December 25 - Day 13

A lone sharp dressed figure stood motionless, facing the huge glass windows in front of him, the early morning sun's rays casting his shadow out into the very center of his luxurious room. There was the faint jingle of Christmas songs playing about as ambient tunes, being emitted through discreet speakers installed throughout all four corners of the room, nestled in between various decorations.

'What's taking him so long?' he thought to himself as he raised the phone he's been holding on his right hand all this time, seeing the screen still all blank. But before he set it down once more, he made sure to check the time, 7:27. Almost immediately he turned his attention back towards the huge glass window in front of him and set his gaze downwards on the streets below the high-rise building he's on – particularly on a specific alleyway.

'7:28 am. Group A.' He mentally told himself. Right afterwards, a villain – a big man dressed in rags, appeared exactly on the alleyway he's staring at, wasting no time in flipping over the nearest car. A few seconds later, a group of four heroes arrived to shut him down, resulting in a spectacular display of heroics that lasted for quite a while. 'Good work.' He nodded, before turning his attention towards yet another location – the rooftop of a nearby two-storey fast food joint, specifically on a person there changing clothes and plastering dark make-up on his face.

'7:42 am. Group B.'

The person he's inspecting immediately jumped down onto the ground and wasted no time in attempting to rob said fast food joint. And once again as with earlier, another fresh batch of heroes arrived to take him down. The man nodded to himself upon completion of the task. It is good that heroes are doing a good job in stopping crime, especially if it's against organized legal crime.

There's really nothing better than crime that benefits all parties involved: The heroes, the civilians, and even the villains.

The man kept his gaze downwards, observing more crimes and heroics unfold. He was about to turn his attention to another particular high-rise building just right up front when he felt his phone suddenly vibrate. He hastily brought it up and lightly tossed it away, the device swiftly detaching into small cubes and reassembling itself into a floating cuboid form. Its front screen briefly flashed the word 'VECTRE' before it went back to its standard home screen, and in its center is an animated envelope icon jumping around.

The man did a series of finger gestures towards it, which prompted the device to open up the message. Said message is a series of symbols ranging from simple squares and triangles all the way to elaborate polygonal patterns. Nonetheless, the man understood them quite well.

'Hawks is correct on his eavesdropping. All Might is planning something. Had Lady Nagant to feed him needed information on Kizuki, who's alive and well despite what's on the news. She really is somehow younger. Like in her early twenties. Apparently she has no idea why and how. Since then she has been the target of two assassination attempts on which she blamed both on Skeptic.'

The man squinted his left eye, raising his eyeglasses a little to confirm if he indeed read the symbols right. Yes he did. "Well that doesn't make sense. Did you confirm if it's really Chitose Kizuki and not just anyone else pretending to be her?" he calmly asked amidst his curiosity and confusion. "How is she? Where is she now?"

The VECTRE phone's screen shook a bit, the symbols on its screen rapidly changing to a vastly different set. A few seconds later there appeared an animated icon of a paper plane flying off. The message is sent. And not a moment too soon, another message arrived.

'After she fell asleep upon injection of the usual Calm-Down drugs, I had Eraserhead take a good look at her, as well as run other status-effect confirmation methods. She is real. Even your agents can confirm she is real. As for the drugs, I had to administer it, we obviously can not risk someone like her going off. Currently, she is back in her temporary room, expected to wake up in an estimated time of an hour. But let us not talk about Kizuki for a while, Skeptic demands discussion as well.

According to Lady Nagant, he already dropped-the-curtains on the Gunga Mountain Villa, shutting down all communications both in and out of the place. Curious here blaming him for her assassinations certainly adds up to something. Now this may just be a suggestion from me and in the end it is still going to be up to you but, in my opinion, Skeptic needs to be under observation ASAP.'

"Agreed…" the man's voice trailed off as he nodded. "Skeptic's been acting odd lately. He's almost always physically absent during big meetings, but unlike Curious – who's also the same case, he has his communications devices there instead, and playing a very active role in strategizing and managing the army."

'It seems that making the MLA part of Operation: Grand Circus could potentially turn out to be a little too problematic don't you think? I suggest you command your agents to do a little deeper digging there. We absolutely can not afford to have the clowns running the show.'

"I'll keep that in mind, Nezu." The man replied, confused thoughts and numerous questions swirling inside his head. But as he was about to ponder about it, another message arrived.

'Chitose Kizuki is from Chitose City, Hokkaido. All Might is onto something.'

The man froze in place, eyes wide upon seeing the message. He raised his right hand and rubbed it around his cybernetic right eye just in case he's just imagining things. No he's not. The message is clear as day.

"Did you already run some other tests on her?"

'We haven't yet. As of now Kizuki is still asleep back in her room. Room 213, third floor of the VIP building to be exact. Once she wakes up we will try to run whatever we can without alerting her of our true intentions.'

"The MLA has someone like her all this time?! How come they haven't done anything with her yet? How come the MLA is just completely indifferent to losing such a person like her? And now she's somehow younger and Skeptic is trying to kill her off with the army unaware of her true state?" he asked his floating VECTRE phone, quickly clearing his throat afterwards. "This just opens more holes into the pavement, and it's already full of cracks!"

'Trust me, I am just as shocked as you are. Either way, we have Kizuki now. We are not letting her go that easily. Lucky for us she is already blaming Skeptic for her assassinations, which means it will be easy to pull her off the MLA and guide her straight towards us. I do suppose you already have a plan cooked up for that, Mr. Kazaguruma?'

"Definitely. Do report back if ever you confirm something. We cannot let this one slip through our fingers."

'Understood. Also do look to your right, I already sent your agents back there.'

"Right-?" The man turned to his right and was immediately surprised Pro-Hero Hawks is already there, just outside the window waving at him. Turning around, he pressed down an inconspicuous blue button from underneath his desk, which caused the massive glass panels to his right to slowly slide into the wall, allowing the young hero to fly through. And with the press of another button, the glass panels closed back once more.

"Hey Pops!" Hawks greeted him, discreetly pointing towards his two party hats still on his head. "I knew they're up to something! So-"

"Keigo, what did you hear there? I mean what did you hear in Kizuki? Did she sound off to you?" the man immediately asked, his composure slipping a little. "Like, anything? Is there anything strange to her?"

"Why is everyone too interested in Curious all of a sudden…?" Hawks muttered to himself as he turned around and lazily walked about the room, all while making sure his boots are not stepping on the carpet. "Anyways let's see… uhhh… she has an obnoxiously loud heartbeat, like holy crap they're making my ears bleed!" Hawks reached up to his ears, pretending as if a nail got hammered through them.

The man paused for a while, eyes widening a little. "How loud?"

"Anyone with the ability for low-frequency super hearing would go deaf if locked in a room with her!" Hawks chuckled to himself as he took off his party hats and shoved them in his pockets. "Just kidding! But yeah it's kinda loud, and sounds weird too. She's not human," he added in an exaggerated joking tone.

"And her breathing?"

"Normal. Why?" Hawks turned to face the man, one eyebrow raised and looking genuinely confused. "I swear you and Nezu are planning something. Care to enlighten me on that a bit?"

The man paused as he stared down the young hero, slowly clasping his hands behind him. "Son…" his voice trailed off, "we're not returning Curious back. She'll be staying with us."

"What? But I went through a whole speech about how undefended and how easy it is to escape from UA just this morning!" Hawks replied with an exaggerated disappointment. "But anyways, we're keeping her, why? But what about Operation: Grand Circus? What about the MLA? What is it with her blood pump and breathing that makes her not suited to be returned anymore? Is she sick?"

"I'm afraid but I can't tell you that yet. Nezu will run some tests first and then, I'll tell you what's this all about." The man walked by and adjusted some out-of-place things on his desk. "By the way, where's everyone?"

"Well actually they'll be arriving at any moment now. It's just that the elevator lights aren't working again so-"

A loud dinging sound was heard throughout the room, followed closely by the sounds of an elevator door opening, people stepping out, and closing once more. Almost immediately Hawks took multiple steps back away from a particular wooden door he knew where said people are going to enter the room from. The man, on the other hand, instead just turned his attention towards it, once more making sure that his hands are clasped behind him, his expression turning neutral.

The door soon opened. But it took a good few seconds before someone finally came in. It was Lady Nagant, visibly trembling as she slowly made her way to the center of the room, her metal crutch now replaced with a wooden one, and her orange trench coat now gone. She has her head down all this time. "I-I-I uh… I-c-can explain…It's-"

"Lady Nagant…" The man slowly took a few steps forward, only stopping once he went within three meters of the woman. He continued staring her down. "How long have you been in contact with All Might about Kizuki?" he asked, keeping his voice stern.

"T-three d-days. He just asked me t-things we already know about h-her …" Lady Nagant replied, her gaze just focused on the tiled floor. "And just repeatedly p-pointed out that she's from Chitose city, Hokkaido… that's all…"

The man is about to talk back when his floating VECTRE phone hovered in front of him displaying a slew of symbols. This time they're from All Might. He read it, and as expected it's just paragraphs after paragraphs (in symbol form) of the Number One apologizing about how everything is his responsibility and nothing should happen to Lady Nagant – she's completely innocent. The symbols extend some more, but he eventually just dismissed them as pointless text. He was never planning on anything harsh, Nagant just crossed a line and she just needs to be shoved back. Doing other tasks aside from her given ones is strictly prohibited in her line of work.

He did some hand gestures and made the VECTRE phone leave, once again making it just between him and Lady Nagant, still visibly trembling and spouting out apology after apology, her words now already a jumbled mess of both Russian and Japanese. Around this time another person has entered the room, yet the man just kept his attention focused on the heroine in front of him.

"You're not planning anything again, are you Lady Nagant?" he asked, his tone mildly threatening.

"N-no…"

"Good. Just keep it that way." He nodded, immediately hearing more apologies from the heroine in front of him, once more in a jumbled bi-lingual mess. With a wave of a hand, Nagant instantly stopped. And with the resulting silence, the man then walked back to his desk.

As he reached it, he couldn't help but lightly shake his head and let out a sigh. He had always hated threatening his agents. It was never the right idea to threaten anyone with lethal abilities, and he should know that for he already lost his right eye to such a person. But still, he knew, in the end, threats are just simply much more effective to keeping people in line, especially in this line of work where morality can oftentimes get in the way. A little too unorthodox, yes, but highly effective nonetheless.

"I have a new mission for you." He spoke, his voice low, as he set his gaze back onto Lady Nagant, before glancing towards Hawks, "and you too." He paused a bit, took a deep breath and then sighed. "We're getting Kizuki to the team."

"I don't have to do any more licking, right? Because BY GOD her blood's disgusting!" said a man standing beside Hawks. "Tastes like re-fried dog crap I tell ya!"

"Stain… that's already a given, and you know it."

"Mr. Kazaguruma, sir. You can't be serious!"

The sharp-dressed man took one deep breath and sighed, as well as taking a mental note to tell Nezu to make sure to investigate the composition of Kizuki's blood as it's somehow able to make Stain– a person who should be used to drinking a vast variety of blood, to complain. "I'm serious," he replied before composing himself and turning his attention back to Nagant. "Head back to Gunga Mountain Villa and ask the MLA what are their general opinions on Curious. Record everything." He glanced over to Hawks. "Head over to the main headquarters of Shoowaysha Publishing and do the exact same thing. Record everything."

"So, like, we're going to interview people what they think of the interviewer?" Hawks asked, in which he was responded with a nod. "Sounds easy enough."

"Now go. Make sure to have it finished by 4pm." The man said, nodding again. And as with his order, both Nagant and Hawks immediately headed towards the elevator, the former taking a whole lot longer both due to her inability to properly walk and the fact that she's still trembling.

Seeing that Stain is now the only person left in the room aside from himself, he turned back to his desk and pulled up a particular folder just lying on it. With a pen, he started signing the only document within said folder, and he did it multiple times across all the vacant spaces. "Stain," he called out to the person, who immediately perked up and walked to him. "Get Overhaul and his men out. Tell the staff to make it as natural as possible. Provide help if needed."

Stain shrugged. "Sure boss," he said without even as much asking why. But as he took the folder, he happened to glance over towards the floating VECTRE phone just nearby. "I never knew you had one of those, is that one with the defective personality-building AI?"

"As much as I want to have one of those, truly, my efforts have all been fruitless."

"So just a standard one huh…?" Stain repeatedly nodded, as if expressing disappointment. "But a man can dream, right?" he's immediately responded with a nod.

And after that, he left, not through the elevator, but just through one of the doors. "Merry Christmas, boss," he said in an exaggerated joking tone before fully leaving. He received yet another nod in response.

And with that, there is silence once more. The sharp-dressed man slowly walked back towards the huge glass windows behind his desk to observe at the city beyond. Hopefully his agents accomplish their tasks before time. He was about to inspect yet another crime unfolding when an idea suddenly sprung up in his head, prompting him to raise his right hand and gesture over to his VECTRE phone, commanding it to levitate over to him. "Organize a Christmas party. Open the gates. Make it grand. Play some music. We're not going to waste any more time. We're taking Curious now. Send to Nezu." He said, instinctively nodding towards his VECTRE phone as it sent the message.

Chitose slowly opened her eyes, yawning a few moments later. After a short while, upon realizing that she's now laying down on an actual bed, with a blanket over her, her eyes instantly shot wide open.

'Wait what…?' I'm back in my room again?' she thought to herself, all while noticing that it's still early in the morning judging by the faint lights filtering through the curtains. 'And I'm on the bed?'

Almost immediately she began recalling the prior events that ultimately ended with her being here: She remembered seeing Lady Nagant with crutches on, and then there's her assistant that looks suspiciously like Stain, and then there's Toshinori who's oddly interested in curtains, and then there's Hawks with a party hat, and then there's Principal Nezu who told her that he knew everything about her as a high-ranking Liberation-

"Oh you're awake!" came a voice to her left, to which she immediately recognized as Izuku. Turning her head towards it, she spotted him - or his head at least, as he sat on the floor leaning his back on the bed, all covered up as usual with only his eyes visible. "All Might brought you back here. He won't say why though. What happened anyway?"

Chitose was about to ask whether Nezu came along with All Might when she suddenly remembered something from last night. Something she knew she had to talk to Izuku about. "Hey uh… Midoriya?" she awkwardly asked.

"Yes?" Izuku asked back as he pulled up his sketch book and inspected it at different angles. "What is it?"

"Er… about last night…?" Chitose softly spoke, just loud enough to be heard. But before she could continue she made sure to look around first to see if there are any people with them that could hear what she's about to say. Thankfully they're once again the only two people there. Inko is nowhere to be seen.

"What about it? I rolled over to the floor?" Izuku chuckled to himself. "Yeah I do that a lot. You have absolutely no idea how much I fall off my bed!"

"You can't remember?"

"What? I woke up on the floor just this morning. Did I do anything else?"

"Uhm… uh… You didn't… uh…" Chitose's voice trailed off as she slowly pulled up her blanket to cover half of her face, feeling the heat already rapidly rising to her cheeks. "You didn't roll over, you fell asleep on my chest last night… and uh… when I woke up this morning you're still there. I just placed you down on the floor before I left the room this morning to… to have a short walk." She added with a heavily embarrassed tone, now completely covering herself with the blanket.

"I did… what…?" Izuku froze, his head slowly turning to face her. "Y-you mean…?"

"Your mother saw us."

"But uh… she didn't really say anything about it this morning. All we did after waking up is just have a short chat about random things. 'Couple of minutes later All Might came in carrying you already fast asleep for some reason, and then he tucked you in there before leaving again, all without saying anything and just acting all heroic-ish." Izuku paused a bit, placing down his sketchbook. "Mom just eventually went out to get breakfast. I just told her I'll go stay with you for a while and that's that. She literally didn't say anything about last night."

"Your mother acted normal…?"

"Yeah. By the way I didn't drool on your uh… stuff… last night… did I?" Izuku muttered something incomprehensible afterwards as he slowly looked away.

"No you didn't." Chitose paused a bit. "But as for your mother, yeah she totally saw us…" she added from underneath the sheets. "Now if you may excuse me, I'm gonna go suffocate myself and die."

"Oh come on, Kizuki, don't be such a drama queen…" Izuku rolled his eyes and pulled off Chitose's blanket, in which the young woman underneath quickly turned her back to him. "At least she didn't say anything-WOAH! What the hell is that?!"

"What?! Where?!" Chitose suddenly got up, immediately looking around, her eyes ready to recognize any traces of Geten if ever he's back. "Midoriya, what is it?! Are there ice shards again?!"

"Uh… what happened to your left shoulder?" Izuku asked as he leaned forward, squinting her eyes on the particular odd patch of skin around the young woman's shoulder.

"Left shoulder-?" Chitose immediately gasped in shock as she saw what Izuku is referring to. Her left shoulder, around the spot she felt got injected with something (or so she thinks what happened), is now riddled with numerous small dark blue pimple-like growths extending quite a significant distance down on her left arm, and also on to her neck. She went on to touch them, immediately finding herself scratching them to relieve the itch she suddenly felt. "What the hell is this?! Dammit, I knew that's another drug! They injected something into me! Why do these thing always keep happening?!"

"What… what injection? What are those?"

"Side-effects! I remember something got injected into my left shoulder this morning! Now look what happened! Look how horrible it is!"

Izuku couldn't help but turn his gaze away from it. The pimple-like growths are indeed, very horrible and disgusting to look at. But as he stayed put, feeling his appetite rapidly leave him, he happened to notice the door slowly open (amidst Chitose beside him complaining about how itchy the bumps are). A few moments later, a white paw can be seen discreetly waving from outside. Izuku raised one eyebrow, already having a guess on who the mystery person might be. As expected, it was Principal Nezu.

"Good morning, Miss Kizuki!" the diminutive principal immediately spoke out as he entered, instantly stopping Chitose from scratching her left shoulder. "I hope you had a pleasant re-sleep!"

"Pleasant?! You call this pleasant?!" She deliberately raised her voice, turning her body to its left side to emphasize what happened to the general area where the heroes injected her with sleeping drugs (or so she thinks they are). "What did you do to me?!"

"Oh…?" Nezu's voice trailed off, his facial expression contorting into a mixed bag of confusion and curiosity. "But that's impossible! How can you have such side effects?" He walked closer. "Those are human-safe!"

"Some of my inner workings work differently than regular people's…" Chitose mumbled, purely annoyed now that Nezu just confirmed they did inject something to her. "I know it's not the standard case with girls and women but it's just what it is for me."

"She's just built different, Mr. Principal!" Izuku added. "Literally."

"Well that is certainly… interesting… to say at least..." Nezu slowly took a few steps back, finding the pimple-like growths on Kizuki's shoulder very unpleasant to the eyes. "Don't worry we'll cook up an antidote for you-"

"No! These bumps will heal on their own. I don't want any more of your stupid UA medicine, got it?" Chitose snapped. Not minding the fact that she's being rude to the principal of the most prestigious school in the country. "Just get your filthy chemicals off me."

"Kizuki, can you tone it down a bit? That's principal Nezu…"

"Midoriya…" Chitose raised up her right hand and placed it over her forehead, before slowly bringing it down. "I am aware that's principal Nezu… I am also aware that that rat over there injected sleeping drugs into me just some time ago-!"

Chitose abruptly stopped, suddenly feeling something off with her hands. She can't describe it but there's just something not right.

"We had to do it or else we run the risk of getting blown up. I deeply apologize," Nezu spoke.

"T-then you better pay up," Chitose, still bewildered on the odd feeling in her hands, slowly told Nezu, her tone of voice much to the annoyance of Izuku. "Uh… ASAP!" she awkwardly added despite Izuku's protests to tone her attitude down.

"You'll get your compensation cash later, Miss Kizuki." Nezu took one step back and took a deep breath. "By the way, all the things that happened just a while ago are completely true. You were never in an illusion, nor bitten by a Psychedelic Slug. Yes we do know who you are. We know almost everything about you. We know you're a part of a Free Quirk Use Organization."

Chitose froze, but oddly feeling not the least bit nervous. She can't understand why. Maybe it's because of the remnants of the drugs injected into her still circulating within her system? But still, her mind couldn't help but swing back towards the events earlier today. So they're definitely real…? The heroes really know who she is? But how come All Might just put her here instead of prison? Is she really innocent like they claim she is…?

?

"A Free Quirk Use organization, huh?" Izuku lightly muttered, his tone sounding like he's just pretending to be curious yet he already knew the answer. "Well that's quite interesting…"

"Right you are, Midoriya!" Nezu walked up to Izuku and exaggeratedly shook his hand is if being impressed of the small side comment he said. "And a rather sketchy one, too! But after a brief scan of Miss Kizuki's history, we have deduced that she's just dealt a bad hand in all of it. Lady Destiny has not been kind to her. Some people just tend to fall into the bad crowd."

Chitose just kept silent, absolutely confused on Nezu's odd words, like he's once again excusing her and making her unusually innocent despite supposedly fully knowing that she's a high-ranking member of a literal terrorist organization.

"We're sorry what life handed to you. We really are." Nezu nodded, gradually facing Chitose. "But since you haven't technically done a thing, you are basically – all things considered, an innocent person. And now with these two assassination attempts on you by a former comrade, we suggest you stay with us for a while. We'll handle them."

Chitose, feeling both shocked and confused, could only blink twice as a response to Nezu.

"I promise we'll help you out on your age issue. And as you said – we will use no more chemicals! We have your back on this one! I promise!" The principal said in a cheerful tone, clapping his paws twice. He was about to say something but he stopped at the very last minute and just let out a hearty chuckle "Oh! How rude of me, Merry Christmas to you two!"

"Merry Christmas, Principal Nezu!" Izuku replied back, immediately replied with another chuckle and a short wave from the principal of UA. "I do apologize on behalf of Kizuki-"

"That won't be necessary. We are also at fault here for not taking into account of the young lady's unique anatomy. Me and Miss Kizuki just evened out." Nezu nodded before turning back his attention to Kizuki just to his right, still sitting on the bed with a blank expression on her face. "By the way we're going to do a little shifting on the school calendar and will be throwing out a UA-wide Christmas Party tonight! We're already sending out invitations as we speak!"

"I thought UA doesn't throw Christmas Parties…?" Chitose asked, seemingly confused. As far as she can recall (considering her already-fragmented mind), UA never does big events during the Christmas season, let alone an actual UA-wide one on the actual date of Christmas-

"Exactly!" Nezu said with a loud clap. "This will be a first for UA! We'll be making headlines tonight! And as for why we're doing this, it's because some people, especially you Miss Kizuki, deserve a second chance at life. We dedicate this party to you."

"Wow!" Izuku exclaimed as he slowly turned to face Chitose. "Looks like you're a very special person after all!"

Chitose could only awkwardly smile as a response to the two, still being absolutely confused as to why UA is oddly nice to her. What did she do to deserve such treatment? Did she accidentally do something in which UA heavily gained from? But Nezu is only saying things about how she's innocent, so how is her being innocent got to do with UA throwing out its first large-scale Christmas Party in years? She can't understand a thing-

"Don't worry we obviously wont' reveal who you are. But mark my words Kizuki, we dedicate this entire event to you." Nezu nodded before slowly stepping backwards. "Oh by the way if you people ever decided to get your breakfast, we're all just on the ground floor!" He took one last step, ending up with him outside of the door. "See ya!"

…

And there was silence.

"Woah… Kizuki you're really something!" Izuku exclaimed once more as he stood up, placing his sketchbook on the nightstand. "And would you look at that! I don't need to hide stories anymore! Looks like they already figured you out!" He then paused a bit. "So you really are part of a villainous Free Quirk Use organization, huh?"

"Y-yeah…"Chitose stammered, her right hand once more automatically going up her left shoulder to scratch the numerous bumps there.

"And they didn't get you locked up! Neat! When All Might himself knew you're part of a villainous organization and he still didn't lock you up, you know you're something special!" Izuku composed himself and stretched out his limbs. "Let's go! We didn't eat anything last night and I'm hungry!" he called out as he headed towards the door.

Chitose took one last deep breath and let out a slow exhale before standing up from the bed and heading towards Izuku, exiting the room alongside him – the numerous bumps on her shoulder region still being ungodly itchy. As she walked with Izuku towards the elevator, she could feel nervousness slowly rising within her. All Might himself just somehow not sending her to prison is strange enough, Nezu calling her 'innocent' is another, but now said diminutive UA principal is treating her unusually special, which feels exactly like how people would act to her if they wanted something from her. But what could it be? What could UA possibly want from her? The secret to suddenly becoming younger perhaps…?

But on the other hand, she knew she can't just leave UA or else risk being targeted for a third assassination attempt. She's practically stuck here for the time being.

'But what about the MLA? If Nezu and the rest of the heroes already knew of its existence, then why didn't they act sooner? Nothing is making sense!'

Chitose shook her head, feeling a bit dizzy on the sheer amount of thoughts flowing inside her head.

'I'll just go cross the bridge when I get there…'

3:48 pm. HPSC Headquarters, Tokyo.

Once more, a lone sharp-dressed man stood inside his office, his gaze locked onto a pile of various papers and files placed all over his desk, one hand scratching the side of his head in utter confusion. In front of him lie all the information he and his people could find on Chitose Kizuki.

There were quite the number of files available on her, but the one thing that puzzled him most is what is listed on her Quirk Registry: Landmine – allows the user to turn anything into a weak explosive.

'Weak Explosive…'

His brows furrowed, confusion and curiosity skyrocketing as he continued to stare on, specifically towards the word 'Weak'. He couldn't help but just ask himself, why is it there? Since when a person would want their Quirk listed as weak? It's not even just small explosions, it's literally listed as weak. Isn't the core aspect of the MLA being all about survival of the fittest and letting the most powerful Quirks rule over everything? So why is this here? Even more puzzling to him is that there is not a single Quirk listed in the entire registry labeled as 'Weak', only Chitose Kizuki's. And for a person he and Nezu are theorizing as something more, this certainly threw him off.

'Why didn't she change it…?' he asked himself in his thoughts, his gaze setting towards a note that confirms that Kizuki's Quirk registry description remained unchanged ever since she's five years old. 'Why did her foster parents label her Quirk as 'weak' in the first place…? Why?' The man grit his teeth, unable to think of a possible answer to his question. It just simply doesn't make any sense how Kizuki would eventually become part of a Quirk Supremacist group and still won't change the registry description.

But still, despite the confusing 'setbacks', the plan must proceed.

It has to.

He turned his attention back to the elevator, and began mentally counting to 10. After half a second past 7, the elevator opened, and eventually in came all three people he's expecting: Hawks, Lady Nagant, and Stain.

"Hey Pops, I don't know what you're planning with these interviews but uh…" Hawks immediately spoke upon fully entering the room, holding up his phone in his right hand. "On the outside they gave me tame responses, but I lingered some recorder-feathers around to eavesdrop and uh… their real answers are very different." He then took a step to one side at the same time gesturing towards Nagant just beside him, who's now not trembling anymore. "Leah over here's got it even worse."

"It got so bad that I actually started hoping that someone would at least give out a single positive comment about her." Nagant muttered, her gaze just lingering on the floor. "Literally every single one is the same. The MLA hates her… a lot."

"Man that blue bitch's just hated everywhere huh?" Stain chuckled to himself as he did a joking bow before walking over to the left side of the room and leaning on the wall. "By the way, boss, Overhaul's out. Job's done. I did a little directing but everything's fine, he's currently being tracked without his knowledge."

The man in front, on the other hand, just responded with a nod towards Stain, before focusing back towards the other two. "What is it about Curious?" he asked, confusion about Kizuki continuing to skyrocket. He was about to order the two to explain further when he cut himself off and just raised his VECTRE phone (currently in phone mode) instead. "Nevermind. Just send them here…" he added, lightly shaking his head in annoyance. "I'll just go have a look at them myself."

"What are you even planning with these anyway? How are these going to get Curious on our side?" Hawks spoke out, walking over to him in an attempt to send out his 'interview sessions' faster. "Are you going to show these to her?"

"I was originally planning to have someone tweak your interviews so everything would turn into negative comments, pushing Curious away from them and into us."

"Well looks like you don't even need to do anything." Hawks shrugged. "I swear you should have been there! Every single 'secret' comment about her is pretty much all about how she's a massive bitch in the office."

"Same with me," Nagant spoke right after Hawks, but instead of walking over, she just stood back, tinkering with her phone. Her eyes still not meeting up with the man in front. "All comments about her is all about how she's annoying, and that she has a weak Meta Ability, and that they're glad she's dead. Geten absolutely trashed her, and even Re-Destro is indifferent. Most of them said Toga is so much better and powerful anyway. Although Trumpet-"

"Man those losers really lost to the League huh?" Stain interjected, crossing his arms and chuckling to himself. "That's gotta be the most unbelievable thing in existence, and yet it happened! I pity those fools – the MLA I mean." He did a joking yawn. "And now they're holing themselves up in a mountain like good ol' basement dwellers, pffft!"

The man turned to Nagant, ignoring Stain's interrupting words all while lightly wondering on the overall negative state of everyone's opinions on Kizuki (which he initially assumed as just neutral). "Any news about Skeptic? Is the MLA aware that he just shut down all communications, including theirs? And now he attempted assassination of Young Curious twice now?"

"Apparently Skeptic shut down all in-and-out communications for the MLA's own safety, so they would be invisible to government radar. As for Curious somehow being younger, no one seemed to know about it. All they know is that she's dead, stabbed to death by Toga apparently… somehow... and the MLA's quite happy about that… for some reason…"

"Man why is everyone hating on Curious?" Stain spoke up again as he did an exaggerated shaking of his head. "Girl's got an amazing rack and an absolutely delicious dump truck of an ass-"

"What the hell?! Stain, have you seen her face?! She doesn't even have any eyelashes!" Hawks loudly interrupted, his face contorted in a look of disgust.

"Exactly, bird-man, that's why I'm just imagining things-"

The sharp-dressed man suddenly raised his right hand, silencing the two. "Stain, you're dismissed," he said with a low tone. And with that, the person he referred to immediately left the room via elevator. Afterwards he then looked at the phone on his hand, instinctively nodding upon seeing both uploads are complete. "As with you two, UA is currently hosting a massive Christmas party tonight. I want you two to be there."

"Is this for Curious again?" Hawks asked, in which he's simply replied to with a nod. "Why all the effort just for one useless terrorist literally everyone hates?"

"I have my reasons." The man paused, raising up his hand and gesturing towards the elevator. "Now go. Be the life of the party in any way you can. Lift up the mood. Cheer everyone up. Miss Kizuki should be in a good enough state before we show those interviews to her as to avoid potential mishaps."

"Okay Pops." Hawks shrugged before turning over towards Lady Nagant and gesturing for her to follow him to the elevator. "Let's go, Leah, we got some partying to do-!" he abruptly stopped and turned back to the man behind them. "So are we, like, just going to have fun or something?"

The man just gave him a gentle smile in return. "Merry Christmas." He then nodded. "Just make sure you give everyone else a merry Christmas as well." He then turned his attention to Nagant. "Lady Nagant, just be sure to not get distracted anymore, understood? You'll be the one to break the news."

Lady Nagant replied with a light nod, still not looking directly at him, before walking away towards the elevator, with Hawks just beside her.

And then with that, upon the two leaving, relative silence returned to the room. Lifting up his VECTRE phone, he then scanned the interviews his agents sent him.

…

'What the hell is going on with Curious…?' the man could only think to himself upon mentally re-analyzing his target person. Kizuki is already confusing enough on her own (Quirk-wise), but now with the confirmation that the MLA doesn't want her around and that they're glad she died (despite her being part of them for over 20 years now) just made things even more confusing. On the other hand, there's also Skeptic, who not only shut down all communications in and out of Gunga Mountain Villa, but he seems to be the only person who has any idea what really happened to Curious.

But as much as he would want to investigate these things more, Kizuki's relationship with the MLA, as well as Skeptic's odd actions, are not all important in the time being – at least some aspects of them. What's important is Kizuki joining them as soon as possible. With a flick of his right hand, his phone once more turned into a floating cube. "Nezu," he said, accompanied with yet another hand gesture. The device beeped twice, and then a third long beep, before long its screen showed a still picture of Nezu, which minimized itself to the top right of the screen. "How's the event going?" he asked, making random symbols appear on the screen, followed by a icon of a paper plane flying off.

After a few minutes, a reply arrived, once more in the form of symbols. It said, 'Party is going great. People are flooding in. We have celebrities, heroes, and various other famous personalities. Where is Lady Nagant and your kid? Shouldn't the both of them be here too?'

"I already sent them."

'Good. We are going to have a massive fireworks display set at 8 in the evening. We could coincide the reveal there. If you want I can move it to 9pm so you could have more time tweaking the interviews you told me about.'

"We don't need any more editing. Absolutely none of the people I have here have anything good to say about Kizuki – both the MLA and Shoowaysha Publishing. Here, let me send you the interviews conducted by my agents."

The man then did a particular hand gesture that made the device start sending out the video files of the interviews. Upon finishing (which took quite a while), there's a significant pause before the next batch of readable symbols appeared onscreen.

'Splendid. This makes things easy. After the fireworks display we will commence the reveal. She will feel good enough and that will heavily diminish the shock. Apologies in advance for our failure to run some tests on her. We are too busy today in preparation for the party.'

"Acceptable. The tests can go later. What matters most now is that she's turned over to our side. We can't let this War Machine slip through our fingers." The man paused a bit. "Also one last thing, send All Might here, I would like to have a chat with him." He kept his gaze centered on the floating device's screen, nodding after a small animation of a paper plane flying away appeared.

…

Fully knowing All Might's speed capabilities, and estimating that he won't arrive until a little while later, he decided to re-inspect Kizuki's files for a while, on the thought that he might have just missed something that would clear up everything. After about thirty minutes of fruitless inspecting, a loud gust of wind is heard from the left side of the room, from a specific wooden door

All Might has arrived.

"S-sorry I took so long! Ran into some air traffic along the way and uh- you know how much I can't help helping out with air traffic!" Toshinori immediately spoke out loud as he entered the room, nervously chuckling to himself afterwards. "Christmas season, am I right, sir President?"

"All Might…" the man spoke, lightly adjusting his glasses, taking into account of his right cybernetic eye. He then clasped his hands behind his back. "You know why you're called here, let's just proceed to the matter that needs talking."

"How's Lady Nagant? Nothing happened to her, right?"

The main slowly shook his head, eventually focusing it back onto the small lanky form of the country's Number One hero. "Nagant has nothing to do with today's events. She's just collateral damage. You're the one who initiated contact with her first. All she received is just a reminder to just stay in line." He paused a bit. "But enough about her, let's have a chat about Miss Kizuki…" his voice trailed off as he planted his hands onto the desk in front of him, just minding the multitude of files and folders placed onto it as to not accidentally knock them off the table. "Why are you suddenly so interested in her?" he asked, although already having the main idea why.

"Well you see uh…" Toshinori's eyes darted about, fingers fidgeting to themselves for a good while before he can finally answer. "I'm a hero and all and being a hero is all about saving people and doing all you can to help them out!" he nervously chuckled afterwards. "And seeing she's very confused about suddenly getting younger as well as being the target of two assassinations now, it definitely got my attention! I'm just a natural born helper!"

The President just stared at him, his face looking like he's stifling a laugh. But instead of letting it out, he just shook his head instead. "You just want to help Kizuki with those issues, and yet you contacted Nagant and repeatedly asked her about Kizuki's MLA-related information? As well as continuously pointed out that she's from Chitose city?" He paused a bit. "All Might… there is nothing help-related to those."

"Of course I'm-!"

The President raised his right hand, silencing the hero in front of him. "All Might, enough. Just stop beating around the bush, you clearly know that something is up with Miss Kizuki. I myself am the same case as you are. Named after a city? Armed with an explosive Quirk? We're both thinking at the same wavelength here." He then composed himself. "But unfortunately for you, I already have a plan for her. As much as you tried to prevent me from knowing about her, that's too late now. Stop sticking your nose into this from now on. You have absolutely no business with Miss Kizuki starting tonight, understand?"

"But sir President, you can't just-!"

"Relax, Yagi, I will just continue doing what I've been doing for the past decade: cleaning up after your mess." The man sighed, adjusting his glasses for a bit. "Your ascent to the top left a massive gaping hole. I'm just patching it up the best I can. Do I have to remind you that everytime we have this talk? Do you not understand anything even up to now?"

Toshinori's mouth opened as if he was about to say something, but backed out at the very last moment. In the end he could only let out a weak, "I understand."

"I'm sure you do." The man sighed afterwards, shaking his head. "Anyways. Since it's Christmas and all. If you want I'll have you informed once my men confirm if ever Miss Kizuki truly is the war machine you and me are both suspecting her of. Just say the word, is it a yes or a no?" he asked, making sure to emphasize the word 'war machine' with finger gestures, before re-clasping his hands on his back.

Toshinori took one step back, bringing his head down and his finger-fidgeting intensifying. He then mumbled something but it was too soft to be comprehensible.

"It's clear to me that you're not approving of what I'm about to do, but we're welcoming Curious to the family and that's final. Her abilities, whether she's confirmed to be the what we're suspecting her of or not, will be of real help to us. In fact I'm already mapping out her future with us here," he spoke, taking one step to the left and gesturing towards the files piled on his desk. "And before you ask, yes, she will come to us. After this evening, all her ties to the MLA, all the way to Shoowaysha, will be completely severed. She will have nowhere to go but towards us."