Before Bakugo's fingertips could graze the doorknob, Akane tugged him by the back of his hoodie. His brow dropped as he annoyingly turned back to see what was so damn important. Didn't he make it clear to her before that it was useless to stop him once he made up his mind?

"Didn't you say that it was stupid to go in without a plan?"

He clicked his tongue and brushed her hand away. "This is the plan. We're not gonna get anywhere just sitting here."

He had a point, but what was the right call for a situation like this? The guy was freaking out in the other room, but he wasn't attacking the children. On the other hand, from what they could hear, it sounded like he was violently throwing stuff around in a fit of rage. Was he fighting with someone else? Or was he just acting on emotions?

Akane wondered if maybe one of the children could try to talk to him again, but she quickly dismissed that idea. She didn't want to risk any of them getting hurt. If anything, going with Bakugo's idea, even knowing that the Pastor might attack them, seemed like the more reasonable course of action. U.A. trained them in defense since day one, they could handle one guy. Besides, it was three against one, right?

She looked back to the oldest. "Is there anyone else in the room with him?"

He shook his head. "No, no, it's just him."

"Is this all the children? Or are there any more out there?" Kirishima butted in.

He gave a double-check and nodded. "This is all of us."

Kirishima exchanged looks with Hattori, then to Bakugo, their mindset in tandem. Looks like they didn't have much of a choice other than to confront the guy. It was better than waiting for something bad to happen.

"Then just keep everyone down here for now until one of us comes back." Akane informed him. "If things go haywire, we don't want you or any of them getting caught in the way."

He nodded in understanding, and with that, they moved on.

"Wait!" Isamaru called, making them stop in their tracks to watch as he rushed to the stairs. "What're you gonna do to him?"

"We're just gonna talk to him." Kirishima answered. For some reason, Isamaru wasn't content with that answer. Fear started to sink into his eyes.

"But what if he-"

"We're not gonna hurt him." Akane spoke before he could finish his question.

"Yea, not unless he tries something first…" Bakugo muttered.

He paused, re-thinking everything over again and trying to find something to say. Sadly, the concerned look on his face didn't fade, nor did it on the rest of the kids. They all went back and forth, averting their gaze from their brother to the three of them. It was clear that the children looked up to their older brother for both comfort and taking the responsibility of deciding things for them. That was a lot of pressure to put on him. He was still just a teenager, just like them. Isamaru was at a loss for words. What choice did he have?

Finally, Bakugo grew tired of waiting for his final answer, if he were even going to give one. Without hesitation, Kirishima and Hattori tailed behind him as he turned the knob and stepped back out into the hallway. This time, there was no need to stop and check around or be sneaky. The blonde-haired boy went straight for the double doors at the end of the path and gripped the two metal handles.

He flung open the doors and they bolted inside the altar room. There, in the path between the pews, the pastor knelt on the floor with his head down. His hands raised up just above his head, clasped together in prayer, with a beaded rosary wrapped tightly around his wrist. Above him stood the holy golden cross with many rows of candles in bright red glassware underneath, each one lit by a passing person to come confess their sins. Kirishima's head cocked confused when he peered all around the altar. A few of the pews to the front had been overturned and poorly propped against the stained glass windows. The other double doors, that they assumed to be the front entrance, were also barred with several other pieces of furniture, including some chairs, the podium, and the holy water font. How unusual…

Bakugo wasted no time stepping up to the pastor. Both Hattori and Kirishima held their breath waiting to see what he was about to do. Hopefully, not anything stupid.

"Hey! Father!" He called out to him.

Unfortunately, he remained still as he continued to pray in silence.

"Hey!" he called again, but still no answer. He suppressed a growl as he irritatingly focused his quirk to produce some sweat in his palms.

Akane stepped up to him and placed an arm on his shoulder. Bakugo flinched, but once he read her facial expression, he begrudgingly powered down his quirk to let her try her own method. Calmly, she turned towards the pastor until she stood just behind him. She quickly noticed the slight tremble of the rosary dangling in his hand the closer she came and stopped.

"Father Kogen?..." she called, trying to keep her tone as cool as possible.

Suddenly, Akane's vision started to blur and an overwhelming sense of nausea overtook her. Oh man, what is this? What's happening? There was a burning sensation of heat and numbness flushing across her skin as she felt her pulse start to rise. Her heart beat so immensely within her chest that she could almost hear it echoing in her brain. It was like she had taken a dose of some kind of illegal drug, but different. What's happening to her?

Unable to keep her balance, her legs began to wobble until her knees dropped to the ground. Shit, what was she supposed to do in a situation like this? She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to pull at the strands and use the temporary pain to get her out of this funk, but it was a futile attempt.

Frantically, she glanced over her shoulder to Kirishima and Bakugo. Kirishima was down, trying to hold himself up on his arms; his cheeks were feverishly flushed. The sound of his huffed breaths increased, hyperventilating. Bakugo was also on his hands and knees, his face in a painful grimace, trying to fight whatever this thing was doing to him. Sadly, it only seemed to make it worse. She could hear him grunting in pain as a few sparks exploded from his fingers into the tiled floor, cracking beneath him. This was getting bad. If Bakugo was down then…

Hattori grit her teeth hard, trying to force her body to relax. Maybe by accepting it, it would help her overcome it quicker. Sadly, that didn't work and only increased the chest pain. She couldn't understand what was happening to them, but this wouldn't happen for no reason, not for them.

Instantly, the pastor raised himself up. Then she understood what was going on...

"Amen…"

Slowly, his body turned and that's when she was met with two viscous, beady, dark eyes glaring down at her. Though it was already hard to breathe, she held her breath. His face was an abnormal shade of scarlet red and his jaw locked with tension. If he gave any impression of being a kind and gentle man, that definitely went out the window now. The veins surrounding his temples jutted out of his skin, giving the impression that his head could burst at any moment. Whatever was going on, it looked like it was affecting him too. She couldn't let this go on. If it did, it would only be a matter of time until one of them would either pass out from exhaustion or die from a heart attack. She couldn't let that happen to Kirishima or Bakugo.

Her blood boiled when the pressure grew. This was getting worse! The man's quirk was definitely strong. Her sight doubled, the darkness starting to creep in her peripheral vision. No! She wasn't going to slip away! Not now! She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head violently, concentrating as best as she could on activating her quirk.

Damn it! This isn't working either! She had to try harder!

Just before she could feel her strength coming back, Father Kogen's shoes came into view. She raised her head to see him gazing down at her, like a dire wolf glowering at its feeble prey. His eyes were bloodshot, practically bulging from his skull and his skin color darkened a deeper shade of red. If this was his quirk, it didn't look like he would be able to do it much longer; it was taking too much of a toll on his body. If they could just stick it out a little longer, as long as he didn't make it worse than it already was, they could get through this quirk.

Before she knew it, the shadow of his arm cascaded above her face. Her eyes widened in panic. His fingers flung open from his closed fist and instantly, her insides felt like boiling lava. No longer able to withstand the pain, Akane screamed.

"Hattori!" Kirishima exclaimed, trying to muster all the strength he could to crawl closer towards her. Bakugo grit his teeth and tried to mimic his movements. No way were they going to let her suffer, not for them.

Father Kogen quickly noticed their small movements and raised his other free hand to Kirishima. A painful cry escaped his lips as he dropped all the way to the floor. Bakugo's mouth parted in shock, then quickly melted into wrath. His red eyes fixed on the pastor in a furious scowl.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

The sparks started to pop off from the heat of the blood rush sweating his hands. It wasn't much nitroglycerin to do anything big, but if he could concentrate it into one good hit, he'd bring him down. This blurry vision wasn't helping though.

"DAD!"

Father Kogen's head shot up at the open double doors. Isamaru? From behind the door frame, the little heads of the other children poked out. Oh, no! He vowed not to let them see him like this again.

"Go back to your room, Isa! Now!" he yelled.

"No, Dad! You need to stop this!" Isamaru sprinted over to Bakugo and tried to help him up. Bakugo wanted to push him off, but given the circumstances, he ignored his pride and silently accepted it.

"Do as you're told! You don't need to see this! Get out of here! NOW!" Kogen snapped angrily. For a brief moment, there was a gap in his quirk concentration.

"NO! They're trying to help!"

"ISA!" he barked back.

Bakugo wiped the sweat from his brow and added it to the palm of his hand. This wasn't much, but it should be enough. He slid his arm across the floor and aimed in Kogen's direction. The light emitted from his fingertips, ready to fire… when suddenly, the pastor fell to the floor. The heat and heaviness in their bodies immediately subsided, and at long last, they were able to catch their breaths.

"Dad!" Isamaru was about to rush to him when he realized he was still holding Bakugo by the shoulder. He paused to check him. "You good?"

Exhausted, Bakugo brushed him off and turned off his quirk. He stumbled a little before he managed to get himself up. "Yea… I'm good."

With a huff, Kirishima also sat up on the back of his legs, waiting for the blood flow to stabilize and his vision to return. Akane propped herself back up and rubbed her temples with her fingers. Man, she had a massive headache, but at least the nausea was fading away. Isamaru shot a quick glance at the two of them and assuming they too were okay, he moved around them to get to his dad. He lay there still on his back with his eyes closed. His skin was still shiny with sweat, but his cheeks transformed back to his normal color. Quickly, he leaned down and pressed his ear on his chest.

He sighed in relief. "He's still breathing."

"What the hell kind of quirk was that?!" Bakugo snarled angrily.

"He called it 'blood rush'. He told me about it a couple years back. Said he used it back when he was young and didn't know any better, but it hurt a lot of people and in turn, it took a toll on him whenever he used it. So he made a promise to God that he wouldn't use it unless he had no other choice…"

"Like hell! Bastard tried to kill us right when he saw us!"

"Well if you didn't come in so threateningly!" Isa snapped back.

"You're seriously trying to pin this crap on me?!" Bakugo stomped over to him.

"You're the one who burst in here screamin' and yellin'!"

"Oh, that's it!"

"Guys! Seriously? Now's not the time." Kirishima interrupted as he managed to gather himself up to a standing position. He noticed Hattori still massaging her head, trying to catch her breath. Even though he was still struggling with his own equilibrium, he offered her his hand. "You okay?"

She nodded and gently took it to stand up. "Yea… Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Once they recovered from their overexertion, Isa and Kiri took both ends of the pastor's robe and pants and moved him from the floor to one of the pews. Akane looked down at him from the top of his receding hairline to his shiny dress shoes, checking for any injuries. The redness in his face subsided to a light blush as his chest steadily rose and fell. At least he was breathing.

"What do we do with him?" Krishima asked, breaking the silence. "Is he okay?"

Bakugo rolled his eyes and bent down to hold his fingers to his neck vein. "He's not dead, just knocked out."

Isamaru breathed in relief. "Good… I got worried, since he never used his quirk on more than one person before."

"Should we… call an ambulance, or take him to the hospital or something?" Kirishima suggested.

"No, no hospitals." he replied a bit sternly. The three of them became confused.

"What if he has a serious injury?"

"What're you, dumb?! We all fell on our asses before we could even lay a finger on 'im!" Bakugo snapped. Seriously, after what happened, he was worried about him?

While they went on arguing pointlessly, Akane continued to stare at the sleeping middle-aged man. He twitched slightly before rotating his head more comfortably to the side, and that was when she noticed something peculiar behind his dress collar, something red. She bent over and carefully pulled the collar away, revealing a bright red dot. From a distance, it could be mistaken for a cigarette burn, but up close, it wasn't big enough to be the circumference of a cigarette end, nor did it appear cauterized in any way. It was soon clear to see that this was a fresh needle mark.

Just when she tugged on the edge of his collar again to check for more marks, his shoulder nudged her hand, making her jolt. Afraid of the consequences of waking him up, she pulled away. His body stilled and she huffed with ease.

Clink!

Her eyes darted to the tiled floor and lying there on the ground was a mini glass vial with a syringe needle sticking out. Her brow furrowed. Where did that come from?

"Hey, guys?" She called, but got drowned out by the sounds of their annoying arguing. "Guys! Look at this!"

They silenced themselves and faced her, instantly drawn to the small needle she pointed to on the floor. The fuck? They moved in for a closer look to be sure what they were seeing was real. Kirishima's eyes widened when he recognized what it was.

"What is it?" Isa asked as he reached down to get it, but Akane quickly grabbed his wrist before he could touch it. He met her gaze and she shook her head. Who knows what kind of substances were still left in it? It could be the very thing that made him go crazy.

She then proceeded to pull out her small pack of tissues that she carried in her pocket and pulled out a clean one. She cautiously picked it up keeping the flimsy tissue as a barrier and moved it carefully on top of the wooden altar. It wouldn't be safe to leave this lying around with the little kids still walking about. The last thing they wanted was to make them more worried. They gathered around, staring at the item in question.

"So your man of God is an addict, huh?" Katsuki muttered, making Isa more riled up. To him, it just didn't make any sense. How could he even say such a false accusation?

"No way! Dad would never do anything like that!"

"Then how do you explain this?!" He snapped back.

"I dunno! But it's gotta be something else! Maybe he might've taken it from someone he was trying to help!"

"Anything coming from a needle's gotta involve drugs, dumbass!"

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Bakugo." Akane interrupted."Look at this."

They observed as she went back and pulled the pastor's collar back, revealing the fresh mark. Deflated, Isa didn't know what to make of it. He just couldn't believe that his dad would do something like this, but the proof was right there; it left him at a loss for words. Bakugo wanted to relish in the fact that he was right, but there wasn't anything to be happy about when it came to something like this, so he chose this time to remain quiet.

"He did use a drug, but I wouldn't call him an addict. Addicts look way more sickly and frail than this, and he only has one needle mark on his neck."

"Check his arms." Bakugo instructed, and with Isa's help, they carefully pulled up his sleeves. Both arms were bare, except maybe a small beauty mark here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"He's good." Akane explained.

"I think I know what it is."

Suddenly, all eyes fell on Kirishima.

"It's that new drug that's been going around, Trigger. Me and Tamaki faced a villain that used a drug just like that in order to enhance his quirk way back when we were interning with Fatgum. Fighting the guy with his power alone, he was actually really weak and tried to run off, but when he took that stuff, he was… like a monster. And not just that, another villain tried to hit me with one of those needles, but it grazed Tamaki instead, and he wasn't able to use his quirk for a while right after."

Immediately, Akane remembered the information her mom had told her and the recent reports on the news. This new Trigger drug was up and coming,and it was all the hype for alleged villains, but there was still some lacking info on the other one. Then again, who would want to get rid of their quirk?

"So there's one that takes it away and one that makes you stronger?... Are the effects permanent?" Isa asked curiously.

"We're not sure. They're still researching the one that erases quirks, but villains are still trying to get their hands on Trigger, so that one probably only lasts for a short time." Akane explained. "It's probably best if we don't touch this thing and keep an eye on him."

"What if he was trying to get rid of his quirk?" Isamaru explained. That seemed very unlikely, but it was apparent that he cared for this man.

"Are you kidding me?! This asshole had us all on the floor two seconds ago! There's no way he 'got rid' of his quirk!" Katsuki barked. Isamaru continued to glare at him, but he was right though.

"What he took was more likely Trigger… Even still, we should be careful. The main thing we need to focus on right now is figuring out why he would need this in the first place." Akane explained.

Isa clenched his fingers into a fist. "It just doesn't make sense… When I was little, he told me about how he used his quirk when he was young. It manifested late when he was a teenager and at the time, he was going through some heavy stuff at school and at home. He ended up using it to defend himself, but he got carried away and ended up hurting a lot of people, including himself. Whenever he did use it, he described that it was like having a high blood pressure attack. I could only imagine the kind of toll it took on his body with that drug."

"If that's true, then we should seriously take him to a doctor." Kirishima suggested again. They could at least give him something to steady his blood pressure and it seemed like the safest place to be.

"I told you, no docs!" Isa snapped.

"Why the hell not?! If you're so worried about him, why not take him where he'll get checked out?!" Bakugo mirrored his energy aggressively.

"Because we can't afford it! We just brought our brother Hiroto home from the hospital a couple weeks ago and it took everything we had."

"What happened to him?" Akane asked curiously.

"He was a victim of a poisonous gas attack from a villain robbing a convenience store. Since he's so small, the gas affected him the worst and he was put on life support. I heard Dad praying for him to find the money to save him and help him heal. Amazingly, he recovered a few days later, even though the doctors said he wouldn't last another week. I don't know how he got better so fast. Maybe they found some miracle cure for him… I don't know, but I know we haven't been eating much since we've brought him home, so it must've taken everything we had."

"Well, you can't stay here if you're starving."

"Even if it did cost us some food, we all would've given it up willingly. Listen, please… This is the first place in my whole life where I felt safe with an adult. He treats us all like a real Dad should. If CPS sees what's going on, they'll take us away…. Please, don't make it any more risky for us. We just got Hiroto home."

"But what if using the drug actually damaged his body? He might've actually had a stroke or a heart attack." Kirishima pointed out.

"He told me it felt like that. I don't know if it actually affected him the same way as it did when used on someone else." Isa explained.

"So what should we do?" Kirishima averted his gaze back and forth from Bakugo to Hattori for an answer. Their looks puzzled more trying to find a solution.

"I… I don't know." Akane muttered. "Check his pulse again."

Bakugo clicked his tongue at their indecisiveness and calmly went to feel the pastor's jugular vein again. "It's steady. He's still breathing. Even if it did damage his heart or brain, there's not much they'll be able to do about it now."

"I guess we should wait until he wakes up before we figure out what to do." Akane decided. Judging from everything going on, it seemed like the most favorable option. She wouldn't want anything to happen to the kids, especially if there was a chance of CPS sending them to foster care. Those programs only led children to feel hopelessly abandoned, not just from their biological parents, but from society as well. At the same time, if the pastor was as good a man as they claimed him to be, why in the world would he be using Trigger?

"It just doesn't make any sense. He had to have used it for a reason… When he turned to God, he promised he would never use it unless he had to… There just had to be a reason, but I can't think of what for…"

"Or who it was for? Look over there." Katsuki pointed over to what they assumed were the front double entry doors. A mountain of turnt over furniture barred them from the inside. "He wouldn't have done that unless he was trying to keep someone out."

Isa couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What?"

"Use your head, Idiot! He made you all miss school, he got his hands on Trigger, he's barricading the building, what's that tell you?!" Bakugo snapped angrily. All the signs pointed to it, but Isamaru was so deluded that he didn't want to comprehend it.

"But from who- is the question." Akane interjected. "Does your dad have any enemies?"

Isa shook his head. "No, no, he's always done his best to be a kind and God-fearing man. He's nice to everyone..."

"Then has anyone suspicious come by the orphanage?"

"Not that I know of. Every once in a while, we get someone who comes for confession or a parent who thinks about adoption. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Then we should look around. Sounds like this guy's hiding something from you, and I'm gonna find out what. Where's his bedroom?" Bakugo demanded, his eyes narrowed at Isamaru, who only continued to glare at him.

Isa pointed to a single door at the right-hand corner of the altar room. "His room and his office is in there."

Without hesitation, Bakugo stomped over to it.

"I'll check the office and see if I find anything. I promise we'll put everything back how we found it." Kirishima offered and calmly followed behind him.

When they disappeared, Isamaru scoffed. "Is he always this ornery?"

"You have no idea…"

Her response emitted a slight chuckle from him. "You must have the patience of a saint then."

"I know he can be rough around the edges, but his intentions are good."

There was silence for a moment as she peered around the room. Since those two were off snooping for clues, she figured she should do the same.

"You should stay here with him. At least one of us should be here when he wakes up. He'd listen to you."

"Yea…" he replied, and went to pick up one of the chairs from the barricade. He placed it beside his dad and plopped himself down. The heaviness of stress on his shoulders started to weigh him down, making him anxiously run his fingers through his ruffled, gray hair. This whole thing was so fucked…

With that taken care of, Akane maneuvered her body around the room. She fingered through the papers and notebooks tucked behind the podiums, then checked for any loose papers lying around the pews and the floor, and then through the trash bin. Sadly, there wasn't anything unusual to be found. She decided instead to utilize her time waiting on Bakugo and Kirishima to turn the furniture back over and put it back in its proper place. If the church was regularly checked by CPS and pedestrians, if any of them ever came by and saw this mess, it definitely wouldn't give a good impression.

Suddenly, the sound of the back doors creaked open. In a panic, they snapped their heads to see Maiko and a few of the other kids curiously peeking in. Their jaws dropped when they stared at the mismash of furniture strewn about. As soon as their eyes laid on their father, they panicked. Oh man, they didn't expect them to come in so soon. How were they going to explain all this?

"Wh-what happened to dad?" questioned the insect child in his high-pitched adolescent voice.

Maiko jetted over to Akane. "Big sis? What's going on?"

Akane glanced back to Isa and their eyes met, wondering what they should say. This wasn't going to be easy. Calmly, she sighed a slow steady breath and knelt down to their level.

"Everything's going to be fine. Your father used his quirk and it just got him really really tired. We're doing our best to look after him for now, so we can wait and figure out what's going on."

"Is he hurt?" asked another kid.

She shook her head. "We don't think so. Just really tired. Don't worry. We're going to keep watch over him until he wakes up."

Their complexions softened a bit after hearing that, but it still didn't ease their concerns. Maybe it was best to hear this from Isamaru instead of her. He was closer to them, after all. She stood on her feet and walked over to talk to him privately.

"Maybe it would be best if you get them all back to their rooms and try to talk to them…"

"What would I even say?..."

"Just… tell them that he had a little accident and remind them that he's just really tired. There's nothing for them to worry about. We're getting everything sorted out." Akane tried to sound as reassuring as possible, but given the circumstances, this was as good as it was going to get as far as an explanation.

"I can't leave him like this." He gestured to his father.

"I'll stay here. Don't worry, I won't leave his side… Right now, those kids need their big brother looking after them. That's the best thing you can do right now." she calmly, placing an arm on his shoulder as reassurance.

"I… I don't know. We only just met and you're asking me to put a lot of trust in you."

There was a brief pause in silence before she spoke again.

"I get it. You don't know me at all, only what Maiko's told you about me."

Instantly, she got an idea. She quickly rummaged through her pockets until she found her wallet and pulled out her school ID. Without hesitation, she handed it to him and he observed it closely.

"We weren't lying when we said we're heroes in training. We all go to U.A. High. I'm in class C of the hero department. My name is Akane Hattori. The red haired boy is Kirishima and the other one is Bakugo. They're in class A… You can trust us. We're not going to abandon you if you need help."

Another pause dragged on to what felt like forever as he continued to stare at her student ID. He thought carefully through this. As risky as it was to leave their dad in the hands of complete strangers, they didn't appear to have any bad intentions coming and being here, aside from that hostile blonde dickhead. It was hard to believe that a guy like that was trying to go as a hero. He's got a long way to go, if that's the case. Still, this card seemed legit and this girl hasn't given him any reason to think poorly of her yet. Maybe… that was enough.

"Alright, but only for a few minutes. I'll come back in a bit, but don't try anything funny." He ordered and handed back her ID.

"I promise." She said, taking the card.

Just like that, he rose from his seat and gathered the children until they were completely out of the altar room. Once the door shut behind her, Akane took her place in Isa's seat and quietly kept watch over the pastor.

Upon watching them from behind the cracked door, Bakugo finally emerged. Kirishima was still checking around the man's office and was attempting to go through his computer when Bakugo found something in the bedroom. It was a crumpled up piece of paper he found partially burned at the bottom of a metal trash can. He carefully fished it out and saw that it held a weird, unique symbol on it along with a few digits that might have been a phone number. But with only 3 of them left, it wasn't much to go on; however, it was something. He quickly arranged everything back to how it was before making his way back to the altar. Just when he went to pull the door, he heard the kids enter the room, all of them dazed and confused as to what was going on. He curiously decided to step back and see how Akane would handle it on her own. It was still strange to see her so calm and gentle around kids. She wasn't like that much at all with the baby test, but this was different, especially given all the crazy shit going on. Even though he wasn't used to seeing such a nurturing quality, somehow, he kind of liked that about her.

When Isa and the kids finally left the room, he saw her take his place at the stool next to the pastor and that's when he pulled the door back and revealed himself. Her ears followed the sound of his footsteps until she met his gaze. She flashed a small smile at him. He didn't know why she would, maybe it was reflexive, but for a brief moment, he forgot why he was there.

"Find anything?" Her question knocked him back to reality.

On cue, he presented the paper in his hand, careful not to crumple the burned corners. Her brow dropped at the bizarre symbol and the set of numbers.

"Found this in the trash bin in his room. It's obviously something he tried to get rid of. Probably worried the kids would find it and tried to burn it."

"...I know this picture." she muttered.

"?!"

"This looks like the logo to one of the bars back in Hanamaki. The one we walked by that night." She explained, but his look of confusion didn't budge. "When you and Todoroki followed me."

He sifted through his thoughts, trying to remember, but all he could recall were those sketchy freaks taunting them across the street. At the time, he could honestly give a shit about what the bar sign looked like. That wasn't where his focus was. Still, if this came from a place as sketchy as that, it wasn't a happy sign.

"You been there before?" he asked, bluntly. Even if she was just a kid stalking the streets, she might know something.

"Just outside, at a distance. I never went in. All I know is that people don't go there just for drinks." She paused to offer the paper back. "You thinking what I'm thinking?..."

"That this man of God might've made some deal with a Devil? Yea."

"Deal? Not sure, but he definitely wouldn't have gone all that way for just a drink. It's a possibility."

"Where else was he gonna pick up some Trigger, ah?" Bakugo rebutted.

"Well sure, but you can pick up Trigger anywhere nowadays. The police just arrested a dealer less than ten miles from here two days ago. It must've been something else…"

Katsuki huffed an annoyed breath through his nose. This was getting them nowhere with a million and one questions left unanswered. After a while, he was seriously contemplating setting an explosion to wake the guy up. At the same time, if he did, there was no telling what that guy would do. There could still be traces of Trigger still running through his veins, and all he needed to do was activate his quirk for it to manifest. Not that Bakugo would even give him the chance, but if the pastor were to use it again, he'd probably go for the kill the second time around. Then this whole place would be more damaged than it already was and cause more problems for the kids.

Why was it that he always got himself mixed up in these fucked up situations?

"Hey, guys." Kirishima called out from the doorway behind them.

"What'd you find?" Bakugo queried.

"Nothing weird around his desk or even his computer. His search history's even squeaky clean."

It seemed almost unreal to say it out loud, even for a pastor. Everyone looks up freaky shit every once in a while.

"What about you guys? Where's Isa?" He wondered, just now realizing that he wasn't in the room.

"I made him go check on the kids and make sure they're not too worried about him." Akane informed as she averted her stare back at the sleeping pastor.

"We found this." Without warning, Bakugo shoved his hand in Red Riot's face, exposing the burned image. "She thinks it's a symbol for one of the bars back in Hanamaki."

His brows creased at how oddly specific that accusation was. "What makes you think that?"

"I grew up there. I've seen that logo." she explained.

"But Hanimaki is-"

"A shithole town, we know. But that jerk still tried to get rid of this note by burning it. He clearly didn't want to leave any trace that he went there." Bakugo interrupted.

"So then the Trigger was-"

"Wait! Guys!" Akane panicked. "He's waking up."