Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 175:

"Oh how the mighty have fallen!"

Kirishima and Sero looked down the road past the turn towards their front door. Monoma had his head tilted back and looked down his nose towards the Class A students, a big smirk on his face that pissed off the two he just called to more than the also smug grins on Monoma's three fellow classmates' faces. "What's wrong, Class A? Losing to Shiketsu, you make all of U.A. look bad! Class B beat Class 2 by the way, in case you haven't heard."

"We heard," Sero replied, not getting down by it and just chuckling at Monoma's attempt at a go at them. He headed for the door of his dorm, and he said behind him, "Let it go."

Kirishima ground his teeth harder but then humphed and followed after Sero for the door inside. It was worse for the redhead, because the retort he came up with immediately, was an excuse about how Class B did not have to face Zach. The idea of that being the reason they lost though pissed off Kirishima to no end. He ignored Monoma's continued calls after him though on his way in, and he let out a sigh as he made it through without snapping at him. Then his eyes narrowed immediately in a darker way and his head turned towards the couch area where a group of their other classmates all looked upset and pissed at the television in front of them.

"What did they just say?" Kirishima asked, marching towards the closest couch where Mineta and Tsuyu glanced back to see him.

"How'd they even find out?" Tokoyami wondered.

"Those Class 1's totally told everyone-" Mineta started. Then he frowned, and he added, "Or it could have been someone else from Shiketsu too, or their families and friends… or a lot of people, really," he admitted it at the end in a reluctant tone.

Asui looked to her side and nodded in agreement with Mineta. Did he go back, because we're supposed to be friends with the Class 1 students now? Or at least, he's trying not to exacerbate the former rivalry. That's, very responsible of you? Asui looked back at the screen and though upset about what was being said, she did smile softly for a moment, You keep changing, Mineta-chan. For the better.

"Class B beat Class 2 again," Sero started to the others in his class. "I heard from Pony earlier, it was an even bigger margin than they won last year."

Sato curled his fists into his knees looking angrily at the screen, then he stood up fast and spun around. He marched towards the door and put on his shoes, muttering something about going out to train. He didn't even beat me! He swarmed me with all those classmates- Why did you use it on Sero and not me?! Was I not worth the trouble?

"Hey, turn it up," Sero started, leaning over the couch and looking to Aoyama on the middle couch next to Tokoyami who he saw had the remote.

Aoyama turned the volume up more and everyone on the first floor stared with wider eyes at the news hosts talking about the rumors of how Shiketsu's Class 1 had defeated Class A in a mock battle during their schools' joint training. "…Does this mean that Lifebringer is the top hero prospect over Deku, despite Deku winning the Sports Festival this last year?"

"That has been a telling sign in recent years, as it was for Fantasma in the year prior who has just recently broken into the top 10 hero leaderboard at rank ninth."

"And that's even more impressive when you consider how much time she and Miruko have spent abroad on raids that don't count as heavily towards the Hero Billboard Chart JP."

"She's one of the most popular heroes in the country too though, and that factors in-"

"Well if it's popularity we're talking about, I think Lifebringer would have the lead over Deku too. Our reporter on the scene in Yutapu was asking around to see what people thought about Class 1 of Shiketsu defeating Class A of U.A. Takagi-san, are you there?"

The screen switched to show a reporter holding over one ear and nodding his head along. After the second delay it took for the sound to reach him, he started, "Yes! I am here in Yutapu City with some very happy residents." The camera panned a little to show a group of over ten people who had gathered about, with more walking past and behind them in a busy section of Yutapu, and some more people heading over to check out what was going on. "Can you tell us what you think about Lifebringer defeating his former Class A of U.A in a recent joint training between-"

"Go Lifebringer!"

"Look!" One of the girls on the screen ran forward and spun around while looking over her shoulder at the camera. She grabbed her gray sweatshirt by the shoulders and pulled the fabric to the sides to spread out the message on the back of her shirt, which said 'LIFEBRINGER' and had a large number 1 in the background in black. "He's the best!"

"I heard he beat all of Class A on his own!"

"I heard he beat Deku and Explosion King fighting together-"

"No way."

"So you," the reporter started quickly, jumping on the opportunity to talk to someone with a different opinion. "Don't feel the same way?"

It was an older woman who was there with excited kids, and she held up a hand defensively as everyone started looking her way accusingly. "I am happy Lifebringer is back, but let's not go so far there. Class A is full of the best hero recruits in the nation. I don't think Lifebringer on his own could-"

"He beat the Subspace Devils all on his own too!"

"And he killed Kurogiri-"

"Alright, well I think we can all see that Lifebringer has his fans here in Yutapu, though I wish we had a statement from Lifebringer himself to hear how things really went at the training with his former class. Back to you at the station."

"Thanks Takagi-san. I wish we had that too," one of the hosts said to the other who agreed strongly with that. "But Lifebringer just refuses to make media appearances. He is one of the strongest heroes in the nation by my guess, so the excuse that it's too dangerous just does not make sense to me…"

The hosts continued talking about Lifebringer, and they moved off of the topic of the joint training that the students of Class A were all listening for. A conversation like the one they moved to was one the teens had heard a hundred times before and were tired of already. At least when that guy mentioned Kurogiri, more of the people around him distanced themselves. Even the girl with the Lifebringer sweatshirt seemed a little off-put there, Tokoyami felt satisfied with that at least, and he hummed to himself wondering why that satisfied him. I am upset at him for what he did that night, however he is, doing good back here. Choosing to return and do things the right way, again, if that is truly what you have decided to do… As Death though? You are Death, I thought. I really thought it, and I know Midoriya still thinks I believe as strongly but I don't. "Exodus." The mention of that one name made me doubt myself again though. Your story was so thorough and detailed, yet if all the characters were from a different world we could never get to, there would be no reason to change the names around to protect them. It is a difficult thing, trusting your motives for being here when I cannot trust a word out of your mouth.

Du-du-du-du Du-du-du-du Du-du-du Ch. The black square at the top right of Power Loader's screen filled with the image of someone else joining the video call, just as Grappler had entered on the top left. "Power Loader?" Roady wondered, looking at the U.A. teacher and pro hero in some surprise at the sudden call. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing," Power Loader assured the two former heroes on the call with him. He looked to Grappler who only did some training at his old agency building now and private lessons for people wanting to learn how to use their Quirks defensively. Then he turned to Roady who actually had switched agencies to work at Ryukyu's with his wife, Popfire. Roady was still just part of the support team though and not an actual sidekick, as the prosthetic right leg he had was not combat capable. "But I wanted to show the two of you this," he continued, and he moved his left arm forward that the other two stared at with their eyes opening wide.

The last time they had been in a video call together had been with one more person. The other two were reminded of it the moment they got the call from Power Loader, but they had both hung up that day before hearing Zach and Power Loader finish their conversation. "You got one-" Roady started, only to stare closer and in shock as Maijima had called them while in a tank top in the Costume Development Studio at U.A. He turned his left arm over, rolling it in its socket so the arm looked completely real to the other two watching him. "That's, a fake arm?"

"It's impossible to tell the difference between that and your right," Grappler agreed, his voice in shock as he leaned close to the screen he had accepted the call on with his nose. He was at home sitting at his dining room table by himself, and he took in a sharp breath as Power Loader opened his palm and curled all of the fingers individually in a smoother movement than his former prosthetic had been able to. "I've been testing it out for a couple weeks now," Power Loader admitted to the other two. "And I've tried to recreate it myself over a dozen times only to come up short. The technology is beyond anything I'm capable of making. Sazaki tells me there's a Cyborginization Quirk that these kind of prosthetics rely on for the nerve connections and pain receptors."

"That arm can feel pain?" Roady asked, an eyebrow risen partly in disbelief and partly wondering why that would be a feature.

"To an extent. It can feel hot and cold. The skin is stronger than my own though," Power Loader paused while curling his left fingers all into a fist. He opened the fist and all five of his fingers opened up at the top, iron extensions coming off of them that were blunt and shaped exactly like the Iron Claws on Power Loader's other hand. "And I can use my Quirk with it," Power Loader finished. "Something my old prosthetic could never handle. This arm is stronger than steel and more versatile than any human arm. It, it feels like I've gotten an upgrade, if I do say so myself."

Roady and Grappler both looked at a corner of the screen where something just rose up over Power Loader's shoulder, then ducked down quickly before Power Loader could look back from his arm to the tablet in front of him that had a reflection of himself over most of it. Who was that? Roady wondered, his eyes shifting to Power Loader's left side and the arm the person who popped up for a second had been staring at with googly eyes.

"I just needed to call you two," Power Loader began again, looking at the two men on the screen with him in a slightly more serious way. "Because I feel like you denied the kid too quickly."

"Power Loader," Roady began. His tone was respectful but his expression dark, "What Zach did-"

"I'm not talking about changing your views towards him or ignoring the stuff he's done," Power Loader said, holding up a palm defensively, his left palm. He shook it and then curled the fingers again in a way that made Grappler stare yearningly and gulp with his heart racing at the sight of it. "But this arm is seriously the greatest piece of technology I've ever gotten my hands on, and the ones who sent it to me wouldn't charge me since it was Sazaki who asked them to make it. I haven't paid a cent," Maijima lowered his arm and looked expectantly at the two heroes on the call with him who had so many reasons to take the offer now, and so few to deny it.

"It's up to you, but I think-" Power Loader saw something duck back on the corner of his tablet, and he started turning his head with his eyes opening wide as there was someone behind him quietly building something on the floor of the lab. "Hey- HEY!"

"Give me that arm!" Mei Hatsume leapt up with a new invention in her hands, "I can improve it even more! That BABY-"

"Hatsume! AHH-" the tablet fell off the table and the call ended, and both Roady and Grappler just stared in confusion with beads of sweat rolling down their faces wondering what that was all about.

In Shiketsu's own Costume Development Lab, Zach stood at a steel workbench in a long-sleeved white shirt and black sweatpants. He had his sleeves rolled up today though, as it was hot in the lab and there were not many people around, plus he was working on his left arm anyway so that sleeve had to be up. It was difficult to work on the whole arm with the bunched-up sleeve still over part of it at the top, but luckily his repairs today were on his arm from his elbow down mainly.

The other two in the room consisted of his homeroom teacher and a first year student who came in to get help with part of their hero costume. The fifteen year old girl was too nervous to focus though ever since Zach Sazaki entered the room, and Hazano finally told her to head back to training and work on it more later. He walked back towards Sazaki himself after the girl left and they were the only two in the room. Zach's teacher ignored the scars covering his right arm from the middle of his bicep where his shirt was rolled up to all the way down to the start of his black glove. There was a long scar cutting straight down the bottom of his arm, along with over a dozen cut marks all of different lengths and widths. A few of them had matching scars on the other side, and some patches of his arm were darker shades than others, but those areas were nothing compared to between his wrist and his elbow on the underside of his arm. His skin was so dark tan it was nearly black, all of it covered in scar tissue like that whole section of his arm had melted off before.

"So, you just have extra fake skin laying around for this purpose?" Hazano Worrod wondered to his student who was peeling off damaged fake skin and reapplying new undamaged skin onto his left arm where it had ripped off.

"That attack I used on Todoroki," Zach started. "The Rocket Fist," he added with a small smile and a glance at his teacher who rose his eyebrows wondering if Sazaki really found that amusing. "It's going to do that every time, when the wires split out from inside. Knowing that beforehand, it makes sense to have more faux skin at the ready."

"Why not just replace all of it with a new skin sleeve?"

"I have those too," Zach answered. "But only a couple, and that's more for if the whole arm loses it. Like if Todoroki had hit me with a flame and I blocked with my left arm, and the whole sleeve burnt off. Then I would have gone for a whole new sleeve. Enough of this old one is undamaged though." Zach grabbed some more fake skin and he pressed it to his left arm over a skinless patch, and he flattened it down over the adhesive gel he had rubbed over the spot a moment ago. He curled his right hand over the fake skin to press it close to his arm and so there would not be any air gaps beneath that could make it clear his arm was not real. "I'll add the scars later," he mentioned too as he put that skin on a part of his arm where he used to have a scar.

"And why would you do that?" Hazano asked, as he was already wondering about it being able to see some of the scarred fake skin he had never seen before on a part of Zach's arm he knew was fake from his first fight against Inasa. "If no one's going to see your arm anyway."

"You are now," Zach argued.

"Yes, while you are working on it in a lab," Hazano countered right back. "It was not the absence of scars that gave away that arm was not real."

Zach shrugged his right shoulder with a head tilt towards it admitting that was true. "Still. Feels weirder not having the scars than having them." Zach said it casually and then got to work re-locking the wire clips on the inside of his elbow to be ready for another Rocket Fist if he needed it. Hazano looked at the boy in surprise and then rose his eyebrows as Zach said, "The therapist you guys have been making me see, she says it's probably because seeing them makes me think of the arm as more real. More a part of myself, and not some robot piece connected to me." Like I'm less of a human for it, Zach thought to finish for himself. Man, what am I doing? It's smart to make Hazano think I really did get a therapist like I said I would, but-

"I'm glad those sessions are working out for you," Hazano said, and Zach tilted his head again in acceptance that it was true. You haven't had any outbursts in class since. Not that I would consider that an outburst… It still seems impossible to me. How else could you get around Norasaki though? But how could things work out so perfectly, that you really did leave before learning about the Subspace Devils' attack on Desusuta? Both seem impossible, and yet you are an impossible person. "Is that," Hazano started, as Zach turned his arm over and rubbed over a piece of his arm lower towards his left wrist where the steel dipped in a bit.

"A dent," Zach replied in a low voice, having not made a big deal out of it so no one else actually knew he had one. "Midoriya didn't even hit me when we fought him four-on-one, but the force alone that I blocked with the left, and then I tried to catch myself on it and just broke through another tree," Zach grinned at his arm as he paused for a second. "It's actually more impressive to me it survived all that with only the damage it took. I always let this arm take the brunt of every attack."

Hazano nodded as it made sense to him that Zach would do that. He walked a few steps to the right though and reached over the workbench, and Zach looked to the side and flinched but then returned his expression to normal and looked back at his arm. Hazano turned back to his student though and held out the hammer, "To buff out the dent."

"I'm not taking off the panel there so it won't work," Zach replied, without looking back at the hammer being extended for him. "Thanks, but I don't need it."

"Alright," Hazano replied, though he was wondering now what method Zach was going to use to buff it out. As he turned away to put the hammer back though, Zach closed his eyes tightly for a second and paused his work. He shook his head in a frustrated way and snapped his eyes back open, and he got to work on his arm with his thoughts solely focused on fixing it, using selective vision to blur everything out the right corners of his eyes out.

Zach was leaving taking out the dent for the end though, with only putting the skin back over that section going to take place after it. He was covering up the back of his hand, and Zach did have special skin needed for the part of his arm that would move the most and risk ripping the most. Because the skin on the back of his hand was special too, it already had pre-made scars on it, specifically the round one in the middle of it where a spike had been lodged through his hand before. He saw Hazano sensei looking at it and gaining a darker look, his eyes shifting up to Sazaki's face that was darkly focused on that fake scar too, though he could also see his teacher looking to his face right there.

"I've never asked," Hazano started, his voice low as he spoke to a boy who was his student but also someone he looked at as more of an equal than any person his age. Zach looked at the man whose tone came through as Hazano began that, and he nodded at Hachiman in an intense way for his fellow hero to continue. "But do you regret it? That choice you made, years ago, to join the League of Villains?"

Zach looked into his teacher's eyes and then back down at the scar on his hand he put there as it reminded him of what he had done back then. "I did," Zach replied. He did not deny the way Hazano worded it, that he had 'joined' them and not that he was taken by them. His voice was low and he said in a deep tone, "For a long time, I regretted all I had done back then. But, all of those choices led me to where I am now." Zach turned his arm over, and he pulled out a special tool from a workbox in front of him, and he got to clipping that onto his wrist over the dent. "They led me to Terra. To saving worlds and countless people I never would have saved otherwise."

Hazano shook his head and he frowned in a low way at Sazaki's replies. "But also, looking back I mainly regretted those decisions because of all the pain they caused me. I still believe though, even now, in the reasons I had for following them and becoming one of them."

"Whatever you were doing back then," Hazano started to his student in a harsh voice. "All the good you thought you did- the villains you were a part of are everything we as heroes stand against. What it means to be one of them, is that you also stood for all they did."

"That's not true," Zach countered. "That's not even true for all the rest of them." Hazano glared harder at his student who sounded like he was defending villains even part of the League of Villains. Zach did not back down from it though and looked into the shorter man's eyes that stared into his with strong conviction, but not as strong as Zach's as he continued back at him. "A villain is just a victim, some people believe that. That their story just hasn't been told yet, and we might side with them if we knew."

Zach turned his head forward and stared at the wall over the workbench, "And I can feel that way too because despite all they've done to me, I've been on their side before. I've seen the world from their point of view, as I tried to integrate deeper into their organizations and become a real, trusted member of their groups. The only way to do that was to really hear them out, and feel what they felt, and see the world out of their eyes while walking in their shoes."

"You think because you were once pretending to be a villain, you know that they're not all bad? Those villains you're talking about, the ones you joined, they terrorize this country-"

"'Pretending' to be a villain?" Zach asked, raising his eyebrows at Hazano who paused and gained a nervous look at Zach's skeptical expression looking almost annoyed. "I was a villain. And I was an anti-hero who fought outside of the rules of heroes to go save my friend Kaminari when he got captured, and then to stop the League and Kaminari. A straight-up vigilante in America for months. And now I'm a hero again. In all of that time though, I was still just trying to do my best to help as many people as possible." Zach paused and shook his head at his homeroom teacher, "Things aren't black and white. They're different shades of gray. I'm, somewhere in that gray, and I figure most villains are there too."

Hazano stared confusedly and in disbelief at his student whose tone sounded so assured as he went on. "I want to understand them, and to drag them closer to the light instead of just throwing them in cells. I want to prevent more people from dropping into the darkness in the first place. Or take someone seeping to a darker level of gray, back up to the light." Zach paused and then continued with a small smile, "It's not a hero's job to do that, we're just supposed to stop villains, be symbols to keep villains down, but that's just dealing with the symptoms and not the causes of villain behavior."

"No hero can change the causes though," Hazano argued. "You're right. That's not a hero's job. We work to fight villains, and the more we stop the better society gets, the safer people will be-"

"That's a shallow way to look at it," Zach countered right back. "It's not that easy to create safety. Defeat one group of villains, and another will just take its place."

"And then you fight and defeat those villains too," Hazano said. His tone turned more into a teaching one and he said to the boy whose morals he had been worried about since Sazaki entered his class. "But if you wait and try to reason with them, if you try to look at things from their point of view first, you'll let your guard down. You'll let one of them talk you out of fighting them, and they'll hurt an innocent person." Zach frowned deeper, and Hazano said strongly to him, "Villains lie. If you try to hear each one of them out, you'll find yourself with a thousand different sob stories, and every one of those 'tragic' villains will stab you in the back the second you let your guard down."

"Maybe, that's your experience as a hero," Zach responded, admitting there was some truth to what Hazano was saying. "But you've experienced that because the villains know you're not going to really listen anyway. You know that they're just using it as a way to get you to drop your guard down. When I've heard those stories, they were from comrades of mine. People who weren't trying to run away from me, or escape my justice," Zach paused and he looked back down at his left arm he wanted to fix up a little quicker here. "The line between villains and regular people is very thin. Thinner than it should be, in some instances." Zach could imagine a sandy field outside of Yemen's capital, and all those thousands of people who had been about to become villains in his mind. "It doesn't take more than a push to destroy someone's life, and I want to fix that. I want, it to be harder for people to turn to becoming villains."

"That's impossible," Hazano started at the teen. "It's an idealistic thing, naive even, to attempt something like that from our profession."

"But I'm not just a hero," Zach countered, looking to his teacher with an intense look. "I have a platform, one that I'm nervous to use." Hazano stared at the teen in shock at Zach's confession right there. "It's not all just because of the danger that I don't have these press conferences. People hang on to my every word. Already there's Lifebringer Law, and I barely did anything to put that in motion-"

"You did something-"

"Of course I did. I posted my report online under the name 'Anonymous,' and I directed conversations in my sparse press appearances towards discussing what I wanted them to discuss," Zach admitted it to his teacher whose heart raced much faster at what the boy in front of him was saying. "It was a long-term play, and it took so long I wasn't even here in Japan to see it come to fruition. It's not everything I wanted either, but it's hard for me to get out there and talk about what it is that I want. Not when I know how dangerous it is. The danger, of how much weight my words carry with people."

"It's not…" Hazano started but he stopped himself at the intense and focused look on Zach's face. How much has he thought about all of this?!

I was insane. I still might be, and going out there and saying things so dangerously could be catastrophic if I'm not in the right mind. More time in Tartaros would have saved me from making these decisions for a while. My impacts are so recent though, that people want to see what I will do next. They want to see how else I will impact their worlds. Zach shook his head and he grit his teeth at the thoughts he was having. And I can't avoid the media forever. I need to get my thoughts under control, and the only way I can do it is by talking about these things aloud. About what it is I really want, because I can't just think about those things or I'll never know if they're what I really think. Just part of the ruse. This isn't though.

"I'm not just going to be a hero, so maybe I can," Zach began again. "Maybe I can change the world, change the circumstances and environments that create villains, to build peace." His expression got darker and he said in a lower voice, "I experimented in Terra, using entire nations, sometimes just towns or villages." Hazano's eyes shook as he looked at the kid next to him whose expression became a new level of intense, his eyes darker and his face no longer feeling like Zach Sazaki's. "I did human testing as much as those sick monsters in the labs who tortured… I tested my theories on people, in real life situations I tested to see if my theory on preventing villains from rising would work. I had different ideas, and I played them against each other by being the strictest symbol of fear for evil-does without any mercy in one place, and in another being as understanding as possible to try and show those turning to banditry and pirating a better way, and in another a pushed a budding government into a democracy, while having the people decide to pick a democracy on their own in another. And even greater still I forced immediate changes to laws about discrimination against different races, while in others allowed the changes to happen with more subtle and democratic changes."

"Is all that true?" Hazano asked, his voice soft and full of disbelief but also awe as he could not convince himself that everything he just heard was a lie. He could not see how Sazaki would have even come up with all of that, or why he would say it if it were anything but true.

Zach nodded, and he turned to his teacher and continued in a low voice, "I tried the same thing in countries on Earth after coming back, before I decided to turn myself in. I compared the rates of villain incidents in nations, and I checked to see what was different between the ways heroes and police acted in those countries, how the laws for Quirk use differed, how the punishments for villains varied, and every factor I could think of. If I'm going to try and make broader changes than just stopping villains, I need to make sure that what I'm saying is proven by enough examples that I can have faith that it's definitely true." Zach paused and then he yanked the attachment on his wrist off and nodded while Hazano looked down in surprise to see the dent had been pulled out by the contraption Zach connected. "I tried to change things at that time through the shadows, and now through the light I can still do it but in different ways. People love me. Lots of people."

Zach turned to his teacher and said with a serious look showing he took responsibility for having that kind of love. "They believe in me, and I know that if I say things like they're common sense, then even if they were controversial before, perceptions will change. I know I can change thousands of minds, influence millions more, and I want to. I want to prevent children born with cursed Quirks from ever believing those Quirks are cursed, because the Quirk is only cursed in a world that doesn't teach the young how to use them and protects them from misuse. Many of my friends, had hard lives because of their Quirks." He paused for a second and then continued to his teacher in a strong way, "They couldn't be heroes. They were discriminated against, or people just assumed things about them because of what they could do…"

"I met an enemy once," Zach continued without pause. "He was part of an enemy force who were responsible for murders, including murder of members of the Allied Forces fighting the Arcasians with me. That man became my comrade though. I made him into a comrade, and he helped me save… millions." Hazano's eyes shot open even wider than how Zach started that in what sounded like a controversial statement to him. It felt like Zach was once again advocating listening to the villains' sides, but the way Zach continued was shaking Hazano's own firm belief on the issue. "That man wasn't a bad guy. No one ever, not once in his life, ever understood the Quirk he was born with though that he thought only he understood. The ability to know exactly how to speak to people, to Bluff, to get the exact reaction he wanted."

Zach shook his head and looked away, a darker look on his face, "He knew how to speak the best. How to be the best at convincing and persuading everyone that he was on their side, and because of this no one had ever trusted him. Not really." He paused and then added softer, "I trusted him though. Because I understood it, immediately. Because I was looking for cursed Quirks, and as I was told that man's Quirk I understood what it would be like to live like that for his entire life. I trusted him," Zach said, his voice steady and firm as he shifted his gaze back to Hazano's, "because that man deserved to have someone trust him, at least once. And I trusted my other comrades' lives with that man, and without him we would have lost the war," Zach said in the lowest voice. He paused for a couple seconds and then finished in a dark tone, his eyes turning away from his teacher again, "Without him we all would've died in the Siege of Razmatan, just like he did…"

Hazano's eyes bulged and his breath stopped coming out for a second. He had been thinking of counters, trying to come up with a reason that Zach had made a mistake here. And yet hearing that last line changed his mind about this person being described to him. The idea that the man did not exist did not cross Hazano's mind at the look on Sazaki's face. He died fighting for good? He was a villain- an enemy of yours, fighting against your allies and even killing them, but you… That won't always work. They could convince- and yet, that guy's Quirk, sounds like he could have convinced you better than anyone else, and yet you still believed him. He deserved punishment though. Villains do, when they carry out bad deeds.

The teacher looked down at the workbench himself a second later though. Is it punishment that criminals deserve though? Or is it a chance at redemption, like what Sazaki gave him? It should be both. But, he got his redemption, and he also faced his punishment. Losing his life, to help you. How many people do you have who fell like him? And yet you still suggested to the others at the training that they treat it as if they were killed. Is that the only way you can take anything seriously anymore? When there are world-changing consequences? When there are lives at risk? Sazaki, I wish I understood you better. This has all just, given me far more questions than I had before.

All I've said up until now, it's what Zach Sazaki as a hero should believe. What I do believe, now. Zach thought it at himself as he got to work putting fake skin on the last part of his arm that needed it. It's how I'm going to treat villains as a hero, in order to help prevent more from arising. It's what I did with the homeless. But not what I did to Rancor- but those weren't villains just on the edge! Still, the level of darkness I went with them, and with Overlord and those guys… What I'm saying isn't justifiable towards all villains. I know that, and I know I can't go easy on them, but when we look at "villains" as villains and "innocents" as innocents, we put dangerous brands on people. I didn't always think that way though- but I need to as a hero! I need to look at them in a more positive way, in a way believing that I can change things on a societal level!

I have to see them as human, and not just, as the same level as all the worst… Zach's eyes subconsciously shifted to his right again, past a thoughtful Hazano, straight to a hammer sitting at the edge of the workbench that his heart rate skyrocketed at the sight of. A pair of eyes appeared in his head and Zach felt his stomach turn over, and he looked back at his arm so Hazano would not see that look that formed on his face on its own again. I'm not that person anymore. I can't be. I have to be better, than the kind of guy who would grab that hammer, and- Zach's right hand flinched and his eyes clenched shut. I can't think of it. Not now. Not here. Not ever…

"Angry? Yeah I'm angry. I'm pissed off-"

"You've made so much progress in that area," Softy said in a quiet, soothing voice to the darker-haired girl in front of her. They were in her office at U.A. High School, and Jirou frowned more at the school psychiatrist who continued, "Do you think, it was seeing Zach again that makes you so angry?"

"Not just seeing him," Jirou snapped, though she calmed down and just took in a deep breath to speak softer to her counselor who had always helped her in their weekly sessions over the past year and a half. "He looked so, happy. And he was carefree, as he told those lies to everyone's faces."

"And you're still as sure as you were before? That all he says are lies?" Softy wondered, questioning if maybe Jirou wanted to go back on that now.

"Everything," Jirou repeated. She paused, then she looked away from the woman who she knew would keep everything she said to herself. She did not want to bring it up, and yet she needed to with someone and not just an angry snap at Ashido for her part in tricking her, lying to her. "He talked to me, tricked me into coming to talk to him privately. Probably hidden from any cameras in Shiketsu's training dome."

"And what did he say to you?" Softy asked, as it seemed like Jirou wanted to tell her about that but was beating around the bush by talking about the circumstances first.

Jirou ground her teeth and her hands clenched so angrily at her sides on the armrests of her soft chair. Softy watched it happen, and the short woman gave Jirou a reassuring look that made Jirou's angry expression ease a bit. "He told me, he tried to convince me that he wasn't lying. It was just another one of his- it probably wasn't a lie, but he was just saying a truth to get me to accept more of the lies he went and told a few minutes later!"

"Are you sure, that's what you really think?" Softy wondered. Jirou looked angrily at the shrink, but Softy continued, "Or could it be, that he wanted to tell you something real before telling more lies? And he brought you aside for that moment of truth, because he didn't want all you heard from him that day to be his lies?"

Jirou darted her glaring eyes to the side. Even if that's it- "You're taking his side."

"I'm not taking anyone's-"

"Everyone always takes his side," Jirou grumbled lower. "Everywhere I look. Every news station, every one of my friends, all they do is talk about him and how he's 'trying so hard.' How he's, 'changed.' It's all bullshit. Every word out of his mouth included." Jirou lowered her eyes to the floor and shook her head, "And no one sees that this is exactly what happened last time. He'll trick every last one of them. Another long con, as he messes with everyone's heads to make them all believe in him, in his stories, and then he'll betray us all again."

Softy nodded her head at Jirou, waiting to let the girl continue as Jirou was revealing to her what she held back from telling her classmates because she knew it would isolate her even more from them to do so. Softy also thought as she nodded though, I remember him coming into this office after Raijin's betrayal. The story he told, the lie he tested out on me to see if he could convince anyone… I wish I had done something more to help him back then. Something that could have stopped him from leaving, and prevented all this heartache for Kyoka. "And how does that make you feel?" Softy wondered at the girl who was just sitting there angrily thinking instead of letting what she was thinking out.

"So, so angry," Jirou was glaring down at her fists, and she tried to ease up her look only for her teeth to bite down so hard again. She usually hated bringing up Zach during their meetings, and she remembered why it was as she felt her nails almost digging into the skin of her palms. I have to do something about this though. And, her eyes rose up a little to Softy in a softer way as she tried to push aside some of that anger. I know you really helped me get past Kaminari, get better after how depressed I was, for a long time after it and after Zach left too. But, I'm still so mad at him. "He's Death," Jirou whispered at Softy, in a voice like she wanted her therapist to accept that too.

"He could be," Softy agreed with a nod. "But it is possible-"

"No," Jirou said, a pained voice that the psychiatrist would not just agree fully with her. "He told me in the forest as he drove away," Jirou began, shaking her head and looking away for a moment before right back in Softy's eyes. "How it wasn't about being a hero to him, it was about 'stopping villains," Jirou put up air quotes as she said it, and Softy's eyes widened a little at the girl who bared her teeth in anger as she admitted that aloud to Softy. "And then I heard him, up on the walls of the palace in Hatto, yelling all that crap… Except it wasn't crap. It was, good. He was right to go there when no one else would- but then he said it again, like he was taunting me. About 'stopping villains.' How that was all they were doing." Jirou whispered the final part much more softly, and she scrunched her face and looked away in anger once more.

"I see," Softy whispered back at Jirou.

"And that's not all!" Jirou snapped, spinning back to Softy as Softy did not see. If she saw, then she would be agreeing with her much stronger. "During the training he- he used my voice to trick Midoriya into rushing at him. It was- he used a voice modulator," Jirou explained to her semi-confused therapist. Softy went 'ah' and nodded her head in understanding and for Jirou to continue, which the younger girl did. "And because of that, he got the final point on our team so we all lost. All because of Zach, and me, and now people found out about it and are talking about how great Zach is to have been able to beat Midoriya- but it was just because of me… He used me."

Softy hummed and nodded her head, though Jirou saw a look in her eyes that made the dark-haired girl glare angrily back and clench her fists frustratedly. The expression was asking if Jirou was so sure of that anger, like it might be misplaced or even like she was stretching to find a reason to be mad at Zach there. She got that from a single look from Softy alone, which made her question if it was that easy for her to come to that assumption because she was already considering it was what she was doing herself. Jirou looked away in a more frustrated way at that idea, and Softy lowered the pad she had in one hand for a moment to give Jirou a serious look with a voice that would match it.

"Kyoka, have you put any thought into opening Zach's letter?" Jirou looked back and her expression got softer, more nervous and shaky at the suggestion. It was more a question than a suggestion, but the way Softy said it made Jirou feel like it was being suggested of her.

Jirou's eyes lowered down from the school psychiatrist though for a different reason. I want to- but I can't. I can't even tell you, about the letter he left for Momo. Taking that, a guilty feeling flooded through Jirou's body, and she said in a curt voice, "No. I haven't." The guilt swelling inside her turned into anger, I can't let her read- I couldn't, at the time. And now I'm a liar too, because of you. You turned me into one. The thing I hate more than anything- Jirou's teeth bared so hard, but her eyes were watering through the anger and Softy cut back off the current track revolving around the letter.

Another time, "If not the letter, then try to focus on something else where he tells you the truth." Jirou looked up and into Softy's eyes, somewhat confused, but the therapist continued, "You once told me that the way he left in the forest, he was never going to return. There would have been no reason for him to lie in that letter then." Jirou lowered her eyes and curled her fists in anger, as much as that made sense, but she rose her eyes back up to meet Softy's as the older woman continued, "I have seen you make amazing strides in our talks together, Kyoka. However when it comes to Zach, there's a wall that you have never worked hard at getting over. To me, it seems like you are getting in your own way when it comes to forgiving him, or accepting that not all he says are lies-"

"I don't want to forgive him, and all he says are lies," Jirou started angrily.

"But you just told me you don't believe that," Softy countered, softly so as not to further anger her patient and student. "What he told you in the forest, when it was just the two of you, did it feel like he was lying to you? Or did it feel like, just maybe, he was telling you the truth?"

"Even if-" Jirou stopped herself, as the way she started made it sound like she was accepting it. Was it true though? I can't- none of it or all of it- "If you're a liar you're a liar, there is no middle ground."

"So anyone who keeps secrets, to you is a liar who you could never trust?" Softy wondered, saying it like Jirou was thinking of the term 'liar' too definitively.

"Secrets like those," Jirou replied like it was obvious. "Big secrets. Like being an international terrorist. Like whatever his huge plans are for all of this." She waved her arms around her, "For coming back to Japan, when he had left for good. Or why he let himself go to prison, or why he let himself get shot! And every time he's seen on tv, every word out of his mouth," she started whispering it, shaking her head and looking at Softy in a desperate way for the older woman to believe her concerns were founded. "It's all just another con. Another lie, in order to get whatever plan he's working on past everyone."

"What if that plan is not necessarily a bad thing-"

"That doesn't matter," Jirou countered, her voice cracking as she said it. "Because if he's caught- when he's caught, in the lie…" she paused and shook her head, her face twisting in anger again. "It's all going to happen again. The same thing, and I'm not-" Jirou paused as her face started tilting up, her expression getting scared and then reverting right back to angry as she narrowed her eyes at Softy. "I'm not going to go through that again. I won't let myself, and I won't let him do it to me. When he's revealed for who he really is, when everyone finds out what he's really done… he's going to leave again and leave all of us behind just like last time. I know it. The others I know, know it too. Some like Mina and Sero want to pretend like it won't happen. Others like Midoriya and Iida, Todoroki, they're going to make it happen. And the rest of us are just going to have to stand by and deal with it all over again, if we let him in. We all know it. I know every one of them understands, that to let Zach back in is to let in that ex who's disappointed you so many times. The one you want to believe is 'going to be better this time.'"

Jirou paused and she bowed her head, and she shook it with a dark look over her face as she thought of all those times before. "But things never do change. He never changes," she corrected herself softer. "He's a liar, so I don't know what to believe from him." Her voice was quiet, and more sad than angry as she said this to the one person she could talk about it with, "I thought maybe after I called him out he'd try to be more honest, at least in front of me, but he told some ridiculous story he swore was true about that other world he went to. A stupid fairy tale land full of crazy creatures and wars and absolute nonsense."

Softy had not heard much about this, and she questioned while lifting a palm in an offering way, "Could some of what he's talking about, even in those stories, be the truth surrounded by half-truths? Maybe it's not that he's not trying to tell you, but that you're not giving that option a chance."

"It isn't though," Jirou said. "What he said in Hatto-"

"What Death said that day does sound similar to what Zach told you," Softy agreed. Then she shook her head, "But it is not proof. It is not the conclusive evidence you've taken it for."

"I know those stories aren't true though," Jirou said. "I'm positive he's Death. Or at least, he was," she muttered that at the end, then felt angry again at the doubt she felt now. All those stories about Death that have surfaced since he was sent to jail, it's some new guy. It has to be. I'm only doubting it now because of all he said so seriously the other day. But even if he made good decisions because of me- that doesn't make me feel any- because I don't know if it's even the truth! You're just so- "Softy," Jirou began in a quiet but certain voice. "Whatever it is he came back here for, what he's trying to do with me is nothing but some side mission for him. He thinks he can fix things, just by apologizing? He was gone. He left us and, and he doesn't get to come back from that. He never gets to come back. He knew it back then, and he should still know it now, and he's just being a dick for trying at all. Because he knows as well as I do, that he has no right to tell me that he's sorry." Jirou's eyes were full of water, over a face so full of anger and regret. "I'll never accept it. Not from him. Never."

'Did you see this?'

Iida looked at the text message on his screen and clicked the link Midoriya had sent him with the question. The link took him to a video online that he turned his phone sideways to watch. He was downstairs in his dorm building, eating a snack of ramen with a troubled look on his face his classmates had been seeing since the night of the joint training. Iida watched the video and his heart rate sped up as there were several "unrelated" stories being discussed in English.

"French President Chuvreaux has denied the accusations against him, however anonymous sources from inside the administration have confirmed that Secretary of Defense Forestiere and Secretary of the Interior Jacoby have handed in their resignations in only the last few hours. A joint investigation has also started inside of both the United Kingdom and Germany this morning, and we do not have much information as to the extent of the investigation, but what we have seen is that Clueseaux and Jedenwurst were working together on this, and now Governor Dengar seems to be looped in as well."

"Dengar and Clueseaux have something else in common, which brings our other story into question of whether or not the two coincide doesn't it? Endeavor has arrived in Munich this afternoon too after a brief press conference he cut short in Athens. Rumors of Death and the Army of Death have started all over the continent though in the past twenty-four hours, and we have no idea which rumors are true and which are just people taking the excitement and running with it."

"I think we can say with some level of certainty that the sources who claimed the Army of Death attacked a highway in Germany, or that they were on the streets of Paris just outside of the Élysée Palace are most likely untrue. But we also have reports that a convoy of dark vehicles were seen crossing eastern Poland towards Germany, so maybe the Army of Death is around and is coming to take part in what's going on over there."

"I say they keep their noses out of it. Or, that they do come, and finally let Endeavor put a stop to them…"

Iida lowered his phone and he brought his free hand up to his forehead. His fingers pressed in on his wrinkled up skin, and he pinched the bridge of his nose with a look of frustration and darkness covering his face. Is any of that true? Are any of those sources- they could just as easily be Zach's comrades, posting false information. Calling in fake sources to throw off the trail. Iida glared back down at his phone and the reporters who were keeping up with the story as it unfolded. Illegal weapons' facility? Just like the oil rig they uncovered, when they stopped that hostage situation. I don't- they can't- Iida curled his hands in uncertainty down on his lap.

Iida got up from his seat and went to the kitchen quickly, throwing out his ramen as he no longer had any appetite. If Zach's true reason for leaving the Army of Death, were his mental instability and the desire to save Darling, then he really left a force capable of those things he said… in the hands of a criminal? The hands of the Gentle Criminal?! Iida had watched all of the Gentle Criminal's videos again when he heard who Zach had left his organization too. An immature, man-child who-

"Because I trust him. Because we all changed out there, and he was with me at the very worst days. He stood by my side and saw things worse than you can imagine. And when I- when I hesitated, or when I didn't know what was right, he was the first one to get on my back and yell at me for not being ready to handle it. I picked him because he was the best person for it. Because he became the best person, while we fought together…"

Iida grit his teeth while heading up the stairs back for his own room. He was there with you from the very beginning. Fought alongside you more than any of us have. Of course you trust him! But that doesn't make him a trustworthy person. That doesn't mean, the world will be alright with him out there… Except, it has been. For over half a year now, for almost as long as you were Death even. And things have gotten better. They have, but that doesn't mean it can't change. You and your friends took down all those villains and- "I was the, the ruler of the underworld." The fact that you considered yourself that, or that you could even consider that you held that position at one point- but you gave it up! I don't get... No villains could stand against me. I was hunting Eziano Mozcaccio and Amaterasu. I was, stronger, than anyone. I had more experience than any villain bar Eziano, maybe. In half a year I had stopped the rise of villains, reversed crime rates, took out the powerful invisible hands controlling villains all over the world for much longer than just that rise, saved millions- billions of lives, captured hundreds of thousands of villains, and I sent in so many tips that I couldn't stop the world from realizing something was up, so we just had them be called 'anonymous' tips and got everyone to stick to that story."

It's what Kendo told me, but I ignored. I thought it was a rare event what she talked about, and yet she told me the American heroes were used to it. That they were ready for something like that to happen. They had seen it how many times? Zach was everywhere, the most powerful force in the underworld in every, single, country. It's absurd. Maddening. Iida cursed under his breath while reaching his floor. That something like this could happen without anyone understanding! Even the heroes who let it slide, they must not know how widespread he was. They couldn't know, or maybe they really did just want to ignore, how if he was doing it for them then, then he could be doing it everywhere. For every hero. In every country. Iida closed his eyes while he stood outside his door, and he pressed his forehead into the door at six and a half feet high.

"Iida."

Iida Tenya froze with his head against the door. The tone of that stating of his name alone, made his whole body tense up and his heart clench in his chest. He turned his head while taking it off of his door, and he looked towards another tall boy on the floor whose room was not on it.

The teen with half red hair and half white walked closer to Iida. His eyes were narrowed and cold, accusatory even, and Iida felt dread at the knowing look on Todoroki's face. Todoroki stepped right up in front of the tallest teen in the class, their respectable class rep, whose expression could not hide what Todoroki could so clearly see for days now. Todoroki Shoto stared into Iida's eyes and his voice came out low, and a defeated look crossed over Iida's face as his friend told him, "We need to talk."

A/N Another day another chapter! Zach and Class A are dealing with the aftermath, which the rest of the country has been clued into the results of too by an unknown source. Iida's focused more on what's happening outside of Japan though, and as Todoroki confronts him at the end... Well, don't want to spoil anything, but hope you enjoyed the chapter!

apaprep chapter 174 . 23h ago

I am a child. I want epic fights! hahaha
recent chapters are good( especially darling's) but I want more of Zach's epic moment...hmmm

Lol I feel you. Just had 2 chapters straight of Zach kicking butt in the joint training, though action is never far off in this story... but no spoilers! Thanks for the review!

AMR-MNR chapter 174 . Sep 2

Yet another chapter? And it's a AoD focused one too! So they're working on corruption now, and resurfacing in Europe. The ADTF still have the tracker going? I figured that the AoD would have spotted it like very first thing, at the very least once that specific set of clothes was to be washed, though I also think they may have it going somewhere so as to fake out the ADTF? If they hacked the video call for them, then they'd know already about the tracker... And I think they are more than capable of doing so.
My estimates were off, then. I don't recall that 8k figure, but I suppose Zach might not be lying if that was the true apprehension number at the summit itself. I wonder, how many villains... Actually died? At the hands of Zach, at least?
I still want to discover what it is that Zach keeps repressing about that desert. If it was really that bad, then... Yeah. I suppose I'll see you next time, Author San!

And yet another! Sped up the updates a little, though I don't have anything in the next chapter written yet so that'll probably be a little longer. Would have to be a good tracker to be getting past the AoD's precautions, though could also be a trick on their part too, nice predictions. Angie hacked the calls inside the Elysee Palace, which was why she was able to hear the call b/w Chuvreaux and Endeavor, but once Endeavor hung up and called other people they were using their better equipment the ADTF weren't listening in to, (or at least we didn't see them listening). No spoilers about the desert, again, ;) but more and more truth keeps coming out, (which might not be the best thing for Zach), but I hope you enjoy it when it does reveal itself! Thanks for another review, and hope you enjoyed the chapter!