Chapter 35: In His Heart

With final exams coming up and the looming threat of being unable to go to the summer camp should they fail them, class 1-A threw themselves into studying and training with gusto. They only had a few weeks before the written portion of the exams and then their practical portion right afterwards. Every minute outside of class had to be accounted for or else people would fall behind.

In one of the few nights Bakugo had allowed himself to relax, he was unable to do so. The common room was bustling with extras who were either coming back from their own study or training sessions, relaxing like Bakugo was doing, or finishing up their dinner. He came out of the elevator looking at who was there but frowned when he didn't see Shimura. He did catch the brown hair of Round Face, so at least he wasn't completely at a loss.

Round Face was among the group of students that were taking the night off, sitting on one of the couches reading a book. Bakugo looked at what she was reading and rolled his eyes when he saw it wasn't an actual book but one about space. Typical.

"Where's the nerd?" he asked.

She looked up from her book and frowned when she saw who it was, "Hi to you too, Bakugo, did you have fun training today?" Bakugo gave her an unimpressed look. Round Face's frown turned more rueful, worried, "He's not here obviously. And he didn't sneak off to his room, I've been down here the longest."

Bakugo quirked an eyebrow, "He's still training?"

"I assume so, he hasn't been answering my texts or calls, and since you're asking me, I guess he hasn't been answering you either."

"You know where he could be?"

"Last I heard he was going to Gym Gamma. When you find him, make sure you bring him back. He hasn't stopped training since we got back from the internships," Round Face's eyebrows were knitted with worry, "I don't want him to overwork himself, and I also think he's blaming himself for… what happened in Hosu."

Bakugo looked Round Face up and down, nodding and grunting in acknowledgment. He stuck his hands in his pockets and left the dorms.

The evening air was perfect. It was slowly making its way from spring into summer, so it was still warm even at this hour. The walk to Gym Gamma was both close enough to the dorms to make it a common place for Hero Course students of all years to go for their own training, but far enough away so that whatever chaos or explosions that would ensue at the facility wouldn't be a bother to anyone else. The walk gave Bakugo time to think.

Bakugo slowly made his way to Gym Gamma, face set in a scowl and slightly hunched over. He was feeling the effects of Hosu, and USJ to a lesser degree, but unlike literally all of the extras in his class, he wasn't stupid enough to throw himself into the deep end of training and ignore his feelings. The shit that the class had gone through wasn't nothing, and he knew that it was something that couldn't be pushed to the side and forgotten. He may be terrible at expressing his feelings, but he wasn't ignorant of them.

As he got closer to Gym Gamma, his scowl became less bitter but more worried. To everyone in class, it was evident that the nerd, and arguably Dunce Face, were the ones who were affected most by Four Eye' death, the former due to being his closest friend and the latter due to actually seeing the deed done, but only he could see how much it really was affecting Shimura. He always waved off any question or concern about how he was doing and always had a small smile that could easily be interpreted as 'you know, I'm just trying to make it through this just like you' when he was really just suppressing everything. It was really grinding on his gears.

As he got closer to the gym, he heard the telltale sounds of people sparring. He kicked the doors open to see Shimura fighting against two robots, though fighting was a loose term here. The robots were humanoid in design, not like the machines UA likes to employ for the tests and events, and they were stationary. Shimura was beating on them like one would on training dummies, but periodically they would move or attack back, forcing Shimura to act accordingly.

Hearing Bakugo's entrance, Shimura turned around to view the newcomer. The robot he was facing up against brought an arm up and placed its hand on his shoulder. Without thinking, Shimura threw his left elbow into the robot's torso and followed up with a backfist to its face. He swung his arm up and over the robot's and trapped it in his armpit. He turned inwards so he was facing the robot and struck the robot's chin with a palm strike and finished off with a stronger punch to the torso with his right arm. He let go of the trapped arm and let it fly back a few meters.

Slightly winded, Shimura swept at the sweat dripping from his face, "What's up, Kat?"

Bakugo took a moment to take the sight in and school what surprise may have come across his face when he saw Shimura's response and takedown of a sneak attack, "What're you doing?"

Shimura gestured to the room, "Practicing for UA's gaming club tryouts. What do you think?"

Bakugo stared at him unimpressed, a small frown forming on his face. Shimura kept up his happy façade before eventually dropping it entirely, recognizing there was no way Bakugo would accept anything less than the truth. His own smile turned to a frown as he turned back around to gather the robot he hit away, "Why are you here?"

"Because someone has to drag your ass back to the dorms. Round Face says you've been here all day with nothing to eat."

"I have too!" Shimura quickly refuted, "I went to the cafeteria to eat not too long ago." Bakugo's expression didn't change, "Okay, maybe like ten hours ago, but it's better than nothing!"

"A whole lot of training for just a final exam, don't you think?"

"That's rich coming from you, Mister Number-Two-In-Class."

"Fuck you, you know what I mean."

"What do you want me to say, huh?" Shimura challenged. He had retrieved the robot and set it up so it was standing facing the other robot. Shimura placed himself in the middle and took on a fighting stance, "You want me to say that I'm doing alright? That I'm going through this healthily? That it's okay for me to let myself grieve? I know that I'm doing this wrong, but I can't go about it any other way." An unspoken timer must've hit between the robots as both sprung to attack Shimura at the same time.

"I'm not trying to get you to say anything, dumbass," Bakugo spoke over Shimura's response. He ducked to the ground and swept his leg around like a breakdancer performing a helicopter, tripping up the robot that was on his right. When it fell face down, Shimura hopped on top of it and delivered a heavy blow to the back of its head, "Just stop fucking doing whatever you're doing and listen to me!"

Shimura jumped at the other robot, hugging its ankle and driving his shoulder into it, forcing it to fall over. Once on the ground, Shimura pulled the ankle he was latched on to and maneuvered himself around the robot so he had it in a strangle hold. The robot fought a little but after a few seconds it went limp, like a human would when deprived of air. Shimura tossed the robot off of him and stood up, "No! I can't stop. I'm not strong enough yet. I'm still weak. I need to get better to keep everyone safe! If I stop now, then more people will suffer."

Bakugo's already thin patience was dangerously close to running out at this point, "And you working yourself to the bone will make you stronger? What kind of backwards ass logic is that? Ever heard of the saying 'too much of anything is bad for you?' Same shit applies to training. You can't do shit if you can't stand up for shit. All your training will be for nothing if you don't give yourself time to recuperate." Bakugo couldn't believe he had to be the one trying to get Shimura to see the logic. He was the worst possible choice out of literally everyone in the school for trying to get someone to calm down because he himself was quick to anger.

"I don't care!" Shimura exploded at him, "I need to keep going, I need to keep pushing myself."

"Like hell you do!" Bakugo retaliated with equal force, "I'm not like those extras that accept your sorry attempt at hiding your feelings. I know why you're really here. You blame yourself for what happened to Four Eyes. Four Eyes fucked up, that has nothing to do with you. What happened was all because of Stain. He was the one that injured Ingenium, and he was the one that offed Four Eyes. You weren't even there to help him in the first place! There's no point in getting mad over something you couldn't do anything about. Get that through your thick skull."

Shimura stalked up to Bakugo, placing his face right in front of Bakugo's as he poked his chest. His red eyes were boring into Bakugo's with anger burning brightly in them, "And get it through yours that maybe it has everything to do with me," Shimura replied in a low voice, "I could've stopped everything from escalating to the point it's at now. I could've ended USJ in less than a minute. I had the Nomu in my hand. A few more seconds, and it would've been nothing but a pile of dust. It can't regenerate if there's nothing left of it. Right afterwards I could've had Shigaraki and Kurogiri in my hands. They were right there.

"But I was too much of a wimp and coward to see it through to the end. Because of that, I'm being targeted by Shigaraki, Iida's brother is in forced retirement, Hosu is in ruins, and Iida is dead. If I had just been stronger, we wouldn't have to be dealing with this shit!" Shimura stepped away from Bakugo, a hand scratching at his throat, a humorless laugh left his throat. He walked around in circles, "I knew what Iida was going to do, from the very beginning, did you know that? I knew he was going to go after Stain, and whenever I thought about confronting him about it, I backed down like a coward. I could've told Aizawa about it but didn't. I could've told All Might about it but didn't. I could've told Nezu about it but didn't. You know why I didn't? Because I was afraid Iida would stop being my friend. How stupid is that? I was worried about losing my friend and didn't want to risk him pushing away from me, but then a few days later I lost my fucking friend. I'd rather he hate my guts and not talk to me, because then he'd probably still be alive! Iida is dead because I was too much of a coward to TAKE THAT FUCKING STEP TOWARDS HELPING SOMEONE IN NEED!"

Shimura walked to the robot he choked out and touched it with all five fingers. The metal at the contact point rusted and broke down like it was subjected to years of wear and tear and slowly spread throughout the body, eventually reducing the whole thing to dust, "That could've been the Nomu if I didn't wuss out and let go. It was so close to being nothing, and I wasn't even thinking." He walked over to the robot he tripped up and touched it, but this time the entire body turned ash gray and broke down entirely in less than three seconds, "See the difference when I actually want to destroy something? That could've been Shigaraki and Kurogiri if I were stronger and faster."

He was suddenly exhuasted, like the hours of non-stop training was finally catching up with him and he collapsed to his knees, his hands in front of him palms up. His voice became a whisper, "So don't try telling me that I had nothing to do with this. I had the power and opportunity to stop everything. I know I'm not supposed to think like this. Killing is wrong and should never be an option, not even as a last resort, but I keep thinking about it and it's the only answer I can find."

Bakugo was seconds away from blowing up at Shimura as soon as he felt him poke his chest. Friendship didn't mean anything if he was physically provoked, and he was all too willing to remind Shimura about that fact. That all changed when he could see just how much Shimura was hurting. His eyes held anger, but his tone, as grating and annoying as it was, was soaked with anguish. It became more evident the longer he talked, and it was obvious that he shifted all of the blame on himself. But that wasn't what Bakugo was focused on.

"The fuck you mean you're being targeted?"

Shimura huffed, a sad smile appeared on his face, "Out of everything I just unloaded on you, that's what you picked out? Unbelievable."

Bakugo took a step forward, worry slowly coiling in his chest, "Tenks, what the fuck do you mean that you're being targeted?" When Shimura didn't respond immediately, the worry was slowly turning to anger, "You're being targeted by a lunatic villain and you want to go back into the field? What the fuck are you even thinking? I know you're an idiot but I didn't think you'd be this stupid!"

"The Sports Festival," Shimura replied, Bakugo's anger dissipated as the pieces were fitting into place, "When I broke off from you and the others I had a run-in with a girl. I thought she was just a fan at first, but turns out she works with the League. She cornered me in a room and told me that Shigaraki is 'willing to lend an ear'."

Bakugo sat down next to Shimura, "So that's what happened. Do the teachers know?"

"Yep."

"And you think Shigaraki is after you."

"Yep."

"And you think that you're the only one who can stop him."

"Yep."

"You're an idiot."

"… I know."

They sat together in companionable silence. There wasn't anything left to say at that point. Bakugo knew that once Shimura set his heart on something, the only thing that would stop him is if he died. Shimura knew that he wasn't handling his grief in the best way, which was enough for Bakugo, at least for now. Eventually, a robotic voice sounded over Gym Gamma's speakers announcing curfew was an hour away.

Bakugo shoved Shimura so he fell over, "Let's get back, nerd. Round Face has been worried about you."

Shimura chuckled, "And you staying here with me this whole time must mean you're worried too. I'm touched, Kat, really."

"Shut up you damn nerd."

Kagero looked over the three new potential members Giran brought up. As always, he had them wait at Buraka Scrapyard for Kurogiri to pick them up while Giran got to the bar and enjoyed a drink before getting down to business. When they walked out of the portal, Kagero was met with a far more colorful group than the first time.

The first member was wearing an extremely loud outfit with an unbuttoned dark yellow double-breasted overcoat on top of a dark orange dress shirt and black vest with red glvoes on his hands. Around his neck he wore a green bolo tie with a green gem brooch. On his head was a top hat with a red ribbon tied around it and a big feather sticking out. Covering his face was a featureless white mask with black lines that formed something that looked like eyes and smile.

The second one had an obvious reptilian mutation, but besides that he had bright purple hair and was wearing a costume that was nearly identical to Stain's outfit minus the blue-spotted padded vest. Kagero could see he only carried two visible blades, one resting horizontally on his lower back and one strapped across his back.

The third and final one was the only one not dressed up in a getup. They wore a simple white v-neck under a muted orange short sleeved shirt with blue jeans and brown boots. The only thing that stood out to them was the item they had wrapped in bandages that they were slightly leaning on.

Giran took one last sip of his drink before sighing in satisfaction, "Let's get this ball rolling, shall we? Young master, the floor is yours."

"I want names and skills," Kagero commanded. He pointed at the one in the mask, "You first, since you're obviously used to extra attention."

The man did a deep bow like a performer would at the end of their show, "Fantastic! It warms my heart to see that you, too, are an enjoyer of the finer arts. I am Ats-"

"No real names unless you're comfortable letting that information loose," Kagero interrupted.

"But of course! I have nothing to be ashamed of, for I am Atsuhiro Sako, the great-great-grandson of the Peerless Thief, Oji Harima!" Atsuhiro bowed again, "You may call me Mr. Compress, for it is my stage name. As for my skills, perhaps a demonstration instead?"

He looked to Kagero for permission, but when he didn't get a no, he took it as the go-ahead. Atsuhiro reached into his pocket and produced three small teal marbles held between his fingers, "Tell me, have you heard of the three coin trick? Mister bartender, would it be alright for me to step behind the counter? I would like to use it as my stage."

Kurogiri and the rest of the room looked to Kagero who had an amused look on his face, wondering if this really was alright. Again, Kagero didn't say no, so Kurogiri moved off to the side to give Atsuhiro more room.

"Thank you, my good sir," Atsuhiro nodded to Kurogiri. "As I was saying, have you heard of the three coin trick? This is my own variation of it."

He placed the marbles on the table, "Marble number one goes in my left hand." Atsuhiro picked one up with his right hand and placed it in his open left. "Marble number two, also in my left hand." He picked up the third one and displayed it for the room, "Marble number three, now pay attention because this is the magic marble. Marble number three goes back into my pocket. How many marbles did you see go in my left hand?"

Nobody spoke for a beat before the reptile mutant replied, "Two."

"Ah, thank you sir. I'm not used to such a cold crowd, but sadly you're mistaken," he opened his hand letting three marbles roll on the counter, "There are three, because this is the three marble trick."

Seeing the three marbles roll around, Mustard, Toga, the mutant, and Twice all looked on with awe.

"I'll do it once more. Two marbles go in my left hand. How many marbles are in my hand?"

Toga was entranced, "Two!"

Atsuhiro transferred the marbles to his right, "How many marbles in the right hand?"

Mustard was watching him sharply but held up two fingers. Atsuhiro maneuvered the marbles so he held them between his pointer and middle finger, "Now watch as I put these two marbles into my left hand, and marble number three," he picked it up and showed it around, "goes in my pocket."

He opened his hand to display he wasn't holding the marble anywhere, "How many marbles did I put in my left hand?"

"Two! He's bluffing, his hand's empty!" Twice answered.

"Wrong once again! There are three, because this is the three marble trick," he let the marbles roll on the counter and there were three. He looked quickly to Kagero to see if he would be allowed to continue, who nodded, but spun his finger in a circle to tell him to wrap it up, "Okay, one last time. Marble one goes into my left hand. Marble two also goes into my left hand." He sandwiched his hands together to transfer them over, now showing two marbles in his right hand and none in his left. He tossed the marbles back into his left hand, holding it closed, "Two marbles in my hand, right?"

He received nods all around, even from Giran and the third new member. "Marble three goes into my pocket. How many marbles now?"

He received "threes" from everyone this time. The energy that Atsuhiro was building up and feeding off of from the crowd disappeared, and although his face was covered by a mask, based off of his body language, he was deadpanning at the room, "Well it's no fun now that everyone knows the answer. Since you ruined the trick," He made a show of wiping his hands like he was washing them and showed they were empty, "I'm not going to do it anymore."

Toga leaned across the counter, staring intently at his hands, "How did you do that!? You definitely put three in your hand right then!"

"Uh uh, young lady," Atsuhiro tutted, "A good magician never reveals his tricks."

Kagero was watching the entire performance with a hawk's eye and saw what Atsuhiro did and chuckled, "Sleight of hand, deception, and diversion. Great skills for a magician. Or for a thief. Impressive." Atsuhiro bowed for a third time and went to join the rest of the new arrivals. Kagero pointed to the mutant, "You next."

The mutant took a step forward and scratched the back of his head, "There's no way I can top that introduction. You can call me Spinner. If you can't guess, I am a follower of Stain and my ultimate goal is to spin his dreams into reality. I consider myself decent with blades, and other than my obvious mutations, my quirk lets me stick to walls, so I can fight in three dimensions."

He stepped back and the third person stepped forward, "I'm Magne. I've been told I'm quick thinking and cold hearted. I do have murders under my belt, so I'm not even going to deny being cold blooded. I just want to live life how I want to, free of all constraints. I hear that you've got a bone to pick with hero society, so I want to help you upend it to make my dream come true. I can see your question, and let me tell you right now, I'm a girl. You got a problem with that?"

"We live in a world where people look like animals and monsters," Kagero cooly replied, before adding on, "No offense, Spinner. You say you're a girl, fine, I really couldn't care less. But sure. If I slip up, let me know. Good enough for you?"

Magne crossed her arms and huffed but nodded. Kagero felt this was a solid group. He did say he wanted a few more fighters, and having a thief on hand was always good. If he lets them join, then he's looking at a minimum of two fighters, minimum two stealth operators, two wide-spread and long-range attackers, and Jin. The absolute gold mine that's Jin. He could do so much with the new additions.

Spinner spoke up, "Uh, sir? Is there a reason why you didn't want to know our quirks to open with? I know I brought mine up, but I felt that added to my pitch."

Off to the side, Dabi leaned over and commented to Mustard, "He has a point. He had us give our quirks up almost immediately."

"Not immediately," Mustard corrected. "Not including me because I was stupid, he learned yours after you gave your intentions."

"Doesn't he seem more relaxed than he was for us? He even let magician man do a trick. That doesn't seem like him."

Mustard hummed in indecision and turned his attention back to Spinner and Kagero.

"Unlike most people, I don't put a huge emphasis on quirks. I care more about what you can do than what your quirk can. Quirks are tools, the same as your blades and Magne's…"

"It's a magnet," she supplied.

"So what does that mean now?"

Kagero smirked, "Now you get to tell me if I'm right or wrong. Do you want me to call you Mr. Compress or Sako?"

"Whatever you would like, I go by either and all," he replied.

"Compress it is," Kagero decided, "Your quirk has something to do with your hands. You're dexterous, which could come from your background, but I'm more inclined to believe it's because of your quirk. You have teal marbles, a strange color choice that could be your gimmick, but given your stage name and no denial of your history as a thief, those marbles are probably objects you compressed, stole, and keep on hand until you either pawn them off or you use them yourself."

An astonished gasp released from Compress, "He's right. On all of it."

Jaws dropped and Dabi shivered. The four that have been with Kagero the longest knew he was insanely observative and had a knack for picking apart quirks, but to get that much information from Compress' performance and short interaction and be accurate? It was scary to say the least. The new members felt a chill run up their spine when they realized they were next on the chopping block.

"Spinner, yours is obvious. Reptile-like mutation and you said you can cling to walls, so lizard to be a little more precise. If I were to take a shot in the dark, I'd say a gecko."

Spinner made a strangled noise as confirmation.

"Magne, yours is magnetism of some kind. Since you carry around a magnet with you, I assume you can't magnetize yourself and use that to help direct it. You made a point of defining your gender, which is a relatively common thing to do if there are perceived questions regarding it, but I can't help but think there's something more to it. I could be overthinking that, so really it's a tossup."

To her credit, Magne didn't outwardly react as much as the previous two, but she did draw in a deeper breath.

"Well? How did I do?" Kagero smiled, already knowing he was as close to spot on as he could get without a proper demonstration or explanation.

Nobody made a sound in the bar until there was a loud slurp on a straw that came from Giran who finished up his drink, "Young master, I believe you broke them. But that's a good thing, right?"

"It is," he confirmed, "Thank you, Giran, for finding and bringing them to me. I'll be sure to contact you if something else comes up."

Kurogiri produced a briefcase and spun it open so Giran could confirm the contents. Giran shot Kagero his signature sleazy smile and sent a lazy salute his way before closing the briefcase and left the bar without another word.

Waiting until he was sure Giran was long out of ear shot, Kagero clapped loudly, startling everyone in the room and getting their attention.

"Welcome, Compress, Spinner, Magne, to the League of Villains," Kagero greeted, "You may have heard of me or seen me around, but if not, I am Kagero Shigaraki. 'Mister bartender' is Kurogiri." Kagero turned to the first four members, "Introduce yourselves."

Toga went first, "I'm Himiko Toga! Another follower of Stain that found a new home here with the League. If you disrespect either Stain-sama or Shi-kun, you will answer to me first."

"I'm Dabi. And yeah, also a follower." Dabi paused before adding on, "Try your hardest not to piss off Shigaraki."

"I'm Mustard," was all Mustard contributed.

Jin stepped up last, "Call me Jin, nice to have you. Why do we need these losers?"

Kagero smiled again, this time a little more wickedly, "Perfect, now that introductions are out of the way, we have a lot to do and an unknown deadline to work with. To get started with that, I need to get a feel for your skills."

Like with the first group, that was the only warning they got before portals opened on the floor, swallowing them whole. Kagero heard a few snickers from behind him and rounded to look at them. Dabi and Mustard were laughing at seeing the new members go through the same thing they did. Toga was hiding a smile behind her hand, but wasn't making any sounds.

"What's so funny?" he asked. Dabi and Mustard shut up immediately but didn't respond, "Oh, I get it. You thought you weren't joining them."

Mustard paled as realization dawned on him. He got off his chair and slowly backed towards the door that led deeper in, "N-no. Why would we be joining them? Y-you already know our skills, right?"

Dabi doubled down, "Nope. No way, that's not fair. You already punished us, this is just abuse now."

Jin ping-ponged his head with Mustard and Dabi on one side and the other as if watching a tennis match in confusion, "What're you talking about?"

Dabi wrapped his hands around Jin's mouth to shut him up and hissed in his ear, "Shut up. Don't say anything."

Toga grabbed Kagero's arm and tugged on it gently, "Shi-kun, we don't need to do that again, right? I mean, it wasn't that bad, but we already did it, so there's no point."

Kagero shook his head and laughed lightly, a smile pulling on his lips, "That's right, Jin never did get a round in the warehouse, did he? How silly of me."

Everyone took more steps back, preparing to run away, "You all have been with me for a little while now, don't you want to see how much you've improved? I sure do. Besides, we've got a big event coming up. Can't have you all slacking off just because summer is almost here."

They were caught with one leg up in the air as they were turning around to run away. Portals swallowed them up again.

"Was teasing them necessary?" Kurogiri asked in the now empty bar.

"Nope, but now I understand why people do it so often. It really is an easy way to get under their skin and make them uncomfortable. Let's go see how they're doing."