The routines of his friends weren't difficult to take note of or keep track of.

Routines were routines for a reason, after all. And in a school as rigid as U.A., it was almost impossible to be truly unpredictable when it came to ones movements and decisions.

Bakugou and Kirishima had been the easiest to acquire the most information out of. In part, it had been so easy because Kirishima was rather vocal about the things he did during the day and the places he went. But, really, the biggest reason as to why it had been so easy was because, out of the whole class, they both had the loudest footsteps.

Even Satou and Kouda, who were some of the heaviest boys in the class, didn't stomp around quite as violently as those two did. Bakugou's footsteps were basically stomps; it was almost as if he wanted to break the ground that refused to give in to his strength. Kirishima, on the other hand, had heavy footsteps because of the way that he dragged his feet around on most days; it wasn't due to perpetual exhaustion, but due to perpetual lack of caring too much.

Their routines were also the only ones that were markedly different from the rest of the class; their days began and ended earlier due to Bakugou's insistence of having a proper workout routine and how desperately Kirishima needed to get at least eight hours of sleep every night to be able function like a regular human being.

Bakugou's harsh tone of voice and Kirishima's more relaxed cadence were also tones of voices that were pretty simple for Shouji to keep track of within and outside of the dorms- so, really, it was a no-brainer to pick them to be two of the first people... whose privacy he violated... because a crazed serial killer wanted something to do with him...

The Hero Killer Stain had his sights trained exclusively on him and, for some reason, Midoriya Izuku... he had spoken about building them up; training; education... all the sorts of things that would point towards him being interested in forcing them under his wing to teach them... the communication he had left in Shouji's home had talked about how he was going to train them up to be the sort of hero that he supposedly didn't see anymore.

There was no denying that Stain wanted to force an education upon him and Midoriya. And, well, there was no way that Shouji could ignore how he had already explicitly stated his reasoning as to wanting to do this: both of them had shown to be heroic enough when they faced off against him.

But... Shouji still didn't understand why the Hero Killer was set on him.

Midoriya... well, it definitely made sense. The boy was a magnet for trouble because of his deep-rooted belief in always doing the right thing. He was flashy, he didn't falter, and he just... did what a hero should do.

Shouji, though... he had... he had hesitated when his friend had been in danger. He had tried to rise up and defeat his fear... and yet... look at where it had gotten him.

With a frown, Shouji forced himself back to the work at hand.

As per Stain's instructions, he had also acquired information on Midoriya's routine... from the way he continued going about life as if everything was normal, Shouji had reason to believe that the green haired boy had yet to receive the news that would forever change his life.

In a way, he was jealous of Midoriya's ignorance. But, in another way, Shouji was comforted by it. Until Midoriya received the letter Stain had undoubtedly left for him in a private space, like his home, he would be safe and happy. Until he was able to read the words that allowed him to find out that the Hero Killer had him on his radar and had found a use for him, Midoriya would remain himself.

By the middle of the week, he had obtained information on three out of the six students Stain had told him to shoot for. He had already had an idea of their regular patterns of sleep, study, and recreational activities from having lived with them for quite some time now; long enough to have an idea what to expect of them, even though he had never thought he'd put such information to such a horrible use.

Even though he knew it would be the easiest to get information on Tokoyami, Kouda, and Satou, he didn't have it within him to even write down their names on the papers he would be taking with him to the next meeting with the Hero Killer. He already knew so much about them... more than what he would acquire from just simple surveillance- he knew where they lived, their family's names, their likes and dislikes... so much that was supposed to be private.

No... he couldn't bring himself to give that much information away to a villain; a killer.

He wasn't oblivious to the fact that eventually he would have to give that information away... but for now, he wanted to attempt and keep some control of the life that had spiraled so far out of his reach in such little time.

So he wasn't going to even think about his closest friends until Stain made it clear he wanted information on everyone. Hopefully, by then... Shouji would have some kind of plan to be able to keep those closest to him safe.

But by keeping them safe, he was going to be putting other friends of his into danger. They weren't as good friends to him as those three, but they were all still people he actively cared about. And it tore at his heart to have to write down Mineta, Aoyama and Kaminari's names to complete the... assignment he had been given... but at least he could somewhat justify this to himself by calling them loud individuals- it was easier to pay attention to them than other students.

No amount of justification would ever make him feel any less worse for what he was doing... but at least he could attempt to unsuccessfully assuage his guilt by telling himself that, at the very least, he was keeping his good friends safe.

Even if it was at the expense of other, just as innocent, students.

He knew that there was no right answer in this situation. The Hero Killer had him in his sights and already knew of ways to hurt his family. He couldn't get any help because he had no idea just how much Stain knew. So he needed to play along and hope for the best... no matter what he chose to do, it was a losing choice and he knew it.

Rolling his shoulders, Shouji folded the paper he had been taking notes down on tightly, stuffed it into his wallet, and jammed that into his pocket. His heart had stopped hammering harshly at the prospect of having someone find the paper in a surprise dorm evaluation after he had decided to just lug it around with him during the school day.

His heart now just beat loudly and his ribs ached perpetually at the worry of someone finding his wallet, looking inside, and finding it.

Mineta had trouble waking up in the morning- that was easily explained by his insistence on staying up much too late at night watching things Shouji would be happier to know less about.

Kaminari, on the other hand, woke up; unexpectedly enough; without any issues. Maybe it had something to do with his quirk; maybe it was due to his exposure to Bakugou and his own habits; maybe it was simply because he was just naturally a morning person. The root cause wasn't easy to ascertain and probably unimportant, but harmless enough to not feel too guilty over writing down.

Aoyama sung to the high heavens with whatever soundtrack had piqued his fancy and there was no way Shouji would be able to ignore him during the mornings even if he wanted to. His music was usually very entertaining to listen in on, though. Sometimes he didn't understand it because the blonde seemed to enjoy songs in all sorts of languages he didn't know.

Their lives were mostly simple and routine; just like Bakugou and Kirishima's; due to U.A.'s strict schedule. So there really wasn't much of a need for him to take note of a lot... he could easily tell Stain that much of the simplicity in their lives was because they were students living in the same dorms, subject to the same schedule and not just because Shouji didn't have the heart to force himself to pay more attention to what his friends did during the day.

By the time Friday rolled around, he believed he had enough information for the Hero Killer to accept as sufficient for what he had sent Shouji to accomplish within the allotted time.

Saturday... he wouldn't be able to utilize going out to buy groceries as an excuse to leave U.A. and meet with Stain... there was a new rule that stated that no student was allowed to leave school grounds after 4 p.m.- no exceptions. But, well, at least that time wasn't a curfew for any student that walked out of U.A. prior, so there wasn't a true time limit to when they could return- still taking into account that many different students had their own unique home situations.

Without a doubt, that rule had been instated because of his reckless confrontation with Stain the Hero Killer and he couldn't help but feel a slight bit of resentment at that reality.

There was some joke to be made about 1-A and how they were such troublemakers that new rules needed to be made to curb their more dangerous activities... but Shouji didn't really have the energy to even attempt to ponder about that joke. He was much too tired.

Besides, he wanted to get this done with as quickly as was humanly possible. So, the earlier he met with Stain, the earlier he would be able to hand in the information and leave.

His mother wouldn't mind him visiting them at the shop- even if unannounced- so he knew that he could utilize that as a cover to leave U.A. at the very least. But he had to leave before 4 in the afternoon, and that meant there would be at least five hours he would have to wait before it would be time for him to actually meet with Stain.

His mother was responsible and wouldn't be all that comfortable with letting him wander about too late at night. So she would probably be forcing him out of the restaurant by 7 or 8, at the latest.

It wasn't a perfect plan, he was aware. And it made the perpetual pit in his stomach that much wider.

There was so much that could go wrong- even to the point of one of his teachers heading out to track him down if he took too long to return. And he was sure that citing a second emergency would only make perception of him plummet at this point...

But he couldn't risk sneaking out again. So this was the best he could do.

Do his best and hope it was good enough.

There was an attack that shut down countless city blocks, halted all traffic, and gave Shouji a perfect excuse for not returning any earlier to school grounds.

He should feel dreadful over the heroes that were risking their lives to fight back the villains that were currently aiming to harm innocents. He should even feel horrid over the fact that he wasn't. But the fact of the matter was that he was more grateful that this was a perfect excuse to be late and he was going to milk it.

The only bad thing about the attack was that, because of the halted traffic, he was not able to reach the docks by traffic. Instead, he was forced to run all the way there- the only saving grace was that it hadn't taken him more than twenty minutes at a moderate pace.

It was 9:30 at night when he found himself catching his breath in front of the very warehouse he had visited a week ago and been informed that his life was no longer under his control.

He hadn't even been able to start breathing properly before a shadow loomed over his form and a chill ran down his spine.

"Any reason why you're so out of breath, Gyūgēsu?"

Shouji turned sharply, moving away from the man that had snuck up behind him without a single sound- unwittingly closer to the man's base of operations. Stain was standing behind him, face a blank and shoulders hunched- he looked exactly the same way he had the last time Stain had seen him. His face was completely unreadable. Only his voice was painted with the barest hints of an emotion- amusement.

He was dressed in a heavy coat that made his body seem larger than it was and there were plastic bags clutched within both of his hands. He was wearing thick sunglasses to cover his eyes, rendering them completely unreadable, while his nose and mouth were covered by a hygienic mask.

It was almost absurd.

There was a brief second in which he contemplated biting back that he had been forced to run here to make sure that he arrived as early as possible. There was an impulse to snark and roll his eyes because how dare he?

But Shouji quickly stamped down on that feeling, swallowed his indignation, and sighed out, "It was a long run."

Stain's head cocked ever so slightly to the side and he took a few seconds to look at him.

Shouji felt himself wince at the uninterrupted attention, breath catching in his lungs.

Stain's gaze was piercing.

It was almost as if he could look straight through him.

"Hn." the villain shifted towards the side, took a step forward, and nodded his head in the direction of his door. "Let's get to work. I'm sure you'd prefer to return to school as early as possible."

Of course he would; it was obvious. U.A. didn't really have a curfew for students to return, but the longer you spent outside of school grounds, the higher the risk of getting caught was. Shouji had never been one of the students to have to worry about such a thing... but now he was.

Even with how obvious it was, it still sent an unwelcome jolt of fear through him to know that Stain understood this such a thing so well.

~/~

He was sat in the same chair Stain had directed him to sit on the last time. The desk was still very much the same, with the same laptop on it, but that was closed at the moment. The papers that Shouji had been dragging around with him this past week were laid out before him- a record of his worst sins.

Bewildered, Shouji could only stare as he saw the Hero Killer in the small kitchen area towards the right of the structure... putting groceries away.

When he had seen that the man was carrying plastic bags and was dressed in a way that could make him seem like a regular, if only slightly odd, civilian, he had immediately assumed that whatever was hidden within the bags he carried was something dangerous. A criminal like Stain didn't just go about existing like any other person.

And yet, Shouji could see the carton of vegan milk that the killer pulled last from the bags. It was very clearly a regular, run-of-the-mill brand that didn't belong to any exclusive, particularly heinous chain store. He was sure that his sister bought that brand every now and again, too, whenever she didn't feel like consuming any animal byproducts.

"Want anything?"

Stain didn't turn to look at him. Instead he stepped towards the furniture that held the coffee maker on its countertop.

There were coffee mugs littered with the dredges of undrank coffee all over the table he was currently sat before. So he knew that the man probably enjoyed drinking the thing.

But there was something surreal about seeing Stain: The Hero Killer making coffee that made Shouji uncomfortable.

"Gyūgēsu." the man repeated with a bark, and Shouji found himself sitting up that much straighter with no clear explanation.

"I'm good." he squeaked out quickly, a mouth forming from his right shoulder without a thought.

He heard the villain growl softly, but they soon fell back into silence.

Stain went about preparing the coffee and Shouji continued to stare on in wonder.

Stain was a human, so it made sense... but there was something just off about knowing that a killer like this went about buying his own groceries and making his own coffee... although, what had he expected? It's not like the villain kept henchmen around to do all these things for him...

When Stain finally made his way towards him, it was with a box in his hands. The sunglasses and mask had been replaced with his much more characteristic grey mask to cover his eyes and nose; allowing Shouji to see his mouth set in a thin line.

"Pocky?" was the only thing he said as he offered the box in his direction before settling to stand beside him.

It was a generic brand of chocolate flavored pocky.

It was absurd.

Swallowing, Shouji shook his head.

Stain shrugged to himself before opening the box and taking a pack out for himself. He threw the box haphazardly onto the desk before motioning with his head at the paper Shouji had brought.

"What students did you choose?"

Once again, the impulsive need to disrespect Stain bubbled up within hi. He suddenly felt that he should tell the villain to just read the papers- there was no need for Shouji to say anything if it was already in the papers. It was a strong urge that Shouji had never properly felt before; he wasn't even sure where in the world it had come from.

The crunch of Stain's first bite into his pocky was as loud as Shouji's racing heart.

He took a moment to breathe in; to stamp down all dangerous and immature outbursts; and then spoke up with the mouth he had formed on his shoulder.

"Midoriya, Aoyama, Mineta, Bakugou, Kaminari, and Kirishima."

He kept it at their surnames; hopefully, Stain wouldn't ask him for proper names.

The man munched on the pocky for a few more bites, swallowed, and Shouji looked up in time to see him nod. "Some of the louder students." he fished out another piece from the bag as he motioned with his chin at the papers. "Pretty scarce on information."

If it was supposed to be a reprimand, there wasn't any true bite to it. But it wasn't a lighthearted comment, either. It was matter of fact; straight to the point.

Shouji nodded and began to wring his middle hands together; both lower hands going to grab onto the edges of the plastic seat. "I've never done anything like this before."

It was a hollow excuse that sounded marginally believable to his ears. If he was lucky, Stain would take the comment at face value and not dig any deeper.

He wasn't sure if he could ever rely on luck anymore.

His upper arms were neutrally positioned to his sides and he felt the urge to allow those fingers to wrap around the edge of the seat as well.

Stain grunted, finished the pocky piece, and wiped his right hand on his heavy coat. Without deeming the need for an explanation necessary, he sunk his hand into one of the large pockets of the coat and Shouji felt his whole body freeze up; eyes going wide.

Was this how he would finally die? Stabbed by a hidden knife because the Hero Killer wasn't convinced by a halfhearted semi-lie.

There was no hint of aggression or annoyance on Stain's face or body. He seemed just as relaxed and unbothered as he had been this whole time. There wasn't even a clear fire in his eyes.

Shouji's breath caught in his throat, eyes glued onto the hand that was taking its sweet time to exit Stain's pocket.

The audible gasp that escaped him when his eyes caught sight of a pair of black glasses- rather than the hilt of a knife- was equal parts surprised as it was relieved.

Stain looked down at him, unasked question clear on his face, and Shouji only shook his head in the hopes that he wouldn't have to explain anything to the villain. He was lucky those were only glasses. If he dared to explain why he was so surprised, then he was sure he would truly run the risk of getting killed right then and there.

Quietly, the man opened the legs of the glasses- which were attached to the same cord on both ends- before fitting them over his head. Shouji heard the friction of fabric against fabric, which possibly meant the tightening of the cord on the glasses... and then Shouji could see perfectly well how Stain had fitted a wide pair of glasses over the eyes that were surrounded by his mask.

For a second time that night, he was left dumbstruck by the absurdity of the mundane things that The Hero Killer took part in.

Did... did he need glasses to read?

Shouji kept his curiosity in check as Stain began to look over the papers, rifling through them with very little urgency to his motions as he continued to snack on his treat.

The next few minutes were spent in tense silence... at least, on Shouji's part. His heart hammered in his chest as he witnessed the Hero Killer leisurely look at the notes he had taken on his friends; he became uncomfortably aware of his own breathing. He shifted ever so slightly in his chair, turning his gaze onto the papers rather than the hero killer.

He was still much too aware of the tall man's imposing frame, so very clear from the periphery of his vision. But he attempted to force himself to pay attention to something other than him.

"Hn." eventually Stain finished looking over his papers and took a step backwards, moving to take his glasses off. "Not bad, kid. But it could be better."

He made his way back towards the kitchen area, where the faint smell of brewed coffee was wafting from, and began to move about the area to serve himself a cup of milk to make coffee.

"Sure you don't want any? Helps focus."

He had never drank coffee before. His mother seemed to really enjoy it, but that's about as far as his knowledge of the drink went. He had never really felt like he was overly tired, so he had never felt the need to boost his energy.

For just one moment, he contemplated accepting the offer. Because the fact of the matter was that this would be a long night and he would probably need energy later on to be able to get back back to U.A.

But as soon as the thought popped into his head, Shouji reminded himself that it would be a bad idea. Not just because caffeine at this time of night would undoubtedly interrupt his ability to get any sleep- which he didn't need any help interrupting considering everything that had been happening recently and how little he had been managing to sleep. But also because Stain was, at the end of the day, a villain.

Even though he seemed to be very honest with what he wanted out of Shouji, villains were still unpredictable. Who knew what he would add into whatever food or drink he offered, just to amuse himself with Shouji's gullibility? No, it wouldn't be prudent at all to accept anything from the villain.

"Uh, no... no thank you." he mumbled, earning an unaffected grunt as his immediate answer.

Stain set about heating up his milk on the stove, turned to him, and broke the small silence that had settled over them, "Choose one of those targets to focus on. You have another full week to gather skills, quirk specifics and limits, strengths, and weaknesses." crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes in Shouji's direction. "Think of this as profiling an enemy to break them. Leave anything important out and I will know."

Shouji wished he could say his heart stopped or his body became frigid upon hearing such a thing.

He couldn't say that, though.

He was not surprised in any way to hear such an assignment. And, in a way, he was even thankful that Stain was only asking him to focus on one student, rather than all of them.

He returned to U.A. at eleven at night and received a stern scolding from both U.A.'s Head of Security and Aizawa-sensei. Apparently, because the school knew where he lived, both men had known that there was something off about him not having returned any earlier. Because of the attack that had interrupted traffic flow, they had even been worried that he had been caught in the middle and possibly even hurt.

Shouji had lied as best he could, attempting to convince Dagger first that his return to the dorms had been interrupted by the attack and he had taken so long to get back because of all of the interruptions along the way. Eventually the rather intense man had let him go and Shouji guessed that the day hadn't been easy on him- probably because of that very attack- because he had let him go without too much of a fuss.

Convincing Aizawa-sensei of his version of events had taken a bit longer and a lot more detailed storytelling than what he had really been hoping for. And by the time he had been allowed to make his way up to his room, he had the sneaking suspicion that his teacher hadn't believed him- the look in his eyes had been too harsh, too cold. It made him worry.

Even with that weighing on him; even with the somewhat old and clunky phone that was now burning a hole in his pants' pockets; even with Stain's newest assignment looming over him... Shouji was ready to get a good night's sleep.

He knew there was someone in his room before he had even reached his floor. He was able to hear a sigh from that direction; something he had never heard in the dorms before.

Immediately his heart plummeted with the fear of having to explain anything about his absence during the day to any of his friends... they weren't the kind to sneak into his room and wait for him in there, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He had been separating from everyone, after all. And it wouldn't be the first time his classmates did something unorthodox to get to the bottom of what they considered to be a mystery.

Once he was in front of his room's door, he found it ajar.

He pushed on it, letting it fall open slowly.

A handful of seconds later, he was looking down at the narrowed and incensed eyes of Midoriya Izuku.

Taking a moment to breathe in and out, Shouji blinked down at his classmate. Then he sighed, stepped inside, and closed the door behind them.

It seemed that he had finally received Stain's message.

..~..~..

Trust me, this story won't be given up on unless I write a lengthy A/N explaining my failings and why I can no longer keep on writing it. I'm just really slow with updates on all my fics right now because life.

Have a happy new year! And please stay safe out there.