After another long hard day of classes in their training to become heroes, Class 1-C retired to their dorm building. Even after receiving their provisional licenses, their training didn't slow down in the slightest. If anything, Yamagori was increasing the intensity of their training. But they couldn't complain about it. If they wanted to become the best heroes they could be, they needed to endure and press forward.
Although the school was opening up the option of hero internships to first years, very few of them actually had any reliable options for those internships. They had worked alongside heroes in the work study program, but not each of those agencies took on interns. The only one who seemed to have a potential internship option was Marcus with the Ryukyu Agency. But internships themselves were a double-edged sword, as it would mean missing out on lessons and having to make them up with remedial classes.
Fujino was one of the many exhausted among her classmates, so she decided to rest for a bit in her room before dinner since she wasn't on cooking duty today. Even though it had been about a week since she got her provisional license, she still couldn't fully believe it. She had come to U.A mostly as a way to escape Paradise, but now she was well on her way to becoming a hero.
'Becoming a hero… I never really thought about it much, but is it what I want to do?'
She mostly saw the hero training as a way to get a better handle on her Quirk and improve her skills in combat. This was U.A's way of helping her in case Paradise came after her again. But was this perhaps what she wanted? Becoming a hero? Helping the weak and innocent?
Fujino decided to sleep it off for now as she opened the door to her room. But as she walked in, she noticed something on her desk. A white sealed envelope.
"The hell is this?" Fujino asked herself. Had some lovestruck idiot at school snuck a love letter into her room? Unlikely. The security of the dorms was top notch, so it would take someone pretty skilled to sneak into her room, leave something, and escape undetected. It wasn't something any random student could pull off.
Deciding to simply get it over with and see what was inside, Fujino opened up the envelope and pulled out its contents. It was two slim sheets. The first had a message on it.
Come to the following address. Alone. You have 48 hours. Fail to comply, and she dies.
At the bottom of the message was the address the message was referring to. And as Fujino looked at the sheet behind the message, she gasped in shock.
It was her mother. Tied to a chair and blindfolded.
'Paradise.'
There was no other explanation. It was fairly clear that Paradise had her mother in their custody based on the fact that she was nowhere to be found when the organization was investigated worldwide. Fujino had always considered the possibility that the organization might try to use her mother as blackmail. But she had desperately wanted to be wrong.
"Mom…" Fujino muttered with tears rolling down her cheeks.
She wanted to burst out of her room right then and there and hurry to the location Paradise gave. But she managed to keep her head just cool enough to avoid doing so. It was late and her head was still in a daze processing this turn of events. Plus, if she left now without saying anything, her classmates would only get suspicious. If Paradise was going to give her 48 hours, then she would use it. She needed to go into this with a clear head.
'Don't worry, mom. I'll save you, no matter what.'
Sleep did not come easily for Fujino. She was too worried about her mother to get a good night's sleep. But she at least managed to get a few hours of rest before morning came.
When it came to her regular classes, Fujino found herself barely able to pay attention. She was conflicted over what to do. She could go to the school with this and potentially take Paradise down once and for all. But if Paradise caught onto her, then her mother was dead for sure. It was a long and hard process, but she eventually decided on which choice to make. No matter what, she couldn't risk her mother's safety.
Hero Basic Training was the sole class Fujino found herself focussed. To her, this was her last minute warmup before taking Paradise's invitation. She assumed she'd be restrained almost immediately once she arrived at wherever the address led to, but if there was even the slightest chance she could escape with her mother then she would take it. She wasn't going to let Paradise win without a fight.
Dinner that night was prepared mainly by Sakura. As expected of the green thumb of Class C, the meal was almost entirely fruits and vegetables.
Shiro frowned as he looked at his plate. "Ugh… would it kill her to at least put some meat into the meal?"
"Did you say something, Shiro?" Sakura asked with a cold and menacing tone hidden under the smile she was wearing.
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all!" the crocodile-human exclaimed as he scoffed down the meal quickly, ignoring the fact that it lacked any meat whatsoever.
Although Shiro finished dinner in record time due to his fearful rush, Fujino finished eating only a minute later. Once she was done, she rose up from her seat at the table. "Thank you for the meal. I think I'm going to take a walk."
Fujino walked outside without another word. She walked along the beaten path for a short bit, glancing around to make sure no one else was out and about right now. Once she was far enough away from any prying eyes, Fujino broke out into a run.
U.A's security was tight, but it wasn't perfect. Fujino still didn't know just how someone had managed to sneak in and deliver that letter to her room last night undetected, but there was one thing she did know. It was a lot easier to leave campus without alerting security than it was to enter. Ironically, the bit of stealth training she had received while a prisoner of Paradise was coming in handy.
Once she was past the perimeter of U.A's security reach, Fujino broke out into a run down the mountain. She emerged from the forest and went into the city, slowing herself to a walk in order to blend in and not arouse suspicion.
Meanwhile, back at the dorm, the students of Class C were relaxing for the evening. Those on kitchen duty were washing the dishes, while others like Hyde sat on the sofa and watched tv.
Alicia looked towards the door outside. "Fujino's been gone awhile."
"Did anyone else feel like she was acting a little weird today?" Nene asked.
"Now that you mention it…" Sakura added. "She did seem a bit absent minded during class."
"You sure you weren't just imagining it?" Hyde questioned.
"Maybe. Fujino does tend to be a bit closed off at times though so maybe-"
Sakura was cut short as the phones of every single one of the students began ringing simultaneously. At first they considered it was some emergency notification, but when they looked at their phones, they saw it was an incoming call from an unknown number.
The class all glanced around at each other, wondering just what this was about. Finally, Sarah decided to answer the call. She put her phone on speaker so everyone could hear. "Hello? Who is this?"
A clearly-disguised voice spoke from the other end. "Am I speaking to the entirety of U.A Class 1-C right now?"
"The girl asked you a question, buddy." Hyde spoke up. "I suggest you answer it before we decide to hang up."
"Oh but I believe you'll be very interested in what I have to say. It concerns one of your classmates. Any of you happen to know where Fujino Hatsu is right now?"
The mention of Fujino caused the students to become increasingly concerned. "I suggest you make this quick and get to the point." Sarah told the mysterious caller.
"Fine, fine. The truth is your classmate is currently headed right into a trap set up by Paradise."
"What?!" Jill exclaimed. "Why would she do something so reckless?!"
"Hang on, Jill." Sarah told her before speaking back to the caller. "How do we know you're telling the truth?"
"Well, I suppose you could wait and see if Fujino returns. But if you do that, you may be too late."
"And what reason exactly would you have to tell us all this?" Marcus questioned.
"Consider me a little helper in the shadows that doesn't want Paradise to succeed in their plans. They're currently luring Fujino Hatsu to a certain location, using her mother as bait." As if on cue, a text came to each of the students with an address. "I would hurry if I were you. Who knows what might happen if you're too late."
"Hang on. Who are-" Before Sarah could finish her sentence, the call ended. The blonde girl clicked her tongue in frustration. "Damnit."
"S-So what do we do?" Vivi asked nervously. "Fujino's in danger."
"Should we tell Ms. Yamagori?" Jill suggested.
"Hang on." Daiki said as he stepped forward. "The life of Fujino's mother is at risk here. If we make any careless moves, she could die. Right now, we have two main options." He held up a finger. "Option one, we go to the teachers and inform them of this, guaranteeing Fujino's safety but potentially endangering her mother." He then held up a second finger. "Option two, we go after Fujino ourselves."
"You want to sneak off campus?" Sakura asked.
"It shouldn't be too hard." Daiki told them. "We can catch up with Fujino and either convince her to come back with us, or we can lend her our support."
"That sounds really risky." Hikari commented.
"Perhaps. But if we pull it off, it has the best chances of saving Fujino's mother."
Sarah looked around at her classmates. "I'm not a fan of breaking the rules either, but this is important. Show of hands. Who wants to go after Fujino ourselves?"
The members of Class C looked around at each other and gave a collective nod. All twenty of them raised their hands.
"Alright then. Let's do this."
King smirked to himself as he placed his cellphone down. "And with that, the stage is set. Now we just have to wait for the show to start."
"Are you sure it was a good idea to let those U.A brats know?" Spinner asked. "What if they alert the pros?"
"Genjiro's been cautious ever since Paradise was forced to go into hiding. Staging a coup isn't going to be easy." King explained. "If we're going to pull this off, we need to cause chaos and take advantage of the moment. If Fujino Hatsu comes here alone without anyone knowing, Genjiro will have her with ease. But if Fujino ends up bringing help, then it's bound to throw all of Genjiro's plans out the window. He'll panic, and then we'll take advantage of that confusion."
"You've certainly planned this out, haven't you?" Utocha said.
"I needed to in order to pull this off. Genjiro's greedy, but he's not a fool. And then there's his secretary Emiri. That woman's sharp. Tricking both of them is far from easy." King let out a sigh. "Plus, I had to be rather discreet in rounding up allies for this coup. It's hard to tell who's loyal to Genjiro while not arousing suspicion."
"But you still pulled it off, King." Queen told him with a smile. "Soon, Genjiro's time will end. And you will take over as the leader of Paradise."
"Indeed. My time will finally come." King said with a chuckle. He glanced at the two League of Villain members with them. "And of course, I plan to fulfill my end of the promise. We'll work to capture Fujino Hatsu and deliver her to you before making our escape."
"You better." Spinner glared. "Shigaraki doesn't take kindly to traitors."
"I have no reason to betray you guys. I'm getting plenty of benefit from this deal too after all." King said. He got up from his chair. "Now then, I suppose it's time to start getting ready. The show's about to start."
Fujino walked through the city streets as the moonlight illuminated the night. She glanced again at her phone, having the GPS app up to direct her to the address that was given to her. Judging by the distance, she would arrive within another ten minutes or so of walking.
'Hang on mom. I'll save you. I promise.'
As she walked past an alleyway, a hand reached out and covered her mouth, muffling her as she was yanked into the alleyway. Fujino struggled to break free but to no avail. Had Paradise been lying here in wait to ambush her?
However, the raised whisper that soon followed proved her suspicions wrong. "Fujino, calm down! It's us!"
Fujino stopped her struggling as she realized that her mouth wasn't being covered by an ordinary hand. It was made of water. Dan's Quirk to be exact. Once she stopped squirming, the hand let her go and she turned around to see the other students of Class 1-C gathered together.
"What are you all doing here?!" Fujino asked in a similarly loud whisper.
"We could ask you the same thing." Sakura told her. "How could you leave and do something so dangerous without telling us?"
"Look, this is my business. You guys have nothing to do with it."
"Like hell we don't." Hikari said. "You're our classmate Fujino. And more importantly, you're our friend. We're not going to let you throw your life away like this."
"When you're in trouble, we want you to come to us. That's what friends are for." Alicia added.
"And nobody can beat friendship! Not even those jerks from Paradise!" Rekka cheered.
Fujino turned her gaze away from her classmates. "Look, even if I was ok with you guys helping, it wouldn't work. I was instructed to come to the address alone. If I don't, they'll kill my mother." Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. "Wait, how did you know where I was going in the first place? Did you break into my room and read the letter?"
The class shook their heads. They went on to explain the mysterious phone call they had received and how the person on the other end had told them where Fujino was headed.
When her classmates finished their explanation, Fujino sighed and shook her head. "You idiots. You do realize that it's almost definitely a trap, right."
"We considered that possibility." Sarah told her. "But we decided that we were willing to take that risk for you."
"Look, I appreciate you guys wanting to help, but I already told you. If anyone else comes with me, my mom is as good as dead."
"And what's your guarantee they won't kill her anyway the second they have you?" Satoshi argued.
"There isn't one. But if I don't do as they say, then she's dead for sure."
"About that…" Daiki said. "I have a plan that just might work."
Fujino stood in front of the building that the GPS had led her to. She wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting the building to be. An abandoned warehouse perhaps? Maybe an old office building. But what she definitely wasn't expecting was a small cafe.
"I guess this is the place." she muttered to herself. "Now I just need to hope the plan works."
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Fujino walked inside. At a glance, it didn't seem all that fancy. Just an open space with about ten tables for customers to sit at, a counter with various sweets behind glass, and what appeared to be a kitchen behind it. There was also a door on the far end, though there was no way to tell where it led.
"We've been expecting you, Miss Hatsu." the man behind the cash register to her left spoke, slightly startling Fujino. "Please, follow me."
Not having much choice in the matter, Fujino followed the man as he led her to the door at the far end of the room. He unlocked it with a key and opened it up. It led into another room, though this one was much smaller. A fancy-looking statue was at the far end of the room.
The man walked to the statue and pressed on a part of it. Just like that, the statue rumbled slightly before opening up and revealing a series of stairs leading underground.
"This way, please." the man said as he walked down the steps.
Fujino twitched her right arm slightly before following the man down the stairs. After climbing down the surprisingly long staircase, she found herself in a long man made tunnel. It seemed to be some kind of underground facility.
'Makes sense why nobody found Paradise these past few months.' Fujino silently thought as she twitched her right arm again before walking with her guide. They turned various corners one after another, the facility soon beginning to feel like a labyrinth. Every time she made a turn, Fujino twitched her arm.
After a couple minutes of walking, they finally arrived at a door. The man that had led Fujino all this way ushered her inside. "Please, enter."
Fujino walked up to the door, which opened up automatically. She walked inside, leaving the man behind on the other side of the door. Fujino now found herself in a dimly lit room, though from what little she could see, it was fairly spacious.
Suddenly, a voice spoke to her. "Welcome, Fujino Hatsu."
Out of nowhere, the dim room became fully lit. Fujino had to shield her eyes as they adjusted to the sudden light. When she could finally see clearly again, she looked forward to see the man that had caused her no end of suffering. She had never met him in person, but she had seen his face more than enough times on the news ever since the truth about Paradise was discovered.
Genjiro Matsuhari
He wasn't alone. Another woman was standing next to Genjiro, though she didn't recognize her. And all around the room were various teens and young adults. No doubt the loyal soldiers of Paradise that Genjiro was trying to make her become like.
"You've caused me quite a lot of grief, Fujino." Genjiro told her. "But finally we get this chance to meet in person. I thank you for following the instructions I gave and coming alone."
"Where is my mom?" Fujino asked with a glare. "If you've hurt her, so help me…"
"Please rest assured, your mother is perfectly fine." Genjiro told her. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
With that, the door behind Fujino opened once again. She turned around and gasped at who she saw enter. The woman she had been so desperate to see again these past few years. The person she had come here to save.
"Mom!" Fujino cried out as she ran to the woman. She hugged her tightly as tears ran down her cheeks. "Mom… I missed you so much…"
This was it. This was what she had been fighting for these past few months. This one moment where she could embrace her mother tightly. The woman she loved more than anything in the world. But as her mother opened her mouth to speak, the words that followed were not what Fujino had been expecting.
"Who… are you…?"
"Huh?" Fujino blinked her eyes as she backed away a few steps. "Mom, it's me. It's Fujino. Don't you recognize me?"
"Fujino…?" The woman muttered. She brought a hand to her head, seeming to be experiencing some sort of headache. "I don't know… My head… It's all fuzzy."
"Mom…?" Fujino heard a chuckle escape Genjiro as she turned around and glared at the man. "What did you do to her?!"
"Oh I didn't do anything I'm afraid." Genjiro explained as he gestured to the woman at his side. "That would be Miss Emiri here. You see, her Quirk allows her to wipe the memories of those she touches."
Fujino felt her body freeze as she widened her eyes at this. "Wipe… their memories…?"
"That's right." Genjiro said with a sinister grin. "Every memory that woman has, related to you or not, has been erased. To her, you're nothing but a stranger."
Fujino stood frozen in place. Then, slowly, her body began to shake. Paradise had taken and taken from her. And just when she thought they couldn't take anything further from her, she had been proven wrong in the most painful way possible. Her mother, who she had been fighting so hard to save, now didn't even know who she was. Heartbreak was the first thing Fujino felt. But then it was replaced by something else.
The unrelenting urge to kill Genjiro Matsuhari.
"YOU BASTARD!" Fujino screamed at the top of her lungs. "You're going to pay for-"
Before Fujino could get out another word, she found herself wrapped up by a series of fingers that came from one of the soldier's Quirks. She was quickly forced onto the floor, unable to break free.
"To think my plans were hindered so much by a mere child." Genjiro said with an amused smirk as he walked towards Fujino. "Apologies, but I never had any intention of releasing your mother. We can't allow our operations to be leaked to the outside world you see."
Genjiro expected Fujino to hurl curses at him in a futile struggle as she tried to break loose. But to his surprise, the girl's hateful glare was soon replaced with a chuckle.
"That's fine. I didn't really stay true to my end of the deal either."
Before Genjiro could understand what she meant, another figure appeared out of nowhere in-between him and Fujino. No, she didn't just appear. She seemed to grow up from out of nowhere, to a height of about three feet, along with two other figures that looked exactly like her.
"Eat this, asshole!"
Nene quickly delivered a swift kick to the leader of Paradise, knocking him back. Fujino quickly looked towards the soldier whose elongated fingers were currently wrapped around her. "Burst!" The small explosion that followed knocked the teen back, loosening his grip on Fujino and allowing her to break free.
Genjiro grit his teeth in annoyance at this turn of events. "So you brought a friend along."
"The others are on their way, Fujino." Nene informed her. "They just entered the cafe."
"Seems Daiki's plan went off without a hitch." Fujino said as she got to her feet.
It was simple, yet clever. Daiki had decided to make use of the Quirk of Nene that allowed her to shrink down her size as she made more clones. Fujino smuggled in several Nene clones under her shirt, with Nene having made enough clones beforehand so that her height was only a couple of inches. As Fujino walked through the underground facility, she would twitch her arm, giving the signal for a Nene clone to drop down from her in order to be a guide for the others. Once they had Fujino's mother, the rest of the class was to bust in and make their way to them so they could all escape together. Since Nene had a mental connection to her clones, they were all able to share what each other saw and heard, so once the time was right, the Nene clones waiting with the others would give them the signal to move in. All Nene needed to do was dismiss her excess clones that weren't there to guide the others in order to return to a somewhat-regular height in order to help Fujino stall for time.
"It's over Genjiro! The pros are also being called in as we speak! They'll have this place swarmed within no time!" Fujino told him. "Face it! You've lost!"
"Lost? Hardly." Genjiro said. "I'll admit, you outsmarted me this time. But I won't be surrendering so easily." He turned around and walked to the door at the far end of the room, followed by Emiri. "Deal with them. I don't care if they're dead or alive at this point."
"Hold it!" Fujino shouted, but before she could stop Genjiro and Emiri from leaving, a wall of soldiers blocked her path. It was clear they weren't getting out of here without a fight.
"The others are already running down the stairs into the underground." Nene informed Fujino. "They'll be here soon. We just need to hold them off for a couple minutes."
"A couple minutes? That works perfectly then." Fujino said, stepping forward with a fierce glare. "I need to blow off some steam anyway."
"This way!" the clone of Nene said, leading the majority of Class C through the underground halls. As they passed each of the Nene clones that had fallen off of Fujino, the clones vanished and Nene grew closer to her original height each time.
Once they had gotten confirmation that Fujino's mother was safe, Class C had broken into the cafe. They wasted no time in restraining the owner and contacting the pros. Hikari, Satoshi, Sarah, Kenji, Melody, and Merci had stayed above ground to keep the cafe workers detained and to explain the situation to the pros they had contacted once they arrived. The rest followed Nene's clone to where Fujino, Vivi, and the original Nene were.
As they turned another corner, Nene's clone pointed to the door at the end of the hall. "There! They should be right past those doors!"
With her job as guide over, the clone of Nene evaporated. The students of Class C hurried down the hall and through the door. They were expecting to have to jump right into the fray upon arrival. But instead they were met with a different sight.
The debris of an explosion was just subsiding. Laying all around the room were nearly twenty unconscious teens. And standing tall were the trio of Fujino and Nene.
"Holy crap…" Shiro muttered. "You girls took down all these guys alone?"
"Actually, it was mostly Fujino." Nene admitted. "Seriously, I need to be sure to remember never to piss her off."
Marcus glanced to the side and noticed a woman with the same maroon-colored hair as Fujino. "I assume this is Fujino's mother."
"Yes." Nene nodded. "But… something happened."
"What kind of something?" Sakura asked.
Fujino was silent, her body still trembling with rage. Nene frowned as she explained to her classmates. "One of Paradise's members apparently used their Quirk to erase her memory. She doesn't recognize Fujino at all, or know how she got here."
"No…" Alicia gasped. "I'm so sorry, Fujino."
"We can figure out what to do later." Dan said. "We have Fujino's mother with us. Let's head back to the surface and meet up with the others. We can let the pros handle the rest once they arrive."
"You guys go." Fujino told them. "I still have unfinished business here."
The others looked at Fujino worriedly. Sakura was the first to speak. "Fujino, we understand how you feel, but this is too big for us. We can't-"
"You don't!" Fujino shouted. "You have no idea how this feels! To have someone tear and tear away at you! Taking everything that was ever important to you!" She ran towards the door at the other end of the room where Genjiro and Emiri had escaped through. "I'm going to make Genjiro pay for everything he's done!"
"Wait! Fujino!" Lilina called out, but it was too late. She was ignored as Fujino ran out of the room. "Damnit."
"What do we do?" Shinobu asked.
Sakura let out a sigh. "We can't leave Fujino alone here. Paradise probably has soldiers all over the place." She looked to her classmates. "Fiona, Shiro, and Nene, you guys take Fujino's mother and get her back to the surface. Explain the situation to the others up there and the pros once they arrive." She then steeled his resolve. "As for the rest of us… we're going after Fujino."
A/N: I'm back readers, and with a brand new chapter. Things are heating up now, with Class C going up against Paradise. How will things progress from here? You'll just have to wait and see. Until next time.
