The streets of Yamato are empty. Lamps that line the sidewalk flicker restlessly and the sound of the freeway echoes in the distance. A lone figure skips down the sidewalk, hands swinging by her sides as the backpack she wears clings to her for life. She whistles a high toon, a reflection of the mood she feels, and looks up to the sky, the stars visible for the first time in days even with the moon still hidden by clouds. The tiny lights stare back down at her, twinkling and shimmering against the abyss of space. From where she stood, the stars looked so close together, clinging for support and trying to outshine their nearby friends.

But the stars were alone.

Millions of miles separated the specks of light, these so-called neighbors never even knowing there was something else like them in space. Of course, stars couldn't think, but she'd often muse about these things, enjoying the tragic romance of it all. From a stranger's perspective, everything might seem so close but in actuality, everything was actually so very far apart.

Outside of biology, astronomy had been her favorite class when she used to go to school. Astronomy grounded her, reminding her she was just a speck in the galaxy. That her life was so insignificant in the grand schemes, that nothing really mattered. And if nothing mattered, she would live how she wanted.

She would live as she pleased.

Her right-hand twitches as she hears two sets of feet slowly dragging behind her. A quick glance at a slanted window reveals two men about twenty meters back, trying to match her pace the best they can. Her mouth twists upward; heat rushes to her face. She maintains the speed she's at, trouncing down the sidewalk as her school loafers clack away on the pavement. The men were none the wiser of the situation they were drawing themselves into.

She abruptly turns down a side alley, narrow and dark. The girl eyes the fire escape ladder that hangs lazily a few feet above her head. This will do.

A few moments later, the two men turn down to find a deserted passage. No sign of the girl that was in front of them a moment ago. The one in front takes a hesitant step deeper, flicking on his phone flashlight to get a hint of where she might have gone. A slight giggle from above causes him to snap up just in time to see a figure drop from above, white canines and a sharp blade glimmering in the light.

The man can't even let out a scream as the blade is plunged into his shoulder. He drops the phone, and swings with his other arm, the figure ducking out of the way before pulling out a second blade and driving it deep into his chest. He can make out the flushed coloring in her face and dilation in her pupils as she appears nose to nose with him.

All he can do is let out a gurgled cry as he drops to his knees, slumping over on the cold pavement.

The girl turns to the second figure who stares with wide eyes at the scene in front of him.

She tilts her head slightly, "Why were you two following lil ol' me?"

His mouth opens slightly as he glances down at the blood pooling around the loafers the girl wears. The phone flashlight still illuminates the alley and he can see the splatter of crimson across her beige sweater and pale skin. Catlike eyes gaze at him and he can't help swallowing the saliva he feels pooling in his mouth.

"Y-you k-k-killed…"

She takes a step toward him, "I killed? I killed what?"

"T-two days ago, you k-killed one of our m-m-members."

The girl raises a finger to her chin, appearing in deep thought, "Two days ago, hmm? I'm not sure…" she then pauses for a moment, recognition suddenly in her eyes, "ahhh, I remember now!"

Two Days Ago

He had grabbed her when she was coming back from the gas station. Pulling her into an alley, causing her to drop the slushie she had just bought. She watches the frozen drink pool on the ground as he whispers into her ear, "I can make you mine, you know? Little girl like you wandering around a place like this so late at night..."

She can feel one of his hands snaking around her skirt trying to find a zipper. The other hand rests firmly on her shoulder keeping her against the cold brick wall. She looks back to the slushie, the crimson coloring a stark contrast to the grey of the sidewalk she had just been on. It was cherry-flavored. She loved cherry slushies.

She reaches into her pocket and feels the familiar metallic object in her grasp.

His breath is hot against her ear as he leans further into her. "Just be with someone like me, baby. I can give you eve-"

The man is cut off with a strangled cry. He looks down to see his stomach split open, blood spilling out and soaking the jacket and pants he was wearing. The figure stumbles and falls on his backside as he looks back to the girl who now holds a sharp blade in her hand. She then brings the shiny object covered in his own blood to her mouth and slides it across her outstretched tongue, all while maintaining eye contact with him.

His mouth opens but no sound comes out as he crumples onto his back, no longer able to hold himself upright. From the corner of his eye, he can still see her staring at him, with brows furrowed.

"I would have preferred the slushie," she murmurs as she slowly walks over to him, "but I suppose you'll have to do."

He can see her raise the knife, holding it above his throat.

Tears slid down his face. He can see sharp teeth peeking out from the slight smile on her face.

The knife slams down and everything fades into crimson.

Present Day

She grins widely at the man, arms now outstretched by her sides. "He had it coming! He knocked over my slushie, who would ever do something so cold?!"

The man stares down at his friend, slumped over and no longer breathing at her feet.

He takes a hesitant step back. She takes a step forward.

"Where are you going?" she whispers.

"I…", the man's mouth is dry. He can see the girl twirling the blade she holds between her fingers.

Messy blonde hair hangs in front of her face, two buns loosely tied with ends spilling out.

She pouts, looking down at her shoes, "You're not leaving me, right? Towns like these can be pretty scary at night…"

A cloud obscuring the moon suddenly moves out of the way, new light shining brightly on her face.

Her now manic eyes snap back up to him, cheeks becoming increasingly flushed as she licks her canines, "…never know what kind of monsters you might find when you're alone."

The man whimpers.

She then lunges with the blade reflecting the moonlight, and he can't even let out a scream before it's all over.

~Revelations~

A loud knock wakes her from her sleep. The empty dumpster she had found for shelter causes the sound to bounce off the wall and she covers her ears with a groan. The girl then looks up to where the top has been lifted, blinking as the sunlight blinds her. After a few moments, her vision clears, circular frames and dull yellow teeth stare down on her.

"You look awful, Toga."

She frowns at the figure. "It's not my blood."

Giran sighs as he lifts the other cover, now fully exposing the dumpster.

"That doesn't make it any better."

Himiko stretches slowly, arching her back in a catlike manner before slowly climbing out of the bin with her backpack now in hand.

"Those are your words, not mine."

The alley is empty minus Giran and a lone figure who leans against a wall a few meters away. A tattered jacket and grubby white shirt do little to hide the heavy scarring on his arms and face.

Giran steps forward with an arm extended in the general direction of the young man, "I don't think you two have met before." The figure looks back to the two, cold blue eyes locking onto their forms, "Dabi this is Toga Himiko, Toga this is Dabi." He pauses for a moment looking back and forth between the two, "Play nice."

Himiko bounces over to the figure and extends a hand, "Nice to meet ya, Dabi!"

Dabi gazes down at the hand. He can see dried blood under her fingernails and between her knuckles.

He snorts, "You really do kill people, huh?"

She tilts her head slightly and looks back at her hand. Her eyes light up at the sight of the crimson coloring.

"Of course!"

Giran walks up to the two and slowly places his hand over Toga's, lowering it since he knows Dabi has no intention of shaking.

"It took me a week to find you, Toga. Where the hell have you been?"

Himiko giggles as she shoves her hands in her pockets, feeling the familiar metal objects in her palms, "I've been meeting all kinds of people, Giran!"

Okuta shudders slightly at the potential implication behind the statement.

"Well let's get moving, it's not a short ride to Yokohama."

Toga looks back to the man, "Yokohama?! Why are we going all the way over there?!"

Dabi chuckles slightly as he follows behind the two.

"There's a group starting up and I think you two would work well in it."

Toga's eyes narrow, "Group? What kind of group?"

Okuta places a hand on her shoulder, "Group of people I think you could get along with." He pauses for a moment and looks down at the girl, "I won't make the same mistake I made last time Toga; I promise."

Toga locks eyes with him for a moment and then smiles widely again, the darkened mood suddenly vanishing. Dabi's eyes slightly narrow at the interaction.

"What happened?" he asks suddenly, unable to ignore his own curiosity.

Toga opens her mouth, but Giran beats her to it, "I got Toga involved with people, who I didn't truly understand. It was a mistake on my part and it's over now."

The group remains silent as they pile into Giran's car that's parked on the sidewalk. Dabi climbs into the passenger seat with Himiko taking the back seats. She places her backpack against the window and rests her head with her eyelids growing heavier. The ride to Yokohama will be long, so why not catch up on some beauty sleep?

~Revelations~

"That would be checkmate, Tomura."

A clenched fist comes down hard on the bar counter, "Dammit!"

Shigaraki Tomura slumps against the chair he sits on, staring in disbelief at the chessboard in front of him. An empty plate that once held a serving of noodles sits beside him and a half-filled glass of iced tea is to the left of him.

His eyes darted back and forth, tracking all the possible moves that could have taken place. Kurogiri watches with a slight glint in his eye as he sees Tomura's own crimson eyes twitch in recognition.

"The knight?! Are you kidding me?! Kurogiri, I swear to god if you are cheating I will-"

The butler shakes his head while taking the empty plate that sat beside Tomura, "I would never cheat, Tomura. You know me better than that." The cloudlike figure then walks off to the kitchen behind the bar to clean up from the meal just eaten.

Tomura grumbles quietly with crossed arms when he hears the creak of the bar door opening. He turns his head slightly to the visitors and see's Twice and Nagant slowly make their way into the main room.

Twice wears dark jeans with a black bomber jacket. A black mask covers the top half of his face, and a lit cigarette hangs from his teeth. Nagant is wearing dark cargo pants, a baggy black sweatshirt with the hood pulled, and a baseball cap with sunglasses.

The two had nailed down the best way to lose any potential HPSC tails that could be placed on Nagant when she's coming home from work by having a double made up while in a worker's tunnel that cuts under one of the main streets in Yokohama. The double would make their way home while Nagant would don the disguise she was currently wearing and make her way to the bar with Twice.

They had been lucky that her request to work out of the Yokohama office had gone through when she had submitted it weeks before the Hong Kong mission had even occurred. If it had come in afterward when suspicious eyes were probably already on her, they doubted it would have ever been cleared.

Nagant had been coming to the bar on most days when she didn't have jobs to do. She seemed to enjoy the company that Tomura, Twice and Kurogiri brought and the men liked having company as well.

They hadn't discussed much of what she would have to do next in order to break her free from the commission due to the main leash that kept her tied to them still being so recently cut.

Nagant glances to the chessboard and then at Tomura's crossed arms, "You lost again, hm?"

Twice take the cigarette out of his mouth, "He always loses! But maybe he won!"

Tomura stares at the two for a moment trying to find the best way to downplay his loss when Kurogiri popped back up from the kitchen area, "Yes, I did in fact beat him, Takasugi."

Haruno smirks as Tomura snaps back to Kurogiri, betrayal in his eyes, "What the hell, Giri?"

Kurogiri surveys the boy for a moment, "I'm merely stating a fact, Tomura. You lost to me…" he trails off for a moment clearly basking in victory before turning back to Shigaraki, "…again."

"Tch." Tomura crosses his arms again with a slight frown.

"You'll beat him, next time boss! Don't lose again you idiot!"

Tomura picks up the knight piece he lost with and looks closer, "Thanks for the support, Twice. I know you at least have my back." He then shoots another glare at Kurogiri who stands unwavering at the comment.

A buzzing in Tomura's pocket draws the attention in the room as the teen slowly pulls out the object and inspects it for a moment.

"They're almost here." He murmurs while placing it on the bar counter.

Nagant slides into the chair next to Tomura while Twice slips into a booth that sits across the room.

Kurogiri hums at the phone, "Would that be Giran, Tomura?"

"Giran, I love that man! He never answers my text messages!"

Shigaraki nods slowly, "Yeah, he's coming by with some people he seems to think might be a good fit."

Nagant cocks her head, "You're expanding?"

Tomura shrugs, "He brings people by all the time, most of them are idiots that don't stick, but no harm in at least hearing them out."

Nagant nods, Kurogiri slowly drifts back and prepares some beverages for the three: a beer for Twice, a gin and tonic for Nagant, and a rum and coke for Tomura.

The three sip in silence.

~Revelations~

A flick to her nose wakes Toga from the car, blinking at the scarred hand that hovered near her face.

"Good morning to you too, Dabi."

"It's nighttime, idiot"

She frowns at the response and gazes out the window. The dark sky tells her It is indeed night, and the car is parked near a set of rundown buildings. Grabbing her bag, she pulls herself out of Giran's beat-up car and scampers after the two who are a few meters in front of her.

Toga opts to cut through the silence hovering in the air, "So who are we meeting, Giran?"

Kagero turns back to her and then looks forward again, "Kid named Shigaraki. I think you both would work well with him and the group he has."

Dabi turns to the broker, "He already has a group? I thought you said he was solo."

Okuta shrugs, "I guess group is a bit strong of a word, huh? You could say he's not alone at least."

Toga looks up to the sky and see's the stars look back down on her. Bright. And alone.

"Being alone isn't all that bad, Giran!" she runs up and grabs his arm, "I mean we've all been alone, and we all turned out fine!"

Okuta stares at her for a moment. Dabi glares at her as well, his eye twitching slightly at the statement.

After a beat, Kagero chuckles and digs deep into his jacket pocket and pulls out a cigarette, "Sure Toga, I guess you have a point."

Dabi's gaze lingers between the two before he lets out a scoff and walks ahead.

They end up stopping at an inconspicuous two-story gray building. The lights from the top-level appear on but the rest of the entire block is deserted, not one other person out on the street, and no lights illuminating windows of the nearby buildings. Giran leads them to a dark green-colored door on the side of the structure with a worn-down 'Bar' sign barely managing to hang above, the only mark that the place exists entirely.

The three move through the opening and find a small four-sided room with doors on each wall. Giran gestures to the door across from them and the one to the right.

"The rooms for guests are on the first and second floor which are through those doors." He then walks to the door to the left and opens it revealing a staircase that goes deeper into the building, "Bar is in the basement, c'mon". Toga skips after the broker while Dabi surveys the room closer, almost opening a second door when Okuta cuts him off, "Plenty of time to explore later, kid." Dabi rolls his eyes and reluctantly follows them down the stairs.

At the bottom of the staircase, they find a heavy metal door with another bar sign, voices echoing from the inside. Giran gives a grunt and pulls the door toward them, a loud creaking coming from the rusty hinges.

Mellow lighting shines in from the area and the three walk through the door, revealing the main room of a bar. Giran makes his way in without a care in the world, strolling to the middle of the room while surveying the situation. He turns to the bar counter where Toga see's two figures slowly sipping drinks with some sort of cloud man acting as a bartender. Dabi slinks further behind and sticks to the edge of the room.

The cloud man turns to Giran, expression unreadable.

"You're looking quite exhausted Giran, would you like the usual?"

Giran nods, slipping into a booth with a man wearing a black mask on the top half of his face.

"It's been a long day, Kurogiri." Giran then turns to the man who is sipping a beer, "How has it been going, Bubaigawara?"

The man looks up from the glass. Toga assumes he must be able to see from under it, but no eyes are visible. The man opens his mouth to respond-

"Isn't it rude to not introduce guests when you bring them over, Giran?"

All eyes shift to a young man wearing a black crew neck sweater with dark joggers and bright red sneakers. The figure turns in his chair to face the group, light blue hair hanging over most of his face, one crimson eye gazing curiously at the crowd. Toga can make out a faint scar over his lip and an additional one over the visible eye that is surrounded by wrinkled skin.

Giran's eyes widen, and he looks back to Toga, who is only a few feet away from where he is sitting, and Dabi, who has now made his way further into the room while still sticking to the edges.

He flashes his dull teeth at the figure, "I suppose it would be, Shigaraki." He then gestures to Toga, "This is Toga Himiko," and then he turns and gestures to Dabi who leans against one of the walls, "and this is Dabi." His gaze then flickers back and forth between the two, "How about you guys break the ice?"

Toga looks back to Dabi, who still sports a disinterested face, and takes a breath, "I'm Toga Himiko! You can call me Toga, or Himiko, or Himi, or anything else cute!" Her eyes flicker to Shigaraki who remains seated in the chair by the bar, crimson eyes watching her carefully.

After a few moments of silence, the boy eventually breaks eye contact with her, turning around slightly and grabbing the glass that was on the counter.

"Would you like a drink, Toga? I don't like to talk him up much, but Kurogiri can make almost anything you would want."

Any tension that was in the air defuses immediately and Toga skips up to Tomura and sits in the chair next to him.

Toga leans over the counter with her hand raised toward the bartender.

"Nice to meet ya' Mr. Kurogiri! I hope we can get along!"

The clouded man stares at the hand for a moment and then slowly accepts it in his own. Toga does well to hide her surprise at the feeling; it's like what she would imagine shaking hands with a ghost felt like.

Kurogiri eventually pulls back and his yellow eyes flicker to her face, "And what would you like, Ms. Toga?"

Toga grins, heat rushing to her face and purrs, "A bloody mary!"

From behind, she can hear Giran facepalming.

Kurogiri nods slowly and gets to work on the drink and Toga swivels her chair so she's back facing Shigaraki. Being closer she can now see that both of his hands are wrapped in some sort of weird glove, with his two middle fingers free and the rest encased in black material.

She leans closer to him and bumps shoulders, "What's with the gloves, Shigaraki? Your hands get cold often?"

He looks up from the drink and flexes his left hand slowly, "My quirk is five finger activation, so if I keep these on, I don't have to worry about it."

Shockingly, it's Dabi who asks the next question from across the room, "And what is your quirk anyway?"

Tomura lifts his eyes slowly at the figure, "Decay. Anything I touch turns to dust."

Toga's eyes widened, "Wow, that's kinda scary!"

The man with the mask on his head turns to the two, "It's super strong! It's weak as hell!"

Tomura glances back at the man, "Thanks, Twice," and then his eyes quickly widen, "Ah, I guess it wouldn't be fair if we don't also run through introductions, huh?"

Shigaraki gestures to the cloud man first, "This is Kurogiri," he then points to the man sitting at the table with Giran, "And that's Twice."

Kurogiri only gives a slight nod at the introduction; Twice waves enthusiastically.

Toga leans in her chair to gaze at the final figure sitting on the other side of Shigaraki. It's hard to make much from them other than a single strand of purple hair that hangs between their eyes.

Dabi ends up asking the question, "And who is the person next to you?"

The figure looks up and turns slightly and replies evenly, "Takasugi".

Toga's eyes widened at the slightly higher pitch of the voice, "A girl! But why are you dressed like that?! We can't see your pretty face!"

Shigaraki glances at the figure and back to Toga, "Takasugi is a little shy around new people, lets keep her out of the talks for now."

Toga frowns, grumbling to herself about a 'girls' night'. Dabi eyes Nagant, clearly trying to match the name to anyone he knows. Tomura takes another sip from his drink and places it on the bar counter.

"Toga, what do you want?"

"My bloody mary."

Dabi snickers in the corner.

Shigaraki clears his throat and tries again, "In life, I mean. What do you want for your life? Why are you here?"

Toga hums as she eyes the red drink that Kurogiri places beside her.

"My life, huh?"

'Stop looking at us like that, you demon! Why can't you be normal, Himiko?! Why do you have to be this way?!'

She stares at the glass for a moment, watching the condensation begin to cling to the surface.

She looks back up to find Shigaraki and Twice watching her, "I want to live in a world where I can do what I want, be who I want…" she pauses for a moment, pink coloring dusting her cheeks, "… and love who I want. That will never work with how things are right now. This world..."

'You can't be like that Himiko! Stop it! You're covered in blood, what the hell did you do?!'

"…will never let me be myself."

Shigaraki maintains eye contact for a moment before taking another sip of his drink. He then turns toward Dabi, "And you, what do you want Dabi?"

Dabi doesn't move from the spot he's rooted to, meters away from everyone else. It's tough to make out any sort of expression on his face, his cerulean eyes staring at the floor between everyone.

"I want to shatter the illusion of this perfect hero society that we live in."

'It was childish to think everything would work out the way you planned. And it's even more childish to pout about it like some sort of bratty kid.'

Dabi grits his teeth, blue flames flickering from the fist he doesn't know he's making, "I want the whole thing to go up in smoke."

Shigaraki watches him for a moment and looks back down to the glass he's holding.

"I'm not going to extend some sort of formal invitation because there is nothing formal about what we have here." The teen looks to Twice for a moment and feels Nagant lean a bit closer to him on his other side, "There's no starting point for when things will pick up. We'll try to add another piece or two and then start picking our spots to act. And then we'll grow more and act more. Patience is something that my sensei made sure I had."

He turns to look at Toga who has somehow already had more than half her bloody mary, face becoming increasingly flushed, but her eyes stay sharp. Dabi seems to have taken a few steps closer as well, leaning in to be able to hear better.

Tomura takes a breath and continues, eyes narrowing slightly, "I hate so much about this world. About this country. About these people. Everyone that sits so high up, looking down on the rest of us."

A warm hand comes down on his shaggy hair. 'Sorry Tenko, but we couldn't get you your skin medicine this week. We're looking into why the funding keeps drying up for this place.'

"So much of it makes me sick to my stomach."

A woman with cold green eyes watching down on him from one of the windows of the manor. Why does she look at him with such disgust?

"Why the hell should I live in this world, huh? Why the hell should anyone here be stuck in this world? Everyone here, who has been tossed aside by this society or the people that live in it… do they really just expect us all to roll over and die in the gutter?"

I'll save you Tenko. And then you'll help me change the world.

Tomura's hand twitches by his side, "Why shouldn't we destroy it, huh?! Why shouldn't we destroy a system that's this fucking cruel?!"

The room is silent. Even Dabi's eyes are locked on him as Shigaraki Tomura slowly raises his twitching hands and puts his glass back on the bar counter. He looks back down and flexes his tingling fingers.

"I'd rather be dead than willingly accept a world that will never accept me."

Clapping erupts and everyone turns to Twice who loudly brings his hands together.

"I'll follow your plan, boss! Please don't kill me!"

Toga watches the display for a moment and her lips twitch upward as she joins in, "Bravo! Encore! Way to go Shigaraki, you sound like a proper villain!"

Tomura feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Haruno facing him, eyes unreadable under the sunglasses.

"I agree with you, Tomura."

His lips twitch upwards to match the slight smile on her own face.

Dabi remains silent but has drifted even closer to the bar, now motioning Kurogiri for a drink.

"Oh right, Shigaraki," Tomura turns to see Giran waving a folder around in his hand, "I finished up with that list that you sent me."

Tomura's eyes widened, "The Kratos list? Did you find any of them?"

Okuta drops the folder on the table and Twice reaches over, flipping through it, "Nope, It's like all of these names dropped off the face of the earth three years ago."

Shigaraki slides off his chair and walks over, looking at the file over Twice's shoulder, "Tch, I couldn't find any of them either. Were you able to pull anything useful?"

"Do you really think so little of me?" Giran smirks while he swirls the remains of his drink in his glass, "I was able to track three locations that twenty of the names had either been to or very near within the past five years."

"Three locations, huh. Where are they?"

Twice looks up from the papers, "Toyama, Ishinomaki, and Yonago."

Shigaraki frowns, "Those aren't very close together."

Kagero shrugs, "Nope, but that's the best that I could do." The broker pauses for a moment and then looks back to Tomura, "I was also able to get that number you asked for, but kid, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Tomura pulls the final page of the folder out, a number and name scribbled near the bottom.

"Um," everyone turns to Toga who is twirling her straw in a now empty glass, "What are you guys talking about? What's a Kratos?"

Shigaraki looks up from the papers, "Something that's too big for us right now. Something that we'll need some help with to jumpstart anything."

Dabi walks over, rum on ice in hand, "What kind of help?"

Tomura grins, looking again at the name next to the number, "Help from someone that I'm a fan of."

~Revelations~

The rhythmic clacking of the keyboard keeps Shota's mind from wandering too far. It's another free period; both he and Nemuri are stuck writing up reports for damaged property after his class had a slight accident between someone who could secrete oil and a fire emitter.

In hindsight, he probably should have seen that one coming.

Nemuri actually had volunteered to help for once, eyeing the deep bags that continued to linger under his eyes, recognizing there was no way he would be able to make it through all of the paperwork he needed to before conking out on his desk. The hero had been out late for the past few nights, again trying to track down anything he could find regarding Shigaraki and his information, in addition to actual case files he had been assigned by the police.

He begrudgingly had been calling in help from Nemuri recently, her expertise in subduing pretty much anyone coming as a big help when faced with more serious jobs like raids on trigger development facilities.

He would never tell her that to her face though.

A sharp buzzing suddenly envelopes the room, both Eraserhead and Midnight look to the file drawer by the man's desk where the sound was emanating from. With a slight grumble, Shota pulls the metal handle revealing his secondary phone, the one he uses for his contacts in the underground to reach him with, the screen displaying 'UNKNOWN NUMBER' right back at him.

Midnight leans over, looking at the Caller ID and smirks, "Who is it Sho? Got a secret girlfriend you haven't told me about?"

Aizawa's eye twitches at the comment as pulls out the still ringing device and swipes it open.

"Who is this?"

The faint sound of a freeway is his only hint at where the call could be coming from.

"I said I would be in touch didn't I, Eraserhead?"

Aizawa's eyes widen at the voice and gestured to Nemuri to close the door to the faculty room. The heroine spins out of the chair and in long steps, closes, and locks the door to prevent any unwanted visitors. She then slips into the chair next to Shota, notepad, and pen in hand.

"Where have you been, Shigaraki?"

"Around. I was calling to see if you had any luck on that thing that I probably mentioned to you. Guess there's no way of knowing exactly what you and the double talked about."

"Your double didn't give me enough. A name alone won't get me anywhere."

"How about a location? Would that help?"

Midnight leans forward, "What kind of location?"

The line is silent for a moment, "I could probably provide some insight if you tell me who the guest is."

"Midnight."

"Midnight eh…." Shigaraki goes quiet again, the two can still hear the cars in the distance, "…could be worse, I guess."

Kayama's brow twitches at the comment, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're probably not involved in whatever this is."

Aizawa huffs, "And what exactly is this? Do you have any information for us?"

"None of the names on the list have been seen in three years."

Both teachers freeze at the comment.

Aizawa then rubs the bridge of his nose, "So you think this is trafficking?"

Shigaraki sighs on the line, "I don't know. But there were three locations that we were able to track the names to either being at or near within the past five years. I'm going to give you one of them."

Aizawa grits his teeth, "Stop playing games kid, if you want any chance at saving these people you got to give us everything you have right now."

The teen lets out a 'tsk'. "No chance. This list was found from the Heroics National Server; you think I want more of you all getting involved with this?"

Nemuri takes a breath, "So just us then, you won't talk to anyone else?"

"Pretty much. Need to keep the party small for now."

Nemuri's brow furrows, "Party?"

"It's what we call a group in…. you know what, never mind. I've gotta get going, so the location is the Utsugi Apartment Complex in Toyama. Seems abandoned now, but seven of the names on the list had lived there at some point."

Aizawa sighs, "How can we trust any of what you are telling us?"

Shigaraki takes a moment, "I guess you can't for now, but it's not like I trust you guys either. I'll call this number again in a week. Let me know what you find, and I'll fill you in as well. You've both worked with underground contacts before, right, so I'm sure you know how these exchanges work."

"Why not meet in person?" Aizawa asks, taking a small gamble, "Maybe we could bring Mion; she said she'd like to see you again."

The line is silent. Shota checks to see if Shigaraki hung up before the teen hisses, "You better keep her out of this."

The call then goes dead.

Midnight glares at Shota, "That was a dumb move."

Eraserhead stares at the phone for another moment and then drops it back onto the drawer it originally was in.

Shota shrugs at her comment, "Kid holds all the cards right now since he has the list and my phone number. I thought adding Mion might warm him up to us; guess I was wrong."

Midnight looks at the name on the pad that she wrote down.

"I think he may be right about her. Mion would insist on coming if we told her about this."

Aizawa nods, rubbing his suddenly weary eyes. He eyes the clock and groans that the period is about to be up. Kayama slowly gets up from the chair next to him and makes her way back to her own desk.

He feels her gaze on him and looks up. The slight glint in her eye is making him already dread their future travels.

"Guess we're going to Toyama."

Aizawa sighs as the bell goes off, saving the paperwork he finally finished up.

"I guess we are."

Key Player Log

Toga Himiko. Age 17.

Dabi. Age 21.

Okuta Kagero. Age 41.

Shigaraki Tomura. Age 18.

Bubaigawara Jin. Age 28.

Takasugi Haruno. Age 20.

Kurogiri. Age UNKNOWN.

Aizawa Shota. Age 27.

Kayama Nemuri. Age 28.

Chapter Notes:

We finally see the gang start to form! I've dialed back the crazy a bit on pretty much all of the villains in the story which is why the meeting goes so differently than the one in canon.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!