Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Vlad King's Green Bean

Chapter one-hundred and eight: Upper Crust, part one

Over at UA, Fuyuki and his classmates were all getting back to their dorm building when they stopped short as they saw a moving crew taking a few boxes out from the door and over to a car. What stood out to Class 1-A was the fact that Shiro's dad Shihai was supervising everything. "Hey dad," Shiro spoke up, getting Shihai to turn to face him, "What are you and this moving crew doing?"

"We're gathering what all stuff your late classmate Anya had in her dorm room," Shihai said, "Due to procedure we have to process everything first, but once we're done I suspect that most everything will go straight to Anya's mom. The only stuff in Anya's dorm room we aren't taking is stuff that was provided by the school like furniture, so really we're only taking personal belongings Anya left behind."

The students of Class 1-A all had somber looks, being reminded of how their classmate Anya Shoda had been killed during the rebel attack on the provisional licence exams recently. "...It kind of sucks that Shoda had been cast into the void," Samidare said as Great Shadow popped out to hang next to him, "As annoying as she was for how she kept violating privacy in the one way no one could have prevented, her power at the same time was also a boon to hero work. My father said that the Mind Reading power Shoda had would have been invaluable now that the heroes are making efforts against the Upper Crust gang."

"Yeah, having Nirengeki's daughter would have been really useful," Shihai admitted, "We could have used her to gleam info from members of the Upper Crust Gang that we could capture. We may have even been able to deduce the identity of Upper Crust themselves...!" Turning to look at his son and said son's classmates, Shihai asked, "I hate to bring up painful memories for you kids, but you all obviously were there when your classmate Shoda was murdered by a rebel. What all do you remember about the rebel who killed Shoda? Any details you can provide may be helpful in investigating the Shoda murder case."

Gently shaking his head, Fuyuki said, "Sorry, sir. But we couldn't come up with anything."

Snapping his fingers, Shihai replied, "Ah well, it was worth a shot. You kids stay safe. Oh, and Shiro? Can you do me a solid and check up on Kirishima in Class 1-I to make sure he's alright?"

"Ragna, Marley, and I already have something of a monopoly on making sure an eye is kept on Komaru, Blackout," Bakugo spoke up, "Trust me when I say that nothing will fuck with him, unless someone wants to get blown up."

Holding a hand up at shoulder level with the palm facing forward, Shihai replied, "I'm just asking out of concern for Komaru's mother being really worried about him. Kinoko's an old classmate of mine, and her son is the only child of someone from our year of UA who is NOT in the same class as you kids. It'd be a bit weird for me to check up on a class my kid isn't in."

"Pony has been keeping tabs on Shrooms, don't you worry about that," Bakugo replied.

At around that time, one of the movers told Shihai that everything had been gathered from Anya's dorm room. "Well now kids, everything has to be taken to be processed, but I already have a feeling that Anya's mom will get everything Anya had in her dorm room." The Class 1-A students all wished Shihai well as everything was loaded into the one car, then Shihai got into the car and drove off, with the moving people following Shihai's car out of UA.

Folding his arms over his chest, Bakugo said, "Man Whiteout, your dad Blackout is weird as balls."

"Must you refer to most everyone outside of your own personal little circle with insulting nicknames?" Shiro asked dryly.

"According to my dad, it's just how Uncle Katsuki is," Fuyuki remarked.

Clapping his hands together, Tenya said, "Anyway classmates, I believe that we ought to turn in early. As we got our provisional licences, I suspect that we'll be called upon to help keep up with handling lesser pro hero work while officially licenced pro heroes deal with jobs related to the investigation against Upper Crust."

Bakugo scoffed in annoyance. "Whatever you say, Glasses. I think the heroes first have to scout us out and pick us based on who all they want for the job."

Fuyuki nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can't wait to see who among us if anyone will be scouted for internships now that we have our provisional licences." With the rest of Class 1-A all agreeing with the son of Green Bean, everyone went into their dorm building to settle down for the night. But sleep wouldn't come easy for a lot of them, as they were just that excited for the prospect of getting to do some actual real hero work.

Their provisional licences grants them the ability to more freely use their quirks legally, which is a big deal as the late Emperor Dabi, running an experiment to see if free quirk usage could be blanket-granted to everyone in Japan, found that granting such freedom would quickly lead to ruin all around, luckily the experiment had been conducted in a controlled environment in an isolated area. Since quirk restriction laws still had to be a thing, being able to legally use one's quirk was still seen as a very big deal, and part of why a good number of persons seek to become pro heroes.

To be a pro hero, a paragon of virtue who does and acts right.

Over at the cheap office building Shihai has as a hero agency, he was sitting at a desk in his office, the boxes of everything taken from Anya's dorm room sitting off to the side. Shihai was sitting at the desk while reading a diary, as well as having a spiral bound notebook and a pen on standby. He also had a roll of wide masking tape and a black marker, with which he would have made labels he would have put on the diaries, but the diaries already had labels, listing them individually as 'Anya's Diary Vol.1', 'Anya's Diary Vol.2', and so on in that fashion.

Shihai, currently on 'Anya's Diary Vol.3', was reading it while pausing every so often to make a note in his notebook. He was writing down what all secrets Anya had uncovered with her Mind Reading quirk and wrote down in her diaries, wanting to know the full extent of what all Anya had been able to gleam from anyone that she had been within range to read their minds. Mostly Regime secrets that he intended to slip along to the Rebellion. However he failed to come across anything of real note for the first couple of volumes of Anya's Diary.

He did however, early into volume three, come across Anya saying she had discovered that Shihai himself had always been carrying a torch for Kinoko, writing it down as 'Shiro's dad having romantic feelings for Komaru's mom'. Shihai, upon seeing that, was glad that he had decided to gather what all Anya had at her dorm out of worry she may have left behind something that could compromise Rebellion efforts. That line there could have compromised Shihai's own efforts, given that Kinoko had always been Shihai's goal for as long as he could remember.

Shihai's secret workings with the Rebellion was done carefully by Shihai, his every move and plan with the Rebellion carefully crafted and calculated on his part, to make sure that the end goal will see him at long last end up with the girl he had always had it bad for. It still grated on Shihai's nerves that he had lost Kinoko to the now late Eijiro Kirishima, and without Kirishima actually trying to win over the affections of any girl. And yet Kinoko essentially threw herself at Kirishima, they got together then got married then even had their son Komaru together.

Shihai scoffed bitterly, figuring that the late Kirishima was one of those jock types who have all the luck. There weren't very many people who Shihai hated more than the quintessential dumb jock, and Kirishima had fit that bill to a 'T', at least as far as Shihai had figured it. Shihai also gave a passing thought to how it's pretty obvious that the late Anya failed to share her discovery of his crush on Kinoko, otherwise he would have been confronted on it, most likely by either Kinoko or Kirishima, or even Setsuna and or Nirengeki since they're Anya's parents.

But now that would never happen; in addition to Shihai having Anya's diaries, Anya herself was slain. Shihai got it that a member of the squad that Present Mic was leading had killed Anya, but he had no idea who from that squad it was specifically. It could even have been Present Mic himself for all Shihai knew, but that to Shihai was a highly unlikely possibility given that Present Mic and Eraserhead often are of a like mind; Eraserhead's staunchly against the killing of minors, so it's pretty much a guarantee that Present Mic didn't kill Anya.

There was also how Kirishima was killed during the rebel's attack on the provisional licence exams, when the enthralled Gigantomachia threw a huge hunk of rebel at the stadium that blew into the northern sector of the stadium where Kirishima had been stationed as security. With Kirishima gone, it meant that Kinoko was free. And after he allowed Kinoko a little bit of time to come to terms with losing her first husband, Shihai was planning to slink right on in and work things up so that he can eventually end up as Kinoko's second husband.

A plan that was now possible due to Kirishima's death, a death that Shihai had actually arranged. He was working with the Rebellion, knew well in advance not only that they were going to attack the stadium the provisional licence exams would be held in but how they'd attack and at what angle. Knowing all of that, all Shihai had to do was get the position to assign who to supervise what sectors of the stadium for security, then put Kirishima in harm's way and hope for the best. And the best did wind up happening, given that Kirishima is now dead.

It's also a major part of why Shihai kept his distance from the students until Anya was taken down; she could have revealed his involvement, then it'd be game over. As a matter of fact, anyone who got to Anya's diaries before Shihai did could have scuttled things for him, hence why he decided to get Anya's stuff before anyone else, in the offhand chance a clue that could have revealed to others that he had ulterior motives was among Anya's belongings. Lo and behold there was, and as such Shihai's going to make sure no one ever read Anya's diaries after him.

But not before scanning all of them for any info that might be of any possible benefit to the Rebellion's efforts of bringing down the Regime. It was while he read the third volume of Anya's Diaries that Shihai came across an entry that made his eyes widen to almost impossible levels; Anya had discovered that Samidare Tokoyami's uncle, Samidare Asui, is the dragon Felgrand. Shihai knew full well that the Rebellion was wanting to know who Felgrand was, as with said knowledge they would be able to bring down a lot of the Regime's power.

As Shihai made a note of what he had just discovered from the diary in his notebook, he thought about how the Rebellion would probably jump at the chance to use Felgrand's vast power against the Regime, to have that most powerful of dragons work for them. Shihai already had a few ideas on how to get the Rebellion their own dragon, but first he had to confirm, if only for himself, if Samidare Asui really IS Felgrand. Once he was able to do that, he would bring the info to the Rebellion, knowing full well that they would act to remove the Regime from power.

After making the note in his notebook, Shihai contented himself back to going through Anya's diaries for what all info she had gleamed with her Mind Reading quirk. The idea of the Rebellion potentially using Felgrand to bring down the Regime was nice, and it would be all the nicer as, once the Rebellion does their thing and brings back freedom to the people, Shihai would be able to get together with his dream girl in a free Japan, a free world. Shihai allowed himself a devious smirk; Vantablack wasn't known as 'the scheming hero' for nothing.

The following day, the students of UA's Class 1-A had all gotten internships. The students mostly went with parents they had who were pro heroes, although there were a few exceptions. Mostly those who don't have pro hero parents; Bakugo for example went with Fuyuki and Tenya to work under the combined guidance of Izuku and Ochaco. Mineta expressed surprise when Marley and Ragna said that he'd be working with them under Kyoka and Mina, as Mineta figured that his old female classmates from before he was killed twenty years ago would want nothing to do with him.

Ragna said it's because of how Mineta had suggested a cafe for their class's attraction at the school festival but left it to others to decide on the cafe's theme; Mina and especially Kyoka suspected that Mineta would have tried pushing a maid cafe where the girls would be in skimpy maid outfits, but to their surprise Mineta only said 'cafe' and let the rest of the class decide on the theme, even agreeing that the idea of a 'pro hero' themed cafe sounded pretty good thus Mineta had voted for it. According to what Mineta said, he was following advice from Denki about not being pervy, then he asked if he was doing a good job.

Again, Mina and especially Kyoka were surprised by Mineta showing more maturity and less pervertedness, and they agreed that yes, Mineta was doing a good job so far. Kyoka also got it that Mineta's greatly decreased pervertedness was due to the influence of her late husband Denki; in their first year of UA, Denki was influence by Mineta, but then Mineta was killed at the USJ and, after things there cooled down, Denki was influenced by Kyoka who straightened him out. Kyoka straightened Denki out, and then Denki in turn straightened out the restored Mineta. Kyoka, as well as Mina and the other girls who were in class with Mineta, were surprised that Mineta's bad bits had been toned down.

Mineta was actually being good, actually was good now. The girls, Kyoka especially, never thought it could happen.

But that's beside the point. Sato and Koda went with Shizuo and Ibara respectively, and all other Class 1-A students went with a parent. Thus rounding off which students in Class 1-A went with which pro hero. During the first day of the internship, Fuyuki, Tenya, and Bakugo were following along behind Ochaco as she led them on a regular patrol. While instructing them (mainly Fuyuki and Tenya; Bakugo remembered a lot of things here already) on the importance of pro heroes doing patrol work, Ochaco asked, "Now boys, can any of you name a reason why pro heroes doing patrols like this is important?"

"To help put the minds of the citizenry at ease, mom?" Fuyuki asked.

Nodding once, Ochaco said, "Yes Fuyuki, exactly. Simply by us walking around and keeping an eye out for any problems, we help to make the citizenry feel at ease, by making them feel we have everything under control. It's more important than ever before for us to make the people feel that we've got this."

"Because of how those Rebellion pricks keep acting like shit?" Bakugo asked.

"Not... exactly the way I would put it, but yes Bakugo," Ochaco replied, "Due to increased Rebellion action and success, both the Regime and the pro heroes working in it have to work all the harder to keep the Rebellion from trying to bring ruin to what all good the Regime's authority has done."

Holding up a hand, Tenya said, "Uraraka-san, I find it confusing and a little odd that an authority referred to as 'The Regime' is actually a benevolent entity, where as the Rebellion are very clearly in the wrong, or at least are far more wrong than the Regime. Aren't Regimes usually bad and Rebellions usually heroic?"

"Times have changed indeed, Iida," Ochaco replied, "I myself will admit it's a little odd that the good group is called a Regime and the bad group is called a Rebellion, given how works of fiction usually have things there in reverse." The group rounded a corner, at which point Ochaco stopped the boys. Up ahead, a group of four thugs were busting parking meters to get loose change. "Okay, a simple crime in progress," Ochaco said, "I'm going to let you boys handle it, I'll step in if it looks a bit much for you to handle. I wanna see how well you boys are doing up to this point."

"Alright!" Bakugo declared, "Time to knock some heads!" Rushing in, the three boys confronted the thugs; despite the thugs having a slight numbers advantage, they were taken down in next to flat by the combined efforts of Fuyuki, Tenya, and Bakugo. One of the thugs tried to fight back with a quirk that shot violet colored flames, but the flames were dispersed by an explosion from Bakugo, who proceeded to take that thug down. After all of the thugs were taken down, Ochaco approached the boys as she applauded them for their efforts.

"Not bad, boys," Ochaco said, "Not bad at all. Fuyuki you're doing better than I was expecting based on what work I've done with you so far, and for Bakugo and Iida, it's clear the two of you having been dead for twenty years hasn't curbed your skill."

"I could have been dead for a hundred years and I'd still be the top dog, Round Face," Bakugo replied with a self amused smirk.

"You'd also still have the same general attitude," Ochaco snarked back. To the boys as a whole, Ochaco said, "I'm going to have to call this in, so when the inevitable news crews come by to get some footage, make sure you boys behave yourselves." Turning to focus more on Bakugo, Ochaco said dryly, "That means you, Bakugo."

"Oi!" Bakugo snapped, drawing some laughter from Fuyuki and even Tenya.

...

Meanwhile, some thugs stood around in an alleyway while in front of them, a starved looking fair skinned woman with long raven black hair who had her back to the thugs dropped someone wearing a pro hero costume. The hero landed face down on the ground in the alleyway, but it was clear that the hero had starved to death, given how very bony and emaciated they looked. "This one here was a sidekick level pro hero from the agency run by the late Red Riot," the starved looking woman said, "Now they've gone to see their boss."

"It's what that jerk got for talking smack about Upper Crust on social media," one of the thugs said, his tone making it clear he agreed with the starved looking woman.

"I hear that Red Riot's old pro hero mentor Fat Gum, who was one of the ones restored to true life during the fiasco with Desumi Yango, has taken over running Red Riot's old agency," another thug went on, "And that Ryukyu who was also restored followed Fat Gum into Red Riot's agency."

The starved looking woman nodded in confirmation. "Even though they had been dead for two decades, Fat Gum and Ryukyu after being restored to true life had gone right back to doing hero work. They have even already recovered a lot of the popularity they had the first time around, with Ryukyu even being praised by Felgrand. Big name legends from the past may put a dampener on Upper Crust's plans."

Gesturing to the starved looking woman, a female thug asked, "So what do we do, Pakura?"

The starved looking woman, identified as Pakura, turned around to face the thugs. "...We eliminate any and all heroes who stands in the boss's way. And those who are foolish enough to get between Upper Crust and his goals will... face apocalypse itself." Pakura held a hand at around shoulder level with the palm facing upward and her fingers slightly clenched. "Starting with famine."

Fuyuki, Bakugo, and Tenya continued to follow after Ochaco while out on patrol when, after turning a corner, they stopped when they saw a crime scene. A couple of paramedics were there, along with at least two police cruisers. There were also a few pro heroes, including Fat Gum, Ryukyu, and Kinoko. "Boys, stay behind me," said Ochaco as she led the way up to the crime scene. When Ochaco and the boys got close enough, Fat Gum and the others sensed them coming up and turned around to face them. "What happened?" Ochaco asked.

Fat Gum with a grim look said, "One of the sidekicks that Red had hired to his agency was just found dead in that alleyway over there." The BMI Hero pointed the way. "The weird part is that Shemage here saw that sidekick earlier this morning, and said that the sidekick was actually a little on the plump side, but when found in the alleyway the sidekick looked all bony and emaciated, like they had starved to death."

Ochaco's eyes widened a bit out of surprise. "...Izuku mentioned that one of the elites in the Upper Crust Gang has a quirk that lets her starve people to death basically. It could be that girl's quirk at work."

"Some chick has a quirk that let her starve people?" Bakugo said, "What the hell?!"

"I got a bit on the Upper Crust Gang as well," Ryukyu said, "I believe that we're looking for a woman named Pakura. She is an elite member of the Upper Crust Gang like you said Uraraka, one of four who are collectively referred to as the Four Apocalyptic Kings."

"...Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," Tenya said, able to put pieces together in his head, "This Pakura woman must represent famine."

Right away, Fat Gum made a 'bleh' sound. "Yeah, famine and I don't see eye to eye," said the BMI Hero. He patted his now considerable belly, having been able to fatten back up as he had been restored to true life skinny. "Although I bet even Pakura will need time to slim all of this down," Fat Gum boasted.

"Izuku and a few other top ranking pro heroes are working in tandem to pinpoint where Upper Crust's main hideout is, as they're bound to have one," Ochaco said, "Once that's taken care of, we can begin a raid and capture as many of the gang's members as possible. I'm certain that I can convince Izuku to bring you and Ryukyu in as part of the raid team, Fat Gum."

"Actually, he's already asked us to be part of the raid team that will be thrown together if and when Upper Crust's hideout is located," Ryukyu explained, "He remembers when we took part in the raid on the hideout of the Shie Hassakai, and hopes that Taishiro here and I can pull off a repeat of our success."

Ochaco nodded in agreement and was about to speak up. However, she got cut off when some screaming erupted off to the far side of the scene, making her and the others turn to see that a police cruiser had been tossed up and thrown well off to the side. Suddenly, a bunch of thugs came swarming in to overwhelm the heroes and what law enforcement personnel were there. Striding right in into the scene through the middle of the mass of thugs was a tall, muscular man who looked equal parts cocky and hungry for battle.

"Well well well! Look what I find when I was sent to clean up a mess that Pakura left behind!" the large muscular man boasted in an amused tone, "Lots of sport to help keep me from getting rusty! I wonder how many of you I can break before I have to bail, mmm?"

"You're that Uvogin fellow who works as one of Upper Crust's elites," Ochaco said, "And don't think you'll be able to do all that much! You and your followers here will be stopped, captured, and brought in for questioning!"

The now identified Uvogin gave a booming, boastful laugh. "You all really think you can stop me? Sheer numbers aside, I'm the kind of guy who loves a good fight! And the best kind of fighting is war! So let's have a war here and now! My side versus yours! Last one with anyone still alive in the end wins!" The thugs immediately began to rush the present heroes and police personnel, with Ryukyu immediately turning into a dragon and taking up into the air. Uvogin saw Ryukyu take up and, looking up at her, let out an impressed whistle.

"Wow, never thought I'd get to fight a dragon other than Ryumaru," Uvogin remarked, "But he always kicks my ass. But you, I know about you Ryukyu, you're one of the ones recently restored to true life by Felgrand. You're twenty years out of practice! Maybe I'll have better luck bringing you down!" Uvogin then tried to make a lunge towards Ryukyu, but was stopped when Fat Gum grappled him and brought him back down to the ground. "Oi! Don't go getting in the way of me having a good fight, you lardass!" Uvogin barked, more annoyed than anything.

Fat Gum scowled annoyingly at Uvogin. "You're far less charming than the last battle junkie I remember working with." Fat Gum and Uvogin got up and proceeded to brawl, although a lot of Uvogin's efforts were rendered moot when his punches were absorbed by Fat Gum's fat. "And you hit nowhere near as hard as the other guy!" Fat Gum added, "Seriously! You might as well be trying to pelt me with marshmallows!" Uvogin got pissed from Fat Gum's taunting and proceeded to pick up the pace, but it didn't change too much as a whole.

As for the rest of the fighting, Ochaco and the boys were able to subdue some of the thugs, as did Kinoko by sending her spores into the thugs and making mushrooms grow inside of them, making them suffocate due to the mushrooms growing in their throats and lungs. And Ryukyu flew down and struck down a good number of thugs, showing why fighting a dragon is oftentimes a lost cause. However, Ryukyu after striking down a thug was on ground level, and seeing this Uvogin, who still wanted to fight a dragon, made another lunge for her which Fat Gum couldn't prevent.

However, another roar sounded out, and Uvogin was halfway to Ryukyu when Felgrand came flying in and knocked Uvogin away. The rest of the thugs that were present all took pause when they saw that Felgrand had shown up. Felgrand was in his base size, but he was about a meter taller than Ryukyu. "You are one of Upper Crust's elites," Felgrand said to Uvogin, "The authority of the Regime has kill on sight orders for Upper Crust's elites. I am as such well within my right to-"

"Felgrand, wait!" Ryukyu called out, making the other dragon take pause. He turned to face Ryukyu, the hero he respected above all others. "...We could get valuable information out of that one," Ryukyu said, "Including potentially the identity of Upper Crust themselves. Killing him here and now would be a waste, we ought to instead bring him in and question him. Surly you have the power to make that one there spill what all he knows for us, don't you?"

"..." Felgrand considered what the Dragon Hero was trying to suggest to him. "...I very easily could make him do as you say, yes, and the information we'd stand to gain as a result would be a boon to efforts in bringing down the Upper Crust Gang. Very well." The dragon of the Regime flew at Uvogin swiftly and, rather than kill him, strike him just hard enough to knock him out cold. The rest of the thugs who were present were subdued not much long afterwards.

Although all of the thugs, as well as Uvogin, were beaten, there was still the issue of calling in a few prisoner transport vehicles, as well as getting some quirk suppressing gear. There also had to be a call for a few more paramedics, given that Kinoko had taken some of them down some of the thugs by asphyxiating them with her mushrooms. But a major victory had just been scored against the Upper Crust Gang; about twenty-five low level thugs and one of Upper Crust's elites had just been beaten and captured alive, and Ryukyu had even given Felgrand an idea that could potentially lead to getting the identity of Upper Crust themselves.

However, the heroes were not going to be prepared for what all information was going to be gotten out of Uvogin, Upper Crust's identity most of all.

END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHT

Author's notes;

This chapter sees Fuyuki and his classmates see Shihai gather what all was in Anya's dorm room and take it to be processed before it can be turned over to Setsuna; common pro hero procedure. However, what the students don't know is that Shihai did it because he's secretly working with the Rebellion, and fears there might have been clues to that left behind in Anya's stuff. Which there was as Shihai found out that Anya learned of his feelings for Kinoko, and a lot of what work that he's woing with the Rebellion is helping him set up to finally get Kinoko as his girl.

After that, the internships start up, and after Fuyuki, Bakugo, and Tenya successfully take down some independent thugs, they and Ochaco come across a scene where a sidekick from the late Kirishima's agency had been starved to death, with allsigns pointing to Upper Crust's elite thug Pakura. But then another one of Upper Crust's elite thugs, Uvogin, comes barging in looking for a fight. He and the cannon fodder thugs are swiftly beaten however, especially since Felgrand showed up and took Uvogin alive at Ryukyu's suggestion so he could be grilled for information.

The next chapter will see the heroes alter their plan based on what information is obtained from the interrogation of Uvogin. But some of it will be info that none of them will see coming. Until then, take care.