"If you don't need this body anymore," the not-girl, definitely not-girl, talked with a voice that sent chills down Ritsu's spine as she picked up his brother by his head, "why don't I take it off your hands?"

Fear had a tight hold on Ritsu. A byproduct of the suffocating aura that flooded his senses. It had four hands, two holding his head, making it impossible to look away, and two pushing down on his shoulders, keeping him from doing anything about it.

He had not felt this helpless since that time he was cornered by that Scar esper in the alley. Shigeo had tried to save him—his foolish little brother who couldn't keep his new powers from going to his head—and Ritsu could do nothing but watch and cry and futilely try to fight back as his brother got beaten mercilessly.

And now it was happening again.

Only it was worse this time. So much worse. Shigeo wasn't even moving. Ritsu couldn't even find it in him to speak, much less fight. The pressure of the aura—of making the wrong move with all these people around him and exposing himself; they were too great.

The not-girl pulled Shigeo closer.

'Move,' he begged. 'Shigeo's always been there for you. For once in your life can you do the same? Move! MOV—'

The not-girl's head snapped back. She began to stumble backwards but there was a hand over her wrist, keeping her from going far. Shigeo's hand.

He punched her.

Somehow Shigeo, his mild mannered older brother, managed to snap back into consciousness and punch her square in the face. It didn't make sense. Shigeo was a lot of things, but he wasn't a puncher.

"You dumbass." The words came out of Shigeo's mouth but they were definitely not his. His voice was layered, like the not-girl's had been, and sounded too confident.

Before Ritsu could try to piece together just who was in his brother's body, Shigeo sent a harsh kick right to the not-girl's stomach.

"It belongs to me now!" The thing that possessed Shigeo said this with a toothy smile that just didn't belong on the boy's face.

The not-girl's wrist was freed by the blow and she went crashing to the crumbled ground away from his brother's body. More importantly, Ritsu was finally able to clearly see Shigeo's face.

'Dimple?'

The way that he described Shigeo as 'it' and the perfect red circles on his cheeks confirmed that, yes, it was indeed Dimple. Dimple was possessing Shigeo's body and Ritsu wanted—needed—to know why.

Without using her arms for support, the not-girl lifted herself off the ground the way a mummy would lift itself out of its tomb. The second she was back on her feet, she aimed a swift kick to Shigeo's face.

Dimple blocked it before it could land and laughed. "I'm not gonna let you break my precious body that easily!"

The not-girl didn't let the failed kick break her rhythm. Using Shigeo's shoulder as support, she flipped over him and onto his other side. She kept her hand on him and pulled him toward a speeding fist that Dimple was barely about to dodge.

Her body tumbled forward with the momentum of the missed blow. A lot of her movement was like that actually. While Dimple controlled Shigeo with a practiced balance, whoever was possessing the girl swayed this way and that with her ever-shifting weight.

She threw her weight forward, trying to grab ahold of Dimple. The move was so slow and obvious that he was able to step around her and aim a punch for the back of her head but, in a surprising demonstration of agility, the not-girl ducked under his arm and kicked out high behind her all in one move. Her foot almost landed on Shigeo's chin but Dimple was able to tilt his head just slightly enough to miss it. Then he jumped away using a cartwheel-backflip combo that Shigeo could only dream of doing himself.

"Why is there another spirit?" The not-girl asked. She didn't look mad or frustrated. She honestly looked to be more annoyed than anything else. "What a nuisance."

Standing a little straighter, she let out a deep sigh and looked at Dimple with her red eyes. Her aura seemed to double in size as she said, "Begone."

The one word reignited the fear in Ritsu. He wanted to tell Dimple to run while he still could, to save Shigeo. But Ritsu's attention was suddenly pulled from the sight below to a blue...thing floating in the air behind the not-girl.

It was small and wispy with five little antenna-like things on the top of its head that reminded Ritsu of an axolotl. It glowed faintly like all spirits did, only it didn't feel like a spirit. It felt like a living being.

Suddenly, it broke out of its slow floaty movements and dived right for the back of the not-girl's head. When they collided, brilliant blue light mixed with a red electric aura illuminated the stage.

"Do you see that?" asked a voice from the other side of the divider between Class A and Class B.

"Of course I do, Monoma!" replied a girl's voice. "Two kids just appeared out of thin air. Who wouldn't see that?"

Ritsu spared a glance at his classmates. From the awed and somewhat frightful look on their faces, he knew that they could see the light show too.

"So that's your game," the layered voice of the not-girl said. Although she struggled to stay on her feet, her face was calm as she looked back at the spirit-like thing pushing against her. "You must be insane."

With that, she fell to her knees and crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

You could literally see the tension fall away from Shigeo's shoulders. Dimple walked to her, but stopped when he—along with Ritsu—noticed the heroes that surrounded the stage.

Ritsu finally took the time to see more than just Dimple using his brother's body to fight a possessed girl. Todoroki, who had still been on the stage, was being ushered away by Midnight. Guards who were outside of the arena filed in, looking warily at the sudden intruder.

His attention was brought back to Dimple when the spirit began walking toward the not-girl again, whose hair was now light purple and skin pale. He stopped again, only this time it was because one of the heroes stepped to block his path. Which wouldn't have been a problem if that hero wasn't Cementoss. True to his name, the hero was made of cement and quite literally built like brick.

"Please remain calm," he said, holding his large hands up. His gesture of peace was hard to take seriously with heroes closing in around the stage. "We need to take both you and the girl in for questioning."

Dimple cocked his head at the hero. He wore this open expression of pure confusion and assessment that was odd on Shigeo's usually blank face.

"I don't know who you are," Dimple said, shaking away his thoughts, and getting back into a fighting stance, "but you need to get out of my way."

He launched himself forward but Cementoss was surprisingly quicker. The hero crouched down and touched his blocky hands to the floor. The cement behind Dimple stretched upwards and grabbed onto Shigeo's ankle.

Dimple crashed to the floor in a way that was almost comical.

He stared at the cement around Shigeo's ankle. In that moment, Ritsu could see confusion, understanding, and resolve all cross Shigeo's face. In the next moment, Dimple kicked at the cement with his free leg, completely breaking the shackle.

"How did—" Cementoss could barely start before Dimple jumped over him. As in, a clean jump that didn't involve using the hero's shoulders as support to get off the ground. As in, a so obviously telekinetically enhanced—not that anybody but Ritsu would know—jump that most teens weren't capable of.

Ritsu didn't need Dimple screwing things up for him by using multiple abilities, much less one. Why did a portal—Bakugou's hair was too coarse for it to be anything but a portal—have to open in the middle of a televised event and drop off his brother of all people?

Dimple landed in a crouch behind Cementoss. Even though security and heroes were surrounding him, Midnight, who was crouching down beside the not-girl, was his main focus.

"Lady, you need to get away from him!" he shouted as he rushed forward.

'Him?'

"No, actually." Midnight shot up from her crouch and looked at Dimple with misplaced confidence. "Sh—He's obviously injured in some way. We need to get him checked on and we need you to come with us for some serious questionin—"

In a blur of motion, Dimple moved past Midnight. The speed left Midnight gaping and many of the security around the stage reaching for their holsters.

Dimple grabbed onto the not-girl and quickly hoisted him over Shigeo's shoulder. But by the time he was done, the heroes and security seemed to double. Ritsu knew that Dimple could take them on with Shigeo's body, but he genuinely hoped that he didn't.

'Run.'

Dimple must have heard Ritsu's thoughts because he looked down at the body he carried then to the heroes that surrounded him and sighed. He braced Shigeo's legs and looked around the stadium.

Shige—Dimple found Ritsu. Which was the worst possible outcome the boy could think of. The spirit raised Shigeo's eyebrows in recognition but before he could do anything one of the security guards tried to jump at him.

He easily avoided the man but that must have been enough of a warning for him. Shigeo's body began to glow Dimple's signature green and panic filled Ritsu. He slightly shook his head at Dimple hoping that the motion delivered the message of, "No, don't fly away and make them think that you have a quirk other than super strength. Don't mess this up for all of us."

Somehow, Dimple must have understood what that simple shake ment because the green glow disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. He gave Ritsu a look that meant that they were definitely going to talk later and he jumped up and out of the stadium, holding on tight to the possessed not-girl.

Ritsu finally pushed himself out of his seat while everyone's attention was focused on Dimple. Squeezing between the rows of seats, he made it out the steps between the stands. But just as he was about to start leaving the stadium, Uraraka called out to him.

"Hey, wait!" Both she and Iida were looking at him with equal confusion. "Where are you going?"

Ritsu was momentarily startled by their attention. He shouldn't have been, considering they sat right next to him so of course they would notice him leaving. Quickly getting over his surprise, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"My brother messaged me about something," he said, waving around a phone that had no messages on it. "It's pretty serious so I have to find somewhere quieter to call him."

Once he got two nods of understanding, he made his way between security guards and out of the stadium as quickly as possible. He was dead set on finding Dimple; before someone else found him first.


Teruki stared blankly at his conspiracy board. He sat in his room back at the apartment, having walked there after being dropped off at the alleyway. Ritsu was still out. For a moment, he had entertained watching the Sports Festival but decided against it. The day was still young and he had a lot of work to do.

He twirled the black marker in his hand for what had to be the hundredth time. The problem was that he didn't know what move to make next. There were so many thoughts about different people running through his head—Dr. Ikande, Kurogiri, All Might, even Stain—and he couldn't think of what to do with any of them. The silent apartment only amplified his whirlwind of a mind.

On the corkboard in front of him was a picture of Dr. Ikande he found off the internet. Her picture was right next to Ritsu's crudely drawn picture of All Might, and under it was what little information Teruki could scrounge up on the doctor.

She was a genius first of all. Born in Nigeria, she moved to England for university. Many of the articles he could find on her were from years ago and mainly filled with praise about her graduating at 22 with a PhD in both theoretical and experimental physics. There were a few things about her hobbies and what she did when she wasn't working— she was really into the supernatural—but there was nothing about her quirk. Nothing about her recent research. Nothing about creating portals or working with villains. Nothing about a sister by the name of Kendi.

"I thought I was done," the girl said with a frown and the dark circles under her eyes popped out at him. "He said that I was done."

Teruki shut his eyes and tilted his head back.

Kendi. He rolled her name around in his head but for the life of him, he couldn't recall who she was outside of this vision that had to be a sort of flashback. The tiredness in her eyes, the fatigue that clung to her, it was all too vivid not to be a memory.

Which led to his second problem.

Just who was Kendi? In his limited memory (why couldn't he recall his own memories?), he remembered thinking that his senses were tricking him. But what were they tricking him about?

He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. This wasn't the time to focus on a little girl, regardless of whoever she may or may not be related to. Teruki needed action. Action was the only thing that could give him answers.

Springing out of his seat, he eyed the heroes on his board. There was Ingenium (although he had a very strong feeling that the hero would no longer be in action), Best Jeanist, Gang Orca, Fourth Kind, and multiple other big and small heroes. They all functioned so differently, some even being against teamwork, that Teruki had a hard time imagining that they could work together well. Especially with something as big as saving worlds.

Then a glaringly obvious idea popped into his mind.

What if he just asked them?

What if he just walked into the office of some prominent pro, explained that he's from another world, and told them that they're all in danger?

A siren went off.

It was loud. So loud and piercing that it made his knees buckle. His head was pounding and no matter how hard he pressed down on his ears, the noise wouldn't diminish. He tried and failed to understand just what in this world was going on as his senses became so overwhelmed that he had to close his eyes. The only thing he could do was wait for the terrible noise to be over.

When it finally stopped, his ears were faintly ringing. He slowly straightened up and wondered if he was the only one who heard. By the lack of neighbors audibly freaking out in the apartments next to his, he knew that it was only him.

Where did that come from? First he forgets things and now he's hearing a siren that nobody else can. What was the deal with his mind? All he wanted to do was figure out how to get help from the heroe—

He fell to the ground as the earsplitting siren went off again.

Louder this time, it felt as though his eardrums would shatter. He dug his nails into his ears. They were surely already bleeding, so there would be no harm in tearing them off, only the sweet relief from this horrid noise.

Fortunately for his ears, the siren ended at that moment. They were ringing even more now but at least they were still attached to his head.

Teruki pushed himself up to his knees and slowly made his way to his bed. It would be useless to try and force himself up to his feet and onto the bed, he would only end up falling before taking a single step. So, he just sat with his legs kicked out in front of him and leaned back against the foot of the bed.

He didn't even try thinking until the pounding of his head and the ringing of his ears subsided. Once he could think, the only thing he could focus on was who did this to him. And it was definitely a who, because even though he had never been someone who particularly liked getting help, his brain didn't literally scream at him at the thought of it. Someone—in this world that gave people random powers—had to have done this to him.

It should have been easy to figure out who. Someone can't just go and alter his brain like this without him noticing. But chunks of his memory were just gone. Memories that definitely included someone putting sirens in his head. Even worse, he got the feeling that the person behind the noise was the same person behind his missing memory.

Which begged the question: What secrets did his missing memory hold?

Teruki covered his face. There was no point in pondering what was gone from his memories. Not when he still needed to find a different way to get more information because, apparently, he couldn't even think about getting help from heroes lest he actually rip off his ears.

'Damn it!'

This was all so frustrating! How could he know so much yet so little? Everywhere he went, it felt like he was only getting half of the information!

He removed his hand from his face and looked at the conspiracy board. It was mainly covered with photos of heroes. Heroes at press conferences. Heroes on the job. Heroes using their special moves. Heroes saving citizens. The sight of it almost made Teruki laugh.

He really was only getting half of the information.

So much information about so few heroes and absolutely nothing about villains. Teruki doubted that he could even name more than three villains off the top of his head.

"You could always let me put you on my roster?"

Giran's proposal was starting to look more appealing by the second. It would be a bit hard to sell his sudden change of heart, but getting on that list for potential villains could help a lot. Especially if the League was looking for more members through the broker.

He stopped himself from entertaining the idea any longer. No, he wouldn't leave Ritsu alone. He was the one who dragged the boy into this and he couldn't just leave him on his own.

Teruki would just have to find another way. Which was no big deal. He always found another way.

As he pushed himself off the ground and before he could start to think of ways to get back into Endeavor Agency, the doorbell rang.


Ritsu didn't know whether to feel relieved that Dimple was still on school grounds because that meant he wouldn't have to leave campus to find the spirit, or pissed that Dimple was still on a campus full of heroes and security actively trying to find him.

"Dimple," he said as the spirit leaned Shigeo's back against one of the many lockers in the room, "what's going on?"

"I feel like I should be the one asking you that." Dimple raised an eyebrow at him. "What is this place? What happened to Taiwan?"

"I feel like what's going on with you is a bit more pressing than why I'm not in Taiwan." Ritsu looked over the state of Shigeo's relatively unharmed body and the tasteless shirt he wore that looked strangely familiar. He then pointed to the not-girl in his arms. "Who are they? And why are you possessing Shige-nii?"

"Where to start..." Dimple sighed and looked at the not-girl in Shigeo's arms. "This is Asagiri Minori. Her father called up a bunch of psychics to deal with what he believed to be a demon possessing her. The reward he offered up was so high that, naturally, Reigen answered the call. But the demon..."

The look of quiet fear that he formed with Shigeo's face was enough to make Ritsu squirm.

"The demon was Mogami Keiji." Ritsu had no idea who that was, but the way Dimple said his name and the red aura from earlier made the teen not want to know more. "Back when he was alive, Mogami was a renowned psychic, famous for his televised exorcisms and helping people with their spiritual problems. But when he wasn't entertaining, he was working as an assassin. Getting rid of both spirits and people.

"I ran into him decades ago but he didn't try to exorcise me." Dimple took a deep breath. "He tried to eat me. Him, a human, tried to eat me, a spirit. He'd already eaten plenty of spirits before me. He almost succeeded at getting me too, but I escaped before he could finish me off."

"But why would he do that?" Ritsu asked, his stomach becoming queasy.

"He wanted to become a strong spirit when he died, that's what he told me." Dimple let out a sardonic laugh. "Seems like he succeeded. Even Shigeo's having trouble with him."

Ritsu's jaw clenched. "And where is Shige-nii?"

"Don't freak out." Dimple lightly shook Asagiri's limp body. "But Shigeo's in here. He went into her head to fight off Mogami."

"What?" Ritsu hissed, taking deep breaths. He would try to stay calm. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Well that's what's happening."

"But how is that even possible?"

"Not too long ago, a woman called about a spirit stalking her but it just turned out to be her creepy neighbor using an out of body experience. Shigeo just copied what that guy did by forcing himself unconscious and..." Dimple formed a loose fist and brought it down to lightly knock against the back of Asagiri's head. "I'm possessing him because he told me to."

So the thing floating around the stage was Shigeo? His soul?

"What's wrong?" Ritsu asked when he noticed the troubled look on Shigeo's face.

Dimple frowned before saying, "Something's wrong."

"How can you tell? It's only been like ten minutes."

"That's too long!" Dimple snapped. He sounded worried. Deeply worried. "It should've been done in a minute."

"We can give it some tim—"

"If this keeps up, he'll lose his sense of self." Dimple jabbed Shigeo's chest. "He's going to die!"

He's going to die.

Not the conditional he'll, but he's. As in, it's already set. Shigeo, Ritsu's brother, was going to die.

The queasiness in his stomach was nothing compared to how sick he felt now.

Dimple placed Asagiri on the ground, stood, and began walking away.

"What are you doing?" Ritsu asked through his nausea and dread.

"I'm leaving, obviously," Dimple said like it was a no-brainer. "Shigeo's done for and I don't want to stick around for when Mogami comes to. Are you actually planning to st—"

Dimple choked on his words. That was because he was being choked. By Ritsu.

"You're sickening Dimple." Hot anger filled Ritsu. It settled in the pit of his belly and overpowered the nausea that also resided there. He had to use so much of his willpower to not squeeze too hard with telekinesis, only for the sake of not injuring Shigeo.

"Shige-nii trusted you with his body and this is how you repay him? By running away?" Ritsu stalked toward Dimple until he was centimeters away from him. "I have faith in him—" it was the only thing he could have—"and he has faith in you, for some reason. You better not prove him wrong."

He released his hold on Dimple before Shigeo's face grew any bluer. The spirit immediately began gasping for air and leaned against a locker for support.

"So," Ritsu said looking down on him, "what do you plan to do?"

"You—" Dimple huffed. "You're more ruthless than I remember."

Ritsu said nothing.

The spirit stood up straight and rubbed Shigeo's chin. Maybe he was actually thinking about what Ritsu said, or maybe he was contemplating another way to escape. Regardless, he didn't think too long before giving in.

"Fine, fine." He made his way to Asagiri's prone body and outstretched both of Shigeo's—now glowing green—hands. "I'm going to go in there. Watch out for the bodies."

Ritsu watched cautiously over Shigeo's shoulder as Dimple tried to force his way into Asagiri's mind. His green aura flowed toward the girl but couldn't get past the soft red shield that appeared around her.

"What's wrong?" Ritsu asked after about a minute of nothing.

"This shield," Dimple bit out, still concentrating on Asagiri. He grit Shigeo's teeth and widened his stance. "I can't get past it. I need more power."

"More power? You have Shige-nii's body. How is that not enough?"

The spirit muttered something to himself and Ritsu was able to catch "really are new to this." Before the teen could tell Dimple that he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was, he spoke up.

"I can't harness the full power of an esper host without their cooperation." He scoffed. "Why do you think I had to convince you to work with me back then?"

The 'back then' Dimple was referring to was when Ritsu went mad with power. When he no longer tried to avoid confrontation but instead let it happen as an excuse to beat people—particularly middle school gangs—up. It wasn't his proudest moment if the resulting kidnapping was anything to go by.

Ritsu took a deep breath before standing behind Dimple and mimicking his stance. His own hands were glowing blue and he was trying to focus on the task at hand when Dimple questioned him.

"What are you doing?"

"Lending you some power of course."

He said it so calmly that no one would've been able to tell that this was his first time even trying something like this. He knew Shigeo had done it for Reigen when they were fighting against Scar, so it was possible. But that was Shigeo. Would it even work for Ritsu?

The next thing he knew, the green aura that flowed from Dimple grew in size and burst as it broke through the barrier. Ritsu was so surprised that he barely caught Shigeo's body in time.

Dimple got through.

Ritsu stared at his own hands.

He did it.

He placed Shigeo's, now soulless, body next to Asagiri's. Despite the hard floor, they both looked comfortable. Comfortable enough that Ritsu's tired bones felt like joining them.

He vigorously shook his limbs, trying to force energy into them. His brother was in another world. He could wake up at any moment and discover that Ritsu was not, in fact, in Taiwan. That he had lied. He could not have that.

Ritsu had two options. He could leave the bodies here, find another portal, and come back for them; or he could take the bodies with him to find a portal and get them out of this world quicker.

Hopefully, you can understand why he opened up his locker and began shoving both of the teens into it like a serial killer. There was no way he'd be able to haul two kids around while trying to find a portal and not get caught. Telekinesis or no telekinesis.

He forced the locker shut with his shoulder. They should be able to get enough air through the slits. Asagiri might have a harder time since Ritsu had placed her in the back, but she should be fine.

Ritsu walked out of the not quite empty locker room and into the busy campus of UA. The panic that had filled the air had slightly gone away but that didn't mean that he didn't notice it was quieter, or the way people whispered to each other, or how security scoured the campus and monitored the perimeter. There was no way that he could come and go from campus, especially with two bodies.

Digging his hands into his hair, he resigned himself to sticking to the, admittedly huge, school. He would only search areas with little to no people since there was no use in finding a portal where everyone could see him.

The first place he checked was the bathroom. Not the main one the school had opened up for all visitors, but the second one, also open for visitors but farther away from the stadium so no one really used it. His long since dried hair stayed soft inside the boys' bathroom and when he crossed the girls' bathroom.

The second place he checked was the PE grounds. It brought back memories of anxiety and exasperation, but it didn't make his hair coarse. Which was probably a good thing, the grounds, although empty, were too open, a camera certainly would've caught him carrying around two teens.

The third place he checked was the forest just beyond the insanely large PE grounds. He walked among the dense trees for a while, even finding softballs that had been thrown during the aptitude test on his way. However, his hair remained the same. He was starting to consider leaving the huge forest when his hair became rough.

The sheer relief that filled him was amazing.

He stopped walking and looked around. Then he took a step forward. His hair softened. He returned to his original position and took a step to the right. Soft. A step to the left. Soft. A slanted step to the left. Soft. A slanted step to the right. Coarse.

He continued walking in that direction, using his hair to gauge how close he was to a portal. Doing this led him all the way to a tall tree with vibrant green leaves. He was going to do the simple action of walking around it, but the memory of Teruki in the dingy airport bathroom popped up in his mind. If he just...

Ritsu stuck his hand out to the tree and it went through the trunk.

Toilet portals, mirror portals, and now tree portals. Although, tree portals were much more pretty. The bark of the trunk curled perfectly around a large knot like a picture frame. It was hard not to get lost watching the wood weave together and travel up to the branches.

Ritsu pulled his arm back from the trunk and stuck his head in next. He came out to find himself looking at a road. It was long and empty so, luckily, there was no one to get spooked by the sight of a floating head. On the downside, he couldn't recognize the road and there were no street signs to help him.

Warily, he took one step through the portal, careful to keep one leg on the other side in case he couldn't find it again. No, he was not going to think about what may or may not happen to his leg if the portal randomly disappeared. He twisted his neck to look behind him and instantly regretted it.

Standing before him was a mansion. A very big and a very fancy mansion. That wasn't the issue. The issue, which set off all seven trillion nerves in his body, was the haunted aura that came off of it.

Just like Mogami's.

Okay, he thought as he looked away from the mansion. So he found the portal and a good place to drop off Shigeo and Asagiri's bodies. He could go back to the locker room now.

The faint screams that filled the air kept him still. No matter how much logic and reasoning begged him to go, he stayed rooted to the stone steps that lead up to the mansion. Then, foolishly, Ritsu stepped all the way through the portal and walked toward the screams.


Getting into the mansion was easy. It was only a matter of hopping the ostentatious gate and walking through the (unlocked) front door. However, the ease of access only put him on edge as he made his way through long, empty hallways.

He walked past multiple tall doors, all with no signs of life behind them. Every turn he took, he expected a security guard to be there and ask what in the world he was doing. There were none. He just continued moving forward, undeterred, using the screams and haunted aura like a compass.

Finally, he stopped in front of a large metal door. Its steel gray color clashed with the muted brown and stone of the rest of the mansion. It had to be what Ritsu was looking for. The pounding coming from the other side and the shouts to be let free were just extra fanfare for the obvious.

Wrapping both hands around the handle, he pulled.

It opened.

In fact, it opened up so easily that he doubted he was at the right place. There was no way that a group of what sounded like grown men couldn't open this door.

He peeked inside and was met with the faces of dozens of grown men.

'Seriously?'

The first man to notice that the door was open cried out in relief. "Thank yo—"

"Could you really not open the door?" Ritsu cut him off, because he refused to believe the turn of events. "It wasn't even locked."

"I—" The man in strange garbs struggled to find words before blurting, "A demon was using his powers to keep it closed!"

"Yeah!" another man shouted. He was big and muscly like All Might, but he had no hair and wore a tiny red bikini. "It must've been so easy now that he's gone!"

"Does it matter?" a third asked. "Let's just get out of here before he returns!"

As a clumsy collective, the weird adults, most likely phony psychics, tripped over themselves in a rush to escape the room. Some of them had the decency to thank him as they scrambled out. Most just ran. The rest were knocked out on the floor.

Speaking of the floor, other than phony psychics, security guards, and blood, it was covered in glass. Which most certainly came from the shattered glass wall across the room.

The previously intact glass wall separated another, cleaner, room from the wrecked room filled with beaten adults. Its wallpaper consisted of white flowers and tall green ferns. There was a plethora of large teddy bears on the floor surrounding the lone bed in the middle of the room. On the lone bed lay broken shackles.

Ritsu took an unconscious step forward, wanting to get closer to the room that failed to contain Mogami. He stopped however when he noticed a familiar man in a dingier than usual gray suit and pink tie.

'Reigen?'

The man was pacing around the room. He looked absolutely confused as he massaged the back of his head. He was looking for something. Someone.

Ritsu immediately began back peddling. There was no time to inspect strange rooms. It was ridiculous of him to even try to. There was especially no time to watch Reigen. He needed to get out of here before the con man noticed him.

He almost made it all the way through the doorway when the Reigen called out to him.

"Wait. Who are you? How did you get here?"

Ritsu ducked his head down. Thank God for his unfamiliar PE uniform and thank his mostly gel-free hair for not forming its usual spiky shape.

"My name is..." he started out relatively soft and then broke off to an almost silent mumble of random noises. There was no way he was going to give up his name. Plus, most adults hardly ever have the patience to listen to a quiet kid try to say one thing.

Reigen, to Ritsu's dismay, wasn't most adults.

"HUH?" Reigen obnoxiously asked, cupping his hand behind his ear and taking a big step toward Ritsu.

Ritsu glued his eyes to the floor and willed the man to leave him alone.

"Look," Reigen started with a sigh and leaned away, "it's totally fine if you don't want to tell me your name. Could you just tell me if you know about anything that could make two teens and a spirit suddenly disappear? Maybe some folk legend around here about disappearing?"

"I just followed the shouting to help those people. I don't know anything about disappearing teens." Ritsu peeked up at Reigen. Even though he tried to hide it, panic came off of the man in waves.

"I have to go." Ritsu turned away from him, but not before adding, "I'm sorry." And he truly was. He thought that he would blow up at Reigen the next time he saw him for putting his brother in so much danger, but now he couldn't bring himself to. Even if Reigen was an underpaying con man, it wasn't hard to imagine the worry he felt about losing his student. Or about having to confront his parents—his mom—about how he lost their child.

'Don't worry Reigen, I'll get Shige-nii back to you in no time.'


Ritsu returned to a quiet locker room. Which was only relieving for half a second. Because that's how long it took him to realize that Dimple, and therefore Shigeo, must still be trapped with Mogami.

His hands fumbled as he undid the lock. When he opened the locker, both of the limp bodies of Shigeo and Asagiri fell into his arms, confirming his fear.

"He's going to die!"

No. Ritsu was not going to panic. Panicking made it hard to have coherent thoughts like: 'Shigeo's strong, you know this', 'Dimple's with him', and 'How long was I gone?'

How long was he gone? The fights had started up again and people seemed to have already resettled back into the excitement of the festival. So that was ten minutes?

Fifteen?

Either way, it was too long. It should've been over by now. Ritsu should've been caught by Shigeo for not being in Taiwan by now. At least Dimple should've come out by now.

He stared at the literal shell of his brother, then to Asagiri who had three separate entities in her mind, and made his decision. Whatever was happening, he was going to help. All of them.

Shigeo had used an out of body experience to get into Asagiri's head, right? Ritsu sat both of them on the floor. He'd just have to do the same.

First step was to become unconscious. Dimple said that Shigeo had 'forced' it. The first image that was created in Ritsu's mind was of his older brother whacking himself in the head and knocking himself out. An image that was quickly swept away because Shigeo simply wasn't a violent person.

Okay, so then how did he do it?

Ritsu looked over to his brother's empty body. He didn't have time to wonder about how he did it. Shigeo wasn't a violent person, but Ritsu—who punched his classmate, made him bleed, and liked it—couldn't say the same.

Don't worry. He wasn't going to hit himself with a brick.

There weren't any available.

But Ritsu did know that the line between consciousness and unconscious was oxygen. He could choke himself. Use telekinesis to press down on his throat just enough to make him pass out.

He placed both of the bodies back in the locker and began pressing down on his neck. Again, don't worry, Ritsu wasn't going to cut off his airflow. He would fail because his brain would practically scream at him to stop being foolish and take the reins itself. He was pressing on the sides of his throat, because what he was going to cut off was his blood flow to his head.

It was a bit harder for his brain to do anything when it couldn't get any oxygen.

The next thing he knew, his legs became too weak to stand on. He crumpled to the ground and, with spotty vision, sat up and leaned against his locker; his last coherent thought being that he didn't want anybody to walk in and see a sprawled out body.

After that, only one word rang in his mind.

'Escape.'


"Hello Teruki-chan!" his neighbor Ikeda greeted when he opened the door. The very short old woman wore a black, short sleeved, flowy dress that reached her knees. Her shoes were also black with little silver gems that matched her earrings and she topped the whole look off with a bright smile.

Teruki tried to match it with his own as his headache pounded. "Hi Ikeda-san, what brings you here?"

Her smile got even wider when she handed him a bento box he had assumed to be her lunch. Immediately, alarms (thankfully not earsplitting and maddening) went off in his head. Ikeda was a generous woman; he recalled how much money he gained cat-sitting for her. Very generous. Her giving him food out of the blue, was new, but not strange. However, her strained smile was.

Teruki barely spared the bento a glance before resting a hand on his hip. He gave the old lady an I-see-straight-through-you look that his mother used to give to him and quirked a brow.

"What brings you here?" he repeated. "You look like you're about to head out somewhere special and won't be able to watch 13 cats."

Finally, the woman's tight smile fell and she broke into laughter. "Alright, you got me!" She then grumbled, "Kids these days are too damn perceptive."

Bringing her hand to her lips, she let out a sharp whistle. It only took a moment for the soft pitter-patter of paws to reach Teruki's ears and all 13 of Ikeda's cats appeared in the doorway.

"I know that it's short notice, but can you watch them for a few hours? I'm going ballroom dancing."

Whenever Ikeda said 'a few hours', it meant whatever Ikeda wanted it to mean. Last week, it meant three hours. Four days ago, it meant until morning the next day.

"You know that's vague coming from you." Teruki sighed. "Regardless, I have things to deal with this time. I can't do a surprise sitting."

"¥20,000."

"I would be honored to watch over your cats, Ikeda-san."

Teruki had to save two worlds with chunks of his memory missing and increasingly loud sirens going off in his head whenever he thought about getting help from heroes, so suffice to say, he was stressed. However, he wasn't turn-down-20,000-yen-an-hour stressed.

The cats, apparently hearing his defeat at the hands of money, curled around his ankles as they made their way into the apartment. Most of them sat on the couch with the exceptions of Strawberry and Shortcake, who sat at the foot of the couch; the twins, Pancake and Waffles, who sat on either arm rest; Peppermint P, who managed to perfectly balance on top of the TV; and Butterscotch, who laid on the table with her belly up.

Slipping on some shoes, Teruki weaved past Ikeda and stepped out into the hallway. He went up to the third floor, calmly walked into her apartment, which was common procedure whenever he cat-sat, and picked up a bin filled with various cat related things he'd need for the day. It was only when he began to make his way out of the apartment that he realized that he wasn't alone.

He froze mid-step, then, slowly, and turning only his head, he looked behind him.

An old man sitting in an armchair smiled at him.

Teruki almost dropped the bin.

He knew this old man.

The man would've been unrecognizable if it weren't for the black tux he wore that resembled the uniform Teruki had first seen him in. This old man was the janitor from the Ingenium Agency. What was he doing here? Was he Ikeda's date?

Obviously, he had been staring dumbly for too long because the old man began to wave politely at him.

Teruki recollected himself and waved back before speed walking out the door.

He returned to his own place to find Ikeda rubbing Butterscotch's belly. The woman cooed softly at the cat and the cat purred contently back.

The blond cleared his throat. "Don't you have dancing to get to?"

'With your boyfriend that you didn't warn me about?'

"Oh yes, you're right." Ikeda removed her hand from the ginger cat and began to walk toward the door. The loss of contact made Butterscotch roll onto her belly and yowl in protest.

"Settle down little one," Ikeda said with a calmness that showed just how used to this she was. She turned to face the cat. "I'll be back to rub your tummy in a few..." Tapering off, the old woman tilted her head as she stared at the table the cat was on. She walked over and picked up the small stack of papers on it.

Teruki watched her as she read the papers. The papers being the job listings he had pulled off of the bulletin board at Endeavor Agency.

Her face then lit up and she looked to him while holding up one of the flyers with a smiling broom on it. "You're looking to become a janitor?" she asked, but she continued talking before he could respond. "My brother's the head of the company, I'll grab him for you right now!"

Wait.

'What?'

Teruki had grabbed those listings for a reason. He planned to land a short term job in order to get back into Endeavor Agency. But an interview? Right now? He hardly wanted to deal with Ikeda's cats, much less an interview in his dingy kidnapping clothes.

"Thanks, Ikeda-san," he said with a shaky smile. "But that's really not necessa—"


Teruki was pushed to one corner of the couch. Partly because he wasn't too fond of the turn of events, mainly because there was hardly any space with the thirteen cats that also occupied the couch.

Sitting on the other side was the old janitor from Ikeda's apartment. Who, in fact, wasn't the widow's new boyfriend but her brother. All of the cats came to him the moment he sat down on Teruki's couch and surrounded him like a shrine. The old man in turn showered them with head pats and smiles.

The only cat that wasn't surrounding him was Biscuit, a Balinese cat that hissed at the old man when she saw him walk in and received a hiss from the man in return. She rested comfortably in Teruki's lap.

Then there was Ikeda, who brought this situation upon him. She was loudly opening cabinets in the kitchen, looking for tea that wasn't there.

"Uhh," Teruki cleared his throat. It didn't help that he couldn't greet his hopeful employer properly with all these cats. "I'm Kageyama Teruki. It's nice to meet you, Ikeda-san."

"Ikeda-san?" The old man clutched his chest as he let out a raspy laugh. "I liked the guy but not enough to take his name!"

Teruki was failing to wrap his mind around who exactly 'the guy' was when Ikeda began laughing herself. That's when it clicked that Ikeda, being a widow, might have a different surname than her brother.

Embarrassed, he dropped his face into his hands. That only made the siblings laugh louder.

"Hardy har," Teruki said, lifting his head up and waving his hands in a mocking manner. "I'm glad that old age hasn't taken away your senses of humor."

After a solid fifteen seconds of even more laughter, it died out with a final wheeze from the brother. The man pushed himself off of the couch, dropping some cats in the process, and twisted his back with a loud pop.

"My name is Shuzenji Chiko and I'll die long before my sense of humor does," he said, smiling to Teruki. "But, I suppose that we should begin now."

Immediately, his demeanor shifted. Gone was the jovial old man who had beef with a cat. In his place was a man whose silence commanded the attention of the room. He stood so straight that Teruki felt small despite being several heads taller than him.

"I am the founder and head of Pro Cleaning Co. My company has been cleaning the buildings of heroes longer than you've been alive, and it's the only one trusted to do so." His gaze on Teruki grew sharper. "It's no light thing hiring new employees."

Teruki sat taller when Shuzenji's analyzing eyes raked over him. He could see the man inspect and pick apart every aspect of him with just that one look.

"This isn't a gig, or a quick job before getting a 'real' career. When I hire people, I hire them with the expectation that they'll be working for me for a long time. I must have complete trust in my employees and, not to offend, but I don't generally trust kids who look like they barely got out of highschool. I'm only giving you a chance because I trust my dear baby sister's intuition." Shuzenji looked to Ikeda for a fraction of a second as she grumbled that he was only a minute older than her, but his hard eyes became immensely warm in that short time.

They steeled again when they looked back to Teruki.

"So, let's start the interview." He opened up his arms. "I need to decide if I can trust you."

Teruki stared at Shuzenji's outstretched arms. It looked like he wanted a hug, but that didn't make any sense. What kind of interview started with a hug?

He got up from the couch anyway. Nothing about this world made sense, he shouldn't expect interviews to make any either. He leaned down into Shuzenji's arms and wrapped his own around the man.

The hug wasn't like the soft hugs his mother used to give him. It wasn't like the big warm ones that his father always gave. It was detached and cold and it made him feel like he was hugging a lion in its own den.

"Why don't you continue getting money by cat-sitting? I know my sister pays you a lot," Shuzenji started easy.

"I'm getting paid too much for little work. It feels wrong." He found it odd that he actually felt somewhat guilty. Taking advantage of people was second nature to him back before he met Kageyama.

"Okay, question two," Shuzenji continued, not letting go of Teruki. "Why do you want to become a janitor? It's a general question and you can say why you wanted to join my company specifically if you'd like."

Oh.

Teruki knew what he was doing.

He almost wanted to scoff. He had too much experience dealing with suck up teachers and adoring classmates to be fooled by wordplay as simple as 'if you'd like'. It was a requirement. Shuzenji had two questions: "Why a janitor" and "Why with me?"

The first thing Teruki wanted to do was lie. Specifically a lie mixed with the truth. Everyone loved them. He loved them. They allowed him to tell others what they wanted to hear in exchange for what he wanted. They allowed him to throw others aside once their usefulness expired while never breaking his end of whatever faulty deal they had.

Teruki did not lie to Shuzenji.

Even though it would be so easy to do, he couldn't revert back to when he was a delinquent with a narrow-minded view on the world. He also couldn't ignore Shuzenji's hug. Which was too long to be considered normal. He couldn't shake the feeling that if he lied, or even lied with some truth, the old man would know.

"To be honest," Teruki began after what he realized was too long of a wait, "I don't really want to become a janitor."

Shuzenji tensed up.

"But I have a lot of people to take care of, including a little brother," he added. "So I'll scrub any toilet and wipe any window for as long as needed to keep him safe." Shuzenji didn't need to know that a lot of people meant billions or that the little brother wasn't his own.

"As for why I chose your place—" he looked at Ikeda who somehow managed to find herself some tea even though he was sure he never bought any—"I, for whatever reason, trust whatever Ikeda forcefully suggests with my whole heart."

Teruki had expected Shuzenji to dismiss him, tell him to go look for a different job if he wasn't even interested in cleaning. Instead, the janitor's demeanor shifted again. His hug became warm and even though Teruki couldn't see his face, he suspected that the old man was smiling.

"I suppose that she does have a strange way of making good decisions," he said with a voice full of mirth.

Ikeda piped up, "I'm right here."

"I guess I have to throw out the cleaning experience questions," he said ignoring her. "We can just go onto the more simple ones."

"That sounds good," Teruki replied.

"Do you seek to bring about the downfall of any hero?"

"No," he immediately answered, because pausing at all for these 'simple' questions would do no good. More than the janitorial questions, the ones about trust mattered.

"Do you have any intention of using this position for personal gain?"

"No."

"Have you ever committed a crime?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

"Jaywalking, vandalism, general teenage delinquent stuff."

Also assisting in a kidnapping about a few hours ago.

"Do you work with villains or those close to them?"

"No."

Not anymore.

"Are you planning anything nefarious?"

"No."

"Do you like hard candy?"

"No—wait what?"

Shuzenji burst out into laughter. He pushed Teruki back at arm's length and laughed even harder.

"Your face!" he blurted out. Then he leaned in and said in a stage whisper, "To be honest, I don't blame ya. Just don't tell Cho."

"I'm. Right. Here."

Shuzenji just turned around and stuck out his tongue. Ikeda did the same and they looked so much like little kids that Teruki couldn't help but laugh.

"See?" Shuzenji said, smiling at him. "Laughing's fun!"

Teruki smiled back. "I never said that it wasn't."

"Whatever!" Shuzenji waved his hand dismissively. "You're hired."

"Really?"

"Yes, 'really'," Shuzenji mimicked his voice. "Kids these days ask too many useless questions."

Teruki bowed. "Thank you so much."

'Thank you' hardly scratched the surface of how grateful he felt. Ikeda and Shuzenji not only gave him access back to Endeavor Agency but to the agencies of every other hero as well. He wanted to kiss both of their flabby cheeks.

"Eh, no problem." Shuzenji shrugged. "If you weren't trustworthy, I would've called the cops on you."

"The police?"

When the old man started laughing again, Teruki moved away from him, having enough of being laughed at. Then he took about one step toward the bin of cat supplies before nearly falling over. His legs felt weak. Too weak to carry him. He felt...he felt...

"I feel tired," he mumbled out. He had been tired before, what with all the sneaking into a giant office and being in a high speed chase. But now it felt bone deep. How much had that interview taken out of him?

"Oh, that's just my quirk. It allows me to assess someone's condition by hugging them, and lying is bad for your health!" Shuzenji laughed at his own poor joke. "Although it uses up the recipient's stamina, you must have been really tired beforehand if you feel like passing out now!"

A lie detector quirk? That explained a lot. Although he wished he had a heads up about the stamina thing before he felt like dropping where he stood.

Ikeda came up to him and shoved a little bowl of cat food into his hands. "Sit on the couch and try to sleep. The cats make a great blanket."

Teruki numbly did what she told and soon enough all of the cats settled on top of him to eat the food. Except for one. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was Shuzenji smiling while Biscuit rubbed against his leg as he and Ikeda walked out the door.


Ritsu looked at his small glowing hands. They were blue. Dark blue.

Could they even be described as hands when his new, ghostly, form didn't even have fingers? Could they even be described as his hands when his body was on the ground below him, leaning against his locker?

There was something deeply unsettling about looking down at yourself. Your limp, soulless self.

His pale face was slowly regaining color as blood rushed up to it. His lungs continued to take in oxygen without him. His eyes were delicately closed as though he were having a peaceful dream even though reality was more like a nightmare. In reality, his brother was dying in some random girl's head. In reality, Dimple was taking too long to come back out. In reality, Ritsu was about to join them.

He didn't have time to waste staring at himself, he needed to hurry up and end this nightmare.

Ritsu floated closer to his locker and reached for its lock. He was about three seconds into unlocking it when he realized that he was basically a ghost now. He could go through things.

Releasing the lock, he floated forward and past the thin metal door of the locker. Inside, he looked down on the two heads of the teens he had shoved in there. Shigeo looked comfortable and it appeared that a decent amount of air was getting to him. Asagiri on the other hand looked cramped in her position at the back.

He kept his eyes focused on the top of her head while he braced himself. He waited, stalling to psych himself up, and then dashed for her head.

Just like when Shigeo tried to force his way in, bright lights crackled between Ritsu and Asagiri. It was like he was pushing against cling wrap that just wouldn't break.

'How did Shige-nii get through this?'

It was a ridiculous question to ask. He knew firsthand how strong Shigeo was. Of course he managed to get in. But even if Ritsu wasn't as strong as his brother, he was going to get in. No matter what evil spirit stood in his way.

So he pushed with all his might. The lights grew brighter and louder but he kept on pushing and pushing and pushing—

The cling wrap broke.

He was in.


'Did I do something wrong?'

Ritsu found himself not as a small little ghost floating around in some empty plane, but as a human standing in the cafeteria of some school. He wore a black blazer with a red armband wrapped around his left arm like the one he used to wear so often in middle school. Underneath the blazer was a white button up with a red tie similar to UA's uniform. There was also a tray in his hands (his hands that once again had fingers), filled with the usual bland cafeteria food and a milk carton.

A sizable group of kids sat at the table in front of him. They all also had red bands around their arms. He must have been heading toward them before...before what? Before he possessed his own body? Even though he knew for a fact that his body was actually outside of here—Asagiri's head—and sitting on the dirty floor of a locker room?

Another thing that unnerved Ritsu was that he recognized this place. He recognized the uniform that he wore. He recognized the uniform everyone wore.

This was Shigeo's school.

Why was Shigeo's school in Asagiri's head and why was Ritsu a part of it?

"Didn't you say that you like milk?"

Near a corner of the cafeteria, a large mob of kids were gathered. What looked like second year boys and girls talked loudly to one another as they huddled around something.

Ritsu took a step closer. A gap appeared in their group and he could see a boy with jet black hair covered in milk. He squinted and took another step forward.

It was Shigeo.

The gap opened up more and Ritsu could now see someone standing in front of his brother. It was a girl with short purple hair and a gleeful look in her eyes. Asagiri.

"Is this not what you meant?" she taunted as she waved around an empty milk carton in front of Shigeo's wet face.

Shigeo's response was weak. "Why are you doing this?"

Ritsu didn't know what was going on and that didn't matter. Asagiri poured milk on his brother and, client's daughter or not, possessed girl or not, she wasn't going to get away with it.

"It was a joke! A joke!" Asagiri had the nerve to pat Shigeo's shoulder and smile in his face. She then squealed, "Gross! You smell like milk!"

The kids that surrounded her like minions broke out into loud, rambunctious laughter. Praising her. Asking to be her boyfriend. Calling her cool. Awesome. Powerful. Scary.

Their laughter died when they saw Ritsu.

They stepped back when he stepped forward, doing everything to make sure that they didn't touch him. Their eyes were all focused on the red band wrapped around his arm. It was almost funny how easily power swayed them. He wouldn't even have to use ESP.

"Asagiri-san," he said tersely. Even though he was younger, he stood taller than both her and Shigeo.

Asagiri stared at him like he was a new toy she was trying to figure out. "Who are you?" she drawled.

One of her minions answered for him.

"That's Kageyama Ritsu," he said shakily from behind her. "He's one of the top ranking students in the nation. He even managed to become Vice President of the student council despite being a first year. He's not worth the trouble!"

That was his backstory here? Did Asagiri see him like this? How could that even be possible when they don't even know each other?

She didn't quiver at his power, which was expected given how big her mansion was. The strange thing was that she seemed elated.

"Kageyama?" she said with a wry smile. Then she looked to Shigeo who was busy gaping at Ritsu. "Are you related?"

It took his brother a moment to realize that she was talking to him. He quickly fumbled out, "N-no. I don't know him."

The smile dropped from Asagiri's face. Whatever edge she thought she had on Ritsu was lost.

As for Ritsu, he was trying to grasp that he apparently wasn't related to his own brother. Shigeo didn't even know him.

Just what was going on?

"Anything you need?" Asagiri said, failing to conceal the look of hatred she had as she looked at Ritsu's arm. She realized that he wasn't below her. Not at school. He was no longer a toy, but a threat.

Ritsu focused his attention on her. He could figure out what was going on later. For now, he would help Shigeo. Starting with the hand that was still on his shoulder.

"Let go of Kageyama-san." It hurt addressing his brother like that.

"What? We're just friends playing around!" Asagiri said with a fake laugh. She pulled Shigeo into a loose, one-armed hug without actually touching his soaked shoulders to hers. "Isn't that right, Kageyama-kun?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Ritsu answered before Shigeo could say something that would hurt him in the long run. "I saw everything."

Asagiri no longer tried to hide her contempt as she openly scowled at Ritsu.

"Fine," she said sharply. She pushed Shigeo away and looked at Ritsu. "Sorry, okay?"

"Not okay," Ritsu bit back. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"Ugh." Rolling her eyes, she turned to Shigeo. "I'm sorry."

Shigeo didn't even look at her.

"Asagiri-chan apologized to you! Say somethi—!"

The loudmouth lackey of Asagiri's quickly shut up when Ritsu glared at her.

"Whatever," Asagiri said. "Let's go."

She walked off to a table right next to the center of the cafeteria where the student council sat. Her minions and fans followed right behind.

"Thank you," Shigeo mumbled once they were all gone. Ritsu wanted to respond with "No problem" or "Say something if she bothers you again", but his brother scurried away before he could, presumably off to the bathroom.

Just as Ritsu was about to go and follow him, a fly landed on his face. He looked down at his cheek to see it rubbing its front legs together the way all flies do. Only Ritsu knew that this fly was Mogami. Don't try to ask him how, he just did. Call it a psychic's intuition.

He quickly smacked himself in order to crush it.

It flew out between his fingers.

He wanted to chase after it with a swatter. Shout at the evil spirit that it wasn't so scary as a mere fly. Kill it and end whatever twisted reality he was in. Instead, he put his tray down and left the cafeteria.

He had to find Dimple so he could get them all out of here.


Ritsu did not find Dimple in the bathrooms. He didn't find him in the empty classrooms or in the student council room or in the field.

It was maddening.

How far could a spirit hide? From an esper no less?

Ritsu was walking down the halls of Salt High. Lunch was still going on, but it was close to ending. He only had time to check one more place.

He stopped in front of the red double doors of the gym. If Dimple wasn't in here, then he would have to search off campus. Which meant making a commotion with his powers because he did not feel like searching the entire city for a small green ghost.

Ritsu pulled one of the doors open and stepped in.

If he could go back, he never would've gone anywhere near this room.

A man stood in the center of the gym. He wore a dark green blazer and slacks over a plain black shirt. His shaggy hair was pitch black.

'Mogami.'

Who else would it be but him?

God, why couldn't he have stayed a fly?

"The little brother," Mogami said. His voice was somehow scarier than the deep layered one he had when speaking through Asagiri. "What are you doing here?"

Ritsu reached for the door handle. When he tried to turn it and it wouldn't budge, dread filled him to the brim.

Mogami then looked at him. His eyes were black, not red, but they still made all of Ritsu's muscles seize.

"I suppose that's a stupid question to ask." The man laughed to himself. "Just like with your brother, I let you in here."

"What?" Ritsu somehow said. "Why would you do that?"

"To teach a lesson."

"A lesson? That involves this fake version of my brother's school?"

"Fake?" Mogami asked with a slight tilt of his head. "No, the people here are real. Their personalities and actions are exactly what they would do in real life."

"But Shigeo has friends to help him out in real life," Ritsu rebutted. "In real life, I don't go to school with him."

"Real life isn't always fair." Mogami began walking slowly toward Ritsu. "People are vile and not everybody has friends to help them."

As he prowled forward, the air grew heavier. It took all of Ritsu's strength just to stand on his two legs. Every step that the evil spirit took was like death drawing nearer.

"I've stripped your brother of his friends and his abilities." Mogami continued. "I want him to truly see how blessed he is to have power. Power that he constantly suppresses. I want him to see the world as it is: Cruel. Especially to the powerless. Although I doubt you'd understand."

He came to a stop in front of Ritsu. Mere centimeters away from him.

"The world favors the talented. You get it." He brought his hand down on Ritsu's arm. Right over the red band. "You, the smart and talented little brother. Even without psychic abilities, you've always had power. Even here, you were able to go up against the rich and popular Asagiri and win. Your brother even thinks you're above him."

The area where Mogami's hand met Ritsu burned. But he could hardly pay attention to that when he couldn't breathe. The air was practically solid around him. Whatever fear he felt when Mogami was possessing Asagiri was nothing compared to the pure terror he felt now.

Still, he managed to find his voice.

"It's not like that." After all they've been through, Mogami didn't get to spit on his relationship with his brother like that. "You know nothing about Shige—"

"I've read his thoughts and seen his memories, I know what I'm talking about," Mogami spat. "Unlike you however, Shigeo never despised you for your talents. You merely exist in this reality, where you aren't his precious little brother, as an ideal that he can never hope to reach.

"However, the real you coming in here—" a sick, toothless smile spread across Mogami's face as he looked down on Ritsu— "was quite a welcome surprise."

"Welcome?"

"I'm doing all of this to teach your brother to use his powers to bring justice to those that go unchecked. Just like I do." His smile became wider. "Just like you used to."

Ritsu would have frozen if all his muscles weren't already locked in place. How did Mogami know about the recorders?*

"Thoughts and memories."

He wanted to curse the man. Curse him for reading through his brother's mind. Curse him for reading through his.

"I hated every second of it," Ritsu hissed.

"Yes, but even when Kamuro wanted to stop, you kept on pushing."

"That's only because Kamuro was the main problem!" the boy snapped. "He was attacking kids for chewing gum. He was becoming a menace to the entire student body and I needed to make sure that he wouldn't contin—!"

Ritsu stopped. Saying it out loud, he sounded exactly like Mogami. There was no way that he was going to end up like him.

"And that's exactly why I like you, Ritsu."

Hearing his name come from the evil spirit's mouth was an ice bucket over his head.

"No," he forced out. "Framing people for things they didn't do was wrong. I was wrong."

"But it worked. Problems that had been plaguing your school all year—gone." Mogami's lips curled into a sneer. "You shouldn't feel guilty for the cruel. I'll have to fix that."

"Fix?"

The previously loose grip on his arm became tight. Too tight. Ritsu clawed at the hand but it wouldn't budge and Mogami—

Mogami was shrouded in red. His aura had returned hundredfold. The human-looking form that he had taken began to fall apart. His face became hollow and the red came back to his eyes.

Ritsu tried to force him back with telekinesis and when that didn't work he clawed even harder at the hand. The world around him fell away. Desperation overcame him as he lost feeling in his arm.

"Let go of me! Let go of my brother!"

"Why would I do that when I just got my hands on you?" Mogami smiled at him. Teeth and all. "Can't you see this was a trap?"

A trap? Was he planning to put him in the same brainwashed state as his brother? To torture and torment him? No. No. NO!

Ritsu felt something warm on his fingertips. He looked down at his clawing hand and found blood. It was his. He'd clawed so hard that he managed to break his own skin. Not Mogami's. Just his.

Then something cracked.

It was also him.

The arm that was being held captive was stone, cracking and crumbling in Mogami's grip. His legs—his whole lower body—was stone, also cracking and crumbling. It was too much. Ritsu couldn't even breathe. All he could do was watch in horror as the stone, and therefore the cracks, traveled up his arm and to his neck.

"You used to see the world as it is. When you got your powers, you used them the way they should be used." Mogami's voice was soft in Ritsu's hardening ears. "But your brother has made you weak with his worldview. You've become naïve."

The next thing Ritsu saw as his eyes turned into stone was Mogami's ghastly face as he whispered, "Let me help you."

And then, nothing.


DING-DONG DING-DONG

He was in the gym. What was he doing in here? Gym was at the end of the day. He didn't even have his PE clothes on.

Kageyama Ritsu. The burden of an older brother held you back before. A pesky ceiling that you could never break through. In my world where you have no brother, even without psychic abilities, you'll flourish.

Ritsu rubbed his ears. He could've sworn that he heard a voice talking to him. Like a whisper in his mind.

A fly landed on his nose.

He tried to crush it but it flew out between his fingers.

Whatever.

He had to get to class before ruining his record.

He stepped out of the gym (he still couldn't figure out why he was in there in the first place), readjusted his armband, and walked to class as the first bell finished ringing. The bell for Salt High School was deep compared to the shrill ones of other schools. Apparently, the full, slow sound was supposed to be calming.

To him, it sounded like a funeral bell.


Author's random thoughts they had whilst writing the chapter (1k+ word edition!)

Is it weird that I view almost all of my readers as girls? Like, I'll read something from one of my repeat commenters and I'll be like "Oh, I wonder what she has to say." I consider like 90% of you to be girls. The other 10% I view as "they". Which I find funny, because a lot (well enough to notice) of you refer to me as "man" which is wrong in both gender and age.

Incoming rant.

Y'all (can you tell I'm from the States?), some people in this fandom are f*cked up. Like, my eyes got assaulted by Pinterest telling me that people saved pins from my fanart board into their own board and since Pinterest just HAS to show me a snippet of these rando's board every time, I saw Mob kissing Reigen. My fanart board is now secret-ed. I want to wipe my memory. Also, whenever I see that pedo ship, it's ALWAYS Mob forcing himself onto Reigen instead of the other way around. Like that'll make it better since Mob "wants it". You can tell that the people who ship it like the power imbalance of a teacher-student court case and an employee-boss HR nightmare. Fucking disgusting. And don't even get me started on that ship with Teruki and that blind guy where it's the reverse with the dude pushing himself onto Teru (which was on another rando's board that Pinterest just HAD to show me). People who take "enemies to lovers" that far literally make me want to vomit. They have no boundaries. Not to mention that Teru and that guy only met twice which were both fights with no—ugh—"chemistry". Not to mention HE'S A MINOR. JAPANESE AGE OF CONSENT ISN'T AN EXCUSE, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT'S ACTUALLY SET AT 18 NOT 13. JUST SAY YOUR A VICTIM (if under 18) OR A PEDO (if over 18, aka the people who usually draw the art) AND GET THERAPY!

Don't even get me started on the incest ship. Iykyk.

Whatever.

It is off my chest.

My eyes are scarred but my soul has been thoroughly scrubbed.

Thank you.

Rant over.

I watched the Demon Slayer movie a few weeks ago not knowing it was canon because I didn't finish the first season. I did not appreciate the tears.

Okay weird thoughts that have nothing to do with the chapter over.

*Recorders are wind instruments usually made of hard plastic. Ritsu helped Kamuro (student council president) frame Onigawara by shoving them in his (Onigawara's) desk and bag.

"Never again" I said about writing an 11k chapter while proceeding to write a 12k one a chapter later.

If this becomes a trend, I'm going to have to seriously look into getting a beta reader.

GUYS. GUYS. LOOK AT THIS ART ONE OF THE AO3 GUEST READERS MADE! THE CLOTHES. THE BLUSH. I FEEL LIKE CRYING, I LOVE IT SO MUCH T-T

Links to the art for ffnet readers to copy:

file/d/1ik-HkEdn1d-Aa59ORE1RhvTeqFr-ryf_/view?usp=drivesdk

file/d/1Z2Nj0aok1BBYpCwHmLS2vSvQGRNDMYzl/view?usp=drivesdk

(Google is being weird so I have to share with links that might only work for people with gmails smh. Wattpad is the only platform I vibe with when it comes to multi media because it accepts images—*cough* ffnet *cough*—and I don't have to code the image in myself—*cough* AO3 *cough*)

Y'all were making jokes in the comments about Teruki having a tougher/more hectic time than Ritsu, now look at y'all. How the tables turn.

I've been planning to have Teruki do something pretty stupid (he's desperate atm) for like 5+ chapters now but now that I'm actually nearing it all I can think of is: "Wait, that doesn't make sense on multiple fronts". So I'll have to rework it or completely scrap it, the latter of which being a bummer because I've planned a lot of things built off of this odd decision. Oh well, I'll figure something out (hopefully).

Y'all, I had NO intention of bringing Ritsu into Mogami's mental world. Legit, I was just gonna have Rit be like, "I need to go in there!" and then Dimple would go, "No. Shigeo would exorcise me if he knew I put you in danger like that. You focus on getting us out of here" and then everything would proceed from there. But you guys got so excited about Ritsu being involved with Mogami that I was like, "Well sh*t, I actually have to do something now. Let me traumatize him."

Ritsu switches up pronouns when talking about Asagiri because he's genuinely confused lol. Also, the way I describe Dimple moving Shigeo's limbs is goofy to me because I imagine him in his ghost form, flying around to Shigeo's arms and legs to move them for the awkward teen.

In the anime, Ritsu calls Shigeo 'Nii-san'. All the time. Every time. Without fail. Idk why but I'm not really a fan of the whole, "sibling calls their fellow sibling big/lil bro/sis instead of their actual name" and that extends to anime. I refuse to believe that real japanese siblings call their older siblings that way when they're talking directly to them. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me but I like compromising with "Shige-nii". Although I have no idea where I got this nickname from.

I was rewatching season one (mainly the episodes with Rit) and Ritsu is SUCH a dork! Like he's also a jerk, but do you guys remember the scene where he tries to bend the tap water? It's hard to believe that he is canonically one of the top students in the nation when he's freaking out over running water. Such a dork, poor kid. (The ep is the 6th one, right at the beginning)

I just realized that the fic is in season 2 of the anime now. Smh. The second ending is medieval fantasy themed so now I'm wondering what type of fairytale character Ritsu would je Would be partner up with Uraraka as a mage? Or would he stick with Tsu and her villager clothing, trying to blend into the masses? Considering his true sneaky nature in this fic, I think a thief might work as well. Or a warlock because of this description I found on Quora: "Warlock - Normally describes a bad guy. The word is derived from waerloga, meaning traitor or liar." Do you guys have any ideas?

I find it funny how Dimple can just decide whether or not he can go through walls or lean against them, but he can't stop the Kageyama bros from grabbing him and trying to beat him up without ESP powers.

I'm calling Shigeo's school Salt High and changing the middle school's name to Pepper Middle. Why, because I want to and have simple humor. Ignore the fact that I called the middle school "Salt Middle" or something like that in an earlier chapter, I've changed it.

Some clarification for Shigeo being in the fake Moga world: Since it's only been about 25 minutes since he's gone in, he's been there for 5 months. Since Reigen said something like "it hasn't even been thirty minutes" to a panicking Dimple in the anime, I'm rounding up to 30. At that time, Shigeo was 6 months in. 30 minutes ÷ 6 months = 5 min per month.

Yes, I plan to trap Ritsu in there for a month. Yes, I'm going to make it so it takes Dimple a whole freaking month to find Shigeo. I know, I'm cruel.

This chap took so long to get out. It's been almost 40 days. Which is a bummer because I actually want to be updating twice a month, not once a month. Writing this chap was such a pain tho smh. Oh, but here's a paragraph that I cut out of the final calling Bkg a chihuahua:

He had gone through a lot today—a giant race, defending a ten million headband he didn't even want, getting electrocuted, and fighting a feral chihuahua—so a poorly psychically reinforced door wasn't going to stop him.

Anyway, chapter recap (mostly for me because I started this in mid-May and finished in late-June):

-Strange purple girl tries to take a boy's body. Bowl Cut Boy™ ends up punching her and she passes out after a huge light show. Her skin is no longer purple.

-The boy jumps out of the stadium, taking the girl with him.

-Blond almost becomes the next Van Gogh after being rightfully attacked for his poor taste in fashion.

-The kid who shouted at the number two hero meets with Bowl Cut Boy™ and chokes him.

-Screaming boy opens up an unlocked door in his home world for a bunch of weak adults. Proceeds to lie to his brother's master.

-The tired boy (who is also the screaming boy) returns to the locker room and chokes himself.

-Blond boy with poor fashion sense ends up in a dogpile made up of 13 cats after an incredibly long hug, while his now janitor boss goes ballroom dancing.

-Tired boy stops strange girl (now with purple hair) from bullying his brother who apparently isn't his brother?

-Tired boy realizes that he's in over his head as his head turns into stone and cracks.

-Confused high schooler wonders how he ended up in his gym and for some reason the screen is narrower.

(Narrow screen is reference to how the anime looks while Mob is in the fake world)

What opportunities will Teruki's new job give him? Who in this world put sirens in his head? Will Mido, Ura, or Iida wonder what's taking Ritsu so long? Or will it be someone else who notices? Will Ritsu make it through Mogami's mind games with his sanity still intact? Will I make it through editing with my sanity still intact? (Just finished editing but I feel like I should read over it again. I'm not going to, but still)

Favorite, follow, and review to receive a copy of Now That's What I Call Trauma! 16