My Hero Academia: Son of Justice

by Jayme F. Midorikawa

The son of the disgraced former greatest Hero of The Soviet Union is extended a chance at a new life by the Symbol of Peace, All Might. After having lived so long resenting Heroes and Villains, and being scared to death of his own Quirk, will he be able to step forward and become the Hero he once dreamed of, and will he be able to find new purpose through friendship, or even love?

68. Hokkaido Arc Part 6 - Secret Meeting

Hello again, everyone. I understand if last week's chapter may not have come across as particularly exciting to some, I'm sure. I realize that my tendency for lengthier chapters for the sake of moving the narrative along can be considerably daunting, and in a fast-paced world like our own, the patience and, more essentially, time for that kind of dedicated reading isn't exactly easy to come by.

Well, you'll all be happy to know that, as of right now, the next couple of chapters after this one will be comparatively shorter, since they'll be much more focused as to who they're meant to be helping us follow. I'm simply trying to work with all the different plot threads I've set up and working out all the details in order to make everything cohesive as I can so that it all makes sense in the end. It's not going to be easy, and I'm almost certain I'll end up overlooking or poorly explaining something along the line. I said before that a lot of this is an active learning experience for myself, and this is why I always ask for feedback from you all whenever I post these, because I want to know where I should improve, what my strengths and weaknesses as a writer currently are.

Anyway, we'll be treading back into some more familiar territory with this chapter, primarily to set the stage for when I will eventually showcase the Shie Hassaikai Arc as we know it. As I said before, that whole section of the manga is too instrumental to simply be left alone like I had done with the Hero Killer Stain Arc.

I would like to give another round of thanks to my beta readers and consultants, Mizu and Jonny. They've really helped me to realize some of these difficulties my writing leaves a lot of readers these days, and a lot of the time, a second or outside opinion is exactly what we need in order to help ourselves grow.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that their existence causes.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 69

Secret Meeting

(Тайная Встреча)

Yuuei Academy, Thursday Morning, September 11th

Despite the overlying sense of disappointment in their own lack of capability that they had gone to bed with, Nikolay and Mina still wanted to at least try and start this assigned school day with a comparatively more optimistic air. After all, even if they couldn't be up in Hokkaido to help, that didn't mean that their mentors were in the same boat. If they really were going to be working together with Pietro's people in finding Valera and his family, then there was no doubt between them that it would be done.

And, to their mutual relief, this assumption had proven true, as this morning, when the two were already in the middle of breakfast in the dining portion of the commons area, both their cell phones had suddenly sprung to life with the hum of a simultaneous text message from De-Condenser, and nearly the instant they had both opened them up, Mina let out a joyous squeal of excitement ("WOOOH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"), just at the same time Nikolay had let out a deeply resonating "Oh, thank God" when they'd seen what it was:

A single photo of a visibly worn out-looking Pietro in what looked like a heavily forested backdrop, with a similarly dirtied-looking, but thankfully otherwise unharmed and exhausted Valera, followed by one actual message: 'We all just got this message from Maja-chan. It sounds like they nearly missed this little guy and his parents in the spot they decided to search. Looks like our hunches about his parents having gotten lost when looking for him were right on the money. You don't need to worry yourselves about this mess anymore; let's just focus now on getting you two the most complete internship education you can get from here on. Looking forward to seeing you both again tomorrow.'

The two teens let out a shared sigh of immense relief; the light of anticipation for the future visibly restored in Nikolay's eyes especially: "Oh, man, suddenly I feel several pounds lighter. God, that poor kid must've been so scared, being lost out there for so long."

"Yeah, but it sounds like Maja-chan and her friends really came through for the little guy! See, Kolya-kun; doesn't it seem like they could all be totally awesome cool Heroes after that?!" Mina asked, not out of some need to prove a point, but simply to ensure she wasn't the only one who could see it. Nikolay didn't even try to point out that he'd never expressed any doubt as he smiled, looking at his own copy of the picture and the genuine look of relief reflected in Pietro and Valera's eyes in it.

"Absolutely. I mean, everybody else in that team…I don't know for certain, but not with Maja-san herself. I could definitely see her being able to fit into it really well. It'd just be nice if she applied herself towards actually studying to become one, like us. I mean, she's got so much potential."

"Who's got potential for what now?" Kyouka Jirou's tired-sounding voice asked after an immediate yawn, drawing both her classmate's eyes as she suddenly joined in at their table with breakfast of her own, only to nearly get knocked back off her seat when Mina nearly shoved her phone in her face with eagerness.

"Maja-chan and her friends found that little Valera boy and his parents in the woods! Their idea of where to look was totally right!" Of course, this early in the morning, Kyouka couldn't hide how much she felt overwhelmed by Mina's energy as she turned to get the same answer from the comparatively calmer Nikolay.

"We were just talking about how someone as nice as her, who could dedicate herself to one thing like that so much, has real Hero potential. After we'd been worrying so much about him and his parents last night, she really came through for everyone; they all did."

Kyouka couldn't help but form an approving smile of her own as she now looked at the picture on Mina's phone, really taking it all in. "Yeah…yeah, I'd definitely think so, too. I mean, she seemed nice enough, for what little I got to see of her on Monday."

Before any of them could say anything else, the passing head of spiky red hair of Eijirou Kirishima caught their attention. The enthusiastic young man was already looking completely prepared with his uniform and backpack, heading for the entrance as he gave his present classmates a happy smile and a wave. "Hey, you guys! Glad I could catch you! Try not to get too far ahead of me in class today, okay?"

However, even his optimism couldn't do away with his two best friends' curiosity. "Hey, Kiri! Where are you off to in such a hurry?" "Yeah, I'm not used to you being so prepared this early. Is your internship actually starting earlier now?"

Eijirou, of course, realized how out of the ordinary this was, coming from him. He was as far from lazy as one could get, but he was hardly the spic-and-span-at-the-crack-of-dawn-type like Tenya or Momo were, either. "Oh, right. I actually just woke up and got text-blasted by Tunguska-sensei, Fatgum-sensei and even Amajiki-senpai. They said there's something real important they want me to be a part of today and I have to get there quick."

Figuring that made perfect sense, the trio bid their sharp-toothed friend the best of luck on his way out the door, only for them to soon see Izuku now following suit, similarly sharply dressed and moving with just as much determination. This time, the plucky duo was really surprised, as Nikolay spoke up: "Morning, Midoriya-san. We still have more than an hour before classes start, you know." "Yeah, plus wasn't your internship just yesterday, Midori-kun? Are you seriously getting to go more than all of us now?"

Barely slowing down his stride, Izuku turned to address his two friends just as Eijirou had: "Oh, good morning, you guys. Actually, Sir Nighteye-sensei hadn't called me since my run on Monday, but I just got a message from him and Togata-senpai to meet them at the office today, and soon. For some reason, they even said I don't need my costume for this one…"

As Izuku made his way out the door, by this point now drawing a similar surprised greeting from Eijirou mere feet ahead; Nikolay and Mina were both completely blindsided with curiosity of just what could have possibly been happening that would have their two friends suddenly interning at the same time.

Of course, they couldn't even ask each other what they thought it could mean, before suddenly hearing Ochako's voice calling to them: "Good morning, Mina-chan, Kolya-san! I'm so sorry, but could you please not block the door? Tsu and I need to get going."

The sudden arrival and hasty exit of their two female classmates looking just like the others: pressed uniforms and clearly in a rush, had Nikolay instinctively ask: "Wow, both of you, too? But isn't your internship agency even closer to here than Eijirou-san's? You both didn't leave this early on your first days too, did you?"

At the same time as Ochako noticed and gave good morning greetings of surprise to Izuku and Eijirou outside, and as soon as Tsuyu answered: "No, but Ochako and I both got a text from Nejire-senpai, asking us to meet her and Ryukyu-sensei early-kero," Mina's eyes went wide and her hair nearly stood on end with a realization all her own.

"Hey, wait up, besties! Didn't you both say last time that Ryukyu said you could be working with Midori-kun and Kiri's teachers one day?" As soon as she asked this of her two fellow girls, Ochako and Tsuyu both came to the same realization, with the rosy-cheeked girl showing much more of a reaction, while Tsuyu bluntly stated: "Yeah, maybe this is that time already-kero."

Unable to help but overhear the conversation, Eijirou suddenly called out to the two girls: "Well, hey, if we're all heading to meet our teachers early, why don't we all just go to the station together?"

Izuku and Ochako both gave enthusiastic responses as they hurriedly moved to catch up with the grinning redhead, just at the same time one of the numerous local Heroes that had been hired to patrol the Yuuei grounds since the construction of the dorms, noticed the small group of students and subsequently offered to escort them to the train station in town.

Watching their classmates head out, and then looking at the time on their phones, Mina's excited smile grew even more so as she suddenly started eagerly elbowing Nikolay in the arm: "Hey, hey, Kolya-kun; we still got plenty of time before class! Why don't we go with them to the station, too? We gotta tell 'em all about our time yesterday, y'know?! Right?!"

"What the heck, why not?" Nikolay answered almost immediately, gaining an ecstatic "Yay!" and immediate hug from his pink best friend before she all-but dragged the Russian boy along in a desperate bid to catch up.

It of course took little to no time at all to catch up, and along the rest of the way from Yuuei to the Musutafu Train Station, the whole bunch of students were eagerly recounting to each other all the details of what they had been thinking of the most in regards to their internships; initially starting with Eijirou primarily discussing his worries regarding Tamaki's bizarre injury: "Senpai kept saying that other than the effect that shot had on his Quirk, he felt totally normal; but how could I not worry about him, you know? I mean, what if he couldn't use his Quirk anymore, period?"

"Well, yeah, who wouldn't worry for him? To work so hard that you become one of the top three students in the whole school, and then because of one person, you suddenly can't become a Pro Hero anymore? That'd just be crushing." Nikolay stated in agreement, only to notice a glimmer of hope in Mina's eyes.

"Hey, if Senpai is actually meeting you with your sensei's, maybe that means he's okay to keep doing Hero work! Like, maybe it's not permanent!" It was an admittedly very uplifting thought; even if, considering Mina's usual outlook on things, it was very much a long shot. That didn't keep her classmates from appreciating her trying to brighten one of her friends' moods.

From there, Nikolay and Mina proceeded to regale their friends of everything they had witnessed and learned yesterday back at Gagaringrad, including everything they learned of Pietro Dobrynich Granin's former history with Tunguska, the bizarre instance of his changing eye colors, as well as everything regarding Maja and the rest of his young followers, all up until finally sharing what they'd learned this morning, of the Resurrecting boy Valera and his parents going missing, only to have been thankfully found in the earliest hours of the morning by Pietro's people working in tandem with their mentors.

While it was admittedly a very pleasing story to share with their friends, with all of them expressing the same relief they did mere minutes ago, it still couldn't hide the surprisingly forlorn looks in their eyes, which Ochako and Eijirou were both very quick to notice: "Whoa, guys, why are you looking so down?" "Yeah, a whole family went missing and were found safe and sound because of your friends. They sound like a totally manly bunch to me."

"Well, yeah, they are. Like, they'd make amazing Heroes on their own, let alone together." Mina admitted, clearly troubled that their friends had caught her looking even a little regretful.

Nikolay, on the other hand, looked regretful for another reason. "Yeah…it's just that we're supposed to be learning how to become Pros and get experience towards it. People were out there, lost and in possible danger, looking to Heroes to help them…and we couldn't do it for them, all because we had to be here for school today. It just feels like we're slacking because of it, that's all."

What neither Nikolay nor Mina, nor any of their other friends knew in that moment, was that deep down inside, Izuku was feeling a deep resonance with that very same frustration. He'd been feeling it ever since his last day interning with Mirio and Sir Nighteye on Monday, and the fact that he actually hadn't gotten the call to come down to his office yesterday did not help that feeling. Frankly, getting the call this morning was a veritable miracle.

However, how could he have possibly been able to voice his empathy towards their emotions of inadequacy without exposing the secret work his mentor was doing that he'd been sworn to keep to himself? He knew he simply couldn't, and that hurt in a way all its own. But that didn't mean he couldn't at least say something to try and reinvigorate Nikolay and Mina's spirits. He knew they both had great potential to be true Heroes, just like the rest of their class, and he had just as much of a responsibility to keep that flame strong as they all did for each other.

"Well, I think this instance really goes to remind us of just how much of a gap there still is between all of us and our mentors." The moment Izuku admitted this, he could feel the curious eyes of all his friends here upon him.

Steadying himself to try and elaborate, the freckled boy went on: "What I mean is that, seeing just how our mentors keep going to face these problems day in and out should serve as a goal line for us to try and cross, and right now, the only way any of us can do that is by watching our mentors at work, and continuing to do our absolute best at Yuuei. Once we do that and graduate, then we can finally be able to go out there and save all the people we possibly can without having to worry about things like making it to school on time, and feeling like we're letting people down; just like all of them. If anything, I'd say you guys should probably take the example of your friends' work along with your mentors and let that be your own goal line."

Somewhere along the way, Izuku couldn't help but personally feel like his train of thought, or rather the intent behind his words, had gotten hopelessly muddled. What he didn't realize, though, was just how much sense it really did make, not just to his Russian and pink friends, but to the rest of his classmates here as well, with Ochako and Eijirou both looking especially inspired as well.

Before any of them could express how cool they thought the green-haired boy sounded just then, Tsuyu suddenly spoke up, having been really thinking deeply on something else the whole while after listening to her two friends' story. "That town you're both going to sounds like it has a lot of people with really amazing Quirks, Mina, Kolya. I mean, a little kid with a Quirk to actually bring back dead things? It's a good thing those people found him, and not some Villain-kero."

At the thought of this, Ochako visibly shuddered, even clutching her arms for instinctive warmth or comfort. "Ooh, yeah! Still, can you even imagine how many Heroes would probably bend over backwards to have a sidekick with that kind of Quirk once he got older, though?"

By this time, they had finally reached the Musutafu train station, and after being bid farewell by their Hero escort, the students continued on their way up the escalator and towards the different turnstiles. Understanding that their three different groups of classmates undoubtedly had different lines to take to get to their instructors; Nikolay and Mina were just about ready to say their goodbyes for the day after wishing them all luck, only to be just as surprised as Izuku was when, after having crossed his own gate, he had instinctively looked back to find Eijirou, Ochako and Tsuyu following in the same direction.

"Whoa, everybody's going this way, too? Kirishima-san, aren't you all the way in Kansai, though?" Izuku asked, only for Eijirou to hurriedly pull up one of the many different messages he'd gotten on his phone this morning, prompting Ochako and Tsuyu to do the same.

"Normally, yeah, but Senpai and our sensei's all said that we're meeting somewhere else and I'd have to get on this line this time." "Yeah, Nejire-senpai told us the same thing, too!"

This confirmation had all three girls' curiosities of if this was going to be the fated day of their working together ignited, as Mina was already bouncing excitedly, especially grabbing Ochako by the shoulders while doing so. "Oooh, Urara-chan, Tsu-chan, I'm so super jelly of you guys; getting to go off and be a big super strong Hero team already! I'll bet you must be totes over the moon right now especially, Urara-chan!"

The latest of their pink ball of sunshine's excited outbursts still had Ochako momentarily overwhelmed, to the point she couldn't mentally follow and only reply: "W-what are you talking about, Mina-chan?! Can you please stop shaking me first, though?!"

Thankfully heeding her closest female friend's wishes, Mina finally stopped bouncing, only for her ecstatic smile of well wishes to now turn into another mischievous and knowing smirk as she leaned in nice and close: "Oooh, c'mon, Urara-chan, like you don't know. Not only do you get to work under your favorite teacher like a semi-intern after all, but you get to work right next to Midori-kun, too. Is your heart racing yet; is it, is it, is it?"

"You know, maybe you shouldn't go teasing Ochako about that right now, Mina. I mean, it's not exactly like you're in any different a situation from her either-kero." Tsuyu suddenly reminded her with that ever-trusty bluntness, bringing Mina to a near complete stop, smiling with great embarrassment of her own while her black-gold eyes were already looking to make sure Nikolay and the other boys hadn't been listening in, or had even accidentally overheard her and the girls.

Of course, after having allowed herself to be much more mentally occupied with their internships yesterday and through the night, this reminder once more had Mina's heart pounding and her pink face growing a shade darker. After all, she'd sworn to herself that by the time this week was over, she was finally going to suck it up and tell Nikolay her truest feelings, consequences be damned, and these last few days of the week would doubtless fly right past.

At the same time as all this, after the reveal of their all going in the same direction had gotten Mina into another excited frenzy, Eijirou had decided to take that opportunity to pull Nikolay in just close enough by the sleeve so they could talk without risking Izuku, the girls or anybody else overhearing; an expectant grin already forming on his face as he looked his Russian best friend in the eye.

"Hey, I didn't wanna risk making a scene asking you earlier, but I think we've got a chance. So tell me, man, how've things been going on the 'telling Ashido your real feelings' front? Surely you must've gotten even a little further by now, right?" As soon as he asked this and saw the deeply contemplative and troubled look in Nikolay's green eyes, he could already feel his smirk starting to drop, and the beginnings of another encouraging pep talk to embrace his inner man and take the chance coming right up in its place.

However, just as quickly did he suddenly see a surprising look of resilience, or perhaps even acceptance, take hold in those eyes as well, rendering Eijirou silent and wide-eyed with surprise when Nikolay returned his gaze and actually began to turn a corner of his mouth upward with actual rising visible confidence.

"No…not yet…but I have made a decision about it, though. By the time this week is finally over…I'm going to tell her. I don't care what might happen as a result…but I'm not going to keep it from her for a day longer by then. That's a promise I've made to myself, if to nobody else."

Nikolay felt unexpectedly good; having finally gotten the chance to say this out loud to someone he knew he could trust to keep it a secret. Receiving a smile full of such pride in another person as what Eijirou was giving him in that moment, made the feeling that much better, as the sharp-toothed boy planted a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"That's what I like to hear, Kolya-san. I know you can do it, too. You know I'm pulling for you in this, man, 200%. I can just feel it in my gut, you won't regret it." As he continued to wish Nikolay luck, Eijirou finally made his way after Izuku through the turnstile, with Ochako and Tsuyu quickly following suit, all four of them wishing their friends good luck in school today, just the same as Nikolay and Mina both eagerly wished their friends luck in their joined internships; whatever that would ultimately look like.

As soon as they couldn't see their friends among the crowds anymore, the two best friends finally decided it was time to head back to Yuuei; both their spirits riding high with the reinvigorated anticipation for their next days of internships…and the long-awaited and no-longer-dreaded day to follow at the end of the week that would inevitably change everything for them both.

Once they'd finally exited the station and began making their way back to school through town, Nikolay's eye fell to his pocket, and he finally pulled out his phone, immediately catching Mina's ever-curious attention. "Ooh, who're you calling, Kolya-kun? You gonna ask Kiri to say hi to Tunguska-sensei for you? Can you ask him to say it for both of us?"

Nikolay's genuinely amused smile and chuckle at her energy was such a precious sight and sound to her, as he hurriedly hit the speed dial. "No, but I am calling Dad himself. If all our friends, the Big Three and their internship instructors are actually all meeting up with each other, then it's gotta be for something important. I'm just curious if he might be able to tell us anything about it."

Mina's expression was instantly full of just as much eager curiosity at the thought of it, while Nikolay was almost caught by surprise at just how quickly Tunguska had picked up on the other end: [[Kolya? What's going on? Is everything alright back at school?]]

Turning on the video feed on his phone to show his father he wasn't alone, Nikolay answered: "Everything is okay, Dad; we just got finished seeing Eijirou-san, Midoriya-san, Uraraka-san and Tsuyu-san off for whatever this big meeting is you're all having."

The moment an opening presented itself, Mina poked her head in over the boy's shoulder so Tunguska could see her smiling face as well. "Yeah, are you able to tell us anything, Sensei? It's gotta be something totally top secret and cool; real hush-hush stuff, right?"

While Tunguska's initial chuckle at her enthusiasm momentarily had both teens feeling hopeful, the look in his blue eyes did the exact opposite. "If this weren't so immensely important to be kept a secret; believe me, I would, you two. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm actually being included in this. It's just something related to an investigation Fatgum-san has been a part of for a short while now. Apparently, I was personally requested to be brought along as well."

Tunguska could easily see the worrisome look in Nikolay's eyes, and thus his own brow, furrowed with confusion for his own circumstances, became much more stern and serious. "Now Kolya, there's no need for that look, alright? I'm confident this whole thing is nothing more than us Heroes that have gathered here, sharing whatever information they have and nothing more. Nobody's getting themselves put needlessly in danger, and especially not your friends. We won't allow it. So please; both of you, let that sink in, and simply focus on your classes and your next internship period tomorrow. The way I understand it from the other students, things sound like they've been going relatively smooth up there for you both in that Gagaringrad place. However, just because it's quiet one day, doesn't mean it'll stay that way."

The moment those words left his mouth, Mina's hair once again nearly stood on end with remembrance as she nearly jumped onto Nikolay's back to once again try and get her face center frame on screen. "Whoa, how crazy cool is this, Sensei; Kolya-kun actually said those same exact words yesterday when we left to go patrol up there! You two are, like, on a totally same wave length, mental-like! You're like a super psychic!"

The resonating laugh Tunguska gave almost echoed out from Nikolay's phone. "Oh, hardly. I've used those words on so many different instances throughout my life; I'd be surprised if it hadn't gotten rooted into Kolya's brain by now."

Of course, once the all-around amused laughter had run its course, Nikolay and Mina took that chance to once more fill his father in on the happenings in Gagaringrad from yesterday to this morning, and all throughout they could both easily tell just how much the Sun of Justice was clinging onto every word while he had the chance.

By the time they'd finally reached the end of their recap up until this morning, with Maja and her comrades managing to find Valera and his family, all their worries regarding everything else had once again given way to that shared admiration this whole thing couldn't help but leave them feeling for that handful of undeniably capable youths Pietro Granin had taken under his wing.

"I mean, it's true that some of their Quirks seem pretty dangerous for Hero work, but if somebody like Bakugo can make it this far with a Quirk like his and the attitude to match, I can't imagine why any of those guys out there couldn't, no matter how much older they might be." Nikolay admitted, unable to hide his frustration at the refusal they'd been given before for even suggesting it.

Of course, Mina's own agitation accompanying her faith in any one of them was no different. "Yeah, yeah! We even told Maja-chan and Eli-chan so, and they both just up and said no! I mean, okay, at least Maja-chan seemed like she was at least thinking about it."

Finally finding a chance to speak, Tunguska calmly chimed in: "Neither of you are wrong. From how you describe them and their Quirks; albeit with a little emotional adjustment, I agree that they could ultimately prove to be quite the formidable number of Heroes. However, no matter how much you believe that, the fact is you can't go forcing people down a path they don't want to go. That's what oppressors do, and we as Heroes are to fight against such a force. If any one of them is to ever become a Hero; that is to be their choice alone to make."

Nikolay and Mina both let out a regretful sigh, knowing just how right their teacher was. Finally, Nikolay noted: "Yeah…you're right, Dad. It's just that it doesn't feel right for those guys to just keep themselves restrained to only using their Quirks in that town and not trying to use it for the good of everyone. I mean, if nothing else, wouldn't it at least help to restore the other people's faith in Heroes after everything that's happened?"

Nodding in anxious agreement, Mina similarly chimed in: "Yeah, to just be training their Quirks to be something like soldiers instead of Heroes…I don't know, it sounds so sad. I mean, Maja-chan even said that Granin-ojiisan suddenly let his own kid start training for the same thing. Kids like that oughta know Heroes are there, too, right?"

Before Nikolay could answer, a momentary flinch from Tunguska on the screen caught the corner of both their eyes, and they saw themselves once more seeing the same look of confusion Tunguska had worn the very first time Nikolay had even mentioned Pietro's name.

"I-I'm sorry…did you just say that Pietro let his son start training under him, malenkaya Ashido?" Unsure where exactly the man was going with this, Mina gave a nervous nod of confirmation, and she and Nikolay both saw his blue eyes intensify with sharpness."You two…Pietro Dobrynich Granin doesn't have kids, not for all the years I've ever known him, because he couldn't possibly have them if he wanted to. Very first year of our military training together, our mandatory health screenings revealed the man to be sterile."

At that very moment, there was what sounded like an increased energy in the background chatter from Tunguska's end, and as soon as the Russian Hero likewise noticed it, a clear look of regret flashed across his blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, but I can't hang around to talk any longer, it sounds like the meeting may very well start soon. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this, and if need be, I know you'll both be able to find it. Best of luck in school today, Kolya, malenkaya Ashido."

With that, the video feed finally cut off, and even though neither of them stopped their stride in getting back to Yuuei, neither of them was clearly able to just put what Tunguska had just revealed behind them. It was only once they had finally reached the front entrance to the school that Mina finally found the confidence in her own logic to speak: "Well…maybe when Maja-chan said it was his son, maybe she really didn't mean it all literal-like, you know? Like, maybe the kid was an orphan that Granin-ojiisan just decided to adopt? I mean, they said there were a lot of orphaned kids in that town, remember?"

Never taking his eyes off the path ahead, Nikolay's eyes were just as intense and introspective as Izuku's were whenever he went into full-analytical mode. "That's true, and it's probably the explanation. What I don't get is why Maja-san wouldn't have just told us that this Misha kid was an orphan he adopted in the first place. I mean, I guess it's not really any of our business, those kinds of details."

With their shared confusion just as quickly settling into accepting the situation for what it was, the two best friends continued on their way; ready to face whatever challenges their teachers had in store for them in preparation for their anticipated return to internship work tomorrow.

---

Ever since Mina had brought it up to her, Ochako had tried to fool herself into thinking she and Tsuyu weren't actually about to go out and already start their super-secret work alongside Eijirou and Izuku, the latter specifically. Her common sense, of course, kept telling her that this occasion couldn't have possibly been anything else, but her racing heart and other frantic thoughts kept trying to tell her otherwise every single step of their shared journey to their new meeting place. And just as often as she kept trying to foolishly convince herself in order to try and calm herself down; Izuku kept expressing surprise with every step that they were all still going in the same direction, from the same train station to get off at, the same streets to turn and so on.

It wasn't until the four of them had finally rounded yet another street corner well into their destination city, and were met by the sight of the gathered Big Three, all simply standing in wait for their juniors' arrival, that the truth became undeniably evident to the four first-years, and just how heavy whatever they were about to walk into truly was.

From there, they had ultimately made their way to the surprisingly inconspicuous office-looking building that Izuku and Mirio both knew all too well to be the office of their Hero mentor, Sir Nighteye, and once inside and up the stairs to the room deemed the meeting hall, they were met with the overwhelmingly powerful sight of not only a multitude of Pro Heroes they were all by now familiar with, alongside several unfamiliar ones (at least, to all but Izuku himself), but also all their respective mentors; from Fatgum and Tunguska, and even the surprising sight of Aizawa and the tiny elderly Gran Torino; to a slender young woman with short blonde hair and sharp teeth, with a set of what looked like metallic claws overlaying half her face, wearing a dark red Chinese-style dress and white arm sleeves, whom Ochako, Tsuyu and Nejire knew to be their mentor, the Dragoon Hero Ryukyu.

And at the head of the entire room stood a tall, lanky and deathly serious-looking middle-aged man dressed in a light grey business suit, with piercing yellow eyes behind a pair of equally serious glasses, and a head of short dark green hair with several bright yellow streaks in it; whom Izuku and Mirio knew to be their mentor, and the man responsible for calling this meeting together at all: Sir Nighteye.

"Wow, so many Heroes and teachers all in one place? What the heck do you think is going on, Tunguska-sensei?" Eijirou asked in astonishment, too much so to even give his mentors and senpai his typical enthusiastic greeting. Tunguska even looked to be struggling to find a worthwhile answer to give his young intern.

"I wish I could tell you, malenkii Kirishima. Fatgum-san hasn't even been able to give me much to go off of yet. Kolya and malenkaya Ashido had just called barely before you all arrived, asking the same thing. Right now, I'm just glad you all made it in time."

Of course, that lack of an answer from the Sun of Justice didn't stop Nejire from deciding to indulge all of her juniors (and her own) curiosity as she hurried over to the calm and pensive Ryukyu. "RYUKYU-SENSEI! Hey, hey, what is all this?! What are we doing?! You said it was a meeting before, but I knew that! What kinda meeting?!"

Unlike all her juniors, and even some of the other nearby Heroes who couldn't help but overhear yet another of the blue-haired girl's question barrages; Ryukyu's calm smile showed someone who had long since gotten used to such an eager display, as she answered her long-time intern: "You'll see soon, Nejire-chan, Uravity-chan, Froppy-chan. Nighteye-san will be starting the meeting soon."

As though her telling the students so was the magic word, the lanky and grim-faced Sir Nighteye finally took his place at the head of the conference room, beckoning the rest of his fellow Heroes and the handful of Yuuei students to give him their full attention.

Once all the chatter had relatively calmed down, the bespectacled older man finally got to work: "Thank you all for making it here on such short notice, everyone. Thanks to all of the information you've managed to supply to me, the investigation has progressed considerably."

Tunguska, still feeling like a complete outsider among everyone else here in this context, couldn't keep his initial reaction to himself as he turned to address Fatgum at his side. "My apologies, Fatgum-san, but why exactly am I here for this? I've provided nothing to whatever this investigation is."

Fatgum's all-business demeanor didn't falter, even as he answered his foreign colleague out the corner of his mouth: "My apologies for springing this all on you like this so suddenly, Tunguska-san. The rest of us have actually all been a part of Nighteye-san's investigation for a little while now. I honestly thought it was too soon to rope you into this, but he was the one that actually wanted me to bring you along, knowing you were working with me…as well as your history with All Might."

Meanwhile, completely tuning out the brief and whispered discussion between the two Heroes, Nighteye leaned forward upon the table; his gaze piercing and inescapable to all in the room as his body tensed up, knowing just what exactly they were going to be delving into from this moment on, them and the young Hero students alike: "Everyone…the small yakuza organization, the Eight Precepts of Death, the Shie Hassaikai…what exactly are they plotting? Along with the sharing of all our acquired information, I would like to consult with you all about it today. Let's go over everything step-by-step."

For many of the Heroes inside, the mention of their target organization sent a foul chill through the air. Even Tunguska, for as out of the loop as he was, could feel the same sensation. Dealing with any kind of organized crime entity was unpleasant, but there was something about this one, whether it was from instinct or just the sound of the name: Eight Precepts of Death; that just made his skin tingle.

Even the students could feel their hair briefly stand up…but for Mirio and Izuku, a whole other weight took their hearts in a death grip in that moment. This was something that for both of them was a long time coming. If this was going to go where Izuku thought it was, he may have finally gotten to the point where he would be able to put his one lingering sense of unease from his internship to rest at last.

In the few moments that Nighteye allowed to pass for everyone to get their initial thoughts and feelings out to one another, Ochako and Tsuyu both approached the ever-pensive Aizawa among the crowd. "Sensei, why are you here-kero?" "Yeah, who's teaching the rest of the class today?"

Aizawa gave no outward sense of surprise; of course his students would come to him for answers out of everyone else here. "I'm leaving that to Mic and Midnight right now. As for me, they just suddenly called me earlier this morning. I was asked to join, so I came. It was brief, but I've heard about the situation. I also have a few things to say as well."

At the same time, now knowing that Tunguska was unfortunately just as in the dark as he was, Eijirou voiced his own curiosity to Fatgum and Tamaki: "Hey, Sensei, Senpai, I'm kinda outta the loop here. 'Eight Precepts?' What is that?"

Looking to their shared intern and his colleague alike, Fatgum answered Eijirou and Tunguska both: "They're a really concerning group of organized criminals. They've probably started planning something terrible after all this time, so that's why we're having this meeting to talk it all out. It's got plenty to do with you and Suneater-kun as well. Everything should hopefully be explained for you both and your friends, Red Riot-kun."

"Well then, let's begin." As soon as Sir Nighteye said this, he and the rest of the present Heroes and students present quickly took their respective spots at the square ring of tables, with himself at the head. Standing at his left was a young woman, undoubtedly in her early twenties, with bright lime green eyes, light teal-colored skin, and dark teal-colored short hair, wearing a glass visor mask sealed to her face, attached to a short-sleeved white-and-dark-teal-colored top that stopped just above her midriff, allowing an unfortunate view of the underside of her chest, while her hands wore dark teal gloves, and her waist was adorned with white-and-yellow shorts, down to dark teal stockings and heavy-duty white-and-yellow boots that went above her knees, much like the boots for Ochako's Hero costume.

Nobody else in this room recognized her, but Mirio and Izuku by now both knew her as one of Nighteye's two official sidekicks, simply known by her Hero name of Bubble Girl; and she was currently the one taking the reins of the meeting as she looked over all her own collected information on her phone. "Since about two weeks prior, we at the Nighteye office have been independently observing a certain Villain group known as the Eight Precepts of Death, the Shie Hassaikai."

"What was the hook that got your attention?" Another of the unfamiliar Pro Heroes at the table asked, and Bubble Girl went on to answer thusly: "There was an incident involving a thief gang calling themselves 'Team Reservoir Dogs.' The police cleaned everything up, citing it as just an accident, but there were many points in the official report that made no sense, and so we began to track them."

At that point, another individual standing at Nighteye's right stepped forward. This one had the body of a tall human male, dressed in an especially pristine butler-like suit of black and white, complete with white gloves. The most standout part of him, though, was that coiled around his shoulders and up to his head, was that of a massive centipede; the sight of which initially made Tunguska and Ochako alike momentarily shudder.

Either not noticing, or simply shrugging off such a minor sight, the centipede-headed man spoke: "I am Sir Nighteye-san's other sidekick, Centipeder. I have been personally conducting the tracking and observation portions of our investigation, as per the instructions put out by Nighteye-san himself. I understand that there are some among you who have only just recently been taken into the fold of this operation, but as for us, we have been conducting the investigation into this particular group for just over an entire year now. It is only quite recently that they have really begun to move noticeably.

"Anyway, within that one-year period I have been investigating, there has been a rapid increase in contact, both between members of the underground organization, as well as people outside of the group. They appear to be an organization moving with the intent to expand and accumulate funds. We have reason to believe they may have already established such business contacts with at least one black market entity with connections to foreign markets across Southeast Asia and all the way up to China and Russia. What's most concerning of this, of course, is that we, as of right now, do not know what they could be hoping to either sell or obtain from any of those areas."

As Centipeder explained this, the very mention of his homeland had Tunguska visibly flinch with shock, now knowing that this criminal organization had any kind of tie to whatever criminal elements had managed to take hold out in those parts. Much like Nighteye's sidekick had said: it was not knowing exactly what was going in or coming out of that country that now had the Russian Hero the most worried.

"Also, shortly after the commencement of the majority of your shares of the investigation, they made contact with a member of the League of Villains: Bubaigawara Jin, who goes by the Villain name, Twice." The very moment the clone-making Villain's name came up, Tunguska and all the students' heads perked up with even more intense focus.

The fact that the League was potentially involved in this situation, after having been so quiet after the battle between All Might and Tunguska against All For One, had every one of their heart rates momentarily spike, their bodies all tensing up at once.

Centipeder continued on, completely unaware of the small bunch's silent reactions: "They were all very wary of being tailed, so we couldn't pursue them then, but the police have provided further assistance. Their findings not only confirm the presence of an unknown new member among the League's ranks, thanks to an extra pair of footprints found in the dust at the scene of their meeting; but they've also confirmed signs of some kind of conflict between the two groups. As of right now, we can only estimate, due to what little evidence was left behind, that there were two casualties that resulted from this conflict, supposedly one on each side. Analysis of a blood sample found at the scene has led us to believe that one of said casualties was League member Hikiishi Kenji, better known by the Villain name, Magne."

While Tunguska and the students all felt an instinctive twisting in their stomachs at the realization that blood had officially been spilled somewhere in this mess, many of the other Heroes could only feel the briefest sense of relief that, for now, they had one less Villain to potentially deal with, while others of course felt immediate regret for feeling any such notion at the news of anyone dying.

Amid their numbers, Gran Torino suddenly piped in: "So this whole thing has something to do with the League after all, eh? So that's why you reached out to me, Tsukauchi-kun and Tunguska, eh?"

At the realization of the one missing face amid them, especially now that they were involving the League, Tunguska instinctively asked: "Where is Tsukauchi-san right now, Gran Torino-san?"

"He's following up with more eyewitnesses on his own." Gran Torino answered bluntly, just before his aged eyes focused solely on Izuku merely a couple seats down from the burly foreign Hero. "Kid…"

The moment Izuku's curious gaze came to his old Field Training mentor, the diminutive old man continued: "…let's hope it doesn't come to this, but you might get dragged into some real nasty business."

Looking back to his students as well, Tunguska felt his heart drop, unable to keep his own words of regret to himself: "I'm sorry as well, kids. Had I known the real dangers we'd be discussing, I never would have allowed you all to get so involved."

"It's no trouble at all, Gran Torino-sensei, Tunguska-sensei." Izuku suddenly answered with an especially powerful sense of acceptance in his expression and tone; one of the most mature displays either of his three teachers here had seen from him yet.

He was far from alone, too; as Ochako and Eijirou both similarly answered their Quirk History teacher together: "You've got nothing to apologize for, Sensei! Our instructors trusted us enough to ask us to come here." "Yeah! Besides, being a Hero is all about facing danger in order to protect people; you know that! How can any of us become real manly Heroes if we aren't willing to do that much? We're willing to do whatever it takes to help you all!"

A timely and resonating clearing of the throat from Nighteye brought all the chattering to a stop; although Mirio still took the moment to whisper his curiosity of how Izuku knew the tiny old Hero and the large foreign Hero near them, to which Izuku hastily explained: "Oh, I know Gran Torino-sensei from my Workplace Training, and Tunguska-sensei has actually been personally training me with All Might since this year started."

At the same time, eyeing the old Gran Torino, Eijirou couldn't help but find himself squirming with anticipation, and especially with impression. 'Man, the same old guy that was at the Kamino Incident with Sensei and All Might! Midoriya really does know some wild people!'

Disregarding what little side chatter there still was, Nighteye gave the brief go-ahead for his two sidekicks to continue, and thus Bubble Girl went on: "So, given these developments, we reached out to most of you for help via HN."

While Centipeder was muttering for his fellow sidekick to skip ahead in her report, Ochako instinctively whispered to Nejire beside her: "HN?"

With that same smile as bright as the sun, Nejire immediately leaned in to her two female juniors: "The Hero Network; it's a web service for licensed Heroes only! Apparently, they've got a hub on every major island in Japan! You can check out what Heroes all over the country are doing, and even put in requests to Heroes with Quirks that might come in handy for whatever you're working on!"

At that point, Tunguska; unable to help but listen in on what the female students were discussing, couldn't help but give the quietest clearing of his throat to get their attention: "That's right; every major nation with an extensive Hero infrastructure has a very similar networking system for their Heroes to work with. Although, the Union's version was operated solely by the government itself, so they would be the ones to pick whichever Heroes to send out to help with what."

Of course, Ochako, Tsuyu and Nejire all looked especially impressed with the knowledge of how every different country handled its similar Hero-based issues in their own different way. At the same time, though; now that his mind had started going down this particular route, Tunguska couldn't help but further voice his own wonder: "Of course, I've also heard some rumors over the years that there may even be a global version of the same kind of network, for the sake of situations that one nation's worth of Heroes can't handle on their own. I don't recall there ever having been such a situation that required the use of such a thing, though."

However, all of this whispering between them was being completely ignored, as one of the unfamiliar Pro Heroes; a young adult man with African features, messy black hair and a small patch of stubble on his chin, dressed in a short-sleeved Hero costume of dark green and yellow with a dark red collar with several white keys hanging in the middle, a pair of padlock earrings, a yellow eye mask and white shoulder pads with keyhole-shaped marks and white boots, had his brown eyes focused on all the students among them in particular. "Hey, Yuuei students or not, what're these kids even doing here? They're just slowing us down. The sun's gonna set before we even get to talking about the bad guys' grand plan."

Like a shot, Fatgum and Tunguska both suddenly shot up to their feet at the same time at the mere thought that a Hero was actually speaking of their interns, of such promising young future fellow Heroes, in such a condescending and disrespectful way. The BMI Hero's response was instantaneous as he motioned his arm towards their two interns specifically: "DON'T BE RIDICULOUS! These two students are highly important participants!"

Tunguska was just as quick, grabbing Eijirou and Tamaki's shoulders as he spoke; completely tuning out the look of shellshock on Eijirou's face, and the one of immense discomfort from Tamaki: "Damn right; all of these students are! If you had any idea what they've already experienced and fought their way through with nothing but their own strength, you wouldn't be saying such things about them!"

This thankfully seemed to be enough to silence the Pro Hero in question; but while Tunguska apologized for their outburst and once again sat down, and Fatgum was instinctively tossing a handful of 'hello' candy to Ochako and Tsuyu; Nighteye continued unperturbed: "The Shie Hassaikai was once suspected of dealing in illegal substances. Which is why I've called in a Hero familiar with such things."

Realizing he was effectively being given the room, Fatgum motioned for Tunguska to stand right back up, before proceeding to speak: "Back in the day, I squashed lots of dealers like that! I can't speak for my colleague's past work experiences, though." Of course, a momentary but confirming nod from the large foreign Hero urged him to continue: "Right, and then, during Kirishima-kun's debut battle the other day, the perp went and shot up Amajiki-kun here with a type of drug I can confirm neither of us has ever seen before!"

With his voice and temper rising in tandem, Fatgum suddenly crushed one of the jawbreakers still lying in the palm of his hand, before opening and letting the pieces fall to the ground for the sake of theatrics behind his point: "A DRUG THAT CAN DESTROY QUIRKS!"

While Heroes like Aizawa and Gran Torino were far better at hiding their reactions than most of the others, that didn't make them any less shocked by the news. In fact, the air amid the meeting hall had grown so heavy and silent that a pin drop would have been deafening, with only the sound of the Heroes echoing Fatgum's words to be heard.

And with no one was this heavy shock more apparent than, of course, the students. Eijirou had obviously been worrying over what had happened to Tamaki nonstop since the day of the incident, but he'd been trying to maintain hope that his senpai would somehow pull through; with all the others' votes of confidence helping immensely. But actually hearing these specific words being spoken out loud now filled him with an immense sense of dread; mirrored by the rest of his present classmates.

"SERIOUSLY?! ARE YOU GONNA BE OKAY, TAMAKI-SAN?!" Mirio finally asked, nearly shooting up from his seat to express his shock at what he was only now learning had happened to his friend and fellow third-year. While Nejire wasn't quite as animated, her tone was no less imploring: "Why wouldn't you tell us about this once it happened, Tamaki-kun?!"

However, in contrast to his two fellows' over-the-top reactions, Tamaki was as stoic as ever. "Yeah…I'm back to normal after a good night's rest. Here, take a look for yourselves." With that, he proceeded to turn his right hand into a hefty cow's hoof to prove his point, visibly calming Mirio and Nejire down.

Even the first-years couldn't help but sigh with relief. At the same time, the nay-saying Hero from before could only do the same. "So he recovered? That's good to know. So whatever this drug is must not be fatal."

"No. On that point, I'd like to turn all your attention to Eraserhead-san." At Nighteye's suggestion, all eyes now fell upon Aizawa, who unlike everyone else, didn't bother to stand up to give his share.

"It seems a bit different than my Quirk Erasure, because I'm not actually attacking a person's Quirk itself. What we call Quirks are special additions to an ordinary body, or what we call the 'Plus Alpha Elements.' Everything included within the Plus Alpha are what we call the Quirk Factors. What I do is temporarily stop those Quirk Factors from activating. I can't actually cause any damage."

As soon as it was apparent that Aizawa was pretty much giving the floor to whoever else wanted it, Tunguska cleared his throat and stood; all eyes upon his hulking frame now. "After we had pacified the incident the other day, we immediately took malenkii Amajiki to the hospital. While there, the doctors told us that his Quirk Factor had actually been damaged. Fortunately, though, his natural healing factor has managed to rectify that."

While Tamaki was trying to ignore whatever number of eyes was still upon him, since he was still begrudgingly the center of attention, another of the many Heroes suddenly spoke up: "Did you get a chance to analyze the round he was shot with?"

Still standing as tall and professional as ever, Tunguska continued: "What we were able to learn at first was that the bullet had no other biological abnormalities. It attacked malenkii Amajiki's Quirk and nothing else. Unfortunately, the criminal who fired the round has refused to speak, and I had destroyed the gun he used in the initial heat of the attack. My apologies; I didn't know what the rounds were meant to do at the time, and I had to act to prevent any civilians from getting hit."

"You reacted the way any Hero on alert would in a situation involving an armed criminal and a civilian crowd. By definition, you did the right thing, Tunguska-san." Ryukyu stated in a straightforward reassurance, before Fatgum decided to step in.

"At first, it looked like all we had was that one empty round. However, when one bounced right off of Kirishima-kun's body, we got our hands on a vial still full of the stuff for us to analyze!"

The realization that he was suddenly being given full credit out of the blue, left Eijirou wide-eyed and in shock ("Wait, what?! Me?! What's all this all of a sudden?!"), even as his classmates and third-years (minus Tamaki) were all eagerly congratulating him on a job very well done.

Once that little moment had run its course, Fatgum carried on: "I'd yet to inform Tunguska-san on what results my further research into the drug inside that one round had turned up, but what I found…turned out to be something truly disgusting. Within that drug…were found actual human blood and cells."

Everyone felt an instantaneous chill of shock and similar disgust fill the room as Fatgum's information echoed in every single one of their heads. All the students, especially, looked a few shades paler as it truly sunk in. Even for as unreadable as Tsuyu's face always was, one could easily see the fright reflect in her wide black eyes.

Finally, with a stalwart breath taken, Ryukyu broke the grim silence, sounding as analytical as one could in such circumstances: "So…the effect it has comes from someone else's Quirk? A Quirk-destroying Quirk…"

As Ryukyu said those exact words, Tunguska could feel a frigid cold in the pit of his stomach, now thinking back on what they'd been told of the Shie Hassaikai having access to a black market structure that branched out into other countries, including Russia. If this organization had even more of these Quirk-destroying bullets, and if some other criminal outfit out there were to get their hands on them, or God forbid the government itself, then the results for whatever remaining Quirk-users throughout the former Bloc were left would be nothing short of disastrous, even considering the way things already were in those parts.

Hell, even thinking outside those lines, if these kind of bullets were being shipped out to any criminals across the globe who paid enough for them, this was a threat that could ultimately spell complete and total ruination for the entire world's Hero infrastructure as they knew it. All at once did he feel every last ounce of conviction ignite inside his body like he hadn't felt in years; and for someone who dedicated himself like Tunguska did, that fact was nothing short of miraculous. Every fiber of his being was screaming for him to give his all with every other Hero here, and see towards putting an end to this threat right now.

That is, until another Pro Hero, this one in a suit of armor that almost resembled cattle bones, spoke up awkwardly: "Umm…I was already kinda lost before, but how exactly does this all connect back to the Shie Hassaikai you're talking about?"

While Tunguska, in this moment of emotional vulnerability, wanted to instinctively ask if this particular Hero had even been listening at all, Fatgum thankfully continued completely unshaken: "Well, although Kirishima-kun and Tunguska-san caught the two criminals who had both the illegal substances described in the police reports; the other being a Quirk-enhancing drug that's been raising a number of whispers throughout society's unsavory back-channels under the street name of 'Trigger;' figuring out the network for drugs like those is particularly tricky. It's all shrunken down since the old days, but these drugs pass through multiple levels of groups and organizations down the supply chain until they finally arrive at that lowest level. There's currently no proof that Shie Hassaikai are the suppliers in question for either one, but they definitely did do some kind of business with at least one of those middlemen."

For but a moment, nobody else could say anything, mainly because those of them that had past confrontations with illegal dealers were all well aware of the downright convoluted chain of command such organizations had. Seeing this realization sink in among those gathered; Nighteye picked right back up from where Fatgum had left off: "The other day, Ryukyu-san and her interns stopped a feud between two Villain groups. The boss of one of those groups is the middleman dealer Fatgum-san just mentioned."

To back up their current leader's point, Ryukyu herself chimed in: "One of those giant Villains shot himself with a booster drug to extend his short activation time. I've no doubt it's that very same 'Trigger' Kirishima-kun and Tunguska-san encountered in their incident as well."

Tunguska and Fatgum both felt a brief elation that one of their fellow Heroes was on the same track as them; the Russian Hero feeling more and more caught up with everyone else as the information came out. However, another Hero, this one dressed in what looked like a classical ninja getup with black furry arms and a similarly furry hood/mask, stood up, looking over his own paperwork. "Linking all this recent organized crime activity solely to the Shie Hassaikai…maybe you're just seeing what you want to see. I'm still not convinced, Nighteye-san. It seems like you want them to be the root of all evil, so you're painting just the right picture. I'm gonna need something more concrete to go on."

Unlike with the last nay-sayer, Tunguska couldn't keep his initial reaction to himself, as he planted his hands on the table loud enough to force the other Hero to look him in the eye. "What other proof could you possibly need with what you've already been given? Two completely separated incidents, both involving at least one same drug, and both directly connected to the very same illicit dealer, who we now know has at least a business dealing history with this organization? What about any of that could possibly sound like mere coincidence to you? If nothing else, it's at least a lead worth looking further into."

*Ahem*

A sudden resolute clearing of Sir Nighteye's throat silenced the Russian Hero, as all eyes returned to their host, who by now had hit a button on a tiny remote, lowering a projection screen behind him, which suddenly sprang to life with light, before then revealing the profile image of what looked like a relatively young adult man with short dark brown hair, cold and piercing yellow eyes, and the most eye-catching detail of all: a large brown leather-and-gold-capped, beak-shaped mask obscuring the rest of his face.

"This man you all see before you right now is the confirmed current leader of the Shie Hassaikai criminal organization. His real name is listed as Chisaki Kai, and his Villain name and Quirk…is known as Overhaul: the ability to both dismantle and restore. Dismantle…a Quirk that can destroy and then heal. Then we have bullets that destroy Quirks."

As Nighteye continued to lay this all down for everyone; Izuku and Mirio both felt their hearts suddenly pound mercilessly against their ribs with one of the most painful moments of realization either of them had experienced. All at once, their minds were right back at their very first day officially interning together, just earlier this very week. Both boys were painfully reliving the moment that had tormented them both nonstop since it had happened: the moment they had encountered the very same man projected on that screen right now…and the little girl he called 'Eri', whom he claimed to have been accompanying him; a delicate, tiny and trembling little thing with long and messy silver hair, a single little horn protruding from the right side of her forehead, and the biggest eyes of apple red one could possibly imagine.

In a moment of cosmic singularity, Izuku and Mirio both had the same thought cross between them, and they could both tell it from each other as well: that poor, terrified, crying little girl…whoever she really was, whether she truly was the man called Overhaul's daughter, as he had claimed that day, or not; she had to somehow, someway, be involved with the Shie Hassaikai and the creation of their Quirk-destroying bullets.

And with the horrifying reveal of what had been found inside the drug those bullets carried; with the numerous bandages they had seen adorning her arms as she reached out to them both for help that day, how could it have possibly been any different?

And of course, with that, came the following stomach-twisting and heart-rending realization between them, that had they simply taken Eri into custody when she had outright asked them to help her, none of them would even be having this meeting right now, and Overhaul could very well have been behind bars at this very moment. They had that chance right there…and neither of them had taken it. It didn't matter if it had been because Nighteye had told them not to engage; that fact was irrefutable, that they had ultimately let down one of the very people they, as Heroes, were supposed to be there to protect!

In fact, the two boys were so deeply engulfed in their own feelings of shame at their failure, that they hadn't even realized just how long Nighteye's discerning gaze had been upon them as he continued debriefing the other Heroes and students: "Chisaki Kai has a daughter…one with no birth record, so the exact details are unclear. All we know as of right now is that her name is apparently 'Eri.' When Mirio-kun and Midoriya-kun encountered her, she was covered in an excessive number of bandages."

Already, more and more of the present Heroes were putting together the very same pieces Izuku and Mirio had, and many of them were already expressing a deeply disturbed air of sympathy for the poor child. It was honestly a miracle none of the students had started to get teary-eyed at the very thought.

Amid them all, Gran Torino simply bowed his head behind the collar of his costume; his old eyes narrowing with distaste. "That's super-powered society for you. Anything you can imagine, no matter how horrible it is; there's someone out there who can and is more than willing to make it happen."

"What? What exactly are you imagining?!" Eijirou instinctively asked, barely able to wrap his head around something as horrible as what Nighteye was vaguely implying, without Gran Torino getting all dark and cryptic.

Just as the African-looking Hero from before eyed the red-haired boy with the kind of cynical disappointment only an adult could show to a kid; a sudden crack of splintering wood echoed across the whole hall, drawing all eyes to the barely trembling form of Tunguska; his head bowed, and his one remaining flesh-and-blood hand, having gripped the edge of his spot of the table so intensely, that the reinforced wood actually cracked in his grip.

Eijirou and all his classmates and seniors could only look in wide-eyed shock, the boy for once completely speechless once he saw the barely-restrained anger in Tunguska's gold-glowing blue eyes, as he kept thinking about the only possible truth there was to glean from this little girl's involvement.

"There's only one thing he could be implying…what any of us can possibly conclude when we think about it! It's only one of the single worst things a human being…no, a pathetic excuse for a human being can do to another person…but especially to a child! I don't know how, but somehow…this…Chisaki Kai…is using that little girl, Eri's body to make those Quirk-destroying bullets, and then selling them on the black market for any two-bit punk to use!"

All at once did every single one of the students' despair and sadness turn into an entirely overwhelming sense of disgust, with the deeply-rooted compulsion to go out and see the proper justice done for such a terrible deed, quickly following after it.

However, while the students, Tunguska and Fatgum were all visibly radiating with this righteous form of anger; Nighteye was as stoic as ever, as he finally decided to speak up and intervene further: "It's uncertain as to whether or not he's actually selling just yet. Given the fact that your afflicted intern was able to regain the use of his Quirk in such short time, it's clear that the drug's effects, at this time, are particularly underwhelming. But, if we imagine that it's simply in the testing phase, if he's simply distributing samples in order to attract future customers, that's another matter entirely.

"We're still lacking proof, but he's bringing in people from across the country and amassing funds. What if the final version of these bullets is capable of destroying a person's Quirk permanently? One could execute any number of fiendish plans with such a thing." The instant Nighteye finished explaining this grim scenario, Tunguska and Fatgum were once again shooting up from their seats, with the foreign Hero immediately exclaiming:

"That's exactly why we should be going out there and bringing him and his whole organization to justice while we have the chance; to hell with procedure for once! At least, just for a second, never mind the risk his perfecting these bullets could present to the entire Hero world as we know it if he distributes them globally; we should be apprehending him just for what he may be doing to that poor child he has prisoner, if nothing else! Even before the advent of Quirks, when someone is regularly inflicting pain on another, they always eventually end up taking it to the worst possible conclusion if they aren't stopped!"

This time, even the normally calm and level-headed Fatgum couldn't help but even emulate the same intensity Tunguska was giving off: "Damn straight, I agree! Just the thought of a Villain doing something so unspeakable for such a terrible cause makes me sick to my stomach! Any moment of hesitation we show could mean all the difference between Eri-chan's life being saved, or being lost, regardless whether this Overhaul needs her for his damned bullets or not! We should go out there and bust down their doors!"

However, while the two Pro Hero partners were still visibly seething and needing to be calmed down by Gran Torino, Aizawa and Ryukyu altogether; the same keyhole-patterned Hero from before hadn't taken his discerning eyes off of Izuku and Mirio once since Nighteye had mentioned them before. "So if I'm understanding this correctly, if your two interns had simply rescued the girl in question, all our problems would've already been solved?"

Even at the head of the room, Nighteye could see the look of disdain on this particular Hero's face, and thus answered with no hesitation or falsehood to be heard or seen: "I take full responsibility, so please don't blame them, Rock Lock-san. They didn't know the extent of the circumstances at the time, but these two actually did take measures to try and save her. Midoriya-kun accepted the risks and attempted to take her away right then and there; while Mirio-kun thought ahead to raise the odds of saving her at a later point."

However, the fact that their mentor was taking this time to actually try and speak in their favor, made the inescapable sensation of failure that Izuku and Mirio were feeling that much worse.

No matter what Nighteye, Tunguska, All Might or anyone else could say to try and build him back up, all Izuku could think to himself, was how he could ever possibly hope to become the greatest Hero. For the first time since he had received One For All, he actually found himself feeling as though he'd completely disgraced the very idea of what it meant to be a Hero.

And as for Mirio, who had given himself the Hero name of Lemillion, in the hopes of one day being a Hero who could save a million people…right now, all he could possibly think of was how much of a joke that dream was, if he wasn't even capable of saving one little girl.

"I'm sure that the people hurting the most, out of all of us…are these two."

The instant those words from Sir Nighteye finally registered in their heads, with their bodies both acting entirely off of the control of their raging hearts, Izuku and Mirio together shot up from their seats, just as Tunguska and Fatgum had. Their eyes were both burning with the intensity of a thousand suns and more, as they looked their mentor in the eye; their words echoing out to every single Hero in this room, and out there across the country and all the world to hear:

"THE NEXT TIME FOR SURE! WE'LL SAVE ERI-CHAN!"

The conviction in their words was just as poignantly recognizable on their faces, and even if he gave no such indication of noticing this, Nighteye could physically feel it radiating from his two interns, and that fact was something he couldn't have been prouder of, deep down inside, as he answered their declaration in kind with the simplest and calmest: "That is indeed our goal."

However, while this declaration of intent from the two students and their mentor did much to lift the spirits of nearly everyone else in the room, the Hero now known as Rock Lock continued to look as brooding as ever. "*Tch* It's fine and all that the kid's alive, but if one were to guess, the boss would want to hide the girl who's the core component to his whole plan, right? And after all that trouble, she still somehow makes it outside! And on top of that, to end up being spotted by these two little brat Heroes! Do you think he'd honestly keep her tucked away at their headquarters after all that? If it were me, I wouldn't. Because even if we were to attack, as long as the girl isn't there, then it wouldn't even matter. Have we been able to specify her exact whereabouts?"

The whole room began to rumble with mutterings of agreement from all the other Heroes, with all their eyes upon Nighteye, looking to him for answers. "That's exactly the problem. We don't know how far ahead he's planned. If we don't finish them with one blow, they'll probably get the chance they need to launch a considerable counterattack."

With that, the profile of Chisaki Kai suddenly changed to a complete map of Japan, with numerous red blips sprouting all across the main island of Honshu. "And so, we've looked at groups and organizations that have ties to the Shie Hassaikai, as well as all of the known locations under their control. We've left no stone unturned coming up with this list. I'll be asking each of you to check out certain groups and locations on your own. We need to narrow the list down!"

As the Heroes all looked upon the map and the locations marked, Tunguska and Aizawa were both quick to notice that Musutafu in Shizuoka wasn't one of them, but the Russian Hero quickly realized that Esuha City in Kansai, in fact, was. At the same time, his ears could barely pick up the numerous utterances from some of the other unfamiliar Heroes around, who all likewise had started coming to the same conclusion: that they had been called here to take part in the investigation due to these spots being in or near their home turf.

However, the silence couldn't last, as Fatgum suddenly slammed his fist angrily against the table. "You're awfully cautious for a former sidekick of All Might, doing things all roundabout like this! It's just like Tunguska-san said before: while we're all sitting here twiddling our thumbs, Eri-chan could be out there somewhere crying for help!"

Suddenly, Nighteye finally took his turn and shot back up to his feet, looking every one of his fellow Heroes in the eye; lingering on Tunguska for but a moment longer. "No matter how much the media may like to boast about any one Hero being able to even approach his level, the fact is that none of us can handle this situation like All Might would! We must rely on analysis and precaution to raise our odds of saving her as much as possible!"

Tunguska could physically feel those specific opening words being driven solely his way, especially after all the talk on the news and the internet about him after the fight against All For One. At the same time, though, he and the other Heroes could completely understand Nighteye's sentiments, as Gran Torino opined: "He's right, this isn't the time for us to get worked up. If we go big and mess this up, they'll get away. It'll only stoke their fires even higher. Just like how Stain and that foreign Villain, Vukodlak's arrests ultimately ended up actually being good PR for the League of Villains. Distributing Quirk-destroying bullets to small-time street punks might even be for that same reason."

All at once did the conference hall erupt into even more volatile bickering between all the gathered Heroes, with many expressing the same kinds of frustration that Tunguska and Fatgum had just been.

That was why it managed to surprise so many into silence, when the tall Russian Hero spoke up next: "They're both right; Nighteye-san and Gran Torino-san. I don't like the idea of spending time that could be used to rescue that child any more than you all do…but we're all letting our emotions make us forget one of the bitterest realities about our world."

Feeling the weight of so many gazes demanding an explanation upon him, Tunguska took a sharp breath through his nose, not letting his posture sink any and risk showing any weakness. "As much as we, as Heroes, wish to believe in the inherent sense of right and wrong in humanity that we are supposed to embody in the eyes of the general public, the bitter fact is that the public is an inherently fickle entity, whose opinions can be swayed from one end of that spectrum to the other with seemingly no effort from those individuals that, common sense should dictate, they would know to be diametrically opposed to their own well-being.

"If the arrests of two Villains with such a charismatic presence about them was able to cause such a stir in the underground of this country as we've all no doubt seen by now, then witnessing a Villain organization's complete victory over an entire task force of Heroes could enable the Villains around still keeping their heads down into doing God-only-knows-what."

"How can we possibly take into consideration words from someone as inconsistent as you're being right now? You were both just as gung-ho as us to get this operation going, but now you're suddenly saying we have to wait?! What kind of former Number One Hero were you?!" This was just one of the many explosive retorts Tunguska received, with Fatgum soon ending up being another target right alongside him and Gran Torino, when he too tried to speak in his colleague's defense, against his still-simmering emotions.

All the while, as the students all watched and listened to this planned out meeting progressively fall apart, they all began to feel the same dreaded twisting sensations in the pits of their stomachs. No matter how much training and experience they'd gained with their Quirks, at the end of the day, they were still only students who needed the guidance of their teachers and the very same Pro Heroes in this room in order to help them properly grow. And if fully licensed professionals like these were butting heads like this…then what hope was there truly for that little girl, Eri, out there?

"Can I say something?" The sound of Aizawa's voice was almost completely lost amid all the squabbling, but the sight of his hand rising above everyone else thankfully managed to gain the room's attention and restore the air to a sense of reasonable quiet.

Even from all the way across the room, the 1-A homeroom teacher could feel Sir Nighteye's gaze fall directly upon him, just as All Might's former sidekick could feel it from the tired-looking man as well. Finally, Aizawa spoke: "I'm not exactly sure how your ability works, Sir Nighteye-san…but why not use your Foresight to see what sort of fate awaits us? Going forward without at least that much knowledge seems irrational."

Sir Nighteye's reaction was almost invisible to everyone else. All that could be seen from him, after but a few prolonged moments of contemplative silence, was the man slightly bowing his head in regret. "I…can't do that."

Aizawa's eyes barely widened behind the fringe of his hair, while Nighteye lifted his head once more to give his fellow Heroes the eye contact they deserved while he explained himself: "My ability has its limitations. Once activated, it has a 24-hour cool down period. In other words, I can only view one hour of a single person's life each day. The images appear in my mind panel-by-panel, like a flashback. After using it, it's like I can watch recorded footage of that person's entire life…at least, think of it that way. But the entirety of the film plays out from a perspective close to the person in question. What I end up seeing is his or her actions and faint glimpses of the surrounding environment."

While many of the Heroes gathered who were unfamiliar with their host let the initial shock of realization pertaining to his actual Quirk wash over them, Aizawa remained unshaken from his own suggestion: "That sounds like more than enough. We could still learn plenty. So why aren't you able to do it?"

Sir Nighteye momentarily rested his face in the palm of his hand. At first, it almost looked as though the man were exasperated with such questions…but in reality, the look in his yellow eyes as he thought of how to answer, reflected the kind of pain nobody else could possibly understand but himself. "Well, for one thing, what if, in the near future, what awaited the person I looked upon…was death? A cruel and merciless death, even. What then?"

All at once did all the other Heroes' initial surprise with Nighteye's Quirk quickly sink into the same kind of painful understanding. To see such things from looking at anyone, but especially perhaps a close friend, would be the kind of agony one could never hope to recover from. And among them all; only Izuku, Mirio and Gran Torino knew exactly who Nighteye was referring to when mentioning this grim example: All Might himself; the very same vision that had destroyed their partnership all those years ago.

"I've trained my Quirk to maximize the success rate of every action I take. I use it to all but ensure victory in battle. It's not meant to recklessly view situations with so many uncertainties." As soon as Nighteye explained this, Rock Lock visibly flinched with indignation at what a boon their potential mission was now being deprived of.

"Seriously? Seeing if we're gonna die sounds pretty damn useful to me! Then we could come up with a plan to stay alive!" Admittedly, his theory did have some considerable merit; it sounded pretty sensible, even Tunguska had to admit that.

However, Nighteye remained unmoved. "I'm not a fortune teller, it's not that simple. There's no guarantee that the fate I foresee can be avoided at all."

With that, the mouthy Hero pointed an accusing finger to the now forlorn-looking man before him: "I don't get it, Nighteye-san! C'mon, why don't you take a look at me? I'll avoid whatever life's got in store for me!"

"I CAN'T!"

With Nighteye's unbreakable stance expressed through those two shouted words echoing across the conference room, the entire atmosphere became increasingly solemn between everyone. Thankfully, though, out of all of them that were visibly letting this downswing in mood get to them, it was Ryukyu who finally broke the silence: "Why don't we get started? There's a child in need out there, regardless. That's what matters the most."

A resolute smack to the table from Tunguska and Fatgum simultaneously echoed their agreement with her mentality, while the other Heroes began to voice the same sentiment, finally spurring Nighteye to rise back up. "Confirm the girl's location, and take measures to save her. Once we're as sure as we can be, let's bring this matter to a swift resolution."

Looking over every single face in this room, new and familiar alike, the bespectacled former sidekick to the Symbol of Peace officially brought the whole meeting to a close with a resounding declaration: "I THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP."

With that, many of the attending Heroes finally began to get up, but just as Tunguska began to do the same; his bearded face grimaced with the painful desire to know for sure, and so with an imploring glimmer in his blue eyes, he turned to address Sir Nighteye: "Wait, please, Nighteye-san! I have one more question I think we all deserve to know for sure!"

As soon as Nighteye gave the foreign Hero a gesture as to say "go ahead," Tunguska finally asked: "Since your sidekicks said that this Shie Hassaikai organization has been reaching out to other Villain groups, and that their meeting with the League of Villains looked to have ended with bloodshed, then should we honestly assume that the League may not actually be involved officially?"

Many of the other Heroes, especially Gran Torino, clearly looked to be of the same mind as far as wanting to make sure. While there was the knowledge that they had lost one of their members, there was also the lingering detail of them now having an apparent unknown added to their ranks as well. Without even a name to go off of, there was no telling what to expect if the League actually struck again somewhere.

However, while the knowledge of apparent in-fighting had left many hopeful that the League of Villains would put themselves far away from whatever was going to happen, Bubble Girl looked especially troubled as she looked through the info on her phone again. "Unfortunately, we aren't able to say yes or no for certain right now. A couple of days ago, we received information over the airwaves that apparently, Shigaraki Tomura and Chisaki Kai actually arranged a second meeting between themselves personally in a location we weren't able to pinpoint. Much like the last time, we unfortunately weren't able to gain any details as to what exactly was said, but for all intents and purposes, we should operate under the assumption that the two groups may have managed to form an amicable working relationship if nothing else."

With that, and the dreaded sense of finality such news had left everyone else feeling, Nighteye had his two sidekicks present everyone with their own copies of all collected information regarding the operation, with everyone giving their word that they would conduct their respective searches from this moment onward.

Of course Tunguska wouldn't let his lessened familiarity with the Kansai region stop him from working any harder than Fatgum towards helping find the whereabouts of this poor Eri girl, but before he could do anything else; while many others and the students were all taking their leave; he once more brought his attentive eye back to the ever pensive Sir Nighteye; taking a resolving breath in preparation for what he was about to do, as he firmly approached their enigmatic host, who just as quickly noticed the Russian's approaching presence. "Is there something else on your mind you think only I can answer, Sun of Justice?"

Tunguska couldn't allow himself to be thrown off by someone knowing his old Hero moniker at this point, as he wasted no time answering: "Yes, and I know for a fact it's something only you can answer for me. I can understand why you picked all the other Heroes here to help you in this investigation…but I really don't understand why you went out of your way to have Fatgum-san bring me along when I haven't managed to contribute anything like everyone else has. I've barely regained my role as a Pro Hero for two weeks at this point; why would you want my help?"

When Sir Nighteye looked in Tunguska's eyes, the taller man honestly couldn't tell if All Might's former sidekick was using his Foresight Quirk on him or not. Perhaps this man just had a naturally piercing quality to his gaze. But finally, he gave the man his answer: "Frankly, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have. I'm more than aware of your history, both as the Soviet Union's former Number One Hero…and the disaster you unleashed by trying to save everyone through nothing but your sheer power. For such recklessness alone, I wouldn't have even thought of reaching out your way, regardless whether you had a Pro License or not."

Tunguska nodded in heavy agreement, having all but expected something like this from another seasoned Pro at this point. However, when Nighteye met his gaze again, that intensity actually began to visibly soften. "But every time I let myself go there, I had to remind myself that, even despite all of that…All Might still sought you out entirely on his own, all for the sake of bringing you to this country to impart everything you knew to the Heroes of tomorrow, and giving that boy of yours a shot at a better life. All Might may be reckless in his own decision-making…but if there's one thing he isn't, it's a bad judge of character.

"He trusted you enough to put the futures of these children in your hands as well as his own…and when I saw you both fight All For One together on the news that night; how you never left his side, even when he lost the use of One For All, and never stopped fighting to protect everyone, even at the cost of your own arm and nearly your life altogether…I finally understood exactly why. Your example through the news, on top of the stories he used to tell me about you, in contrast to what I've read online about you from all those different people regarding what you did, I can see you're a genuinely good man who's grown in the wake of his mistakes, like all real Heroes ultimately are. And if All Might felt you were worthy of that kind of trust…then I think you deserve a chance to help us."

Tunguska was, honestly, at a loss of how to express his gratitude for being given the benefit of the doubt from another man All Might trusted as much as he did; as well as to All Might all over again for having given him the chance to accomplish this much after reaching his lowest point in life.

With nothing more needing to be said, he finally took his exit from the conference room, only to quickly run into Aizawa, although his instincts told him the man was hardly waiting on him to come out. Nevertheless, he decided to be the social one: "This is really a lot for everyone to work their way through, isn't it? Should I assume you're going back to Yuuei from here, Aizawa-san?"

The smaller long-haired man immediately began making his way for the nearby elevator door, prompting his fellow teacher to follow. "Yeah. Same goes for the students too. Nighteye-san, Fatgum-san and Ryukyu-san were all in agreement that, given where this debriefing would go, those kids would be too distracted emotionally for average internship work today. You're already learning about it now, so don't say anything about being kept out of the loop."

As the two men stepped into the elevator going down, Tunguska's mind was instead on the students themselves. "No, it…it makes perfect sense, really. Balancing between emotional responsibility and practicality is one of the hardest parts about being a Hero, after all. I've never seen malenkii Midoriya that low, though."

Aizawa let out a heavy sigh in response. "We can't exactly blame him. That boy has just as much devotion towards becoming a Hero as the rest of his classmates, if not even more so. Failure is never an easy thing for people like us to accept, but especially for beginners like him, it can be downright crippling. You ought to know."

Tunguska didn't say anything, simply because he knew deep down that Aizawa wasn't saying this to try and rub anything in the foreign man's face. He was absolutely right: between them, Tunguska knew especially poignantly just how painful it felt to fail to save someone looking for a Hero's protection. Right now, Izuku and Mirio were in a world of hurt, and it would be a miracle if they could somehow pull themselves out of it.

"Well, those kids are both our students, so as teachers, I think it falls to us to give them that push in the right direction." Aizawa suddenly stated as a fact, earning a momentarily surprised glance from Tunguska, just as the elevator stopped moving from beneath their feet; the doors opening to reveal the first floor lobby to the Nighteye Hero Offices, where mere feet away across the room, all the students were gathered at a single table. Eijirou, Ochako, Tsuyu, Tamaki and Nejire all looked to have been discussing things amongst each other, but were now all looking on worriedly at the still-deeply crestfallen-looking Izuku and Mirio.

At least until the two teachers had finally arrived, earning all the kids' surprised glances as Aizawa didn't even hesitate: "Holding an all-night vigil, are we?"

As the two teachers crossed the room, the homeroom teacher continued: "Sorry for interrupting whatever it is you all have going on here, but…I was planning to talk with you all about ending your Hero Internships today."

Tunguska and all the students visibly jumped with indignant disbelief that Aizawa was springing such a decision on them this suddenly and entirely on his own, prompting the Russian teacher to immediately exclaim: "Are you serious right now?! I thought we'd already discussed all this and made a compromise before!"

Aizawa didn't even turn his head to address his fellow teacher, only merely glancing his way as he stood resolute in this decision of his: "Yes, we did, but that was before it had been made abundantly clear that the League of Villains had direct ties to this situation. I'm not even talking about ending internships for the entire class, but the lot of you here has now gotten implicitly involved with this whole mess, and the League's involvement makes it far too dangerous to keep you all in their direct line of fire."

Just when it didn't seem possible, Izuku now looked even worse, while Eijirou and Ochako were both looking pleadingly to Tunguska to try and make Aizawa reconsider, while the man himself looked deeply regretful that he couldn't exactly disagree with his colleague's reasoning.

"But…Midoriya…you still haven't fully earned my trust back." Aizawa suddenly added, spurring Izuku to look to his two teachers confusedly, just before the black-haired man before him knelt down so they were on the same eye level. "But, unfortunately, even with the added danger of the League now being thrown into the mix…if I were to cut you off now, it's all but guaranteed that you would leap into action anyway."

"It wouldn't be any different if it were All Might and myself standing in his way either, Aizawa-san." Tunguska suddenly chimed in, earning another sideways glance from the kneeling teacher, while the Russian Hero himself was looking Izuku in his wide eyes; a tired but knowing smile forming under his facial hair. "I'd want to say that it's because of us enabling such troublesome behavior in him, that none of us would be able to stop malenkii Midoriya from getting involved in this situation…but the fact is that such an unbending Heroic spirit has always been in him. It's what's driven him to come this far in the end, after all.

From there, his compassionate eyes began slowly drifting over the rest of the awe-stricken first-year students and their seniors. "In truth, the same goes for every last one of you here as well. Every last one of you has the spirit that only true Heroes possess, and it burns with enough strength to lift you all up higher and higher, no matter the losses you may suffer in the moment. They'll still hurt, but you all possess the strength to help each other rise higher and higher; enough to even be able to tackle such risks as what a situation like this would present."

Like magic, his encouraging and resonating heartfelt words managed to reignite the same motivated fire in Eijirou and Ochako's eyes; but while Aizawa was nowhere as boastful, there was a similar kind of sudden warmth that could simply be felt, even behind the same tired eyes looking into Izuku's at that moment. "Yes…perhaps not in so many boisterous words, but the fact of the matter is that…if you kids do indeed still want to pursue the end of this situation, then we shall both watch over you all. So let's all try to do things right this time; alright, Midoriya? You understand what we're saying, you little troublemaker?"

Before Izuku could even answer, he suddenly felt the otherworldly sensation of his stoic homeroom teacher actually reaching over and giving his chest the slightest fist bump; a gesture that communicated just how much of the very same trust he'd worked so hard to try and regain from his teacher. It honestly left the freckled boy shaken down to his core, with Tunguska's words of empathy towards him only intensifying the feeling altogether.

At the same moment, clearly inspired by the unbelievable sight of comradery they had just witnessed between their friend and homeroom teacher, Eijirou and Ochako both eagerly jumped up and extended their own fists Tunguska's way, driving the chuckling older Hero to indulge his two closest students by meeting his fists to theirs; leaving Eijirou trembling with excitement, and Ochako almost looking like she was about to squeal with joy that they were actually being given a chance after all.

In the wake of such reinvigorated motivation, it was especially saddening to see Mirio still had his head bowed down. However, similarly spurred on just as their juniors were, Tamaki and Nejire had turned their attention back to their long-time friend, with the distant pointy-eared boy actually being the one to break the foreboding silence between them: "Hey, Mirio…keep your head up, man."

"Yeah! It's clear that you've got regrets, so you're feeling low. But that's just how it is sometimes! Got it? Heroes always pick themselves back up and try harder, right?" As soon as Nejire reiterated Tunguska's earlier point; the encouragement of his two friends brought about a sudden tension in Mirio's body, as he finally lifted his head back up, his blue dot eyes alight with a determination all his own. "Yeah."

Izuku still looked completely shaken by the opportunity that was being given to them all, but that didn't stop Aizawa from continuing to try to speak to the boy heart-to-heart, much like Tunguska was now doing with the re-energized Mirio beside him: "If it makes you feel any better, when you reached out your hands to help Eri-chan, even though you may have failed, I have no doubts that your gesture managed to instill in her some much-needed hope."

Listening to his colleague, Tunguska likewise addressed Izuku and Mirio both: "That's right. For the first time, I'm sure, that she can remember; I'm similarly confident that your two valorous and kind hearts have given her the warmth of hope she's been in grave need of. If there's nothing else that a Hero is able to do in the moment for someone, they should always be able to give people hope, even in a moment where there seems to be none."

"So both you young Heroes, pick yourselves up, and go out to bring that girl's hope to fruition with everything you are." With both teachers cosmically managing to give this exact announcement in unison, Izuku and Mirio both shot up to their feet; hearts racing and their eyes reflecting a strengthened Heroic heart that the world itself couldn't have been able to dim: "YES, SENSEI!

"I'LL FOLLOW YOU BOTH TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, ERASERHEAD-SENSEI; TUNGUSKA-SENSEI!" "ME TOO! YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!" Eijirou and Ochako both immediately proclaimed right on both boys' heels, earning a deeply grateful and amused chuckle from their most-admired mentor, and a discerning glance from Aizawa, motioning for the red-haired boy and rosy-cheeked girl to bring their enthusiasm down several notches.

"I AGREE, I WANNA HELP, TOO!" Nejire suddenly announced, almost bouncing with excitement, while Tamaki remained seated, looking the first-year students over.

"Your energy is all way too overwhelming for me…but if as many of the Pros recognized your skills, even as first-years, to ask you to come for this…then who am I to say you all couldn't be able to make a difference? I'll help too, unless nobody wants it. You both already show way more promise compared to me, anyway."

"Are you all absolutely sure of this, though?" Tunguska suddenly asked; leaving the two other third-years confused why they were suddenly being given the third degree, with Tamaki instinctively withdrawing mentally into himself under the Quirk History teacher's penetrating stalwart gaze.

"Please understand that I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I only want to make sure you're both making this decision of your own free will, and not out of some sense of peer pressure. For all intents and purposes, this operation is solely going to consist of bringing this Eri child into custody. Malenkie Kirishima, Uraraka, Asui; despite what I just said, it doesn't change the fact that any of you came here because you volunteered. If this truly is too scary for any of you, there's no shame in saying so and backing down, I want you all to know that right now."

Despite the visible fatherly concern on the Russian man's face, Ochako continued to stand tall and firm with her decision: "I understand, Tunguska-sensei! But when I said you can count on me, I meant every word of it! And besides, after hearing a story like what Nighteye-sensei told us, there's no way I'm backing out now!"

Following her brown-haired friend's example, Tsuyu turned her attention to Aizawa to give her answer: "If you're both really giving us permission, Eraserhead-sensei, then I'd like to contribute however I can too-kero. No one should hurt a little girl and be able to get away with it."

The instant Tunguska's gaze fell upon Eijirou, the boy immediately pounded his fists together; his red eyes all but literally burning with a truly heroic drive that left the proudest smile on his mentor's face: "You don't even have to ask, Sensei! From man to man, I'm with you every step of the way…with every last one of you guys! If there's anything at all we can do to help that little girl, we'll do it, and that's a promise!"

However, while Tunguska was trying to be as assuring as he could of how grateful he was for their students' courage, Aizawa was comparatively just as serious. "However, if Bubble Girl's intuition as to the League of Villains' potential involvement does end up being confirmed, I want you all to understand right now, that I will pull the plug on your involvement in this operation in a heartbeat; and if I'm unable, Tunguska will do the same in my place. Do you all understand this?"

As much as none of them wanted to even humor the possibility for that very same consequential reason, the first-years all understood exactly where their teacher was coming from, and when they all saw Tunguska give a resounding nod to back-up his fellow teachers' decision if the risks became too much for them, they all gave a respectful bow of understanding: "Yes, Sensei."

With that having finally been cleared up, Aizawa got back to his feet, popping a joint in his shoulder and letting out an exhausted and aggravated sigh. "In that case, I'm afraid I'll have to have you all accompany me back to Yuuei for today."

Just as he'd expected, all the first-year students and their seniors looked to Aizawa with shock, only for him to firmly put his foot down, figuratively and literally. "Your mentors and all the other Pros need to dedicate their time and energy towards conducting the investigation for Eri's potential whereabouts, and until such information becomes available, there unfortunately isn't going to be much of anything you all can do here. Besides, if things take a turn as much as I'm fearing they will, you could all use the extra time on campus to get in as much training as you can.

"However, for the sake of this operation and your classmates and yourselves, you cannot share a word of what you've all learned here to anyone else outside this building. Do not test me on this, kids. And this goes for you as well, Tunguska; you cannot tell your son about any of this, either. Now if you kids all understand this, then let's get going."

As much as Tunguska disliked having to keep yet more secrets from Nikolay than he already had been over all these years, he understood exactly where Aizawa was coming from. And thus, he went on to the train station to reunite with Fatgum so they could get back to Kansai and carry on with their first day of working together on conducting the investigation, while Aizawa and the students all returned to Yuuei; all of them feeling similarly frustrated at not being able to tell their friends just what they'd gotten themselves roped into, but understanding of their teacher's concerns nonetheless.

And besides, the man was also right about another thing: if things were going to get as dangerous as they felt like, then they would need to get in all the training they possibly could until the day to commence operations would finally come.

---

The entire time the two teachers had been talking with their students down in the lobby, none of them were ever aware of the fact that Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino had been quietly observing the whole scene from the windows of a few floors above, all the way until they finally took their leave.

The entire time, All Might's former sidekick had been watching Izuku especially closely. Once they were gone, he finally let out the deep breath he'd been sternly holding in for the last few minutes, trying to gauge every second of the boy's body language and expressions. "I see…so, you're the one that steered Midoriya-kun my way to try and repair the relationship between me and All Might, eh, Gran Torino-san?"

The tiny and crotchety old man at his side let out a bone dry chuckle, realizing he'd already long since been figured out. "Nah, I just thought of it as a good opportunity for the kid to learn. I often find myself butting in where I really shouldn't in my old age. So…did it work?"

From where Gran Torino was standing, it was impossible to tell what exactly was going on behind Sir Nighteye's gaze as he watched the departing Hero teachers and students. "I think they're a lot alike…that part of him that I could never understand, that mad zeal that lurks deep within All Might…the boy has that. That large foreigner with him has it, too. Perhaps that's another reason All Might always spoke so highly of him, all things considered. Maybe not. Either way, Midoriya-kun has had two promising teachers to help him along the way up to this point. I just hope it'll be enough."

---

Yuuei Academy, a couple hours later…

The day at Yuuei had started quite surprisingly for the students of 1-A. After realizing that for reasons they couldn't imagine, Aizawa wasn't going to open up homeroom, the class quickly found themselves being subjected to not only an extended opening English class with Present Mic, but also another extended period of art history with Midnight; for the duration of which she was constantly throwing subtle flirtatious quips at whichever boy student her eyes would settle on. Nikolay ended up being the unlucky (or very lucky in Minoru and Denki's eyes) winner a couple of times, and each time left him completely red in the face and sweating; and left Mina wide-eyed and blushing like mad, with her protective nature for her dear desk partner going into overdrive.

However, after the first two periods, the whole class had been taken by surprise when Aizawa unexpectedly returned, writing off his momentary absence as personal business, with all their absent classmates closely following after him.

However, for as excited as their classmates were to see them again so unexpectedly early today, and especially for as curious as many of them were to know exactly what they all did while they were gone; many of them were quick to see that, even despite the attempts to try and engage in casual conversation with their friends, their handful of once-absent classmates had a different air about them than usual, and not in an entirely good way, either.

Unfortunately for them, this curious shift in overall demeanor carried on into their next class, which was to be their physical training for the day: a massive endurance test to climb up a colossal recreation of a cliff face. All around, everybody did their runs on the course alongside each other quite well, with Ochako of course dominating over the rest, while Eijirou used his hardened hands to drive into the rock to hoist himself up, Tsuyu used her tongue like a grappling line to pull herself up on, Mina used her acid-coated fingers to melt grips into the cliff, and Nikolay channeled his Kinetics through the holes on the tips of his fingers to blast small holes into the cliff to grip onto as well.

By the time the class had ended up finishing their physical training period, it was finally time for lunch break, but after everyone had retired to the changing rooms to get back into their school uniforms and filed back out just as quickly; Nikolay and Mina were both watching the backs of their returned classmates, with Tenya and Shoto soon doing the same right beside them.

"I don't like it, you guys. It's like they're still all chatty as normal, but it's like they aren't really here." Mina finally muttered worriedly out the corner of her mouth, lest they ended up being overheard.

"I know what you mean. Whatever this internship meeting of theirs was about, it must be something really serious." Nikolay agreed, while Shoto gave no visible sign of just how hard he was thinking about it, but even with his blunt way of speaking, it was still easy to tell he was just as concerned for their friends' mental state right now.

"It's not our place to pry into what business their internships get them involved in. If it required the presence of multiple Pro Heroes, there's no doubt it's something important that can't risk being leaked. It's the only explanation that makes sense with their distant demeanors."

Tenya suddenly straightened his glasses once more; his posture clearly showing he was resolute in his decision on how to proceed. "Whether it makes sense or not, it's their decision to make if they wish to share it with any of us or not. Regardless, we must at least step forward and let them know that they can speak to us about anything at all when and if they're ready. As classmates, and as friends, we have an obligation to them for at least that much."

Nikolay clutched his hands into fists, giving a resounding nod of agreement with their class president, while Mina gave two pink thumbs way up to accompany her eager grin. "Way ahead of ya, Bestie Pres! You and Todoroki-kun go chat up Midori-kun; me and Kolya-kun will try and get a word outta Kiri! C'mon!"

With a spring in every step, Mina ignored Tenya's call for restraint as she took Nikolay's hand and sprinted after their friends into the dining hall.

Once there, it thankfully didn't take long for them to not only spot Izuku sitting at one table among some of their other classmates, but also to spot Eijirou sitting at another table nearby with Ochako and Tsuyu both nearby as well. With anticipation building, knowing they could tackle speaking to three of their friends all at once, Mina and Nikolay hurried over; their presence quickly being spotted by their three friends, with Eijirou eagerly waving in greeting while his mouth was full of ramen, and Ochako and Tsuyu both happily greeting the two as well: "Hey, Mina-chan, Kolya-san! Feel free to join us if you like."

Once they'd both graciously accepted the invite, Nikolay found himself trying to find the right words to try and open this discussion delicately. "So, how was your guys'—"So what was your super big top secret Hero intern meeting about, guys?! C'mon, you're killing me with all the being quiet about it stuff! Besties tell besties about everything, you all know that! Please, tell us? Pretty please?"

Nikolay and Eijirou both nearly started choking on their respective food with just how blunt Mina's opening was; her energy and frustration at being left in the dark rendering her all but deaf to Ochako and Tsuyu both trying to get her to quiet and calm down: "Mina-chan, please calm down and stop! We're not supposed to tell anyone, seriously!" "We're sorry we've been distant today, Mina, really we are; but we all promised we wouldn't tell anybody, and you need to respect that-kero. Not even Tunguska-sensei can say anything about it."

Nikolay had to hold onto Mina's shoulders in order to get her to stop bouncing, and thankfully she'd stopped raising her voice and showed enough awareness to at least speak quietly to their friends from now on; her boundless energy still coming through: "Aww, c'mon, Tsu-chan, you all know you can tell me a secret and I'll keep it totally under lock-and-key; Pinky pinkie promise! If we'd been the ones getting a big fancy Hero meeting, we'd tell you all about it if you wanted."

At this, Nikolay answered with a bluntness that could almost have rivaled Tsuyu's: "I think you saying that just proved why they shouldn't tell us, Mina." At this, the pink girl realized her own mistake and, while her cheeks were once again turning red with embarrassment at her own carelessness, she still gave another disappointed puffy cheeked pout. "I can too keep a secret," she muttered childishly to herself.

Figuring their dear friend had finally tuckered herself out, Nikolay cleared his throat and addressed their three friends straightforwardly: "Look, I understand whatever you guys talked about out there was something really serious, and you're not allowed to tell us. I'm okay with that, and I think we all know Mina is, too; deep down.

"The fact is, not just you guys and Midoriya-san, but we all have serious internship-related stuff we're dealing with, and it's none of our places to pry into it, especially if it could end up getting us in big trouble. I don't like being kept in the dark either, but I can respect why it has to be that way."

As Nikolay and Mina saw the deeply appreciative glimmers in their three friends' eyes at the Russian boys' understanding of their circumstances, he continued, feeling completely like his words were on auto-pilot with how completely mature he was coming across right now, almost like he'd unknowingly taken a page right out of Tenya's book: "The real reason we wanted to talk to you was because we…well, Tsuyu-san said it already: we saw how distant you've been during school so far today, even if you were all talking to us and everyone else; and we've all been worried.

"You all know me well enough to know that I understand how painful it can be to hold thoughts and words in. So, with that being said, I just want you all to know that, even if it's not now, but at any point at all, if any of you ever feel like you have something bothering you that you need to get off your chest, you can come to me to talk about it."

"Yeah, me too! Friends don't let friends hold stuff in; especially bad and sad stuff!" Mina immediately agreed with all the emotional sincerity in the world, which Ochako and Tsuyu already could both visibly appreciate.

At the same moment, Nikolay turned his attention to Eijirou, catching the red-haired boy by surprise: "I mean, honestly; you did the very same thing for me when you had no reason to, Eijirou-san. It's only right that I be able to do the same for you if you ever need it. I mean, that's just what friends…what men do for each other, isn't it?"

Eijirou's smile couldn't have gotten any bigger if he'd tried, seeing just how much Nikolay had taken from his father when it came to how to talk to him personally. And so, with a single agreeing nod, he finally answered: "That's right, they do. Thank you for letting us all know, Kolya-san, Ashido. It seriously means a lot to hear you both say that right now, you have no idea."

While Ochako was taking Mina's hands in her own and bowing her head in expression of the same thanks, Tsuyu looked the pink girl and Russian boy over with the same observant eyes, even despite the present appreciative smile on her pointed mouth. "That's really sweet of you both to tell us-kero. Although, I'd suggest maybe you should think of taking your own advice for not holding things in that weigh you down; for your own good and the people you care about." "Here, here."

As Tsuyu and Eijirou stated this, Nikolay and Mina could only laugh at just how easily the conversation had been flipped right back at them, and the sight of their dear friends laughing was thankfully enough to get the three of them laughing along with them. The entire time, none of the once distant trio ever knew of just how much Tsuyu's words had forced their Russian and pink friend to once more think back to their identical promises to themselves and one another for when the end of this week would finally come…and with that, Mina found herself starting to consider an approach to it that she hadn't wanted to acknowledge had been cooking up in her head for a while now; an approach she knew she would need a professional second opinion on as soon as she got the chance.

Once the rest of their relieving laughter had finally run its course, Nikolay admittedly felt so much lighter, as did all his friends at his sides. "Well, I'm sorry if we made you all feel like you were being put on the spot, you guys." "Yeah, sorry about that," Mina chimed in agreement, giving herself a playful little wrap of her knuckles on her head, sticking her tongue out with an embarrassed giggle and smile that made Ochako laugh even more.

With that, Nikolay felt absolutely confident as he finished: "Whatever this serious thing is that you and Midoriya-san can't tell us about, we'll leave you all to it. Besides, if my Dad and all your other mentors were a part of it; and given the timing of your coming back to school, I'm willing to bet Aizawa-sensei had something to do with it, too; then whatever it is you're dealing with, I'm sure they've already got it all under control."

"Yeah, just like how real Pros are supposed to! And one day we'll all get to be just as cool as them together!" Mina proclaimed with another excited fist pumping in the air, spurring all but Tsuyu to do the same with her; their spirits all magically lifted just from the sheer presence of dear and irreplaceable friends.

Right now, Nikolay and Mina both felt well and truly assured that as long as they and their friends were all working together, then they would be able to pull through thick and thin, and face the challenges of the future together, just like they both found themselves wanting more and more than anything with each passing day.

---

Early Wednesday, September 10th, in an undisclosed location…

In the small white room adorned with only two chairs, a low table and a single banner on one wall displaying an eight-pointed flower diagram with the kanji for the 'Eight Precepts of Death' upon it; the man in the beak mask known as Kai Chisaki sat in silent, yet foreboding, patience. It had only been a day since he had received the unexpected, hopefully pleasant, surprise of a return phone call from Tomura Shigaraki, requesting for a much more personal meeting between them.

Considering just what it was that Kai was still hoping to accomplish with the League of Villains potentially within his ranks, how could he have possibly said no? Sure, Tomura and his people had been plenty angry when he had left them at the end of their disastrous first meeting, but even people in the throes of emotional fragility were eventually prone to finally seeing reason, and for all he knew, Tomura reaching out was the proof of just that.

Sure, some of his lieutenants had been particularly cautious about letting their leader actually go through with this, most likely sensing the makings of a trap, hence why he had been adamant about setting up the spot for their meeting this time, somewhere he would have the home field advantage. With that and a couple of his most loyal and handy followers keeping watch, he was more than ready for the confrontation that was to come.

After a short while of waiting patiently, the moment had finally come, as with the agreed rhythm of knocks upon the only door finally sounding, Kai gave permission to enter, and finally found himself standing face to face with the long-awaited sight of the young adult man with deathly pale and dry skin, messy long white hair, and a single disembodied hand still clutching onto his face.

As Kai's white-hooded lieutenant followed in after Tomura, shutting and locking the door behind him; the leader of the League of Villains silently observed the especially sparse layout of this little meeting room of theirs he'd been dragged to. "Not big on decorating your office, are you?"

"I don't like cluttered spaces." Kai answered immediately, wanting to dispose of any semblance of small talk that could have been construed for a distraction from the business he hoped to accomplish here today.

"We've been wandering around these underground tunnels for a half an hour. Way to make your guests feel like ants! Is every yakuza hideout as bizarre as this one?" The hand upon Tomura's face made it difficult to glean exactly what the man was expressing; unmistakably an act of caution of his own, much like Kai's insistence on his mask when dealing with the people of this world.

"We can never be sure who's watching or what a guest might be thinking, so we've got multiple underground routes. This reception room is quite well hidden." Kai explained as he motioned for his esteemed guest to take the seat across from him.

"This is how our organization has managed to survive through all these years. So, about your call the other day…did you really mean it? You'll really join us, depending on the terms?!" chimed in the comically tiny and completely enshrouded beak-masked individual sitting at Kai's side, whom he knew as his trusted General Manager of the Shie Hassaikai, codenamed Mimic; whom by now was unable to even hide his own anxiousness for the results of this get-together.

Accepting Kai's welcoming gesture, Tomura (begrudgingly) took his spot across the table, right before planting his worn out and dirty sneakers straight upon said table, hands on his knees as though he were making himself right at home. "That's one way of putting it. You guys wanna use our name, and we wanna expand our influence. We both have something to gain here."

While his mask was able to hide the majority of his facial tics, it couldn't hide the clear disdain Kai's eyes were showing at such a display from his guest. "Take your filthy foot off of my table."

And yet, despite the frigid tone the man he knew as Overhaul was speaking to him with, Tomura kept his hands right on his knees, making no visible effort to respect his host's wishes. "Boss-san…you should really be more polite and say something like: 'Please, remove your foot.' Show some humility. Anyway, first off, we aren't working under you. We're gonna do what we want, when and how we want. We'll be equals. So let's be friends and help each other out."

Already, this meeting was off to a poor start, but Overhaul was giving no such visible indication, as he remained seated calmly. "Is that your condition?"

"One more thing." Tomura instantly answered; a single finger pointing his way to emphasize his point, even bringing his other leg up onto his seat to further illustrate his sheer lack of respect. "This plan you mentioned before…explain it. It's only natural to include us. After all, I have to decide if it's worth lending you our good name. Especially because…"

The moment Tomura began to reach his hand underneath the heavy dark jacket he'd come in here wearing, the white-hooded yakuza lieutenant, codenamed Chronostasis, swooped right in and had the barrel of their pistol right up against the back of Tomura's head, hammer pulled back, safety off and finger already on the trigger. "You're a bit full of yourself, aren't you? You think you can come in here and tell us what to do?!"

At the very same time, Mimic had also come flying right across the room, extending an impossibly massive muscular arm from out of the blackness of his tiny body, clutching onto Tomura's shoulder with a grip that could turn an adult's bones into dust if he'd wanted; a single large and bloodshot eye visible within one of the eyeholes of his own beak mask. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE PUNK?!"

However, despite being caught at a great disadvantage, Tomura gave no visible sign that he was at all intimidated. In fact, if Chronostasis had been standing at just the right angle, they would have seen the man's one visible red eye burning right into them with the exact same bloodlust-driven hatred that he had at the end of their first meeting. "You're one to talk. Your two-bit yakuza meat shield was hardly an equal trade for our dearly departed Big Sis, Magne-san."

Continuing onward, with his red eye now burning straight into Overhaul himself, Tomura simply lifted his left arm for the sake of theatrics. "Plus, that arm you took from Compress-san. We may have been able to take care of that, but it doesn't change the fact that you owe us for that particular bit of blood shed, as well. Otherwise, this deal is a no-go."

Meeting Tomura's gaze head-on, Overhaul finally gave his answer to such hostile words: "Chrono, Mimic, back off. Our guest took the time to come out here on his own, after all. Let's at least hear him out. He was in the middle of something."

With their leader's word as law, the two yakuza immediately stepped away from Tomura, allowing the white-haired Villain to finish reaching into his jacket, before finally producing a single empty object that looked like a hybrid between a syringe and an actual bullet. "We recovered this shortly after you'd all left. For some reason, Compress-san wasn't able to use his Quirk after being hit with it. Whatever this grand plan of yours is, it's got something to do with this bullet, doesn't it? What exactly are these things? What're you planning to do with them? Tell me."

Eyeing both the bullet and Tomura himself, Overhaul's eyes were completely unreadable. As delicate as his plans for these bullets were, he knew that his upstart guest had a good point. If he really wanted the League to work with him, then he would need to be willing to throw them a bone, and if this was it, then he would need to concede.

And so, folding his gloved hands together, Overhaul looked Tomrua straight in his one visible eye as he gave his answer: "I'm going to destroy the way things are. They say that All For One stole Quirks to gain power. I'm taking that method and changing it up a bit. And we're planting the seeds for that change, those very same bullets, and planting them all throughout this country.

"Little by little, we're laying groundwork for the plan. Soon, every criminal and Villain across the nation will have the capabilities to bring the Heroes down below their level, and take control of society back, with our organization standing at the head of that transformation. We've even started branching out into sending these bullets and some of our other wares to some promising black market dealers in other nations, planting our influence overseas and ultimately establishing ourselves as the supreme Villain organization on the global scene. Once Villains around the world realize they've been given the means to finally put Heroes in their place, solely because of us, they will gladly pledge their loyalty to us for making it all possible. It's a long and arduous process, admittedly, but the pieces are already falling into place."

Despite the grandiose nature of Overhaul's words, the man never lifted his voice an octave, maintaining the same cold and serious approach he had from the beginning. Tomura, likewise, didn't give any visible physical reaction to what the man was suggesting, instead opting to simply place the bullet on his edge of the table between them. "So, it sounds like you've already put plenty of thought into how to gain the manpower and resources you were talking about before. So what exactly do you need the League of Villains for? What do you envision us contributing to this grand campaign of yours?"

Overhaul lay back in his seat, giving a brief motion of one hand to his two lieutenants. At his silent command, Mimic and Chronostasis actually proceeded to place a single wooden board with a carved-in grid upon the table between the two men, before just as quickly laying down two lines of small wooden pieces with different kanji painted upon them on both sides. Tomura could only watch with silent confusion, while Overhaul watched his two associates work intently. "Tell me, Shigaraki Tomura-san, have you ever played shogi before?"

"Nah, so put it away. I don't even know the rules." Tomura immediately answered, showing zero patience for this divergence in the topic, while Overhaul simply observed his reactions with those cold yellow eyes.

"Don't be like that. This is your chance to pick up a new hobby. You see, the key to playing shogi is that you learn how to step back and take stock of the game as a whole. My personal favorite element of shogi is how you can utilize pieces stolen from your opponent." At this point, Tomura's shoulders visibly lowered, as he was already beginning to realize just where his host was really going with this. With no answer being given, Overhaul finally got down to it: "So give me Kurogiri, Vukodlak or Toga Himiko. Perhaps Bubaigawara Jin. I can't possibly feel at ease with them running amok, as you say."

Tomura's eyes continued to burn into Overhaul as he began anxiously scratching at his shoulder, barely starting to clench his teeth at the sheer gall of this man. "They all have their uses. Are you trying to slow down my operation; or just outright sabotage it? We took a great deal of effort to cover up our helping Vukodlak escape prison without the media, the public and the Heroes knowing about it. Giving him over to you could expose that and put them all on higher alert and make things exponentially harder for all of us. Besides all of that, they're all my cornerstones! Why do you want them so bad?"

With his hands still folded in an almost saintly and generous gesture, Overhaul never broke eye contact with Tomura, all to help him see just how genuine the yakuza leader was being right now: "To build trust between us, and help clear away the ill will. I divulged every last detail of my grand plan, so now it's your turn to do me a solid. You're all about making friends, aren't you, Shigaraki Tomura-san?"

For a good short while, Tomura likewise never broke eye contact, but he didn't immediately give an answer, either. Overhaul could clearly see the conflict brewing behind that single blood red eye; and for him that was a good enough sign that his guest was beginning to see things his way.

When Tomura finally stood back up, Overhaul had to once again gesture for his two associates to stand down. Unlike them, he could read Tomura's body language much clearer. If the man had wanted to kill Overhaul right now, he wouldn't have even hesitated by simply getting up. And so, with an indeterminate-sounding sigh, the white-haired Villain finally gave the yakuza an answer: "It's not going to be nearly so easy as you think. They all would still rather see you all dead…but one way or another, I'll convince Toga, Twice and Vukodlak to work with you. Give me one day at most, and you'll have them."

With that, Tomura Shigaraki was finally granted leave by a clearly grateful Overhaul, and from there, it was time for another half hour-long trek through the maze of underground tunnels, until he was finally let back out in the depths of an inconspicuous back alley on his own, just as he had been when first contacted by Overhaul's minions.

After another several minutes of making his way through these back streets to a very specific empty lot between two cold grey buildings, Tomura finally reached into one of the pockets of his jacket, pulling out a single burner cellphone, before hitting the speed dial, and immediately being answered by Kurogiri's voice: "I am to assume the deed is done, Shigaraki Tomura-san?"

"It's done. Get me back over there."

In an instant, a small black warp gate opened before Tomura, and once he stepped through, he immediately found himself back in the same desolate and empty room in one of any number of anonymous abandoned buildings that the League had chosen for their meeting places. Waiting patiently for him was, of course, Kurogiri; but this time the black mist Villain was actually accompanied by the burnt skin and stitch-faced Dabi sitting a ways back, watching their leader's return with those ice cold blue eyes, and at his sides were the ever-patient reptilian Spinner, and the now-no worse for wear Mr. Compress, with his left arm having long since re-grown from his shoulder as good as new.

"It's about time we all got called back together. So what exactly is going on with us and this Overhaul bastard? And why aren't Twice, Toga and that old man Vukodlak here?" Dabi finally asked, only for Kurogiri to suddenly pull out his own phone, just before it began to ring on its own. The moment Kurogiri decided to answer, he and his fellow Villains were immediately being answered by Tomura Shigaraki's voice: "This feels like just about the right time within the window I'd noted last time, Kurogiri-san. Tell me, have things regarding the meeting gone as smoothly as I'd hoped?"

"Indeed they have, Shigaraki Tomura-san. The meeting only recently ended." The instant Kurogiri answered with this, the Tomura on the other end's voice sounded more distant, as though he were speaking to someone else on his end: "Alright, Twice-san; it's done. Go ahead and deactivate it."

In that instant, the Tomura Shigaraki that had been standing before them all suddenly began to disintegrate into the very same black sludge that constituted all of Twice's clones, and while Dabi, Spinner and Mr. Compress all visibly flinched with confused surprise, Kurogiri simply waited for the liquid to all evaporate. Once it had, all that was left where the clone had once been standing, was a single basic recording device he proceeded to pick up, pleased to see it was still running after this whole time.

"The plan worked splendidly, Shigaraki Tomura-san. The Doctor's recorder worked inside the clone and captured the entire meeting," Kurogiri explained over the phone to their leader, for the moment ignoring the accusatory and demanding expressions from the three Villains behind him, while on the other end, Tomura was smiling to himself.

"Perfect. Use the coordinates I gave you earlier to warp it to me. I need to hear this for myself."

As Kurogiri began to do just that, Dabi suddenly got onto his feet, speaking firmly enough so that Tomura could hear him loud and clear: "Do you have any plans on telling us exactly what it is you're up to right now, Shigaraki? Just where the hell are you right now? Or Toga, Twice and Vukodlak, for that matter?"

"They're with me as we speak, Dabi-san. We've just been really…preoccupied with some abroad foundation-shoring work for the League for the last few days. If all goes smoothly for us on this end, we shouldn't be away for too much longer. As for what I have planned; you, Compress-san and Spinner-san will just need to be patient for a little while longer. Once I listen to this, I'll call back, and we can all discuss what to do as a team again."

Click!

With that, Tomura ended the call for what the gathered Villains could only hope would be for a few minutes; all the while the three now-absent members could simply resign themselves to doing as their leader suggested, hoping things would turn out as smoothly as he so confidently believed they would.

And of course, with that worry, also came the long-building curiosity of just where on earth their comrades could have possibly gone for the last several days, and what they could have possibly been up to until now that would have made them go off without bringing the whole force of the League of Villains along to help.

And there it is, everyone, the new chapter for the week, and the establishment for the future Shie Hassaikai Arc, as well as an opener for a little peek into the Villains Abroad Arc I've been cooking up alongside the Hokkaido Arc.

I hope you all enjoy what you read here today. If so, please be kind and leave me a constructive review.

Have a great rest of your week, and I'll see you all with the next chapter on 03/26!