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!

159. Chapter 159

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 159:

"Hey, come in," Zach welcomed his guests into his apartment. He stepped aside and looked around outside his front door, checking clearly the rooftops around his building. As he looked around, Mineta started to mention how they didn't see anyone following them, but Zach was more focused on the apartment two to his left where the door opened and a man and woman stepped out. They looked his way, and Kirishima and Sero both looked over with Zach just behind them. The couple gawked at the Class A students, and Sero turned back to Zach with an apologetic look on his face.

"It's fine," Zach said, shaking his head at Sero and then giving a wave at his neighbors who he was pretty sure by their expressions had no idea he lived there. It did not take very long for those two to put together why Zach Sazaki would be there, as everyone knew he lived somewhere in Yutapu though the exact location was unknown. Zach put up a finger to his lips with a hopeful look at those two who opened their eyes wider in surprise at what he was asking them for. The couple looked at each other, then the woman turned back to Zach and pulled her thumb and index finger along her lips in a zipping motion like her lips were sealed… except when she did it her mouth actually turned into a zipper and closed up. Zach smiled and laughed at the action and then gave the two a grateful look before turning back and stepping into his apartment, closing the door behind him.

Shit. Well, they won't be able to keep their mouths shut. Hopefully they don't spread around my exact address, but they'll tell their friends and they'll… people already know I live here. Heroes do, and someone must be corrupt and could have figured it out, sold it to villains for a ton already. It's not that big a deal, Zach looked at Kirishima who still stood next to his front door just inside it, glancing towards his washing machine and dryer but more specifically at the wall towards those two people they just saw. "Shouldn't you say something to them?" Kirishima asked, looking back at Zach with a frown even though his question sounded like he was at least worried something might happen to Zach if he didn't.

Zach shrugged his left shoulder and just gave Kirishima a small smile, "Not much I can say. I'm surprised it's been this long without me running into my neighbors." Though I usually am pretty careful to avoid them. It's just been luck that the people who have come over before weren't spotted. "I'm sure it'll be fine-"

"Hey, you painted the place!" Mineta spun back to Zach after calling it out, and Zach turned to his shorter classmate who had just looked around the apartment after coming in.

"I guess it's, better than before," Ojiro mentioned, though he said it slowly as he did not have much taste in the matter and could not really tell the difference.

Sero looked down ahead of his feet as he was taking his shoes off on the wood part of the floor, and he laughed while glancing back up at different shades of the light blue on the wall where the paint was thinner. "Looks like you messed up a bit while painting though."

Kirishima looked down at the carpet too, and he noticed the paint stains and and splotches that seemed odd. He glanced up at the shoddy paint job too, then he turned to Zach who was still standing on his side and said, "I saw Ashido with the same blue paint on her shirt when she came back from here." Zach turned to the redhead who he thought was just making idle conversation which felt a little awkward, but more awkward was that somehow he looked accusatory with that question. "But when I asked her she just started laughing about it and wouldn't say what happened."

Zach lifted his eyebrows. "'What happened…'" he repeated slowly, and he cracked a smile that spread over his face. Zach laughed and he started back forward into his apartment, shaking his head like it was nothing and just laughing a couple more times that got his classmates looking at him oddly and in confusion. Kirishima got an annoyed look on his face, but Sero laughed after a second at the apparent inside-joke between the two that neither of them said anything about.

"Thought you were inviting some Shiketsu people over?" Mineta mentioned, walking up to Zach's kitchen counter and pushing his hands down on it to prop his head over on his tip-toes. He leaned himself more over so his feet left the ground and looked to the other side on the lower part of the counter next to Zach's sink where there was a bowl with a bag of potato chips next to it, a box that had some steam coming out and smelled like wings, and Zach's oven was on too with two empty sliders' boxes next to the stove above. "Whoa, you went all out on the American food," Mineta said as he looked around at it all.

"Well, the fight's going on in America," Zach said as an excuse, though he thought, Plus Americans have better food for sports. This is like, the go-to meal I feel like. I remember they had it on their table that Sunday when we busted in the Crang Gang's base during a- "Oh yeah, and I did invite some Shiketsu friends of mine," Zach added, while opening up the potato chip bag and pouring them into the bowl now that some of his friends had arrived. "You guys are just early I think."

Kirishima was frowning towards Zach still just inside the entryway to his place. Ojiro, Mineta, and Sero had all been there before and were just casually walking in like the place was their own. This is weird, Kirishima thought, which made him bite down harder since it actually felt very casual and not awkward which was why it felt so weird to him. He expected some sort of conversation, more like a confrontation, because of what he said in the hospital that made Zach say he thought better of him, and made him think about that for the last few weeks every day. Does he not even care about it? He didn't even… grr.

"Well it wasn't three hours this time," Sero said while tossing his jacket over the recliner he dropped himself on the armrest of. "Figured out the route by now, and made it in under two and a half."

If it had taken three they probably would've gotten here after the others. I don't even know if they're all coming together. Kotsumura just texted me they're on their way, but he didn't specify who 'they' were.

There was a knock on Zach's door, and Zach turned that way in some surprise as Kotsumura's text was not long before and he doubted Keiji was there already. "Hey Kirishima," Zach said, nodding at the spiky redhead who glanced back before giving a single nod and going to open the door.

Kirishima opened the door, and he stared out with a surprised look at a green-haired teen who looked back in with similar surprise. The surprise disappeared though and the two started glaring at each other, with Dendo's lips curling into a smirk despite his glare. "Dendo," Zach called over to the door. "You came…"

"Dendo?" Mineta had gone to the couch and just dropped on it before the knock came, and he stared over in surprise at the large boy who looked past Kirishima and frowned darkly at the short boy who smirked back at him like Dendo first smirked at Kirishima.

"You guys all know each other already, right?" Zach asked, looking to his side at Sero after seeing the others' looks. "What's up with them?" He asked in a quieter voice.

Sero grinned and chuckled as he turned to his friend who didn't know what those three were acting like that for. Ojiro had a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his face as he looked their way too, while Sero had just been grinning like an idiot through it all. Sero said to Zach in a voice loud enough for the whole apartment to hear, "At the joint training we had last year at U.A., Kirishima and Dendo over there got in a one-on-one. Dendo wiped the floor with him," Kirishima started frowning more, feeling like this whole thing was a bad idea now, though he did grin after Sero finished, "But at the end of it, Mineta stuck him with like a hundred Pop-Offs."

"He caught me off guard," Dendo growled into the room that he was now considering not going into.

"Thanks to Kirishima's great distraction," Mineta said, giving a thumbs up over the couch to try and ease both Kirishima and Dendo's more angry looks that he was no longer smirking at. The idea that Kirishima had been the one to really defeat Dendo made both Kirishima and Dendo feel better about that last training they had.

"Well," Dendo started, still standing just outside Zach's apartment. "I think-"

"Is that Dendo?"

Dendo turned his head, and he grimaced as two of his other classmates were walking towards him. They wound up coming behind and ushering him into the open apartment they knew must be Zach's. Imino and Kameko said hi to Zach and then Zach told the three guys who just came in (since Dendo only thought about leaving when there were no other Shiketsu students there), to put their jackets down on his bed in the other room, and he motioned down the hall. His friends all left their shoes near his door on the small wooden area in front of his washing machine closet, and the U.A. teens already there grabbed their coats from wherever they left them too to go bring over to Zach's bedroom. Ojiro and Mineta took off sweatshirts they had on underneath the jackets initially too, as it was warm in Zach's apartment and after a couple minutes it was starting to get to them as they adjusted from leaving the cold air outside.

Zach stayed in the kitchen while the others were putting their things over in his room, and he smiled while calling out that he had sodas and water bottles in the fridge if anyone wanted them. Seems like everyone knows each other. Or at least they were acquainted, once. He heard Mineta asking Imino what his name was again, calling him 'Super-hearing-guy' first before admitting he forgot.

"Hey Zach, do you want some money for the food?" Ojiro asked, walking towards the kitchen as Zach was still getting some things out. The timer over the oven still had twenty minutes on it, but Zach pulled out a thing of mini-hot-dogs from his freezer he got ready to put on a plate and throw in the microwave for before the sliders were ready. "You really got a lot."

"I'm good," Zach said, waving Ojiro off as his blond former classmate was reaching for his wallet. "Really," Zach added with a grin when Ojiro seemed like he might still give him some cash anyway. "My stocks did real well this week," Zach said, glancing away from Ojiro towards the hall where Kameko just came back out of.

Kameko's shell had fully healed since his fight with Zach, and the two of them were on good terms having sat together at lunch from that day since. Kameko had listened closely to Zach when he was talking about the Arkitock app, and he grinned back at Zach which surprised his classmate for a second. "You download it?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, I thought it was a good idea after watching you make so much so quickly," Kameko said. He started to lower his smile with a sweatdrop, but then he grinned again and said, "And it was. Though, admittedly I did pick the same ones I saw you were investing in."

"Great move," Zach said, and he laughed about it before he and Kameko turned to Ojiro and explained what they were talking about to the more confused teen.

Sero came back out of the hall after tossing his jacket onto Zach's bed cluttered with them now. He looked over his shoulder, but Imino and Dendo came out of Zach's room not a second later and Sero just turned back forward.

Dendo watched as Sero walked over to Mineta and they went to grab sodas from the fridge. Imino did not seem to notice, turning to Dendo to ask if he wanted a drink as he was going to grab one too, but Dendo was focused on Sero for another second even after the question. Taping Hero: Cellophane. The way he was just looking back at us, he thought we might have been snooping in Zach's room to be there too long. I was looking around it when I put my coat down, but I did not investigate as much as I would have had it been a few weeks ago. Even if he was still planning something, the chances he'd invite all of us over and leave something incriminating out are zero.

Kirishima sat on Zach's couch and pulled out his phone. What are we even watching? This is weird. Kirishima pouted with a glance back towards Zach who was talking with Kameko about how the world economies were booming right now, and the carefree way in which Zach was talking to his current classmates made his old friend glare at him for a second before turning away when he thought Zach might have noticed. Don't even pretend like… is he really not- not what? Depressed? Manipulating- What is the reason for this- Kirishima spun towards the door of Zach's apartment.

"I got it," Zach said before his guests could say they would get the door for him. He headed around his counter, "Should be the last…" Zach opened the door and smiled as it was the last group to show up it looked like. "Hey guys," Zach moved out of the way and motioned inside.

Kotsumura headed in with Reika right behind him, then Satoshi popping in behind them and looking around with his snake eyes big and amazed at the abode. It's just a normal apartment, Zach thought at his classmate who was admiring the place too much. Sero looked over his shoulder, and he rose his eyebrows for a second at the sight of the bombshell blonde who came in. He looked around and then mentioned over at Zach as he was telling the new arrivals where they could put their shoes and coats, "It's a total Shiketsu fest in here."

"We're so outnumbered," Mineta said, quieter and as he got to the couch that he plopped onto next to Kirishima.

Zach walked over towards Sero while the other three who just came in made for his room to put their jackets. "Who else did you invite?" Zach asked.

"Just some of the guys," Sero replied like it was not many. He almost pulled it off, but Zach furled his lip and rose his right eyebrow at Sero who sighed after a moment of trying to hold the bluff. "Alright, I invited everyone except Bakugo and Todoroki, and Iida," he added at the end, thinking about how he started inviting Midoriya and saw Iida move away like he did not want to hear the invitation himself. Sero sweatdropped as he responded, but he did not know what to say as Zach just nodded in understanding.

No Koda, no Sato, no Aoyama, figured maybe some of the others might come too to at least check up on if I'm doing anything too… whatever. This'll be fine, Zach rose up his mood as he was almost getting down there for a second. "So, how've things been going with you and your girlfriend?" Zach asked, making Sero open his eyes a bit wider in surprise. They never texted about that, but Zach remembered it being mentioned the last time Sero was over. "Azure, right?"

"Things with me and Azure, haven't really been working out," Sero replied reluctantly, tilting his head to the side like it couldn't be helped.

"Might be because you're not hanging out with her on weekends," Ojiro said, a small smile on his face as Sero sweatdropped at the comment.

"Well what about Hagakure?" Sero retorted back after a moment. "You're not hanging out with her today either."

"Yeah, where is Hagakure?" Zach asked. He looked to Ojiro when he asked it, but he glanced to Sero after too and said, "And Mina? You invite either of them?"

Ojiro rolled his eyes and responded for Sero, "Sero was making it out like it was a guys' day."

"Hey, Saturday's for the boys, right?" Sero asked with a grin back at Zach who laughed at the comment he had heard sometimes while he was abroad more than he ever had in Japan. Sero had, during what he considered his best relationship with Pony, been told by her that very thing when he apologized for not hanging out with her one Saturday. Mentioning that phrase made Sero think of Pony, which then made him think of his current girlfriend in the second year who he should have been thinking of instead of a past girlfriend. If Pony's the first one on my mind though, probably not too invested in this anymore. Ahh, this is going to suck. Sero shook his head, deciding to leave figuring out how to end things with his girlfriend to a time when he was not hanging out at Zach's.

Sero had laughed when he mentioned Saturday being for the boys, but Zach turned and looked at Reika who came out of the hall and frowned at the dark-haired teen who just said that. Zach sweatdropped and then laughed as Sero noticed her look too and threw his hands up in defense. As Sero started talking to the blonde who snapped that she hoped she wasn't "imposing" in a sarcastic tone at him, Zach thought while watching Tiona, Admittedly I somehow thought of this in the same way, Sero. I didn't say to only invite the guys, but it wasn't until the other day during the run when it felt like she was 'one of the guys' that I thought to invite Tiona too.

"No Deku here?" Kotsumura said, and Zach turned to see his neighbor in the classroom had just walked up behind him. "Was looking forward to seeing him again."

"You guys meet at the last training?" Zach asked, surprised Kotsumura had not brought it up before.

"Yeah, even got in a fight for a moment." Kotsumura scratched the back of his head, and he added with a sheepish laugh, "Wasn't a long fight."

"So what's this fight?" Reika snapped, turning to Zach after standing where she was for a few seconds without anyone saying something to her.

Glad someone asked, Kirishima thought, looking over and standing up as he was ready to start watching this. "The tournament starts up…" Zach looked at his phone, and he put it away after a second with a shrug. "In a few minutes. We've got to get it set up on the tv from my laptop though, but I've already got it over there almost ready," Zach motioned towards his tv stand where his laptop was sitting on top of with a drive sticking out the side and a matching one sticking out the back of his tv.

"Why do you even care about this tournament?" Kirishima asked as Zach started over to the sitting area of his main room. He frowned as Zach glanced to him, "Any reason?" There has to be something. Was this just an excuse-

"I know one of the fighters in it," Zach said.

"Whoa, really?" Sero asked in surprise, as Zach had not told him about this and he really thought it was just for fun.

"Yeah," Zach said, picking up his laptop and opening it up. He unlocked it with his thumbprint, and he had some tabs opened already on the internet. The first screen had the 'Purchase Completed' icon for paying for the pay-per-view on it, but the screen below was just a place-holder until the live stream started. There was a countdown under the place-holder that just dropped below three minutes left. Zach flipped to the next tab and spun his laptop to the others in his main room, and he pointed down the bracket at the name at the bottom since the fighter was the second seed in the tournament. "Bobo Cambri, he's an Italian boxer."

"The fight's in Los Angeles though?" Kotsumura said, reaffirming it as he thought that's what Zach told them at school.

Reika looked closer at the bracket Zach had up and the title above it while she pulled her own phone out. Let's see, if he's going for Bobo- picking the number 2 seed right off the bat? I'm not going for Valente, picking the 1 I'll look like a little bitch. How about the 3? If no upsets, the second round he'll be up against Cambri? Alright, let's go DeCarlo. "I'm going for DeCarlo Jackson."

The guys in the room looked back at the blonde girl leaning over the back right corner of the couch with her phone up in her hands. Half of the guys then pulled out their phones since Zach turned the computer back around to get to setting up the broadcast to stream through his tv. His kitchen timer started ringing while he was finishing it up though, and Ojiro looked over from just at the end of the counter. He was standing there and watching the others all argue about who was going to win while doing quick research on this random fighting tournament none of them had heard of before today. "I'll get it," Ojiro suggested since Zach was still working on tech setup.

"Got it," Zach finished, tapping a key that made his tv turn to show the computer screen. He put his computer down next to the tv and headed towards the kitchen. "But yeah, I could use the help," he added to the blond looking hesitant as he did not know if Zach finished quicker so he could do it himself or not.

"What's in the oven?" Kotsumura asked while heading back to the counter himself.

"Sliders," Zach replied with a look to his side. "You pick someone you think's going to win?"

"Bobo," Kotsumura replied and grinned. "Figure if you're picking him, he's definitely taking it."

"I picked him 'cause he's my friend," Zach countered while looking away from Kotsumura and opening his oven. He reached in with his left hand and took out the tray that he put up on the stove without wearing a pot holder.

"Shit- oh yeah," Kotsumura shook his head after seeing Zach do that casually and almost freaking out. Ojiro was still staring with wide eyes though, before remembering something he saw in that box Zach received last time he was there. "Thought you said you could feel the arm though," Kotsumura mentioned.

"I can," Zach replied. "But it's less a pain I feel when I should be in pain, but an indicator of pain. Like my fingers are still stinging with that notifier pain signal, but it doesn't actually hurt like if I had used my right."

"What does a 'notifier pain signal' feel like if not pain?" Kotsumura asked.

"I could show you," Zach replied. "I have another fake arm around here somewhere, so all we'll need to do first is-"

"I'm good," Kotsmura crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back from the counter.

"Here," Zach said after laughing for a second. He handed the plate of mini-weenies to Kotsumura that had been sitting on the counter to cool for a minute. "Put these on the- the plate's not hot," Zach assured, since he was handing it off with his left hand and Kotsumura hesitated wondering if Zach was about to unintentionally burn him. "Coffee table," Zach finished, motioning over towards the living room.

"Ok," Kotsumura grabbed the plate and let out an audible sigh of relief that Zach rolled his eyes at before Kotsumura went back to the couch and announced the arrival of the weenies.

"Nice!" Satoshi called out, having not seen the weenies yet and jumping up at the sight of them. Reika moved in as soon as Satoshi was up, and she casually sat down and leaned back to get comfortable in the seat by the time Satoshi looked back and lowered his bottom lip covered in crumbs.

"You got some more furniture for this place since last time I was here," Mineta called over to Zach. He wondered how so many of them were sitting in that room for a moment before realizing there was a second cushiony chair and some extra seats not including the folding chairs at Zach's kitchen table he had to bring over last time.

Zach had already counted and he was going to have to bring those other two over again once everyone was sitting, but he did agree with Mineta for a second before getting interrupted by Kotsumura. "Hey! I thought you said we couldn't come over or we'd draw too much attention," he frowned at Zach for saying that before if he was letting the U.A. guys come over. "No discriminating against Shiketsu," he said in a defiant tone.

"Why would I? I am Shiketsu right now," Zach replied, and then he grinned towards his old classmates who felt even more outnumbered now. "Joint training's going to be more fun this year for sure," Zach added while turning back to the food he was prepping now that the countdown was about to end and start showing the stream from L.A.

Kirishima looked over and narrowed his eyes at Zach for what he just said. Joint training at Shiketsu in a couple weeks. If he stays in place that long, it'll be a lot different from last year's. Inasa couldn't take Midoriya and Todoroki together. This time we know all their Quirks though too. They had the advantage last time of us only knowing Inasa's, and them having thirty people while we only had nineteen. And they still lost. Zach won't… Kirishima bit down behind his lips with an intense look covering his face.

Zach will make a difference, Ojiro thought while looking at Zach's back from up close in the kitchen. He knows us, our weaknesses, our fighting styles he watched us build from the first day. It's been a while, but he knows us better than any of them who only saw us fight once. Plus, just having Zach's power on top of everything else… Save this for when it comes. Ojiro shook those thoughts from his head, and he asked Zach as his friend was getting out a plate to put those sliders onto, "What were you saying before, when those others came in," Ojiro specified as what Zach and Kameko had been talking about got interrupted by the arrival of Reika and the others. "About the stock market, and what you started saying about the world economy only going to rise? Why do you think that?"

Zach nodded as he had been cut off and figured he could finish in the minute they had before the show would start. "It's not just nations that are changing their Quirk laws," Zach began. "Some people attribute the changes to those kind of law shifts, but then others argue against it because the rise is everywhere at the same time." Zach reached over to the fridge and opened it to get himself a soda, and he continued while he did, "Even nations that aren't adapting to allow Quirk-use in more businesses are benefiting from the ones that do. New tech advancements, and cheaper manufacturing costs in countries with lax Quirk laws that make it cheaper for consumers everywhere, which allows more consumers to use their excess money to invest in stock markets…"

As Zach talked some economics with Ojiro, the screen in his living room flipped from the countdown to a live recording from a huge arena in Los Angeles, California, on the west coast of the United States. The arena's seats were full of people and the place was getting more crowded still, but the Japanese announcer for the stream called out from their box near the edge of the room looking down at the ring, "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Diamond Gloves Invitational! This Friday night we have quite a lineup of…"

"Hey guys," Sero said over to his right, looking from behind the couch where he was standing. "It's starting."

"Turn it up," Kotsumura said. "Wait, who's got the remote? Reika?"

"It's loud enough," Reika said, holding the remote on her lap and smirking as she took control of the volume, and thereby the tv.

"Damn, you got a lot of food," Satoshi said while looking over and seeing Zach and Ojiro walking in with bowls of chips and plates of burgers and wings.

"Didn't know how many people would be coming," Zach said, and he put his bowl and plate down on the coffee table before heading back to grab a chair from his kitchen.

"Oh hey, you can sit here," Mineta started from the recliner. Be impressed- out the corner of his eye he saw Reika was intently watching the tv as the announcer was going over what the fights would be. Oh, Mineta thought disappointedly.

"I'm fine," Zach told the short boy who he figured was not offering up the seat for any wholesome reason anyway. Zach grabbed two folding chairs from his kitchen, and he tossed one to Ojiro who rose his hands with quick reflexes and caught it right as he started heading over to grab it himself. He looked at Zach with a sweatdrop rolling down his face as that was unnecessarily dangerous, and Satoshi had pulled away far to the side on the couch making Kirishima grumble at him in annoyance.

"Sorry," Satoshi said to Kirishima, at the same time Zach said it to Ojiro with less of a real apologetic look as he knew Ojiro could catch the light chair. He put his chair out in between the recliner and the couch, and he scooted it to the side to let Ojiro put his down too and make a full semi-circle, though the gap was small now and it would be tough for anyone to get out except by sliding between Kameko's chair and the couch, or by going around the far side of Mineta's in the gap near that wall.

"So Zach," Mineta started when Zach was sitting on the left of his chair. Mineta had reached forward and grabbed one of the paper plates they brought out, and he was stacking his plate up with the not-so-spicy-looking wings Zach had gotten compared to the really dark red ones Dendo and Kirishima both went for simultaneously. "How do you know this Bobo guy?" Mineta asked while leaning back into his comfy chair.

The others looked over at Zach too for a moment, though some of them looked back at the tv as apparently the stream was starting up just before the first match. There was a minute or two of the camera showing around at the American celebrities and a few foreign ones who had bought front row tickets to the boxing tournament. The first round with the top seed in it was coming up though, and after getting into the tournament a few minutes ago the teens at Zach's apartment were actually looking forward to seeing how well the favorite would do.

In Zach's living room, the chair opposite Mineta's had Kameko in it with Imino sitting on the inside armrest almost blocking that already small gap between it and the couch. Reika sat in the corner of the couch, with Kotsumura next to her and then Kirishima and finally Satoshi. Sero went around the side of the couch on Imino's side and sat on the armrest there now fully blocking the gap so the two of them would have to move their legs to allow others in. Dendo had another chair that was not a folding chair but not a comfy recliner like the others sitting just inside of the windows on Kameko's other side, the very last spot on that side one could sit while still being able to see the screen. Figured there'd be enough room, Zach thought as everyone was sitting now with Sero down and no one looked too uncomfortable.

"Bobo's a pro boxer from Italy, and I met him over there back last spring," Zach replied. He did not sound too focused on answering that question, instead leaning forward and grabbing a cheeseburger slider himself that he dug into as the Japanese announcer paused for a second so they could listen to the ring judge who started shouting out to the crowd to a huge amount of applause. Intro music for the first combatants started, and the cameras zoomed in on the boxers as they entered wearing only big coats over their shorts.

Zach felt a buzz in his pocket and he pulled his phone out to check who it was from. He looked at the screen in surprise for a second, then a small smile formed back on his face at the text he got from Midoriya. So Lemillion's got them busy this weekend. Probably not following me, since Midoriya knows I'm with the others here right now. Well, good luck, Zach responded to Midoriya's text and then put his phone away to focus more on the fight. That's good. Great. He's not just avoiding me. Not like all of them- that's not what matters here. Midoriya's going out there today to fight villains, and here I am watching tv and playing high school student. I should be out at the waste office, or find a legit internship- except it's too late to do one through the school, and Shiketsu doesn't allow private ones for its students! This is a day to relax, and to make opinions change, to make things better with Kirishima! I have the chance to do that here, and I haven't been focused on it at all. He looks like he's not even enjoying this, and it's because he still has so much he wants to talk about. I don't want him to leave though, and he won't want to stay if our talk goes… Maybe I should check the news to see if Midoriya needs help-

Zach tried to focus on the screen while his classmates old and new started arguing about the first fight. "Even the eight seed was still invited to this 'Invitational,' and since Bobo's from Italy they've got world-class boxers every one of them," Zach chimed in when Mineta said that obviously the first seed was going to win. Just focus on the boxing. There's a lot going on, but this is what you're doing today. It has its own purpose. There are things I can get done while we do this. It's a fight in itself, keeping up appearances and leading them to believe I'm… for future interactions! I'm alright. I'm dealing with stuff on my own. Zach leaned back in his chair as the announcer started calling out the boxers who were in different corners of the ring now.

"Hey Zach," Ojiro mentioned to his right while they were still waiting on the fight to start. "I haven't asked, but that thing you did going to fight the Subspace Devils," Ojiro paused and Zach nodded at his friend on his side speaking in a low voice. "How did you get to stay in school after it? You didn't actually skip that whole day, right? You left in the middle?"

Zach was just thinking about dealing with his own stuff, and what Ojiro mentioned brought another thought to the front of his mind. That call from the Prime Minister's office was easier than I thought it'd be. They want to keep it on the down-low though that they heard from my principal that I need a therapist. Nikko doesn't want it getting out if I'm unstable and he pardoned me anyway. Especially if news about what I did to Faith in prison ever came out, he'd be wrecked for knowing that beforehand. I'm assuming someone told him before he could sign the pardon? Probably.

The office let me get away with it too easily though. They shouldn't let me just get away with everything. I told them I was getting therapy, and they just believed it. Saying I'd get one "inconspicuously" so that no one would hear about it, made them thank me for my discretion. Took that as my out for not going to therapy since I can always just pretend I have a therapist no one else knows about. The school administration will hear from the PM's office that it's all settled, and I'll get away with all of it without even a punishment. Again. "Yeah, but I convinced them it was alright," Zach replied, looking back to the tv as the match was starting and he did not really have another way to respond to Ojiro's question he hesitated on for a couple seconds.

How did you do that? Ojiro wondered at Zach, though he was quiet and turned back as Kotsumura and Satoshi both got loud on either side of Kirishima going for the eight seed to pull an upset in the first round against what Dendo had said would happen. Dendo said firmly that the top seed's stats spoke for themself when they were put up earlier in comparison to his opponent's.

Mineta also had looked to his left as he heard the question Ojiro asked Zach. He kept looking at Zach oddly for another few seconds after Ojiro turned to the screen though, No one brought it up so I just pretended like it didn't happen, but are we not going to talk about that?! God I wish Zach was back in class, those Shiketsu guys aren't even treating him like, like a celebrity or anything. They're more like his classmates now than we are, Mineta's frown deepened a little, but he spun to the screen as Dendo grinned and Satoshi and Kotsumura pulled back on the couch.

"Not looking too good for your underdog there," Reika said with a smirk at Kotsumura on her right.

"I wouldn't count him out," Sero said, making Reika turn the other way and look on the armrest right next to her. Sero was sitting on the edge of it but not that far off it like he was making sure he gave her a lot of room. He glanced back at her for a second and then grinned past at Kotsumura and added, "Our guy's got this."

Kirishima looked to his left towards Sero, then he frowned and shifted his gaze past Dendo to the tv. If Dendo had not already picked the one seed he would have argued with Sero right there, as it looked like the top seed in the tournament was kicking butt.

He's going to get gassed if he keeps up that pace, Zach thought while watching the "best" fighter in the tourney. He has the most knock-outs of any of them, most wins too, but the second lowest wins by points. Still a lot, but it shows Valente's not in it for the long-run, unlike Sanchez. And something about Sanchez not seen in those stats, is that despite his losses, he's never been knocked out in the ring. Zach leaned in and looked closer at the match as Valente got in another strong right hook that slammed Sanchez and made the Hispanic man throw his guard higher while backing up faster. Always a first for everything though, and Sanchez hasn't fought Valente before.

"Sanchez has to have a Quirk like yours to let him take all those hits," Kotsumura said to the redhead next to him who glanced his way and then to the tv with a grunt-hum.

"Nope," Reika said while sitting forward on Kotsumura's other side. He looked her way and saw Reika staring closely in at the screen with a smirk on her face. She did not turn Kotsumura's way, but she said, "When I looked it up, none of them had Quirks that would help them in this tourney."

"Would be pretty unfair-" Satoshi started, only to go "Ohh!" as Valente nailed Sanchez in the side of the head and knocked him down.

Ojiro glanced to his left side at Satoshi when the other boy let out that yell. He looked back to the tv himself afterwards while the announcer was calling out about the knockdown too, the crowd was going wild, and some of the others in the room like Satoshi were grinning or calling out at the screen after the last blow. Fighting like this is… It's a different culture. Old fighting styles in Japan people still just fought mainly for points. This kind of fighting going for the most damage, stay down. Ojiro grimaced as the man who had been getting beaten throughout the first round was getting back to his feet again.

"There we go, come on," Sero smacked down on his knees a couple times. He saw Dendo turn to him and Sero looked back with a competitive smirk as Dendo had loudly picked Valente before the fight. "It's not over yet!" Sero called out, spinning back to the screen as a ding signaled the fight continuing.

Knock knock, Zach looked over to his door, and he got up from his seat that he slid to the side a bit to get behind the couch easier.

"Who else is coming?" Kotsumura asked, looking back at Zach and then next to him past Reika at Sero. Sero shook his head though, since he doubted it was anyone from U.A.. Reika snapped at the screen between them making the two look back towards it where Valente was slamming a flurry of punches into Sanchez' guard, turning his brown skid more red by the second.

Zach looked through the peephole of his door. Uh, well shit, Zach opened the door and greeted the man standing outside his room. The chubby, five foot one man standing outside Zach's room leaned his head to the side and looked around Zach into his living room where there were quite a lot of people gathered. Most of them looked over too when they saw it was not another of their friends showing up late, but an older man for some reason. "Hey, Norita-san," Zach greeted.

"What's going on?" Norita wondered at the sight of so many young heroes he recognized at his apartment complex.

"Zach, who is that?" Sero asked, looking over at the door and the strange man outside he did not recognize.

"Norita-san's my landlord," Zach said, darting Sero a look that got him dropping his smile. He thought about how he just shouted at Dendo about the match being far from over, and he slouched with a bead of sweat rolling down his face as he wondered if this was his fault. Zach turned back to the landlord standing in his entrance in warmer clothes than the students inside who were starting to feel a breeze from out there. "Sorry, Norita-san, were we being too loud?"

"Oh no, not at all," Norita said with a wave of his hands in front of him. "I just had to explain to some of the other residents though about you living here though," he mentioned, and Zach nodded as he thought about seeing the neighbors when he let some of his friends in. "And I thought I would see what was going on, but it seems I've just interrupted a get-together-"

"Would you like to come in? I've got food," Zach offered.

Mineta sweatdropped and glanced towards the door with some apprehension on his face. Are we really going to hang out with that old dude?

"I'm quite alright," Norita said with a laugh, though he lowered his arms he had risen defensively at first and just smiled gratefully at his tenant. "Well, I just wanted to check up on what was going on. Anyway," he made like he was going to leave, but he hesitated and mentioned a little louder back into the apartment, "And if you all could keep it down just a little, I would appreciate it. Not that I don't already appreciate all of you, you know," he added at the end with a laugh that got the other teens who looked his way to smile too.

Reika just rose up a thumb above her head without taking her eyes off the tv, making Kotsumura sweatdrop next to her as she did not even look back at the man. He spoke to the guy though, "You've got it." He spoke-whispered his assurance and gave an 'a-okay' hand signal to the man.

Ding ding

The first round ended while Zach was up, and he rubbernecked to look over while still standing in his doorway. Sanchez ended the round on his feet, and he lowered his gloves from in front of his face with an intense expression covering it that Zach looked at closely while Valente walked away from his opponent in a cocky way. "Well then," Norita gave Zach a wave as he turned to head off, and Zach looked back and apologized to his landlord once again since Norita mentioning the noise at the end made him think the initial denial was actually just to be polite.

"He didn't even want one burger?" Kotsumura asked as Zach started back to his seat. He had just reached forward and lifted his new slider up when he said it. "By the way, you get these from Marutowaru?" Zach nodded over at Kotsumura who grinned back, "Knew it." A few others looked to him and he said, "I cooked some of these exact sliders up a couple days ago right when I got home from school-"

"Alright Valente's got this in the bag," Reika said, making Kotsumura cut off and look the other way to the blonde girl who turned the conversation back on boxing. "He's going to be the one facing DeCarlo in the championship bout."

"You already calling DeCarlo beating my boy Bobo?" Zach asked over, leaning forward in his seat he just dropped back in. He looked at Reika with an accusatory look and a strange expression on his face a couple of the others around him noticed.

Reika thought it was just a trash-talking look back to her though that did not seem all that weird. She opened her mouth to counter that Jackson definitely was going to beat Cambri in the second round, if Zach's guy even made it past round 1, but Ojiro asked his friend sitting right next to him first, "Who do you think has this fight, Zach?"

"Huhh?" Satoshi looked over the armrest at the blond on his right side whose tail stuck through the gap of the folding chair's back and the seat. "Valente's crushing him-"

"I'd bet on Sanchez," Zach replied while Satoshi was speaking. The snake-eyed boy spun to Zach with his vertical gold slits of irises narrowing even more as he checked to see if Zach was just messing with him and wanted him to go back on his own assurance here. "Didn't you want Sanchez to win?" Zach asked.

"Well yeah," Satoshi started. "But, that doesn't mean he will."

"You're full of it Zach," Reika said. She shook her head and did not even look towards the black-haired boy who turned her way when she said that. If he's serious then he hasn't been watching. While he was up at the door, alright Valente didn't get any more big hits in, but Sanchez didn't land shit!

"Not basing it off their stats or anything, and just based on the fight as we've seen so far," Zach said over to her. He noticed all the others in the area looked towards him, and Reika even lifted the remote and muted the screen for a second to hear Zach's analysis instead of the announcer's. "I think Sanchez can do it. From what I've seen, Sanchez has barely thrown any punches and doesn't look all that fazed from Valente's hits besides the one that knocked him. Sanchez's durability is high, and he's saving strength for when Valente gets winded-"

"Even if that's his plan," Dendo cut in before anyone else could speak, his voice coming out loud right as Zach seemed to be finished with his prediction. "No way Valente gets gassed in one fight. The tournament's three fights long if he keeps winning, so even what he's been going at is probably half-pace."

"Maybe," Zach admitted. "But it'll still tire him out a little, compared to Sanchez. And even if Valente only goes down a little in stamina, if Sanchez starts up at full right when Valente's getting slower-"

"Alright Sanchez!" Kotsumura called out, believing in his pick once again after losing hope there when Sanchez got knocked halfway through round 1.

A bunch of the others frowned over at Kotsumura when he called out like that though. He remembered how the landlord had just come to check on them too and slouched back into the couch. "Idiot," Reika said, and then she un-muted the tv before he could respond. The fighters were moving away from their corners and Reika had it back on right at the start of the round.

Kirishima glanced over to Zach and saw him refocused in on the fight like most of the others around them. Is he actually into this? What is he doing all this for? I thought it might be, his way of trying to gather together the people he still needs to apologize to. I thought we were going to talk about, about everything! I don't want… later. This is a whole tournament. I, I'll have time. Kirishima almost thought for a second that he just wanted to leave, but he calmed himself down and refocused on the fight himself.

Who's going to win this one? What does it matter? That's not why I'm… Zach lowered the corners of his lips down a little when Kirishima's gaze was back fully on the screen. Why am I trying to look so interested in this? Kirishima doesn't believe it, and just pretending like things are alright isn't going to fix what's up between us. What is the plan here? The reason I'm doing this. How does it contribute to the plan?! Zach would want to do this so- would he? Fuck. Kotsumura's already onto something, just get into the fights and remember to keep up appearances! That's the goal. Kirishima being here will let him overhear more conversations about my time on Terra and in space, and he'll have to start believing it… What's the point though? Can I recover the friendship we once had, while lying to him? Jirou called me out on it and she was right. I'm a liar. I'm lying right now. This whole thing. This isn't a get together. I'm just tricking everyone here into thinking I threw a normal event like this. But that's what I have to do. In order to stay here. I had the conviction to return and do this before I left, and I knew it would suck once I did, but this is how things are now! Just focus on the fight!

"Whoa!" Sero leaned forward and called out.

Reika lowered her grin that she had since telling Kotsumura it did not look good for his underdog, but Kotsumura and Satoshi both jumped up too as Sanchez started his counterattack. He had kept waiting through the second round too, but Valente was getting frustrated by his opponent's lack of showing pain or any reaction to his hits, and he left himself open for a devastating uppercut. Sanchez followed up the blow while Valente was disoriented, and half of the room in Zach's apartment jumped up as Sanchez hit exactly where Valente did not have his guard each time. Valente was switching up guarding his face to body, trying to get a hold of himself while staying on his feet. It would have been better if he had gone down first though and then recuperated while standing back up. Instead, he was dealt a dozen powerful blows before he lowered his arms to protect his chest again, which resulted in one final punch to the face by Sanchez that looked to dent the 1-seed's face in.

Valente fell backwards, and since he had already been pushed nearly back to the ropes, he fell into the ropes and slouched down into them nearly falling out of the ring. Ojiro had been watching with wide eyes as he was not expecting Sanchez to go on that sudden counterattack, but as the others started cheering or groaning he just checked closer on the boxer who was not moving on the ropes. The referee called the fight and got the boxer's team up there to help him out, and Ojiro saw the guy dazedly moving his head around that made him relax again. That was an intense turnaround, Ojiro thought to himself, admitting that he enjoyed it even though afterwards he had been anxious for a few seconds.

"Well, there goes your pick," Kameko said to his side, making Dendo grind his teeth behind his lips and look away in annoyance as he could see Reika smirking much wider towards him than Kameko.

Hope we're not being too loud, Zach thought with a glance down at the floor.

Kirishima glanced over towards Zach again and frowned at what it looked like Zach was thinking about. He was right about the fight. Sanchez exploded out with that flurry, while Valente was at the end of his last flurry himself and couldn't catch- damn it, what am I thinking about right now? I should be, Kirishima turned his head a little and looked towards the hallway to Zach's room where he had left his jacket. If I say I left something in my jacket, I'll have thirty seconds to a minute to go over there and get it. Not much time to search his room, but it wasn't a big room. Would Zach have left anything for… Kirishima's eyes turned back forward and locked on the laptop next to the tv where the arena's announcer was calling out for Armenio Sanchez who threw up his arms in victory with the ref raising one of his wrists.

The others started talking more about the fight, but even though Kirishima turned and listened in without chiming into it at all, his thoughts were focused on that laptop he just looked at. Right in front of us. The one place we can't check or look through even if he's out of the room or not watching us, because he has the computer occupied. It's the perfect place too. Inside there, he has anti-hacking equipment I think Sero said he mentioned when he got it. No one can see what he's doing on there but him. There have to be some files. Something on there about what he's really doing here. Something the people who sent the laptop to him left on it. Mission briefings? What if he's really not Death, but just one of them, and Death sent him back here on this mission? It could be on there! And he already unlocked the laptop. It's open and sitting there like it clearly doesn't have anything on it, but that could just be what he wants us to think by putting it so blatantly in our faces.

Kirishima's eyes shifted over to a teen with blue skin who he thought he saw looking at him through the corners of his eyes. Imino was not looking his way so Kirishima just focused on someone else, and though Imino thought he got away with that, Kirishima was thinking while Mineta talked confidently about why Valente lost, That's right, he can hear super well. If I went searching through Zach's room he would hear dressers and closets being opened and know I wasn't just grabbing my jacket or something. He might even be able to hear my heartbeat and knows I'm thinking of something like that. Is that why Zach invited him while inviting me to come? He knows what I was thinking about the laptop? Damn it, he's not even the one who can read minds! If that girl was here though… hold on, why doesn't- why hasn't she caught him yet? Did he trick her or something?!

The announcers switched to start talking about the next match, and the teens in the room all focused on it too. Imino was the only one to pick one of these guys to win it all, with a lot more of them picking from the lower half of the bracket either choosing Bobo or someone they wanted to beat Bobo.

After the second round, Mineta leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "I could've beat either one of those guys. A pro boxer has nothing on a hero," his look of sheer boastful confidence made most of the others look at him in disdain.

"I don't know about that," Sero began. "But I don't think either was as good as Valente or Sanchez. I bet Kaibara could've taken either of them."

"Sen Kaibara?" Zach asked, leaning forward and looking to the other end of the couch from the side he was sitting on.

Sero nodded his head, and Dendo looked over at the sound of that full name from Sero's other side around the bend of the room, "Spiral?"

Sero nodded again Dendo's way, "Yeah, that's his hero name. He boxes…"

As Ojiro spoke up too about Kaibara's fighting skills, since the two of them had fought it out intensely in a match before, Zach looked back to the tv with his expression the same but his eyes more distant. Spiral, huh? The Spiral I knew would kick Kaibara's ass. His Quirk- Top, is much better than Gyrate. Was, better. Zach's expression saddened, for a brief moment, and then he got back to the same look he had just had a moment ago while thinking, The Battle of the 6 Armies took a lot of good soldiers though. Spilaro fought hard, he fought through a lot, and he died a hero on the battlefield of Tebit…

The third round started and went quickly, with a first round knockout from Jackson who Reika cheered for way too loudly for someone who did not even know the athlete before it. Zach nodded as Reika taunted over that his guy would not stand a chance in the next round if he even made it. Bobo will have a tough one, but all of these should be tough- alright. Here we go. The reason I invited everyone over. To see Bobo, and ultimately lead to a conversation about him. Zach's expression looked more excited, but in his peripheral vision he saw a few people staring over to him. Get more into it. This is why they're here. This is why I had a party. There's Bobo! I'm excited! Jump up.

"Alright," Zach clapped his hands together and then rubbed them on his knees while leaning forward in his chair. Is that all? It is the first time I'm seeing him in more than half a year. He looks good, Zach leaned back in his chair. He lost some of the excitement, but the intros and long entrances for the fighters was going to take a few minutes. I had to do this. I'm doing this as a, a trick to get a conversation going about my time here. To shift lingering feelings that I might be Death. Without looking like I'm trying to tell them directly. It should work great. It'll be verifiable if they do decide to dig. You can erase doubt. How can I be excited about this, knowing how convincing this lie- it's not a lie though! I really did go to Italy… but what I'm doing right here, will imply that I never was. Which I wasn't. But it's a lie to them anyway. If they discover, they'll have believed it so strongly, just like I believe it. I'd never come back from it. But, that's the price. I accepted I would pay it. Now just do it! Fuck.

Zach continued to smile at his tv screen, and he said in an impatient voice, "Come on, get it started already."

"This is actually looking like a pretty even matchup. Their stats are the most even out of any of the other fights."

"How did your friend Bobo get the second seed and Tunco seventh with them so even like that?"

"Maybe Tunco's had all those losses more recently. He's older than Bobo by a couple years-"

"I checked the record," Reika interrupted. "His last four fights were wins. While Cambri lost his last match before this. Not looking good for the Italian."

"Bobo's got this in the bag," Zach retorted back over.

"He does look, imposing," Satoshi admitted as Zach's boxer was heading to the stage.

Bobo Cambri had a couple scars on his large, muscular body, and his face was intimidating with a look of menace on it unlike the other boxers before him had. The heavyweight boxer stood six foot six, he had tan skin, and he walked towards the stage with his coat off so all he was in were his black boxing shorts. He had an x-shaped scar up around his right shoulder, and when a camera angle caught him from the back there was a clear small circular scar on the lower left side of his back not far from his spine. His right arm had a long scar going down the outside of it that curved onto the inside of his forearm before getting fainter and fading off, and on his upper left arm was a tattoo of a snake coiled around his bicep with the head coming up on his collarbone but staying below the neck.

Bobo stepped up onto the stage with an American man with darker skin than his already dark tan skin tone. Tunco glared back at his opponent who gave off a menacing vibe while shoving his mouthpiece in and glaring ferociously at his first round matchup. "You can see the sparks flying between these two!" The Japanese announcer called out while the ring announcer was giving out their stats and weights.

Bobo's opponent doesn't look fazed. Zach examined the look on the other boxer's face. He's seen some shit of his own. Boxing's not a very lucrative sport these days. Too difficult to regulate strengths in- alright, let's go. Zach leaned forward in his seat as the boxers made for the middle of the ring to touch gloves. Despite Bobo's angry and rough demeanor he still respectfully bumped gloves at the start. The action was not focused on at all by the announcers, but to Zach's friends who were watching the person Zach called a friend closely, the action said a lot.

Sero shifted his gaze towards Zach for a moment before the bout started. He was the only one who had seen Zach's body since he returned out of the people in the room. Did that Bobo guy get his scars from the same place Zach got, some of his? Zach looks really invested in the fight. Sero looked back and got into the fight too, "Let's go Bobo!"

"Gotta go for the American," Kotsumura countered over to his left and then grinned to his right too towards Zach.

"I'd say Cambri on this one," Mineta said, humming and speaking as if his opinion meant a lot here as he had thought about it deeply. He really just assumed Zach was picking the winner, but he managed to maintain a pretty stoic look as he said it.

Someone wanted to argue with Mineta that he was only saying it so confidently because of the reason he really was, but the match started and both competitors rushed forward. Neither was willing to let the other set the pace by pushing them back towards the ropes, and they moved to the middle and started jabbing away at each other. They circled, throwing punches out and testing out the others' defenses without forgetting to keep their own guards up too.

Bobo swung his right out twice, his opponent pulling his head back both times. On the second time pushing his head back in, Tunco swung a right hook, and Bobo did not back up from it. He rose one arm to try and block while swinging a punch of his own. He was not in a great position to get a lot of force into the jab of his left, but he hit Tunco in the face while only getting hit by a half-powered swing himself from what his right hand managed to slow down. Bobo then swung his own right forward, and his left again towards the body only to get blocked and a swing come at him. He pulled his head back and the punch in a red glove flew right past his nose that looked to have been broken multiple times it looked a little deformed. He moved his head back in right as the punch finished passing him, and he swung his left in an uppercut underneath his opponent's guard that Tunco tried to protect his face with.

Zach leaned his head left, and right, and he nodded along while watching Bobo and Tunco slug it out from close range. Tunco still did not want to back up even as Bobo was getting that flurry of hits on him. They circled each other, neither locking up or backing off, and Tunco pulled his head back as Bobo tried another uppercut, and he hit a body shot underneath Bobo's punching arm on his side. Bobo lowered his guard to protect from another body shot he expected, but Tunco thought he would lower his guard there and his left fist slugged into Bobo's jaw making Bobo Cambri's head look like a bobblehead for a second as it snapped to the side and he stumbled back a step. Tunco stepped forward and slammed another fist into Bobo's face, but Bobo's right foot that he had stumbled back planted firmly on the ground right before he was going to get hit. He prepared himself for the punch in the face, while swinging his left fist up and nailing Tunco under his chin that caused his darker skinned opponent to stumble back from him now.

After just taking a hit to the face, again, Bobo still stomped forward after Tunco and he went for a body shot and a body shot and a jab straight into the middle of Tunco's arms that he had up guarding his face, then another body shot that made his opponent slouch to the left. Bobo ducked down as Tunco swung a fist out from his guard, and Bobo went for a hit on Tunco's side only for his opponent to jump back, putting him close to the ropes that Bobo was going to keep him near, moving forward and weaving left and right so as not to give away where he was coming from. The right corner of Bobo's lips curled up the smallest amount, revealing his teeth in the taunting smirk he had for the brief moment that made Tunco snarl at him, and Bobo's eyes to get darker as he came out of his crouched position and started trading punches with his foe again.

Out of the four fights of the first round, none had been so brutal right out the get-go. The ref was not stepping in, as the two of them were keeping the hits legal, but it almost looked like the ref had wanted to step in a couple times as too many hits were getting in unblocked only for the one who took them to bash right back at his opponent. Zach watched closer, his thoughts racing as he saw Bobo's right cheek get grazed by a punch he almost dodged fully. In his head he saw a punch flying towards his face and how he yanked to the side quickly, but not quickly enough so he was still sideswiped. Recover fast, Zach thought, and he saw Bobo's recovery mimicking the one he saw in his own head as he ducked the follow-up. Don't go for the uppercut- fuck! Zach grit his teeth as Bobo went for it, which Tunco expected and leaned away from while already swinging for Bobo's dominant side that he threw that punch with, opening his body up for a powerful blow that made Bobo wince and take a step back, allowing Tunco away from the edge of the ring.

"Come on," Zach muttered, his eyes locked on the match in front of him. His classmates new and old were 'oof'ing and calling out at each of the big hits, with Reika getting into it and even rooting for Bobo now after watching the start of the fight. "Fuck him up," Zach muttered under his breath, his expression getting more intense as Bobo dodged three hits and swung back one of his own only for his to be dodged this time. The fighters were showing that they no longer wanted to take each others' blows, but they were not backing away from each other very much either. Can't show weakness. They'll be on top of you if you look like you can't take it. You can't just win, you need to win looking like a monster. Crush him, and the one before you will get unnerved because you know he's watching right now to see who his next matchup is. You know the families watching would shit on you if you lost without at least going strong through it. And you fight that hard all the way through because it'll break down each others' resolves too. If you're punching someone who never goes down, but you keep punching away anyway most people would get discouraged. But I smashed away at Kameko, some people wouldn't go for that. Some people give up or run, or just allow themselves to be defeated earlier if they think there's no chance of victory. Bobo, crush him! Make him give up- Damn it! Zach ground his teeth as Bobo got nailed in the jaw in the same place he got hit earlier, only for the round to end a second later before Bobo could get a counterattack in.

"Whoa!" Satoshi leaned back into the couch with a laugh, only to lean right back forward as he did not want to miss anything when the second round started back up. He looked to his left and said, "Hazano-sensei would never let us go this far even in just normal sparring."

"Look at the damage in just one round," Mineta said, as the camera just zoomed in on both of the fighters' sweaty faces. Bobo had some blood on the lower left side of his face, while Tunco's right eye was a bit swollen with blood all around it but not getting into it much. His trainers still wiped some away though and put stuff on to slow the bleeding. The next round was starting though after barely any time, and the fighters got back up with their corner-men dropping off the stage.

Ojiro looked to his side at Zach who was fully focused on the fight though looked to be staring farther away than just the tv as he watched. "Fuck him up?" You just want your friend to win, and I get that, I think. You don't even look like you're enjoying the fight though.

Right from the start this time, Zach thought, staring at the two boxers moving towards each other who made to punch each other right as the bell rang. Tunco pulled back after making it look like he was going for the first strike, but Bobo did not and swept forward with the right, then the left, and he chased after Tunco as Tunco started circling from the outside position. Tunco was making Bobo chase after him now, and Bobo realized it but moved faster after him and forced Tunco to either hit back or just get battered. Bobo even left himself looking open, only to pull away as Tunco threw the punches he was holding back in the first place to let Bobo get winded before going after him again. Seeing that he had missed a couple times, Tunco growled and moved forward to hit Bobo from close range, giving up on the new strategy he and his trainers had just gone over. Bobo's an idiot, but when it comes to boxing he's suddenly a genius, Zach watched as Bobo did not manage to dodge a hit in time, though he was pretty sure Bobo could have dodged that one. Make your opponent think they made the right choice, even if it's the choice you goaded them into. Make them believe they made the decision on their own and get them fully into whatever trap you have.

Bobo ducked under a punch, and Zach could hear the woosh over his own head of the fist flying over him. His focus did not leave the screen, but after Bobo bounced back up he ducked again, and again, dodging the hooks Tunco was throwing at him rapidly now as Bobo had switched the tactics on him. Zach heard it again, woosh woosh whoosh the thing swinging over his head stopped sounding as much like a fist moving fast over it, but the whirring of helicopter blades moving faster. He saw Tunco duck and get a headshot on Bobo as Bobo ducked another punch, and Bobo stumbled back only to leap backwards and run around the outside of the ring for a few seconds. He ran back in at his opponent and flurried some punches at him after just running like that, making it look like he was only rattled for a second there. Zach saw Tunco move back, then meet Bobo halfway instead of letting Bobo be the one to come all the way to him. Zach ran from the helicopter at the men running towards it, and he weaved to the left as a bullet flew towards his face, just as Bobo jolted to the left and dodged the jab Tunco threw at him.

Tunco's punch was only half-hearted, as was his step back at Bobo to make it look like he still wanted to be the one pushing in as he had been since the start of their match. That round had showed he was more inclined the back off though because of the way it started, and after his flurry of strong punches that Bobo ducked, each of which had a lot of power behind them, Tunco felt he had messed up in choosing one strategy. He was uncertain about what to do, or if moving back forward to make himself look on the attack was the right move because he had already failed at that before and was intending to stay on defensive- Bobo's left fist caught Tunco on the side of his face when his guard dropped to cover his sides. Bobo slammed a fist into the right side of Tunco's chest as he rose his right arm to protect from a hook on the other side, then Bobo hit another left fist into Tunco's face again.

Tunco swung back wildly with both arms, neither punch having much power in it though both did hit Bobo. He swung back at Tunco and got blocked by one arm, though his other fist hit Tunco in the chest and made the large American man stumble back a couple of steps. Blood was back in Tunco's right eye, and the sweat on his face got in the other and in his mouth, a salty taste and a salty feeling in his eye that made him squint. His vision was lacking, and his ability to read Bobo's moves dropped. He blocked where punches weren't coming, and he swung where Bobo wasn't, and Bobo stomped his right foot forward and in between Tunco's legs that were still firmly planted on the ground and not wobbling to show the ref it should be stopped. The ref's eyes started opening wide though and he rose an arm, but Bobo took his whole body weight behind his right fist after stomping down forward less than a foot away from his opponent. He pulled his head to the side of Tunco's right fist that passed by his shoulder without touching him, as Tunco's vision got blurry and he was too afraid to wipe his eyes in that moment, and too dizzy to realize he should actually back up and not stick to his earlier thought of not backing up any farther. Then again, there was another reason he could not step any farther back.

Bobo's right fist jammed into the middle of Tunco's unguarded face, taking him off his feet and throwing him into the ropes right behind him only a couple feet away. Hitting the ropes kept Tunco from falling backwards and off the stage, but they also kept him on his feet and the ref was not fast enough to end it yet. Bobo's right fist pulled back again and Zach's lips curled down at the corners. Bobo's blood was up though, and no one was stopping him as he slammed his right fist forward again right as Tunco bounced back towards him. Tunco's legs flew up in front of him this time, his body turning horizontal still in the air and then slamming down into the ground, hard. The ref grabbed Bobo and pulled him back, and he started counting loudly to ten, but he stopped and just waved his arms in front of him before calling to Tunco's corner.

Bobo threw his arms up in the air, grinning with his mouthpiece still in unlike Tunco who just had his knocked out of his mouth with that final punch. A giant smile crossed Bobo's face while much of the crowd cheered, though there were also some boos thrown in there with people thinking he had gone too far with the final punch when Tunco was likely on his way to the ground anyway. Bobo waved his hand off in the direction of some booing, ignoring it and heading towards his corner where he looked over and waved a fist up while grinning towards some people in the crowd with great seats.

"Nice friend you've got there," Kirishima said, looking over at Zach to see if he was going to counter him and defend what they just saw.

"He went a little far," Zach admitted, sitting back in his seat and nodding in agreement with Kirishima. "But hey, look." The others looked back at the screen, and Zach said, "Tunco's fine. He's a big guy, he can handle getting punched in the face. It's his job, actually," he finished with a laugh while Tunco's friends got him up and helped him over to his corner for a second to sit.

Kotsumura laughed and Sero shrugged his shoulders. Reika had lost her smile there for a moment, but she got it back before mentioning, "I'll admit, Camrbi's pretty good. No Jackson, but we'll see that in the next round."

"You're still saying that after seeing that fight? Those two were better than everyone else-"

"We didn't even get to see Jackson fight for very long, since he practically one-shot…"

At the end of the first round there was a break for the fighters before the second would start up. They had thirty minutes without any fighting, and the show turned to talking to the celebrities who had arrived for the fights, listening to the commentators talk about the matches they'd seen so far, and make predictions for the upcoming bouts. At Zach's apartment, the break meant a break from sitting around the living room. Some of the group got up to help clean up the food they'd finished most of. Ojiro gathered up everyone's used paper plates, and Reika got up to get herself another cola from the fridge. Kotsumura followed her up saying he could use one too, sweatdropping behind her because he almost just asked her to grab him one but doubted she would. Satoshi and Mineta met up and were speaking in low voices with each other, looking very suspicious with the way they were darting their eyes away to see if anyone was listening in to them.

Zach went to the kitchen and covered up some of the food they had not finished. He got more than he needed, as he did not know how many people the final total would be coming to his apartment. Some leftovers for later- how are things going? Everyone saw me into that fight- but no more than anyone else was. How did Bobo do? Decent. He was too reckless though. Not often he'd have to face multiple opponents one after the other. Jackson finished his quickly, so he's less damaged and fatigued. He's also seen more of what Bobo can do than Bobo saw of Jackson. Hopefully he's watched former clips of all his opponents and changes his strategy accordingly- but did everyone else see me caring about that? Did anyone notice when my thoughts strayed for- I need to put those wings into a tupperware- shit, I don't have tupperware. I don't usually have leftovers. Whr-whr-whr-whr- Zach shook his head around and he turned back to his fridge from the counter, deciding to just put the plate in without covering it up or anything. I'll eat it soon. No big deal.

"Wait, Reika was that the last cola-" Kotsumura leaned back as the blonde girl in front of him glared back his way in the kitchen next to Zach.

"Maybe, got a problem with that?" She asked harshly, and Kotsumura scratched the back of his head and shook it at her. She humphed and turned away, heading back to her seat while Kotsumura sighed back behind her.

Zach watched Reika head back over, then he turned next to him at the blond who thought Zach was about to mention something along the lines of apologizing for not getting more cola. "You should really start calling Reika 'Tiona' again." Kotsumura's eyes went big as Zach said that in a casual tone and normal voice. The way he said it did not draw any attention to him however, and the kitchen was empty now except for the two of them. Ojiro had gotten in a conversation with Imino and Kameko, and Reika was snapping something at Satoshi and Mineta whose conversation she overheard.

"What, are you talking about…" Kotsumura trailed off as Zach just continued to look at him in a normal way.

Zach turned his head a bit and shifted his irises to the corners of his eyes though, then he looked back at Kotsumura and said, "You did right after your fight, then more sporadically, and now you're back to calling her Reika. What are you doing?"

"It was just a stupid bet," Kotsumura said, shaking his head once as there was no reason to look deeper into it.

"She's the one who told you that you could call her Tiona if you won," Zach countered. He shrugged while Kotsumura looked at him hesitantly, shifting his eyes over towards the blonde girl in his class who he had been into for a long time. Zach could tell that pretty easily from the first day, but what he did not think Kotsumura noticed as much was that the bet they made was some obvious flirting between the two of them. Actually seemed like it might be going somewhere, but you've backed off and just act like friends still. Never going to get anywhere this way. "It's pretty clear you're into her," Zach said, and before Kotsumura could say anything he added, "but I think Tiona wants a boyfriend who's not afraid of what he wants and is willing to go after it. A strong guy."

Kotsumura frowned, and with a scoff he said, "She likes you." A strong guy? Just because I'm not hitting on her at every chance like Satoshi- It's not like I haven't been doing anything. We've been hanging out a lot recently.

Zach shook his head at Kotsumura's retort. "That's never going to happen even if she does, and I'm not so sure about that," he said.

"Why not?" Kotsumura asked. His frown was gone and instead he just looked more interested. Zach denied her once before too. Does he really have a thing for one of his old classmates? There's no way he doesn't see how hot she- shit.

"'Cause I wouldn't go for a girl my friend's into," Zach responded, making Kotsumura's eyes grow wide again.

Keiji grimaced at how his expression gave it away, then he let out a laugh and grinned at Zach's smooth answer right there. "Alright, good reason I guess." Zach smiled back at him, though his smile was lower as Kotsumura added, "But I'm going to do things my way. I've got this. Reika's my close friend and classmate. It'd be weird if I asked her out and she said no."

Zach hummed and shrugged a shoulder while heading for the end of the counter to walk around. He turned to Kotsumura as he went though, and his expression showed a 'you do you' look that made Keiji hesitate feeling like what he had decided was not a great idea. On top of that expression though, Zach added, "You might think the slow game's the right move, but it's the last term. You won't get a chance soon, so be quick about it."

If I ask later in the term anyway, then we'll all already have plans for after graduation and only with a just-starting relationship it's not like we'd go together anywhere or anything- oh shit I can't wait- I'm-

"Plus, there are guys like Sero out there 'bout to steal your girl," Zach finished. He started heading away after saying it, while Kotsumura turned and looked back towards Reika with his eyes opening wide. She was standing over in the couch area talking to Sero, and she just laughed about something he said which made Kotsumura's bottom lip drop. Zach saw it out the corner of his vision too, and besides thinking about how smooth his friend was, he also thought, Sero's got good timing. If you don't do something soon Kotsumura, you're going to lose your chance. If that happens, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be, but I think you've got a real shot. What the fuck am I doing?

Zach walked over to the couch and put his hands on the back of it. He looked at the tv and watched as the camera view switched to show Bobo in his locker room with a couple of trainers. Guess Typhoon didn't come. That's good. He's meant to stay in Italy. Keeping his face out of any news is better too. Gino of the Garbaldi mafia. Vinny's looking good though. Zach's eyes got bags under them, and he followed up the expression he knew just formed on his face by taking in a yawn. Did I really stay up last night planning this? It's like I said in the park. There's nothing to pretend. Nothing to pause and think about what I'd do as Zach. I am Zach now, I've accepted that! Zach closed his mouth and refocused on the screen with an interested look hiding his true thoughts. And there's the Don again. They haven't talked about Don Cambri much, but the farther along Bobo gets the more likely the announcers will bring it up. I don't want to have to say it on my own. It has to be asked. I've already invited them over to see this boxing tournament solely for this reason apparently, but as long as I don't make it out like I wanted to explain, then it'll be fine. And it will happen. But even if it doesn't… does it even matter? Does anything I do right now?

Looks like he brought the whole family, Zach thought as the camera zoomed out from Emilio for a moment and showed who was around him. It was not the entire Cambri Italian mafia, but Don Cambri's actual blood-related family. They're all looking good too. That's good to see. Zach's lips flattened even as he thought it. In the background of that thought, he heard the whirring of the helicopter again. Damn it.

Ojiro looked over Kameko's shoulder in surprise, then back to the curly-haired boy with a shell sticking out of his clothes. "He broke your shell?"

"Yes," Kameko replied with a serious nod. "It was the first time, but by punching with that left fist of his over and over in the same spot… So you did know," Kameko said, making Ojiro dart his eyes back to make eye contact again.

"Yeah," Ojiro replied after a second. His left fist is made of something strong then. The prosthetic he got in the box looked like a regular arm, but he broke through Kameko's shell with it?

"He beat Imino too that first day," Kameko mentioned, motioning next to him at the pointy-eared boy who had not been a part of the conversation much for a minute there. The two talking looked to Imino who turned his attention back to them and nodded, though he was really focused on a conversation across the room between a couple of blondes. Imino had heard Zach and Kotsumura's talk a couple minutes ago, and he lifted a corner of his lip as when Reika turned to head back to her seat, Kotsumura finished with a 'whatever you say, Tiona.' The way he emphasized her first name was a reminder of their fight that he won, and Reika turned back to him over her shoulder with a narrowed gaze and a smirk questioning if he thought he would win if he fought her again.

Kotsumura hesitated at that smirk back his way, but then he grinned back at her that had Reika's eyes widening for a second at his confident look that maybe he would win a second time. He had beaten her in her best zone after all. Reika frowned back at him after seeing his look, and she humphed and turned away to go grab her seat before she'd have to squeeze in when other people went to sit. Kotsumura hesitated after she turned away, as now he had to go sit back next to her after giving that daring look. He took in a deep breath though and then started over to the girl who had grinned herself for a moment after she turned with that humph.

Zach was focused on the tv and did not notice Reika's expression even though she was in his vision as she walked across the front of the couch. She glanced back at him, saw how focused he was, and she turned to the screen while pulling her phone back out. No clue who's got this next one. Based on the first fights though, I'd say Sanchez looked stronger out of the two…

"You going for anyone in this yet?" Sero asked the redhead he was talking to near the counter on the main room's side instead of in the kitchen.

Kirishima shrugged, though he thought back on the first fights and tried to come up with someone to pick. Not that Bobo. "Not Bobo," Kirishima said aloud after just thinking it, since he doubted he would come up with someone he was rooting for here. Sero frowned at him, so Kirishima added, "He went too far. It was unnecessary." Sero lost his frown and shrugged in admittance that Kirishima had a point there. Sero had also gone 'Oooh' and leaned back on Bobo's final knock-out punch.

He had already winced on the first of the final two blows, but if it had just been that one Sero doubted he would have had a problem with it. Guy was falling off his feet anyway. Someone should've called that. Hopefully they've got a healer Quirk on hand at the tourney.

"Hey, it's starting back up," Kotsumura called over. He just turned his head and called it out to everyone around the room who were not yet back over in the living room.

Sero started over towards the couch, but Kirishima just looked over and then leaned back on the counter. Still time, Kirishima thought. He turned his head and looked down the hallway towards the room he left his coat in, then he turned back into the empty kitchen. I didn't eat much. I was distracted that first round. What is he doing? Kirishima looked over at the back of his old classmate who was just watching the screen with a carefree look and small smile on his face. He's just thinking about this fight? I can talk to him later then. If he's… this is too normal a thing to be doing. It's not like him.

The second round started to commence with the underdogs of the first two matches preparing for their next bout. Sanchez's opponent was not a big upset, as he was only the fifth seed beating the guy who came in ranked 4th, but they were still both underdogs compared to the bottom half of the bracket that had gone the way the people setting up the tournament predicted. The volume on the tv was still down from when the break started and Reika turned it lower, but she turned it back up a bit as the second round was starting. A few others came back over to their seats, but others just kept talking as they were not all that interested in the matches and would rather keep up the conversations they were having over the break.

"Who do you think has this one?" Kotsumura tilted his head back on the couch and looked over the back of it where Zach was standing.

Zach shook his head, looking like he was still trying to figure that out himself. Kotsumura's voice came in soft though, muffled in his head as much as he tried to look like he was focusing there. "I've gotta hit the head," Zach said after a second. He paused after saying it, looking down and meeting Kotsumura's eyes and then looking around at the others in front of him who all turned his way when he said phrase that in English. "I mean, I gotta piss," Zach corrected in Japanese and laughed as he said it.

Reika's eyebrows rose up and she snorted, before curving the right corner of her lips up at his mistake that she realized was actually accidental based on the way he reacted. Mineta smacked a hand to the side in front of his chair and reminded over at Zach, "You're in Japan."

"Yeah yeah," Zach shook his head with a laugh and turned to walk to his bathroom.

Satoshi and Kotsumura laughed at the way Zach clearly got too into this American tournament and forgot he wasn't in Los Angeles himself. The snake-eyed boy even started speaking to his classmate in a half-hushed voice, saying he bet Zach had been to L.A. himself before.

Everyone in the living room continued talking or got to watching the tv without lingering on Zach's back as he headed off. Only Sero turned back to Zach after initially turning away and laughing like the others. His smile lowered down as Zach rounded the corner, and he lowered his eyes for a second before turning back to the screen from the chair he snagged while Kameko was still up.

Kirishima turned his head and followed Zach as he went down the hall for his bathroom. He's just peeing. This could be a chance to catch him alone. Or better, he wouldn't notice me going into his room. Everyone's up, the break's going on- if he comes out though and catches me… then what? What would he do? His laptop is right over there, and I don't have a chance to use it. Kirishima ground his sharp teeth together, as in both directions of him he saw no good way of making this visit beneficial for proving his suspicions.

Kirishima turned to his right as he saw someone looking at him. He frowned more at the sight of who it was watching from near Zach's kitchen table. Dendo did not turn away when Kirishima faced him as he did not care that he was caught staring. What's he looking for? Dendo stared into Kirishima's small red irises which after a second got Kirishima marching towards him. Dendo took a sip of water then closed the bottle he was holding and put it down on the table behind him. He crossed his arms and stared seriously at the guy with spikier hair who stepped right up in front of him. "What?" Dendo asked.

The U.A. student wanted to snap about Dendo staring at him, but he hesitated about that as he wondered what Dendo might say as a response to that. Thinking about that possible response just made Kirishima more upset though, and he said in a low voice for just the two of them to hear, "What happened to you? Why are you here?" Kirishima's eyes were angry as he looked into Dendo's dark green ones from close up. It's not the same reason. I thought it might be, but that look he gave me means it's the opposite! Kirishima grit his teeth harder as Dendo did not response yet, "You're really friends with Zach now?"

Dendo hummed and he got a darker look on his face too, though there was regret in his expression too. The two of them thought back on the day they met around a year ago. The last joint training. Kirishima stood in front of Dendo like he was now, only farther away having bumped into each other in the training ground. Dendo remembered the insults he used towards all of Class A, but he recalled the reason the hero-in-training in front of him had charged at him in fury. The things he said about Lifebringer had pissed off Kirishima more than Dendo expected to happen, even though he already knew the two of them were friends. Didn't he bring you back to life? Dendo thought while staring closer at the teen in front of him. "Yeah," Dendo replied.

Kirishima curled his fists at that answer. "A class full of murderers aren't you?" "…you lived with him, trained with him, fought with him, and you never noticed a thing?" "…soon as I graduate, Lifebringer's my first target! Your murderer of a classmate!" Kirishima heard Dendo yelling that at him, making him lose his cool and open himself up for a precise slice straight down the middle of his body that broke through his Hardening mid-sprint. "He changed your mind, huh?" Kirishima asked, a taunting grin coming to his face as he continued to glare at Dendo.

Dendo did not reply for a moment, then he just said in a low voice, "It feels like we flipped."

Kirishima's smile vanished with his eyes going wide. He narrowed them back at Dendo and ground his teeth at the way his peer was looking at him. If he would have stayed gone, I never would have had to face any of these feelings. Kirishima curled his fists in fury as he thought about how hard he defended Zach back then. Now that Zach was back though; alive, healthy, having a good time with friends… I defended you that hard because you gave up everything. That's what justified what you did, if just a little! It's why I couldn't say anything! But, you came back. You can't come back and expect us- expect me, to still forgive it. Kirishima's fists uncurled and he turned his gaze away from Dendo, a darker look in them now though then when he was confronting the Shiketsu student. You didn't give up anything. You have it all back, without even trying. That's not right. It's why Bakugo's pissed. Your sacrifice means jack shit now. If you can be here and enjoy a fun day with friends, as Zach, a name you threw away! It's infuriating!

Dendo watched Kirishima's expression from close up. He did not say anything, but the look on the U.A. kid's face was much stronger than any expression of anger or emotion he had shown towards Lifebringer since the day he arrived in their class. He kept his mouth shut and did not try to say anything, because as much as Kirishima's face was furious right there, it was full of more emotion than Dendo felt in the matter. I saw it that day too. Whatever I thought about Lifebringer, I decided to stop talking about him after that. At least to you U.A.'s, Dendo Takashi turned and looked down the hall Zach headed to use the bathroom. The threat you told me that first Friday was intense, but I deserved it for what I said to you. Now that I can see what a nice guy Lifebringer is usually, even when he's being intimidating and mean, I know he's still just trying to help us.

"He's a nice person," Dendo said. Kirishima turned his head slowly back to Dendo, and Dendo refaced him to look back in Kirishima's surprised eyes at the sudden statement. "I was wrong. And, I can believe that Zach killed Kurogiri for everyone else and not for revenge." Kirishima's eyes widened more, before narrowing and staying locked on but full of frustration this time. "Because I don't see him doing something like that off a grudge. I don't think that's him."

Kirishima was angry, but he calmed himself down and said in a low voice, "It's true. Zach did it for us, or he thought he was at least." He kept his voice quiet and angry, as he did not want Dendo thinking he'd forgiven Zach or anything based off what he was saying. He still believed that himself though, but there were a lot of other things on top of it that Dendo could see murdering Kurogiri was not the only reason Kirishima was pissed here. Revenge wasn't Zach's style. Instead, he makes friends with the people who kill his friends. Kirishima's eyes darkened and shifted back down the hall again to where Zach went before. He heard what Zach said before going, and he frowned, What's taking him so long?

Zach stood in his bathroom with the door almost closed, cracked open the slightest amount as he just pulled it behind him and let go to let it close on its own. He never heard the click of the door shutting fully, but he was not focused on the door at all. He had his hands held out in the sink, and he washed them together while keeping his head up and his eyes locked on the mirror in front of him.

The sounds from his apartment were muffled by the walls and distance between him and his friends. The toilet near him was full of still water, as he had not used it and was just washing his hands as he had been since he came in. His eyes were locked on themselves, and Zach forced his expression normal as he continued to wash his hands, the running water working as a white noise that drowned out all other present sound around him. Zach's expression was flat, and yet his heart pounded so fast he could feel it in his chest and had to fight harder to maintain a straight expression at the pain he felt in the left side of his upper body. ...It means nothing. If I do this or don't, it doesn't even matter. This whole day means nothing at all. His eyes glazed over while he was thinking it, his heart pounding even harder yet and his mouth feeling dry all of a sudden. What the fuck am I doing? I, I'm supposed to be doing something here! Even playing the longest long game doesn't involve being this idle. In one day how much could I do? I know! I know exactly how much I could- but I'm here now, and there's no going back on it!

Zach stopped rubbing his hands together. He shook his head around and he reached for a towel next to his sink to dry off with. He turned off the nozzle with his hand wrapped in the towel, and he wiped his hands together before sliding his glove back on his right hand. He pulled it down over his hand and stared down at it. The elastic part ending up his wrist higher than most gloves would tightened on him just below his watch that slid back down as he lowered his arms. He dropped his arms and took another look in the mirror, and he frowned deeper at the person staring back at him who did not look like someone just enjoying a day of watching boxing with friends.

Zach lifted his hands and put them on the sides of his sink. He leaned forward and stared at himself in the mirror, Get back in there. He still could not hear the other room, and without the white noise of the sink the silence had left room for other sounds that flooded his mind as much as tried to focus. The helicopter blades he heard earlier buzzed in his ears, but this time he was not out in front of people and felt no immediate need to wipe his face of that expression. Just, think it then… if it's going to keep bugging, me. Quickly. Zach's lips twisted as the blades got louder, and the person in the mirror looking at him looked darker as the bullets firing from the barrels of guns got louder than those whirring blades.

"Get the injured on the bird and get up in the air!"

"Commander! We have to get these civies out of here! Heroes are on their way, they can handle this!"

"I'll provide cover. Get them onboard and go." Zach ran forward on sand at a group of enemies chasing after two of his comrades who were trying to keep using their Quirks while backpedaling towards the heli behind them. He yanked his head to the side and slammed his right fist forward past the barrel of a gun of the farthest forward enemy, and his fist punched through the man's head that turned into some strange red goop upon contact. Zach's fist had darkness on it though, and he kept running past the guy who collapsed behind him with his head reformed and his eyes rolled back.

The sand opened up below Zach into a swirling whirlpool of tiny particles that sucked his feet down then his legs. Green demon arms shot up from the sand and wrapped around his arms as he was raising them, and they yanked him backwards so his back hit the sand pulling down and sucked his body under. He heard the shouts in his ear, and the bullets whizzing overhead, and the sound of his own roar as he emerged from the sand with two massive black wings.

And he saw the helicopter rising overhead, while most of his comrades stayed on the ground with him to keep fighting and provide cover for their injured and the civilians with them. Then he saw the surface-to-air missile flying up above him, and though he intercepted the first one he saw, the second and third missiles took out the helicopter behind him in a fiery ball of death that blasted him forward through the sky due to his close proximity trying to catch the other two he missed. Zach felt the burns on the front of his body as he had forced all his Death to his back to fly as fast as he could, and he felt the collision with the ground as he fell smoking from the air… and he heard his own growl as he charged at the men firing at him and his enraged comrades in black armor.

Dt-dt-dt-dt BANG BANG BD-BD-BD-BD-BD- "AHHHGGhh!"

In a single day.

Zach heard the terrified shouts of the men ahead of him. The panic in their voices as he charged down a hallway at full speed. Their volumes increasing so he knew he was getting closer to them. The doors smashed down in front of him and the enemies screamed and fired at his body surrounded in darkness so thick that the bullets flew through him. He rose above the flames, and he punched through the clear wall of air the enemy group's sub-leader put up to try and reassure his comrades. That sub-leader was smashed into the side wall so hard his head bowed and his legs bent the wrong ways, and Zach's enemies screamed at the sight of the unstoppable beast in front of them.

"Monster!"

"DEMON!"

"Oh my God- please! No!"

"IT'S DEATH!"

"He's here. I saw him. He was just- wha- Andropov! Where are you?! Lev?! Ah AHHH!"

They were all so afraid. Sooner or later, it was just constant fear. Every face that saw me.

"Ahhaa aah aaha, NO! AHHH-" Zach gripped the sides of his sink harder as the cries that turned into a furious final scream cut off. He saw the face of the young villain in front of him only a few years older than himself. The man's voice cut off because of the pain he was in, though the pistol dropped from his hand that now dangled limply from his snapped arm. Zach looked down towards the boy's arm himself with his red eyes huge behind his helmet. He had needed to get to the villain fast though, because the man watching him approach by flooding Death through every one of his comrades had turned the gun on himself. He grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled it away quicker than he could pull the trigger, making the shot go up in the air, but he had twisted too hard and snapped the guy's arm so his bone was sticking out through skin.

Zach's head turned back to the figure in front of him who was going into shock whilst staring at his own bone through his arm. "You would rather take your own life than surrender to me? I won't kill you."

"You're Death. I know what you'll do to me. Dying, is better than that."

How many of them pissed themselves?

How many shit their pants, just from the sight of me? So many. They were right to though. What I was doing, the fights I fought! Without ever losing! Undefeated. A warrior. That's who I am. A soldier. In his head he saw through the window of the plane he was in, anti-air bullets shredding through the wing, just like they tore through another plane next to his and made it explode in a fiery blast. He saw himself falling from the sky surrounded by dozens, hundreds of others as high caliber bullets flew up towards them, ripping apart a comrade to his right who dodged but not well enough. A city, full of explosions. Towers on one side, one of them falling with the plane that just cut through it midway falling at a sharper decline now. He saw the inside of that plane as it fell, and the explosion of dust rising into the air and billowing down every street and interrupting every fight, only for those fights to keep going in the new environment.

Flames covered every house and buildings. The street cracked, and a tremor split open the ground and swallowed up a half dozen flaming buildings on one side of the road. And figures in black and villains screaming out in rage rose from the crack, fighting each other and killing each other as the ground turned into cubes and rose up into the air. Fifty of those cubes came flying at him at once, and wings flapped on his back to make him shoot forward swerving through and around every block. He passed several at once, and in his peripherals he saw that on top of those cubes had been ten enemies waiting for him to go by before attacking him from there. And they came from below, and above, and at the front a much larger block of city came flying towards him. Everything turned black in a massive pillar that rose into the sky, and then Zach saw himself standing as tall as that pillar had been only in a field somewhere different. And around him as far as he could see in every direction were battles between dozens, hundreds, thousands of people. The sky was full of platforms both visible and invisible, forming and breaking apart as a black hole erupted in the sky, and then twelve smaller ones appeared. Day turned to night and back again in a strobe that echoed across a hundred miles.

He could see what it all looked like from a hundred feet tall, through red tinted vision as his enemies attacked him. Fifty or so grew to try and match his height, but his Death knocked them out all the same and just made them fall harder as waves of darkness crashed on the battlefield. And he heard the screams in his ears as the comms came back on. "HELP ME!" "They're killing us, please… Ah- AHH!" "No- no WAIT!" "Mommy. I want my mommy." "Did it mean anything? Did it, mean, a God damned…"

"RUN!"

"Zombieman?"

"There's too many of them!"

"Death! We need to retreat!"

"We do not back down."

"Hahaha! That's why they have those tattoos? Great thinking ya' goofs."

"Push forward!" Doof-dt-dt-dt CRASH! "KEEP FIGHTING!"

"We're with you all the way."

"Alpha Squad's been wiped out! There are over twenty awaiting revival and the infirmary's being overrun! Death! Where are you?!"

"Do not stop! Do not falter! Do not slow down!"

It had been getting too loud and boisterous in the other room. The atmosphere in there was too similar, as the last time he had felt like it had been with his men, his soldiers who he had fun times with like that, and who he had watched get gunned down and ripped apart. Who he was watching get gunned down and ripped apart again as he stared into his mirror. Zach had lost track of time, and the second round was about to begin but he wasn't back in the living room yet. And his friend who also had to piss before the round got started stood in the open doorway staring in at Zach as he stood in front of his mirror with eyes glazed over and fingers gripping into the porcelain of his sink so tightly the sink was starting to shake.

Sero had not said a word since opening the door a few seconds ago. He had opened his mouth to say something when he opened it up from a crack to wide open, but Zach did not even seem to notice him despite being only a couple feet away on Zach's left. He stared in at Zach for another moment before realizing what he was doing and saying, "Hey Za-" His voice snapped Zach out of it, but much too abruptly from the current bloody thoughts Zach was having.

Zach's hands left the sink and rose as his head was spinning to the side. His eyes did not turn red but they were dark and cold as they snapped to the person who had snuck up on him. He had not noticed he let his guard down, but the fact that someone was so close meant that he had fucked up and allowed it. His hands curled into a fighting position as he was twisting his body in a swift movement with an expression so full of rage meant to intimidate his sudden attacker into thinking he knew they were there the whole time and that they should reconsider what they were about to-

Zach froze. His expression flipped instantly into shock as it was Sero in front of him and he realized why it was this made so much more sense than someone about to fight him. Sero relaxed and stepped into the bathroom, "You alright?" Sero asked. Besides flinching and pulling back, Sero did not care that he was almost attacked. He immediately lost the nervous look on his face as Zach's expression turned to shock, I'm not afraid of you man. Sero didn't want to see Zach's expression drop into one of despair or something after seeing how he had just looked at a friend. Sero's reaction made it seem like Zach's look had not actually been that bad at all, making Zach question if he had lost his intimidating nature while Sero was doing just a great job at hiding how horrifyingly menacing that turning look really was.

Sero put a hand on Zach's shoulder without hesitating after he came into the bathroom. "You looked spaced out there for a minute," he said while Zach let out a deep breath and slouched his shoulders that Sero had felt were tense when he put his hand on one. Sero looked real worried about his friend, and Zach nodded his head but Sero still added, "You sure? You're good?"

Zach shook his head once with a sighing expression on his face, then he shook his head around faster and got a smile back on it. "Yeah, sorry." He opened his eyes he closed there for a second and looked calmly back into Sero's eyes with a small smile on his face. "I was just thinking back on something rough."

It was vague, and technically it wasn't really a lie, but Sero could see through that. He's making it out as not as big a deal as it really is.

"You got to go?" Zach asked, and he moved for the door. Sero turned and watched Zach head out, and Zach looked over his shoulder again and said in a lower voice, "Really, I'm fine. Sorry about that."

"All good," Sero replied, knowing Zach was referring to how he turned and spooked him. "Sorry about barging in on you."

"Nah," Zach shook his head that it was nothing, and then he heard Reika shout towards the hallway at them both that they were missing the fight 'jerking' each other in the bathroom. Zach walked out of the hallway a second after that and said, "Well that's a weird thing to say. I guess believing I'm gay is easier than accepting I'm really just not into you though…"

Sero closed the bathroom door though still heard the shouted retort from Reika after Zach's comment. He turned to the mirror himself, checking for a moment if there was something Zach had a reason for staring so closely at. It was a fleeting thought though, and he walked over to the toilet himself to take a piss as he actually did have to go as much as there was another reason for him coming over. The second Zach said that he had to take a leak, Zach's statement echoed in his mind just phrasing it a little differently. "I… have to, go behind that tree…" Weird hunch to actually be right, Sero thought darkly while taking a piss himself.

I was standing there for fifteen seconds or something. What an asshole, Sero's piss was a sad piss. I knew I needed to check as soon as I heard that. He shook his dick frustratedly and then put it back in his pants before flushing and heading to the sink to wash his hands. "Did you notice anything wrong with Zach?" Ashido's voice rang in his head and Sero hummed as he looked from his hands up into his own eyes in the mirror. "What do you mean? Not really, I mean, did you?" "No! That's good… but there was something about how normal, even in the emotional times we talked it was still normal. Too normal maybe? I don't know if that makes sense…"

I told her I didn't get it. I didn't even think about it. I'm such an idiot. Sero washed his hands with a dark look in his eyes. As he looked at his own dark look though, he was underwhelmed by his own expression of darkness that looked sweet in comparison to even Zach's look before he turned his way. Just the way he was looking into the mirror. Think about it. Really think about it this time…

Forget about what just happened, Zach stood behind the couch and looked at the tv past it with an excited look on his face. Get a grip. There isn't time for sentimentalism like that. Everyone who died before me didn't give their lives so I could wallow in sadness over them. What did they die for? For me. For my goals. Why? Because they believed that I knew what was right and how to make the world better. I am right. This is the right move to make. This is how I give their lives meaning. By believing in my decision to come here, because they believed in me. Now stick to that decision, and become Zach Sazaki again!

Bobo could beat Sanchez easier than he could Jackson, but he needs to get through this fight first…

Sero stared at his face in the bathroom mirror as it actually got darker from what he was thinking about. He no longer noticed his own expression's dark look though, as he was trying to really think about something he had heard but not really delved into until what he just saw. Zach, went to war, the thought alone of something Zach had told them but not discussed in too much detail made Sero's stomach churn. What he does talk about are the people. The races. The worlds. The results of his fights and how he made the worlds better. But, that was war. War. He wouldn't have used that word, repeated it, if he didn't mean it. And the way he talks about it is so, vague. I know though, he was fighting battles that gave him those scars.

Battles? What does that even mean? He said the Battle of 6 Armies before. Six whole armies? That had to be thousands of people, right? What is that like? … Sero stared at himself in the mirror and his face scrunched up as he tried to imagine it. The look on his face, he was thinking about it wasn't he? A war with Quirk users, in a fantasy world full of warriors training since they were kids. Don't think of the idea of it, and how insane that sounds, but if I actually consider what it would be like to be out there, in the mud, fighting and killing people- Sero grit his teeth and he dried his hands off. "Fuck," he cursed under his breath. As hard as I try, I can't even imagine it right, let alone try to feel what he was feeling. I've never had a great imagination, so I'd need Zach to explain it to me, but Zach's been constantly vague about it and only talks about the good times. The fun experiences and adventures, and the logistics and victories of his battles. But, I know Zach saw a lot of people die. And I know he must have brought back so many people.

Sero gripped the sides of the sink and then looked down where he was grabbing and slowly let go of the spots Zach had been grabbing before him. The people I've seen him bring back before, the way he brought back Tsuyu, they looked so painful for him. Sero thought about the basement Kaminari had betrayed them in, where he had not started getting up like some of his more furious classmates, instead keeping his head down with his teeth bared in confusion and anger at all that had happened. And he recalled lifting his head, raising his chin and staring across the floor as Zach screamed while bringing their friends back. What would it be like for him if he had saved hundreds more- thousands even? Dying, thousands of times?

"And the dark horse of the competition moves on to the finals! Armenio Sanchez takes a win by points in what was…"

"Hey, by the way, where's Inasa?" Mineta mentioned over to the couch where many of the Shiketsu teens were sitting. "Figured this kind of thing'd be right up his alley."

"Internship," Zach replied from over the couch, making Mineta raise his gaze and see Zach already knew Inasa was not coming. Zach had asked Inasa right at the start if he wanted to come though, and he explained to his shorter friend, "He's planning on starting his own agency straight out of high school, so he's making sure he's got the ropes down before graduation."

"I'm actually," Imino started. He hesitated, and the others in the room all looked over at the blue boy with pointy ears who took a deep breath after stopping and getting everyone's attention. "I'm actually going to work with Inasa at his agency after graduation. We're starting it up together."

Kameko looked like he had already heard about this, but the other Shiketsu students including Zach all looked towards him in surprise upon hearing that. "So what, you'll be Inasa's sidekick?" Satoshi asked.

"No," Imino replied in a deadpan voice, keeping it free from annoyance despite the small frustration he felt there. "We'll be partners. Echolocation works best as a support, and Inasa and I work well together. It's mutually beneficial."

Zach looked back to the screen as the announcer started talking about the next fight. He looked at the screen where it showed DeCarlo Jackson's family in the stands, then there was a clip played showing Jackson in his training gym with his trainers. After a practice flurry of punches against the bag, it showed Jackson sitting in a room talking to the cameraman about his matchup, his family, and about his charity in Chile working with kids. Reika's eyes widened as the cameraman asked about that, to which Jackson lost a little of his focus on the fight and his reasons for fighting, just for a second though before he refocused on it and they flipped to showing him practicing with a coach.

"Aw, you really picked a nice guy," Kotsumura said with a grin next to him at the surprised girl who had missed anything about that when she looked Jackson up. All the top searches though on her phone were about the tournament today and boxing in general, so she realized why she had not seen anything on it.

"Well, comparatively," Satoshi started. He paused and glanced up at Zach who frowned towards him, making Satoshi hold up a hand defensively, "Just based on that last fight, I mean."

Jackson's introduction video ended. The teens supposed the production of the tournament had made videos for each of the contenders that would only be shown if they passed the first round. There was likely more in store for Sanchez and whoever the winner of this fight would be too. Next the cameras in the arena shifted over towards Bobo Cambri's family though. The feel was different from when it showed DeCarlo's mother, his sister, and his sister's husband and two kids.

"At the fight tonight for Bobo Camrbi, coming all the way from the region of Tuscany in Italy, are his father, his mother, his two half-brothers, and his grandmother…" Next to the man the camera initially zoomed in on was a younger woman, Don Cambri's second wife who he had Bobo with alone. She was just a little older than Bobo's two older brothers who sat in the row behind their father, his wife, and their grandmother who was up on her feet and cheering as Bobo was being announced back into the arena.

The other American commentator for the tournament laughed and said, "Wow. For a woman of ninety-two years of age, she is really lively isn't she? She doesn't look her age at all."

Sero had just come out of the bathroom and walked up next to Zach behind the couch instead of going over to sit back on an armrest. His eyes opened wide after staring at the old woman on the screen for a few seconds though, and he turned his head to the side to Zach while Kirishima, Mineta, and Ojiro all looked over from other parts of his living room. Zach's U.A. friends knew the most about his Quirk, and the sight of this active old woman over ninety felt suspicious when Zach knew her family.

"Hey Zach," Mineta started. "You didn't, happen to…"

"Yeah," Zach replied with a nod, taking his eyes off the screen for a second then looking back at it as the show started the video of Bobo and his training for the fight.

"Wait, what?" Kotsumura looked back and forth from Mineta to Zach a couple times but couldn't put together what was being asked there.

"I brought the Don's mom back to life," Zach said. "She'd been senile for years, bedridden even longer, and now she's the pinnacle of health," Zach smiled while saying it, though his Shiketsu classmates were staring at him with huge eyes.

"What are you saying?" Reika started, her head turning more as she fully faced Zach in shock at the sound of this. "When you bring people back, you get rid of their illnesses?"

Zach nodded his head with a look down into Reika's eyes showing he meant it. "That's crazy," Satoshi whispered. "Then, wait," he got a hesitant, confused look on his face as he figured he must be wrong here. "Even if you were just bringing back super old people dying at hospitals and stuff, they'd still have a long time left to live afterwards?"

Zach didn't nod for a few seconds, focusing on the screen instead, then he said, "That's about right." His voice was lower as he said it, sounding like he wanted to shift the conversation to something else.

Satoshi spun back to the screen as he felt he just annoyed Zach. Others kept staring at him for a few seconds though, pondering the implications of all his power could do.

Considering how fast he got to Desusuta from school…

He could save just about anyone…

No matter what they die from, or where they are…

And yet he's just sitting here watching tv? Imino frowned while focused back on the screen himself, though he turned his head more so Zach would not see his upset expression there. He could be saving lives right now if he wanted. He's shown he can get away with it too. No one would tell him he can't. And yet, he's not. Why not? Why that old woman but not people who die every day around Japan? I don't get it.

The silence that followed Satoshi's question became less awkward as everyone focused on the video more interesting than Jackson's. The heading at the bottom as it showed the gym had 'Florence, Italy' written there to show where the camerawork had taken place. The gym did not look as nice as the one DeCarlo had been training in. It was smaller, but it looked more private by the way it had pictures of Bobo in Italy's title fights put up as posters on the walls. Bobo was standing in front of a small bag hanging in front of him and hitting with a focused flurry that made the small bag swing forward and back into his next punch over and over again. His swings were fast but his form maintained in each one showing the power in each hit was real strength.

Then the camera switched to show Bobo with a training partner up on the ring in the center of the gym. Bobo's opponent came at him and lifted a pad that he swung and made Bobo duck, then he called out body and put a pad there to block it. Bobo's swing came out of his rise from his crouch, and it made his trainer take a step back before swinging again to have Bobo duck and weave and hit all at the same time. The training was intense, and Bobo was focused despite what was going on at the sides of the ring.

One of Bobo's older brothers who had been shown at the L.A. arena was at the side of the ring with four other guys, all wearing wife beaters and sweats. The others had tattoos similar to the snake tattoo on Bobo's upper left arm, though most of them had more tattoos along with some piercings and gold teeth replacing teeth they had lost. Some had scars on their arms, and some of those scars weren't hidden by the tattoos. Two of the guys were over eight feet tall and would be considered mutants due to their horns and strange skin colors, and though Bobo's older brother himself was shorter and not as big as Bobo himself, he snapped something in an intimidating way at one of the big guys who shouted at Bobo during his training and distracted him for a moment.

The video switched to showing their interview of Bobo now at the side of the ring. There were subtitles on the bottom of the screen as he spoke in Italian, those subtitles were in English though and the stream Zach was going through did not translate them over. "I'm going to win," Bobo responded to the interviewer's first question. His voice was low but he smiled as he said it with a cocky look on his face. "That's all there is to it. Who my opponent is doesn't matter. I'll crush each of them and win the tournament."

"Sure is confident," Sero mentioned to his side.

"He's Italy's heavyweight champ," Zach replied. "But he's not as confident as he makes himself out to be. Part of that is an act for his opponent, part of it's just for his tv personality."

Reika looked over the couch at Zach with a raised eyebrow. Zach shrugged and lifted the left corner of his lip in a small grin, "I heard Don Cambri suggested it. Told his son he'd be more popular with that kind of personality. The fights get more attention when there's a lot of pre-fight beef."

"Don Cambri?" They called his father 'Emilio' earlier. Dendo watched the screen closely and got his answer at the interviewer's next question.

"…the scandals surrounding your father and brothers who were here earlier? Each of them have been brought up on several charges of racketeering, assault, and various other crimes."

"Lies," Bobo replied, his expression darker as he glared at the interviewer talking to him now. He brought back his cocky smirk again and asked while tilting his head back, "They were all found innocent, weren't they? Not enough proof?" Bobo's eyes narrowed at the interviewer's look when she opened her mouth ready to say something about rumors of threats against witnesses from old trials. "Innocent until proven guilty, am I wrong?" Bobo asked. For a guy who had looked like a blockhead when it came to anything except for fighting, only talking about the fight and looking interested in it, he was much too well-versed on the law.

"Here in Italy, the Cambri is a well-known 'family' who many of those men we met earlier were a part of. Will they be coming to the tournament in Los Angeles?"

Trying to trick Bobo, Zach thought with a frown at the interviewer talking to his boxer friend. He looks confused right there. Were you asking him about the prestige of his family, or is it really about who is coming to watch you? Unlikely they had the Don watch this first. Hopefully Bobo didn't say anything too stupid. No, even if he admits their notoriety, if he had said something damning then they would have been arrested already. Bobo's not that dumb.

"…and my Nonnina," Bobo finished as he listed who was coming. The term was in reference to his grandmother but by adding 'ina' at the end it became an endearing term for 'little grandma.' He looked happy while saying it, and Zach smiled more at the screen himself before dropping his smile at the next question.

"Speaking of your grandmother, we heard that she had been bedridden for over a decade. Yet we just saw her earlier-"

"A miracle," Bobo replied, shaking his head. "That she can come to America and watch me fight is all I could ask for." Bobo turned to the camera and punched his gloved fists together, "This one's for you."

The video-makers decided that was a good place to end their clip. They had edited a lot from their time in Italy to make a video like that, and as it switched back to showing Bobo's family in the stands to focus on the old woman herself, in the edges of the angle Bobo's brothers and father did not look pleased with how that editing went. A lot was left out, some things were edited around in ways that made the family look bad, but Don Cambri turned to his mother after a second and smiled with her as she saw herself up on the big screen above the ring. The nice old woman who looked not much older than her son but with a few more wrinkles put a hand to her mouth and blew a kiss that had most of the arena's spectators cheering for the old woman who had made such a "miraculous" recovery.

"That 'family' they were talking about," Ojiro began, looking towards Zach from his seat. He was hesitant about asking, especially while sitting down so it felt like more of a common conversation question than him asking something serious here. "Are they actually criminals?"

Zach shook his head side to side. "Nah," his expression got more serious as he said it, even while keeping the corners of his lips slightly up. "Not anymore." Zach's smile rose up more, and those who were looking back at him and thinking about what he just said turned back as the men of the next fight were entering back from the locker rooms to walk up to the stage. DeCarlo waved a fist around for the people cheering at him, but Bobo stared straight forward and his expression was darker. The people in Zach's apartment figured he had just seen the video too, which would make anyone angry considering how it had painted him in some of it compared to how kindly they treated Jackson through his interview.

The event coordinators are making use of Bobo's personality. They want to make a bigger deal around the fight too, Bobo. That's all it is. Get some drama in there. Don't actually get riled. Zach's hands curled into the top of his couch as he focused on his Italian friend who looked pissed. Maybe he's just doing the same. Zach saw Bobo heading past his older brothers who shouted towards him, and Bobo looked their way and gave a single nod before turning back ahead with single focus. His eyes locked on his opponent across the room before he even reached the stage, and he shrugged his shoulders to drop the coat draped over them that one of the posse walking behind him grabbed off the floor and ran to the side with.

"Zach," Sero started in a low voice to his friend on his right side. "What do you mean by 'not anymore?' Are those guys really villains?"

"It's not like that," Zach replied. "They didn't include a lot of things in that video I'm sure the Don talked to them about. The good works the Cambri's have been doing in Firenze, and around Italy with the other families. They're just trying to push this 'Bobo's the bad guy' image in here."

"Well, he's doing a good job of making us agree with that," Kotsumura admitted from the seat in front of Zach. "Dude, he looks pissed."

"He knows what he's doing," Zach said confidently. "He's just going along with their plan and image for him. Working along with their script." A few of Zach's friends looked towards him skeptically, but Zach added with a look towards each of them, "Seriously, he's a fighter sure, but this is the entertainment business. There's an amount of scripted-ness that comes with it."

"Why did you get to know this guy?" Kameko asked. Zach looked over, and he thought, There we go, while at the same time curling his lip a bit and hesitating upon the wording of that question. "It was about his family right? Was he in the mafia or something?"

"Bobo isn't," Zach said.

Immediately after specifying that, Reika snapped without looking behind her, "So the rest of them are?"

"It's not a mafia in the sense you're thinking of," Zach started.

"Where they extort and beat people, getting them charged for racketeering and other crimes? Where they probably paid off witnesses or threatened them to keep from getting caught?" Reika asked without missing a beat. "That kind of mafia?" She turned her head to the side and glared back at Zach through the corners of her eyes.

"Nope, not that kind of mafia," Zach replied with a calm look at the girl glaring at him for defending the villains. Reika's eyebrows lifted up and she turned back to the screen with an unenthusiastic 'oh.'

You believe that? Kirishima thought, darting his red eyes over from the chair he was sitting on now to the right of the couch.

"Bringing Mama Cambri back gave me my in with the Padres," Zach said, after looking around and 'noticing' how many of them were still thinking about it. "I knew Italy had a very structured underworld with the families in charge, and I wanted to meet with the heads of them," he explained. "The Dons, as they're known outside of the families."

So then from inside the family they're known as "Padres?" Imino wondered. Why call them that then? Why would you have said it like that?

Reika focused on the interaction between Bobo and DeCarlo once they were up on the stage inside the ropes. He's not going to touch gloves, Reika predicted as she looked from Bobo's face to the fighter she had picked herself. He's the son of a mafia boss? I hate this. Fuck, Zach. The fact that guys like them can go and enjoy high-life vacations and front seats like those celebrities. Using money they got in dirty ways. Being villains! Damn it. "And why'd you need to get in with them?" Reika asked. "Were you looking for someone?"

Kotsumura glanced to his side at Reika. Her tone was upset, but she also said something that confused him for a moment. Zach didn't stop them, so going through the mafias must have been for some bigger purpose. I get it. He must have used their network to find some worse villain hiding out in Italy or something-

I couldn't bring it up on my own. Someone had to ask, and no one did! That's why I pushed it- Lying to people and manipulating them isn't me! That's not who he is! Who I am… "No. I just had some business with them back in May right after I came back."

Kirishima ground his teeth and bowed his head a bit so his red bangs shadowed over his eyes. Ojiro could see the reaction of his classmate next to him and got a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Kirishima doesn't believe he was actually gone. It seems strange sometimes when he's done so much on Earth too since he left, but he mentioned the timeframe there and it's not impossible. He was spotted in Europe multiple times in the months right before he came back…

"What kind of business?" Dendo asked, his voice not suspicious and accusing, but just interested which received strange looks from all his classmates along with a couple U.A.'s.

Seriously?! Kirishima thought as he stared at Dendo in shock. What the hell happened between you?!

"Tell you after the fight," Zach said, focusing in as Bobo and his opponent approached for the starting of the match.

Dendo frowned for a moment at that response, but he shrugged and looked back to the screen himself. He doesn't need time to come up with a cover story. There was the possibility- no, the probability that this was going to come up today. He knows exactly what he's going to tell us already, which means it really is just a pause so he can watch the fight.

What kind of business did Zach have with the mafia? And, there's really an Italian mafia?! Mineta tried to refocus on the screen himself, but his anxiety and excitement over that conversation told him he was not going to be able to focus at all through it.

"As I thought," Reika muttered. Bobo just stared down his opponent as the referee told them to touch gloves, then the Italian turned and walked back to his corner with an intense focused look over his face. DeCarlo did not seem fazed as he had not been through his time looking at Bobo's angry expression. He just walked back towards his corner himself, tapped his forehead, chest, then each shoulder, and he turned around and stared across the ring with an intense look of his own as he was ready to go.

"You think your guy's got this?" Sero asked, focused on the fight himself. He figured there was no point wasting his time speculating about anything else if Zach was going to tell them anyway. The stats had popped up on the sides of the screen for both fighters when they stood side-by-side, and Bobo's win record and knock out counter were more impressive. He had several inches on his opponent and since they were in the heaviest weight class they had a huge range of weights the fighters could be, so Bobo was also over thirty pounds heavier than his lower-seeded foe. "He's bigger and has more reach," Sero said, suggesting it was looking good for him.

Reika smirked and was going to retort something to the boy standing behind her, but Zach spoke first, "That's the one thing I'm worried about." Sero looked at Zach in confusion, then the fight started and he turned back. The two fighters approached each other, and despite Bobo's demeanor before the fight began, he was being more cautious this time just as DeCarlo was. DeCarlo was the first to make for a more offensive strategy than just testing their range, and Zach continued as Bobo blocked, dodged, and threw some counters of his own without being too aggressive, "Bobo could get overconfident due to the size difference, but it seems he's got a handle on it. He looked a bit like he was going to rush in there, but he's in control."

A nasty hook landed on Bobo's face when he fell for a feint and blocked his body instead. His head snapped back forward and he ducked the next punch then went on the attack looking pissed with his mouthpiece showing through his snarling lips. "Hate to see out of control," Kotsumura joked. "But damn, that Bobo's quicker than he looks," Kotsumura laughed as DeCarlo seemed surprised by that too as he tried to get his rushing opponent into a similar punch as he had just gotten him in, only for Bobo to be expecting it this time. He was able to react and pull his head back, the punch just missing his face and turning DeCarlo's body sideways as he put a lot of momentum into it only to miss like that when he was confident he was going to get Bobo due to how close they were. Bobo twisted his body as he got back close again, and he hit down low but still above the belt. However, due to DeCarlo turning a bit, Bobo's hit came more around his back than on his side, nailing him right in the kidney.

"Hey!" Reika shouted.

"What?" Satoshi asked, pulling back and spinning to the girl on the couch who looked pissed.

Bobo pulled back and threw another punch that looked hard by the way DeCarlo winced again and his body jolted before he could pull back. Bobo had locked up his other arm when DeCarlo was trying to turn back, looking like as much an action to keep him close up as it was to make it look like the action was on the other side where the ref was to keep him watching there and not checking closely where those body shots were landing.

"Damn it Bobo," Zach growled. "Don't be an asshole, asshole," he grumbled the last part lower, while Reika snapped about how Bobo was doing dirty shots while the ref was not looking. DeCarlo had not fallen though, and the look on his face changed up a bit as he glared at Bobo with a real anger now showing back on his face too. Bobo glared back though, and the two of them went at each other only for the round to end after a couple blows. DeCarlo hesitated as he was readying a punch as the bell rang, then he turned back and walked away from the ref who got in the way but would not have been able to stop his punch in time, had he thrown it and pretended to have already been doing so when the round ended.

The announcers started arguing over whether Bobo knew what he was doing or not as they reviewed the first round and the most devastating hits of it. Some of Zach's friends got a deeper understanding of the rules of boxing, and more of them frowned as the camera showed Bobo again sitting in his corner and nodding along with what his trainers were telling him. One of them made a punching motion down low again, and Kameko said with a look towards Zach, "I've got to admit, I don't like Bobo Cambri."

"He's fighting dirty," Imino agreed.

"I still think, he'll probably win," Kotsumura said, though he said nothing about his opinion of the boxer.

He definitely did it on purpose. Shit, I can't even defend him here saying it could have meant to be body shots. We all saw it. Maybe the others didn't notice what he was doing to keep the ref from noticing, but I saw. "Bobo didn't finish his first fight as quickly as DeCarlo did," Zach started. Reika turned with a confused look to the boy behind the couch who was giving some strange defense for what they just saw. "He tired himself out more, and probably, he thinks DeCarlo might be better than him. Not saying he's right for those dirty hits, but, maybe he doesn't think he can win… I don't know. He's my friend though, so I'm still going for him." Long as he doesn't pull any more shit like that. Damn it Bobo, you're better than that.

"You said you were worried about Bobo being bigger," Sero began, before anyone else in the room could counter Zach and call him out for defending a guy like this. The second round was starting back up, and Sero asked Zach, "You mentioned it was because he could get cocky, but you made it out like there was another reason too."

"Yeah," Zach said and nodded at what Sero was getting at. "Bobo depends on his reach, but as agile as he might look for a guy his size, he reacts as if fighting someone his size. His hooks aim high on someone smaller making it easy for them to duck him. When I fought him he-"

"You fought him?" Sero asked in surprise.

"We boxed once," Zach replied with another nod. "And I noticed he was always going for the head, even when I left myself open to try and get him to test out some body shots. It was harder for him to reach down to my sides, punch ahead and down like that. Size difference usually works in favor of the bigger fighter, especially considering his agility, but Bobo only fights guys like him. DeCarlo looks like he's at the bottom of the weight class. He used to be the cruiserweight champ of America, but he moved up a weight class."

"He was the champ but still only got put third?" Kotsumura wondered.

"Moving into a weight class with huge guys and weighing less than all of them, big disadvantage," Reika said. She calmed down a bit from before as the fight going on now looked cleaner, with Bobo and DeCarlo going at it like a regular boxing match. Bobo had taken advantage of DeCarlo leaving a weak point wide open in the last round, but as DeCarlo left that area open again Bobo did not go for it. She wondered if Bobo could tell that DeCarlo was baiting him towards it, or if the Italian had second thoughts about the way he was fighting in the first round. She added while thinking about it though, "He's only fought a limited number of fights at heavyweight level, but his stats didn't distinguish between his wins as a heavyweight and his wins below."

"Wins and losses, it doesn't matter," Zach said, leaning forward and looking closer with a growing smile as Bobo got hook after hook past DeCarlo's raised guard he was trying to protect his head with. "They're both just focused on each other right now. And Jackson doesn't notice Bobo's weakness yet. Tunco didn't show him anything except that Bobo can take a beating. Ey!" Zach pulled his head back and yelled out as Bobo thought he was going to get another hook only to get railed with an uppercut under his chin that he was not protecting.

Zach pulled back from the couch and ground his teeth as Bobo got hit past his guard in the left cheek. His face vibrated around the punch with ripples going through his skin as his head knocked to the side, but he straightened back out and blocked the next hit. "Nice! Now back at- Lower the- Watch for the body shots! What are you doing?" Zach threw his hands up from the back of the couch, and his voice was starting to shift with a strange accent hinting into it. He waved a hand at the screen as DeCarlo hit Bobo below his guard in the sides over and over after the face shot that had Bobo pulling his guard higher. "Keep your guard low! What did I fucking tell you?! He's shorter than you!"

Bobo stepped back and avoided another hit coming for him. He stomped forward and threw a heavy punch at DeCarlo's head, but DeCarlo ducked down not much but enough to get below Bobo's high punch. "Basta! Get him- catso!" Zach leaned back and put a hand to his forehead as DeCarlo came up with an uppercut between Bobo's arms and slammed a fist into his unguarded chin.

Bobo's head snapped backwards, and Reika yelled out, "Get 'em!" Bobo's feet almost came out in front of him, but it looked like he was trying to stumble and keep himself up. Zach yelled at Bobo to counter, but DeCarlo Jackson did not give his opponent that chance. He stomped forward and slammed Bobo in the right side of the face, hooked so hard that Bobo's head bobbled while his body spun and he came off his feet. "Yeah!" Reika shouted, having gotten more into it in the last minute the more Zach was rooting loudly for Bobo.

"Nice hit," Satoshi added, glancing over his shoulder after saying it with a smug smirk at his classmate who was rooting for the other guy.

"Serves him right," Kirishima muttered, only smirking for a second before glancing towards Zach and getting angrier again. He glared back at the screen and the man down on the floor who rolled himself over onto his stomach as the ref started counting to ten. He's a villain. Everyone Zach met that whole year were villains- how the hell did he meet this guy while Death? Hold on…

"He's one tough bastard," Mineta admitted, leaning back in his chair while watching Bobo push his hands down on the floor to get to his hands and knees. The ref counted out 'FIVE' loudly, and Bobo smashed his right fist into the floor, punched his glove into it twice more, then he got up on shaky legs. "Nine… TEN!" The ref yelled it at the man standing in front of him who had yet to fully steady but was back on his feet. The ref looked into Bobo's eyes checking for a concussion, and he stepped right in front of the boxer who was trying to look past him at his opponent. "Hey! Hey are you- what's your name?!" The ref had to shout it over all the cheering or booing in the crowd, and Bobo pulled his eyes off his opponent to the ref screaming in his face. "What's your name?!" The ref shouted again.

As focused as Bobo was solely on his opponent, he could not keep fighting if he did not tell the ref the right answer. Bobo looked the ref in the eyes and shouted through the mouthpiece he had in, "CAMBRI!" The ref nodded and moved to the side, waving his arm and having them start back up the time.

"Get it!" Zach yelled out, leaning back forward over the couch with a grin appearing again on his face. He's fucked, but, Zach heard the yells out in the stadium Bobo was in get much louder as he got fully up this time. The blood coming down over his mouth from his nose, his swollen eye, he looked like battered shit. When the time started back up though, Bobo was the one moving forward… straight into a punch in the gut he missed to block his face instead. He lowered his guard to block the second body shot, but DeCarlo hit up in his face. Bobo stepped back, then he swung back forward with the momentum like he was on a pendulum, nailing DeCarlo as he came for his follow-up punch that went short as Bobo used his extra reach.

The connection of Bobo's fist with his opponent's face encouraged the Italian boxer. He heard the cheers too, and he went for a combo on that hit- His decreased vision because of his squinted swollen eye, meant that he couldn't see the fist hooking around on that side until it had lodged full-speed into the side of his face. "Ohh!" Zach leaned his head back and lost his grin, shaking his head as Bobo fell to the ground, moving a lot less this time than the last one.

"Those body shots, they tired him out," Zach said, still looking at the screen but moving his head a little closer to Sero's as he explained it.

"He really took a beating there," Sero agreed, glancing at Zach oddly but just accepting it at this point. "And, when you fought him, did you win?" Zach looked to the corner of his eyes and flashed a small grin at Sero as if saying 'Do you even have to ask?' Sero specified though, as he wondered if Zach actually fought him in a ring or if it was while fighting villains, "In a boxing match?" Zach nodded this time, understanding why Sero needed to specify it.

"And that's it! Bobo Cambri was unable to get back up in the time allotted, DeCarlo Jackson advances to the finals…"

Zach sighed while looking back at the screen. He did not think Bobo was getting up after that last one, but it was still disappointing to hear getting called out. "I told him to be more careful against shorter opponents. It's how I got past his guard- hahh," Zach just sighed and he rose his right hand to rub his forehead for a second. "He could've gotten DeCarlo if he just relaxed a little and focused on guarding. He's durable enough that if he could just block better, he could have-"

"The only reason it was close was because of those early kidney shots," Reika retorted at Zach as he was giving excuses. As much as Zach was analyzing flaws and talking like someone who knew a lot about boxing, Reika snapped back at him, "He's a dirty fighter, and he got what was coming to him."

Zach grunted and frowned but did not try to defend Bobo there. Just that much pissed off a couple people though, with Kirishima standing and glaring back at his old classmate who grimaced more and sweatdropped at Kirishima's look. "What? Is that wrong? He fought dirty, just like you'd expect from a mobster. Right?" Kirishima glared at Zach after asking, waiting for Zach to correct him here.

As if on cue, the announcers started talking about the Cambri family again. The camera pointed to the stands where Bobo's dad had gotten rowdy, and people around their seats were yelling at him with him and his sons yelling right back at them. "…that the Camrbi family is infamous across Italy. Emilio Cambri, otherwise known as 'The Don,' has been a suspect in many investigations that wound up being dropped." Zach frowned more at the screen as everyone looked back at it while hearing that. They were probably waiting to talk more shit on his family if he made it to the finals. Got to get it all in now, huh? Assholes.

Ojiro shook his head and he stood up too. He said in a calmer and less confrontational voice than Kirishima's, "I agree, Zach. That Bobo is not a good fighter. In professional fighting you don't do something like he did at the start of that fight. It's unsportsmanlike-"

"It's cheating," Kameko said, going to the next step with it. "And you're friends with the guy?"

"They're mobsters," Kotsumura said, looking back at Zach with an eyebrow raised, wondering if Zach wanted to change up his affiliation with them now. Zach's unfazed look made Kotsumura add, "They're in the mafia."

Zach looked down into Kotsumura's eyes. He shrugged at his friend awaiting an explanation, and he responded, "So what?"

"So they're villains!" Kirishima snapped, a pissed-off look covering his face. A couple of the people in Zach's apartment looked to him hesitantly for his tone right there, but most of them were just frowning at Zach for responding like that. "Why the fuck are you saying that like it's totally fine?"

"Zach," Ojiro started. He looked towards Zach who stood behind the couch getting accosted by everyone seemingly, even though Sero was still just standing there right next to him and had not backed off. Sero was watching Zach closely wondering similar questions of his own, he just wasn't snapping them like many of the others at his friend. He even looked towards Kirisihima with a semi-frown that Kirishima was being so confrontational right now to the point of cursing at Zach. Ojiro continued though, "Why are you friends with such a guy as Bobo?"

"Sure, those hits were bad," Zach started. "But you can't call a guy a shitty person just because he did a couple unsportsmanlike hits in a fight, and for the rest of the fight he fought fairly he just, he just messed up there for a minute."

"He's in a mafia family-" Reika started.

"And doesn't that make Bobo more impressive?" Zach asked, looking back to Reika and frowning at her. She froze and stared at him in confusion instead of the accusatory way she had been. She looked at him with a frown but confused eyes, trying not to show that she had just gotten lost. Kirishima had more of a blank and angry expression on his face as he tried to make sense of that but couldn't figure it out. Zach continued before anyone could question him on it though, "He's born into a mafia family, the son of one of the Dons, and yet he followed his own passion and got into boxing. Sure, he's rough around the edges because the company he keeps is an Italian mob," Zach turned and looked to the left side of the room at Kameko and Imino who had been looking at him harshly, and to Dendo for a moment who he was surprised had waited to let Zach give his explanation before judging.

Kotsumura eased up his expression that had almost gotten harsh there for a second. Zach looked back and down at him anyway, "But here he is acting out his violence in a legal setting, making his money legitimately before the rest of the mob was. He could have been pressured into running the mafia, being a bigger part in it, the family business. But he didn't. He did what he wanted and became a pro boxer even with such a powerful mental Quirk- Persuasion." Zach grinned and looked back at Kirishima, a dark look in his eyes despite his smile, "He never wanted to use it on people, so he didn't study very hard and instead actively made an effort to make everyone think he was too dumb to use his Quirk well, and he took himself out of a position where it would matter that he could use it." Zach glared harder at the redhead in front of him whose eyes had just opened wide like everyone else in the room who glanced back at the tv where Bobo was getting treated as a mafioso. He was being insulted as the bad guy, a villain, and his family was being criticized while he was bloody and getting helped to the locker room.

After most of his friends looked back at the screen, Zach looked there himself. He listened to them treating DeCarlo as some sort of miracle worker to pull out a win despite his opponent's "villainous" tactics he used in the fight. "A don of the Italian mafia with the power of Persuasion could have been a horrible enemy, an evil villain so powerful, and yet despite who he was and the Quirk he was born with, Bobo chose his own path. So why again is he a bad guy? Because he got riled up in a boxing match and made a mistake? Because he hit someone too hard… in a boxing match?" He added the second part referring back to the first fight where he saw most of his guests already judging Bobo from the end of that fight.

"It's not just about hitting him too hard," Ojiro said, seeing what Zach was referring to and defending his own feelings back when it happened. "It was unnecessary-"

"Maybe you don't watch the sport that often," Zach started to his former classmate who hesitated as that was the truth Zach began with. "So it seems like a terrible thing he did, but sometimes the setting just gets to their heads. They're in a one-on-one fight getting cheered on every time they hit their opponent, the guy's hitting him back and if he doesn't take him down for good then he'll get hit again, the environment around them has them going from one second in the middle of an intense fight and we're shocked when they aren't immediately able to pull themselves out of it?"

"Makes sense," Sero admitted. He shrugged his shoulders, and he added when Zach looked at him, "I'm guessing he's been in some fights that weren't just boxing matches too. From the look of those scars, he's seen some fights that didn't have the same strict rules about where he can hit…" Zach already started nodding before Sero was finished, as he believed that was likely a reason Bobo did not hold back much and did those dirty shots. He just, forgot he wasn't allowed. He's not malicious. Even if he didn't forget, his attitude just got to him… I can't really defend him there, but I'm not going to let them treat you like a villain too just because of that.

A couple of the others admitted that it sounded like Bobo could have turned out a lot worse. There was a break between this fight and the finals, so a lot of them got up and started for the kitchen or the bathroom, or to just get out of this awkward situation where it felt like they had put Zach on blast in his own home. Zach thought for a moment when they were all getting up, That worked as expected- Bobo really isn't a bad guy. I do care about that. "Bobo really helped me out," Zach said to Sero who he had turned to and who he felt still wanted something else to defend why Zach was friends with this guy, as what Zach had said so far was more just defending that he was not that bad of a person. "Working with Don Cambri was easy because of his mom and how angry she got when she was up and about, hearing what her son had been up to for decades. But it was Bobo who really helped me convince his dad and close family that being legit could work."

"What do you mean by that?" Sero wondered.

Zach smiled softly, "I'll explain in a bit, but Bobo was really helpful to me in what I was doing over there. He didn't want to lose his sponsors, and he didn't want his family getting arrested, and the mobs all loved him for representing them out as a fighter who didn't care that the media and more-renowned boxers were all criticizing him for where he came from." Zach paused for a second, and he thought of how he saw that bloody Bobo up on his shaky legs shout his name 'Cambri' in such a proud way at the ref. He had not heard it, but he read Bobo's bloody lips and it made him smile during the fight even though he suspected Bobo was about to lose. "When I finally accepted to fight the 'mob's champion' in an exhibition match, it was more of a thank you to Bobo than anything. I knew Bobo wanted to fight me, and I think the only reason I was able to turn the mob as quickly as I could was due to Bobo's help."

Kotsumura had tried to start up a conversation with his friends still on the couch, but he had stopped talking and just listening in instead to Zach behind him. He could not help himself, and despite how much in what Zach just said confused and interested him, he spun and asked with an amazed look, "An exhibition match with the 'mob's champion?' Did that really happen?"

Zach grinned back at the blond who reacted like that was as crazy as some of the other stories Zach had told him. "Found out I was one hell of a boxer."

"Oh really?" Reika asked. Zach looked to her, and he was glad her tone sounded back to usual as cocky and arrogant as it was. "So then, Mr. Boxer, who's got the next fight? Jackson or Sanchez?"

"I know who you want me to say, and you're right, my money's on Sanchez-" Zach paused, and he laughed and shook his head at the way he worded that. "Not that I'm putting money on this one. I don't like to gamble, not unless it's a sure thing. Wasn't going to bet on Bobo though. Not in this tournament at least, the competition was too good in each-"

"Have you, gambled before?" Satoshi asked. He talks way too calmly about stuff like this!

Zach glanced around at the others still around him. "Well," he began. Might be illegal to do. Problem with only hanging around heroes. "Not often, but I mean, I did in my fight against Bobo." Zach smirked and added, "I made a quick buck betting on myself there. That was while I was vigilanty-ing around though, so no more gambling for me," Zach finished by crossing his arms in front of his chest and speaking half-seriously, which got a laugh out of a couple of his friends.

Satoshi sweatdropped and thought, Like gambling was the worst he was doing at the time. The idea that Zach gambling was some horrible thing did not make much sense when he put it that way, and the other things that they each thought about when Zach pushed it that direction were things they had each thought about for a long time already and no longer got awkward around Zach thinking about.

As Zach worked his friends, he thought to himself, Even if it wouldn't be illegal to call up a bookie in Vegas, or have L gamble for me and then send me more money- gambling can be addictive. Stop thinking about it. I have money. Don't do that anymore. Even if it is pretty fun. I'm sure those other things I don't do are fun too… Stocks are like gambling though. I'm betting that my stocks will rise. Though, it's not a bet if you know…

There were much longer intros for the finals than they had for the earlier rounds. Armenio Sanchez had become known as the "dark horse" of the competition, going from the lowest seed to fighting 3rd ranked DeCarlo Jackson in the finals. Reika elbowed Zach in the side after getting up during the long intros that had extra clips attached, and she mentioned how she was "ready" to bet on DeCarlo she was so convinced he was going to win. Zach did not know if she was trying to mess with him and get him to agree only to call him out on it, or if she really was ready to start gambling herself, but he decided against playing along with it and just said he wasn't too confident Sanchez was going to beat her fighter.

Imino walked over with Kameko close to when the fight was starting. He had heard Zach mention something to the others and told Kameko who wanted to take part in the conversation, and Zach repeated what he just told the others about his time in Italy. As much as some of them were invested in the finals and how this tournament was going to end, more of them cared more about what Zach had done in Italy. They asked things about the tiny details or words he used before while talking about Bobo to figure out more of what he had been doing there, and even when the fight finally started Zach just kept talking about Italy because they kept asking him about it.

"…I mean hey, Garbaldi and Picciano might've been known for some bad stuff, but it wasn't my job to arrest them. I just did things my own way, which I admit was the wrong way looking back on it," Zach paused and looked around a friend's shoulder towards the tv not many of the people around him were looking at. It had become less of a watch party and more everyone just up and talking to each other, mainly to him. The few still in his sitting area had gotten into it more, and Kotsumura sat next to Reika cheering for Sanchez and getting competitive with the girl Zach heard him say 'Tiona' to in a moment that caused him to crack a grin again. "…But ultimately, where did you guys think I was going? What did you think I was going to do?" Zach looked at Mineta and Sero who stared at him in some surprise as it seemed like he was referencing the Lifebringer Incident and the moment he left.

"Not that," Sero replied after a second, and he laughed as he shook his head. "I guess being a vigilante though wasn't just showing up to fight villains with heroes. You did some crazy stuff out there."

"If you knew they were committing crimes though," Mineta started after listening to how Sero replied. He hesitated when Zach turned to him, then he finished with a brave face on, "Why not call heroes? Call in an anonymous tip," Mineta suggested it like it was a great idea. Zach frowned though looking unsure of it, and Mineta started in a more encouraging way, "You wouldn't have to say who you were. I know you usually didn't call the heroes, with the small drug dealers you talked about scaring…" Mineta hesitated as he noticed some of the Shiketsu people around him look his way or start frowning a little more. He continued quickly while trying not to get sheepish as he just said something that might not have been his to share, "But those were big time villains weren't they?"

"As big as Italy had left," Zach admitted. "But this was already in May that it was happening. If it was just a little earlier I probably would have, but they were ready to change up and didn't take much of a push after all that apparently happened in March and April. Tens of thousands of villains getting caught both months, so many villain incidents records were being broken daily, and prisons are still full. It was crazy coming back to that," Zach shrugged and tilted his head to the side as he mentioned it. "I thought I was ready to turn myself in right after I came back, but I told myself that because of all those records broken in April that I should help if there are that many villains still around. There were just so fewer though in May, and even less in June, and I finally admitted that I was just too afraid to come back after all I had done and said. Even after coming back, I still… wasn't ready to face you guys."

"That's why you wouldn't see us when we came to visit you in Tartaros?" Sero asked quietly. He had avoided the topic so far as he was salty about it and didn't want to get in a fight with Zach. Hearing him say that though made him think about why it was Zach had turned them away, which made him frown more in the present as he had just been able to blame Zach at the prison those days when the guards wouldn't give him a reason because Zach wouldn't give them one. Guess he's gotten over the fear of seeing us though… or more like, he was forced to. We got him out of jail early, and if we hadn't he probably still wouldn't have met with any of us. That's not cool. No! Though, I guess even Zach's afraid of something? Was meeting with us really scarier than all that other stuff he was doing? I guess, if I had left like he did, then I never would have been able to come back here. I'd probably be too ashamed, Sero stared less harshly at Zach as he thought that, wondering if Zach felt any shame at all for what he was saying and defending himself over.

The fight ended with Sanchez's win while Zach was talking to his friends. The day had gotten awkward around midway through the second round, and Kirishima snapped at Zach after the final fight that he should tell heroes everything he did in Italy with those mafias. He had been listening in to the conversation but did not take part in it, and what he said caused a brief silence in the room as most people thought he was right and Zach should do that. "No," Zach responded after the few seconds of silence in his apartment. Kirishima ground his teeth in even more anger, and though Zach tried to give an explanation that there was no proof or anything anyway, even when he was there himself which was one of the reasons he couldn't just call the local heroes, Kirishima was done listening. He said he was heading out without much of a goodbye, and he went and grabbed his coat and things to go.

The final fight was over, so the other U.A. students did not have a great reason to try and get Kirishima to hold on. Sero sighed, as he had had to convince Kirishima to come only for it to end up this way. He told Zach he was going to head off too then, and Mineta and Ojiro agreed to leave as a group then. As they were heading out though, Dendo asked Zach if he wanted them to head out too, to which he responded that he was fine having them all over longer. Kirishima was the first one out the door, but the other three about to leave looked back and saw Zach sitting in his living room with the rest of the Shiketsu people sitting around him. Their homes were closer, they had no curfew, and they would be seeing Zach almost every day for the next few months. As much as they had mixed feelings about Zach and all he had been up to over the year he was gone, Ojiro, Mineta, and Sero all felt a twinge of sadness and jealousy upon their last look back where Zach and the others said goodbye to them.

He's a Shiketsu guy now.

Wish you were coming back with us.

Oh shit, Mineta thought, in a much more nervous way than the other two with him who turned to head out the door. Mineta stared into the room nervously and then spun around and shut the door behind him, We're going to have to fight Zach in that joint training?! He's going to tell them all our weaknesses! That's probably what he's doing right now!

Despite Mineta's thoughts being what Sero would call 'paranoia' when Mineta brought it up on the train back to Musutafu; while he was first thinking it, Dendo was questioning Mineta's former classmate, "So Grape Juice's Pop-Offs, is there any way to get unstuck from them quicker once they're attached?" Zach grinned at his new class, and each of the Shiketsu students grinned back.

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A/N Thanks for reading. Sorry for the super long break. Had to drive home from Mississippi, meet with all my friends... really just excuses I've got down here. Real problem was this chapter was just tough to write, but hey the next one's looking quick so I'll try to get it out by this weekend! Anyway, Zach has the boys (and Reika) over for fight day! Wasn't the most happening this chapter, but I feel like sometimes my non-action chapters that are all just dialogue are way too much sitting down and talking than normal high schoolers do. Felt the boxing tournament was a good way to get them together outside of just another talk sesh. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review below telling me what you think, comments, questions, and predictions for what's coming! Been around a year of writing this story now, and I thank all of you for sticking around with it, following, faving, and reviewing over the past fun year of coming up with it! To another great one!

Super Power Sensei chapter 158 . May 25

I've been thinking a lot about this fanfic; about the idea of stories themselves. Game Of Thrones recently aired its final episode and while I never watched the show, I have heard all the disappointment and outcry from fans of the series. The ending rushing to a conclusion, plot holes created, and characters being inconsistent are all common criticisms. But the biggest one, among hardcore fans at least, is that the show lost its identity. Game Of Thrones started as one thing, but over time became something different, something they consider WORSE. That's what I hope this fanfic DOESN'T do.
When I saw this fanfic for the first time and read the summary, I dismissed it completely. I thought you were just some 14 year old outcast who really likes my hero but also wants to be edgy. It wasn't until one day after work, I was irritated and bored, when I finally gave this fic a chance. "This person updates it quite often and it has 63 chapters...might as well make sure it's trash before I erase it from my memory". Didn't even start at the beginning of the story. Skipped straight chapter 28 to see if it was worth my time and...you should be able to guess what happened since I'm typing this. Took me a week and a half to read from the beginning to chapter 63 where you trolled us. Heartbroken best describes my state of being back then and just when I was starting to move on you put out another chapter. "I'm in love with this story." And what captivated me so much was and IS the idea of a character in the fictional world of a show/manga I really like. A character who suffers from the worst of mental, physical, and emotional pain, but against all odds rises above thier tormentors and achieves victory and freedom. THIS concept is what enticed and kept me reading YOUR story. Now I might have been wrong and this story is really about Zach finding out who he is. However, to say I'm COMPLETELY wrong isn't quite true either(at least I don't think so). My point is right now this fanfic shows signs of going in a direction that is not only different from where it started but also worse.
It would suck if this turned into a typical "stop the main character from going too far using the power of friendship". You told me in a past response that I was on the nose when I mentioned the "power of friendship" being used as a theme/plot point during the end which I still believe is fine(as long as it follows the logic of the story). All (good)STORIES serve a point but I really don't want it to be the MAIN theme/point of THIS story. If it's a side theme then all is well.
But the MAIN one, in my opinion, should revolve around an underdog (no parents, barley any money, distant relatives, non-versatial quirk) whose been dragged through hell (tragic backstory, prosecuted by authority and colleagues, lied to by his idol, abandoned by his idol, lost loved ones, PTSD, physical torture, betrayed by best friend, guilt complex, etc.), but still rises to the top (severely nerfing the LoV, creating AoD, becoming one the strongest and most popular in the world, giving broken/misguided people a will, home, and/or purpose, hero of the people)using willpower (Zach moving before anyone else in the room where Kaminari betrayed everyone), sacrifice (becoming better from mistakes, suffering to bring back the dead, giving up his life, his friends, even sanity), and of course the power of death.
Now this is your fanfic so write whatever it is you wish. These are just my thoughts.

I think the people disappointed in GoT's ending were just a lot louder than the ones who liked it. A bunch of my friends raged about it, but I felt it was a nice wrap-up that could have done better. This story will end much better, so don't worry so much. Won't spoil anything by giving my thoughts on themes and plots as it'd probably give people ideas as to what kind of endings are coming here, or I might just mess up and hint at it in a response to all that. I do enjoy that description of Zach as the underdog though, and it's pretty awesome thinking about him as one and seeing where he went from it. Still room to grow more though, and I hope you guys don't think Zach is a perfect person. Because I don't think he is. As much as he's done so much good, from the very start I've tried to pronounce not just his victories but his failures too, his faults (that most of us can just overlook knowing everything, but that he and most people in that world see), and I've never really said that Zach's way of looking at everything is right. We see all his reasoning and why he made all his decisions, and because we've seen more of his reasoning than anyone else's for why they disagree, I feel it's easy to side with Zach at all times. That's what I've loved about this story the most (reason I'm mentioning it here because you were saying what you really like about this), that the character I made just felt so human to me. And it's tough writing someone like that, but at the same time easier? Because he does screw up, but he learned from those mistakes and continues to learn from them... Anyway! Long review, followed by long response, but I think what I'm getting at is more that there's still a lot left and a lot of room to grow and continue building off current plot lines and what's going on. So comparing it to Game of Thrones that just ended, I'd hold off on that. Thanks for the review!

Hello chapter 158 . May 24

I'm surprised we haven't heard anything of the AoD, Though you seem to have hinted that they have been active offscreen. I guess that's to emphasise zachs separation from death, or just nothings happened. Also, wouldn't Internet guy and or darling be able to easily communicate with him?

Main reason is because AoD doesn't like to be recognized. The world doesn't really care about them that much, not nearly as much as they should I mean based off all they've done. Zach kept most of what he was doing with them secret. Called in tips, left unconscious villains for heroes, taking out villains (Stain) and just making no note of it so it never got any attention at all. Back the last time we heard about them, they made some noise after Zach turned himself in, and the news said that people in those areas where the AoD came had been brought back to life, which Zach considered his comrades did intentionally to help him out with not being suspected as Death. Without good purpose for popping up though, I don't think there's much reason for them to show up, and getting in contact with Zach after going to that effort to make him seem unrelated to them would be counterproductive too. Just a couple reasons. Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

GuestP chapter 158 . May 24

Aww, poor Zach. Forever alone... ;-;
(If he doesn't get with somebody, I'm flipping this fucking table out of the window and to the fucking freeway)
Kiri is actually gonna make-up with Zach, and also, UA friends meet up with Shiketsu friends!~ *Tension?*
Ahhh, I know it's bad to say. But. I really want Zach to be Death again, like, I don't know what his plan is. Is he trying to lure a certain someone out? I DONT KNOW ANYMORE! (I really wish I could binge read this again but I can't , I cri.)
Anyway, loved this chapter, and can't wait for the next one!~

Kirishima making up with Zach... well, they did talk a couple of times. ;X wasn't exactly what Kirishima was hoping for, and Zach telling them about his time in Italy didn't help much with that. Some U.A. x Shiketsu tension in there, some thought of Death in the bathroom- but still Zach just being Zach. It sucks that Zach doesn't just stand there and tell us what his master plan is, right?! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter, wonder if you got any more hints as to what he's really thinking? And thanks for the review!

Pringles Can Mafioso chapter 158 . May 30

After 2 weeks of binging I finally got from Chap 110 to 158. Sometimes I get hella sick of it and other times I get hella hyped. I love how I can't tell if Zach is being overestimated or underestimated by the others cause you really can't expect what he's gonna do next, be chill or the next literal satan.
Anyways good job, keep up the good work, love ya.

Awesome! Glad you're all caught up now. Not all the chapters can be gems of plot-twisty epic-battly goodness, but I'm happy you're enjoying the work and hope you keep liking it! 3 u too!

Artamos and Co chapter 158 . Jun 4

Hey, I was wondering if you would do a non Canon series of what ifs surrounding this fic. Like maybe when this is all over, then if you want to you can write mini fics that revolve around things like, what if raijin truly broke zach or if zach never became a hero, or if the villains finally made zach into a villain and all sorts of other bullshit. Just an idea, you do whatever you want.

Hey, thanks for reviewing. As for your question, probably not. The end of this story is coming... but it's still going to be a long time before I finish it. Can't make any promises for what I'd do after, and I think if I pick a part of this story and try to diverge on a different path I might just realize it could've been better. Fanfic-ing my own work just feels a bit strange I guess. Sorry, but still lots of Death to go! Hope you enjoy the canon story, and thanks again to you and everyone who reviews and reads this story!