My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Chapter 7: The Card

Midday in Japan, people in the city near UA Academy were busy with their daily lives. The traffic was in bulk today, and just as busy were the people on the sidewalk as they tried to go back and forth from their various destinations.

One man in a very official business suit was on the phone, "Yes, I'm on my way, the train got delayed again, I swear it's never on time. Hold on, I'm at an intersection."

He approached a street and the light for pedestrians to walk lit up and he crossed it along with a score of other people.

Once back on the sidewalk the man put his cell phone back to his ear, "Sorry about that. I've been in Japan all my life and I truly believe it gets busier every day. Now, about the business merger..."

The man talked at length with the person on the phone. As he passed a section of buildings, a silhouette vaguely appeared on one of them, it vanished from sight just as quickly as it arrived.

Unaware, the businessman kept going about his conversation and his walk. Until eventually he came to a sidestreet, "Very good, set everything up and I'll be there soon, just have to take care of one more thing. Bye."

He put his phone away and sighed. As he walked down the side street, a blur passed behind him, knocking over a can nearby.

The man turned and saw the can, "What knocked that over? Is someone there?"

Curious, he looked around, but nothing appeared.

"Must of been the wind."

Content, he went forward once more, and before he could get back in stride a gloved hand covered his mouth. The man struggled and tried to talk but only muffled noises came of it. A noise that was made inert by the continuing lives of those nearby who didn't notice that something bad was happening nearby.

At U.A. High, the students of Class 1-B were also unaware of the event that just happened, they were taking notes as Angel Wings taught them.

"And that was a key turning point for that era in our country, any questions?" she asked as she turned to them.

They all shook their heads in reply and that made her happy.

"Excellent! You'll be questioned on this tomorrow in a quiz so I hope you took good notes! Now, let's see we have..."

She turned to the clock that was hanging nearby, "Ah, only a few minutes left, perfect. Just enough time to go and give some of you a special assignment."

This got all of their attention as they wondered what it could be.

"We the teachers of UA have a lot of duties outside the classroom, some of us are still very active in our pro hero duties and only some of them stay here at the dorms to make sure you all are protected from potential threats. As such, sometimes we need to go pick up materials outside the academy for various classes. One of those days is today, and as is a bit of a tradition among the teachers, in the early days of the new classes arriving...we have you all do those errands for us. Aren't you special?"

She snickered in a slightly evil way and this put off the class a bit, but others weren't amused, like Eri, "Forgive me, teacher, but you're having us do chores instead of training? That seems like a waste of skill usage."

"Well, as one of your teachers would say, Ms. Ogata, everything is connected. It just so happens that the items some of you will be picking up today are used in the development studio. So while it may seem like a chore, you're ensuring we have items that can used to help you in the field down the line. Does that help your assessment of the task?"

Knowing she was being called out Eri bit her tongue and nodded, "Yes, Ms. Tsubasa."

"Very good," Angel Wings replied with a stern expression before melting back to a more pleasant one, "Now, usually I'd have all of you go just to get you out of the academy walls for a bit. But, my personal task only requires a group of four. The items aren't too heavy, but they will need some hands on them. So, this is a test for a select few of you to go and show you can follow orders, complete tasks, and not get into trouble. the four of you who go today will be exempt from the next time this happens so that others can go and participate. Understand?"

Chuya shot her hand into the air, "How are we to decide who goes first?"

"A great question, Ms. Taki. Ms. Fuji, please stand."

Intrigued, Kuroda rose and gazed upon her teacher, "Yes?"

"Since you are officially the class rep, this will be your first test of leadership. Based on the task that I have described to you...pick the four who will go. Know that who you pick will affect how you are personally graded in this endeavor."

Not flinching from the challenge, Kuroda bowed, "Of course, I'll do my best."

She snapped back to an upright position and gazed at the class fully. Many met her eyes, some intentionally looked away and others pretended to be busy.

"Hmm...so many worthy contenders... Given the...severity of the assignment, I feel that we should have someone who can keep the rest in line...an...enforcer if you will."

Kuroda smiled and tilted her head towards Tonen, who was already shaking his head at how she turned his phrase from their previous chat into a summoning, "Ok, fine. I'll go, class rep."

"Flattered you accept. Now, who should go with you? Obviously you need someone who will follow without hesitation...so Azujima."

"Yeah, I'll go with TK," he said happily.

"Then we'll need someone who won't mind helping out you two...Ebirima!"

She sighed heavily as her name was called, "I was honestly hoping you wouldn't pick me, but I'll go."

Kuroda curtsied to her, "Thank you, kindly. Now for our wild card...someone to push out of their comfort zone."

Her eyes went around the class and lingered on Kanagita for a bit, who was very nervous as she anticipated being called. Kuroda frowned slightly and shifted her gaze until she found a better candidate, "Iha! Want to have fun with the others?"

Iha met Kuroda's gazed at first and then slowly looked away, "Sure."

"Such spirit. Ok, Ms. Tsubasa, there's your four."

Angel Wings surveyed the selections and nodded in approval, "An interesting team. Ok, you four stay here and I'll brief you, the rest are dismissed. And no teasing them after they return! You'll all be getting a job like this in a future."

The rest of the class left, save for Kuroda, who lingered for a sec and approached her teacher, a rare hesitation on her face, "Was...I supposed to pick myself for this?"

Her teacher smiled and put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "Don't over think. I asked you to do something and you did it. You could've put yourself on the team, but I don't fault you for not doing so. Now go on, I have an assignment to give out."

Kuroda gave an exhale of relief at this, "Thank you. See you later, guys!"

"Bye," said the others as she left with a wave.

Once gone, Angel Wings pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote something on it, "This is a simple pickup mission. Here is the address, and a note to the store owner. They're expecting you. Give them the note and they'll hand you the materials. Take them to the development studio when you're done. Any questions?"

"Do we have time to change into our street clothes?" wondered Tonen with a small hand raise.

"Sorry, I mentioned you were students so they'll be expecting you in your uniforms."

"Eh, we'll live."

"I feel you will. Again, it's just a retrieval, and the parts you get will help others when the time comes. It shouldn't take more than an hour so you'll be back before dark. Off you go!"

She held out the note, Tonen was the first to rise and he grabbed and looked at it before he turned to the others, "You heard her, let's go."

Iha, Ebirima and Azujima followed him out of the classroom, Angel Wings watched them leave and held her spot before sitting and pulling out some other work, "Good luck."

Not talking to anyone they passed, the four headed to the grounds and through the front gate. Once outside Tonen pulled out his phone and located the store on an app.

"Ok...let's see...," he said as the brought up the route to their destination. "It's about a 20-minute walk from here. Everyone ok with that?"

"I'm good," noted Azujima.

Ebirima nodded, "I could do with a walk."

Iha just looked at him and shrugged, "Sure."

That got Tonen to laugh, "Always a pleasure, Up Down. Ok, let's go."

With a motion forward Tonen led the way, they made sure to stick close enough together so that they wouldn't be separated due to the crowds. It was near the end of the standard work shift so places were crowded. At one point they were almost squished together as they tried to cross the road.

"This is why I didn't have us take the train," grumbled Tonen.

"Oh yeah, that would've been even more packed," acknowledged Ebirima as she politely nudged someone away from her after almost getting elbowed by them.

When the crowd split and they had more breathing room a thought came to Tonen and he turned to Ebirima, "Hey Bubble Gum?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you want Kuroda to pick you? We do something wrong?"

"What? No! Nothing like that!" she replied frantically as she waved her arms just as frantically in front of her. "I don't like going first on things like this."

"Things like what?" asked Azujima.

"Just things in general. When I was young, pre-Quirk, I had a string of things happen where I ALWAYS went first and something ALWAYS went wrong. Not even me screwing up kind of things, just things in general. I'm a bit superstitious I guess. This is the first mission of its kind for our class, and of course...I'm in the first group. Just don't want to jinx us or anything."

"Hey," Tonen interjected and he made a motion for her eyes to focus on his. "You're not a jinx, far from it. If something goes wrong, that's not on you. So don't think that way, ok?"

Ebirima laughed slightly and scratched her head, "You sound like my older brother."

"I hope that's a compliment."

"In this case, yes."

"How many years older is he?"

"Five. He's already out of school and into doing Pro-Hero work with a friend on the northern side of Japan."

This intrigued Azujima, "Do you want to join him one day?"

This got a louder laugh out of her, "Oh no. We...love each other, but the age gap and personality differences are...a bit much. Not unlike some of us in Class 1-B won't get along even after all we go through. Like you Tonen and a certain psychic..."

She nudged him and he groaned angrily, "Goya is a self-important jerk and an arrogant fool. He better hope we're not put into a 1-on-1 battle situation again each other. I'd do my best to teach him a proper lesson."

"You'd win," remarked Iha out of the blue.

They stopped and looked at her, not expecting that response.

"What?"

"Nothing...just...that's a lot of confidence in me."

She did her usual shrug, "He's strong. You're stronger. He's arrogant. You're not. He'll make a mistake, and you'll blow him away."

Tonen gave her a small bow, "Like I said, always a pleasure, Up Down."

"I know."

They all laughed and continued on their way to their destination. Eventually, they arrived. It was a high-end tech store that was quite busy given the hour they arrived at. Tonen checked both his phone and his note from Angel Wings to make sure they were at the right spot.

With confirmation in hand he led the others inside.

As they went inside they could tell very quickly that this as a special place for tech. Computers of all shapes and sizes were on display, as well as things like drones, sound systems, television setups and more.

Azujima looked around in awe of it all, "The Twins would love it here!"

Ebirima nodded in agreement as she gazed at the tech, "Especially Ryo, she probably would want to talk to all the machines in here."

"As long as she doesn't start a machine rebellion, I'd have been ok with that," joked Tonen as he searched for a shop employee. Eventually he eyed the main counter, "Over here guys!"

They followed Tonen to the front where a very tech-dressed attendant eyed them curiously, "You guys looking for something special?"

"Kind of, we're the pickup crew for UA High, here's a note from our teacher."

He handed the note to the man and he eyed it and read it a few times. The attendant then went and typed up on his computer for a bit before he found what he was looking for, "Ah, here it is. Yeah you guys needed some custom parts. They're in a few boxes in the back, follow me."

The four were guided to a storage area in the back of the building. They all looked around and saw a variety of special shelves packed with all sorts of items and boxes with labels that spelled out what they were. No doubt to make things easier.

With so much around them they got a bit distracted until the attendant called out to them, "It's ok to be a little starstruck but please come over here."

Snapping back to reality they sped over to him and he motioned to five boxes near him.

"There are for you. All paid for and everything, so nothing else for you or your school to do. You can use this door to get to the back alleyway. Give our store's best to your teachers and we look forward to more orders from them."

He gave a wave and left them. Once gone Tonen looked at the boxes and started to pick them up one at a time.

Ebirima eyed him as he did, "Checking for heaviness?"

"Yep," he replied as he continued, "just want to make the journey back as painless as possible. No sense in making this harder than we have to. Ok...Azu, take this one, Bubble Gum this one is yours, here is one for you Up Down, and I'll take the other two."

"They the heaviest?"

"Heavy enough. Now let's go, don't want to miss our one-hour deadline."

One by one they each picked up their boxes and with Tonen at the lead they headed out the door and into the back alley before they got to the main road again. Things were still busy on the path so they clung close together to make sure they didn't get separated or potentially get picked off by a thief.

About halfway through their journey they stopped at an intersection and waited for a crossing light. When they did, an elevated train went above them, the noise irritated Tonen's ears. The thought of this made him turn to Azujima, who was very blank-faced and staring at the ground.

"Azu, are you ok?" he asked concerned.

At first, Azujima didn't answer, then he suddenly popped back to life and looked at them all confused, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you were ok with that train passing by. What did you just do?"

"A small technique I use to block out noise when I want to. It's not perfect, but it helps."

"Good to know."

"Yeah, I'm glad I know how to listen to what I want to at times. Though I do wonder what it would be like to hear in an even larger range than I can right now."

Iha turned to him and shifted her box around, "Ok."

She extended her hand to Azujima quickly and grabbed his arm, Tonen didn't have enough time to stop her, "Up Down, no!"

The moment her hand touched Azujima his senses got supercharged. He gasped for air as if struck by a powerful force. His senses went into overdrive and suddenly he could see, hear, smell, and taste everything within all directions even more clearly than he could before. His brain did its best to comprehend it all, but was failing. HIs eyes rolled up in his head as the information kept pouring in.

Tonen was able to knock Iha's hand off of him, and Azujima collapsed to the ground when the power-up was gone.

"Up Down, do your dampening field on him, NOW!" he ordered as he went to his friend.

Iha was visibly shaken by this but did so. Ebirima just stood in shock, unsure of all that was going on before her. Tonen pulled Azujima off the ground and tried to shake him back to life.

"Azu, Azu! Wake up man!"

At first it didn't work, but eventually Azujima gasped for air once more and his eyes returned to their normal state, "TK...I saw...I heard...I felt...everything..."

"I know, I'm sorry, she didn't know. I should've warned them about your powers."

"Body...body..." Azujima sputtered out still trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, I bet your body hurts, buddy."

Azu got an usual focus in his face and grabbed Tonen's shirt to pull him in closer, "Dead...body... I saw, smelled...a dead body...two miles away...it's in a sidestreet, hidden...'

He let go and fell backward a bit but Tonen kept him off the ground, Tonen wasn't sure what to make of the message at first, "You found a body? Oh crap."

"What do we do?" asked Ebirima even more shocked than before. "Do we call the police?"

"And tell them what? That our friend with super senses detected a body? I doubt even he knows its exact location in terms of street corners."

"Can...he lead us there...? wondered Iha, who turned away as Tonen met her eye.

"...yeah, I think he can. Azu? Can you do it?"

Azujima took several deep breaths and slowly got back to his feet, "Oh...my head, is this what a hangover feels like?"

Tonen couldn't help but laugh at that one, "Pray you never find out. But seriously, do you think you can take us there?"

"Yeah, I can, I know roughly where it is even without the enhancement. Shouldn't we go and deliver the packages first?"

"I'd love nothing more, but we can't risk something happening to the body. Besides, the longer we wait, the longer the crime scene goes cold and can hinder the police investigation. We have to go while you know where it is. Please lead the way."

"Alright," said Azujima hesitantly as he picked up his box that he dropped before, "follow me."

Azujima led the way down the street adjacent to where they were originally going. Tonen followed close behind, with Ebirima behind him and Iha bringing up the rear, her face racked with grief.

They took things street by street, with Azujima using both his memory and senses to try and determine the quickest way to go and get to the body. Eventually, Azujima's energy picked up.

"I got a lock," he said with an odd excitement, "it's this way!"

Picking up the pace they went through a few streets and sidestreets until they eventually reached one that was both deserted and yet felt off somehow.

"The smell," said Iha softly.

"Yeah, even I can smell it now," added Ebirima slightly disturbed.

Tonen looked around and gave a casual glance at the area, "Same. But it's just faint enough that a passerby wouldn't notice it. Giving them plenty of time to get away and not leave much to worry. I'll take the lead now Azu. I'm pretty sure what's awaiting us by that dumpster."

"Thanks," replied Azujima with clear relief.

Tonen took it slow and edged closer and closer to the a bright red dumpster that was against the nearby wall. The smell was still faint, but it grew more pungent as they etched closer.

Eventually, the shoes of a person appeared, then the legs, and then the rest of the body. The lifeless expression of the man horrified all but Tonen, who wasn't focused on that, but something else.

For on the man's chest, propped up in an unnatural fashion, was a playing card. A seven of spades. Tonen's hands clenched and shook as he saw the card in full detail. Its face seems basic, but the border of the card had a very unique coloring all its own.

Memories flashed into Tonen's mind. One of a younger him holding a very similar card and hovering over another dead body.

As he gaped at the card, Ebirima just noticed it and went to grab it, "What's the card about?"

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" roared Tonen.

The three jumped back in fear at Tonen's roar as well as the livid expression on his face.

"TK?" started Azujima, unfamiliar with this version of his friend, "What's wrong...?"

Tonen forced himself to take some breaths and calmed down, "I'm sorry, I...know what the card is. And we can't touch it. It'll hurt the investigation."

Ebirima gazed back and forth from Tonen to the card, "What does it mean, Tonen?"

"Not now, Bubble Gum, not until I... Just not right now, ok? Go and call the cops, we need to bring them here. You remember the street corner we're near?"

"Yeah, yeah I remember, I'll get on it."

"Thank you. Azu and Up Down, keep a lookout, no one enters the sidestreet until the cops get here."

"You got it," said Azu as he got into position.

Iha lingered her gaze on Tonen, but then nodded and went into a spot opposite of Azujima. With Ebirima on the phone, Tonen knelt down and took out his own phone and took a picture of the body with the card, and then zoomed in to take the shot of the card itself.

His eyes flared angrily as he looked at the card on his phone and the memories again flashed through his mind.

Minutes later, the police arrived. They weren't too pleased about them finding the body, but once Tonen explained the situation they calmed down and allowed them all to leave after asking a few questions. One of the officers even gave them a lift back to UA in their squad car.

When they arrived at UA, Angel Wings was at the gate waiting for them as they got out of the car, "My word, are you all alright?"

"We're fine," answered Tonen with assurance. "Did the officer tell you what happened?"

"Yes, that you found a dead body on accident. Is that all that happened?"

"Yeah, it was a fluke thing. We were never in any danger, I promise."

Unsure, but content for the time being, Angel Wings nodded and motioned to the school, "Very well. Take the boxes to the development lab and head straight for the dorms. I must consult with the principal about this."

They all nodded and headed inside, once they headed to their dorm they were bombarded by most of the others in their class who had somehow heard what happened. Tonen managed to get them all to stop long enough to give them a down and dirty rundown but it didn't satisfy them and the questions continued.

"Hey, enough!" shouted Kuroda as she stood in front of Tonen and the others. "They all have been through an ordeal, and I know that they would give you the same courtesy of respecting your privacy if you were the ones going through this. So back off and disperse or I'll knock you all unconscious to ensure you back off. Got it?"

Begrudgingly they broke apart.

Tonen smiled and laughed softly, "Thanks."

Kuroda shrugged, "Don't thank me yet, I know it won't last, and I have plenty of questions too. Go back to your rooms, all of you. I'll make sure you're not bothered."

With a nod they all headed back to their rooms, not even saying a word to the others as they broke off.

The moment that Tonen entered his room he didn't go and relax, or lie on his bed to try and drown out the thoughts, he went right to his phone and rapid fire sent messages to his mother and father.

Once done, only then did he go to his bed and tried to relax. He didn't dare try to draw because he knew the only image that would come into his mind to draw. Minutes seemed to take the lengths of hours, and then, about a half hour after he sent the messages, his phone vibrated heavily. He pulled it out and opened up a video chat app. On the screen were his parents who were anxious in their expression.

"We got your message, what's wrong?" asked Soyuki.

"Is everything alright at your school, TK?" asked Shitaka.

"The school is fine," he answered briskly. "It's outside the school that's the problem."

"Son, that doesn't make any-"

"I found the card again!"

The statement stunned them into silence. They slowly looked at one another and then back to their son. Soyuki was particularly worried by this proclamation, "Are you sure?"

"You tell me," Tonen said and then quickly sent the photo of the card and the dead body to them.

Shitaka looked away angrily as the pictures emerged in front of them, "Dang it, not again."

Soyuki also examined the pictures but quickly returned focus to her son, "Are you ok? How did you find this person?"

Tonen waved off her concern, "I'm fine, mom, it's a long story. I was doing a class assignment and my friends and I happened upon the body, that's all. I promise. Now tell me about the card! Why am I seeing it again? You said that it didn't mean anything and that I shouldn't worry! Was that a lie?"

"No!" shouted his father, he regained his composure and looked at Tonen with sympathy, "We didn't lie. You were never in danger. And you didn't have to worry back then. It did mean something, yes, but nothing to you. Nothing that would affect you, and this should prove it as it's been five years since the last one."

"Not helping, dad. What is that card?"

"We can't tell you," lamented Soyuki. "Not yet."

"WHY NOT?!"

"Because it's a Pro-Hero issue! Top secret. Top of the top. We only know about it because of you bringing that card home the first time. Even Brazen wouldn't have been appraised of this without what happened five years ago. We're only in the loop because of it, and now...we have to ask for permission to even mention it to you or anyone again."

"Which you're going to ask for right now, right?" asked Tonen as he fumed.

"Yes, TK, we will. But until that point, until WE give YOU permission, you are to say nothing about that card to your friends, teachers, classmates, anyone. If they ask about the card...you say it was weird and nothing more. Do you understand me, son?" asked Shitaka with a determined glare at him.

The two entered a staredown. Tonen desperately wanted to bite back and demand more answers, but he knew that they didn't have any answers, he had to be patient. No matter how much it churned him up inside.

"Yes, I understand."

Soyuki held out her hand to the screen, "I'm so sorry we have to leave you hanging like this, honey. I want to tell you more, just hang on until tomorrow and I promise we'll get some kind of permission to tell you more. We love you, stay safe."

"Love you too, bye."

He pushed a button and closed the app. Tonen buried his face in his hands as the memories of five years past flooded back to him. The card, the body he found, showing it to his parents and more. It pained him, and he had to focus hard to drown it out.

He rested on his bed for a while and did his best to focus on something else, anything else, but nothing worked. For an hour he tried to do something with his mind that didn't return his thoughts to the card. But when nothing worked he got up and left, needing a new location to think in.

As he entered the main area he paused as he saw someone in front of Azujima's door. It was Iha. She had a hand just in front of his door, as if to knock on it. But she was almost frozen in time because she didn't do anything.

"Up Down?" he called out to her.

Iha turned and saw Tonen and bolted down the hallway. Tonen let loose an exhale and a wall of air cut her off and forced her to stop.

"Even if you could outrun me, would you really want to?"

She shifted in place a bit, then hung her head in shame, "Yes. I did...something bad."

Tonen sighed and approached her, "You didn't know, Up Down."

"I should've."

"Why? Because he has super senses? I didn't think about it when we first met, or when we talked. I had to ask him about how sensitive he was, and even then it took me a while to understand the whole scope. You thought he was asking for something when he was just speculating, it happens. Please don't beat yourself up. Ok?"

He leaned down to get her to look at him, she met his eyes and held the gaze, eventually, she nodded, "Thank you."

"I don't hate you for what happened, neither does Azu. We're not the type. If you want to apologize, by all means. Just...let it go afterward. There's bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?" she asked confused.

"I...uh...just things in general. You made a mistake, you know it, and you won't do it again without permission, right?"

"Right."

"Good, go and apologize, then move on. I'll be right here."

She gave another nodded and headed to Azujima's door. Iha knocked on it and Azujima arrived not long after, "Hey Iha."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she blurted out with a bow of her head. "I didn't know. I didn't know!"

In a very Tonen way he pushed her upright and made her look at him, "It's ok! I promise. Like you said, you didn't know. And despite me literally almost overloading...it was a cool feeling for a little while."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I was sensing everything from miles around, WAY farther than I could go before. I don't want to try that again without some prep...but it was certainly a unique feeling."

"I won't do it again without your permission, I promise," she noted assuredly.

"And I appreciate it, but think of it like this, if you didn't do that, we wouldn't have found that body. So while it started out bad, it turned out good. So please don't be sad, ok?"

"Ok."

She bowed again to him and then quickly walked away. Azujima watched her go and turned to see Tonen was there. Tonen gave him a thumbs up and Azujima returned the gesture before going back into his room.

"You really are a big brother," came a voice.

Tonen looked around and gazing at him from a nearby doorway was Kuroda, her usually confident face now filled with worry and weariness.

"I have my moments," joked Tonen. "What's with the look?"

"Tell me this isn't my fault, please."

"It's not anyone's fault. Not mine for trying to find the body, not Up Down for enhancing Azu's Quirk, not Azu for having the Quirk or Bubble Gum in any way. So why should we blame you? Because you put us together?"

She gave him a small wink and tapped her nose to show he got it.

"You're our class rep, Kuroda. You're going to make decisions that backfire eventually or have unintended consequences. That's just how it works. And if Hana was the rep and the same things happened, should we blame her? Would you blame her?"

Kuroda shook her head after a thought, "No, I wouldn't."

"Good. Now if you want to do something worthwhile, go find Ebirima and cheer her up."

"Why?"

"Because she mentioned before all of this started that she feels like a jinx when it comes to doing things first. Like this mission, and you can bet that she is feeling pretty low right now. So be a good class rep and make sure she knows the truth. It's no one's fault."

Kuroda straightened up and gave him a mock salute, "Yes sir!"

Tonen rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, Kuroda, laugh it up."

"Hey, where's my nickname? Everyone else has one but me!"

"Well that's not true, but it's mainly because I couldn't instantly think of one. It usually just comes to me. Your Quirk is shifting things, but Hana has something similar and I don't want that to get confusing. I could call you Rep, k? Oh...that's not bad, K-Rep."

"K-Rep?" she said mulling it around. "I think that'll work."

"Good, now do what we elected you to do, K-Rep."

With a teasing tongue extension he left her and headed into the kitchen area. He stayed there for a while and cooked him something to calm his mind. But no matter what he did, the thoughts came flooding back in of the card.

Resigned to his current fate, he went back to his room and didn't come out for the rest of the night.

The morning dawned and when Tonen woke up there was an envelope slid under his door. It had a stamp marking on the front that he recognized and he quickly opened it and read the message.

"Mr. Keitomo, I request your presence before your classes begin today, we have much to discuss - Principal Ayatsune."

Tonen stared intensely at the letter for a bit, but then quickly changed and headed to the office before anyone could question him about anything.

Though he had never gone to the principal's office before, he knew where it was by studying the layout of the building. He went right to the door and hesitated for but a moment before knocking.

"Come in," came a calm voice.

Tonen entered and immediately took in the sights, mainly because they were quite overwhelming. There were all sorts of lights, lamps, and chandeliers all over the office, it made the room unusually bright, though it didn't seem to bother the woman sitting at a desk not too far from the door.

After his eyes adjusted he immediately recognized Rinoda Ayatsune from the acceptance message he got after the exams. She had on the very same black suit as before, and her eyes were still piercing white.

She gazed at him for a bit before giving a motion to a nearby chair in front of her, "Mr. Keitomo, welcome. Sit down, please."

"Principal Ayatsune," Tonen replied as he took the seat offered to him.

"I do apologize for not presenting myself to you sooner, I wish this was not our first face-to-face meeting."

"I've only been here a week, ma'am, it's fine that we haven't had a chance to talk."

"Yes, you're right, but still, this is...awkward. You do know why you're here, right?"

Tonen sighed angrily and looked away, "Yes, the incident yesterday with the dead body. I swear that we didn't intend-"

She held up a hand to stop him, her expression had changed into something much more serious, "No, Mr. Keitomo. I believed what you told your teacher and the police. I'm here to ask about...this..."

Principal Ayatsune pulled out a tablet and showed it to him. HIs eyes went wide as he saw two very familiar pictures on it. The card, and the card on the body.

"Those are my pictures! Where do you get them?"

"Your mother."

"You know my mom?" he asked confused, Tonen didn't expect to hear his mother brought up by the principal.

"Yes, after a fashion. We've only met a few times. Your 'uncle' Brazen on the other hand...we have more of a history. But that's neither here nor there. I'm here to talk to you about your connection to the card found on the body. And...I have been granted authorization to let you in on what very few Pro-Heroes know. On the condition that you cannot tell anyone else without my permission. Do you accept these terms?"

"Yes! I mean, yes, Principal Ayatsune."

She gazed at him, her pure white eyes peering deep into his mind and soul to try and determine whether he was ready for what was about to come. After a few moments she leaned back in her chair and interlocked her fingers, "Very well. First, what is your connection with the card? Your parents nor Brazen gave me any details."

Tonen's hand trembled for a bit, he put the other hand over it to stop the twitch. In his mind, he flashed back to five years previous.

A young Tonen walked down a street, his attire wasn't too much different from his regular casual attire outside of him being in a hoodie instead of a regular jacket.

"It was a little over 5 years ago, I wasn't even ten yet. My parents and uncle were working so I went and just hung around the city. I went to an arcade, the park to play on the swings, that kind of thing. I was on my way home when I decided to take a shortcut..."

The memory shifted and Tonen was in a more shady part of the city. The buildings were more run down, the stores didn't look as nice, and the few people the young Tonen saw didn't look kind.

"My parents told me never to down that part of town as it was heavy with gang involvement. But I knew my Quirk could protect me and I wanted to get home. I should've listened."

The young Tonen continued down a certain path until he stopped suddenly. He started to sniff around, then he spun around to see where a certain stench was coming from.

"What is that...?" the young Tonen asked.

He continued to sniff around until finally he found himself looking down a dark alley. The very sight of it made the young Tonen hesitate.

"Mom and dad would kill me for going into a place like that...but..."

Curious as to the smell he went in. The smell grew in intensity, and the young Tonen went further in, and as he did, a woman's body appeared on the ground. She was on her side, back facing Tonen.

Concerned, he went over to her and knelt beside the woman and shook her shoulder, "Excuse me, ma'am? Are you ok?"

When she didn't answer he shook harder, and the women's body fell backwards until she was facing him. It was there that he saw a giant hole in her chest. The sight horrified him and he gaped at what was before him.

The young Tonen's eyes focused solely on the hole in the chest, as if nothing else mattered.

"You see death all the time on TV and in movies, even when you're a kid," Tonen lamented. "But to see it for real, right in front of you, and in such a...grisly way? That just...was too much for me."

"No child should have to see that, I'm sorry," consoled Principal Ayatsune. "What about the card?"

"I'm getting there. As I said, all I could focus on was the hole in the woman's chest. But I had to look away, when I did...there it was."

The young Tonen forced himself to look at the ground instead of the woman. When he did, he saw something on the opposite side of the woman. It was a card, with its backside facing up.

"A card...?" asked the young Tonen and he picked it up. "What's that doing here? Was it hers...?"

He flipped the card around and looked at it on its frontside.

"Out of curiosity, Mr. Keitomo, what card was it?"

"Nine of Hearts. Why?"

"I'll explain later, please continue."

"Right..."

The young Tonen continued to just stare at the card, and it brought him an odd comfort.

"Seeing that card, it...gave me something to look at besides her. I can't quite explain what happened next. My body and mind just went onto...autopilot I guess. With the card in my hand I stood up and left. I went home...and I waited."

"Waited for what?" asked Principal Ayatsune.

"My parents," answered Tonen.

The memory shifted once more. The young Tonen sat at his parents dining room table. He continued to stare at the card, even spinning it between his fingers.

The door opened and Tonen's parents emerged in full gear.

"Hey TK!" called out Shitaka with a wave.

"What are you doing at the table without your drawing book, honey?" questioned his mother with a smile.

"I was waiting for you, need to tell you something," the young Tonen replied Tonen, his expression emotionless.

Shitaka noticed his son's expression and grew worried, "Something the matter, TK? Did you find something while you were out today?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"A dead body."

They both gasped and raced to Tonen to check on him. Soyuki was particularly aghast, "What happened, tell us everything!"

"So I did, and they couldn't believe it," Tonen recalled. "Once they had the details mom made the call."

"This is Pro-Hero Wire, I need a unit to go to a potential homicide, location at..."

"What happened next?" asked Principal Ayatsune.

"The police found the body, mom and dad went to fill the cops in on what I had seen so I wouldn't have to. And I just...kept playing with the card. In a way it was the only thing keeping me from losing it about what I had seen."

The young Tonen lied on his bed and continued to twirl the card around in his fingers, eyes rarely moving off of it.

"Eventually, my parents realized that I didn't have a deck of cards, nor did they. So they asked where I got it. I didn't mention it before, so I did then. They weren't happy, I could tell, but they also knew I had gone through an event to say the least and the card didn't seem that important in the scale of a woman being dead in front of me. They took the card and my mom took it to Uncle Brazen who had a good in with the chief and felt he wouldn't overreact to what I did. He didn't...and he did."

"How so?" wondered Principal Ayatsune.

"My parents and Uncle Brazen came to me at once and asked me everything they could about the card. I was 9, I didn't understand the questions they were asking. I told them what I knew and left it there..."

"Mom, did I do something wrong?" asked the young Tonen with tears in his eyes.

Soyuki rubbed his arm in comfort, "No, honey. It's just...the police didn't know about the card, and wanted to know anything else you saw with it or anything else."

"Was it a special card?"

Soyuki turned to Shitaka with eyes full of fear, he put on his best smile for his son, "No, not special at all. Just an...oddity. Nothing for you to worry about, right, Higaza?"

Brazen gave a thumbs up to him and to Tonen, "Right! Just following up on details, nephew. Nothing to worry about."

"Ok," said the young Tonen softly, eyes glazed over.

The adults all looked at each other with concern over the situation, though the younger Tonen didn't notice this.

Back in the present, Tonen rubbed his head in agony and frustration, "After that...I had trouble focusing, sleeping, etc. Mom and dad took me to therapy. Took me a while, but it worked overall. I haven't thought about that card in about two years. Until yesterday when one just like it stared at me on yet another dead body I found. Please, Principal Ayatsune, tell me what it is!"

The principal looked at him intently, then stood up and faced the other direction to look out the nearby window, "There is evil in this world, Mr. Keitomo. You know this. It's the basis of our culture in some ways. Quirks don't always go to good people. They end up in bad ones, and those bad ones become thugs, villains, terrors. We've dealt with quite a few over the years, including myself and your fellow teachers. But a little over eight years ago, a series of deaths started to happen. Each one punctuated by a different card being put on the body."

Tonen put the pieces together in his head, "A serial killer..."

"That's what we thought at first. But as we looked at the deaths...they were all different, and not even in a shapeshifting Quirk kind of way like some of your classmates. These were extremely different, and then we realized that the cards on the bodies weren't just a calling card, they were expressing a particular killer. One for each card."

"A villain group?"

"Correct, the codename for them is: The Deck. As there appears to be one for every card in a deck. By the time you found your card they had made their presence known and the police, as well as Pro-Heroes, were desperate to find out more about them. That's why you got grilled so hard by your parents and Brazen, we were still in the early stages of finding out more about them so every detail was crucial."

"Why haven't I heard of them before? If they've been terrorizing people for years, that would've spread!"

She grunted angrily, "Usually, yes. But this group...it doesn't mind being quiet, in the background outside of its literal calling card. They screwed with Japan for about a while and then...they vanished. Or at least, vanished here. They popped up all over the world, we don't know why, but they did, and they kept leaving their cards. We had no idea they were back in the country until you found that body yesterday, and just as bad, we don't know why they chose to come back now."

Tonen couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had heard of villains occasionally coming together to try and stop Pro-Heroes but it never lasted. Either they disbanded or they were caught. But this? This was different, and he knew it, and apparently, so did the Pro-Heroes.

"Do I need to be worried that I found another card, Principal Ayatsune?" he asked with clear uncertainty.

The principal turned to him, her face unreadable for a bit, but it melted into a much kinder expression and she shook her head, "No, you should be fine, Mr. Keitomo. You have fear over this? Don't. They pick their targets very specifically and whoever that man was...he was going to die by their hand one way or another. They know nothing about you, nor should they have a desire to come after you. You're fine."

"I see, thank you for telling me this."

"I doubt it brings you comfort, correct?"

He shook his head, "No, it doesn't. How could it? Like you said, there's evil in the world, and I know it's name...and I might be seeing these cards a lot more from now on."

"Let us hope not," she remarked as she grabbed the upper part of her chair. "But as I noted earlier, you cannot tell anyone else. If your classmates remember the card, or ask about it, you play it off. No one else can know. Do you understand?"

He stood up and looked her right in the eye before giving a nod, "I promise not to tell without permission. You have my word."

"Then I cannot ask for more. You're free to go back to the dorm, go and get ready for class. Hopefully your studies and training will help take your mind off matters."

"I doubt it, but thanks."

Tonen turned towards the door. Principal Ayatsune turned back to the window. As he grabbed the doorknob a thought crossed his mind, "If I may ask, how did you get involved in this? With The Deck? My parents and Brazen got involved because of me. How do you know about them?"

Though he didn't see it, a lone tear rolled down the cheek of Rinoda, "They killed a family member of mine. I've been helping the other heroes hunt them ever since. Good day, Mr. Keitomo."

Not pressing the issue, he left.

As Tonen went down the hallway, he tried to process all he had been told, though little of it registered as it usually did.

"It's rare that you're told about villains in the early days of your schooling. They usually are a motivation, a warning, a looming darkness that you're told must be overcome to be true heroes eventually. But not for me. I was told barely a week into my hero journey that there was a group of stone cold killers out there and that the very Pro-Heroes meant to protect us didn't know much on them. I did my best to take comfort in Principal Ayatsune's words that I wasn't in danger. Little did I know how wrong she was."

Far away, a familiar dark light room was once again occupied by a man hidden by shadow behind a desk, a deck of cards once more in the center of that desk.

Another man entered and bowed to the man, "Sir, we have a complication."

"Was the mission a failure?" asked the man in the chair.

"No, our member was able to kill him without much issue."

"Then I fail to see the complication."

"Per your requests since our return, we have put cameras near the death sites to see who comes and goes and how the police react to us. However, for this one...a group of students found the body."

"The closest school to the spot is UA, correct?"

"Yes sir, and that's where things get complicated, look at this."

The man handed the one in the chair a tablet. On it was footage of Tonen and his crew finding the body. The one in the chair gazed in curiosity for a while, then his eyes went wide as Tonen took pictures of the card.

"That boy...he knows about the card..." concluded the man in the chair.

The other man nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes sir. As far as we can tell. How should we proceed?"

"It could be nothing. The child of a hero who knew about the card and accidentally spilled the beans. But...we cannot take that risk. Not with our return still fresh. Find out more about this boy. Then arrange...a meeting."

"Yes sir."

The man left, leaving the other alone with the tablet. He played the footage once more and froze it as Tonen faced the camera more openly.

"Who are you, I wonder?"

*credits*