"Break is over, folks! Get ready for the first bout of the second round! Oh, it rhymes!", Present Mic went on a tangent.

"Togaru Kamakiri vs Setsuna Tokage. Proceed to the arena.", Eraserhead interrupted him.

Kamakiri stood up, and Tokage followed after him. The silence between them was oppressive. Togaru didn't really know what to say, what to ask Setsuna. He really didn't know anything about her, did he? Just two strangers whose only connection was being paired during classes. He had no right asking about personal things, like what happened in that corridor.

But, this still didn't sit right with Kamakiri. Setsuna was… not scared, but cautious of her brother. And his gaze, boring into Togaru's skull, unnerved him greatly. Like a predator, eyeing prey.

"Can you stop staring at me?" - Setsuna said, looking at him from the corner of her eye. She was tense, muscles coiled, ready to jump into battle. Kamakiri didn't say anything, continuing on his walk towards the arena. Setsuna sighed, and fell back behind him. They came across the crossroad, that will take them to their respective exits. Kamakiri wanted to ask her something, but nothing came to mind, beyond wishing luck. And he could as well do it on the arena itself.

He started down the stairs, thinking of what would he do during the match itself. What could Setsuna even do to him, though? Punching him might as well be as effective as striking a metal beam. If this metal beam had spikes, and sharp blades embedded in it.

Don't touch me, and then she trailed off. Don't touch me, who? Kamakiri, Togaru? But she wouldn't have caught herself then. An insult, and her last century etiquette prevented her from saying the words. Or something worse, what he didn't want to think about.

But it fit, didn't it? The stupid mask, hiding even the smallest deviation from the norm. Her brother, speaking to and about him, trying to hide his disturbance, but failing to do it. Her reaction, trying to uphold an act around her brother, and then falling into it, like it was second nature. Fuck, she is even rich. Kamakiri could probably search her family name, and find it in the list of Tohokai sponsors.

But how would he ask her? You can't really pull up to a person, and say – dude, is your family racist or something? That sounded stupid even in his head, in real life even Kamakiri wouldn't have enough guts to say it. In a normal conversation. But a plan started to form in his head.

Beating the shit out of each other. Violence was always a good way to solve most of Kamakiri's problems. Somebody is bothering you – fuck them up. Bullying your sister – fuck them up. Want to blow off steam – fight Reiko. Or Izuku, or Katsuki. School is boring as fuck – wait for Hero class, and beat somebody up. Summing up, fixing his life with violence worked for Togaru before, so it should work for Togaru again. He hoped, at least.

He wouldn't transform, which would make this fight much more even. And then they would beat the shit out of each other, and Kamakiri would ask her questions during it. Setsuna would be off balance emotionally, and wouldn't close off on him, like she did in the corridor. A great plan. Ingenious. Reliable, like a Swiss fucking watch.

Kamakiri strolled onto the arena, where Tokage was already waiting for him. Kamakiri decided to keep his jersey on – no need to take it off, he would be using his quirk only to defend.

"Good luck." - Togaru said to Tokage. Her eyes narrowed, but she still nodded, and wished him the same.

"Start!" - Present Mic yelled.

Setsuna immediately broke up into a dozen of pieces, and rushed Kamakiri, probably banking on taking him out of the fight before he fully transformed. Instead, Kamakiri rushed towards her, his height allowing him to cover as much distance as Tokage's flight did.

She scrunched her brows in confusion – probably not understanding, why he didn't use his quirk already. Kamakiri dropped a piece of rebar out of his left arm, making for a good improvised club.

"Kamakiri – not using his quirk! Trying to make this a fair fight, perhaps?" - Present Mic commented.

Tokage's eyes flew open in anger, he could picture her mouth opening in a snarl. Her appendages converged themselves back into shape, but her body still remained far from Togaru. Kamakiri swung his weapon a couple of times, getting used to the weight. He could probably use blades on Tokage – her pieces regenerated, after all, but it seemed too brutal to use on a fri… acquaintance.

"Stop underestimating me, Kamakiri!" - Tokage shouted at him, while her extremities flew towards him. Togaru struck her left wrist with his baton, the hit emitting a sickening crack. Tokage winced, but managed to detach the ruined part, saving her forearm from falling to dust in the process. Kamakiri's stupor left him unbalanced, allowing Tokage to score a hit on his ribs with her right arm, and a kick on his left knee. Fuck, this hurt.

Togaru swung his weapon around, warding off her appendages, buying himself time to recover. A blow struck him on the back of his knee – Setsuna flanked him with her other leg – bringing him down. Fuck, he was so unused to fighting without his quirk. It was hard to keep up with everything, before he just needed to devote his entire attention to coordinating his body, tanking hits until he could exploit an opening, but now he was forced to dodge, or block blows, which he never even though of as threatening.

"I needed my mouth with me. To talk." - Togaru replied to Setsuna's shout. Tokage replied with another blow, this time to his midsection, which Kamakiri managed to dodge, and countered by grabbing it, and forcing blades out of his palm, piercing her shin in multitudes of places. This time, Setsuna cried out, but her training prevailed, leaving her with upper part of her shin, and her foot. Tokage responded with a blow of her arm to his temple, dazing him, leaving him open for follow up of a kick to his solar plexus, forcing air out of his lungs. Togaru threw his weapon in Setsuna's direction, trying to buy himself time to recover, all the while brandishing chains from his body, warding off more strikes.

"Talking in the middle of the fight? Did you watch too much anime, or something?" - Tokage responded, her voice already a bit tired from regrowing her wrist and shin. "You know what. Fine. If you win, we can talk about it, you probably deserve some kind of explanation. But shut up during the fight, okay? It looks stupid."

Okay, that was good enough for Togaru. His plan… worked? Partially. Probably Setsuna just wanted to talk anyway, but later. Maybe after the Festival. Did Kamakiri ruin it with his impatience? Fuck it, no need to dwell on this. He needed to win.

Kamakiri took his jersey off, and engaged his quirk for real, this time. Chains, blades, hooks and spikes poured out of his skin, his bones transformed into metal, his organs disappearing entirely. Togaru always wondered, what happened to his brain, how the fuck did he still see, if his eyes were transformed too. Quirks are just so fucking weird, and his is not even in the top ten percent of bullshit.

Tokage split herself up, but it was no use. How the fuck would she square up against him? She is just a fifteen year old girl, her quirk extremely suited to fighting anyone, but Brutes like him. Maybe it would evolve to letting her break other people into pieces, like herself? It wouldn't be really a hero quirk, though.

Kamakiri took a leaf out of Monoma's book, spreading his body all over the surface of arena. To an outside observer that probably looked stupid, what with Tokage being able to fly, but Togaru was confident in this plan. This form left him extremely relaxed, with most of his attention now could be focused on attacking, and not keeping himself together.

Chains started to shoot out of him, aiming for pieces of Tokage, some scoring hits, some not. It didn't really matter. He wouldn't tire, and Setsuna, with every lost body part, would get more and more exhausted. Kamakiri started considering using rail spikes as projectiles, but Setsuna gave up faster than that. With a sigh, she said something, and pointed her arms up, in a universal sign of surrender.

"Winner – Togaru Kamakiri!" - Present Mic announced his victory. It never tasted sweeter.

He pulled himself back together, but decided on not morphing back – fucking UA uniform was not quirk conducting, and he didn't want to become an internet celebrity in this way.

Kamakiri crawled back into the gate, helper-bot handed him another pair of shorts. Kamakiri decided to catch Setsuna at the intersection, where he settled down, waiting for her.


Setsuna knew she was stalling.

Telling Kamakiri to shut up and fight, that she would explain everything after that was a split moment decision. She didn't want to beat him, and steal his chance at getting further in the tournament, because he wanted to talk about her that much. It felt… not really heroic. Even if every instinct in her screamed at her to finish him off, while he was gasping for air. Phantom pain from that shattered wrist and mauled shin was not helping in her decision making too.

And now she was sitting on the stairs in front of Kamakiri, who was probably waiting for her to start. But Setsuna didn't really know where to start. How would you say to your… friend? Friend. At least Setsuna hoped that they were friends, not like she had many before UA. That your family is, well, zealous supporters of the group that wants to kill people like him. Like her.

"So…?" - Kamakiri started, but trailed off. This is even worse than sitting with him during the first round. At least Setsuna could just ignore him that, in favor of watching the fights, but now, there were no distractions to save her.

"Is your family racist?" - Togaru suddenly said. Setsuna sputtered, tried to stand up, but lost balance. She started falling down the stairs, and would have probably cracked her head or something, if she didn't remember about her quirk in time. That would've been the stupidest death ever, or something.

"Fuck." Kamakiri succinctly described the situation. "That was a stupid question. Sorry."

It was not stupid, though. Setsuna pulled herself back together, and once again settled down on the stairs, this time with he back at the wall. She played with the hem of her jersey a bit, trying to find the correct words.

"It… kind of is. My family. They don't, well, you know." - Setsuna started, but trailed off. Kamakiri's eyes narrowed, and he sighed. Setsuna started detaching and reattaching her fingers, trying to distract herself.

"Don't like people like me? Or like you, so that's why they make you wear this stupid mask?" - Kamakiri asked.

They don't just dislike people like us, they murder them. Maybe not personally, but they condone it. Help people to commit those hate crimes. Setsuna pulled her knees to her chest, distressed.

"Yeah. The mask was… my idea though. My brother would rather I didn't open my mouth at all." - Setsuna confessed. She remembered the first time Kiyoshi met her. Little Setsuna was mommy girl, and always listened to her. Don't speak to strangers, try to not speak in general. If you really need to, hide your mouth behind a fist, or block it with your palms. Don't laugh, or smile with your lips open. It's unbecoming of a lady, it would bring shame to our family. She always skirted around the topic, never addressing it directly. Kiyoshi immediately pried open her mouth, took a good look and branded her a 'filthy mutt'. Setsuna, at that time, didn't really know what he meant with that statement, and asked him. Her brother explained it to her. Setsuna couldn't sleep for weeks after that, fearing that monstrous mutants would come for her. Or that her own brother would put her out of her misery.

"You know, you are my first friend.", Setsuna said, the words escaping her mouth without much thought. She started attaching and reattaching her fingers once again, sending them flying in a halo around her wrist.

Kamakiri snorted. "You know, I thought we were just acquaintances.", he said, fiddling with his flip flops. They looked so out of place on UA uniform.

"Not funny, you know. I was home-schooled, and people of my age I knew before UA were from the same type of families. You know.", Setsuna said.

"Tohokai donors?" - Togaru questioned. Kind of. Not all of them. Many, like hers, had a direct connection to PHS itself. Tohokai and it sometimes quarreled, Butcher being generally just anti-mutant, and accepting anyone into his band of Neo-Nazis, even foreigners. Some people speculated that Swansong was a yankee, of all things.

"Close enough." - Tokage opted in for a more neutral statement. She stretched her legs out, swinging her foot from side to side.

"Did you almost call me a mutt? In the corridor, when I grabbed you." - Kamakiri asked.

Did he really need to ask that question? Couldn't he just ignore her slip up? She didn't really meant it, it was just… instinctive by now, in the presence of her brother. He could've been listening to their conversation with his clone-spirits.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just…" - Setsuna apologized, but didn't manage to find a good reason for her actions. "Just sorry. It won't happen again."

"Don't sweat it. Not like you said it." - Kamakiri said.

Setsuna picked at her mask. She missed her costume. Her quirked full mask was leagues better than this piece of fabric. It transformed her from weak, timid Setsuna into confident, assured, strong…

Faultline.

Who wouldn't hide behind lies and half-truths, but would admit to her friend outright.

That her brother was a spy for the PHS.

That her dead father was Butcher's lieutenant.

That Kiyoshi recommended her only to build the next generation of corrupt heroes, fighting for a monstrous cause.


Izuku was pumped for his fight. He didn't really get why Togaru fought Setsuna in his base form, probably trying to give her a fighting chance, but he was grateful for it. He feared that Kamakiri would stomp Tokage in no time, not allowing Izuku to build enough juice to start the fight at the least with flames.

"Izuku Midoriya vs Ibara Shiozaki!" - Present Mic announced his bout. He was already walking towards the arena, not wanting to waste precious time.

Togaru and Setsuna were sitting on the intersection of arena exits, talking to each other. Why? Didn't they get into a fight, or something? That broken wrist was viscous, the pierced shin even more so.

"Hey, what gives? Is your spat over, or something?" - Izuku decided to ask directly. Tokage jumped in the air a bit, and stayed there, levitating.

"Yeah. Good luck, Izuku." - Kamakiri said, and patted him on back. Tokage mumbled her own good wish, and flashed him a thumbs up.

"Thanks, guys. I am going to fuck her up, just watch." - Lung said, hyping himself up. In truth, he was a bit doubtful of his chances against Vine hair. He already fought her in the second round, and her vines were quite strong there. They didn't really do any major damage to him, but Izuku at that point was a walking tank, not a lanky fifteen year old he was now. Lung hoped that his flames would be enough to suppress Shiozaki for him to build charge, and then stomp her.

He walked out of the exit into the arena. Shiozaki was already there, patiently waiting for him. Did she wait in the back of the exit, or something? Doesn't matter, it's to his advantage.

Izuku took his jersey off, and flung it behind him, into the darkness of the entrance. His body was already covered in small patches of scales, and his fingers and teeth were in the process of turning into claws and fangs respectfully.

"Good luck, Midoriya. May the Lord guide your path.", Vine hair said, clasping her hands together.

Izuku didn't deign her with a response, but nodded his head. He brought his hands up into a middle guard, ready to blast fire at her the moment the bout starts.

"And… start!" - Present Mic yelled.

Lung immediately opened with a fireball. If Shiozaki dodges, good. From previous experiences, Izuku deduced that she needs concentration to use her quirk effectively. Like Kamakiri, who can only send small attacks, while he is moving, but in his 'lazy' form can absolutely decimate the field. After that, Izuku just needs to keep the pressure up until he gets enough charge to fuck her up. If she doesn't – ergo, if she focuses on her quirk, then Izuku is majorly fucked, for his quirk is not yet strong enough to deal with a lot of her vines.

Shiozaki didn't dodge.

"For fuck's sake.", Izuku muttered. Vines rushed at him, trying to immobilize him. Lung defended with gusts of flames, warding the vines, for a moment. She probably can't feel anything through them, so trying to burn her into submission is out of the question too. Well, staying out of his and in hers range is a stupid move, so Lung started closing in on her, all the while creating as much smoke as possible, to mask his position and disperse the concentrated force of Ibara's quirk over a bigger area.

It worked. Shiozaki retreated her vines, probably to conserve them from his fire. He can't burn through thick ropes of them, but the individual ones get easily sent to the shadow realm. Trying to search for him in all the smoke with the thicker ones is pointless, and losing tons of thin ones for the chance to catch him is not economical. Either way, Lung won the exchange – he is stronger, Vine Head is weaker. Simple as.

Izuku started laying down more suppressive fire, trying to burn more of the vines, maybe even hit Shiozaki herself. Fire and smoke clouded his vision, the only senses left to him was his hearing and conflict radar. Which was not enough to notice the vines, that burst out of the concrete below him, fully enveloping him. Shiozaki tried to throw him over the boundary, but claws on Izuku's feet gave him enough friction, and therefore time to burn away most of the vines, and so Ibara managed to only throw him to his starting position. Izuku quickly burnt away the remaining vines, and got up from the ground, trying to compose himself, and to reorient himself in all this smoke.

"Fuck, that was close." - Lung muttered to himself, his voice distorted by his changing snout. "Okay, enough of the fucking fire. Melee time." A vine popped into his vision, which he instinctively burnt away. "Maybe some fire."

Izuku started walking towards Ibara's position. At least he tried to walk in her general direction – the smoke was not helping. Fuck, this was probably very boring to watch on TV. Thank God he can breath in all of this smoke. The vines and her agitation were good indicators of her position, allowing Izuku to quickly find her.

Vine Head was shielded by a barrier made of her quirk, and a veritable swarm of vines surrounded it, trying to find him. Can she feel something through them, is it like touching stuff? Or see, or hear. Or is it just normal hair, so the only thing she would feel is a pull on it. She probably didn't even notice it burning, most of the time.

Izuku didn't really want to come up with any smart strategies for this obstacle. Time was on his side – Shiozaki can defend to her hearts content. He sent small blasts of flame in her direction, frying vines with every hit.

Fuck, this was just boring. Shooting at a standing target, like he was in a fucking firing range, or some shit like that. Izuku charged at the dome, deciding that he would just pierce it and be done with it. A wall of flame heralded his arrival, burning away vines in a fiery explosion of ash. Lung smashed into the wall of vines, burrying his claws deep in it, racking them over the exterior over and over, scoring deep gauges in it, weakening it, blow by blow.

"Stop! Stop! I surrender!" - he heard Shiozaki screaming. Fuck! Fighting villains was just so much more fun! They couldn't just ask for a fucking time out. Izuku stomped at the ground, and turned away from Vine Head.

At least he is fighting Kamakiri in the next round. Small mercies.


Watching Bakugou vs Kirishima was just painful.

Kirishima was good, no questions. Brute plus Shaker combo is strong, it doesn't need any support. Pure one vs one potential. But Firecracker… was just much faster than him. And unlike with Earphones, Kirishima had no way to prevent Katsuki from realizing his superior mobility.

Kirishima tried to catch him with his quirk, but it's use was very obvious – he needed to bend down to the ground, to slam his fists into concrete, or to raise his foot in the air. Katsuki was able to see that, and his reaction time allowed him to dodge everything, until he close in the melee. Where Eijiro couldn't freely use his quirk anymore, and was forced to duke it out in close quarters, where Firecracker's quirk allowed him to tire his opponent out.

"Winner – Katsuki Bakugou!" - Present Mic announced.

Next match would be hers. With Half and Half. Reiko fucked up with him. A bit. She shouldn't have said that his father was right. Even if that was the truth. Should have… said something therapeutic. Like, everything would alright. Or, your brother definitely is proud of you, in the heaven. Or something.

Reiko, plainly, felt bad. Todoroki didn't say anything to her after that. Not like they were friends, but Reiko could see something in him that resonated with her. Shitty home situation? Bad dad? He didn't mention his mom, so she is probably alright. Okay, plan 'Fuck Half and Half up until he uses his fire' should get some revision. And a new name. She would beat him, and force him to use his flames. And say something encouraging. Plan 'Fuck Half and Half up until he uses his fire + pass charisma check'. Yeah, good enough.

"Last round of the quarter finals! Reiko Yanagi vs Shoto Todoroki!" - Present Mic yelled into microphone.

Reiko repeated her strategy with Monoma – take shoes off, take over concrete on the path to the arena. Simple as. The was a problem, though. If Todoroki scores a hit on her legs, she is probably losing the skin on her soles. Which is probably painful. It sounds painful, at least.

Reiko marched, and ground echoed after her. She made deliberately small steps, to cover as much ground as possible under her control. Todoroki, in comparison, almost ran to his designated spot. Reiko stopped, and once again committed not to a big ass island, but to a small array of stones. She needs mobility against Todoroki's firepower. Pun not intended.

"Good luck, All Ice." - Reiko said, the nickname slipping from her mouth before she could register it.

Todoroki frowned, and narrowed his eyes. "I think you'll need it more than me." - Shoto said, getting into position.

"Start!" - Present Mic announced.

Reiko immediately threw herself into the air, using the stones under her, which narrowly saved her from being fucked by Todoroki's blitz attack. The iceberg also created a shield that prevented Reiko from using most of the ground that she charged, leaving her with only the stones under her, and in the far back of the arena.

"Fuck!" - Reiko yelled, the amount of rocks not enough to keep her stable. She quickly brought more, but they were barely enough to keep her in the air without complications. Todoroki can't manipulate his ice from the distance, yes? Reiko flew to the iceberg, and touched it, filling it with her quirk. Cracks started spreading all over it, forming countless ice shards for her to use as ammo to fuck up All Ice.

She started her usual tactic of shooting small swarms of objects, trying to tire her opponent out. But the ice didn't do any damage to Todoroki – he just melted it, or got it under his control, when it closed in on him. That's unfair as fuck. All this time, Reiko was still trying to destroy the iceberg, with the intent of freeing her heavier ammunition. The split concentration between harassing Todoroki, keeping herself in the air and cracking the icy prison of her stones prevented Reiko from doing any fancy evasive maneuvers, leaving her exposed to another high range attack like this one. But All Ice wouldn't do it, would he? It would tire him out.

He would. Shoto gathered his quirk, and let out another massive ice attack, this time trapping Reiko in it, almost freezing her completely. The chill immediately assaulted her entire body, including her exposed legs. "Motherfucker!", Reiko shouted, and dropped all of her rocks, with the intent of freeing herself. The ice was not really strong, but Reiko didn't have the precise control to not damage her skin in the process, leaving her with nasty patches of abrasions all over her body.

Her vision swam a bit from all the pain, but she persevered. She used the rocks she dropped before to glide to the ground, Todoroki leaving her with no choice but to get more from the bound area itself, the two icebergs now being an insurmountable shield for her quirked concrete. She dropped those objects from her quirk, leaving her more weight to work with. The long gashes of torn skin on her feet felt extremely painful on the icy concrete. Reiko smashed the ice with her projectiles, and started converting the ground once again.

Todoroki, by the look of it, was resting, giving himself some time to compose after the two almost consecutive ice blasts. But he knew that giving Reiko time to get more stones would be the end of this round. She would just come back to the air, and he didn't have it in him to do another attack like this without being severely exhausted afterwards. So, he went for a wave of ice, trying to damage her into submission. Reiko was too fucked up to focus on two things at a time, and was forced to fling herself with her stones to the side, avoiding the strike, and once again covering her new ammo. Fuck you, Todoroki. At least it was not as thick as the previous icebergs. Reiko could probably just force her way through them with the ground she already had under her control.

Reiko moved to do just that, but Shoto once again denied her. And again. Reiko dropped her first plan, and just started counterattacking. Shoto couldn't really afford to close distance with her – she outclassed him in travel speed of her attacks, which would allow her to hit him before he could defend, or dodge. Reiko's mind was too clouded by the pain of countless scratches, rashes and abrasions, that were driving her insane to think about doing anything but mindlessly repeating her attacks. Until both of them just stood and panted, exhausted from constant use of quirks and muscles, used to dodge their opponents attacks.

"Fuck you, Todoroki!", Reiko yelled. "Can't even beat me here! The fuck would you do against real villains? Die? Let people be killed? When seven more of our classmates would die, only then you would wake up from your fever dream of self-pity?" Reiko brought the rocks she had left back to herself. "Just ice is not enough, you fucker! Not even in this… mockery of heroics. Use your fucking quirk, bitch. Your quirk!"

Reiko cracked the ground under her, ushering new projectiles, throwing them at Todoroki, who could only halfheartedly try to dodge, or block them with his body, his right side almost entirely covered in frostbite.

"Not your father's!", Reiko shouted, leaving more and more bruises on him, forcing him closer and closer to the edge.

"Not your mother's!" Todoroki realized his position, and started running towards Reiko, ice around him slowly melting away.

"And definitely!", Reiko yelled, and brought most of the stones to attack Shoto, leaving only a small amount with herself.

Temperature in the arena was slowly rising, Shoto's right side started to become normal again.

"Not your fucking brother's!" - Reiko shouted, and flung her meteor storm at Shoto. His eyes widened, but then narrowed down. He brought his left arm in front of him.

And left side of his body blazed with bright, yellow-orange flames. They roared, and heated the cold air that was still prevalent in the arena. It exploded, the pressure rising sky high. Chunks of concrete, ice, rose into the sky, and showered the stadium with a rain of fragments.

Reiko, standing almost in the middle of it, was flung into the air too, but managed to gather enough junk around to keep herself in the bounds, even if heavily injured. She rocketed into the sky, grabbing everything in her vicinity, trying to slow herself down, really not wanting to end her life via falling from high ground. Her ascent reached it's peak, and Reiko started slowing herself down, trying to fight gravity.

It was almost not enough. She landed on her right side, some meters per second off from breaking her arm and leg in a multitude of places. They were still bruised to hell, probably even fractured. It hurt like a bitch, to sum it up.

"FUCK!" - Reiko yelled, the pain from all of her injuries getting to her. Why the fuck did she do that? To satisfy her ego? Congrats Reiko, Todoroki is lying unconscious by the wall of the stadium. You won. Fair and fucking square.

"W-winner – Reiko Yanagi!" - Present Mic stuttered a bit, awed by the display of power.

After those words, Reiko's strength left her, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.


Enji was smiling the first time in God knows how long.

It was a tired smile. A small smile you make after… he couldn't really fathom what. Metaphors were never his strong suit. Or anything connected to flowery language. He was gruff, he was stoic, he didn't speak much. His signature style of dealing with the public – not dealing with them at all. He was not their entertainer, like all the other useless heroes. Or like All Might, but the man could afford some theatrics, he earned them.

His son done it. After some prodding by that girl, who yelled something to him. He didn't have enhanced senses to hear what, but by the look on her face it was something angry. Deep from her heart. Something Enji himself could have never managed with Shoto. He was too asocial to understand his son, and just tried to give him space, only sometimes reminding him of his duty. Of everyone who depends on them doing their all.

It didn't really work. Nothing really worked with his family after Touya's death. After Rei's breakdown. He barely knew what his middle children were doing with their lives, his youngest spoke to him only in passing. But it would be worth it. With Shoto now partial to using his quirk in full, he would become the man he was meant to be. His, and All Might's successor. The strongest hero, to guide this country, when All Might falls.

"Endeavor! It was ages since I last spoke to your, wasn't it?" - All Might suddenly appeared by his side, and leaned on the railings.

It was. Their last mission together was that international thing. In USA, the biomass manipulator, who could create monstrous abominations. Enji remembered how the kill order came in during the mission that was first only to capture.

Enji remembered how he burnt the man to death, while All Might was fighting his giant creatures. He remembered the smell of his burnt flesh, of the empty eye sockets, the husk left from his Prominence Burn. It was worth it. Nilbog would've killed millions, if left alive. Maybe even wiped out human life from the face of this planet.

Enji still sometimes hallucinates his face in place of his family members. Sometimes he dreams of Touya, and he stares at him with the same burnt visage, accusing him of his death. How he failed him. And Enji did fail him, but he would never give up. He would carry Touya's torch to his death, as he did.

The world of today will never fall.

"It was." - Enji replied. He didn't really know what to say to him, small talk was never his strong suit.

"Reiko Yanagi. A fiery individual, don't you think?" - All Might said. It seems he didn't really know what to talk about too.

The girl was good, Enji would give it to her. Even after being encased in that ice, she still overcame Shoto. Even after that giant blast. And her quirk was strong, and versatile. Telekinesis was rare. On the scale that Yanagi was showing? One in a generation.

"Thinking of grabbing her for the internship?" - Enji said, absentmindedly. All Might stopped taking students a while ago, but maybe this one interested him enough.

"No. Just bringing her to your attention, Endeavor. This world doesn't end with fire quirks." - All Might said.

Trying to advertise her to Enji? Sure, why not? Having a strong Shaker on hand might be useful. He would send her an offer.

"You came here to talk about students?" - Endeavor asked. Well, it's as good as time as any, at this festival.

"No. Wanted to warn you. I am going to USA." - All Might said.

Can he be more vague?

"When?" - Enji inquired.

"Not right now. But soon. This summer, in August. East Coast. D.C., Philadelphia. New York." - All Might said, looking wistful.

"Well. We'll hold the fort here." - Enji said, not as confident inside.

A foreboding feeling filled him, decades of experience telling him that it would be not as easy as he said.

August?

Wasn't it at the time summer camp in UA starts?