The TV broadcast was continuing on, as the crowd muttered and we slowly edged away. Nonetheless, we could hear every word. "You speak of the students' safety," the reporter barreled on ahead, "Mr. Eraserhead, but they say that during the incident you urged the students to fight, right? Please explain what you intentions were."

"Because we were unable to fully grasp the situation," said Sensei "I made the judgment, in order to avoid the worst possible outcome."

"The worst possible outcome, you say? 26 injured, one kidnapped. Would you not call that the worst possible outcome?"

"In that situation, the worst possible outcome I was envisioning was one in which the students helplessly became murder victims."

"The majority of injuries were caused by the gas attack," said Principal Nezu. "We have ascertained that the gas had hypnotic properties and was the product of one of the villains' quirks. Thanks to Ms. Kendo and Mr. Tetsutetsu's swift response, none of the students suffered any more serious injuries. We are also seeing to the mental care of the students, but at the present moment we have no indications of severe emotional trauma or anything of that sort."

"A silver lining, so to speak?" asked the reporter.

"We believe the worst has been avoided as long as the students still have their futures."

"Could you also say the same for the kidnapped student, Bakugou? Winner of your Sports Festival; his a cats of resistance against the powerful villain from the Hedoro incident. Because of his personal history, one might think that he's got a tough hero personality, but on the other hand, we saw the violent nature he displayed in the finals. His attitude leading up to the award ceremony and whatnot. He has exhibited signs of mental instability. What if his abduction was intended to exploit that behavior? What if deceptive words taint him, leading him astray to his kidnappers' path of evil?"

Those words, I could see, seemed to anger Midoriya, Kirishima and Todoroki. All three looked furious; I imagined if

they had had that reporter in hand, they would have punched him.

"What transpired was the result of my own shortcomings," said Sensei, bowing on screen. "However, what happened at the Sports Festival - that points to the strength of his ideals. There is no one else more in pursuit of becoming the 'top hero'. If the villains perceived that as a weakness to exploit, then I would say that they are being foolish."

"Do you have a firm basis for your position?" asked the Reporter. "This is not a problem of how you feel. I am asking if you have a concrete plan for this matter."

"By no means are we standing by and doing nothing," said Principal Nezu. "We are currently carrying out an investigation in collaboration with the police. We will absolutely get our student back."

I had by now led them to the edge of the crowd and, following the tracker signal, taken them to an alleyway, leaving behind the crowds and the press conference.

"This is the location the tracking device is pointing to," I told them.

"So this is their hideout," said Kirishima. "Sure looks like it, huh?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "As far as we have confirmed, the villains haven't moved from here the whole day. Just because the villains are here doesn't necessarily mean that Bakugou is here as well. Right now we have to calmly take into account all of the information we have as we stand here today."

"We don't have anyone here who excels at sneaky activities like Jirou or Hagakure," Iida told us. "Just so you know, if I judge that things are even the slightest bit dangerous, I will stop you! Because you're my friends, I won't hesitate to tell the police, got it?"

"Thank you, Iida," said Midoriya. "Let's think about it. All our options." And he went on another mumbling marathon.

"It's been a while since I've seen him mumbling like that," said Kirishima

"In true Midoriya fashion," I sighed.

So we were on our mission to raid them. And with no real plan as to what to do.

We got up a little closer and took a look around at the tangled weeds before the door, the cracked warehouse roof and rain stained walls of what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. There was no question that we were now on the bad side of town. And with all those weeds before hte door, it seemed unlikely that the villains were hiding Bakugou here.

"There aren't any lights on," said Kirishima. "It doesn't seem like anybody is inside."

"The best place to hide a tree is in a forest," said Todoroki. "A warehouse would make a good cover."

"There are weeds everywhere around the front door," mumbled Midoriya. "Maybe there's another entrance somewhere. Some way or another we've got to confirm what's going on inside."

"Hey you!"

We all jumped. Two men in suits, drunk and somewhere in their thirties, were leering at me. "Hostess, what are you up to? Come and get a drink with us!"

"Cut it out, idiot," drooled the other.

"AWw right!" Midoriya cried, he and Iida trying to stand in the way. Todoroki, heading in the opposite direction, called "Let's get out of here." I hurried after him, extremely embarassed, as we all took refuge by a vending machine.

"It's not a lot, but there are still people walking around here."

"We can't do anything that will draw attention. What should we do?"

"Let's go around back. We might have to squeeze a bit, but we're not going to get any information here."

With a nod, we agreed. It was time to do real scouting. The kind of thing Jirou would have really helped us with...but it was too late for regrets like that now.