanly' crimes you were committing, were actually like you pass your petty thefts off to be, I'm sure it'd welcome you too," Zach replied. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked defiantly into Gentle's eyes while the man frowned and glared back at him. "I get, some random kid you don't know, who you already don't like, coming up to you and telling you to change your ways isn't something anyone would like. But I have to do it in order to call myself a hero. I have to try and change you."

"And why not just capture me?" Gentle questioned. "If you could, that is," he added.

"Because you're not like the League of-"

"No! I am not!" Gentle proclaimed, throwing an arm out to the side which made his long purple jacket flap behind him. "However although I am not the same kind of villain, the crimes of a gentleman will shake the world-"

"They never will," Zach cut right back in after Gentle cut him off. "I'm not saying you're wasting your time," Zach continued, holding up only his left hand defensively as Gentle seemed to be tired of this back and forth. "But look around. Violent crimes are on the rise. Murder, drugs, people are scared of this stuff and it gets their attention. Whatever crimes you do, you're not going to get their attentions off of things they're afraid of."

Gentle's hands balled into fists and lowered down at his sides. "Gentle," La Brava whispered at the frustrated look on his face. She spun to Zach angrily, then back to Gentle whose fists were shaking.

"Do you really want to be associated with people like that though?" Zach asked, seeing the man in front of him getting angrier which was actually starting to unnerve him a bit. "I mean, the things you say in your video make it sound like you really think you're doing good…" Oh shit. He's mad. Am I wrong about this guy? "In this society though, crumbling under the pressure of villains," Zach continued quicker. "Who's going to pay any attention to a guy who isn't really doing damage, and isn't acting like a hero either?"

"You think, I don't know that?" Gentle's narrowed gaze at the floor lifted and glared into Zach's eyes, but Zach's eyes were wide at what he just heard. La Brava's eyes were much wider than Zach's though, and she stared at Gentle in shock and with a trembling lip. He saw her out the corners of his eyes, but he kept glaring at Zach and said, "To get views in any other way though, to reach the fame is desire in a manner unbecoming of a gentleman. It is not who I am!"

"Then why not, do more good?" Zach suggested. Gentle glared at him, but Zach stepped forward and said, "Really. That's the solution. How many pro heroes have been after you before only for you to get away? And average villains aren't as strong as most heroes, so you're like top tier…" Zach shook his head as he was getting a little off track, and he held up both palms in front of him. "No one cares if you commit petty crimes and get away with it, as long as those crimes are still negative ones, like, like where did you get that, money?" He guessed what was in the sacks that looked like they were filled with bills.

Gentle kept frowning at the boy, but he said in a proud voice, "The G&K Bank has been stealing their patrons' money for years with hidden fees inside of loan payments. People who simply want to pay back what they borrowed wind up paying double, and it all goes straight to the pockets of the men at the top. Taking some of that money away…"

They robbed a bank?! What is this, an old-western? Alright, so shady business practice. Is that even shady? "That money you're stealing," Zach said, interrupting what Gentle was saying. "It's not the bank's money. It's the people who have accounts there, and you're taking it from them."

"Their money is insured," La Brava said in a matter-of-fact tone at the boy who sounded like he was taking high ground over them. "But when people rush to the bank to try and take their money out, feeling like it's not safe there, the bank loses business."

Oh crap. That's actually, well thought out. I thought they were just robbing a bank and calling it "justice." Still, this is kind of, really really shady. I don't want to be seen with these two, 'cause I wasn't joking when I said this guy's top tier. He could probably kick my ass, and if anyone sees us I have to start fighting. Zach had a bead of sweat on the right side of his face, but as Gentle opened his mouth to start back up a rant about how 'you see Lifebringer, this is a just…' Zach spoke first. "So some really rich guys are going to lose a little money, no one else is actually getting robbed… and you wonder why you don't get a lot of views?" Gentle's half-open mouth dropped at the boy's taunt, and Zach continued quick before the guy could go from shocked to angry. "You know why people care about me? Why they watch videos with me in it? It's because what I do is simple. Not because it's good, or bad. Just simple. You've got this crazy convoluted scheme that people have to really think about in order to realize that you might be doing something good, while I just bring someone back to life. It's simple."

"You have the power to make it simple," Gentle retorted, shaking his head like Zach was making it out to be so easy.

"And you don't?" Zach asked. "You can take on heroes, you're strong enough that you could actually stop crimes that matter, or ones that people care about at least. Violent crimes. You could show up at a villain attack and stop it, and then fly off without even recording yourself, and you'd be a hundred times more popular than you are now."

"I am no hero," Gentle said. He said it not in an angry voice, but with a thoughtful look on his face that seemed sad to Zach.

"That's fine," Zach replied. "You don't need to be a hero, to do something good." Gentle's eyes widened back open a bit, and Zach smiled softly at him while adding, "Your Robin Hood kind-of lifestyle might one day be needed. I don't know. But there are better ways to getting fame, and staying gentlemanly, than robbing a bank."

"How can you say things like this?" Gentle questioned. He leaned his head back and looked down confusedly at the boy facing him. "Are you not a hero?"

Zach hesitated for a few seconds. "How long ago, was I on the wrong side of the thin line? Between a hero, and someone just trying to do good?" He paused, and then he reached his left hand down to the hem of his sweatshirt. La Brava and Gentle both tensed as it almost seemed like he was reaching for a weapon or something, but Zach just bunched his sweatshirt and shirt beneath up in his hand and then lifted up. He stared towards Gentle and his mouth twisted frustratedly and in an embarrassed way at the wide-eyed look Gentle was giving his torso. "You're not a villain, Gentle Criminal," Zach said, and he put his shirts back down fast. "I'll never, be able to see you the same way as them. Your more recent videos though, you were willing to go farther, do more damage, to try and get more views. Soon, you might go too far. Or a hero might just catch you. Throw you both in prison. And what would be the point? Who would remember you? What good, would come from it?"

He looks, La Brava thought, blinking a few times in confusion before her eyes widened more. Sad.

What would be the point? To stick to my values. To achieve my dreams I would even step on the dreams of others. Gentle's hands shook but he could not ball them into fists again at the soft look the kid was giving him. Zach turned away after another second of staring into Gentle's eyes, and he reached down for his backpack. The sky was a dark orange with darkness already falling in the east, and Zach slid the straps of his backpack on. "Where do you think you are going?" Gentle questioned, stepping towards the boy.

Zach reached up his left hand and slid his hood over the top of his head. He pulled his grappling gun back out and held it in his right hand, then he walked over towards the edge of the building and took a deep breath as he looked down at the far drop. "I left my groceries back in that alley," Zach said in a low, annoyed voice. He pointed his grappling gun out when he saw a target, lifted it a few inches above to account for gravity, then he fired and watched as the hook shot out and wrapped around. He tugged a few times to make sure it was secure, then he glanced back at Gentle who was not moving any closer and said, "It's not that you're not worth my time. I just really, don't want to fight you." It'd feel like fighting myself. I liked your videos. Even though they were weird, and I didn't know how to feel, I was glad there were more people who blurred the line. Though you had it blurred too far to the side of villains. Man, I really hope I did something here. I half-wish I had never chased them. Zach hopped off the roof, and he swung away.

---

"Hahaha! They're calling him the April Fools' Day Villain!" Sero laughed and pointed at the tv in the common room from over at the common room kitchen.

"Sounds like a stupid nickname for such a strong guy," Jirou said while glancing towards the screen herself. She smirked after saying it and said, "I'm sure he'll hate it though, so that's a plus."

"Haha, damn that's cold," Kaminari remarked from where he leaned back on the counter next to her.

"He deserves that kind of a stupid name though," Zach said across the kitchen from Kaminari. He had a ramen cup in his hand and was finishing it up while standing there hanging with the others. "Making such a huge entrance right in front of all of us. The whole class in one spot."

"I'd say he's more unlucky that stupid," Ashido pointed out on Zach's left. "Like really unlucky. I mean he had such a grand speech and everything, and remember how far his jaw dropped when he turned and saw us all not running away?"

"When he recognized us I could actually see the 'I'm screwed' look form on his face," Kaminari laughed.

"Not that you did anything," Jirou remarked, and Kaminari sweatdropped while Sero laughed more.

Zach got a bead of sweat on his face too, and Ashido spun to him with a pout on her face that made him look away and lift his chopsticks to finish his ramen faster. "Yeah, some of us didn't do much," Ashido said, leaning forward in at Zach as he pretended not to see her. "And still got most of the questions when the media showed up, even though he was just standing in the back."

"I'm sorry," Zach said, sweating more but putting down his empty ramen cup on the counter. "I tried standing behind Koda but they still noticed me."

"How could you do such a thing to Koda?" Jirou scolded, shaking her head at Zach who sweat more as he thought about how he brought all the attention to the shyest boy in the class.

"Hey, maybe it'll help him out with the report," Zach said, turning back and shrugging like he did nothing wrong. "Compared to being on camera and on tv, Thursday's presentation should be a piece of cake…" Zach got a more nervous look on his face, and he scratched the back of his head before saying, "Speaking of which. I should get back to work on mine."

Jirou sighed and rubbed the side of her head, "Yeah, me too."

"Really thought they would have saved it for the last week of class. I hoped at least," Kaminari added, rubbing his temples hard and with a nervous look on his face. "I still have so much I need to write."

"Shouldn't have saved it for the last minute," Zach said as he started out of the kitchen, smirking at his friend who groaned and leaned farther back on the counter.

"Yeah, some of us have been working on it since Aizawa sensei told us," Sero said, though he was not talking about himself as he mentioned it. "Right Zach? You've been-"

"You'll see on Thursday," Zach replied before Sero could try and inquire as to his project idea, again.

Kaminari turned as Zach was heading away, then he leaned in towards Jirou's head and whispered, "If his report isn't the best thing I've ever heard, I won't buy it that 'working on the paper' is all he and Yaoyorozu've been doing alone up in his room." Kaminari smirked, while Jirou's face turned bright red and one of her earphone jacks snapped up behind her and shoved into Kaminari's ear.

Jirou shook her head while glancing back towards Zach and feeling relieved he did not hear that. She turned around while Ashido called out for him to wait up, and she said in an annoyed and quiet tone at Kaminari, still with pink cheeks, "Don't be a perv."

Ashido ran up on Zach's side, saying, "I'm going to work on mine too. Want to trade and go over each other's?" She said, blinking her eyes at him in a hopeful way.

He laughed and pulled his head back a bit as she leaned towards him, then he shook his head and said, "Sorry Mina. Managed to keep it under wraps this long. Just a few more days. I'll go over yours though if you want me to," he added, feeling like he should offer even though he was pretty sure she only asked in the first place because she wanted to read his, not the other way around.

Mina Ashido sighed and dropped her arms limp at her sides while slouching forward. Then she straightened up and scratched the back of her head through her wavy pink hair that was longer than at the start of the school year so it now well below the bottom of her neck. "Actually yeah," she said, and Zach turned her way in some surprise at the response. "I am suupperr not confident about my presentation."

"Really?" Zach asked. "You were talking about it like you were ready though-"

"Yeah, the reason why I was talking about it that much was to try and get you guys to tell me what you thought," she replied in some annoyance, since none of them had caught on to her roundabout way of trying to get criticism. "So would you mind going over it once?"

"Sure," Zach said, as he had meant his offer in the first place.

"Yay! Thanks Zach!" Ashido exclaimed, doing a little jump right before they started up the stairwell.

"No problem Mina," Zach replied. He felt a little less nervous though as he was not going right back to working on his research paper, and could distract himself from the anxiety over it with his classmate's paper instead for a little.

Mina smiled more as they headed up the stairs after Zach said her name again. She smirked and looked farther up the stairwell, thinking about how she had tried prying it out of Yaoyorozu that she and Zach were a "thing." Momo repeatedly said to her and the other girls that they were just friends though, and that she told Zach to call her by her first name since they were just good friends. To this, Ashido had asked her that she wouldn't mind if she had Zach call her by her first name too, which Ashido felt almost worked at the reaction Momo had. It was because of the only half-reaction that Momo quickly wiped away and said it was fine, that Ashido actually went through with it and told Zach to call her 'Mina' for now on.

This is too much fun, Mina thought as she got a little giddy just thinking about Yaoyorozu seeing them. Since, we're 'good friends' too, it shouldn't bother you. Gahhh! What am I thinking right now? I really need to do some actual work!

Zach went with Ashido to her room on the fourth floor, her very hot pink room. He only went over her essay and talked with her about how she was going to present it for ten minutes though, as he knew he could not spend too much time only helping her out when he still felt there was more he needed to do to fine-tune his own presentation. "…I think since you've got no problem doing stuff like this, you have a natural advantage in the presentation. But I still think you should have some more straight-up facts to add in, instead of just saying 'Acid,' maybe describe the science-y workings of your Quirk. Like add what pH levels you can make it, maybe?" Zach suggested, while he was about to head out, wanting to give some advice since she had asked him to help and he felt like he had not done much but read it.

"Yeah… yeah! That's a great idea!" Ashido snapped her fingers like it just occurred to her, and she smiled wide at Zach near her door. "Is that what you did for yours? Went into the science of your Quirk?" She leaned forward as he reached behind him for the doorknob, "Speaking of which, what is the science behind it?"

"Oh, uh I don't really know," Zach said, and he opened up the door. "Maybe if that's what my report is really about, you'll find out on Thursday," he offered, and he grinned at the disappointed sigh she let out.

Ashido smiled though after she sighed, and she said, "Thanks for the help! I'm going to ace this thing!"

"Hope so," Zach replied. "See ya' later," he added, and he turned and headed out. Zach started back for the stairwell and smiled wide himself, hoping he really did just help Mina out with her project.

One Year Ago

"Oh yeah! Another two points!" Mina Ashido laughed and then lifted her head to look farther down the street where she saw another robot. "Here I come!" She called out, and she threw some Acid in front of her that she slid over on the ground to speed her way towards the next robot. As she raced down the road, she was passing an intersection that she was going to ignore since the robot was just on the other side of it if she kept going straight.

As Ashido passed the corner though, a robot just about to leave the intersection spun towards her and her head started turning right as well. She jumped up in the air as it swung an arm down where she was sliding, and she laughed while throwing an arm forward and covering the front of the robot in Acid. "Take that-"

"Look out!"

Mina spun her head back to the left, the direction she had been heading in the first place where the original robot that she had taken her eyes off of was swinging a metal arm forward. Her eyes opened wide, only for the arm to just miss her on her downwards arc. It missed because of the boy who just threw his entire weight into the side of the robot, knocking it over while it started turning its attention to him. The boy with short and spiky black hair grabbed the thick arm and put a foot down on the side of the robot while tugging the other way with all his weight. He slammed his foot down harder into the joint, and he ripped the robot's arm out with a loud yell.

"Got it!" He shouted, then he lifted the arm up as the robot started to rise, and he smashed it down on the robot's head over and over again.

Mina watched in a bit of surprise, then the robot finally collapsed and stopped moving. She turned to the short boy to say something, but he turned to her first and her eyes widened at the panicked look on his face. "Two points," he said, then he started running. As he neared her his eyes looked up and down the pink girl he was running by to get into the side road Ashido had turned down a few seconds ago to destroy the other robot.

"Two points?" She said in surprise as she watched him run off. She looked back at the robot he destroyed and muttered, "But that's only a one-pointer… unless," she spun back and her eyes widened. Does he only have two points total?

Zach left the robot arm he used to destroy the fake villain behind, since he had to be light on his feet in order to catch other villains. That girl's Quirk is so good for this! She's going to pass for sure. Gah, saving her is totally going to make me have less of a chance of getting in now.

Present

Zach walked up the stairs to his own floor from Mina's, and he smiled thinking just over a year back to the U.A. Entrance Exam. I thought I had done something stupid making sure she didn't get hurt, since she would take up one of the selective spots in the hero course. I should have realized they'd give me points for that though. So many points, it actually made up for only getting four villain points total. I really thought I had bombed…

He shook his head and lowered his smile into a flat lip. Everyone's getting their papers ready. I've had mine finished for a while now, but I keep going back and editing so much. It's not like the overall premise has changed. As long as society keeps changing around us, in the same general trend, the point remains. I want to make this presentation great. Not just because it's a huge part of my grade, or for the teachers to see me putting in the effort. This is about more. I have to perfect it… I should see if Momo is free, after I work on it some more myself. Finalize it on your own, then give the presentation as if it were the real deal to her. Zach reached down and pulled out his phone just as he was reaching his door. Seems like a plan, he thought, and he was smiling wide as he thought it.

---

"…That was my presentation. Thank you very much for listening." Zach kept his hands at his sides even though he wanted to bring one up and start scratching his head with it, or wiping off the sweatdrop he felt on his forehead, and on his left cheek, and on his right one too. He kept a steady posture though as he stared at the girl sitting in front of where he had stood for the whole rehearsal of his speech, then he finally slouched his shoulders and let out a gasp of breath. "Alright," he said, feeling like at this amount of time after he finished he would be allowed to leave and show the expression of how nervous he had been through it. He gave the girl in front of him a half-smile after taking in some deep breaths, and he said, "I think that was pretty good. Right?"

"That was," Yaoyorozu started, but she stopped and shook her head a few times. She pursed her lips and then said with a big smile, "You're going to do great tomorrow. I still think it's amazing that you're doing this idea." Zach scratched the back of his head and smiled more at her support. "My paper really cannot compare," she continued. "Just the uses for Creation for the betterment of society isn't-"

"I think yours is amazing too!" Zach said, stepping towards the chair and shaking his head. Yaoyorozu looked back up after lowering her gaze for a second, and Zach added, "I just hope the order isn't random and I wind up going right after you. That has me more nervous than anything," he said. "I know yours is the one presentation that I don't want to follow."

Yaoyozoru shook her head at him as she stood up from the chair. She gained a small smile at what he was saying, but she said after standing, "You really have no idea, how great that was. I am sure everyone is going to love it."

"I don't know," Zach started. "It's a little controversial. Don't you think-"

"Whether they agree with you or not, it's impossible not to see how much work you've put into this," Yaoyorozu reached a hand forward and grabbed Zach's left that he was holding in front of him a bit hesitantly after scratching his head, almost like he wanted to do it again anxiously. His eyes opened wide, and she just smiled at his surprised look and finished, "If you say it tomorrow, just like you did right there, I'm sure you're going to blow them away. Some of the people you think might be really against it too, are some of the same ones whose minds you might change. Just like you changed mine, ever since you started working on this."

Zach lost his surprised look and started smiling a lot more confidently as she told him that. I can do this. He held her hand back and lowered them down, and he looked into Momo's eyes and said, "I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for working with me on this, since the start."

Momo's eyes widened a bit, then she turned her head and pursed her lips for a second. This was the last day before the presentations, and after they were finished there would no longer be the reason for the frequent meetings and hang-outs. She turned her head back, but Zach's hand left hers after his thanks and he lowered his arms back down to his sides still looking confident. "I just hope I don't have to go first tomorrow. Not first, and not behind you. Two things," he said, shaking his head and laughing. He walked around Momo's side and felt like face-palming as he went to his desk and picked up his papers that he had not held while giving his report, going solely from memory.

As he picked up the papers, he thought about the look on Momo's face a second ago. She was holding something back. I can't. I want to say something myself- but, but I can't! Don't! Zach turned his head and looked at Momo who shook her own head around before turning to Zach and saying how she was going to make sure she was well rested for tomorrow. Zach's smile almost faltered but he just said that was a good idea and that he would do the same, and he watched her leave before dropping backwards onto his bed and throwing his arms out to the sides. Damn it, he thought. What are you thinking? He added to himself after getting such a disappointed expression on his face. Have you forgotten? Of course not. I just, I just wish I could though. But I know what they'll do. As it is we're already too close. This is the end though. No more reason for her to come to my room most afternoons. Some of those times, we only worked on the paper for a little while. I don't want to lose those talks… "ZACH! HELP ME!"

Zach closed his eyes and brought his outstretched arms up and over his face. He rested them over his entire face and let out a gasp into them as he held them there. Some things, I never even thought about. Things I could never have, but I never really thought I wanted. I can't think about them. I can't start, wanting a life like that. Not now. I made my choices. Getting any closer than this, will only lead to pain. For her. For me. Mainly for her though. Don't ever forget that. Don't make, the same mistake again.

---

A/N Hope you enjoyed. Almost forgot to post one today. Had a final, and a final presentation yesterday, and a final tomorrow morning in Japanese. Actually this morning, since I'm finishing this edit at around 3 in the morning, and I should really drink another Red Bull and get to studying already! Anyway, a long chapter this time, leave a review telling me what you think! Lots of scenes in this, and the chapter is itself a couple months of a time skip as we enter into April and the end of the semester. Thanks for reading! One review response today, like to hear some more feedback from you guys!

D-Koy24 chapter 46 . Jul 24

Now about the Chapter... I think it was good, I can't remember the last time I took time to review a chapter instead of posting unnecessary comments. The dilemma Jirou is going through is not an easy one, for the longer she waits the worse it becomes for her because I see that he might start believing she's the spy of how she'll be acting around him.
~D-Koy, oh I forgot... (Whispers 'ZachxMomo forever') who said that? That person is a genius (Scratches cheek)

Sooo, not gonna post everything here... Lol I actually didn't know what tune you were trying to make, and giving me the song title didn't help since I'd never heard of it before. You're having a great time there in the comment section though so that's great XD Alright admittedly, barely spent any time on the Jirou thing. Actually noticed it here that I ended the last chapter on her thoughts like it was going to be bigger, but this chapter was flying by through time and I just had to mention that the problem was resolved and there's still drama and stuff going on while he continues on with school, not like it just stops when I jump forward weeks/months. Y'all can imagine how that went. Sorry for your ZachxMomo here at the end, as close as they got... and thanks again for the reviews! Hope you enjoyed the long chapter! And thanks everyone for reading so far!