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!

180. Chapter 180

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 180:

Dead Heroes' Day. Most people shorten the name to Heroes' Day, and the holiday was meant to celebrate the heroes who protect the country of Japan, as well as to commemorate those who had passed. Initially the day was more of a memorial for the deceased heroes who died in the line of duty, but over the years as it became more kid friendly, and as heroes continued to smile through the day and show everyone that even on that day they were standing firm, people started to move past the initial purpose of the holiday. However, the main points of the holiday itself stayed the same, as much as they were warped to turn the holiday more festive and fun for everyone instead of a depressing day of mourning.

The yearly gatherings at temples scattered across Japan to ring bells and pray for the health of heroes and to thank heroes past still occurred. People still gathered at temples and many of them did the traditional prayer, some tossing money into a collection well after ringing the bell to support the local monks and to keep the temples functioning. Most people though, were more looking forward to the festivals that went on outside of and around the temples. Stands full of food and small carnival games were set up all along the outside of the temple, and depending on the local traditions, many people took part in small parades with props and costumes made by local schools the children donated for the festival.

The festival was supposed to be honoring heroes, so some villages had effigies of heroes on display or lifted up to be paraded around during the evenings and nights of Dead Heroes' Day. The year before the day had been a bit more somber after all the heroes who had fallen against the League of Villains and the Cult of Stain since the February before. However, ever since the previous February, heroes in Japan had been winning victory after victory with few big losses. Even the Nara Raid had occurred before the previous Heroes' Day, right before it actually, and Intanzo's victims were mourned and celebrated on that day.

This year, all over Hokkaido the people remembered Wonderlass who had been one of their greatest heroines for a long time, and they were not the only ones. Midoriya Izuku would visit a temple close to U.A. with his mother, All Might, Gran Torino and Eri too that evening, in order to pay their final respects to that great hero.

Zach felt less serious than some of his friends though who were either memorializing heroes who had died in the past year, or ones who had died over a year ago but who they wanted to remember today as well. There was something he wanted to do that day though, as he had been looking forward to the festival for a while now. He stood in his room and stared at the mirror in front of him with a small smile on his face, his head bowed partially so the top half of his face was shadowed over and he could only see his grin on the bottom half of it. Perfect, Zach thought while staring under the rim of his hat at the obstructed reflection.

He turned and started out of his room for the front door. Zach reached to his counter as he was walking past it, and he grabbed the wooden stick off of it that he slid into the belt at his waist on his right side. The thin stick was smoothed down and curved at the very end so it was in the shape of a blade, though it was just a fake wooden sword he grabbed before walking to his door. Zach opened his door up, and he opened his eyes wider in some surprise (that he faked), at the sight of a couple right in front of him holding envelopes and some tape in their hands. Zach turned his head to the door he opened up, to see four other envelopes already taped there.

Zach turned back to the couple in front of him who were both shorter than the teenager they were looking up and down in shock. "Thank you," Zach said to the two, nodding his head at them before stepping farther out of his door and shutting it behind him. "You live next door to my left, right?" Zach wondered at them, as he was sure they did but wanted to act like he was not sure of.

"Yes, and just so you know, we haven't told anyone that you live here," the woman assured the teenager in front of her. "I think it's terrible how the news doesn't give you a minute to yourself-"

"We both think so," the man agreed, white hair like his wife though Zach thought they both looked pretty youthful with their skin pretty clear of wrinkles apart from the crow's feet on the sides of the woman's eyes. "Anywho, here-"

"I'm actually, on my way-"

"To the festival?" The older woman asked, raising her white eyebrows and saying it like it was obvious. Zach glanced down then back up at the woman with a smile, "Go, Lifebringer. It's your day."

"Thank you," Zach said with another respectful nod at his elders. "I'll be sure to look through everyone's letters later," he added as he walked past them to go down the hall. He looked over his shoulder and nodded once more at the two who waved at the boy, before turning to each other and speaking in hushed but clearly excited voices at the way he looked.

I'm definitely overdressed, Zach thought. But who cares? His steps made a lot of noise in the wooden sandals he was in, or at least he felt like they did as his usual footsteps were silent compared to these. He was still walking with quieter footsteps than anyone else could in those kind of shoes, but he stepped softer as he headed down the stairs to the street level of his block in Yutapu. His head bowed some more so the kasa over his head shadowed more of his face, then he bent forward and started running, his arms swinging in front of him and behind him with his gloved hands curled into fists as he went. Both his right and left had on thin black gloves, at the end of his hakama's very loose navy-blue sleeves. The bottom half of the hakama that had leg holes inside but looked more like the bottom of a kimono that outside was pitch black, while the round hat over his head with a long rim was straw-colored as it was made of. It had almost a pointed top though it rounded just a bit near the tip and near the bottom edge that curled down, keeping his face obscured as he ran the streets and alleys of Yutapu.

Zach slowed down as he walked down an alley not far from where he could hear loud music. The temple was still a ways away and up a trail on a hill from its traditional front gates. Zach stepped out of the alley and started down the sidewalk in a casual way towards the torii, or traditional shrine entrance gate, that he could see from down the road outside the temple. There were a great number of people around him, both native to Yutapu and tourists who wanted to check out the festival. Some of the younger children had on kimonos and hakamas of their own, and a few college girls and elderly people got dressed up as well, but they were still few and far between. Most high school students were wearing casual garb, same with middle schoolers who saw what they were wearing as what was cool. College students and most adults did not bother to dress up either, though they were still going to enjoy the festival itself.

Young Japanese girls were getting their pictures taken by tourists who were amazed by how they did their hair and dressed up in such a traditional fashion for a festival that was much more recent than the kind of clothes they were wearing. Zach noticed his footsteps had become completely silent again, though that was because the other people who did have wooden sandals were making much more noise, not to mention all the talking and the loud music coming from up at the temple too. The music sounded classical Japanese, not much pop playing to echo down to the street level. Never thought I'd be able to go to something like this, Zach thought as he neared the entrance to the temple. He never turned his head towards any of the people who turned to look at him with wide eyes at how dressed up he got, nor did he even turn when a couple tourists lifted cameras to point at him only to freeze and lower them as they had zoomed and caught the bottom left side of his face and his neck that were not easily noticeable in the dim light of dusk.

Zach had only left when it was starting to get dark anyway, and he arrived at the temple after the sun had gone down and the night had begun. Lanterns were lit all along the path up to the temple from its front gates, and Zach stepped onto the path and headed up slowly, taking in the statues around him and looking around the place he had not visited since coming to Yutapu. Don't know why I never came here. It's not like villains couldn't abuse a Shinto shrine's inconspicuous nature. I should know every inch of this city already- ah whatever, just enjoy the day. You should have died a long time ago. I never would have been able to go to something like this if not for the sacrifice of so many. People I sacrificed- they sacrificed themselves! For this better, safer world. See what it is they made. Enjoy this life, they saved.

He continued up the trail towards the better lit area at the top of the shrine where many more lanterns had been lit and there were strings of lights covering the outsides of the temple buildings as well as on top of all the stands set up in front of the main shrine. The music got louder, and Zach watched with a smile as he neared the top where part of a festival routine was already going on, with some shrine maidens putting on a choreographed dance. The young women in kimonos looked more traditional and better than anyone else who dressed up, as they went all out in every aspect. People watched them in awe at their dance, but as soon as they were finished, it was time for the party.

Dragon heads lifted up by sticks followed by another five guys who carried all the parts of the body ran down between the rows of stands, and people on the outsides called out in excitement and laughed as the dragons' bodies danced around too in a specific way. The show must have already been going on for a little when Zach arrived, because the part with the dragons turned out to be a finale and everyone got back to enjoying the festival on their own. Zach headed towards the main shrine himself and he went up to one of the many bells lining the front of it, all of them above a long grate at the edge of the building for people to toss money into. Should help out if I can, Zach thought, while pulling out a 1,000 yen bill from the inside of his hakama. His hand slid under the crease over his chest and he pulled it back out to drop the bill into the grate, then he rang the bell and put his hands together.

Sorry Wonderlass. Saw them mention you on tv today. I know that's who Midoriya's probably thinking of right now. I'm sorry I didn't come save you. I was busy though… Not that busy. I mean what I said to Midoriya though. Why would your life matter more than anyone else I was saving at the time? And everything I was doing while I was gone, was saving people. Every second spent usefully. Not a moment wasted. Endless work. Zach's eyes closed harder. Heroes' Day? Dead Heroes' Day? To me, all of them were heroes too. And since the last Dead Heroes' Day, I lost everyone. Most of your deaths were in the past year. March and April… I'm sorry I can't think of each one of you right now. But I'm in public. I'm in front of people who need to see my smile when I open my eyes. I'll remember you all though. In my own way. The way, I told you to remember each other. In our own ways.

Zach opened his eyes back up and he smiled again while lowering his hands he had put together in front of his chest in a praying stance. As he turned back around, he noticed the two high schoolers to his left on the line of people praying had both looked towards the guy too dressed up for the occasion. The two seniors just like Zach stared at him, and he looked back and lifted his head up a bit so his eyes met theirs for a brief moment. "Evening," he greeted, then he continued turning from the two who kept turning their heads with stunned looks on their faces.

"Lifebringer's here? Lifebringer's here!"

Well that's going to spread quickly, Zach thought to himself as he heard very loud murmuring behind him met with questions from people who heard them but had not seen him.

"The one in the hat over there…"

"Huh? Where'd he go?"

Zach slipped into the crowd and became nearly invisible to everyone around him despite his appearance. He moved swiftly and slowly, his breathing hidden and his figure shifting in the corners of people's visions. Much better, Zach thought, though he frowned to himself for a moment at the way he was moving so stealthily around. This isn't heroic. This is stuff I learned from Toga, and assassins, and Seraphim, he added to himself with a small smile again, thinking of the woman and her long purple hair in a nostalgic way. No one could move like her. Man, I miss her. I miss you all- shit. Come on and smile. This is supposed to be fun. A festival! A Japanese festival, that you got all dressed up for, just be cool. Enjoy it for what it is. Then go home, and read those letters your neighbors gave you. They've been real cool, considering the news still hasn't found me.

Zach looked to his right as a couple teenage girls in kimonos were walking by, blowing on pinwheels they were holding and laughing as they spun around. It was warm out, a little breezy, but it felt like the first evening of spring. Zach turned to his left as something flared up in the corner of his vision, and he saw a small crowd gathered near a man and woman who had their own stand set up with a bowl on it for tips. The man held his hands up while holding a torch in his right, and he reached up to the flame and picked a piece of it off with his left hand. He tossed that flame up in the air, then grabbed off four more plucks and tossed them up before the first one came down. Then he tossed the torch up too and started juggling all the fire along with the torch which had its flame put out when he grabbed off the fifth and final piece of its fire.

In the meantime, the woman next to her husband lifted up a sword so long it went from her hand she held in front of her waist to up above her head. She lifted the sword up and then jumped towards her husband's flames, and she slashed the wooden torch in half to show off the sharpness of her blade's steel. Spectators leaned back as they saw her dodge those flames and cut with apparently a sharp sword at the same time. Then she stood up straight, tilted her head back, and as people gasped and stared at her in shock, the woman opened her mouth and put the end of the blade into it. She tilted her head back more, sliding the sword down her gullet slowly and all the way to the hilt.

"Sword swallower and a fire juggler!"

"They have to be using Quirks, right?"

"Could just be a magic trick, or props?"

"They can't use their Quirks! It has to be real- whoa!"

The man caught both halves of his torch, and he swung back and forth into four of the flames until there was only one left. He put the ends of the two flaming halves of the torch together at the tips right before the fifth flame came down, his body leaning back at that exact moment the flame was hitting down. Then, the man snapped his body forward and blowed into the flames, and it was like he was a dragon himself as the fire flared off of the torches into a huge fireball in front of him that only lasted a moment for people to shriek before it died down to small smoldering flames on the ends of the two half-torches he pulled apart. He then turned to his left and held both torches up in front of him at the same level.

The woman at his side pulled back up the hilt of her blade and un-swallowed the sword she just shoved inside her. Then, to prove that it was still the same sword and as sharp as before, she cut the tops of both half-torches clean off. She cut them so cleanly, that the thin tops of the torches were sliced right onto the edge of her blade where they remained after she finished the single swing. Small circles of wood rested on top of the long thin blade, still flaming. Then she and her husband both leaned forward to the blade and each blew on one of them, putting out only the flames while leaving the wood resting on top of the perfectly horizontal blade. The routine was done masterfully, and the crowd which had gotten progressively larger around them started cheering and clapping for the performance. The performers bowed, and people came up to the bowl and tipped them before clapping some more for the show.

Zach turned away and he headed off while wondering to himself, How'd she manage to eat the whole sword though? It could have been fake, for the first part slicing the torch at least. Cutting the tops of those sticks though, I saw those sticks get smaller since the start- or did I? Did he start burning from the other end- would that have mattered? Maybe her insides are super hard, and she actually trained at sword-swallowing so she could use her Quirk to her profession's advantage. Don't know if that would count as "using" her Quirk during work, but it's not like I care.

Across the temple grounds, around the side of the building where fewer people were gathered and it was more of a younger crowd, a group of teenagers were snickering and laughing as another smaller boy ran back and forth between them. The boy running between them was trying to smile and laugh along like he was in on this, as the others seemed to be having fun, but he was feeling uneasy and not very good. He felt even worse as the older boy he ran to while saying, "Give it back," pretended to hand back off the ball he just won at a booth, only to toss it up over his head when the kid extended his own hands in a grateful way.

The larger boy with short red hair started laughing, "Oops. My hand slipped." His tone was sarcastic and he laughed while the younger boy by two years spun around and started running to the thinner older boy who caught it.

The one who caught it there pump-faked to his right, making the twelve year old running towards him reach to that side only to be totally faked out as the ball was tossed to the other side of the triangle and a fifteen year old neither chubby or thin like his fourteen year old friends. The muscular teen with short bull horns sticking off his forehead and up above his hair chuckled as the short boy spun and started running to him. Instead of tossing to one of the others, he just put the ball into the crook of his right arm before lifting his left hand up in front of him in a slow motion. The smaller boy who was wearing a hakama slowed down and got nervous, only for the boy he was running at to keep lifting his hand and start scratching the back of his head with it. "What's with the getup Chimoshi? Dressing up like that is for girls."

"I- I don't know," the younger boy who was neighbors with the older three started. "I think it's, I don't know. Can I just have my ball, Rukio?"

"Shouldn't that be Rukio-senpai to you? You're about to be in middle school, which means Kimo and Terushido are going to be third years in a couple months, while you're a first year with them."

"You'll be a first year too," Chimoshi countered back frustratedly.

Rukio's smile lowered down, and he looked down his nose at the younger boy, "Yeah, in high school though. Don't put me on your level."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Chimoshi started as Rukio sounded like he was starting to get mad, and he wanted to pretend like they were all still having fun. "Can I just, can I have my ball? I won it myself-"

"Yeah, and we're just playing around with it," Rukio retorted with his grin rising back up. "But here, it's yours," he held it out in front of him, and he shook his hand a couple times like he wanted Chimoshi to step forward and take it.

"You're just going to, pull it back," Chimoshi started slowly, lowering his head and looking at the older boy upset as he could see it clearly on Rukio's face he was still getting messed with.

"Oh, careful," Rukio said, looking up and smirking at his friends who snickered again as Rukio pulled the ball back and held it in his elbow again with his arm crooked around it. "It's learning."

The ball in the crook of Rukio's arm suddenly popped out of his grip as something hit the back of it and knocked it up. Chimoshi's eyes widened just like Rukio's, and he snapped his head up to look above his older neighbor where the ball just bounced in an arc behind him. "Hey!" Rukio spun around and snapped, looking angrily behind him to see who just did that. The five and a half foot tall boy feeling big though, lifted his head up, and he looked under the round rim of the hat of the person behind him who was holding a long thin wooden sword in his right hand. The man slid the sword back into the belt of his hakama, while turning his head and looking down at the boys on his right as he was standing sideways behind Rukio.

He had just bopped the ball up with the end of his wooden sword, and he caught it in his left hand and was tossing it up and catching it over and over in that hand. "That's ours!" Kimo called out at the figure he could not see all that well under the rim of his big hat. The chubby boy started forward though, and the thin one looked over at him before turning and rushing over towards Rukio himself to help out too.

"Give that back, mister," Rukio started, his eyes narrowing after going wide for a moment at the sight of this pretty imposing figure.

"Why? I thought it was okay to just take people's things, according to what I just saw over here," Zach caught the ball again with his left, but he did not toss it back up this time.

The Rukio boy was in between his friends, and this guy did not sound much older than them to have just taken the ball so easily out of his hands. "Get the ball back," Rukio said, and Zach lifted the right corner of his lips though he tried to suppress the grin. Kimo ran forward on Rukio's left, then Rukio moved forward himself while Terushido was slowest of the three. Zach turned his body to the right, and Kimo ran right past him with his arm reaching for where Zach was holding the ball. Rukio did not even try going straight for the ball, balling a fist instead and moving straight for the older teen trying to mess with him.

Zach put his hands together behind his back while turning to the other side and side-stepping away. Rukio missed a swing, then another as Zach stepped another way right as Kimo was turning back and running towards him, looking to reach for the ball and not attack the older teen who was moving too quickly for that. Rukio's got this-

I'll get him this time!

Once his back is completely to me, Terushido tried to move for the man's back so as to grab the ball once he was in his blindspot. Zach let that boy get directly behind him, while moving in such a way that got Rukio adjusting his run to come in front of Zach who lowered the ball right in front of his body. Lowering it like that made Kimo shift his target too, and he was not focused enough on where Rukio was running until the large fourteen year old saw his twin-horned friend step right in front of him lifting his right fist. "Ruk-"

Zach stepped aside quickly, making Chimoshi open his eyes so much wider than they already were as he watched this man in awe. Kimo ran into Rukio, and the two of them toppled straight through the gap Zach was no longer in, falling into Terushido who was reaching for Zach's back in that moment before he lowered the ball from above his shoulder where the tall and thin boy tried to grab it. The larger two toppled into their tall thin friend, and all three of them fell to the floor on top of each other.

Zach turned again after stepping away quickly like that for those three younger teens to fall over each other. He lifted the corners of his lips into a small grin, while raising up his head a bit too so the shadows of his hat covered less of his face. The three who had toppled to the ground turned their heads and looked up at the one who had knocked them down without touching any of them, and all three dropped their jaws just like Chimoshi and a group of other people not far from them who had been watching in amusement only to get shocked as they looked closer at this person's illuminated face. The boys on the floor lifted their heads more and looked at the scar under the man's right eye above that grin on his face, and the scars on his neck too and the bottom left side of his face.

"Li-Li-Life-"

"Lifebr-br-br-"

"L-Lifebringer?" Rukio gasped out with his voice choking off and cracking as he breathed it.

All three stumbled over his name, then Zach started to the three of them as they were scrambling up to their feet, "You shouldn't steal, or pick on people just because they're smaller than you." He lifted his head and tossed up with his left hand, and Chimoshi brought his hands up quickly. He bobbled the ball but then grabbed it tightly with both hands and pulled it back to his chest, before staring at Lifebringer again with his eyes so huge as the hero in front of him gave him a brighter smile. He looked back at the three who got up in front of him and backed up a little, and he added in a carefree tone suggesting he was not going to do anything to them, "Because there's always someone bigger than you willing to step up for that little guy."

Zach turned away and he took a step like he was just going to continue away, but he paused and looked back. "Besides, what's wrong with wearing a hakama?" Zach wondered at the group he heard picking on the younger kid who he flashed another grin towards. "You don't think it looks cool?" He asked, then he turned away and pulled the rim of his hat down again. The muscular teen with broad shoulders walked away with that wide back shown to the kids who felt like they were watching some real life samurai, or at least he coolest person they had ever seen as he dealt out that justice.

Chimoshi's hands were shaking on either side of his ball, and his lips curled up into the biggest smile on his face as he clenched that ball into his chest ten times harder, knowing he was not going to let anyone take it anymore.

"I- I won't do anything bad anymore," Terushido started, stumbling forward for a second and calling it to Lifebringer, feeling like an idiot that the hero had just scolded him in front of a lot of people.

"H-Hey, Chimoshi," Kimo started while looking back at the smaller boy behind him. Chimoshi turned his body to the side and got protective over the ball, but Kimo was eying the ball with wide eyes yet did not step closer to the younger neighbor of his. "Could I see that ball? Lifebringer was tossing it around, I mean-"

"Sure, but Rukio's in the middle this time," Chimoshi replied quickly, and the oldest of the group spun to the youngest kid who said that while lifting up his lips in a more confident grin. The other two spun towards Rukio in surprise and hesitation, wondering how their friend was going to react to that.

"I-" Rukio started, an annoyed look forming on his face. He sighed though after a second while looking to the younger kid in front of him. "I'm going to intercept it from one of you, so don't expect me in the middle for long," he warned. Chimoshi grinned bigger and then threw the ball towards Terushido who was surprised but rose his hands up and caught the ball, the ball that Lifebringer had just been holding before he knocked them down a peg. So cool.

Can't believe that just happened, Kimo thought, turning his head away to look for Lifebringer which resulted in a ball hitting him in the face a few moments later.

Holy crap, a college guy on a date with his girlfriend lowered his phone and stopped recording. There's no way I actually… he pressed play on the video and started watching, and his girlfriend leaned over with her eyes wide as they started watching it again. "I got all that," he said, his excited voice cracking with a laugh as he spun to the girl next to him who looked right back up at him in as excited a way. I'm sending this to everyone! He opened up his phone's contact list and started tapping on every single name down it…

---

"That couldn't have been real," Bob began.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he hired those children. You know that's what I thought when I first watched this video: 'Those kids are paid actors.'"

"Come on, Kasami," Rashi began, holding his hands up defensively as Kasami was sounding too taunting there for what was a legitimate reaction to what they just saw. "You have to admit, something like that happening? Lifebringer just…" Rashi did not even know how to describe the clip they had just shown on the news which the three of them watched from behind the desk they were hosting the news from.

"Just what? Being an everyday hero?" Kasami wondered back at Rashi who found it hard to explain what he was thinking there. He looked back to Bob, "Or is it that him being at a Dead Heroes' festival was too hard to believe?" Bob hesitated at Kasami's question which did call out exactly why he felt this must have been staged… or something. "We've spent a lot of time in here talking about all the horrible stuff that's happened to Lifebringer, but are you really that surprised to see him out there smiling and showing his face at a festival like that? It's what he's been doing since he came back here!"

"That, is true," Bob began. Always one more hesitant to just look on the bright side of what Lifebringer was doing though, he continued, "However, the way he, confronted those children-"

"Teenagers," Kasami countered. He continued quickly too even after interrupting his co-anchor, "And I think he did exactly what he was supposed to do. They're just kids so he didn't go too harsh on them, but it looked like they were bullying the younger boy and so he stepped in. What's wrong about that?"

"Nothing," Rashi agreed, nodding towards Kasami and then looking back to the third man wondering if Bob did have something against it.

Bob just hummed and leaned back in his seat with a nod after a second. "It just, seemed staged," he said again, though it was quieter and more in disbelief as they all knew it was unlikely something like this had been staged. They had blurred out the children's faces before putting the clip on television, but he had seen the unedited clip and still could not believe what he had seen.

"That's because it was too ridiculous," Rashi started with a laugh. "That all these serious things we've been talking about with Lifebringer: bringing people back to life, his goals for the future, taking out the Subspace Devils? It all seems so big picture, but it's nice to see he's also just being a regular hero sometimes too…"

"Ridiculous?" Mineta muttered while sitting back on the couch, his head shaking and his eyes finally going back to normal sized. "Ridiculously awesome," he countered with a small smile that lowered back down right away. But yeah, how does Zach do stuff like that? Everything that has to be on his mind? All those horrible things he told us about… I could never just go around smiling like that after everything he's been through. I don't get how he does it… but that was so cool! Damn, he even looked cool wearing that old traditional costume that most guys just look like posers in. It was like he was an actual samurai!

"Do you think he knew someone was recording?" Tokoyami wondered to his side at Shoji on another couch as Mineta.

Shoji hummed at the question and thought back on the video himself. The man recording was making fun of him at the start of the video for going so far as to even carry a wooden stick like he was a real samurai. It wasn't until halfway through the recording that he even noticed the scars on Zach's face. And, Zach seemed fully focused on what he was doing too. Of course, if he knew the camera was there he would not have made it clear that he knew either. "I don't know," Shoji replied, as there was no way to tell whether he had or not.

Mineta looked over as he heard the low tone of Shoji's voice showing he thought it would be impossible to tell. The sound of that tone made Mineta's face scrunch up more than it did just with his thoughtful look, and after a second's hesitation he reached down to his pocket. "I'll ask him," Mineta said, and he pulled out his phone while the other four in the common room looked towards him in surprise. "Though I bet he knew. The way he was smiling that whole time… though that could have just been for everyone around him who recognized him too."

"Is he only smiling for the cameras?" Tokoyami wondered.

Mineta froze while mid-text, then he lifted his head with a glance at the dark boy with a beak who was looking back his way. "I, I mean I'm just assuming, it's one reason why he's smiling all the time," Mineta replied, sounding like he did not actually know but really had just been saying what he thought there. "Like back with the War Boys…" he started again, though he trailed off thinking about one of the two who Zach was carrying out of that building that day. Mineta continued again in a lower voice while lowering his eyes back to his phone, "I mean, he had to know how screwed he was at that moment for sneaking out and breaking the rules and everything, but he still smiled for the cameras."

Sato frowned towards Mineta and got a darker look on his face as he turned back to the tv. Koda was looking past Sato on his right to the short boy sitting on the middle couch by himself, but his gaze shifted back to the boy with spiky-brown hair whose expression got more frustrated as he looked into the screen at a picture of Zach in that costume he was wearing. Is he really just, Sato thought with his fists curling tightly at his sides. He's fine now? He's back to being a hero, just like that? Is that really all it took?!

"Sato," Koda began. His voice was soft, speaking under the others as Tokoyami and Shoji questioned Mineta if he thought Zach would really tell him the truth about if he knew the cameras were watching him. Sato turned to his left though and looked into Koda's eyes only to be surprised by the semi-serious but also soft way his classmate was looking at him. Koda gulped but took in a deep breath at the same time, then he said quietly, "Zach's, really trying you know."

Sato's teeth clenched and his face snapped, Koda's eyes widening and his head pulling back at that reaction. Sato tried to ease it up, but the others looked over at Koda's sudden pull-away and saw Sato's angry look first. "'Trying?'" Sato repeated in angered frustration. His eyes glared back to the screen and he said in a low voice, "An apology and a slap on the wrist, and he's back-"

"Weren't you out trying to get him released-" Mineta started, his voice getting annoyed as he had seen Sato's flipping attitude over the past two months.

"I guess I didn't think it would be that easy," Sato grumbled in response, shaking his head as when he had first gone out there he was so for helping Zach. He had gone to visit Tartaros a few times though to tell Zach how he was trying, to talk to his old friend again, and Zach never came up to see him. I wanted to help him, but the more I was out there the more I saw, he didn't need my help. Everyone was supporting him already, even without me doing anything. I just sat back and watched, as you were going to get released like everyone had forgotten what you did! And when I found myself in the voting booth, looking at Nikko and Ippo's names I- I couldn't- I was so angry at myself afterwards for picking her, but then when she lost I knew it didn't matter. What I thought didn't matter. You were out.

"It's not a slap on the wrist," Koda tried to argue back, after noticing he had leaned backwards too easily to let up on trying to convince Sato otherwise. "Six months-"

"Not even," Sato cut him off. "Just over five," he countered. "He served not even half a year, of a sentence I thought was pretty harsh but actually would have been-" he stopped himself, but then he grumbled in a lower voice, "It would have been more deserving."

Sato Rikido was not the only one who thought so. Across Japan, on the southern Okinawa Island, a forty-two year old man bent down and tied his dark gray boots tightly to his feet. He stood up and reached to his right side, grabbing a mask off the wall and putting it up over his head. The black mask covered the bottom and top half of his face, leaving only a slit for his eyes. He grabbed a dark blue hoodie and covered up the tight black costume he had underneath it, strapped with support items that worked with his Quirk, Clean Sweep.

The man glanced to his right side at a counter just on the inside of his front door. He glared at the picture frame of himself and a woman with his expression darkening more, and then the clip he just watched on the news of Lifebringer repeated in his head causing a low growl to come out the bottom of his throat. The dark-haired man whose hair was hidden under his mask stepped outside of his house, and he closed the door behind him without locking it. He left his car in the driveway, and he rushed out into the dark night towards the closest beach to him… where a boat was waiting for him anchored close to shore. Lifebringer. I'm coming for you.

---

Zach walked around in the afternoon after Dead Heroes' Day with only a long-sleeved dark-blue shirt on that had the maker's logo on the right side of his chest. He wore a pair of black sweatpants that were not too loose on him, his muscular legs filling them out nicely. The afternoons were still short, and he did not have much time after school to enjoy the day, though he just found something that he was surprised by and took a picture of with his phone before sending out to some friends.

Sero Hanta had dropped onto the couch of his building's common room right after school, as they had had two hours straight of strenuous practical training right before the end of the day. All Might had put them through the ringer, and he was exhausted as he relaxed on the couch. Patrol is going to be rough later. He had his internship coming up soon and hoped this short rest would help him at least a little before he headed out there for real. Sero felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled his phone out aimlessly while leaning back on the couch, then his eyebrows rose up and he lifted the corners of his lips too at the picture he saw on his screen.

His eyes rose from his phone to the tv that he had not really been focused on, as the news was reporting on small stories he didn't care about. Villain activity was quiet as of late though, very quiet ever since the Subspace Devils' attack, so the news was reporting on how there were sightings of the very first sakura blossoms. "…Though early for this to happen, it has gotten warmer quickly this year since the last snowfall. We're expecting to see sakura blossoms by Mid-March across most of Honshu based on current climate trends…"

Sero looked back down at his phone and the selfie of Zach in front of some budding sakura blossoms on one tree among several that had not started budding yet. Sero texted him back, 'Feels like you're watching this news story with me, seeing as…' His fingers lifted off the keyboard, and he backspaced that message. Might be weird to say something like that. He might get upset over it actually. 'Nice. Just saw something on the news about that. What're u up to?'

'Not much,' Zach responded, texting while continuing down a park outside of Yutapu that was mainly grass but had sidewalks cutting through the whole thing and sparse trees scattered around too. The sidewalks were pretty busy with families walking around with kids, strollers being pushed about, and dogs on leashes all over. There was even a couple enjoying what seemed like the first day of spring out on the grass having a picnic, and Zach glanced their way with a small smile before looking back at his message he had continued typing even while looking away. 'U have your internship today?'

'Yeah ;('

'Why ;(?'

'Dude, training today killed me. All Might told us with internships that we shouldn't be doing them if we can't do them and our normal schoolwork, so I couldn't complain but damn it sucked!'

'Endurance training?'

Sero rose his eyebrows, but he responded with a smirk, 'Really feels like you've been watching me.' He hesitated, but this time he actually sent it as it was too coincidental with the news' story and this now. He sent a second message quicker than Zach could respond, 'Was running nonstop through all of it. Aoyama nearly passed out from heat exhaustion.'

'He okay?'

Sero smiled some more and replied 'Lol yea he's good. What're u doing rn?'

Zach resent the picture of him with the sakura blossom, making Sero sweatdrop at the response while Zach chuckled as he imagined his friend's reaction. 'As I said, not much,' Zach replied. 'Training wasn't as hard at Shiketsu today. We're all working on reports.'

'Lucky.'

'The others say they're jamming our hardest training into the final months, but this report is going to be graded harshly too.'

'What's it on?'

'Secret.'

Sero laughed and he typed back quickly, 'You're kidding.'

'Nah. I like being mysterious,' Zach replied and he grinned before pocketing his phone and turning with a heroic smile to a couple and their kids who all recognized him and pointed him out. The kids wanted a picture, and Zach nodded at the parents that it was fine when they asked him. He kept his right hand raised to his side and flexed his right arm instead of putting it down like he did with his left to put his left hand on top of the younger boy's head. The two boys' parents thanked him for posing after Zach said something inspirational to their boys he had taken a photo with, but he told them it was no bother before heading on his way again.

He pulled back out his phone when he continued going, texting back fast as he had taken longer there than with most responses. He sweatdropped too as Sero called him out after two unanswered messages that Zach was trying to be 'mysterious' in their text message stream too. 'Haha, just had to take a pic with some people who saw me. It's really a secret though. I'm thinking about publishing it afterwards, this time less "anonymously" as my last one.'

Sero shook his head with his bottom lip dropping for a few seconds. Then he closed his mouth and just chuckled under his breath at the easy admission Zach just made about posting his report himself back their first year. 'Well, good luck with that' Sero replied. Whatever he's trying to do with this one is probably important too. Lifebringer's Law was practically built off people talking about your last report. Now we all have to train in teaching people how to use their Quirks too. A whole extra course… That I don't mind taking. Because you were right about that. And you knew it, which is why you posted it yourself!

'And good luck with your internship today. If you're too sore then take off.'

Not really an option when Ape-Man's already offered me a sidekick job after graduation. Not that he doesn't know how hard U.A.'s training is… but I don't want him thinking I can't handle it! 'I'm good. This is Taping-Hero: Cellophane we're talking about. Plus, things have been quiet since you kicked the crap out of the SD's.'

'Don't rely on that'

"I know I know. I'll be careful'

'K, see ya later'

'See ya'

Sero put down his phone and let out a deep breath, then he chuckled and shook his head while putting his phone back in his pocket. "What're you grinning about?" Ashido asked, suddenly leaning over the side of the couch on the left side from the center couch's perspective. Sero pulled his head away at her sudden appearance, and Ashido glanced down at his pocket where he had just slid his phone after smiley texting someone. "Let me guess, you've got yourself another girl-"

"It was Zach," Sero cut her off before she could accuse him of playboy-ing as she loved to joke at him.

"Oh," Ashido replied, nodding and her smile lowering a little though it rose back up quickly as Sero's expression shifted a little oddly as he looked at her.

She came around the side of the couch and wondered at her friend, "How's he doing? Haven't talked to him since the joint training," she mentioned it off-handedly, but Sero looked at her even more oddly after hearing that than from that initial reaction she had a moment ago.

"He's good," Sero said, though there was a questioning tone in his voice.

Ashido looked back at him confusedly like she wondered what that look and tone was for. She dropped onto the middle couch, and she looked at the screen to avoid Sero's gaze. That's great. I'm glad he's, doing well. The thing with Kyoka, seemed like it failed… And after seeing that Darling girl I thought, maybe he would, maybe… Thinking of Zach, and who he had been since he came back, had made her so happy before. That had changed though recently. He was lying again.

"Have you even talked to him since Inazuma?" Sero wondered.

Ashido looked at him in surprise and then her eyes shifted around and she saw a few others nearby on the first floor though no one was listening in to their conversation, yet. She kept Yaoyorozu, Asui, Iida, and Uraraka all in her peripherals though as she shook her head at Sero hesitantly. "Other than the joint training..."

"Why not?" Sero wondered, his tone started to get accusatory as he asked her.

Mina's heart rate started to speed up as she refaced her good friend and one of the few people she could talk to freely. Sero had been the one to tell her they could only talk about this outside of school though, which made her think about it clearer for a moment, He wants me to keep things, secret. Just talk about stuff, without revealing anything in case anyone listens. I can do that… but I don't want to lie- Ashido's face fell more, and she said softer to him, "It hurts, you know? All the lies he's said to us since he came back?"

She specified and rose her eyebrows expecting Sero to agree with her, but Sero shook his head back as he did not get the feeling she had. "Did you, not believe him?" Ashido whispered softly.

"I believed every word of it," Sero replied with a shake of his head. Almost from the start, his story about going through that portal had blown my mind. I believed there were parallel worlds, and hell there still could be. I don't know what Airi was talking about when she mentioned the other dimension they were in, but that one, and the Void. Who knows how many others are out there? "But he does what he feels is right, and sometimes that includes lying to us."

Ashido's face scrunched up and she pulled back for a moment. He still- She felt guilty for a brief moment, as her faith in Zach had been completely shaken by what happened in that abandoned village on Inazuma. She could see it though on his face, in his eyes, the same look she had always seen on his face when they talked about Zach the hundred, or thousand of times before this. "How do you still look up to him-" Ashido began, but cut herself off again, only to get a more serious look on her face as she leaned forward and said in a lower voice. "When you know that he was lying again? When you know, how many people he's killed?" She asked that softer, more pained. "I knew that when he was mentioning 'war' it had to be worse than what I was imagining, but he talked about those battles like he was killing so many people," Ashido continued that in a soft voice, her eyes shifting to her left for a second as she saw Iida, Uraraka, and Asui all heading towards the couches to go around them or to them, she didn't know.

The others on Ashido's left heard her even as she got quieter though, and the three of them looked at her with wide-eyes, though Iida's wide ones darted left and right before back to Ashido in astonishment. "It might have been on a different world, and I might not fully get what he was going through," Ashido continued in a lower voice feeling pained as she said this to a friend who did not look to have any wavering faith unlike her. "How do you still see him, like that?"

The way in which she was asking about was clear to Sero without her specifying. He glanced to his right at the three on his right, and he saw someone past them walking closer too wondering what they were talking about that had the other three all freezing to watch them in shock. Asui was still wide-eyed but she did look to Sero with increased interest too at Mina's question, Why is it, Sero-chan, that you always take his side?

Sero looked back at his ex-girlfriend though and replied directly to her, "It's easy for me. Because Zach's died, thousands of times," Sero said it and shook his head in sheer amazement at the statement that just came out of his mouth. "And I don't think I could do it once," he told the shocked girl in front of him.

Uraraka's eyes were huge as she stared at Sero. As much as she was wondering if she had heard what he first said correctly and desperately wanted him to clarify it to her, that response also had her staring in shock at her classmate who she had never asked this to before. She thought about the last June, how Sero had told her, Shoji, Midoriya, and Todoroki about how that month the year before had been the saddest moment of his life. She remembered what Sero mentioned hearing Zach say, word for word, as he stood outside Zach's door the night of Kaminari's betrayal. And she always assumed most of the reason Sero was so amazed by Zach had to do with how he had come back after that to keep fighting, because it was something she was amazed by herself too even if she did not always agree with what Zach did.

Sero glanced around at the others who were all surprised by his answer, and he shook his head as to him their surprise was more unfounded than his answer. "I'm as amazed by Monoma who managed to do it like a dozen times," Sero went on. "And Kirishima, Shoji," he looked to his right, "Tsuyu and Iida too. You guys… do you think you could do it again?" He asked the two standing next to each other who froze at the question, as it was something both of them avoided thinking about so much. Knowing what it was like was something else entirely, and Ashido and Uraraka could see that as they looked to the two who Sero just questioned and felt a bit bad for bringing it up. He continued though in a softer voice, "And another time after that? And again? And again?"

The boy with tape dispensers in his elbows shook his head and said, "Monoma says that when bringing people back, there's a moment he could feel that Zach told him he felt when he actually died. Something Zach doesn't like to tell other people about, because then we'd all know what he goes through each and every time he saves someone like that. There's a moment that Zach told Monoma he felt when he actually died for real, that horrible moment that you have to feel multiple times to realize." Sero paused for a second after specifying how you have to feel it multiple times, and he frowned more when Iida frowned at him for saying it like that as it made it feel like Sero was disparaging how important his single death was. Sero was doing that though, and Iida's eyes unblocked by glasses opened wider as he stared back at Sero whose expression eased up a moment after he was sure Iida saw that serious look.

Sero sighed at the ways the others were looking at him, but he continued while looking back to Ashido who he meant this for initially anyway, "Zach's felt himself die, countless times. And he's gone through so much pain too. All those scars we saw when Zach got shot," he reminded the girl in front of him who winced and closed her eyes so tightly as she imagined that. Yaoyorozu lowered her gaze down to her feet too from behind the three standing behind the center couch in front of her. She remembered more of those scars than either of the other two who saw them, as she had been in the ambulance when they finally cleaned all the blood off him to reveal just how much of his body was covered in scar tissue. Sero continued to the pink girl in front of him, and the people standing behind her, "I'd never seen anything like it in my life when I tried to stop the bleeding, when I looked over Zach's body and saw scars on top of scars on top of burn tissue on top of bullet holes."

Uraraka's eyes shook as she tried to picture that, as she tried to imagine the scars on his face and neck going farther down Zach's body as she always knew they might have. "It was like he got shoved in a meat grinder, came out and healed up, and then got cut into little pieces and put back together in a shoddy way," Sero continued, his tone getting lower and his expression getting sadder too as he could not keep saying this just in an amazed way anymore. He paused for a second, and he continued in a low voice, "All while being tortured and watching his friends get tortured and killed. Fighting a war none of us knew about, in a world I couldn't even imagine," Sero said that and did not sound like he was lying to either Iida or Ashido.

They wondered what 'world' he meant by that, as he was not talking about Terra but something more like how what had really been happening since Zach was gone on their own planet had been like a whole other world to him. "And he doesn't want people to know," Sero started again. His voice rose back up and he said in an amazed voice, "All he wanted was to help people. All he's ever wanted, and it's all I can see him still trying to do." He said it and paused with a shake of his head and a smiling face of disbelief as he then continued, "It blows my fucking mind the kind of person Zach is."

"Zach, is the most amazing person I've ever met," Sero admitted with a shrug while looking solely back at Ashido. He looked straight into her eyes and said it firmly but with a smile, "The most resilient, strongest, most terrifying," he added that but shook his head and finished, "and yet with the kindest heart. I don't know anyone who cares more about people he doesn't even know than Zach. Because what he does is sacrifice his own life for every person he brings back. He gives his life for them all the time. Like every day!"

"But," Uraraka started, chiming in for the first time and making Sero lift his gaze up to her. She paused but then asked the boy who was saying all this great stuff about Zach, "What about all the bad things-"

"And what about the good?" Sero countered right back at her. "Yeah, Zach's done bad things. I don't argue that," Sero said with a shrug. "Zach doesn't argue that," he added. "But at what point can the good ever overcome the bad? Never, right? No matter how much good Zach does, he'll never make up for the bad things he's done. Not to some people," he said that lower and shifted his eyes around the three behind the couch who he could see were still stuck on that very first thing they overheard over here even after all that good Sero just talked about. In a lower voice he added, "Not to you." His eyes locked on Tsuyu for a moment and then to Iida too, then Uraraka more questioningly though she just seemed confused and unsure of herself with her eyes shifted down and failing to meet Sero's when he looked her way.

Ashido looked behind her and up at the faces of her other friends just behind her too. Sero continued to that group of three, "And I think Zach might still be trying to make it up to you. Show you that he really came back and is being good despite your doubts, because he wants to prove that anyone can come back from the darkness and that anyone can survive even the worst things, and until everyone accepts that, he won't give up… and he'll keep fighting." Sero's tone lowered again and he frowned as despite how amazing what he was saying was, it made a pain reappear in his chest stronger this time. It's so amazing that he's trying something like that. It's why he doesn't want us telling anyone who he is. His biggest reason to keep up from revealing that he really was Death, is just that he wants everyone to think he really can be a hero even after all they saw happen to him.

"Sero?" Uraraka wondered softly, her expression soft but confused at the way Sero looked right there even as he was thinking those amazing things about Zach.

I don't like it though, Sero thought, as much as those amazing things supposedly were to him. "I don't want him to keep fighting," Sero said. He admitted it, and even he looked surprised as the others all thought he was talking up what Zach was doing as if it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen before. He brought his head up fast and said, "As amazing as Zach is… I want him to be done. I want him to stop." I've wanted him to stop for so long now. Since I was hearing about AoD members falling left and right. About how they were losing heavy numbers and then still showing up again and again. "I don't know if Zach even can at this point though. He's gone too far. Put too much pressure on himself." Sero's voice got even softer to near a whisper, and he finished, "Zach puts himself in more pain than anyone else, just to save people. He wants to save them. He loves to save them. But, he's tired."

"Tired?" Ashido asked, and Yaoyorozu stepped around Uraraka's other side to look towards Sero herself in confusion at what he just said there. Her eyes were wide at what he thought and just proposed to them, and Sero hesitated at Yaoyorozu's look as he wondered about maybe being wrong for a second.

His head shook back and forth slowly though as he thought back. "I saw it that day at the 'fight day' at Zach's apartment," Sero admitted. And I never said anything about it. I didn't even really understand, what it was I was seeing. I tried to but… I couldn't. "I went to the bathroom to take a piss, and Zach was standing in front of the mirror, thinking about something just…" Sero stopped himself and clenched his teeth hard for a moment then shook his head frustratedly.

The others could see Sero remembering Zach's expression at that time from his own pained look. "Whatever Zach was seeing and hearing," Sero started softly and in a pained tone. "Whatever battlefield he was in the middle of to turn and look at me like that," Sero continued, his heart aching as he saw that look in Zach's eyes. "I couldn't imagine it. But when Zach spun looking like he was in the middle of a war, only to see it was me, the look that I saw when he said it was fine and headed away; it was just tired. Behind the smile and the fake calm eyes, I saw exhaustion like I couldn't comprehend at the time."

Iida's heart pounded and he had to turn his eyes away for a moment. Ever since I discovered- not once. Not once have I even considered something like that. He's, tired? After all he's done, I see him still doing so much and I didn't think about it.

"Zach was tired of fighting," Sero said softly, and he sighed himself while leaning back on the couch he sat on. "But the fight followed him and he couldn't escape from it. Even running back home, it followed him mentally. And he acts like he's at war, treats life like it's war, because when he doesn't and he starts to let his guard down, that means his war is over. He'd have to think back on it, I think," Sero muttered at the end, since as close as he felt to Zach, even he could not really tell. I really don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I overthought everything, or maybe I'm right. "And I think Zach wasn't lying," Sero continued while looking to Ashido. "As much as he might have fudged some of the details for us, the stuff he mentioned about time distortion, reality bending and dimensional Quirks," Asui and Uraraka were confused and staring at Sero in more shock at those kind of things he was mentioning casually, though both of the short girls noticed the taller people standing next to them had looks more of recognition on their faces that shocked the two of them even more.

Sero finished to the girl in front of him who started nodding at what he was saying right there, as she agreed that he was right about this. "The stories might have been altered but not too much. Zach's seen things so ridiculous, that I think he knows most of us wouldn't be able to believe any of it. So whatever he says, whatever he tells us, he just makes everything so crazy so we wouldn't fully believe it from the start, so that we could pick out what we did and didn't believe."

"Are the stories he's telling about Terra-"

"Those are true," Sero cut in before Uraraka could finish her question. Uraraka hesitated in confusion as what Sero was talking about almost made her think none of them actually were true, "But when he says things like he was fighting a 'war,' and then in the next sentence laughs about some fun adventure he went on in that other world, you ever think he might be leaving something out?" Sero wondered. He paused after asking it though, and then he admitted, "Not that, you've heard too many of these stories."

Uraraka felt a pain in her chest like that was a slight just directed her way at how frequently, or rarely, she had seen Zach since he came back to Japan. Sero was glad she looked guilty like that though, and he hoped to himself, Go talk to him then. You know he can't come here to talk to you.

Sero continued after a moment, feeling hesitant now after Uraraka's started question before that made him feel he might have been saying too much here, "But as much as I know he was exaggerating before, the stories themselves I think are just darker. More gritty and full of horrific realism that Zach changed into a fun adventure, and I don't blame Zach for doing that. Because when I saw Zach actually thinking about the truth, it scarred me." Sero grimaced at the admittance, but he said in a lower and darker tone, "Just seeing that look on Zach's face, keeps me awake at night trying to picture what it is he saw in that mirror. So if he had actually told me what he had seen to make him look like that, something probably worse than what I'm imagining…" Sero trailed off and then shook his head fast, and he smiled again while raising his hands and putting them behind his head in a relaxed way.

"But that's another reason Zach's still the coolest hero in my mind," Sero added. "Because despite all that shit, he's out on a walk right now enjoying the first sakura blossoms. And when I told him about how hard our training was today that Aoyama almost passed out, his first response was asking if he was okay." Sero grinned more while looking back at Ashido who smiled wide to hear something like that. "And that video from last night?"

"That was crazy," Ashido agreed with a quick nod. A big smile covered her face, and she shook away all that doubt and the feelings of hesitation she had now that did not fully go away during the joint training alone. "But he looked like he got totally into the festival atmosphere! Dressing up like that?! I literally dropped my jaw when I saw him-"

"He's enjoying himself," Sero said with a laugh, and a more relaxed smile as he had put pressure on himself there to help Zach only to remind himself here how Zach was already helping himself. As much pressure as he's got on himself, as much as bringing those people back is still hurting him, he's evening it out with some fun. I know that's what he's doing. As much as going out in public has its practical uses too, you're having fun with it too, aren't you?

---

Zach continued walking around long past dark. He had stopped back home for a minute, grabbing a sweatshirt and a black mask to cover the bottom half of his face in an acceptable way as it would be after dark. The air was colder and it was windy that night, with dark clouds filling the sky though no snow coming out of them. Even if it did precipitate, Zach figured it would likely just be freezing rain as the temperature did not drop below freezing point the night before either.

I didn't sleep last night, Zach thought, frowning as he continued walking the streets with a small cup of coffee in his right hand. He had gotten the coffee from the Karbos, but he decided while he was there not to push on the subject of villain activity that the other two mentioned not being a part of since he had made them his C.I.'s. He had the opportunity to question about previous contacts, and he could have pushed the issue about how some of them must have gotten upset at the Karbos for getting out of the game. He could have used the incentive of stopping those people angry at them, and the hidden threat that if no one was angry at them then maybe they had not gotten fully out of the villain game as they had told him. Zach knew he could do it too, but he wound up just talking to them for the twenty minutes he was in the store in a more casual way before leaving with his coffee.

What am I still doing out here? Zach wondered, as he was all alone walking down a sidewalk with a cold coffee. Only half of it was left, but he had not felt like drinking much in the first place. Drinking it did nothing for him. He did not feel tired anyway, nor did the coffee keep him up any more than he would be regularly. I guess I like the taste. Seraphim made better- Zach's jaw tightened and his eyes clenched shut for a moment. No really, what am I doing out here? I know every inch of this city by now. I could go memorize Osaka, or something… why? All this useless information. Just the chance that I'll need it… is not actually a good reason to spend my time doing shit like this.

So what is it? I'm not out here for anyone else. I'm hiding my appearance so it's not to instill confidence in the public. Am I looking for villains? Why didn't I say anything to the Karbos then?

Maybe, it's because I was still doing that as Lifebringer. Last night I went out and had a good time, as Lifebringer. And I had to appear to the public as Lifebringer. As a hero. Why am I dressed darkly, out here at night, searching for… Zach's lips felt like twisting up so much, but that feeling made him frown deeper for a second before flattening back out under his mask. Someone's trailing me. Been a few days since my last tail. At least the last one I noticed.

Zach finished his coffee and walked down a dark alley, opening up a trash can and fully looking down into it before tossing his coffee. He closed the lid and continued out the other end of the alley and then down another road. Why is that disappointing? If it's one of Eziano's, they'd definitely notice that I was letting my guard down too much. Shit. Even that, might have tipped them off that I know. Or maybe I'm faking knowing that someone's behind me. I want someone to slip up! Weird though. Even Lemillion does a better job than this.

Zach turned his head and looked over his shoulder, and he looked back and forth on the empty road behind him on outer suburbs of Yutapu. Just up ahead is a good place. Zach turned back forward and frowned deeper under his mask. Not a professional, but clearly trained. They darted away up on the roof back there quickly into hiding. I made it out like I didn't notice, but the fact that he's still coming after me even though I'm on guard is unsettling. Eziano's guys wouldn't be so gung-ho. They'd back off and wait for another moment. After what I did to the others? So then, this could be someone he outsourced. A freelancer who doesn't seem as against collateral damage if he's willing to be seen out here. Is this going to be a legitimate fight? I should move a little quicker.

His steps sped up and he glanced over his shoulder again. He looked up towards the rooftops again, his face appearing more uncertain and nervous as he swore he spotted something leaping across from one farther roof to one closer to him. That kind of speed. The people in those buildings could definitely hear someone on their roof! His motions seem strange though, does look like a man's body, Zach shifted his attention forward and his eyes narrowed with his hands curling into tighter fists that he curled even harder still as the right corner of his lips was twitching.

Zach turned right and cut down a narrow path next to a grassy area fenced in by sharp metal posts. He ran to the gate and hopped it into a forward roll on the other side so he did not have to stop to open the gate. Zach rolled out of the dive and spun around, then he hopped backwards twice as the guy across that narrow street and up on the roof ran to the edge of it and jumped straight off. A spray of something came out of his shoes that Zach saw in the dim light outside of the fenced-in area, and he jumped off of the ground as a lot more of it sprayed out of the man's boots upon his landing so it coated the ground ahead of him.

The landing did not turn out to be as hard as Zach thought he was coming down before, as the ground turned smooth and clean instantly upon his feet touching the spray that had covered the ground before them. The man spread his legs out in more of a fighting stance, while glaring out from the slit in his black ski mask at the teen who backflipped during his jump and then landed softly down on the tombstone behind him. Zach's feet landed balanced on the grave marker, and his right hand reached down between his feet to grab it while his left lifted to his mask and pulled it down. The man in front of Zach pushed his right foot back, sliding it across the ground and speeding forward, but his eyes opened wide as Lifebringer lowered his mask and could not suppress the smirk from his face anymore.

The guy running at Zach stood six feet tall, just a little shorter than Zach himself. He was dressed warmly like Zach, though Zach could see protrusions under his jacket showing he had stuff hidden under there. We're secluded, Zach thought, while leaping backwards again to put himself deeper into the cemetery no one should have been visiting that late in the night. Show me what you've got. You came right at me, knowing who I was. That's not the assassins' M.O. Who are you?

The man running at Zach pointed his hands forward, and Zach jumped up high in the air as he predicted a long-ranged attack. The villain attacking him reached back under his jacket though as Zach jumped up high like that- then a knife cut through his right arm as he grabbed what was under his coat. Think you can catch me off guard, Zach thought after throwing the knife at the man trying to trick him. He even convincingly played into the man's trap of acting like he had a long-ranged Quirk to use with his hands, even though it was obvious that the guy had training, and any person with training would not have advertised their attack so easily.

Zach landed down on the slippery ground but slid straight at the man expecting Zach to slip as he hit down. Under the man's specialized boots, tiny fibers from his feet swept to the right side, more holes opening up in that side of his boot as he did it, and his left hand pulling the rest of the way out from under his coat. The man tossed the device in his left hand at Zach, who snapped his left hand out and caught the metal contraption that looked like a grenade, and held the trigger down as it was about to pop out and set off the weapon. Zach wound up, then he threw it so fast that the weapon did not have time to set off until it had slammed into its original user's left leg.

The metal device opened up, but instead of an explosion, there was just a blast of more of that spray that filled the air around the villain and covered a lot more of the grass and graves around them. Still, the throw alone of that hard metal object took down the man sliding away from Zach who was not expecting the force of it to bruise him to the bone through his heavy clothes and armor underneath. He hit the ground and tumbled across it, only to roll over onto his hands and feet and slide back twice as fast as Zach was coming down with his right heel after leaping towards that man. "Why don't you use your Quirk? Lifebringer!" The man's voice rose from the frustrated whisper he started in, as he called out Zach's name in anger.

He hates me, Zach thought at the tone of that man's voice. First clue. His eyes turned red and he thought quickly while standing straight up on the ground and glaring towards his enemy with flat lips again. Calm down. Who is he? What's going on? Personal vendetta it seems like. A villain whose comrades I threw in prison? Whose friends I killed? It's possible. Villains are cowards though. There are very few of them who actually care enough about each other to throw their lives away like this. So what? An idealist? For what ideal though? I was against all villains and all of their ideals, so it could be anyone in the world who believed strongly enough in an ideology I shattered with the group who fought for it.

"Use my Quirk?" Zach questioned as the guy stopped sliding away, seeing as Lifebringer had stood straight up and stopped chasing him. "Why would I, on a weak, piece of trash, like you?"

The man ahead of him growled from deep in his throat, and he gripped his hands into the ground with the fibers on the skin of his palms vibrating faster and faster. The balls of his feet pressed into the floor, and the man curled his gloves in a way that sprayed mist out from his fingertips. Curling his right hand hurt that whole arm as there was a bloody gash in it, but he did not care about the pain and just used it to add to his rage. "I'm going to kill you," the man said, his voice steadier though still full of hatred as he yanked backwards and shot towards Zach Sazaki.

That sounded, Zach thought, freezing with his eyes opening wide. Then, those eyes narrowed in fury back at the man shooting across the gap towards him. Zach's right hand snapped down to his side while he eased away, turning his body to the side and narrowly dodging as the man snapped his right arm up with a black weapon sliding up out of his right sleeve. Zach had seen that bulge though already, and he ignored the stick that had a pair of metal protrusions sticking out of the end that sparked as the man attacking him pressed a button on it. The guy was standing straight up too, coming off his strange slide with his left hand swinging across the front of his body as he dropped the stun baton with his right. The left hand caught the weapon and swung it at Sazaki…

Zach lifted his right hand that had a small black hilt in it. He pressed a button on the side while grabbing the hilt with his left hand too. The black blade extended three times, getting longer and then longer again in a single instant while his enemy was catching his baton and trying to jam it into Zach's chest on his right side. Zach stepped forward, and he stopped on the man's other side with that person he crossed freezing in place as he had barely seen Sazaki move. Zach lowered the black sword already aimed down like he had just finished slashing it. He turned the blade around and lowered it for his pocket, and he pressed the button retracting the blade back into its more portable size.

The moment Zach's blade retracted, the baton the man had swung at him slashed apart twice, and the man let out a gasp of agony and a deep growl of pain as he hit down on his knees. His knuckles were both slashed through where the mist had come out before, and there were cuts on his coat going through weapons he had underneath it too that he could feel falling apart between his outer and inner layers. The forty-two year old man from Okinawa stared down at his gloves in complete shock, his heart pounding in his ears as he thought, I couldn't see anything.

"Iaido," Zach said in a low voice while still facing away from the man on his knees behind him. "I trained with swords and with a katana for a while," he said it in a calm tone, then his head turned to the side and he glared down at the man staring at his hands in a way showing he had been completely defeated. At some point I changed up my costume and brought the katana from behind my back to my side. I got rid of the scimitars on my back too as I transitioned to almost solely knives. "Although I trained with many weapons, I always preferred knives in their high capacity, low fatality rate, and the high number of things I could do with them. But, I did practice with a katana for a time, and I trained myself in Iais."

The man on the ground behind Zach started turning his head and he looked back with huge eyes in the slit of his ski mask as Lifebringer turned his body more to face him. "Drawing a sword and slashing before sliding it back into the sheath in a single movement. I got good enough that I could make multiple slashes and get it back into the sheath in one breath," Zach stepped towards the man behind him and glared down into his huge shaking eyes. "But even better is when I use my Quirk with it. Because I can move limbs faster while surrounded in Death, because they're less restricted by the limitations of the human body that Death can circumvent, I can make a dozen slashes in a blur of black that happens in the blink of an eye." Zach lowered his head down more and he reached his left hand out for the man's neck that his fingers rested on gently, "I am that fast, so you were never going to be able to beat me."

Zach curled his fingers in tighter, only to curl them into the bottom of the mask that ended on the man's neck and yank up all the way off the man's head in one tug. I could already tell, Zach thought, though his heart still fell at the confirmation as he looked down at that face he recognized. Couldn't it have been, some no-name nobody? Zach stepped backwards and dropped the ski mask, lifting his left hand and rubbing it up under his hood and through his messy black hair. "Damn it," Zach muttered, glaring at the man whose face covered in shame for a split second before righteous rage covered it again. "Cleaning Hero: Broom Man. The hell are you doing here?"

The hero from Okinawa, one of the most famous top heroes in the south of Japan, pushed his hands down on the ground below him despite how much they were hurt and bleeding. His face filled with conviction as his legs got back up, his body turning and hunching over with a dark look filling his eyes. Forget about his speed. Catch him off guard.

He's resolved himself. He's ready to do anything here, Zach thought as he examined the older man's face in front of him. "Why, are you trying to kill me-"

"Because you're a menace to this society," Broom Man replied darkly. Naraki Hasagawa narrowed his eyes at the teen in front of him whose eyes shifted to the man's chin and a scar on it that started to curve up towards his right cheek before vanishing. Zach's eyes lowered to the man's bloodied hands that were clenching so hard, and Naraki snarled out at the kid who he felt like was almost looking at him in pity, "I can't forgive you."

"So you decided to kill me?" Zach asked, his eyes raising from the man's hands to his face and staring at him in disbelief. "You're a hero, and you're out here trying to murder a fellow hero-"

"You are not a hero," Broom Man growled, and he stepped forward only to wince and dart his eyes down in shock as he opened his mouth to yell out. A knife just slammed through the top of his left foot he stepped forward, and his eyes shook as he had not even seen that knife be thrown. Before he could make any noise or yell though, Zach was closer to him and had his left hand jammed forward straight into Naraki's teeth. Zach took the man off the ground with his left hand curled around the man's face so tightly it felt like an iron vice. Both of Broom Man's hands snapped up to the hand gripping him by the face, but he could not pry away Sazaki's fingers that felt like solid steel to him through the gloves and made his eyes open even wider in shock and panic as he could not breath.

The hero tried taking in a deep breath through his nose and to regain his composure, but Zach slid his highest finger on the hand gripping the man around the face up to just below his nostrils and blocked them. Zach ripped the knife out of Naraki's swinging right foot making him muffle-scream into Zach's steel palm. He held the man up squirming in his grasp for another two seconds, then he curved his lips down far and slammed his left arm towards the ground. He smashed Broom Man down on his back and then spat on the man whose bloodshot eyes from lack of oxygen shifted down to his chest and the glob of spit that just hit him there. FUCK! Zach's lips shook and his hands trembled at his sides as he glared at the man his whole body urged himself towards.

NO! Zach stepped back, and then he felt the biggest turnover inside of him that made him feel sick to his stomach. "What the, fuck," Zach muttered, his head shaking and his eyes shifting to the hero who rose his upper body back up, pushing his palms on the ground at his sides to try and give Sazaki a darker look. "You're supposed to be a hero. Are you really-"

"You're going to say that to me?" Naraki questioned darkly, his voice raspy but coming back stronger as he forced himself to his butt. Zach stepped towards him and kicked forward while the hero's eyes were opening huge, his mouth that he opened unable to even get words out before that foot slammed into his face and knocked him flat on his back again. "Agh- ack gah ka ack," Naraki started a coughing fit, and he winced as Zach kicked him in the left kidney after walking to that side of him.

"Tell me why," Zach said, reaching down and gripping the man by the collar of his jacket. He kept walking past the man's left side while dragging him with him now, and he threw the guy so his back hit a tombstone this time and left him propped up like that sitting up but in no position to actually move.

The hero gasping for air and coughing when he got it parted his eyelids and felt pain filling his whole body after the beating he had received. Is this what I get, for straying off the path? The idea made guilt fill the man who had been a hero for two decades now. "Tell me," Zach repeated, standing right in front of Naraki and looking down in his eyes. Zach looked at him and judged the man sitting there who could feel those judging eyes boring into him. "You've always been nothing but a great hero. An inspiring hero to the people of Japan."

"Heh," Naraki had to laugh. Despite the situation. Despite his injuries and his clear defeat at the hands of this teenager who had yet to even use his Quirk. He laughed once and then felt sick to his stomach for it as the kid in front of him lost some of that look in his eyes. It was like Zach had been one of those 'people of Japan' who he mentioned, and the hero laughing at the idea of it made him lose that inspiration he just mentioned. Naraki's eyes filled with shame and shifted away from the teen whose look he knew he deserved, though he grit his teeth as the one person who did not deserve to look at him that way was the one he got it from.

"I can't forgive what you've done," Broom Man said. He spoke up while still looking away, and he added in a darker and more regretful voice, "Killing villains, and still getting so much popularity. It's wrong." His eyes darkened more and shifted back to Sazaki's own dark look. Naraki continued to the teenager before him, "The country loves you, while a hero who's always followed the rules like me is considered a nobody. Even after fighting villains through the years and throughout all of the last two years included! Such high villain rates, villains killing my friends, maiming others, and other went into retirement out of fear, but I! I stayed in it through everything and kept fighting, while you ran away from this country. Isn't it weird?"

Naraki slid his back more up the gravestone and glared at Zach only for his eyes to get pained more as he snapped at the kid judging him with those eyes, "What do I get out of it? My wife leaving me, she says because all I did was complain about Lifebringer, who she loved. My pay staying the same as pay raises go to other heroes who started training citizens in their Quirks instead, and not a single person even recognizing me whereas Lifebringer's the most famous in the country!" Broom Man bowed his head for a second after saying something so shameful, but his bloody fists curled more in that shame and pain while he shook his head in frustration at all that had happened these past years. "Every day, you get more popular like being a hero like you is what people should aspire to? I can't-"

"I get more popular, because I'm back here following the rules again," Zach countered. He glared down at the man, but the hero's eyes lowered down more and clenched harder. You know that though. Or a part of you wondered about it, and hates that I feel the same way. I feel kind of bad for him. Especially since he's a hero who saved so many people. That scar was probably from fighting a villain. He's not really a bad person… Zach's stomach churned and his head started shaking at his own thoughts. "But," Zach began in a low voice, speaking more to counter himself though his voice reached the man in front of him sitting on his ass. "You came after me while you are a hero. Trying to kill me, an innocent civilian by the view of the law and the public."

Naraki started to raise his head, and Zach leaned down and slammed his left fist into the man's gut. Naraki's eyes bulged open wide, staring into Zach's from close up. Zach pulled his left fist back and then slammed it down into the guy's left side, before reaching up and grabbing him by his dark hair and slamming down into his knee he brought up at the man's face. "I'd arrest you right now," Zach said while pulling the man's face off his knee. "And that'd make you more famous than you ever were before," Zach continued in a low voice while putting his head close to the right side of Naraki's head. Naraki's eyes were squinted shut after the powerful knee to the face, but his face still twisted in terror and grief and shame at the aspect of that.

"I don't want to though," Zach said, and he pushed the man's head back by his hair and left the hero gasping for breath slumped against that grave again. Broom Man's head bowed and he gasped for air, his spit sliding out of his wide mouth turning red as the inside of his right cheek had cut open right there. "I'm sorry for killing people," Zach started to the man in front of him. "But that isn't why I got so famous. Some Quirks are different from others, and I would have been the most famous no matter what because of Death. What I did with it didn't matter. I brought people back to life, and I was super famous long before the Lifebringer Incident, before the War Boys, before I even became Lifebringer and just at my famous first trial as Zach Sazaki."

Zach paused and he added in a low voice, "A Quirk like mine was going to become world-famous no matter what as soon as I decided to use it that very first time." Zach shook his head while Naraki opened his pained eyes and looked up into the boy's in a painful but also sadder way at the tone Zach was speaking to him in. Zach said softer to the guy he had just been beating on, "You're blaming all your failures and the things that didn't come to you easily on me, when they're really no one's fault at all. Sometimes, life just sucks. It's just shitty," he said it and rose his eyebrows at the guy who opened his eyes wider in shock at the answer Zach was giving him to all his said. "It's not my fault. Things happen to people and they like looking to blame others. So bad things happened and you didn't like them, that pain sucks, but when you step off the path of good you've failed."

Zach leaned forward in a fast and sudden movement. The bloody knife in his right hand was up against Broom Man's throat and he stared into the man's eyes from inches away. Naraki's eyes trembled at the feeling of that cold wet steel on his neck. "However," Zach spoke darker. "When someone righteous falls off that path, the others who look up to those righteous people feel so much pain and heartache. It's why I had to come back, to show them all that I was back on the right path." Zach said it desperately, while tilting his head to the side and looking back into Broom Man's eyes with a hopeful look that he would understand what he was saying. Broom Man was starting to get a lot more nervous though, his chest pounding harder and harder as he stared into this teen's eyes from up close.

Zach continued to him though and the fear Naraki was feeling was overcome by shame again as Lifebringer said, "If someone like Broom Man were to become a killer, or it even became known that he had attempted murder, then people would lose faith in heroes and we'd all be depressed by such a story. The idea that even our heroes could turn to murder, especially of other heroes? It would crush people."

The younger man started pulling his head back a little, and he shook his head in a steadier way as he saw how much shame and regret filled Broom Man's expression hearing all this that he already knew. "I really don't care about you," Zach started again, as he stood up straight in front of the hero. "Or about the attempt on my life as I face those all the time from better assassins than you," he added, and he spoke down to Broom Man there like he was an idiot for even trying considering that fact. Zach continued lower then, "But I do care about the people of Japan and so should you as a hero and a man who wanted to be a hero once. So remember what I said, and go back to being a hero," Broom Man froze and his head lifted up in shock, his eyes trembling as he stared in disbelief into Lifebringer's eyes.

"To make up for what you just tried to do here," Zach explained his reasoning. He paused, then he added with a more pissed-off look, "Or you could retire and go do something else. I don't care, I really, I just don't care about you," Zach's lips shook, his face getting angrier still as he glared at the man who looked almost grateful. There was relief in his appearance too, as the horror of being revealed to the public for what he tried to do was becoming less of a reality. Zach's irises started to shift color, and his chest pounded with darkness swirling faster and faster throughout his entire innards.

"If you ever consider doing something like this again though," Broom Man felt every pore on his body start spilling sweat. His eyes opened the size of saucers, while Sazaki leaned down in front of him, going on, "If you consider even after retiring that you should do something illegal, I will come after you and cut you into tiny little pieces with my sword." Zach leaned in closer, and he snarled with Broom Man seeing inside his mouth and the dark swirls coming out from the back of his throat. "And I'll shred you if you ever come near me again," Zach's snarl got deeper, his voice getting scratchier and overlapping with a darker and deeper voice that had Broom Man's breath stuck in his throat and his thoughts unable to make coherent streams. "I'll shred you apart and then boil you forever in the lava fields in the deepest pits of Hell." Zach's face turned skeletal with black flames rippling around it, and those black flames shot down his face to his neck and over his entire body to the sword he was now holding in his left hand along with the black blade that extended from the knife he was gripping in his right.

Zach's jaw curled up into a smile with the darkness over it shifting in that way too, and the dark monster leaning over Broom Man and getting bigger each second growled in his terrifying voice, "I would warn you what happened to heroes around the world who decided to take money from villains or be corrupt." Naraki could not breathe and his face was turning blue from the most horrifying thing he had ever seen or heard, at least until the next ten seconds. Zach's skeletal face disappeared so it was just pure blackness with red glowing eyes above him, the darkness shifting as Zach's voice made out those monstrous words to him, "Over the past year many of them were turned in to the police and shamed by the world…" His dark face leaned closer with his smile twisting up even more horrifyingly as he added in a more terrifying voice, "But some just disappeared. Vanished off the face of the Earth, never to be seen again-"

Zach leaned back and backed off from the man. A pair of wings emerged from his back and slammed down into the ground to shoot him so high in the sky before all that darkness broke apart and started fading in the air. "Ahh, gahhh," Zach gasped out a breath and sucked in a huge one once his face was back and so were his lungs. Fuck. Oh my God. Fuck me. Zach shook his head around and spun his body in midair, flapping his wings behind him that were still sticking out of his body even though the rest of his aura was gone. He left with just that warning for the hero scarred for his life and pissing his pants down below, something Zach had smelt which snapped him into flying away.

"Huh," Zach muttered as he flew off. He curled his right hand a couple of times and brought it to his stomach that he rubbed for a moment, then rose it up his body to his chest and patted a couple times there too. Have to go back before I land down and become a target, but that actually made me feel some relief. I didn't notice before but that sick to my stomach feeling isn't in my head. I've been feeling a lot worse lately. His frown curled deeper down as he tried to think about something like that. I shouldn't have gone so far. I couldn't stop myself though once I decided that Broom Man was a villain. And, I needed to push out some Death.

I always need to do it! Damn, using it all on Faith was this huge relief I never noticed I needed until then, but I was able to ignore it for so long after that too. It's because I've been using it more frequently since prison. That long gaps of time now, my body's filled with 100% and I can't- I can hold it back. I am, but it's harder to control myself when I hate someone not to lose my shit on them and go absolutely berserk like I just did. Fuck. Zach shook his head around and continued to fly around, his destination aimless as he soared through the sky. I need to find a place to push all this Death out of me on a regular basis- but then I'd be weakening myself on purpose and what if something bad happens? Especially if they're watching me, they'd just pick a time I'm weaker. Damn it. 6 months of barely using it at all, and I don't think my body really needed anything in the Void either, but I've realized this overwhelming power needs to get funneled out sometimes now. It needs to be regulated, not just suppressed, limited…

Zach grit his teeth and then shook his head fast and returned to a flat expression. Emotions make it well-up. I've noticed before, but I've always been in control enough never to let it really affect me, right? That wasn't, what controlled me. Shit, but if getting angry could do it, then I need to control better. And yet I can't just push it out to make myself weaker or a time when I need all of it will come and I won't be ready!

What if, I never need it all against anyone ever again-

"Shut up!" he snapped at himself high up in the clouds. His body was cold despite his warm clothes, and he ground his teeth in frustration and did a barrel-roll through the air. Don't underestimate my enemies. I have no idea if I'm really the strongest in the world, he reminded himself. But I have to assume I'm not. If I walk around with that attitude I'm bound to get killed sooner rather than later. Still… with what happened earlier, I brought up some good points. Making Broom Man disappear would have been better than revealing him for what he was. I don't care about him anymore too, and people would be less sad and hurt if he just vanished than if he was put on trial for trying to kill me. If I feel that way about him though, then isn't the same thing applicable to me?

I really couldn't, let myself get captured. I wouldn't. Zach hummed as he thought about it, and he started descending back to get below the clouds. His head turned and he looked for the direction his apartment was in. He continued thinking as he flew home, I couldn't! Thinking about all I've told Todoroki, Iida, and Midoriya in that gazebo, and what I just told Broom Man, it's impossible. I told Todoroki that people would die if I got caught and I really believe that. I know it would only make for heartbreak and hurt so many people… but that's only if I ever went on trial. People would be disappointed and hurt too if I ran away, but I've shown them now that I'm back. A small smile formed on Zach's face along with some relief too in his expression. I came back from that darkest point they saw me at, and really, I don't think I need to show them much else. If it's between leaving them now or getting revealed as Death to them?

All those people I think will die otherwise. The ones who the villains attack first at the start of that surge, I can save them, just by not letting myself get caught. It would be the opposite trend if I dropped back into hiding even! If it comes down to it, if that moment finally comes…

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A/N Thanks for reading! I feel my eyes closing... been very close to passing out for an hour but trying to finish editing and get this chapter out. So no review responses, but let me know what you guys thought of this chapter!