This chapter was supposed to be part of a much larger chapter, but I feel like putting in too much time at once will just tire me out. Thus I've split this chapter in two. Even the storyboard I've got for the next is almost half as long as this entire chapter.

Heroes were an irritating sight found in his dream. All Might, Eraserhead, Maribel Hearn, Izuku Midoriya. Their archetypes melted into a dozen different characters populating his unconscious vision. In turn, himself, Kurogiri, his master, noumu and more did so too as a counterbalance.

What happened and what mattered in the dream did not leave a mark on his memory. It was a long conflict of his imagination. However, that was about to change. All of his dream stirred inside his mind, giving him an imagined sight.

Before him came a beast or a woman. She wore a nightgown made of bed sheets, black and white, and a red night cap. Behind her was a tail with a puff of fur on the end. The rest of her, or its appearance, refused to stick in his mind.

You need not worry about the gap youkai... She will heed to my rule...

The familiar face of Maribel Hearn presented itself before him and then muddied into the black of his dream.

If you dream evil... Chant... Baku-san, come eat my dream. Thrice.

"...Kurogiri, you've been unusually calm today. Did the girl give you a bad status effect or something?" Shigaraki asked his accomplice. They were in the bar like usual, with Kurogiri maintaining the counter like usual.

"Hm? Tomura Shigaraki... I had been meaning to tell you this after I was done cleaning up the glasses. How sloppily it looks like I've been doing it... What the hell happened since USJ?" The black shadow asked as he held a glass up to his face, inspecting it for any dirt. Afterwards he pulled out a retractable sink from below the counter. It was neatly stylized as to not look completely out of place.

Shigaraki looked up at him, the hand covering his face concealing his expression. "What the fuck do you mean?"

The villain faced Shigaraki and looked down at him with his glowing streaks for eyes. "It feels like I've been dreaming and day dreaming since I ambushed them at the stairs. Until I woke up today, it's been like that. I saw a woman-like beast with a tail, clad in black and white just before."

"So that's it..." Tomura said to himself and removed the hand on his face. He looked angry as he glanced at his right hand, an index finger missing from it indicated that his quirk would be unable to activate on his right hand. Master had told him that it would be fixed soon enough, but that didn't stop him from thinking back. "...Baku-san, come eat my dream. I met her too." He stated, almost with a hint of irony. Kurogiri let out a hum as he did.

Kurogiri washed the glass and then cleaned it with the towel. What dirtied it was washed away very easily, sticking to the cloth weirdly enough. Afterwards, he shook it over a trashcan that was just nearby. The material of the cloth let go of the dirt, letting it trickle down into the bin. The shadow turned his head back to Shigaraki. "So, you too."

"She told me to not beware of the gap youkai, who will heed to her rule. I recognized the face of that student, the one who chipped off my HP." Shigaraki continued the conversation, he highlighted his wounded hand.

The shadow looked somewhat surprised, even if you couldn't tell it that easily from his formless body. His body tensed up a little and he subtly moved his arms back. "So they are related?"

"Perhaps. It's been a while since it felt like I unlocked a secret... Kurogiri, give me something to drink. I have a call to make." He said, turning to look at the TV.

"Baku-san, come eat my dream?" The voice of his master called out through the inbuilt speaker on the TV. "Old Japanese legend. Although, hearing it again makes me somewhat anxious." His smooth voice burst out of the speaker.

Quietly sipping on the drink Kurogiri gave him, Shigaraki listened closely. "You've heard of it before?"

"Both in books, and from my own comrades. From what I've over the decades, everything tends go on as normal after you see this person. A few of them started behaving with a degree of paranoia and aimed to please whoever acted through the dream. It's quite difficult to forget something so unusual. Yet considering the state of mind some have, it's not all that strange." It said, the voice cut out after he was done talking. Allowing both of them time to respond.

"So this wasn't the first time this has happened." Shigaraki spoke to himself.

Kurogiri put two fingers to his 'chin', placing them on the metal protecting his head. "I never took a liking to the more unstable of us, that must be why I never heard of this."

Tomura took another sip of his drink and looked down at the liquid. It had no alcohol, was wonderfully sweet. "So who is this? A villain? Vigilante? If she were a hero, I would be sure someone could track them down by the quirk."

"A quirk that allows one to travel between dreams. If there was a hero with it, I would've sought them out long ago. No, I don't know who it is. They have made no effort to tell us their name, and I've never considered this matter important enough to take information out of the heroes. Someone using their quirk as they please could be either a villain or a vigilante, two sides of a coin."

Shigaraki asked something. "Has a vigilante ever turned to villainy?"

"Of course. While vigilantes were recruited as heroes with the establishment of proper government. There were those left behind by the law because it could not help them or conform to their methods. That's why some of were branded villains." The master spoke.

"If she's been around as long as you make it sound, then she'd most likely already be considered a villain." Kurogiri added to the discussion.

The voice rang through the speakers after a short pause. "Mhm. Aside from your own curiosity, was there any reason you wanted to know about this person?"

Tomura drank up the rest of his glass and swallowed it. He reached over for his hand and gently attached it to his face. He briefly pondered the situation. He failed at killing All Might, giving him the urge to atone and improve. Bringing together the villains was difficult, but motivating them and getting them interested in the idea wasn't. If he went for more high profile allies, people who could be cool and who wouldn't piss him off, then maybe it would all go together. Maybe he could actually kill All Might.

"I'm considering adding her to my party."

Truth be told, the idea intimidated him, excited him and the mystery thrilled him.

How could he possibly get to speak with her?

Maribel's neighborhood was a suburban, almost town-like part of the city. It had been designed with foreigners in mind to attract workers. Avoiding an urban environment, it tried to be more appealing to those who lived in Europe, America and places like Australia. The houses were built to be familiar to those who would move in, the streets too. Forest was left behind as a potential playground for the young, as a meeting place for teens and so on. Owned by the government, the forests directly around the city area were free to the locals as long as they followed a right of common. Due to the success, similar projects were attempted with different demographics being targeted.

One of the big reasons why she grew up here was because of this kind of neighborhood existing. Workers were needed and the housing was cheap, reserved to those who immigrated. Her mother and her father had moved in together and lived here for a large part of her life. But eventually, opportunity presented itself to her mother and she moved to France. They still talk sometimes, although it's mostly her dad that starts those conversations. Some years, she even comes over to visit for a week.

The blonde's pondering had to stop as she walked through the forested shortcut to the public transport. Before her stood a familiar girl who held a myouga plant in her hand, although this time she wore much more modern clothing. It was a pink tracksuit with white highlights, no hat and running shoes. Under her right arm was a nicely packaged box in a wrapper, which knew what she was going to do with it. A familiar, divine presence radiated from her, but was much more subdued than in the dream and much less from the god herself. If she was completely honest, she'd like to run away right now, but the curiosity kept her there. Hearn felt a lingering feeling that it would be rude to simply leave. Golden eyes and purple eyes met, she felt human, but weirdly so.

For some reason she started performing an extremely slow dance out of the blue. Noh?

"What are you doing?" Maribel asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion. It was weird, but she felt like it was okay to waste this time. She was brought to ease despite meeting someone she had only seen in her dreams before.

The brunette raised the myouga high up and then lowered in a calm spin. Facing Hearn, she stopped and said. "I brought out your mental energy." Before resuming her previous pose. "I am Satono Nishida. Here in place of Matara-jin. I'm to teach you something about the door on your back."

Maribel blinked as she introduced herself, with the added mental fortitude given to her, she managed to restrain herself from shying away. Not like this wasn't indulging her curiosity anyway. A door? That must've been the strange feeling that saved her. "Please don't waste my time."

"Ah, yes. I'll make this short." Satono said, speaking more discreetly than she did before. She took some steps forward, her brightly colored running shoes dirtying themselves in the moss, leaves and dirt that covered the ground. Maribel blinked for a moment and the dancer disappeared from her sight, instead, she stood right next to her. The boundary girl didn't jump, but it was a bit surprising and felt threatening. "Sorry, sorry." The brunette said. Maribel turned to look at her as she waved the myouga at Maribel's back. "This door here... Leads to many possibilities. With it, you should have access to newfound potential."

"Can I even trust you?" Maribel asked and waved the myouga away, making Satono look a little disappointed.

"Hear me out. I'm one of the All-Too-Dangerous Backup Dancers, and I happen to know a thing or two about youjutsu." The dancer monologued somewhat innocently. "This thing, here..." Her lips let slip as suddenly one of her fingers touched the very end of her tailbone, the movement of her arm too fast for Maribel to see. It tickled, and the place was just a bit too awkward to touch. So Maribel turned around and tried to swat her arm away, which she didn't stop. Satono's expression looked very neutral. "...Is the foundation of an extension of you."

Maribel calmed herself down again and placed her fingers on her chin, pondering on her words.

Satono swung the myouga to the side as she explained, a somewhat encouraging and cheerful voice and expression guiding Maribel along her words. "With the door on your back, balancing yourself will be easier. The door frees up the flow of mental energy and vitality from you, allowing it to be easily tapped. If done correctly... your aura should strengthen!"

The blonde just looked curious and nodded. She wasn't certain if she wanted to try what Satono might suggest. Maribel just didn't know if it would do her bad or good. Anything at all even.

Satono brushed one of her bangs out of her face. Lowering the myouga, she kept a straight posture. "Master has told me that you focus your attention to increase the effectiveness of your quirk. If you do the same for the aura, you give off, then you should find some results. Just focus where I touched you, or search for the base of your aura yourself. I will say that youkai, gods and even some humans use this. Naturally you should be able to do the same."

Hearn shrugged calmly and gave Satono her answer, lowering her arms to her sides in the process. Almost reluctantly, she stated her opinion. "...I'm curious. I guess I'll try it..." Closing her eyes, the boundary girl's focus drifted away from her boundary vision and instead went inward. Her quirk's ability to sense the aura and presence of things, quirks and so on. For a moment, she could imagine what her aura looked and felt like. It was somewhat sinister, not quite like Doremy's, but it was like meeting a stranger for the first time. Before her was Satono, she felt a calm and packed presence. It was almost packed around her form. Assuming this was what she was supposed to aim for, Maribel focused on the base of her spine. What she imagined was an ordered aura, instead of a widespread one. The brief moment she could maintain focus with was soon over.

It came like a jolt, as if the base of her spine hit something. "Ow!" Maribel yelped as she opened her eyes in a quick blink. Her sight revealed a short lasting glow all around her form. A dark red in the first instance which was a short moment where she realized her quirk had become focused too. The next, it spiked into a violet before settling and disappearing. For the next few seconds, the visible part of her aura segmented itself and rolled off of her like waves. Disappearing as fast as it came. Some of the dirt below her was shoved out in every direction away from her. Making the place she stood looking like the place where someone dragged their feet across.

Satono Nishida clapped calmly. Her expression changed into a genuine smile. "Well done. I applaud. That's all master wanted me to teach you, but I'll show you what I can do before I leave." Satono said somewhat cheerily for a moment, with a twist of her fingers it looked like she procured a pink colored and glowing, ofuda charm. Before Maribel could properly react, she tossed it straight to the side, where it impacted and burnt a weirdly pink-glowing cut into the side of a tree. Maribel could only stare at what just happened. When she brought back the arm, the charm was back in her fingers. After five seconds, the earth shook as the cut expanded and violently slammed the tree into the ground.

Huh...!?

"That was all. Saraba da." Satono said as she bowed lightly and suddenly began to run. For once, Maribel could actually see the movement, but she was still very swift. There is no point in pursuing her if I want to ask anything and I need to go to the public transport now! I'll be late! Hearn almost panicked as she turned around and began sprinting down the shortcut faster than she normally could, all thanks to her focused quirk. The day bearing down on her created a subtle irritation, but nothing much.

Aizawa's headroom was over. There was a 5-minute break between it and the next lesson, so the teacher took the opportunity to walk over to someone of interest. "Oi. Merry-san. Your costume will be repaired on Thursday, including your support equipment. I'd also like to ask if you'd want any of the teachers to help you during the lessons later today." He said. The bandages around his arms were gone, signifying he had gotten them fixed now. Had the damage from USJ been more severe, he'd be going with them for a while longer. "Yes. All Might is your hero lessons teacher, he's an excellent hero, but the sports festival isn't just about being a good hero. His niche of fighting, fighting upfront with overwhelming might, doesn't suit you."

"I think you're implying you do." Maribel asked, both of her arms laid on her desk as she waited for the class to begin. The other students were mostly talking among themselves and not sitting down, and while Aizawa had to talk with her, nobody felt like approaching her either. She didn't like it, but it was such a minor thing.

Aizawa smiled cheekily. "Exactly. That's the logical conclusion."

"I'll have you for the first lesson and... All Might for the second, after lunch."

"Then it's settled. I'll make it fit in my schedule."

As usual, if you have any criticism or interesting to say, just give me a review. Writers tend to like that since it feels like people start thinking about the things you are writing. If you so feel like it, feel free to drop a recommendation on a forum or fansite, too.