Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 88:

"Did you see Principal Nezu's announcement last night?"

"No, I wasn't watching the news…"

"I watched it this morning. It's so sad."

"It wasn't his fault. It wasn't, anyone's."

"The news programs are really going nuts though."

"I know, the Class A of U.A. High School had a League of Villains member among them. The entire time. It's pretty huge."

"He wasn't just a member," Ashido said quietly, while sitting off the side of her chair and looking next to her seat at Sero. "Kaminari planned everything out."

"We don't know that."

"Maybe he was lying about that stuff, to make himself sound more important."

"You really think so?" Tokoyami asked. He turned his head and looked towards Sato who just clenched his fists so much harder as he did not mean what he just said one bit, as much as he wanted to believe it.

"Principal Nezu's being suspended?" Uraraka whispered over her desk at Iida who nodded his head grimly while looking over his shoulder at her.

He looked back forward and then down at his hands that he held together over his seat. Iida glared down at his hands, and he lifted his right and brought it closer to his face and then farther away. He stared at it with his small blue irises, with no glasses on over his face because things had become so blurry for him whenever he wore them. Iida lowered his hand and looked ahead of him at the back of a girl's head that looked so clear too. He stared at her dark green hair, and the girl in front of him turned partially around and looked back into his eyes herself.

"Are you two, doing alright?" Ojiro asked while looking to his right and back at Tsuyu and Iida. When Ojiro looked back, his eyes also glanced over an empty seat where the darker-haired blond in the class was supposed to be sitting. He could see Kirishima a few seats over glaring towards that seat with such an angry look in his eyes while the others around him spoke in whispers. Ojiro focused on the two he had just asked a question though, as he had spotted Iida looking different and Tsuyu's expression changing a lot that morning already too.

"I do not, feel any different," Iida replied. "Other than my eyesight," he added in a softer voice as that alone was weird enough to him.

The door slid open and Midoriya walked in, and he left the door open because a few feet behind him walked another of their classmates who stepped into the room slower. Tsuyu started to respond to Ojiro with a similar response as Iida, but she turned to the door and the girl who just walked in whose body was see-through. Toru Hagakure walked in and started crossing the room towards her seat. Ojiro looked up at her and gave her a small smile, and he felt a hand brush over his that he had on top of his desk while her sleeve moved close to it.

Hagakure walked over to her seat without a word. She sat down and took off her backpack, and then a voice snapped behind her, "Sorry." She turned her head and saw Bakugo who sat on the seat behind her looking towards the windows with an annoyed look on his face. He thought about how harshly he had accosted her the day before though, when he had thought from the information the principal had told them alone that she was the spy even as she shouted that it wasn't her. He looked back through the corners of his eyes at the girl who he was pretty sure was looking at him, and he just muttered in an annoyed voice, "Shut up."

Hagakure had not said anything in response yet, but she smiled after a second as Bakugo said something she figured he would usually say to anyone. She started unpacking herself in a brighter way and she said in a voice louder than one just to respond to him, "It's alright. It's not your faults." A bunch of others in the class who Hagakure had noticed looking at her in hesitant and guilty ways when she came in got more relieved looks on their faces. A small bit of relief was really needed that morning too.

Although class was starting in only a couple of minutes, a few people were still noticeably missing from the classroom. Todoroki looked over from the back towards an empty seat near the windows. He stared at the seat and then had to look away after a second. Shoto Todoroki stared at his desk and then closed his eyes for a second. Midoriya glanced back towards him while walking to his own seat, and he lowered his own eyes down after looking towards an empty seat near the windows too.

He's not coming back from this, Todoroki thought. He opened his eyes and stared at his desk in such an angry way. In his head he heard Zach screaming on the roof about Jenny, and then he saw him dying at the Sports Festival which had made him rush away despite his own exhaustion to search as hard as he could for Recovery Girl. He thought about the first day Zach was back in January, the scars all over his body. The torture he saw at the Sports Festival. After all of that, it was Kaminari. Kami- Raijin. You destroyed… such a great hero. I wish I had told you Zach, but you've saved hundreds. Your report too. Everything you've done, all while having the hardest Quirk, the worst life, and yet I spent so much time complaining. I hated my life, the way my family… but things got better for me. And I have a powerful Quirk that I was taught to control early on. I have to step up, everything.

Midoriya sat down and looked up a couple of seats at where Zach should be sitting. Then he looked at the seat behind it that was also empty, and he imagined the sobs he heard coming from Jirou back in the basement of U.A.'s Interrogation Building. He shifted his eyes to the right farther, turning his head a bit to look at the desk behind him. Midoriya imagined Mineta and Kaminari yelling at him together about how he had been so lucky during the Hero Licensing Exams because of a perverted scene he had unintentionally become a part of. He had told them it was all a misunderstanding, but the two of them had yelled at him in alternating shouts like they were finishing each others' sentences. Mineta's seat was empty today too. So there were only seventeen students of Class 2-A sitting in their classroom when the door slid open and Mother Russia stepped inside.

A woman walked in behind her who was much shorter than Mother Russia and shorter than most of the students in the class too. She was just under five feet tall, and she had these big, soft blue eyes that she gazed around the room with in a way that made the students feel like she understood them. Her hair was long and blonde, and though she did not look beautiful, she was pretty and had a calming aura around her. "Alright you guys," Mother Russia began while stepping into the middle of the room. She motioned with her head down at the short woman who stepped in front of her and continued looking around at the class, "This is Softy, the school psychiatrist."

Most of the class's eyes opened wide at the sound of that. A few of them opened their eyes wide and also felt pain inside as they had heard that name the night before. Softy smiled softly at the class before her and she began in a quiet voice, "No one needs to say anything. And please, keep anything you might be about to say to yourselves actually." She glanced over towards Bakugo who she saw open his mouth with an annoyed look on his face. She shifted her gaze back around the students all looking at her now. "Yesterday's events were troubling, and scary, but most of all they were painful. I know, you must be feeling all kinds of things right now. Emotions, and pain, that maybe you haven't felt before?" Softy looked towards a pink girl in front of her whose eyes were opening wide at the woman's words but opened much wider as Softy looked at her like she knew Ashido was feeling that way.

"My door is open to anyone who needs to talk and work through these things. I know, they're hard things to talk about with your classmates. Your feelings. Anger, sadness, a sense of betrayal." Softy lowered her lips down into a frown that was sad for them, but still understanding. "You don't need to work these things out on your own. I can help you with them. It's completely up to you though, and only to you. Our talks would only be between us. Anyway," she took a step back and nodded once at the class who were surprised that was all she had to say and did not seem to be taking any questions. "I just wanted to come by this morning and offer you my help."

Bakugo's eyes widened. At the start there, he had thought the school had sent her in to tell them all to start going to therapy. It sounded more now though like she had just come because she wanted to help them out, and he frowned deeper though with just a grumbling look on his face. "My office is room 34-B. Knock first." She gave them her softest and most understanding smile, and she really hoped some of the students in front of her would take her up on her offer, as she could see more than a few who could use the help. "And as Mother Russia said, my name is Softy. Anything you need, come and ask."

I hope the others who aren't here get that message too, Uraraka thought while glancing to her left and towards Mineta's empty seat in a sad way. Then she looked past it and towards Zach's and Jirou's, and she lowered her eyes to the floor with a sadder look on her face again.

Mother Russia waited for Softy to leave, then she walked forward and down an aisle straight up to an empty desk. She turned around after picking it up and walked to the front of the room, then she walked over to the windows and everyone stared at her with huge eyes. They relaxed a bit in their seats as Mother Russia lowered the desk instead of throwing it through the window, but they all started staring with huge eyes again after she opened the window up only to fly out of it while carrying Kaminari's desk in her hands. She threw it, and then she flew back down and into the classroom again. "All of you," Mother Russia said while closing the window. She turned and then said in a low and serious voice, "Do the same, right now."

The metaphor was not too hard to pick up. Mother Russia marched back to the front of the room, and then she glared towards the students in the row behind the gap. A few of them opened their eyes wide, including the boy in the seat right behind where Kaminari used to sit who pushed his feet down on the floor below his chair and skid his own desk forward. The two seats behind that one were quick to skid themselves forward too, and more serious looks started spreading across the classroom.

Ashido spun her head back and forth, looking around with wide eyes at what everyone was seeming to do. "W-Wait a second," Ashido began. She spun to Mother Russia and said with her eyes wide and her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "We're not going to talk about this?!"

"About what?" Mother Russia asked in her thick, Russian accent. "If you mean the villain, Raijin," she continued, and Ashido pulled her head back with her mouth opening wide. "Then of course we must talk about him. He has after all, detailed information on every one of you. He has orchestrated, several terrorist attacks. And he killed your former homeroom teacher, as well as two others during his escape through Musutafu yesterday who were not brought back to life."

"I just meant," Ashido started in a quieter voice. "Why can't we, just… There has to be something we can do, right?" She glanced around at the others, a confused look on her face as she had been waiting for the teachers to arrive to tell them what the plan was. "We can't just let him get away-"

"He already got away, Mina-chan," Tsuyu said in a quiet voice herself. Mina turned her head to the right and looked over at her frog friend who looked as sad as she did but was trying to listen to Mother Russia's instruction. Tsuyu remembered how the day before, she had gotten close to Kaminari because she was worried about the building they were entering and if it might have been a trap. She remembered how she had been worried about him more than the others, because she thought that he could not use his Quirk well without special equipment. "There is nothing we can do," the green-haired girl added even quieter and with more regret in her voice.

"I'm glad the two of you showed up today," Mother Russia said, a mildly impressed tone in her voice as she looked towards Tsuyu and Iida. "Especially you, Asui. Fight through it all. Everything." Mother Russia's eyes narrowed and she turned straight forward again to look at the class as a whole. "But the boy you remember from this classroom. The one who sat in that seat, forget about him. Move past him. And do it fast." Her tone got darker and more serious, and she continued in a deeper and thicker Russian accent, "The villains continue to rise. Their power, their numbers, and the-"

The door of Class A slid open. Mother Russia frowned and turned her head to the side, and her eyebrows rose up at the sight of the boy standing there in the entrance. He looked at her, and then he muttered, "Sorry." Zach stepped inside and he closed the door behind him. He started across the room with dark bags under his eyes, his black hair was messier than it was wavy, and he wore a small uniform he had to go to the main office to ask for that morning. Ripping up most of my clothes was stupid, he thought, while he turned around at his desk and dropped his backpack next to it. He sat down and then faced forward towards Mother Russia who he apologized to for being late.

"Zach," Shoji started, looking to his left and back a seat to Zach. Zach looked to his right at him, and his eyes did not even shift back at Sero whose desk was in Kaminari's spot though not exactly where it had been. "You, don't have to be here," Shoji continued in a quiet voice.

Zach looked away from him and around the room at everyone else staring towards him and holding back like they wanted to tell him the same thing. He looked towards the back and saw Yaoyorozu staring at him with huge eyes, as big as Todoroki was on her side though his bottom lip had lowered too. Zach looked back at Shoji and said, "I'm fine. Something, snapped while I healed Tsuyu. Sorry about that," he said in a low, dark voice. He imagined how most of the others had last seen him, laughing and screaming like a maniac while surrounded in Death in his Nightmare form. Zach said his apology and then looked forward towards Mother Russia who he had heard speaking before he opened the door to the classroom.

"Come in on time, or don't come at all," Mother Russia said, and then she turned back straight forward and continued her speech in a loud voice. "The villains are not going to rest so you can grieve over your losses. We have fewer heroes, more villains to deal with, and the League of Villains has just added a very powerful member into their ranks for actual combat. This morning for homeroom we will go over what we believe to be the powers of the villain, Raijin." Much of Class 2-A stared at their homeroom teacher in surprise or shock, and she continued to them, "And we will also theorize what other abilities he may have…"

Class A's reputation is shot. My reputation too. People saw it was Kaminari, and of course they were going to talk about me. We were best friends. Too many times seen together. Media outlook is bad. Class's reputation was too good though, that it hasn't destroyed people's faith in us. It just cast doubt…

Yaoyorozu was one of the ones who had not turned back to Mother Russia yet. She stared over to the boy on the left side of the room near the windows who had a calm, collected look on his face. He looked alright, but he also had a similar look in his eyes as he did last night towards the end of their talk when he had told her he needed to go to bed because he was still exhausted. She remembered the look in his eyes, when she had felt the warm feeling of their embrace fade for something much colder, and darker.

Momo didn't know why, and she hated that it happened, but she shivered. A shiver ran through her and she found herself feeling nervous while looking towards Zach. She wanted to talk to him right then, but Mother Russia kept talking and she could see that most of the class had focused on her and were actually getting into the conversation they were having. Even Zach was focused intensely up on the board where Mother Russia wrote 'Electrification' with a question mark after it signaling that the Quirk could be more than that or even a composite. They did not know enough to make assured statements, but they had guesses based off what they had seen yesterday.

Homeroom went by slowly for most of the class. As much as they tried to focus on the important subjects Mother Russia brought up and on planning ahead for facing Raijin again, all of them were in certain moods. They were sick to their stomachs as they talked about Kaminari like a villain. They dreaded talks about the media as they knew they would have to answer things about Kaminari at some point. They knew the reporters would ask how they had not seen signs that he was a spy the whole time which the news programs thought all of them should have noticed. Some of them were thinking back on Softy's introduction at the start of class, and others looked towards the only two empty seats in the class now, though even more looked at a seat that was occupied but shouldn't have been.

The class ended, Mother Russia left, and everyone started talking to each other about what had been the longest class of their lives. A lot of people got out of their seats and walked over to Zach's, but Iida was the fastest and he reached next to Zach's seat so quickly that Zach's own girlfriend never got to talk to him first. Zach lifted his gaze up and looked into Iida's uncovered eyes, and he widened his own for a moment. "Is your vision perfect?" Zach wondered.

Iida had his mouth open to say something, but he paused for a moment before straightening up and nodding his head. "Yes. Thank you for that Zach-kun. And thank you," he bowed his body and finished, "for reviving me."

"Yeah," Zach said. "You got it." He glanced behind Iida and then shook his head, "It's fine. Don't."

The green-haired girl looked at Zach with bigger eyes than usual even though she had the biggest eyes in the class. Tsuyu Asui pursed her lips and frowned while lowering her gaze to the floor. "Zach-chan," she began quietly. She thought about what she had opened her eyes to. In her head she imagined opening her eyes after having felt herself die, after feeling the sharpest and most excruciating pain of her life, and then nothingness. She imagined videos she had seen of times she had witnessed Zach bring back the dead before, and she imagined him going through that pain in a stretched out period to bring her back to life. What she had seen when she first woke up after dying, it was the most horrifying thing in her entire life. She had opened her eyes and lifted her head, to see a figure engulfed in black flames laughing maniacally in a scratchy and dark voice. The fact that it was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen though, made it hurt so much more knowing that she had been a part of making Zach look like that.

"You really didn't have to come in today, man," Sero started, as he had stood up and was just next to Iida now. Zach glanced at him, and he remembered Sero knocking on his door last night. He wondered if Sero had heard much of what he had talked to Yaoyorozu about, but his expression made it look like he did not care very much. "It's okay, if you need some time-"

"You heard Mother Russia. No it isn't," Zach said. He looked into Sero's eyes darkly and continued without pause, "Villains won't stop for us. No matter how angry we are. I could sit around in my room all day doing nothing, or I could do something productive like go to this hero school I enrolled in. I know I don't have to be here, Sero." Zach said it and shook his head once with a pissed-off look in his eyes. "But I got it out of my system. I'm fine. It's time to move forward."

Yaoyorozu stepped forward more in the aisle closer to Sero. Zach's gaze shifted a bit towards her and softened for a moment, but then it got just as serious again and he turned away and to the front of the room. "It's just, another thing to get over. It's not the worst way yesterday could have gone. None of us died, so, that's a plus."

"Zach, why are you saying things like-" Sero began.

"What do you want me to say?" Zach snapped, spinning his head to the right and glaring at his friend in an angry way. Kirishima stood on the other side of the aisle behind the next row of seats, and Shoji and Hagakure looked back towards Zach. Bakugo glanced over too, and others in the room had to pretend like they were not looking over as it sounded like Zach did not want them to. He growled in an annoyed voice, "He betrayed us, I'm over it. Well, I'm angry about it actually. And it hurts, but the quicker we all get over it, the better." He darted his eyes back and forth angrily at the others near him and made most of them turn away at his glare.

Zach lowered his right hand into his pocket and he pulled out his phone. Then with an angry, and a betrayed look on his face, Zach shoved a pair of headphones in his ears and went onto the internet while awaiting their next class to start.

Yaoyorozu opened her mouth as he played on his phone without turning back to her. He did not say a word her direction even though she had come up to his seat, and now he was clearly telling everyone to leave him alone by putting his headphones in like that. She took a step back, and then she turned and started back towards her own desk. Momo lowered her gaze to the floor, What am I supposed to tell him? When we're alone, I can… but, but he doesn't seem like he wants to talk even then. Did he really, get over it in one night? Or, she glanced back over her shoulder towards the boy who looked so angry. He sounds, so furious. He sounds like he's trying to hide how angry he really is, bury that anger and betrayal… But, anyone could see that. So, what are you really thinking?

Hagakure leaned over Ashido's seat and whispered in a quiet voice, "My parents really want me to quit. But I'm seventeen now, and I told 'em that I'm in it for the long run. I'm surprised no one's left though-"

"I'm sorry too Toru," Ashido whispered, cutting off her friend who leaned back for a second. Ashido tried to keep listening without saying anything, but she thought about the way she had turned to Hagakure after hearing that the villains had been signaled from her phone. She said 'too' because she had heard Bakugo's apology earlier and had wanted to add it in herself then but told herself that Bakugo's was all-encompassing. Ashido let out a small breath of relief as her invisible friend told her not to worry about it, and then Ashido added in a soft voice, "Yeah, my parents were being… Wait a second, you're seventeen… oh my God!"

"Don't," Hagakure said in a low whisper, while Ojiro darted his eyes over with a nervous look. Hagakure leaned in towards Ashido and whispered into her ear, "Not today, okay? It's not important. And, if everyone remembers it's my birthday, they'll always remember it as the day after Kaminari betrayed us…" she said the last part slower, in a pained voice that made Ashido wince herself. Ashido jumped up and put her arms around Hagakure's back to pull her into a hug, because she realized that Hagakure would be thinking about that next year too, as well as many birthdays to come as she associated those two things with each other.

Their next class started up with Cementoss coming in. He did not focus on literature though, but instead started telling them about what their day was going to look like after lunch. The police were going to show up to question the students individually about Denki Kaminari, as they already had with his family and anyone else who knew him. Cementoss explained how they would be moving forward from then on, and how Kaminari had been put on the country's most wanted list up with Shigaraki, Kurogiri, All For One, and Stain.

All Might came in afterwards. He apologized to the class that Kaminari had done everything just to get to him, though the students countered him that Raijin had more than one goal. The day was grim, and lunch was hard. They all went to the cafeteria, and it was like the room fell silent when they entered. Their expressions were dark and depressed. Monoma did not stand up and go ask how the great Class A did not see this coming, as he himself had his head bowed to the table and was lost in thought over the blond he had talked to many times before. There was a member of Class B missing from the cafeteria that day, and Monoma glanced towards the empty spot where Kuroiro should have been sitting. He thought about when they heard about Kaminari's betrayal, the look that had covered Kuroiro's face different from the rest of theirs.

Zach got his lunch from Lunch Rush and immediately left the cafeteria. He left, and by the time Yaoyorozu ran out into the hall to try and find him and talk through lunch, he was gone. She looked around for a few minutes but could not find him anywhere and wound up going back to the cafeteria by herself. She figured she could talk to him more later, but after lunch Zach walked into the class right at the end with Ectoplasm and there was no time to talk to him before they started their lessons, as well as sending out students one at a time to speak with the cops. Yaoyorozu looked towards Zach while they had their afternoon classes and felt so frustrated that she had been unable to speak with him all day. She pulled out her phone while Ectoplasm was turned towards the board, and she went into her texts and sent one to him. Then she sent another to check in on her best friend who had not come to class today and had told her she wouldn't be coming when they talked that morning.

Zach felt a buzz in his pocket and he pulled out his phone with a cracked screen. He looked at the message and then put the device back in his pocket without turning around, making Yaoyorozu frown as she saw him check it only to look at their teacher again. She looked to the side of his face and could see an amount of anger on it that made her lose the frustrated look on hers at his failure to respond or even look at her after reading her message. What are you thinking about, Zach?

…is bright purple. The organizations outside of the League are growing bigger. Anonymous on the message boards. Send from outside the school on different I.P. addresses. How to get out of school? Ultimatum.

"Then I'm dropping out of U.A.," Zach said. He stared at the woman in the main office who just denied his request to leave campus, and the woman's eyes opened huge at the boy in front of her.

Midnight turned her head from the seat she was sitting at behind her computer and got up with wide eyes too. "Sazaki," she began. "Hold on a second."

"I mean it," Zach said. He turned towards Midnight and his eyes were narrowed, his eyebrows pushed down over them and his head leaned forward a bit so the lights on the ceiling were at an angle to cast shadows over his eyes. "I'll leave right now."

"Sh-Should we get the replacement principal?" The woman in front of Zach began while looking towards Midnight.

"The temporary principal," Midnight corrected, and she felt pain again thinking of the press conference she had been at with Nezu late two nights before. She looked back at Zach, then she continued, "Yes though. Call him down here."

The receptionist nodded and went over to her desk to call the principal's extension, and Zach nodded at Midnight before looking down at the floor. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it, while Midnight glanced the boy over once at his strange attire. He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, though there were rips in both sleeves, just like his blue shorts had a tear in the side of them. She wanted to ask about them, but she decided to hold off on that for a moment. "Sazaki. To leave campus, you must have a valid reason. Going on a run. Well, you can do that here-"

"No I can't," Zach said. He lowered his phone back down and slid it in his pocket again. He looked to Midnight to continue, but then he stopped himself. Wait until the new principal is here. I've seen him. Zach paused and just stared into Midnight's eyes darkly for a few seconds, then he continued in a louder and more frustrated voice, "I don't trust anyone on this campus. I'm not going to just run around here where anyone could be watching me and-"

Zach turned his head to the man who had entered the room but he never shifted his eyes over to so that it looked like he just noticed his entry. He glared into the replacement principal's eyes that the school's board put in place after the principal's self-suggested suspension. Mr. Ono opened his eyes wide as the kid glared into them, "And you can't force me to stay here against my will. You've already proven it's no safer here than being off campus. And while I'm here I have to spend every second feeling like someone's watching me-"

"Mr. Sazaki," the replacement principal began in surprise, though he lifted his palms up to try and get the boy to calm down. The man had a light covering of thin hair over his head so he looked to be balding, he was chubby, and his skin was fair-skinned and almost pale. He wore a professional suit and was a few inches taller than Zach, and he tried to give the angry boy a smile despite a bead of sweat on his face as he said, "The spy was uncovered. You do not have to feel-"

"A spy was uncovered," Zach snarled. He glared into the man's eyes and the chubby principal opened his own wider at what the kid was suggesting. Midnight stared down at Zach with wider eyes too, while the boy continued in a dark voice, "But if this school was incompetent enough to allow one spy in, then why not more? It's clear, that U.A. can not protect me. How many times have we been attacked on this campus now? And you want to force me to stay here while I go on a run? It's not like I'm going to run away, when Kaminari stole my fucking motorcycle to escape from here. And if on my run I decide to go to the library, or go buy new clothes, then I'll do that too. I'm no longer comfortable with you all knowing where I am at all times, so let me go on runs off campus, or I'm fucking gone-" Zach froze and he clenched his teeth hard, then he hissed out, "Sorry, for cursing, Principal Ono."

"You are giving me an ultimatum?" The principal asked, his tone getting a bit harsher while his surprised look went down.

He started frowning at the boy, but Zach's eyes stayed cold and the sixteen year old said in a low voice, "No. An ultimatum means you don't have a choice. Say no, and I'll leave. Is me leaving really such a bad thing, that you have to think of it that way?" Zach's eyes got a more tired look in them, and the principal trying to be stern with him lifted his head up while looking down with wider eyes into the kid's. "I always go on runs, but I can't do it here anymore. I can't, spend my days on this campus. You all set up this dorm system to make us safer, but I've had a League of Villains member- leader, living with me for months. How the hell- he was in my room. He's in my head. I need to change up everything."

Midnight pursed her lips as she stared at the boy in front of her. She wanted to say something about how they could not do this, but she thought about the way Kaminari had talked to him during his betrayal. She imagined the things Kaminari bragged about putting him through. His whole life. The person he is right now. They were all shaped by… It has only been a couple of days. How are you handling this so- Midnight stared at the scar under Zach's right eye, his split left ear, a scar on his left hand and up his left arm through rips in his sleeve.

"I understand," the new principal said in a quiet voice after a few seconds of mulling it over. "U.A. cannot lose any more of its bright students, especially one who has so much potential." Zach's eyes widened while looking at the man who did not know him at all. The replacement principal gave Zach a small, understanding smile though. "It is alright. You have permission to leave campus for runs. However, you still must check in and out at this office, and you cannot be out too late."

"How late is too late?"

"Nine o'clock," Principal Ono replied as fast as Zach asked the question. Zach paused, then he nodded back at the man and bowed his head to say a quick thanks. "And watch your mouth young man. I will not be lenient with you if you use that kind of language again."

Zach nodded at the principal and the man sweatdropped as he expected some kind of flustered expression, or a half-smile, or an apology. Zach just nodded and then waited to get a permission form the receptionist wrote out before he turned to leave the office. He pulled his phone back out and went online, and he scrolled through a website he had to look back up as he did not leave it open on any tabs. Zach slid his phone back into his pocket and started jogging before even leaving the building.

"Hey Zach," Kirishima looked towards the door of the dorm that opened up with his dark-haired friend stepping in. Kirishima glanced towards the clock in the common room and then back to his classmate who stopped after entering and glanced his way while taking his shoes off. "Where've you been? Saw you heading out right after class ended-" Kirishima froze with his mouth open as Zach's eyes narrowed at him in a discerning way. "Not that, I was watching you or… But really, you been out this whole time?" Kirishima realized he was trying to defend himself for a second without knowing why he was doing it, and he got back to his question.

It's just past nine. Got to the main office in time. It's dark outside. Anyone would be suspicious. No, not suspicious. He's my friend, so he just wants to know. Zach looked into Kirishima's red irises and replied, "Running." Zach turned and headed for the stairs to his room.

Kirishima opened his mouth to ask something else, but he stopped and lowered the arm he rose at Zach's back. He clenched his right hand into a fist and frowned as he looked after his friend in such a frustrated way. He glanced back at the others on the couch, but both Tsuyu and Sato just looked sad instead of annoyed. Kirishima sat back down and glared towards the television. "He hasn't spoken two words to…" Kirishima muttered. "We're all angry-"

"Dude," Sato started. Kirishima turned towards him in frustration as Sato seemed to be telling him to stop, but Sato kept frowning and shook his head at him. "It's not the same. Leave it alone."

"That's not going to help him-" Kirishima began.

"Kirishima-chan," Tsuyu cut in to stop him from continuing that statement though. He looked towards her and Tsuyu said with such sad eyes, "Kaminari killed, the people he loved." She pursed her own lips, thinking about how mad and betrayed she felt by Kaminari. Aizawa sensei, she thought, imagining the man who had saved her from Shigaraki Tomura at USJ. She could feel the pain Kaminari had put her through with his electrification, and yet she still felt that pain get worse as she imagined the recent times she had seen Zach's face. "Give him some time. Zach-chan, trusted Kaminari more than any of us. "Gero. Please?"

Kirishima ground his sharp teeth but then nodded once at her and looked back towards the tv. He stared at a picture of Denki Kaminari that was put up on the news, and they started listening to the anchors talking about the biggest news story in months. Kaminari's family was on blast for raising him wrong, and a video from earlier showed the Kaminaris getting accosted by people on the street as their pictures had been plastered all over the news recently too.

"It's not their fault," Sato started in a low voice.

"It's no one's," Kirishima muttered just as low. His eyes got darker and he clenched his fists on his knees. "Kaminari's just- Raijin, did everything on his own."

A criminal mastermind. A genius. And his Quirk, Tsuyu shivered and looked away from the smiling U.A. class photo of Kaminari that filled her with fear. How can we stop him?

Upstairs on the fifth floor, Yaoyorozu lifted up her phone while sitting at her desk and staring down at notes with no real focus. She was trying to distract herself with schoolwork, but the text she saw on her phone made her eyes open huge. She jumped up so fast she had to catch her chair before it fell to the floor. Yaoyorozu put on some different clothes and then threw on a sweater as well since it was nighttime and might be cold outside.

Momo Yaoyorozu ran out of her room and down the hall to Zach's room. She turned and sprinted down that hallway to the end and she opened up the door closest to the stairwell, opening into a narrower staircase up to the roof. Yaoyorozu rushed up to the roof and she opened the door to see Zach standing up there, but not on the edge. She let out a breath of relief as he turned around and faced her, then she held that breath in as she hoped he did not see what she was worried about.

"Are you okay Zach?" She asked, and she smiled at the boy who looked at her with a frown but not a severely depressed look.

He started to nod at her, then he stopped and grit his teeth for a second. "No," he said. "Momo," Zach continued, and he lifted his left hand for her to stop before she could say anything else. "I, I want to trust you," he said. He said it but sounded held-back, and he lowered his arm down to his side while looking towards her and right in her eyes. There were enough lights on campus outside that she could see his eyes and he could see hers. Zach had on a dark hoodie and a pair of black sweatpants, but his hood was bunched up behind his neck and his black hair was messed up and wavy around his head.

"You can," Momo whispered back towards him.

"I, think I believe that," Zach said. His voice got strained though and he continued, "But, that doesn't mean I can… Even if I believe- I can't just…" Zach trailed off and he rose his left hand up to his head and ran it through his hair. He scratched it over and over, then he lowered it down and looked into her eyes regretfully but in a decided way. "Momo, I can't right now. I can't, do this." She looked at him confusedly but with her heart speeding up at the way he just worded that strange sentence.

"What, do you mean?" She asked softly.

"Going, out with you," Zach said. He seemed to struggle to get it out, then he pulled his head back at the look on her face. "I'm sorry. But I, I'm paranoid. And I don't trust you, or anyone. I can't-"

"Let me help you through it," Yaoyorozu said. She looked at him closely and took a step towards him. "Please. I want, to help you through it. You can't do it alone."

Zach paused and had such a hesitant look on his face, but then he started nodding slowly at her. "You're right. And you, as the person I trust- most, probably… Thank you. But, I can't do a relationship right now. I can't be what that entails-"

"I'm fine," Momo started, but she stopped herself and pursed her lips for a second. She shook her head and then continued, "Just being your friend?" Her eyes were scared, and wide, and then they got even wider as Zach gave her a half smile and started nodding at her. The offer had sounded so strained and weird when she said it, and his acceptance confused her. Yaoyorozu stared at Zach with wide eyes and her breath speeding up. Wh-What? I don't get this. I thought, he was trying to distance himself, maybe to protect me? But if he's not going to distance, if he still wants to be friends? Why break up? Does he really not trust me? But he says he does! "Are, you sure?" She asked him softly.

"Yes," Zach replied, and he started walking towards her. He walked her way but also a few feet to her left side. He walked up to her and then past her, "Thanks, Momo."

She turned her head and watched as he walked past and to the door at the top of the stairwell. He entered and started down back into the building, leaving her behind on the roof with a confused, and sad expression on her face. "Momo." He, he called me by my name. So why, did it hurt? Why did hearing that, for the first time make me feel, afraid?

Zach's eyes narrowed once he was halfway down the stairs from the roof. They were cold, matching his expression and demeanor as he continued to walk down the steps. Kaminari. Dabi. Kurogiri. Shigaraki. All For One. Stain. Toga. Shooter. Diamondfist. He knows it was me now, because Kaminari knew it was me. Come after me mother fuckers. I'll kill you all.

A/N And I'm here again. Thanks for reading. So I want to write some stuff here about the decisions made in recent chapters, mainly about Kaminari's betrayal. So, when I started Death a couple months back I had not read the manga yet, and I thought the manga would already have information on who the spy was. When I finally looked it up because I wanted to do stuff with it, I saw some theories and the Kaminari one really stuck with me. Admittedly I do not remember how long back it was when I first started writing in hints about Kaminari being spy, though not really hints but just that I had decided it would be him. Probably at least halfway through the story back, and it just worked out really well with a lot of other stuff that had already happened. Anyway, sorry about the end of this chapter... don't kill me.