Izuku and Konno met for lunch on the patio of a quiet cafe. "How are you faring?" the hero asked.
"Alright," Izuku said. "There are... other things going on in my life that have me pretty stressed out..." That was putting it mildly.
"Would that have anything to do with meeting Stain during the time you can't remember?" Konno asked, sipping a glass of lemonade.
The greenette sighed and nodded. "Stain was only partially correct about what a "Switchblade" meant in the Meta Liberation Army and it's got me... nervous."
"As well you should be," Konno replied with a sigh. "It's not well known, even in most frontline circles, but there has been... increasingly concerning activity from MLA revivalist groups in the past few years. It seems you may have been caught up in that."
"Yeah." Izuku turned his attention towards his lunch for a time before asking, "I was wondering, have you ever heard of a villain or organization called All For One?"
Konno shook his head. "I have not. Where did you hear this name?"
Izuku shrugged. "I'm not quite sure," that was true enough. He had no idea where exactly he had been when the name was first spoken. "It was probably nothing."
Kesagiri Man quirked an eyebrow and stared at Izuku with an armor piercing gaze. The greenette shifted uncomfortably. "How much of your missing week do you actually remember?" Konno asked, and it was deadly clear in his tone that the hero wasn't going to take "nothing" for an answer.
Izuku gulped and considered staying silent, but it would probably be better to admit something. "All together? Maybe thirty minutes. Most of that thirty minutes is just a walk through the woods, completely useless." This was true. "I didn't remember anything until after Todoroki knocked me out at the Sports Festival."
"And somewhere in those handful of remaining minutes which include useful information," Konno surmised, "you heard someone say the name "All For One.""
Izuku was clearly not as subtle as he needed to be to cut it as an undercover hero. He dropped his head and hunched his shoulders. "It's not hard to guess this in context," Konno told him, "and it is painfully obvious that you are frantic right now."
Izuku winced. "Yeah, maybe a little bit. All For One doesn't seem to exist though and... these were in dreams, so I'm not even... it's possible they're just nightmares." That, too, could be the case. The MLA bunker was real but last night's dream could well have been Izuku's subconscious coming up with creative ways to torment him by inventing sinister names and shady information dealers. "The whole incident with Stain was... really stressful."
Konno nodded in agreement. "Have you spoken to the detective on your case about this?" "Detective Tsukauchi, no, I..."
"Am terrified," Konno filled in for him. "Whatever you may have seen, Midoriya, it is not your fault. No one is going to blame you for it."
"But what if they do?" the greenette asked, voice wavering. "It was already so hard to get this far. What if--"
"Tsukauchi is a good man," Konno told him. "He will not allow you to be held responsible for actions over which you had no control, or their side effects for that matter. Talk to him. Even seemingly irrelevant information may allow him to determine what has happened to you."
Could Izuku really survive facing the detective and his lie detecting quirk given everything else that was going on in his head? He wasn't even sure of--if Tsukauchi asked him "is your name Midoriya Izuku?" the only truthful answer he would be able to give would be "probably" which wasn't going to cut it. Maybe he could talk to Aizawa instead. Aizawa was also part of the case and Izuku wouldn't have to worry so much about accidentally revealing the nature of his suspicions or his other dreams.
The two ate in silence for a time as Konno considered something. "Putting those matters aside for the moment, we do not have much time left together. How would you like to make use of it?"
"Let's avoid any further... excitement. I've had enough of that for one week."
"Me as well, but are you sure you would not like to join a night patrol once and see what the underground heroes get up to most evenings?"
Izuku considered this. "My luck has been so bad lately..."
"What if I were to ask Eraserhead to join us?"
Aizawa defeated Stain, apparently single-handedly. Even running into someone like the real War Dog wouldn't be too problematic with Eraserhead present. "It sounds like my luck would have to be really bad to cause problems with both of you around."
Konno nodded. "I'll see if I can arrange a joint patrol tonight."
Konno and Izuku walked briskly down a deserted sidewalk. Occasionally the greenette caught sight of Aizawa's silhouette as Eraserhead lunged between rooftops.
The patrol was nearly at its end. The group had not encountered anything more nefarious than a small time drug deal. They had apprehended the dealer and the buyer. As Aizawa put it, "petty drug deals like this, most underground heroes--me included--won't chase the buyer. There's just no point. They're not usually a danger to themselves or others, but if the individual is obviously an addict who might overdose any day, bringing them in is often doing them a favor."
The three heroes returned to Konno's agency a bit before two in the morning. "That was nice," Izuku said, taking a seat at the counter, "nice and uneventful."
"Those are the good days," Aizawa smiled wryly, sipping one of his juice pouches. He looked no worse for the wear after his fight with Stain, but Recovery Girl's quirk would have healed superficial damage instantly so that didn't mean much.
Konno returned from the kitchen with tea. It hadn't been particularly cool that night, but Izuku was still grateful for the warm drink. Sometimes heat was useful for chasing away the darkness, not just the cold. "Did the police ever interview you about your part in the Hosu incident, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked.
Izuku furrowed his brow. "No... I hadn't thought about it, but they should've done that."
"They have spoken with me," Konno replied, "and perhaps assumed you would not have any additional information, or perhaps they simply did not have the time right now."
"Did you tell them what Stain said about me?" Izuku asked, squeezing his mug until his fingers turned white from tension.
"What did Stain say about you?" asked Aizawa sharply.
"I did not," Konno replied to Izuku, "I merely mentioned that I had some sensitive information that I would only share with someone involved in the case surrounding your disappearance. Tsukauchi has yet to call me, but I imagine he will within a day or two."
"I'm on your case as well," Aizawa replied. "You could just tell me and I will tell the detective I got the information from you." The underground hero pulled out a small recording device, his convenient alternative to a notepad.
"I believe Midoriya has a few other things to tell you as well," Kesagiri man gave him a meaningful look.
Izuku nodded in surrender. There was no getting out of it and, really, it was better to tell Aizawa than Tsukauchi. "Stain recognized me. He had fought me before, a year ago. Apparently I dueled him to a stalemate then and was much more skillful than I am now. I called myself a "Switchblade" and was apparently seeking some sort of revenge, or that's what Stain thought I was doing. The Hero Killer also said that I was very critical of him and his methods and accused him of "spilling blood over trifles." For your reference, a "Switchblade" was a term in the MLA war that usually referred to Destro's bodyguard." Tsukauchi and Aizawa would probably figure out the alternate definition about the changeling immediately, but... the idea that he might be Switcher and not know it was so viscerally terrifying that Izuku just couldn't suggest it to his teacher.
"And I believe you have some more information to impart," Kesagiri Man said as Izuku's pause dragged on.
"After Todoroki knocked me unconscious in the Sports Festival, I had a dream that I'm certain was a memory from the time I was missing."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't tell me immediately because...?"
Izuku opened his mouth, closed it, considered how to phrase this in a comprehensible fashion, then gave up and rambled. "It's... because I don't understand it and I don't like it and it was mostly useless and I just generally don't know what to do, but I saw another one, shorter, after the fight with Stain."
"So how much do you remember?"
"Maybe thirty minutes. Most of it is just walking through the woods." Should he say where the woods were? No. No, he didn't want anyone going to Mandar. There was pretty much no chance of anyone finding the bunker unless he outright told them where it was, but he didn't want anyone going there. He didn't want anyone disturbing the tomb, but there was just no way to explain how he knew the dream was a memory without stating that he was able to find the place in real life, and pretending to have been in a different city was just asking to trip over his web of lies later. "I started out in a city called Mandar. I've never been there, not in real life, I mean I have been there but not me because I was there when I was missing but that wasn't really my life--s-sorry. Anyway, I was able to confirm that it's a real place."
"That explains why you were sure it was a memory. What else?"
"What I remembered after Stain... was getting shot." Konno started in shock. Aizawa's left eye twitched and he scowled. This part Izuku would tell in its entirety. He was at a dead end, after all, unless Aizawa knew who All For One was. "I was demanding an information broker tell me how to find All For One, or how to get in touch with an acquaintances who was more likely to know where All For One was. It was implied that All For One was a human trafficker and worse, probably a person rather than an organization but I wasn't totally sure. I clearly hated All For One and thought the broker deserved to be shot for working with them even tangentially. The broker wouldn't tell me... I pulled a weapon and told him I'd kill him if he didn't. Both of his body guards took offense to that. There was a fire fight. No one died, I don't think. I called a healer named Akiko who definitely liked me and I promised her a favor, getting immigration paper work fast tracked or something along those lines, if she would come to my location and heal everyone there. Not just me, the people who shot me, too. She was supposed to zip tie everyone but me to the furniture and leave. I imagine I ransacked the place for information on All For One after she left."
"A favor with immigration services?" Aizawa asked, eyebrow raised.
"There weren't any details, but she wanted to move to America I think and whoever was possessing me told her they could make it happen," Izuku replied. "She said, though, that she would have healed me anyway if I'd just asked."
"I don't know anyone or anything named All For One," the teacher muttered.
"Neither do I," Konno shook his head.
"No one and nothing by that name exists online, and even War Dog exists online," Izuku agreed. "Since when do you know about people like War Dog?" Eraserhead demanded.
"When False Flag chased Stain away," Konno explained, "she did so by pretending to be War Dog.
Midoriya later played into this ruse to convince the Hero Killer to abandon his attempt to murder your other student."
"You convinced him you were being chased... by War Dog?" Aizawa stared.
"I screamed a lot," the greenette shrugged.
"Well played, Midoriya," the teacher shook his head, smiling wryly. "Well played. If you can pull that off, undercover might just be the career for you."
Izuku felt himself blushing. "I'm not good at hiding my emotions, though."
"You'll get better," Aizawa shrugged. "Or you'll learn to use the emotions you show to your advantage. Is there anything else that you can tell me? Anything at all? Even tiny details might be important."
"If I think of anything I'll tell you, and I'll tell you if I remember anything else. Like I said, all together it's less than thirty minutes and mostly useless."
What little remained of internships consisted of sword practice and lessons on agency administration then it was suddenly over.
"Farewell for now," Konno told Izuku as the greenette prepared to depart. "I don't take work-study students; it wouldn't make sense given that I am a solo hero and wear so many metaphorical hats, but when you get ready to apply for work-study in your second year call me and I will help you find an appropriate placement."
"Thank you," Izuku said, trying and slowly failing to hold back tears. "I... it's been amazing and I owe you my life and I understand so much more now about how agencies are run and how heroes live their lives just... thank you so much!"
"I owe you my life as well, so I suppose we are even on that front," Kesagiri Man dismissed him with a wave. "Do you have all of your things?" Izuku nodded. "Alright, then. It has been a pleasure working with you, Midoriya. I wish you all the best in your coming studies and career."
"Thank you," Izuku blubbered. "Goodbye."
"Wait. One moment." Konno fished in a pocket and pulled out a tiny piece of paper with a phone number scrawled on it. "I almost forgot, False Flag called me yesterday. This is her permanent number, or as permanent as can be with her, anyway. It will likely change within the year, but she asked me to give it to you."
Izuku felt all the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Uh... why?"
"She didn't say," Konno replied. "I think she was just impressed with you. I believe she does take work-study students despite her typically solitary nature, so if you can handle her... intense
personality, you might have an opportunity there in a year or so." He paused for a moment then continued, "she is extremely good. If undercover heroes had rankings in the same way that frontline do, she would be in the top five at least. Keep it under consideration."
Somewhere in the back of Izuku's head, alarm bells rang furiously. As Izuku waved a final goodbye to his mentor and set off for the train station, he acknowledged the bell choir in his brain and the underlying chant of, "she knows something I don't know..." Obviously. And what should he do about that? If he called False Flag out of the blue and demanded she explain herself to him... he would look and feel crazy. What did he even want her to explain? Why she gave him her number? He couldn't just call her up and demand "explain to me that thing that you know or suspect about me and my circumstances, please, that caused you to give me your number. You know, that thing? I have no idea what it is, but I know you know what I mean."
The greenette sighed. Hopefully school would be interesting and difficult next week. He needed something to wrench his focus away from all of this spiraling madness.
It was strange, returning to UA as if nothing had happened after... so many crazy things had happened. Kacchan was growling in moderately restrained fury when Izuku arrived at his desk. "Shut up! Put those away!" the blonde snarled.
Put what away? "What, Kacchan?" Izuku demanded. Katsuki was blushing like an overripe cherry tomato.
"Check it out!" Kaminari showed Izuku a picture on his phone, something from a fashion magazine.
"That's you," Izuku said to Katsuki. Why did he say that? "Really? Didn't notice," Kacchan growled.
"You look like a supermodel." He did, hair styled in a sleek, wind-tossed manner Izuku had only seen on action heroes in movies. Kacchan sported razor-fine black eyeliner, scarlet eye shadow and subtle lip gloss. There was probably some additional makeup, but it was so flawlessly applied that Izuku couldn't spot it. The clothing choice, definitely not Katsuki's idea, was unimportant in comparison to the face and hair styling. "How did this happen?"
"I don't fucking know!" Bakugou growled. "I told you there was that warning about hair styling in the offer and then, well... I don't know but Best Jeanist somehow talked me into one more thing every day and by the time the week was over..." he shook his hands helplessly, "that. And now everybody in the world probably things I'm all prissy."
Mineta huffed a laugh. "No, everyone in the world thinks you're hot as hell. You're probably going to have like, actual stalkers, Bakugou! Stalkers! Already!"
"You say that like it's not a bad thing," Kirishima looked about as confused by Mineta as Izuku felt.
"What I wouldn't give to have some stalkers," Mineta sighed dreamily.
"Okay then," Ojiro interrupted. "There's nothing wrong with dressing up, Bakugou. It's not like you have to do it ever again if you didn't enjoy yourself." Kacchan snorted as if there were no doubt that he had hated every minute of it... but Izuku was something of a Bakugou Katsuki whisperer and it was evident that the blonde had enjoyed himself. Whether he had enjoyed being out in public in the guise of a heroic supermodel or whether he had enjoyed having someone fuss with his appearance or both Izuku couldn't say.
Iida shuffled into the room and slouched into his seat. Izuku would have to check on him later. Hopefully Iida Tensei hadn't hung the class president from the chandelier for too long.
Aizawa arrived at last and Uraraka started clapping. Izuku joined in and the class startled their teacher with a sudden, standing ovation. "What are you doing?" Eraserhead demanded, utterly bewildered.
"Applauding you?" Uraraka explained. "For catching a serial killer who has maimed and killed dozens of heroes?"
The "oh, right," look on Aizawa's face was priceless. Hopefully someone had snapped a photo; it belonged in a year book. It had never crossed the teacher's mind that his class would care about this, that he, too, could be the subject of hero worship. "I see. Well, sit down now. We have a lot to cover today. First off, I would be interested in hearing from each of you the most important lesson that you learned during internships. We'll start off with Aoyama."
"Twinkle is a good way to shorten my name," was apparently his most important lesson.
Ashido had learned a new way to use her acid for rapid transportation. Asui's lesson was deeper. "It's important, kero, to trust your superior and to follow orders and play your part in the mission as given, no matter how grim things look." Aizawa nodded sagely to that.
Most of his classmates' replies were closer at heart to Asui's than Aoyama's. Bakugou considered his answer for nearly ten seconds before saying, "it's possible to talk anyone into anything," which was probably a way of saying "I can't believe I wore eyeliner" but sounded very deep indeed.
Iida could not meet their teacher's eyes as he said, "allowing emotions to override one's reasoning skills is the most common cause of death among young heroes." That plunged the room into icy silence for a time and the next few students shared their lessons quickly and with awkward pauses.
When his turn finally came, Izuku answered immediately having had ample time to think. "There are things and people in the underground that frontline heroes never deal with and know nothing about." That got him some curious and concerned looks from his classmates.
Ojiro's lesson was something of an outlier. "Having my tail slammed in a car door really hurts and I should avoid it if at all possible. I learned many more philosophical lessons, but none quite as painful or important as this."
Todoroki grinned savagely as Aizawa called on him at last. "Even top ten pros are not all powerful." What did he mean by that? Izuku didn't even know who Todoroki had interned with except that it hadn't been his father. Who then? In what context was Endeavour not "all powerful?" Well, obviously he wasn't all powerful, how could anyone think otherwise, but still...