Chapter 8: These Embers Still Smolder

It was late, far too late to still be working, especially after the day Yagi had had. To think, villains were bold enough to attack UA directly, just to get to him…those kids could have been seriously hurt. It was a miracle the worst student injury were two broken ribs, and those were easily fixed up by Recovery Girl. His colleagues had been a different story, but even they were going to make full recoveries.

He flipped the page in the file he was reading. The principal had given it to him when he started teaching, a list of potential candidates to be his successor. From what he'd seen in classes, Yagi had already ruled out a few of them for one reason or another. Several more were still promising.

There weren't any first years in the file. Nedzu hadn't had a chance to really analyze them yet, and they were only just beginning their training.

But from what he saw of Class 1A today, he would consider some of them worthy. The four boys who'd been on the main level with him, for sure.

Well, perhaps not Bakugou. That young man's temper did not need a strength boost from One for All.

Todoroki…the boy had strength, plus a better knowledge of what a pro hero's life was really like. Enji bragged about him every time they saw each other, and Todoroki was proving he had a good head on his shoulders. There were just a few instances when the boy had looked a little too much like Enji for Yagi's liking. Those eyes hid a font of fury, and there were times when Yagi half expected Todoroki to be a villain.

It probably wasn't the best idea to saddle him with One for All, either.

He leaned back on the couch, thinking about the last two, Kirishima and Sasaki. Kirishima had a heart of gold, and he'd rushed in to help his friends. His quirk wasn't overly strong or flashy, either. He could do well with One for All, but would he make a good Symbol of Peace?

Would Sasaki? Out of the four, Sasaki had kept trying to help the most. Perhaps he was foolish and reckless to keep running in like that, but it was a hero's nature to meddle where they shouldn't. And Yagi had seen the flaming gurney that carried an injured Aizawa and two students away from the main fight, and the charred handprint on the Noumu. Sasaki had fought tooth and nail to protect everyone, practically as hard as he himself had.

But the boy had issues trusting people. That had been obvious from this one week of class alone. Every time they worked in teams, he attempted to handle everything himself. It was an issue they could work on, but would Sasaki make enough improvements to be worthy of One for All?

Or would it be better for him to choose one of the older students?

He rubbed his hands over his face. He'd thought choosing a successor would be easier than this. A part of him always expected to just know who his successor would be when he met them, but that hadn't happened yet.

And he needed to pick someone soon. If Mirai was right, then Yagi needed to choose someone soon so he'd have time to train them before it happened. He hated having to pass on his power now, though, when this League of Villains had just revealed itself. He'd rather hunt them down and take care of them before they became an actual threat, but he didn't have the stamina for that anymore.

He glanced down at the files again with a heavy sigh. Whoever he chose, it wouldn't be tonight. Maybe he'd wait and see what happened at the Sports Festival.

Xx

Izuku spent the night after the USJ attack sound asleep. Recovery Girl had healed his ribs, but the after effects meant that as soon as he got home, he crashed and didn't wake up until his alarm the next morning.

He stumbled out to the kitchen and found Hizashi stress cooking breakfast. "Morning."

"Morning, little listener!" Hizashi said. "How you feeling?"

"Not bad, considering."

"Good to hear! Hope you're hungry, I made enough food for the week."

Izuku surveyed the spread on the table and nodded. "You definitely did. Um, is Aizawa…"

"They kept him overnight at the hospital, but he was awake when I left last night. Grumpy as usual, but he was already trying to get released."

Izuku almost dropped the plate he'd picked up. "Already? Doesn't he have a major concussion?"

"And two shattered arms," Hizashi growled, stabbing his spatula at the fish he was frying.

"Is he even allowed to leave with those kinds of injuries?"

"He's a grown man, so he is allowed to sign himself out against medical advice." Hizashi stabbed the spatula again. "And really, what kind of example is that setting for you students? When you're hurt you need to listen to your doctors."

Hizashi continued to mutter about his husband making stupid decisions. Izuku ate quickly and retreated to his room to get ready for school. By the time they left, Hizashi acted like his usual upbeat self, but Izuku could tell it was only an act, something to keep his students from worrying.

His class was chatting away when he got there, and Katsuki gave him a solid once over from his seat as Izuku passed. Most of them were talking about their brief appearance in the news. None of them had been mentioned by name, but it was kind of astounding to be making headlines already.

Izuku hadn't been part of the pictures, thankfully, since he'd been taken right to Recovery Girl.

They were just wondering who their teacher would be when Aizawa himself limped in. Izuku frowned. The man really shouldn't have left the hospital yet. Had he told Hizashi yet or had he gone ahead and done it anyway?

And did Izuku dare sneak his phone out to send a picture to Hizashi?

…That was probably a bad idea for a number of reasons. Aizawa would catch him, for one, mummified face or not. And number two, he didn't want to make Hizashi worry unnecessarily. He'd send him a text between classes.

Aizawa told them about the sports festival, but that was really the only interesting thing about classes that day. But when the bell rang for lunch, he asked Izuku and Katsuki to stay behind.

The rest of the class cleared out pretty fast. The two of them were obviously about to face punishment for not listening to Aizawa at the USJ.

They stood next to each other in front of Aizawa's desk, backs straight and heads high. Aizawa could chew them out all he wanted, they didn't regret it.

"Why do you think I didn't want you two fighting with me?"

"Because you didn't think we could handle it," Katsuki said.

"You didn't want to have to worry about us while you were fighting," Izuku said. It was the way he'd felt when Katsuki insisted on following him.

Aizawa nodded at Izuku. "Precisely. You two don't have the experience or the training necessary for those kinds of battles." He glared at Izuku when Izuku tried to interrupt. "Alley Cat was not the same thing. Furthermore, you two don't have licenses to use your quirks on other people. Obviously the police aren't going to press charges on any students for what they did yesterday to defend themselves, but it is still a law that you two must obey."

Izuku's fists tightened at his sides. "I don't regret jumping in. What would have happened to you if we hadn't been there to stop the Noumu?" Aizawa had been at that thing's mercy. They all knew it. Without help, Aizawa wouldn't be sitting here right now. He'd be lying in a morgue.

"That is beside the point," Aizawa said.

"No, it's not," Katsuki said. "No offense, but your quirk isn't great for big melees like that. Yeah it was stupid of him to go after you, but you needed the back up. If we had our provisional licenses already, would you have a complaint?"

Aizawa sighed. It took him a long minute to answer. "I expect you both to follow my orders in the future."

"As long as doing so won't get you killed," Izuku agreed.

It was frightening how well the man could still glare when the majority of his face was wrapped in bandages.

Izuku held his ground. "I survived for two years as a solo vigilante. Did you think that was pure luck? I didn't rush in to every situation without making sure it was something I could handle first."

"You're not going to change his mind," Katsuki said. "It's a waste of time arguing about this. We're training to be heroes, we're going to put our lives on the line again."

That was probably a better argument than the one Izuku was attempting.

It worked, too. Aizawa had no come back for that logic. "Be that as it may, I'm still punishing you as an example for the rest of the class. Bakugou, detention after school today. You were only trying to keep an eye on him. Sasaki, we'll consider you skipping the sports festival your punishment."

"What? You're making me sit out of the sports festival?" The sports festival was huge, how could Aizawa bench him from this?

"You were going to sit out regardless."

"Wha-really? Why?"

Katsuki slapped the back of his head. "Idiot. You think it's a good idea to participate in a nationally broadcasted event? You're in hiding, remember?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head and frowned. He had somewhat forgotten that fact. "Guess that makes sense." While a logical decision, it was disappointing. He'd been looking forward to it.

"That's all. Get to lunch."

Izuku sulked all the way to the cafeteria, and when he and Katsuki had to meet the curious eyes of their classmates, he kind of wished the floor would open and swallow him whole. Their classmates had saved seats for the two of them, and the second they sat down with their trays they pounced, demanding to know what had happened.

They were horrified when Izuku told them he wouldn't be participating in the festival.

"He can do that?" Kaminari asked.

"Apparently," Izuku groaned. "I can't believe I almost died for him."

Katsuki kicked him. "You did not, nerd. It's what you deserve for being such a dumbass."

"You don't have to be mean," Izuku pouted. "My hopes and dreams are being crushed over here."

Katsuki rolled his eyes.

Mina leaned forward. "So, you two seem awfully close. You were really in sync and everything yesterday. Are you two actually secretly dating?"

Katsuki choked on the rice he'd just swallowed. Kaminari thumped him on the back. "What the fuck? No!"

Where in the world had she gotten that idea? "There's nothing like that between us, honest."

"Hey, it's alright, you can tell us!" Kirishima said. "We won't judge you guys, promise!"

"Shut up before I kill you," Katsuki hissed.

"It's seriously not like that," Izuku insisted.

"But you were friends before UA, weren't you?" Uraraka asked.

"Well, yeah." Izuku glanced at Katsuki. This was veering into dangerous territory. If they started talking about childhood, he might let something slip about his dad or Alley Cat without meaning to.

Katsuki sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Damn nosy extras. We used to live in the same neighborhood, alright? Childhood friends or whatever. He moved away years ago, though. We didn't keep in touch. I didn't even know he'd gotten into UA until a few days before we started."

It was the truth, but somehow it hurt hearing Katsuki put it that way, like Izuku had willingly stayed away.

"Oh, so being in the same class was kind of a chance meeting for you guys, huh?" Sero asked.

"Something like that," Izuku said.

"I never would have guessed you two were best friends," Kaminari said offhand. He rested his chin in his hand. "You guys barely talk in class."

"It's been years," Katsuki growled. He stabbed at his curry with his chopsticks. "It's not like we still know each other."

And that…that hurt, too. Izuku looked down at his katsudon.

"I think you know each other better than you think, kero," Asui said. "Also, Bakugou, why did you call him 'Izuku' yesterday, kero?"

Izuku stopped breathing. He did vaguely remember hearing Katsuki call after him with his real name, but with everything going on he hadn't really noticed. He certainly hadn't realized anyone else was around to hear.

Judging by the look on Katsuki's face, he hadn't either. "What are you talking about, frog face?"

Asui put a finger to her cheek. "When Sasaki first attacked the Noumu. You tried to stop him and you yelled Izuku."

"You should get your ears checked. I didn't yell anything like that," Katsuki denied. "Are you extras done interrogating us, yet?"

They reluctantly changed the subject, but Izuku caught Uraraka and Iida staring at him.

Katsuki might have denied what Asui heard, but the others didn't entirely believe him. Izuku didn't know when, but he knew this was going to come back and bite him in the ass someday.

Xx

Izuku didn't know what was more insulting, the fact Hizashi arranged a babysitter to watch him during the sports festival, or the fact said babysitter was a skeletal old man. He looked like he'd collapse if Izuku breathed on him wrong. If Izuku did try anything during the festival, what did they expect this guy to do about it?

"Aizawa was really mad at you for the USJ, huh?" Toshinori asked. "I'm surprised he benched you today, considering what a great chance it is for you to get scouted for internships."

Izuku groaned and sank in his seat. "I know! How am I supposed to go pro if I don't get internships?"

Toshinori chuckled. "Something tells me you'll figure it out. You're resourceful."

Izuku hummed and sat upright when his classmates finally appeared in the arena. He was so jealous of them all down there. He'd love to be able to compete and test himself against everyone. But no. He had to sit here in the stands, dark sunglasses over his face in case a stray camera shot got him, next to some random person Hizashi scrounged up to play babysitter.

To be fair, Toshinori wasn't terrible company. They threw theories and predications at each other during the obstacle course, and Toshinori encouraged him to analyze his classmates.

Izuku would have done it anyway, he didn't exactly have an off-switch for this kind of thing, but it was nice to go on his tangents with someone actually listening to him.

He was on the edge of his seat during the obstacle course, and he gave up on sitting altogether during the cavalry battle. It was an intense battle between his classmates. Todoroki, having placed first in the obstacle course (just barely. Katsuki had been half a second behind) had the ten million point prize on his head. He teamed up with Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, and a girl from the support class.

Katsuki teamed up with Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero. It was a brutal combination, and Katsuki scared off some of the other classes with his general personality.

Towards the end of the cavalry battle, it was down to Todoroki's team, Katsuki's team, and Iida's team. Iida had recruited Uraraka, Tokayami, and Aoyama. There were so many different quirks in play, so many things happening last second, so many last ditch efforts to turn the tides, it was impossible to predict who would actually win.

Todoroki managed to hang on to the ten million points, and, judging by the explosions Katsuki kept emitting even after it was over, Katsuki was furious about that.

Izuku crashed back to his seat. "Oh man, I wish I was down there!"

Toshinori laughed. "You'll have to make sure you behave next year."

"I jumped into action in the middle of a crisis, why am I being punished?" Izuku whined.

His being benched had nothing to do with the USJ. Having a babysitter during this was the real punishment. Aizawa was laughing at him somewhere, he just knew it.

After lunch, it was the one on one duels. There was a brief delay as Ojiro and a 1B student stepped down, and they rearranged the sixteen students who'd actually be fighting.

Toshinori nudged Izuku and pointed out a set of box seats. "I think that's your class, if you'd rather watch with them. I need to go take care of something."

"Won't Hizashi be mad if you run off while babysitting?"

Toshinori ruffled his hair. "You can't sneak into the festival at this point. Thanks for sitting with me, I enjoyed it."

"You're welcome, I guess." They walked to the hall outside the arena, and Izuku navigated his way to his classmates, where he promptly freaked out over everyone's performances earlier.

The first match lasted less than five minutes. A general studies student brainwashed his opponent into walking off the stage. Not a single punch was thrown.

It left the crowd stunned.

"That was scary," Uraraka said.

"Think how useful it would be in the field, though," Izuku said. "If you could get villains to surrender without a fight, injuries and property damage would be negligible."

"That's true," Iida agreed. "It might not be flashy, but he does have a rather useful quirk."

The next match was even shorter.

Todoroki created an actual glacier, almost freezing the crowd along with poor Sero.

"What was that about?" Uraraka asked, carefully ducking under a jagged piece of ice.

"It's like he lost his cool," Izuku said, peering down at Todoroki.

Todoroki had a weird look on his face while he thawed Sero free. Guilt? Mixed with disappointment maybe? Todoroki's gaze went up to the stands and narrowed.

Izuku followed his gaze to Endeavor. The flaming hero was hard to miss on the other side of the arena. Did his father say something to Todoroki before the match?

There was a break before the next match while the teachers cleared away the glacier, so Izuku went to go find Todoroki and see if he was okay. He wasn't close to anyone in class, and Izuku couldn't imagine anyone else doing it.

He found him half hidden in a random hallway under the arena, sitting on the floor with his head back against the wall. Todoroki glared coldly at his approach. "What do you want, Sasaki?"

"I wanted to see if you were okay." Izuku carefully sat down on the floor across from him. He folded his sunglasses and hung them from his shirt collar. "You looked…upset after your match."

Todoroki snorted and looked away. "That's one word for it."

Izuku bit his cheek. If his father did have something to do with Todoroki's current mood, then Izuku really shouldn't pry. It wasn't his business, and Todoroki was a pretty private person.

"If you want to talk, I'll listen. I know a thing or two about angry dads."

Todoroki looked back at him quickly, icy gaze narrow and calculating. His gaze lowered to Izuku's hands, and then he sighed and loosened some of the tension in his shoulders. "My father is the number two hero. He has a lot of expectations on what I do."

"That makes sense. He's always seemed…intense."

Todoroki huffed.

Izuku flexed his fingers. "You know, I used to study Endeavor's fighting, when I was younger. Fire quirk, and all that. But so much of his style is just brute strength, it isn't really helpful if you can't constantly produce flames like him. Now that I've figured out my own style, I can't help thinking his way is…wasteful."

"It's more than wasteful," Todoroki spat, showing the most emotion Izuku had ever seen. "He does as much damage as the villains, half the time. He's why I won't use my left side. He wants me to be a hero and surpass All Might, but I refuse to be a hero like him. I won't use his power."

There was a lot more going on there than what he was telling Izuku, so many pent up emotions. Izuku didn't even know what Todoroki needed to hear right now, or if he just needed a chance to vent some more.

He didn't offer anything else.

Izuku took a deep breath. "I get where you're coming from, believe me. My dad also has a fire quirk and…well, let's just say there's a reason I haven't seen him in two and a half years."

Todoroki's narrowed eyes widened ever so slightly. Izuku didn't have to get into specifics for him to understand the gist of it. They probably had more in common than they wanted to admit, though unfortunately those things were not things Izuku wanted anyone else to have gone through.

"Anyway, my quirk and his…they might both be fire, but we use them for different things. My quirk isn't his, you know? It's mine. Yours isn't Endeavor's, either. You can use it however you want."

Todoroki seemed to consider this, looking down at his left hand. "Whenever I use this side, all I can think of is my father. Do you…how did you…"

Izuku gave him a sad smile. "My case was a little different, since my father isn't a hero in any sense of the word. I taught myself all the good I could do with my quirk, all the people I could help. I made a list of differences between us. That's probably not really helpful, for you."

"No, I think I get it. It will take me some time to accept some things, but that helps. You've given me a lot to think about." He flexed his left hand in thought.

"I'm glad!"

"It's a shame you weren't able to participate today. I would have enjoyed seeing how far you went."

While Izuku puzzled over what that meant, Todoroki stood up and started to head back. Izuku scrambled to catch up, hoping he hadn't missed any of the other matches.

He had missed Yaoyorozu versus Tokoyami, and he only caught the end of Iida versus the support student, which was definitely an entertaining match. He cheered for the rest of his classes and tried to offer luck to Katsuki and Uraraka, but both of them dismissed him.

He was surprised how long Uraraka lasted, and at her clever strategy. In the end, it still wasn't enough, but he could see Katsuki rubbing his forearms. He'd had to work to earn his victory, fair and square.

It was disappointing to see that Todoroki still didn't use his fire against Shinsho, or later against Iida, but Izuku supposed he couldn't really have expected Todoroki to turn his resolve on its head that fast.

Still, it was frustrating to watch him fight Katsuki with only half his power. He'd reflexively used it once when Katsuki maneuvered around his left side, putting distance between them again. He'd also pissed Katsuki off.

"You think you can beat me with only half your strength?" Katsuki demanded. "You'd better use one hundred percent, Half and Half!"

Izuku clutched the railing in front of him. "Come on, Todoroki, use it!"

Against a pissed off Katsuki, Todoroki's ice wasn't enough. Katsuki blew up every glacier sent his way, and frost crawled over Todoroki's right side. It was only because of well-placed iced walls behind him that Todoroki hadn't been blown out of the ring.

How much longer could he go on like this?

"Todoroki!" Izuku screamed. "It's your power!"

He would almost swear Todoroki glanced up at him, but it must have been Izuku's imagination. There were a thousand people screaming right now, Todoroki couldn't have heard him over everyone else.

Flames danced on his left arm.

Katsuki grinned. Using precise explosions, he turned himself into a missile and launched at Todoroki.

For a second, Todoroki, stood his ground, flames burning on his left side.

Something happened in the next second, a moment of doubt or a change of heart, and the flames went out.

He didn't have time to create a strong enough defense with his ice before Katsuki crashed into him. Smoke clouded the arena, and when it cleared Todoroki was unconscious and out of bounds.

Katsuki stared at him in confusion for a moment before losing his self-control, and Midnight had to knock him out before he did something he'd regret.

Izuku forced his hands to uncurl from the rail and sat down again. It took a while for him and everyone else to calm down. The fight had been a nail-biter. He was happy Katsuki had won, especially after his bold declaration at the start of the day. No one would have let him live it down if he hadn't actually won first place, especially not the other classes.

Twenty minutes later, Izuku's heart rate picked right back up. Why was Katsuki restrained on the podium like that? And they muzzled him?

"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded.

"That's…a little extreme," Uraraka agreed, looking a little green.

"I know he was mad at the end of the fight, but is that actually necessary?" Kirishima asked.

"Should we do something?" Ashido asked.

"Yes, we fucking should," Izuku stated, standing up and putting a hand on the rail. He reached into his pocket with his other hand, dragging out a lighter.

"Wait, Sasaki, you can't just fly down there!" Yaoyorozu said.

"Watch me!" Izuku bit back.

Uraraka grabbed his arm. "You're already in trouble."

He could not have cared less if he tried. "They're treating him like a villain, he didn't do anything wrong!"

"Look, All Might is down there, he doesn't look happy about it either," Yaoyorozu said.

Izuku reluctantly sat back down, but he kept his lighter in his hand. If All Might didn't take those restraints off then so help him…

He did take the muzzle off. Apparently the rest of the restraints weren't a problem to him. "Are you kidding me? What the fuck was that? Who the fuck decided this was okay?"

"Maybe Bakugou really snapped," Mineta said.

Izuku turned a heated glare on him. "If he didn't want the damn award, he shouldn't have to accept it!"

Mineta shrank back. "Looks like you snapped, too."

"Yeah, take a deep breath, Sasaki," Jiro said.

Sasaki. The fake name, because he was in hiding from his villainous father, which was the whole reason he'd been benched today, and was why storming down to those pedestals was a very bad idea. Katsuki would murder him before his father even found out.

He growled and stormed out of the box seats. He might not be able to fly down to the arena, but he could meet them underground, away from the cameras, and give them a piece of his mind.

The end of the festival slowed him down, the audience streaming into the halls. He had to fight through the crowd to reach the lower levels, and by then Katsuki had been released and disappeared. Izuku would have done the same after that kind of humiliation. Cementoss was the only one down there, cleaning up the room and smoothing the pedestals back down to level ground.

He jumped at Izuku's entrance.

"Were the restraints your idea?" Izuku demanded.

"No. Bakugou kept trying to attack Todoroki, so Principal Nedzu authorized the restraints."

Izuku filed the information away. "But whose idea was it?"

"Truthfully, I don't know who suggested it first."

"Why didn't you stop it?"

"He was violent, restraining him seemed like the only option."

"Of course he was violent! Why didn't anyone try and get him to calm down?"

"We did!" Cemontoss said. "But we needed to get on with the awards ceremony—"

Izuku threw his hands up. "Oh, sure, a fucking medal is more important than treating a student like a human being, got it." He stormed out, on the warpath for whoever he needed to punch in the face for letting this happen.

Hizashi and Aizawa found him first. They'd been in the commentator's box, apart from all of this, so they were spared from Izuku's wrath. They also didn't seem happy about Katsuki's treatment, but they were content to let sleeping dogs lie.

Izuku was not.

After many failed attempts to get Izuku back to their apartment, they finally relented and took him to Nedzu.

Screaming out the injustice and cruelties to a rat…bear…thing…half his height didn't really give Izuku the satisfaction he'd been hoping for. Especially when Nedzu let him say his peace and then calmly responded.

"I agree with your points."

"Then what the fuck?"

"Our goal at that moment was short sighted, and we did not take everything into account. The restraints were…heavier than I expected them to use when the idea was suggested. That's an oversight on my part, and I take full responsibility."

A lot of good that did him. As much as Izuku wanted to deck the principal in the face, it wouldn't change anything. The media was going to take the image of Katsuki restrained and run with it for weeks.

"You owe him a formal apology," Izuku stated. Katsuki wouldn't want one, of course. He'd think they were only doing it because they thought he was weak, even when that couldn't be further from the truth. But he deserved one.

"We absolutely do," Nedzu agreed.

It really wasn't satisfying when the mammal kept agreeing with him. Izuku didn't have an outlet for his anger.

"You should also start talking to the media," Aizawa stated behind him. He and Hizashi had hovered just inside the doors, letting Izuku chew out the principal. "We can somewhat control how much that image is used."

That was the most productive thing to come out of this. Nedzu agreed to try and control the media, and Izuku was at least able to claim that he'd done something to help Katsuki.

He was still angry it had happened at all. It shouldn't have. On the way home, he texted Katsuki and offered to burn the medal for him if he wanted.

Katsuki responded by saying he'd already blown it up and didn't know where the remains had landed. Izuku wondered why he'd expected any different.

There were also almost a hundred messages in the class group chat, all of them worried he might have actually gone to kill a man.

He skimmed through the comments, slowly starting to smile. The theories about what he'd do to whoever was responsible were pretty funny. They'd brought back the idea that he and Katsuki were dating, which he rolled his eyes at. They were never going to let that go, were they?

Towards the beginning of the chat, when they were first asking if anyone could find him, one of the comments made his blood run cold.

Kaminari: Dude I've never seen anyone that mad before.

Kaminari: Legit thought he'd start breathing fire for a second

He hadn't meant anything by the comment, of course. And it wasn't like any of them could possibly know.

But he had just gone on a warpath. He had wanted desperately to punch whoever was responsible in the face.

Had he looked like his father while doing it?

Xx

Kurogiri leaned back in his chair, the video on his computer paused. The first day of the UA sports festival had been…enlightening. Shigaraki was already talking about the first place winner. It was the same brat from the USJ. Surprisingly, he'd shown the same hostility towards his own classmates, and Shigaraki was more than a little intrigued.

They hadn't seen Alley Cat, though. Not at first. Not until Kurogiri was analyzing Bakugou's last fight, and his eyes noticed the crowd in the background. Alley Cat hung over the rail, cheering on his classmates.

Now, what reason would there be for him not to participate? A simple answer was that the school was aware of his vigilante activities already, and had thought it unfair for him to compete. But looking at the other fights, Kurogiri doubted that was the case. Alley Cat might have more experience, but all of the UA students were powerful.

Kurogiri dug into the UA database, pulling up student files. It sounded easy, but it had taken him over an hour to hack into one of the teacher's off-site accounts. There, he accessed Ryu Sasaki's file.

And what an interesting little file it was. More passcodes protected it, but other student files didn't have the same precautions. It was just Sasaki's. Another hour, armed with a fresh cup of coffee, Kurogiri broke into it.

He had to wonder what the point of protecting the file had been. It was almost entirely blank. There was nothing for emergency contacts or home address, his past school only had 'Homeschool' written next to it, even his photo was missing from the file.

That had been a lot of effort to hide such little information, which meant they were really hiding what wasn't there.

He sipped at his coffee. For whatever reason, they didn't want people knowing about Ryu Sasaki. Even general search engines like google didn't offer anything about Sasaki, though that was less surprising.

If Kurogiri hadn't seen the kid with his own eyes, he wouldn't know he existed.

But maybe that was the point. Maybe they didn't want anyone to know. Maybe, Ryu Sasaki wasn't who he said he was.

He tapped his fingers around his mug, planning his next steps. He'd hack into the quirk registry next and find matches for his fire trick, and if that didn't bring any results, he'd talk to Sensei about it. For all he knew, he was on a wild goose chase for nothing. But there was too much that wasn't adding up.

Whenever heroes tried to hide something, it meant the villains were about to have a good day.