Chapter 3: To Form New Bonds

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"HUH?!"

This wasn't happening. There's no way this was real. He was hallucinating, he was in a simulation, there was no way this was —

"Oh. S-Shit," the man — the imposter — rasped.

Real.

Izuku's mind went blank. What the…

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ALL-MIGHT?!"

He pulled out a nerve-knife from his belt and went berserk, slashing at the imposter like crazy. The man screamed and desperately dodged, jumping over Recovery Girl's desk and cowering behind it.

"Hey, kid, wait!"

"NO!" Izuku said, jumping on the desk and kicking everything at the sunken man. "What did you do? Did you kidnap him? Teleport him away? Steal his clothes so you can take his place? I won't let you get away with this, villain!"

He fired his nerve-gun and just barely missed as the man ducked behind the chair. "Shit, kid, I swear, I didn't attack All-Might!"

"Oh yeah? Then what just happened back there? A magic trick? Teleportation quirk?"

"Would you listen to me?!" The man popped up, and Izuku didn't hesitate to fire the tranquilizer, only for it to embed itself in the book the imposter was using a shield. "I didn't attack All-Might! I am All-Might."

The room went completely still. Izuku lowered his gun. "Oh. That makes more sense, I guess…"

The man sighed in relief. "Yeah, so can you put down the weapons—"

"WAIT, NO IT DOESN'T!"

-.-.-.-

"So what you're saying is...is that you were injured in a fight...and now you can only use your powers for short increments of time?"

"Yup."

"Was...Was it against Korosensei?"

"The Tentacle?" the man — Toshinori Yagi clarified. They were sitting across from each other now, Izuku still anxiously fingering his gun. "Nah, this was way before him. I wouldn't call my interactions with the Tentacle fights as much as they were glorified salon visits."

Izuku snorted, nostalgically think back on Korosensei's obsession with grooming. He wondered if he ever did end up dropping that shampoo line.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" At the weird look, Izuku clarified. "I mean, you can hardly use your quirk anymore. How are you going to be the Symbol of Peace if this just keeps getting worse…?"

Toshinori sighed, smirking. "That is the question, huh." He paused. "Look, kid. There's something that's been bugging me about you, so how about a trade? I'll tell you my big secret — besides the fact that I normally look like this, of course — if you tell me yours."

Izuku could feel his palms sweating, but the curiosity was just too great. What could be an even bigger secret than this? "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Your quirk. What Bakugou was saying back there about you being quirkless until you met the Tentacle...is it true? Did your quirk really come from him?"

The green-haired boy blinked, genuinely surprised. After the Aizawa incident, he assumed everyone on staff knew about his quirk, but apparently that wasn't the case. He ground his teeth, contemplating lying — it was a state-protected secret, after all — before deciding against it. It wasn't right to lie to Toshinori if the man was going to be truthful with him.

"It did," he admitted, and Toshinori tensed. "Obviously I'm not as fast or powerful as him. But, um. On the night he died — the night I got this scar — Korosensei gave me a percentage of his speed. He always believed I could be a hero, even when I was quirkless, but he knew the world wouldn't think the same. So he gave me this, saying it was always his most heroic quirk."

Toshinori hummed. "Of every villain I've fought, the one I never understood was that man. I never got his motives, even less so seeing what he did for you and your classmates. Though I guess I'll never understand, huh?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "He's still a mystery to us too."

There was a long pause. "Well, I guess it's my turn." Toshinori sighed. "You know, given how you said your quirk was passed on to you, what I'm about to say is going to sound awfully funny. You see, my quirk isn't like other quirks. It's not even mine — it was given to me too."

Izuku blinked as the man continued. "It's called One for All. It's an accumulation of strength and power passed down from user to user. You asked what I'm going to do about my power weakening? Well, that's why I'm here at U.A. in the first place. I need to find a successor."

"S-Successor?"

"Yes, someone worthy of this power. Someone who embodies the heart of a true hero."

Izuku jolted. "I-I can help you!" Toshinori look stunned, and Izuku clarified, "Even when I was quirkless, I loved analyzing other people's quirks. I have all these journals with analysis — oh, I think I have one in my belt!"

He pulled out a rolled notebook and passed it to the silent Toshinori. "It's just simple analysis, nothing special, but it was always a huge help in E-class when we were plotting assassina- I mean, plotting missions."

Toshinori blinked, awkwardly flipping through the journal. "I see. A bit of a quirk fanboy, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm really good at deciphering people's strengths and weaknesses too..." Izuku scratched the back of his head, inwardly screaming at himself. This man is All-Might! Why am I acting so lame around All-Might?! Oh, I'm so embarrassed.

"Is...Is this everything you had on the Tentacle?"

The green-haired boy jolted. He didn't even realize what journal he had handed All-Might. "Oh, yeah, and all of my old classmates too."

Toshinori hummed, going from page to page. "Not exactly the quirks you'd expect from the most feared teenagers on the planet."

"No, not really," laughed Izuku. "It's funny. Most of us were placed in E-class because we were told our quirks didn't measure up; that we weren't strong enough. It makes me wonder if the world knew how Takebayashi's quirk let him pull statistic calculations from his belly button, would they really be so scared?"

Toshinori snorted. "Probably not…" He closed the journal and handed it back. "There's some good stuff in there. I can't believe I'm saying this, but...do you really think you can help?"

Izuku nodded frantically. "Yes, of course! And I promise I won't tell a soul about any of this! You can trust me, I'm an assassin, after all. Secrets are my specialty!"

It was supposed to be reassuring, but it only seemed to make Toshinori more anxious. "Right…"

Suddenly, the door swung open, and Recovery Girl walked in. "Hmm? Toshinori, what are you doing in that form in front of a student? And why is my desk trashed?" Her beady eyes landed on Izuku. "And what happened to his chest?!"

-.-.-.-

"Welcome back to the Tokyo View. Tonight we are joined by two very special guests, here to discuss the topic that's been on the entire worlds' minds: END. With us we have Agent President and Agent Myth, representing their team and here to share their side. Agents, tell me, what has it been like going from being school children to being government agents?"

Isogai smiled. "Well, in all fairness, we are still school children, just with...interesting part-time jobs."

The news anchor laughed humorlessly. "Yes, of course. What I mean to say is, is it hard taking part in missions most professionals aren't prepared to do?"

"Of course it is," Kataoka answered. "While END is well-trained, high profile missions are difficult for any team, no matter how elite. It's why we keep on training to get better so we know we're ready for any threat."

"You say threat, but many people are saying that your team is actually the threat here. What's your response?"

"As we've said multiple times before, END is not here to hurt anyone," Isogai answered, remaining professional despite the jab. "We have the training, yes, but that does not mean we're dangerous. We're here to do good. I know it's easy to forget ma'am, but we are indeed children. We're not villains — we're first years in high school who just so happened to save the world."

-.-.-.-

During lunch, after their short spar, Shinsou was busy tapping away on his phone ("I'm texting Nagisa. He's...helping me with something. I'll tell you later if it doesn't blow up in my face.") and Izuku decided, given he'd already completed his homework, to pull out a particularly gigantic book from his backpack.

"Is that Korosensei's yearbook?" Shinsou asked, glancing up from his phone. "You're carrying around a 4000 paged book in your backpack?"

"It's a good workout?" Izuku justified, and the brainwasher just stared. "I haven't gotten a chance to finish it yet. It's just so big and thorough, I'm barely halfway through."

"Don't you literally have super speed?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to risk throwing up blood all over it!"

The brainwasher snorted but put down his phone, sliding so they were side by side. Izuku tilted the book so they could both have a good view. "What section are you on?"

"Student events. Just got through the manga-style chapters. They were funny, but they took a long time to read…"

Shinsou snorted. "No joke. I stayed up all night after he died to finish it, and I thought my brain was going to fall out of my head. Though I did enjoy the spread dedicated to every time you manifested your notebook out of thin air."

"S-Shut up, Hitoshi…"

-.-.-.-

Izuku was being serious when he said he wanted to finish Korosensei's yearbook. He felt bad taking so long, but he wanted to savor every page, not just glance at it. So when they were given free time in between English and math, he figured it wasn't very harmful to bring it out and read it. Iida was reading during the break too, and everyone else was minding their own business, steering very clear of him. After the little...episode with Bakugou and him, it kind of felt like he was back to square one with 1-A.

He finished looking at the spread dedicated to Kurahashi and her love for stag beetles when he noticed the lighting change. He moved to quickly hide the book, but it was too late.

"Whoa, is that the Tentacle?" Kirishima whispered, and Izuku tried to relax. It was just Kirishima, Kirishima was nice, and no one else seemed to notice. Nonetheless, he awkwardly hunched over the book to cover the other boy's view.

"Uh, yeah, it's the yearbook Korosensei made for all of us…"

Kirishima blinked and pulled his desk over so they were touching. "That's so cool. Can I see?" At his hesitance, the red-haired boy explained, "I'm curious to see what he was actually like. After meeting you and realizing how manly you are, it's obvious everything the news is saying is fake. Sorry if it feels like I'm intruding and all..."

Slowly, Izuku uncovered the page so Kirishima could see. "It's alright. It's just a little embarrassing, he made it really big." Kirishima laughed, looking widely at the massive book. "No kidding, that's bigger than encyclopedias! I guess you guys had a lot of memories to fit in, huh?"

"Yeah…" Izuku said, smiling sadly.

They sat surprisingly quiet, given Kirishima's boisterous personality. The red-haired boy only piped up to ask who people were or for the context of certain photos. He paused on a picture of Shinsou using his capture rings to save a cat from a tree.

"Hey, that guy goes to U.A. too, right? Is he in 1-B?"

Izuku awkwardly shook his head. "N-No. Because of, uh, how controversial END is, they only let one of us join the hero course, and I scored one question higher…"

"Seriously? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You can tell how cool he is just from this picture; kinda reminds me of Aizawa-sensei, to be honest."

The green-haired boy snorted. "You have no idea…"

They went through a few more pages before Kirishima paused him again. This time it was a spread of Korosensei's personal tutoring sessions. There was a picture of Kurahashi smiling over algebra while holding up a knife as Korosensei patiently explained each problem. There was also a picture of Korosensei using his doubles to teach every student at once in preparation for exams.

"Wow. He really was just a teacher for you guys," Kirishima noted. "With everything they played it up to be, I figured every day you went to school just to attack the man. Though I guess that doesn't make sense, given how smart you are. Was he a good teacher?"

"The best," Izuku grinned. "He made sure he memorized every teaching material there was so he could always answer our questions. And even outside the classroom, he always knew exactly what to say. It bothers me to hear everyone referring to him as the Tentacle or a villain because that's not what he was. It's not what he wanted to be. He just wanted to be a teacher."

Kirishima paused. "Then why did you…"

He trailed off, but it was obvious what he was going to ask. Why did you kill him?

Izuku sighed. "It was never our choice."

Nothing ever was.

-.-.-.-

"Hey, that guy looks like Todoroki!"

It was a picture from their trip to Musutafu when Korosensei's shampoo accidentally washed out Karma's hair dye, revealing his white tips. Izuku sweatdropped and turned the page, eyeing the red-and-white haired boy in front of him. It was obvious Todoroki was trying to subtly turn around and see what they were looking at.

"Yeah, so weird, that was just a prank though, oh, look at Korosensei disguising himself as All-Might, haha…"

-.-.-.-

Izuku, taking his newfound responsibility for Toshinori very seriously, got right to work with creating a list of candidates for the One for All quirk. Considering he only knew Shinsou and 1-A right now, the list was short, but it was a start. He was working on it one day at the END headquarters, and his brainwashing best friend noticed, glancing over with sharp eyes. "What's that?"

Izuku tried to keep his face passive. "Um, it's a new quirk journal, this time for the people I meet at U.A." He slid the book over so Shinsou could get a better look.

"Yaoyorozu Momo?" he said, reading the top of the page. "I know her. We met at the entrance exam."

"R-Really? That's cool. She's, um, cool. She's crazy smart — the only one who can match me in class — and her quirk lets her create any non-living material from her skin if she knows how that something is made. And, given she's crazy smart, she usually does."

Shinsou nodded, skimming through the pages. "Hmm, interesting…"

He seemed oddly interested in the quirk journal, Izuku noted. But why…?

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Are you memorizing everyone's quirk?!"

He made a swipe for his journal, but Shinsou, with his superior height, easily held it out of reach. "Well, duh. These are my opponents for the Sports Festival, which means I need to beat them. Don't you want to help me beat them?"

"Well, yeah, but that's cheating—"

"I'd hardly call this cheating," Karma said, swooping in and snatching the journal for himself. "Kouda Kouji. Quirk: Anivoice. The ability to command any creature in the animal kingdom. Hey, he's like Kurahashi and Shinsou's love child, except he's weird looking like Terasaka."

"OH SHUT UP, DEVIL BOY!"

"Ooh, I wanna see," Nakamura took the journal next. "So tell us, Midoriya. Any hotties in your class we need to keep an eye out for? Hero work always attracts the good looking ones. Don't you agree, Agent Honeypot?"

Yada nodded exuberantly, and Midoriya sweatdropped. "I'm not going to help you hook up with my classmates, give it back—"

Just when he thought he had a hold of it, Hazama, hidden in everyone's shadows, snatched it away. "Hmm, seems kind of lame to me. How does a girl with invisibility get in? If that's the case, I could be in a hero course."

The whole class stared at the gothic girl blankly. "No, you could not."

Isogai, forever Prince Charming, finally stepped in and gave Izuku his journal back. "Alright, that's enough teasing for today."

Izuku hugged the journal to his chest protectively, eyeing his classmates, daring them to try and take it again. His eyes landed on Itona and that's when he remembered, going for his bag. "Hey, Itona, wait up." He pulled out his damaged hero costume. "Combat training got a little too intense. I'm really sorry for damaging your suit, it was so amazing and was practically the only reason I won the mission."

"It's fine. It's expected you'd take on some damage," Itona said briskly, inspecting the fabric. "These look like burn marks. Fire quirk?"

Izuku nodded. "Explosions." There was the sound of something dropping, and Izuku turned to find Shinsou burning holes in the back of his head. The green-haired boy squeaked. He may of 'accidentally' forget to mention that he kind of fought his childhood best friend who kind of has it out for him.

"I'll have to work with Karma on making the fabric more temperature resistant…" Itona pondered. "I should have it completely mended soon, and I'll take the time to add the new upgrades. We're lucky the government doesn't even blink when I put in request forms for different materials. Makes working on projects really easy."

"Y-Yup…"

The white-haired boy walked off, and Izuku tried to escape at Mach-2, only to run straight into Shinsou's chest.

"Yeah, no. You're only a tenth of Korosensei's speed, you're not getting away that easily," the brainwasher said, gripping his shoulders and looking down threateningly. "Now what's this I hear about fighting a guy with an explosion quirk?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Midoriya Izuku April 19, 20XX, 11:58 PM

to Toshinori Yagi

Hi All-Might, sir!

So I've been taking a lot of notes on my classmates and everything I could learn about students in other classes. Hopefully they're thorough enough, I didn't want to look over anything given how serious it is that we get this right as well as find a successor quickly. I think there are a few good options in there.

I'll be sure to send more as I make them. And I can be more thorough if you need!

Plus Ultra!

Midoriya Izuku

[attachment file]

Toshinori Yagi April 20, 20XX, 7:26 AM

to Midoriya Izuku

Kid. This is over 100 pages long.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After giving his best friend a firm lecture ("Are you trying to die — again?"), Hitoshi made his way over to Nagisa.

"Hey, so about what I've been messaging you about," he began.

"Oh yeah," the blue-haired boy said, and they walked through the base together to get some privacy. "Are you sure I'm the right person for the job? I-I mean—"

"I don't think there's anyone else who can do this," the brainwasher insisted. "I mean, for one, your quirk would make them more open to trusting us and is subtle enough that you won't get caught, and two, no one else in E-class was as changed by Korosensei as you were. If there's anyone who can relate to and inspire this depressing bunch, it's you. The fact that you're super short and non-threatening helps too."

"Hey!"

"Kidding. But really, just think of this as your first chance to experience life as a teacher like Korosensei. Given how you reached Sakura, it sounds like you're pretty good at it."

Nagisa blushed and looked away, but Hitoshi didn't back down. He meant every word; he believed in Nagisa, believed he could do what it took to reach 1-C. Hitoshi knew he couldn't do this alone, and while it would still take a miracle for this to work out, Nagisa was a key piece in this metaphorical game of chess.

"Thanks…" Nagisa mumbled. "So what's the plan again?"

-.-.-.-

It was all set up with a very enthusiastic Midnight, who was perhaps too eager to get her students involved in a secret fight club. She got Nagisa a guest pass for campus without blinking an eye. After calling role, Midnight told the class they had a guest speaker for homeroom. That's when Nagisa entered and Hitoshi walked up to the front. Simple.

The only problem was everyone's responses.

"Heh? Isn't he an END agent?"

"Midnight-sensei, why are you having the END agents talk to us?"

"What's going on?!"

"Enough!" Midnight shouted, and the class shrunk back, not used to this side of their teacher. "Alright, kiddos. Shinsou and his friend here are going to talk to you and you're going to listen! Sound good?"

No one said a word, and they took that as a good sign. He nodded at Nagisa, and slowly a gentle, calming feeling settled over the room.

"Um, hi," Hitoshi began awkwardly. "I know we haven't gotten a chance to really know each other over the past week, so I'll just introduce myself. I'm Shinsou Hitoshi. This is my friend, Nagisa, he's visiting from another school. And Midnight asked us to speak with you… I wanted to speak with you about…"

He struggled with the words for a second before accepting there was no eloquent way to say this. "I've heard you guys complaining and comparing yourselves to the hero course, and I want to show you why that's a complete and utter waste of your time."

The class blanched.

Great. That probably wasn't the best thing to say. Thankfully, he had Nagisa.

"What Shinsou is trying to say," Nagisa began. "Is that seeing yourself as weak isn't any help to anyone, and we know that better than anyone else. I doubt you heard this over the media screaming, but before we were END, the government force, we were 3-E, the Kunugigaoka end class. We were the failures, the weak ones cast away and spit on for bothering to dream. And from what Shinsou's told me, the way you guys are acting isn't much different than how we used to. Before Korosensei, we genuinely had no confidence in ourselves. My quirk was misdiagnosed because I was so self-deprecating," Nagisa laughed awkwardly, and it seemed to draw a few smiles out from the class. "We weren't amazing by any means, but with some top-notch training and a much-needed boost of confidence, we became who we are today."

Hitoshi nodded. Korosensei, bless Nagisa. This was exactly why he needed to bring the blue-haired boy along. He turned to the class and tried to mimic Nagisa's approach. "Before E-class, everyone told me I would never become anything but a villain simply because of my quirk and not who I was. They feared me for my power, and it made me start to hate it. But E-class helped me believe in my power again and believe it could be used for good. I always wanted to be a hero, but Korosensei and E-class made it possible."

"W-Why are you tuh-telling us this?" the green-dyed hair guy — Sakurai or something — asked.

"Because we want to help you realize that you're not confined to just being 1-C," Nagisa answered. "You can become strong too, even break the General Education records in the Sports Festival. All it takes is some training and dedication, and Shinsou is willing to help you with that. And so am I."

"But how?" the pink-eyeball girl, Michimiya, squeaked. "Our quirks can't hold a finger to the hero course kids. We don't stand a chance."

Hitoshi smiled. "The best teacher I ever had once said that 'Your quirk doesn't define who you are. It's what you do with it that does.'" He paused, letting that sink in. "I know that you can become strong. I'm not trying to indoctrinate you into becoming the next END — please, I wouldn't wish that on anyone — but I want to help you because I know what it feels like to be in your shoes. I know how it sucks to think you'll never be good enough, never be strong enough. And I know how to overcome it."

The class anxiously glanced around, but at least they were looking at him. Progress. "Look, you guys said the most General Education has ever sent to round two of the Sports Festival is three. I know we can change that if we do this. And before you start wondering what's in this for me, it really is nothing. If anything, this could hurt me. The only reason I'm not in the hero course already is because the school doesn't trust END, and I have a deal that if I do well in the Sports Festival, I can move up. Focusing on helping you guys could ruin any chance I have of making it past the first round myself, but it's what I'm willing to sacrifice. I'd rather help others than serve myself so selfishly."

The class was speechless, and Nagisa placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Midnight stood back up. "I agree with Shinsou here. I believe you can be great, even if you don't see it in yourselves. We've agreed to give you until the end of the week to decide whether if we, as a class, wish to accept Shinsou's help. We'll take a vote on Friday when we vote for class representatives."

The class was dismissed, but Hitoshi stayed up there with Nagisa. The blue-haired boy squeezed his arm reassuringly. "I think they really heard you, Shinsou. I could see their emotional levels, and they were all really receptive. It's just a lot to take in, but I'm sure they'll come around."

Hitoshi prayed he was right.

-.-.-.-

Friday came with little sign of 1-C's receptiveness changing. While they would look at him when they gossiped about him now, no one would outright talk to him still. They at least seemed to be thoroughly debating the offer, which was...something? In all honesty, he really didn't know what they thought of his plan or even him until he and Midoriya were walking to school that morning and found a media storm outside the U.A. gates. Instinctively, they froze and hid from view, but were just close enough to hear the shouting.

"What has it been like going to school with END agents? Have you felt threatened in any way?"

Oh, great. Hitoshi rolled his eyes, bracing for a response.

"I mean, I don't know about the one in the hero course, but the one in my class has never threatened us. He seems okay, actually."

The brainwasher blinked. That...actually wasn't that bad. He peered around and tried to see who was speaking, and was surprised to find the leaf guy (Yamaguchi?) speaking.

"Hey, are you in the hero course? How do you feel about having a trained assassin as a classmate?"

A guy with square glasses stepped up. "Our classmate is a hardworking and impressive individual with skills many of us could learn from and power I admire greatly. While having him in our presence is intimidating, it is no more intimidating than being among powerful Pro-Heroes such as All-Might. He is an honorable asset to our learning environment…"

The boy droned on, and Hitoshi blinked. "Well he's...enthusiastic. Are you guys friends? He seems to admire you at least."

Midoriya laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. Iida also has a speed quirk, and he tends to treat me more like a revered idol than a classmate, but it's better than being feared, I guess."

"I guess," Hitoshi shrugged before pulling a hat out of his bag and putting it on. "Grab your cap. It's time to sneak our way into school."

Midoriya scrambled to do the same, tucking his green hair in the dark cap. "You know, I could run us past them so fast they wouldn't even see us…"

"Yeah, and get blood all over your uniform again. Not happening. Besides, these idiots are so obsessed with harassing our classmates, I doubt they'll notice us."

They did eventually get noticed. They were all the way to the gate before a sharp-eyed cameraman shouted, "HEY, IT'S THE END AGENTS!" and then all hell broke loose. The media blob stormed forward, wanting to get the exclusive on them.

Hitoshi, feeling a little extra cheeky, just took one step back and stood there waiting for the reporters to charge. He got a nice look at their crazed faces, letting them think they might get an interview with the elusive assassins, and then WHAM! The U.A. security gate slammed upward right in the lead reporter's face.

He shot a grin back at his disturbed looking best friend. "Ah, I love these gates."

-.-.-.-

"I hate these gates. Why couldn't they just do their job?"

He had just met up with Midoriya for lunch and they were about to head up the stairs to the roof when the school alarms when off, announcing a security breach. The entire cafeteria erupted into chaos, and the two plastered themselves to the wall to avoid being swept away. Hitoshi used his height advantage to peer over the crowd and saw the mass of reporters trying to break through the door and being held off by Pro-Heroes. "Are you kidding me? This kind of reaction for—"

"IT'S AN ASSASSIN!"

The duo flinched instinctively, yet no one was looking at them. No one was paying them any attention, so why…?

"Hitoshi, look!" Midoriya cried, pointing to where a wide berth in the crowd had formed, everyone suddenly backing away from the exit. Craning his neck, Hitoshi just barely caught a glimpse of the crumpled form on the ground, her arm painful snapped in half, and the three other broken forms next to her. Standing above them was a dangerous-looking man with blond hair and large hands.

"Grip?!" Hitoshi hissed, recalling the last time he met this man on the island. Wasn't he in jail? "Well, that explains how the media got passed the gate; Grip probably ripped it apart. But why aren't any heroes coming to stop him?!"

"Ritsu, do you know what's going on?" Midoriya said into their Ritsu-watch. "Grip is an assassin for hire. Why is he attacking U.A.?"

The AI girl popped up, looking nervous. "I can't find any requests for an assassin to target any U.A. student or teacher, so I'm not sure. I'm trying to get in contact with a U.A. administrator, but no one is responding."

Hitoshi cursed. "Grip let the media in so they would distract the Pros." He watched Grip crack the arm of another student, and the circle just kept getting wider as everyone packed in. "Really? Not even the third-year hero students are doing anything. Are they really that scared of an assassin?"

"Recent polls show that since the formation of END, public opinion has swayed so that most believe assassins are the more terrifying and deadly foe," Ritsu answered. The brainwasher snorted.

"Well, they're not wrong, but this is Grip for crying out loud. Karma took him out with wasabi."

"Hitoshi," Midoriya interrupted, staring at the scene with a panicked expression. "No one else is stepping up, and the Pros aren't here. We have to do something."

"You are green-lighted," Ritsu offered needlessly, as if it weren't already obvious.

"Right. I mean, we could sneak out and alert the teachers, but where's the fun in that?" Hitoshi muttered, sighing. Inwardly, he realized that maybe this was a good thing. If they saved the day, it would make people fear them less. "Fine. I left all my gear at the END base. You got anything?"

"Um. No? It's all with my hero costume, which is being mended by Itona."

"Great. Just great." Hitoshi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, we need to distract him, but we still need quirk handcuffs. I can't believe I'm asking you this, but do you think you can make it to the base and back without, like, dying?"

Midoriya pursed his lips, determined. "I'll have to try. You think you can hold him off without getting snapped into pieces?"

The brainwasher laughed. "Give me a challenge, Jolly Green. Now get out of here!"

-.-.-.-

With his friend zipping off at Mach-2, Hitoshi leisurely slunk his way through the tight-fit crowd. When he reached the front, he frowned at the sight of five downed and injured U.A. students, and a small, teary-eyed boy in his hold, probably about to have his arm snapped in two. Grip was laughing mockingly.

"I figured this would be more entertaining," the assassin sighed, sounding bored. "When my employer told me to wreak havoc, I at least thought it'd be more fun than this. Aren't you supposed to be heroes?"

So he was paid...but by who? Who would pay an assassin to show up to a school just to stir chaos?

Hitoshi turned to the side and noticed a kid from his class, Sakurai, standing there protectively holding out his lunch tray like some kind of peace offering. He leaned in and whispered, "Is no one stepping up to stop him?"

The green-haired boy jolted and stared at him with wide eyes. "Yuh-Yeah, but ev-everyone who did is now l-lying on the fl-floor. This guy is c-c-crazy!"

The brainwasher snorted. "That's one way of putting it." He eyed Sakurai's lunch tray. "Hey, think I can borrow that? You probably won't be getting it back, but the school board took away all of my toys, so…"

"Are you crazy?!" piped up Shimizu, a normally leveled-headed girl from 1-C that sat next to Hitoshi. "You can't possibly plan on fighting that monster! You see that boy right there? That's one of the Big-Three third-year hero students, and he snapped his legs in seconds!"

Sakurai nodded. "Y-Yeah, he's too s-s-s-strong."

"Yeah, well, that kid needs help. And until the Pros realize what's going on, someone needs to step up, and it seems like I'm the best one for the job," he said, snatching away the lunch tray. "Besides, remember what I've been telling you? He may be strong, but I'm stronger."

Leaving his classmates stunned speechless, the brainwasher silently approached the Pro-Assassin from behind.

"You thought you could stop me?" Grip taunted the boy in his hold. "I can break you in two with my pinky—"

"Well, that doesn't sound very pleasant."

"Hmm?"

Before the Pro-Assassin could fully turn around, Hitoshi slapped him with the lunch tray. Grip went down hard, releasing the student, who Hitoshi quickly grabbed and pushed into the gaping crowd. He ignored the booming chatter as he loomed over the assassin.

"Hey, Grip, my favorite child-harming buddy. Still up to your old tricks, huh? Taking on jobs from random dudes who tell you to beat up kids. Your mother must be so proud."

Grip spit at his feet. "I know you. You're one of those E-class brats from the island."

"Yup. I'm good friends with the guy who took you down with wasabi, actually," Hitoshi mocked, and the Pro-Assassin hilariously flinched. "You know, I could brainwash you into submission, but I've been trying to make a point about strength outside your quirk lately; don't want to be a hypocrite or anything." He shrugged arrogantly. "Oh, and a little birdy told me that the public thinks assassins are scarier than villains because of END, which is altogether hilarious. Though, I bet it makes your job pretty nice, huh? Break a few unsuspecting kids' bones and the strong ones will think they don't stand a chance against you."

"I will not lie, it has given me many perks," Grip said, standing back up. "And it's nothing personal, but I'm sure breaking the neck of an END agent will make my job even easier."

Hitoshi picked up a pair of metal chopsticks off the floor. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Grip lunged for his throat and Hitoshi ducked and spun out of the way, slamming the chopstick against the assassin's thigh. It wasn't sharp enough to penetrate the skin, but Grip grunted, nonetheless.

"You will pay for that!" Grip spat, and Hitoshi punched his jaw.

"Yeah, no."

Hitoshi was trained to be an antagonizing fighter so he could get a response from and brainwash his opponents. But even if he wasn't planning on brainwashing Grip, doesn't mean he couldn't have a lot of fun with him. He slammed the other chopstick into Grip's side and it bent in half on impact. Flipping out of reach, Hitoshi watched the assassin bellow in pain, but in all honesty, he didn't seem that fazed by the injury.

"You will have to do better than that," Grip spat. "My quirk makes me as tough as my hands. Little sticks won't stop me; they are an insulting sting."

"Sorry, they don't let me bring my big guns because 'this is a school for heroes so there's no need for END assistance' or something, so I'm kinda having to improvise." He twirled his remaining chopstick. "Say, are your eyes as tough as your hands too?"

Grip tensed and Hitoshi went for the jab, only to get blocked. Grip grabbed the other end of the chopstick right before it hit his eye, crushing the metal to dust with his quirk.

"Oh shit," Hitoshi hissed, barely flipping away before his hand was next. He tossed his destroyed chopstick to the ground. "Hand-to-hand then, huh?"

Grip cackled. "You will not last very long that way."

He had a point, but Hitoshi was out of options. He resorted to striking fast and retreating out of range, which kept him safe from Grip's quirk, but it was extremely exhausting. He had no idea how far out Midoriya was, or if he even made it without suffocating on blood, but he knew he couldn't keep this up forever. He had to think up a new plan soon. Unfortunately, Grip got fed up with the tactic first. After taking a kick to the stomach for the third time with no retaliation, the Pro-Assassin resorted to lashing out at the crowd and grabbing the nearest student. Hitoshi cursed when he realized it was Michimiya, the pink-eyeball girl from his class.

"Think about your next move very carefully, or else her spine will break away from her neck," Grip threatened, and Michimiya screeched. Hitoshi looked around helplessly, praying someone else would interfere, but no one moved an inch. They probably figured they'd end up like Michimiya if they tried.

Grip was right. He did have to think very carefully about his next move. He couldn't make it seem like he was attacking, or else Grip would get threatened and snap Michimiya's neck. Running away was absolutely not an option, nor was surrendering. But maybe…

"Let her go," he tried, praying the assassin would respond. The man clearly saw right through him and stubbornly tightened his lips. Hitoshi cursed, trying to think of a Plan B. Flashes to their earlier conversation came to mind and he smirked. "Look, I'm on comm with END right now, and my buddy Karma isn't too happy with you. He's personally coming to take you down with something that will cause a lot more pain than hot sauce."

The assassin flinched. Success. "He will not get here in time."

"Who says he isn't already here?" Hitoshi fibbed, and the look of horror on Grip's face made it obvious he bought it. He brought out his phone. "Look, I'll show you on our security cams. He's right…"

Without warning, he snapped a picture with the flash on, temporarily blinding the assassin. Hitoshi dove in, kicked Grip in the chest, and safely pulled Michimiya away. They went tumbling into the crowd.

"Sorry, sorry," Hitoshi hissed, unwrapping himself around Michimiya. He stumbled up, ready to go after Grip again, but paused when he saw who he fell on top of. "Hey, Yaomomo! You can create things, right?"

"Wha—"

Hitoshi took control. "Make me a steel bow staff."

The girl sparkled as the weapon materialized out of the exposed skin on her wrist. Hitoshi blinked in shock (because that was awesome) and snatched up the bow staff, releasing the girl from his brainwashing. "Thanks."

He charged back through the crowd just in time to stop Grip from attacking another student. He smacked the guy to the floor, twirling his staff expertly. "Alright, Grip. It's time for me to beat the shit out of you."

He brutally smacked Grip in the face, sending him flying, but the assassin just got right back up. It seemed his quirk really did make him more durable. How frustrating.

Hitoshi used the bow staff to vault over Grip and kick him in the back and followed it up with another hit with the pole. Grip growled and lashed out, but Hitoshi easily jumped out of the way, the bow staff letting him attack with excellent reach. He went for another smack to the face but this time Grip was ready; he grabbed bow staff by the middle and squeezed, snapping it in half with his bare hands.

"Your weapons are nothing compared to the strength of my hands. I will break everything you use—"

Hitoshi, now brandishing two mini bow staffs, viciously clapped them on either side of Grip's head. The assassin crumbled like a rock.

The brainwasher spun the duel weapons effortlessly. "Dumbass."

He watched, bemused, as Grip tried to stumble to his feet, his hands flailing out uselessly. "I-I will not b-be knocked down—"

And then finally (about damn time), a blur came rushing in, grabbing Grip by the arms, flipping him through the air, and throwing him to the floor fully bound in quirk-canceling handcuffs. The move was finished off with a tranquilizer to the neck. Midoriya Izuku appeared next to the brainwasher, panting and puking blood.

Hitoshi braced his knees, catching his breath. "Oh, thank goodness." He passed Midoriya a tissue.

"T-Thanks—"

"Took you long enough, Jolly Green," Hitoshi said, wiping his brow. "Do you know how annoying this guy is? He just won't stay down!"

Midoriya sputtered incredulously. "Well, I tried to get here as quick as I could, but I can't fly, you know. Do you know how hard it is to avoid people and buildings and traffic at Mach-2?"

"No, I wouldn't know because I was stuck here doing the hard work."

"Hard work?! I just ran to Tokyo and back!"

"Yeah, and I just defended the school from a whackjob assassin. Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Midoriya leaned down and threw the unconscious assassin over his shoulder. "Since you decided to insult my work ethic, I'm taking your hard work and claiming it as my own so I get the arrest point and you don't."

"What? You can't do that. Ritsu, tell him he can't do that."

"I'm impartial to the END scoring system."

"Huh?"

The shrubbery smirked. "Have fun in intensive training without me!"

And then he was gone with a blur, leaving the brainwasher alone in a stunned-silent cafeteria crowd with no arrest points. Hitoshi had to bend down to pick his jaw up off the floor.

"Unbelievable."

-.-.-.-

Eventually, the heroes did show up and were quite horrified to learn what happened to their students in the ten minutes they were preoccupied with the media storm. The five injured students were carried off to Recovery Girl's office as the rest of the school was herded back to their respective homerooms. Hitoshi, thinking this might be his chance to escape, tried to slink off, only to be stopped by a distinctive dark-clad form.

"E-Eraserhead?!" the brainwasher squeaked, staring at his idol in awe and horror. While he knew this man was Midoriya's homeroom teacher, the last time Hitoshi saw him was during the mountain raid when he...attacked the Pro…

"Kids are saying you took the assassin down," the hero stated, his eyes intimidating despite their tired appearance . Is that how he looked normally?

"Well, Midoriya helped too. I just kept Grip preoccupied so he wouldn't hurt anyone…"

"So I heard. Apparently, you fought him even though you aren't permitted weapons on campus. It was unbelievably reckless of you." Hitoshi winced. Okay, getting lectured by your idol hurts a lot more than normal. "But nonetheless, you covered our blindspots and did our job for us. Again."

Hitoshi jolted, and Eraserhead almost looked amused. "I'm not thanking you by any means. You could've gotten yourself or someone else killed. The correct course of action would have been alerting a teacher. If you were my student, I'd definitely punish you. But even if it was stupid, you used your wits and kept everyone safe, and that's something."

"Um, thanks…" he gulped, unsure how to respond. Was saying thanks the wrong thing? "If you don't mind me asking, why are you telling me this?"

Eraserhead rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you this so you know why the school board won't be hearing of your involvement with this event. It was our oversight that let this happen, so Nemuri and I have this covered."

Hitoshi blinked, not having a single clue who 'Nemuri' was. "Oh. Thank you, Eraserhead…"

The Pro-Hero smirked, and it was terrifying. "Don't do any more stupid things, kid. You'll just get yourself killed, and that'd be a damn shame."

And then Eraserhead was gone, and Hitoshi's pretty sure he had a heart attack in the middle of the cafeteria.

-.-.-.-

He got an even bigger shock when he finally returned to his homeroom only to be greeted by all of his classmates rising out of their chairs and bowing to greet him. He jolted back, going into a defensive position, and wondered what kind of voodoo-magic alternate universe he stepped into.

"Shinsou," Midnight said, looking all-too proud. "I believe your classmates have something they'd like to tell you!"

She directed the attention back to the masses, where Shimizu stepped up with a determined look.

"We've reached a decision on your proposal," she said, and Hitoshi concealed his growing panic. "The vote was unanimous. We want you to train us to become strong for the Sports Festival."

The brainwasher blinked. "Unanimous…?" Was he dreaming? He had to be dreaming. "What...What changed your minds?"

"We saw you take on that crazy strong assassin even when third-year hero students didn't dare try," Yamaguchi spoke up. "And you did all by skill, not using your quirk, just to show us it was possible."

"You saved my life," the ever-timid Michimiya spoke up, her pink-eyeballs downcast. "I thought I was going to die because I didn't have any way to defend myself. My quirk is easily beaten, but that doesn't mean I want to be."

"You're...You're sure about this, right? Absolutely positive? It's not just some heat-of-the-moment delirium?" he clarified because there was no way this was happening. This was literally too good to be true. Too good to be happening in his crap life.

"We're positive," Shimizu affirmed. "There's not much time until the Sports Festival, but we are all willing to work hard. We know we're not all going to get into the hero course, even if we do well, but that doesn't mean we won't prove ourselves. Like you said, we can break records this year, and the only way we're doing that is with your help."

"If your E-class can become END in a year, we can become strong enough in a month," the girl with a long neck, Amanai, added.

Hitoshi felt all too riled up on emotions. Like before, he looked at his new classmates and saw the faces of his old; he felt like he was back in the 3-E building, and they were uniting together to take down their teacher, or A-class, or whatever obstacle was thrown their way. He felt like he could turn around and find Korosensei smiling proudly down at them—

But then he was tackled in a boob-hug, and Midnight was screeching, "What youth you all have! It's so inspiring!" and he snapped back to the reality that no, he wasn't in E-class with his friends and Korosensei. He was in 1-C with Midnight.

Except now, it didn't hurt to accept that. Now, he almost felt excited to be here.

"We also duh-decided on the class r-r-representatives," Sakurai stuttered, and Hitoshi realized that he always did that, and it wasn't just because he was scared. "Sorry we didn't wuh-wait for y-you. We w-w-wanted to come to a de-decision and surprise y-you."

"It's alright. And thanks for loaning me the lunch tray earlier, it was a huge help," said the brainwasher, and Sakurai's smile lit up, reminding him of Midoriya. The green hair, even if Sakurai's was dyed, only intensified the comparison.

"A lot of them wanted to vote for you actually, but I wouldn't let them. We can't have our class representative leaving us partway through the year, yeah?" Midnight said, nudging him suggestively. "We landed on Shimizu and Oohira. Pretty good fit, don't you agree?"

Hitoshi eyed the two in question. Shimizu was wearing her ever-serious expression that mirrored Kataoka, and Oohira, a boy with dark skin and hair that changed color according to his mood (almost like Korosensei, he painfully notes) was smiling, his hair a happy yellow that was much too familiar.

"Depends. You think you're ready to lead the most badass General Education class U.A. will ever see?" Hitoshi smirked. The two students looked at each other and Oohira's hair turned navy, which Hitoshi assumed meant he was determined.

"We'll do our best," Oohira declared.

Midnight screeched about 'their youth' again while Kunimi, a boy with a long, crane-like beak, raised his hand. "I have a question though. Where are we going to train? We don't have access to all of the facilities the hero course students use…"

The class turned to him curiously, and the brainwasher smirked. "Leave that to me."

-.-.-.-

"Holy crap, Shinsou. Did you really buy an entire building?"

The following Monday after school, the entire class arranged to meet at the location Hitoshi sent them, which turned out to be an old warehouse. That Hitoshi now owned.

"Well, not technically," the brainwasher answered Yamaguchi, unlocking the door. "I mean, I totally could've given all the bounty money I still have left, but my...temporary guardian did it for me. He's big on real estate and has always been annoyed that I won't let him pay for my apartment, so…"

That was an understatement. Asano Gakuhou was positively insulted that Hitoshi wouldn't take any money (because he didn't need it!), so when Hitoshi called him over the weekend asking for tips on buying building space that would be good to renovate for a gym, the man took it upon himself to buy an entire warehouse and send Hitoshi the key with a wad of cash to buy equipment.

He got the door open and propped it so everyone could come inside. This was the first time he was checking the place out as well, and he looked around with wide eyes. It was a huge, completely open floor, the only other rooms being two bathrooms and an elevator door to the upstairs. He flicked on the nearby light switch experimentally and yup, looks like the electricity was up and running already. Pretty quick given the building was just purchased yesterday, but one should never put anything past Principal Asano.

"Wow," Sakurai breathed. "Th-This place is so b-b-big!"

"And gray," Michimiya noted, referring to the fact that it was all built of plain concrete. Hitoshi snorted.

Much of the class had taken off to explore the building, though there wasn't much to see. The only things on the open bottom floor beside the bathrooms were giant concrete pillars for the structure, and upstairs was just as bare. Nonetheless, everyone looked around as if they were in a massive museum.

"This is too much, Shinsou," insisted Shimizu. "I mean, I don't even know where to start with this place. It's so big and I'm no architect—"

"Don't worry. You just got to have a little vision."

The whole class spun around at the new voice, and Hitoshi smiled brightly when he saw who was standing at the entrance.

"Hey, you made it!" he greeted, and the trio consisting of Isogai, Sugaya, and Hara waved back at him.

"Agents Tentacle and Gears are on their way," Isogai supplied. "They just had to pick up a few more things."

The brainwasher frowned. "Agent names? Do we have to?" These were his classmates after all, not some kind of mission objective. Well, not a formal mission, anyways.

The golden-eyed boy shrugged sheepishly. "Karasuma said we had to. Obviously they know your name, but we can't risk all of our identities getting out when we don't know these people. He's being paranoid, but it's better not to cross him."

Hitoshi sighed. "Yeah, sure, it's just a massive headache." He turned to his wary-looking classmates. "Hey, come meet everyone. 1-C, meet some of my friends from E-class — or END, I guess you'd be more familiar with. These are Agents President, Ink, and Bite."

"It's nice to meet you," Hara greeted with a warm smile. His new classmates froze in obvious fear, and Hitoshi took note that while they may be more comfortable with him, meeting new assassins still freaked them out. Probably justified given the most recent attack.

Fortunately, they had Isogai with him, who, given his position as END PR co-head, spent the most time in front of the public. And being the walking Prince Charming he was, he already had a cult following of fangirls and boys. So when he smiled and waved at 1-C with a simple "Hello everyone!" the tense nervousness immediately evaporated. Oohira's hair turned a telling blush pink.

"I invited them to help set up our training areas. The Sports Festival is coming up fast, which means we can't waste longer than a day getting this place up and running. And, given E-class once completely renovated a preschool in two weeks, I figured setting up this place would be a piece of cake with their help."

"You renovated a preschool?" Kunimi echoed, but was ignored when the sound of an engine roaring filled the room. Pulling up in an oversized truck was Yoshida and Itona.

"Is he old enough to drive?" Shimizu asked, and Hitoshi snorted.

"I mean, with his quirk he's technically been driving since birth, so…"

"Yo, Shinsou, we got all the goods! Ready to remodel this dump?" Yoshida called out. Hitoshi turned back and looked at his new classmates quizzingly. They glanced around awkwardly before nodding, and the brainwasher grinned.

"Let's get to work."

-.-.-.-

They didn't waste a second. Yoshida took the strongest students to start unloading the truck while Sugaya was marking down tape and telling everyone where to put things. Hara and Isogai worked on unpackaging and assembly, and Itona was off with Shimizu doing who knows what with the electrics. They operated as one; rolling out training mats, lining out a track, assembling equipment. Sakurai opened a particularly old looking box and screeched when he saw what was inside, making Hitoshi sprint over there. The brainwasher couldn't help but laugh when he saw the components.

"Man, I figured they trashed these," he said, pulling out the green anti-sensei knife.

"We insisted they were left for sentimental purposes," Sugaya explained with a wide smile. "Now it almost feels like we're passing down a legacy."

Michimiya hesitantly picked up an anti-sensei gun. "They're fake...right?"

Hitoshi shrugged. "I mean, they were real in the assassination classroom. Korosensei could only be killed using special anti-sensei material, so while the knives and BBs couldn't hurt us, they could kill him—" The girl went two shades paler. "—yes, they're fake. Just for training."

They organized the weapons on racks while Hara, Yamaguchi and a few other students put together a small first aid section. Hitoshi was surprised by how quickly it was coming together. Isogai's Merge was a huge help in assembly, and the old warehouse was actually starting to look like a gym. Sugaya pinned a giant white banner on the back wall and reached into his bag to pull out bottles of ink.

"Let's add some color in here, huh?" he said, walking up to the wall and taping a bottle to the banner. Without explanation, he stepped back, pulled out an anti-sensei gun, and fired. The ink exploded at the same time the students yelped and took cover. Oohira's hair turned a panicked neon orange.

Sugaya laughed and shrugged off Hitoshi's glare (because the last thing Hitoshi needed was for 1-C to get scared off after all this hard work). "I figured it'd be a fun way to start target practice. They're just BBs, and I can use my quirk to turn the ink splatters into something totally sick."

The brainwasher pinched the bridge of his nose, and he was extremely startled when Kunimi ran by him and taped another ink bottle to the wall. "I wanna try!"

The ice broken (okay, maybe Sugaya's idea was actually really good, even if it was reckless), the mass of 1-C swarmed the wall and the E-class alumni's gathered to show everyone the safe way to handle guns, reiterating that these were weapons, not toys, and needed to be taken seriously. Thankfully, no one in 1-C was hotheaded and were about as dangerous as flies, so they didn't need to worry about impromptu BB battles.

Hitoshi finished showing the class twins, Miya #1 and Miya #2, how to aim when he noticed Sakurai standing off to the side, looking at his gun with shaking hands and a dejected frown. Maybe it was because the guy's green-dyed hair reminded him way too much of Midoriya, or maybe he had a bleeding heart for soft, scared-looking people, but he couldn't help but approach him.

"Hey," he said, and Sakurai jolted. "Want a couple tips?"

The green-haired teen looked downcast. "N-N-No, I'm alright…."

"You sure? It wouldn't be bothersome to me or anything, I swear."

Sakurai gnawed on his lip, considering it. "Well, I gu-guess I c-c-could use some help."

Hitoshi grinned softly and held up his own gun. "So, when you're first starting out, it helps to close one eye so you can focus the front sight on the target easier. You wanna keep your hands as steady as possible, take a few deep breaths, and just pull the trigger. These are fake guns, so the kick-back is barely there."

He followed the steps and fired for a reference before turning to the green-haired teen. "Okay, now you try."

Sakurai nodded and slowly raised his guns, but his hands were shaking so bad he could barely put his finger on the trigger. It was painful to watch.

"Sakurai," he said, and the boy jolted.

"Ye-Yeah?"

"Calm down," he said, taking control. What was it with green-hair and uncontrollable nerves? Was this a trend?

Automatically, Sakurai's hands stopped shaking. Still while being brainwashed, Hitoshi told the boy to take aim at the bottle of blue ink.

"Now, fire on three. One. Two. Three."

Before he even started counting, he released Sakurai of the brainwashing, but the boy still fired. The BB soared through the air and hit the very bottom of an ink bottle, making it spill out in masses. Hitoshi's heart swelled with pride and he patted the other boy on the back.

"See, you did it," he complimented, but Sakurai just looked constipated.

"N-No, you did. I-I couldn't have d-d-done it if you didn't make me calm dow-down."

"Yeah, but I didn't make you fire that bullet and hit the target. That was all you. I just helped you get there."

A deep blush dawned the stuttering boy's cheeks. "Really?"

Hitoshi smiled. "Really."

-.-.-.-

By the time evening approached, the place was almost done. The entire downstairs was turned into a clean training area, perfect for their objective. Sugaya took the ink splatters and turned it into an amazing graffiti-esce design reading 'Assassination Education' with a huge 1-C behind it. Midnight popped in for a little, lugging in pillows and beanbags and blankets and declared the upstairs a loft area before she had to leave for patrol. In the end, everyone was pretty proud of the work that went into it. It may not be as high-tech as the new END building, but the grunginess is what made it so authentic; what made it feel like home, like the old 3-E building.

They decided to call it a night, feeling satisfied with their hard work. Hitoshi stayed behind to make sure everything was good and to lock up when he heard the sound of footsteps. He tensed, instantly on high alert.

"Wow, Shinsou, you've really outdone yourself."

Hitoshi jolted. "Karma? What are doing here?"

The red-haired boy entered like he owned the place, flanked by Nagisa and Nakamura. "Nagisa told me about the proposal you made to your new classmates, and I must admit, I kinda like it."

"Really?" the brainwasher asked skeptically, because helping out the 'weak' wasn't exactly something Karma took interest in. The red-haired boy scoffed.

"Oh, don't sound so surprised. I may be heartless, but I admired what the octopus did for us. I think he'd be thrilled to know we were passing on his legacy."

Hitoshi scratched the back of his head. "Thanks. But that still doesn't tell me why you guys are here."

"Why, Shinsou, isn't it obvious?" Nakamura teased. "You can't expect to revive the assassination classroom without all of our help."

"All?"

"All of E-class," Nagisa clarified. "We want to help train 1-C. While we can't make doubles of ourselves or move at Mach-20 like Korosensei, I think between the 30 of us, we can get pretty close. We owe it to him in the end; what better way to repay him for helping us than by using his legacy to help others?"

After a long pause, the brainwasher sighed. "Not much you can do to refute that. But shouldn't we clear this with Karasuma first? Or at least Bitch-sensei?"

"Eh, I doubt they'll care enough to play chaperone or something; they've got bigger stuff to worry about, I hear," Nakamura gossiped. "They're all tight-lipped about it, but my intel says Karasuma has some family shit going on right now — something about an orphaned nephew and a cousin that can't take care of the kid or something."

"Karasuma has a nephew?" Hitoshi muttered, never having thought of Karasuma having a family before. It seemed much to normal for him. "Whatever, that's beside the point. If he's chill with it, then I am too. But please, please. Don't scare off my classmates. They're just starting to trust me, and I really don't want to go through this entire process again because someone acts a little too psychotic."

He deliberately glared at Karma, and the devil-boy blinked innocently. "What? I would never."

-.-.-.-

Musutafu Police @musutafupoliceofficial

DANGEROUS PRO-ASSASSIN APPREHENDED BY END AGENTS AFTER ATTACKING U.A. HIGH SCHOOL. FIVE STUDENTS NON-CRITICALLY INJURED. POLICE ARE WORKING WITH SCHOOL OFFICIALS TO INCREASE SCHOOL SECURITY.

-.-.-.-

That night, Hitoshi dreamed of Grip attacking the school, snapping Michimiya's neck in half, only for it to shift and then it's Midoriya being killed, and Grip becomes the Reaper, and then Takaoka, and then Shiro, and suddenly it's him, standing above the clothed remains where Korosensei's body once was, a knife in his hand. He woke up screaming and fighting with his sheets.

"Hitoshi! Hitoshi, it's okay, you're here, you're with me. I'm okay, we're okay. You're safe."

Midoriya pulled him back down to Earth, pinning him with a hug to keep him from accidentally hurting himself. Hitoshi breathed harshly, tried to focus on it. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

He slowly came back to himself, soft hands brushing away the blur of tears. He clung to his best friend like a lifeline and they sat in restless silence, neither able to fall back asleep after a terror like that.

"I'm training 1-C for the Sports Festival," he admitted because the silence and the vulnerability of the moment made him feel like he needed to be honest. "Midnight said I could start a secret fight club if the class was willing. I got them to trust me by defeating Grip, so now I run a fight club. We're trying to break the General Education records in the Sports Festival. Karma volunteered all of E-class to help train them. We're bringing back the assassination classroom. Honoring Korosensei. I have no idea what I'm doing, but it…feels right. Feels like I'm doing a good thing. 1-C is a lot like E-class, y'know?"

Midoriya silently listened to him ramble, running a hand through his purple mob of hair. When Hitoshi was done spewing random word vomit, Midoriya grasped his hand tightly.

"I think…" he whispered. "I think Korosensei would be very proud of you right now. I know I am."

Hitoshi smiled; it felt like such a huge relief to hear that. Like he thought for some weird reason, Midoriya wouldn't agree with him on this.

"I hope so," he muttered, stuffing his face into Midoriya's chest and tried to settle back down for sleep. The green-haired boy, however, had other plans.

"So…" he started. "Can I help train them too?"

Hitoshi looked up with blurry eyes. "What? No. You're the enemy. We're trying to beat you. If you help train them, you'll learn our secrets."

"Hey, that's not fair! I wanna help honor Korosensei too! Besides, you stole my journal to learn 1-A's quirks and secrets."

"Yeah, but we're the underdogs. We have special permission to do that. It's in the rule book."

"It's not in the rule book, Hitoshi. There is no rule book about spying on the other classes."

"So you admit you want to spy on us?"

"...go to bed, Hitoshi. You're acting delirious."

-.-.-.-

Unbeknownst to the bickering hero hopefuls, a blond Pro-Assassin made an anonymous phone call from jail.

"Did it work?"

"Yes," a raspy voice replied. "Your interference allowed our sources to get us the intel we needed undetected. While your capture is…a setback, I believe there is some good that has come out of this."

"Oh really? You got a plan for getting me out?"

"Hardly. It is not out fault you got captured."

"What?! That wasn't our deal!"

"That is correct. The deal was that you would provide distraction and bring fear, which you did. When you figure out how to escape jail, the money will already be transferred to your account." The raspy voice paused. "However, Sensei has another offer. If you tell us everything you can about the END agents who captured you, we will give you your freedom."

Grip paused, clenching his fists. He knew he shouldn't have taken this damn job. He always ends up working for the fools that cause him more trouble than it's worth.

"If you want to find out about those END agents, you can fight them yourself." He smirked, ignoring the raspy voice's growl. "Pleasure doing business with you."