"Shouji, what in the world is going on?"

He couldn't stop the wince that took over him because of Midoriya's sudden shout. Even though he was tired and just wanted to... well, sleep would have been nice, but he knew that nightmares were all that waited him. He didn't know what he really would have wanted other than to turn back time and never allow himself to leave U.A. on the day his life officially became his own personal living hell.

"Midoriya," he hissed, moving deeper into his room. "You have to be quiet."

The green haired menace followed him with eyes that were virtually on fire. His body was coiled tight; fists were held tensely at his sides. But Shouji could tell that there was more than just indignation or anger in the smaller boy's face. There was fear.

His heart squeezed.

He looked away, taking a moment to try and compose himself; think up of what he was even supposed to tell the other boy. So he looked over his room, quickly taking stock of any changes... Midoriya hadn't touched a single item in his room.

Or, well, if he had, then he'd done a good job of placing everything back in its proper place. Sparse as it was, his room looked as if it hadn't been disturbed since he had left it earlier in the day.

Would he have even thought of such a thing before Stain had forced his way into his life? Or was this sudden paranoia just a side effect? Did he even have a reason to be wary of Midoriya- someone who was now, very clearly, on the same level of hell as himself?

"What is going on?" he repeated in a whispered hiss, charged and tight.

He knew what he needed to say... it was just... the way in which he said it was what was leaving him at a loss.

With a deep breath in, Shouji moved over to sit in the center of his room. He crossed his legs beneath him, mimicking the movement with all of his arms. Just as Midoriya was about to demand answers once more, he finally found his voice.

"Stain the Hero Killer wants to train us."

It was such an absurd idea that just speaking it out loud made him want to break down in a round disbelieving laughter.

Stain was a vigilante that had been imprisoned after Midoriya and other heroes had intervened to finally end his brutal series of hero-murders. He was a brutal criminal with a dangerous ulterior motive that had been his main mission for as long as Shouji could remember. There was absolutely no reason in the world for this criminal to be focused on them.

But as incredulous as it could have been, Stain really was focused on them and was willing to go as far as he could to make sure that they fell in line.

"That." Midoriya gasped, only to stop himself forcefully.

Shouji watched the way in which he began to pace around in the same spot, bringing his hand up to his chin as he closed his eyes. His thoughts were silent, but obvious as he allowed his mind to spiral in whichever way it wished. Shouji didn't have much energy to worry about Midoriya and his turmoil, so instead he allowed the silence to encompass them. If Midoriya asked him something, he would answer. But what could he truly add at this point to make anything better?

Nothing about this made any sense to him, so it wasn't like he could really give Midoriya much perspective on the sudden shift their lives were taking. All that made sense to him at this point was to try and go with the flow as much as possible and not give Stain a single reason to target his family. All he could do was survive.

"When are we going?"

By the next time Midoriya spoke up, Shouji had found himself lulled into an uncomfortable daze of acceptance. His heart was beating rapidly in chest, his ribcage was beginning to radiate with ache, and, yet, he had managed to slip into an uneasy comfort that he couldn't quite explain.

Maybe it was because he wasn't alone anymore; maybe it was because he now knew that Midoriya was stuck in this hell with him together and there was reassurance in numbers... maybe it was really because he was so exhausted that his tired body was finally getting to override his overactive mind. Hell, maybe it was even because he was finally just losing his mind... it didn't matter at the end of the day, did it?

Shouji contemplated their options, more than aware of how much of a thin line he was traversing when it came to Aizawa-sensei, Dagger, and U.A.'s tolerance for his behavior. It would be for the best to wait until the weekend because that would give them enough time to think up of a proper cover story for being out until so late...

With a soft frown, he asked, "When did you pick up the letter?"

He opened his eyes to find that Midoriya seemed somewhat confused by the question, but still answered by saying, "Today. I visited my mom and found it in my room." the amount of discomfort in his voice upon saying such a thing was something that Shouji felt on a visceral level.

Stain had absolutely no qualms in sinking to the lowest of lows to get what he wanted- that much he was sure of.

Still, he didn't comment on such an obvious thing. Instead, he sighed and nodded slowly, "We've got a few days, then. Maybe on Friday afternoon-"

"I want to go as soon as possible."

Shouji bit into his bottom lip to stop himself from calling Midoriya out on unnecessarily rude behavior. He forced himself to breathe in deeply and close his eyes, trying to soothe over the irritation that this had caused.

This wasn't him.

And he hated it.

"Have you ever snuck out of U.A.?"

The silence that stretched between them was all the answer he really needed.

"Unless you want to go through the stress that is sneaking out with someone like Dagger prowling around, our best bet would be to sit tight and wait until the weekend."

It was the logical thing to do, at the end of the day. Stain had given them both a week's amount of time to go to him; it wasn't necessary to put themselves at even more risk because of impatience.

Midoriya still glared at him as if he had just offered to allow his whole family to get killed.

"How long did you wait to go after you read your letter?"

It was meant to be a dig, Shouji had no doubt about it. Midoriya was calling him out on his possible hypocrisy, even though he undoubtedly had no clue about how Shouji had dealt with this situation.

He could lie and Midoriya would never know better.

Shouji opened his eyes as the concerning thought razed through his kind.

That wasn't like him- not at all.

He wasn't a liar... no matter all the lies he now found himself having to tell everyone around him.

Swallowing deep, Shouji gave himself a moment to breathe and collect his thoughts. Afterwards, he opened his eyes to find that Midoriya's face was composed of harsh lines and fear.

He was as terrified now as Shouji had been when this had all started to crash around him.

Shouji couldn't do to Midoriya as he had resented others did to him. Granted, he knew that no one could be there for him, so it wasn't like his feeling alone and forlorn was anyone's fault other than Stain himself. But... he couldn't write off Midoriya's state as ignorable just because he was relatively late to this game. He had the chance here to really help his classmate, even though their lives were getting destroyed right before their eyes.

"Okay, you have a point." he admitted in a sigh, "Getting out of the school is hard at night. There's all kinds of security measures in place to keep us safe and inside school grounds." his words were soft, yet filled with understanding. It was relieving to hear he was still capable of sounding like this.

Midoriya's eyes narrowed in thought with these words, starting his pacing back up. Shouji watched him for a few seconds, just allowing the silence to reign over them once again.

In the stillness of the night, beyond Midoriya's scraping steps, Shouji was able to hear the faintest stirring from the floor below him. In no time, it ceased- one of their classmates having a small fit during their sleep, undoubtedly.

"Would you be willing to work with me to get out?" Midoriya asked in an almost frenzy, then cleared his throat and spoke again in a softer tone, "If we combined our quirks, I mean, I'm sure we'll be able to get out."

Midoriya had a brain like no one else. Shouji had no idea how they may have been able to combine their quirks in a way that would make them capable of escaping U.A.'s vast security system. But if there was anyone in the world that would be capable of it, it would be Midoriya Izuku.

"Let's hear the plan then."

Seeing how All-Might-sensei had been more than happy to allow them free use of the gym the next afternoon to be able to practice Midoriya's proposed combination move, Shouji now jad no doubt that Midoriya Izuku truly was the hero's favorite student.

No student was supposed to be allowed inside of school structures that weren't created specifically for student downtime without teacher or administration supervision outside of school hours. And yet All-Might-sensei had simply applauded Midoriya for his drive to consistently learn, adapt, and improve and asked them to be careful with all equipment so that there would be no reason for any of the other school administration would catch wind of this little episode.

Part of the reason why their teacher must have allowed this had to do with Shouji's own good reputation as a respectable and careful student. But he wasn't about to fool himself and think that Midoriya's as their teacher's favorite mattered less than it actually did.

The proposed combination took a bit of maneuvering to make comfortable and then countless attempts to get right.

Unfortunately, the space they had to practice wasn't nearly big enough to be able to simulate what Midoriya had proposed, but these baby steps were going to have to be enough for their break out attempt.

Three days of practice later and Midoriya and he were confident enough in all their work- they agreed to go to Stain's location that very night.

It was still foreign to be held by someone so much smaller than him.

It wasn't uncomfortable anymore, just different.

"Ready?" Midoriya asked, voice filled with well contained energy.

With a quick inhale, Shouji gave the order for the smaller boy to launch them off.

The rush of air that zoomed past him was colder now than it had ever been before; the surge of up, up, and up was much stronger than all the other times they had practiced. Shouji allowed himself to be amazed by such novelty for a few seconds, watching keenly as their surroundings shifted and changed as they went higher into the air.

Then he forced himself to concentrate and prepared himself to push his arms further than ever before; more than aware that he'd need a larger set of 'wings' if he was to fly their combined weight out of school grounds.

The strain hurt, but he was proud to say he was able to land them in a still-living pile of heaped up limbs some good few meters away from U.A. grounds, mostly safe and sound.

Stain met them in front of his base of operations, clad in his full costume, complete with his weapons.

As soon as he had noticed this, a sharp jolt of anxiety ran through Shouji. Never before had Stain been this dressed up. Sure, he had only ever met with the man twice before, so it's not like he had gone enough times to know what truly was common or not... but... it still felt different.

"Midoriya Izuku." Stain called when they were only some steps away, "Have you voided my terms and told someone about this?" his tone was ice cold.

Shouji had already been alarmed before; now, though? Not he was terrified.

He glanced at the younger male, eyes going wide, only to find that Midoriya had a look of wide-eyed horror on his own face.

"What?" the green haired boy gasped, only to immediately shake his head. "Not at all! I'm not stupid!"

Stain's face was a cold glower that gave nothing away. His eyes glanced from Midoriya's form, rolling over to glare at him for a few seconds. Shouji stopped walking then, pierced in place by the intensity of that gaze.

Midoriya stopped beside him, seemingly unsure of how to proceed.

"My terms were explicit." Stain reminded them, even though there was no need for it. Neither he nor Midoriya were about to underestimate what the Hero Killer was willing to do to get his way.

"We know." Midoriya looked towards him, but Shouji couldn't tear his eyes away from Stain's glower. "We haven't told anyone, promise!"

Those scorching eyes intensified and a heavy frown pulled at the killer's lips. Shouji winced at the harsh change, but was still powerless and incapable of looking away.

For some reason, Stain thought that they had deceived him.

Why?

They had done everything right! They hadn't been followed and they had kept completely tight lipped about everything.

Stain's eyes slowly slithered away from him, finally allowing him to breathe, and instead focused on Midoriya once again. Midoriya's body tensed at the attention, but did not back down.

Some seconds later, the Hero Killer's eyes were glowering at the space between them. Shouji turned to look in the same direction, but only managed to find their vacant surroundings.

He was about to turn back around and ask the villain what he thought was happening because there was no way either of them would put their families at stake- but the words were stolen from his mouth.

Stain's hand wasn't nearly as cold as he had expected it to be; it was actually hot. It squeezed his top left shoulder until it ached, forcing him to remain in place. His other hand had conjured up a sharp dagger that was only millieters away from breaking through the skin of his throat.

"I know you're out there!" Stain snarled, "And if you're one of those wannabe heroes from U.A., you better step out of the shadows unless you want Shouji's death on your hands."

Shouji didn't dare breathe from how toghtly the dagger was pressed into his throat. He didn't dare move a muscle, brain going on overdrive from the immediate danger he was in.

Time slowed to molasses.

Shouji was barely able to see a shift in the scenery. But he was able to hear a high pitched voice he recognized too well.

"I followed them here! They don't know anything!"

And his blood ran cold.

"Hagakure?" Midoriya groaned, voice so forlorn that Shouji could feel it deep within his heart.

He may have been the one with the dagger to his neck, but they were both immediately aware of the true danger the invisible girl now found herself in.

There was a chance, though, for her to escape unscathed. Stain didn't have a way to see her himself- that was why he had threatened Shouji's life. If she chose to run now, he wouldn't be able to catch her; she'd be able to get away.

"I'm sorry you two," Stain's grip on him tightened, forcing him to move forward with pressing insistence. Shouji attempted to walk slowly, a quick hiss from Stain was all he needed to know the villain was aware of what he attempted to do. "I saw you guys getting out of school and Shouji's been acting so weird recently- I had to know if you were in trouble." Hagakure's voice was on the verge of panic, becoming louder the closer Stain closed him to get. "I had no idea how right I'd be." her final words were whispered in horror.

There was only open space and Shouji couldn't see a single thing to indicate Hagakure's presence. That meant that Stain couldn't see her either.

Stain forced him to stop once Hagakure's talking had ceased. The silence that ensued felt pensive, but it was tight.

Oh no.

Shouji's eyes widened as soon as his mind caught up with what he hoped the Hero Killer wasn't contemplating... but with how this series of unfortunate events had started up... he didn't allow himself to hope.

The dagger's sharp blade lost some of the pressure it had been exerting at the same time Stain's grip on his shoulder became much more tolerable; no longer bruising.

"Commendable." Stain's voice had lost its frozen edge, now sounding almost hollow. There was a pause, and then Shouji heard him huff with amusement. "U.A. has no right to ruin your heroic careers." even as the dagger left his throat, Shouji felt the impending doom that loomed over them all. "Come then, young hero, and join your friends in learning how to become real heroes."

Hagakure's fate was doomed; now intertwined intrinsically with Shouji and Midoriya's own.

"I had decided to focus on practical skills of combat for tonight's lesson, seeing how it is about time you two knew how to properly use your bodies in combat." Stain stood before the computer from two weeks ago with his arms clasped behind his back, staring down at Midoriya and Hagakure.

Shouji should feel terrible about how relieved he felt at not having the killer's attention focus solely on him anymore. But... he was just... relieved.

Stain's intense gaze could now be split among three, rather than him having to face the full brunt of such a horrifying gaze all by himself. He should feel terrible for having two more people victimized by the villain. But he just relieved that he was able to breathe while inside this warehouse.

"But seeing how we have an unforeseen variable now joining us, I have decided to shift the focus of the night onto something much more theoretical but just as practical." he turned his body to now motion towards the computer, where there was an internet page opened up to a blank search bar. "Today, I will teach you just how thoroughly your precious school has failed you."

Shouji shifted in his seat and managed to hear Midoriya moving around to his left. Hagakure was as quiet as the dead to Midoriya's other side; the only reason he knew with complete certainty that she had not yet run away was because she had acquiesced to wearing an oversized shirt Stain had offered her.

He hadn't ordered her, nor had he threatened her. But they had all known his words for what they were- and so none of them had tried to stop him from forcing the shirt into her invisible hands.

"New girl, I don't know your name." Stain clicked onto the search bar and typed into the search bar; they were sat far enough away from the desk so that he couldn't properly read what was being written. "But I remember having seen a student with a quirk similar to yours in U.A.'s sports festival this year- alongside both your classmates."

Two clicks on different links later and Shouji was able to see a website he immediately he recognized- U.A.'s official Sports Festival page. He hadn't really checked it out for himself, but had seen it on his mother's computer screen a few times when the festival had been replaying on some of the sports channels she followed.

Shouji watched in mounting horror as Stain clicked onto the 1-A class' page, where he would be able to find small blurbs of information about every single student within their class. Hagakure's picture was mostly empty, although the photographers had allowed an exception due to her quirk and so she had two gloved hands with peace signs thrown up in her portrait.

"Hagakure Toru." he read the name out, then went about opening a new tab on the browser. "Seeing how most teenage girls your age have a dangerous intrigue with attracting attention through your social media, my guess is that I will not have to dig nearly as deep to find information on you." even though the words were backed by an insult, Stain's tone was muttered, matter-of-fact- as if he wasn't trying to insult Hagakure, and instead was making a simple observation.

He quickly typed in her name into the new page, which then led him to be able to scour through infinite links that mentioned similar names.

It took a few minutes and a couple of additional words added into the search, but, eventually, Stain was proved correct- he managed to find Hagakure's social media page.

"Hn." he huffed in discontent, turning his gaze towards them after the page had opened and her innumerable posts were on full display. "This site allows for private profiles, child. That was the bare minimum." he sounded as if he was disappointed; Hagakure let out a small, soft whine-like noise, but said nothing else. "Let's see if we can find the names of your family and closest friends from the posts in which you've tagged people."

One by one, Stain showed them the way in which he went through every single post Hagakure had published, beginning from the most recent and going down to the oldest. Whenever he found something within the posts that he found necessary to point out, he mentioned it and elaborated as to why it was important.

"Notice the location- you can tell this was taken in a busy arcade. The post right before this one mentioned a particular kiosk while the one after is from a food court. With this information, we can look up the probable location of the mall Hagakure visited on this day." Stain's voice was back to a barely-present intrigue, only just barely not monotonous. "Ah, a picture of a family vacation. The siblings' public profiles don't include their real names- we will circle back to them later on."

There were many posts and, when put together, they showed off a good chunk of Hagakure's life. After some time, Stain had hit posts from far before Hagakure had entered U.A. and he stopped to point towards the background of the picture, where Shouji could faintly see a building surrounded by trees. "With other information I'll be able to get from the rest of these posts, I'll eventually be able to figure out what this school's called."

It sounded improbable, seeing how Hagakure had managed to keep from saying what school she attended and none of the pictures included any really obvious signs... but... Stain had managed to track his family down... and the only social media presence they had only pertained to their family restaurant.

"This is not an easy task, but it is incredibly simple." Stain stopped sifting through the posts, turning fully to look at them once again. His dark eyes were narrowed once more; this time focused squarely on Hagakure. "My advice? At the very least, make this private. Attempt to hide your trace from my investigations- make it difficult for me to find ways to control you as I have managed to do to Shouji and Midoriya."

It was a challenge. Stain's voice took on an edge, just like his face morphed into a sick, humored smile.

There was no doubt about who Stain thought would wind up victorious in this sudden challenge he had thrown at Hagakure.

It was so sick Shouji felt his stomach twist.

At least he and Midoriya had thrown themselves at the Hero Killer- had earned his attention through their intervention in his life. Hagakure was innocent. She had just been trying to look out for her friends... and now she was trapped in his twisted web.

"Shouji, Midoriya." his eyes darted to them each, his lips losing their smirk as a much more sedate look came over his features. "Build upon what we have covered today. Gather me personal information of six of your classmates' lives. You can build upon what Shouji has compiled or focus on new targets- it is up to you."

He was able to feel both of his classmates look at him, but did his best to ignore their gaze. He swallowed thickly, more than aware of how terrible both of them must think him.

"Seeing how I am aware of how difficult getting out of U.A. must be at night with all of the safety features they are now allowing parents to learn of," the villain turned their back on them- letting them know just how big of threats he thought they were. Somehow, this stung more than the first time Shouji had witnessed something similar. "I will allow for you to come early during the weekend. The last thing I want for you is to get in trouble for sneaking out at night and calling too much attention to yourselves." as he spoke, he made his way towards the kitchen space to the side of the warehouse.

If anyone had mentioned such a want, Shouji would have assumed it was because they cared about their student records and not getting them in trouble because of good. But this Stain. There was no doubt as to why he wanted them to keep their heads down- so they wouldn't call attention to themselves and jeopardize his operation.

The sound of Stain beginning to rummage around his refrigerator started up, only stopping when the villain spoke up, "You kids want anything? I've got snacks and drinks."

It was an absurd return to what little routine he had come to expect from the villain. And after the violent beginning to this night... after having once again found his life threatened by Stain, it was... just a relieving return to the absurdity he had come to accept to have Stain ask them if they wanted something to eat.

Hagakure and Midoriya both looked at one another, undoubtedly as caught unguard by the unexpected kindness Stain seemed to be offering.

"We're good." he managed to croak out after a few seconds, more than aware that Stain would get annoyed with them if none answered. "Thank you." he cleared his throat before looking down at the hands he had begun to ring together.

Stain went about preparing his regular serving of coffee, even though Shouji could once again see quite a few leftover mugs and cups strewn all around with dredges of his past drinks.

They fell into silence at that point, only broken when Stain dismissed them- gave them permission to finally leave.

His last words to them were cold and calculated; words simple yet veiled with a thick threat.

"Make sure you are never followed again. I will not suffer failures." the final word was a harsh sneer- letting them know just what he thought of the very idea of them failing. "I would hate having to get my hands dirty to teach you a lesson." with a cold glare at them all, he gave a final nod before he stepped back into his warehouse. "I will see you all in two weeks."

Hagakure and Midoriya both reacted physically to the threat- horrified at just the idea.

Shouji merely began to make his way back down the way they had come from- he knew the stakes very well at this point. It didn't matter how often Stain repeated himself; just like it wouldn't matter if he never repeated it again. With the way Stain had shown them how he was able to find Hagakure's family, there was no mystery as to how far he was willing to go to get his way. And Shouji was more than aware that he would do everything in his power to keep Stain's focus on him and away from his family.

The silence that encompassed them as they trekked back to U.A. could only be described as catatonic.