Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Toshinori's Choice

Chapter twenty-six: Into the work studies, concluded

Within due time, the raid on the Shie Hassaikai compound had been wrapped up. A few dozen of the enemy villains, a mix of Shie Hassaikai original thugs and a few former sidekick level pro heroes who followed Endeavor into villainy, were able to escape, but close to seventy-five villains were captured otherwise. The two leading villains that the raid was up against, Chronostasis and Mimic, were both slain, and testimony from Mirko confirmed that the villains Toga and Nagant, both members of Dabi's Crew, had been the ones to do the deed.

Speaking of Dabi's Crew, they had been involved in the raid as well, but they did not fight against the raiding heroes or police, except in one instance a gung-ho pro hero tried to apprehend Spinner, forcing the lizardman villain to knock that pro hero out. Aizawa had seen that happen but was surprised to see that Spinner did not attempt to kill the hero in question. As such, the underground hero had reason to believe that Dabi's Crew was being wholly benevolent here, helping with taking down all of the Shie Hassaiaki thugs and rescue Eri.

That still didn't change the fact that Dabi and all of his Crew are villains. It also didn't change the fact that not one of the members of Dabi's Crew was captured; all of them got away from the raid without any further consequence. What made things look really bad was that Mirko and Ryukyu, the two heroes taking part who were ranked in the current top ten on the Hero Billboard Charts JP, had respectively encountered Felgrand and Usagi, but the two high ranking female heroes failed to so much as make the two elite villains take pause.

Further elaborating on Mirko's failure was the fact that the only reason her group near the end of the raid was able to capture so many villains was because the hero student Mirio had confirmed that Felgrand beat all of them up for the heroes. Felgrand had also intentionally allowed the villain Burnin to get away, with the intent for her to go to Endeavor and warn him against hiding from Felgrand and Usagi for too long. After the Dragon of Destrustion was done saying what he wanted to say, he took off with Nagant and Toga, leaving Mirko's group be.

After that, the raid on the Shie Hassaikai had basically come to an end. All enemies were either captured, escaped, or in the case of Chronostasis and Mimic killed. All members of Dabi's Crew also escaped, but they weren't technically fighting the heroes and police here. All pro heroes and police survived, a fact that Toshinori Yagi when he got word of it thanked Kami above for. In the alternate timeline's version of the Shie Hassaikai raid events, there was a LOT more bloodshed that the heroes suffered, but here in the current timeline no-one had died.

There was, however, some serious damage suffered. Mirio lost one of his eyes due to getting hit in that eye by a throwing knife; he had to keep himself solid at the time to shield Eri. Mirio then forgot that Eri was behind him when a quirk destroying bullet was fired at him, letting it phase through him and go on to hit Eri behind him, destroying her quirk factor and rendering her permanently quirkless. Vlad King's students Kinoko Komori and Reiko Yanagi were also shot with quirk destroying bullets and as such they had lost their quirks as well.

Although three girls had been rendered quirkless until the end of their days, the silver lining here is that it's been confirmed that not only were the last of those most evil bullets used up, the last of that most evil poison spent, but due to Eri being one of the ones hit with a quirk destroying bullet, her blood which was a vital ingredient for making more had been rendered moot. Now hero society had no reason to fear losing their quirks. However, for safety reasons, the names of the girls who had lost their quirks were being withheld from the public.

Further elaborating on Vlad King's students, the boys Sen, Kosei, Manga, and Kojiro had recently finished being treated. They were told by Recovery Girl, who was more stern with them than she normally would have been, to take it easy for a bit. Recovery Girl's extra sternness towards those boys is due to how they're part of the party of guilty Class 1-B students who sabotaged Class 1-A to make them fail the provisional license exams. Hearing about Recovery Girl being stern towards them only made Monoma think that Class 1-A was getting more undeserved special treatment.

But those four boys, out of their peers in Class 1-B who were banged up since the provisional license exams, got off the lightest compared to their other banged up peers. Togaru, Jurota, Tetsutetsu, and Hiryu all got injuries that not only permanently cripple them but will necessitate them needing to drop out of the hero course, due to a mix of being unable to keep up due to injury and for their own good. It was also noted Jurota, had he lost one-sixty-fourth of a pint more blood (Recovery Girl's estimation) when he bled a lot, would have lost enough blood to die.

There's also how Reiko and Kinoko had both been rendered quirkless, their quirk factors destroyed to such a fine level due to being shot with quirk destroying bullets. Those two girls plus four of the boys meant that Class 1-B had effectively lost six of their twenty members, a little over twenty-five percent of their number. Nezu was already looking into first year UA students outside of the hero course who were interested in transferring into the hero course, but a mix of reasons made first years at UA not in the hero course wary at best of transferring into the hero course.

The negative reputation that Class 1-B was generating right now aside, there was also the fact that it was leaked how several boys were crippled into having to drop out slash transfer out of the hero course, and a number of students freaked when rumor spread that two Class 1-B students (the identity of the girls in the case were not leaked) had somehow permanently became quirkless. UA policy required hero course classes to always be at max capacity, but due to wariness the non-hero students had, Nezu had to leave the four boys and two girls in as spot fillers.

Class 1-B got its chance to shine, just as Monoma had wanted. It was Class 1-B and NOT Class 1-A who was able to experience a first real taste of real pro hero work, it was Class 1-B who pulled ahead of Class 1-A, leaving said class in their dust. But Class 1-B soon discovered that, due to a mix of reasons, Monoma had made their class as a whole bite off more than they can chew. They got their class known to the public, but only as petty thieves and jealous saboteurs, they stole from Class 1-A action that they (Class 1-B) weren't ready for.

Itsuka was able to make Monoma admit that his actions had been wrong, that Class 1-A was needed in the field in this case. Having more pairs of hands available in the field would have made things easier for the heroes, and one of Class 1-A's members had an advantage that would let her parley with Dabi's two elite bodyguards. But all that Monoma being forced to admit that Class 1-A was necessary did was make him resent them more, make him further believe that they were 'the stars of the show' and that everything has always been and always will be about them.

Ryo, after he got done working with Class 1-B after the chaos of the Shie Hassaikai business was completed, met up with Sekijiro and the rest of the UA staff. Adding in notes he had on when he worked with Aizawa's students, the Hunting Dog Hero said, in no uncertain terms, that something HAD to be done to make the students of Class 1-A and Class 1-B get along. It HAD to be done, and it had to happen as soon as possible, because letting things go on the way they were, especially with the now currently building resentment and other foul factors, will eventually cause a blow up that can't be fixed or taken back.

...

"Yes, Ryo," Nezu said at a meeting he and the other primary UA staff members were having, "After seeing your observations you made while working with Aizawa's students and Sekijiro's students, I agree that something has to be done immediately, lest things get to a point they can't be fixed or taken back."

"I also believe that the boys in Sekijiro's class who had been injured to the point they need to drop out of the hero course ought to receive additional consoling," Recovery Girl suggested, "I'm more specialized in helping with physically helping rather than emotionally and psychologically helping, but even I have reason to believe that the boys having to drop out of the hero course, even though it's for the good of their own health, will not be happy with being made to give up on the dreams they have of becoming heroes. And this is saying nothing of the two girls rendered quirkless."

Ryo nodded in agreement. "I actually recommended that to Sekijiro before the meeting, and was about to run it by Nezu just now to get his two yen on the matter."

"I think it's something that ought to be done right away," Nezu agreed.

Clapping her hands together, Nemuri said, "I actually have an idea on how to make the two first year hero course classes get along, although when implemented it'll have to be done between rounds of Shouta's students going to their remedial classes to get their provisional licences."

Both Aizawa and Sekijiro eyed Nemuri with curious looks. "What do you have in mind, Nemuri?" Aizawa asked.

Due to how UA as a whole was ramping up activity in order to better combat the growing threat of the villainous organization run by the now villainous Endeavor, as well as fend of the threat of Dabi's Crew, and various lesser name threats, the top heroics academy in Japan had to cut as many things as possible that the staff saw as an unnecessary waste of time. To Nezu's regret, he cited how other arrangements had to be made for the now quirkless Eri, as her Rewind quirk not being fully controllable was the main reason she was kept at UA; Aizawa would be able to turn Eri's quirk off if it went bonkers.

But now that Eri no longer had that quirk, had no quirk period, there was no practical reason to keep Eri at UA. Nemuri and Hizashi, and even Aizawa to an extent, all expressed some level of disgust for Nezu being so callous towards a girl who, being an orphan aside, had just been rendered quirkless. The complaining UA staff took pause when Nezu said he wholeheartedly agreed with them, citing how he wished that UA didn't have to send Eri away. But things had to be refined as much as possible, as much had to be trimmed as possible.

As such, a young quirkless girl who had no practical value to warrant keeping her on campus had to be cut from the budget. But Nezu was fully intending to find Eri a new home that would take her in, said as such to Aizawa and the others as he was asking them for ideas on what to do. It was at that moment that Toshinori came in to ask Nezu about something related to the provisional license remedial classes that Class 1-A had to take, and Nemuri had the sudden idea that Toshinori, who with his wife Inko already took in Kota, can also take in Eri.

Toshinori, after the full details were explained to him, said that he would have to run things by Inko first, see if she was okay with taking in an orphaned quirkless girl. As it turned out, Inko not only had no problem with Eri being quirkless (she had raised Izuku who was thought to be quirkless for the longest time), but after birthing Izuku and taking in Kota, Inko was very much interested in the idea of having a child who is a girl. Izuku when he heard was relieved to hear that Eri was physically alright and was going to be taken care of; some other Class 1-A students were jealous that Izuku was getting a plum-picking adorable little sister.

Kota also had no problem with Eri, he saw no issue with her being quirkless. The only concern Kota ever had about Eri was her previous lack of knowing about chicken nuggets, a concern that had by that point long since been resolved. As a side-note, some of the Class 1-A students still had some level of annoyance towards Aizawa for him not introducing chicken nuggets to Eri earlier. Surprised by how big of a deal chicken nuggets turned out to be, the underground hero accepted the bizarre criticism, saying he really was not cut out for looking after kids under high school age.

Taking in Eri and having her officially as a foster child was not all that difficult of a process for Toshinori and Inko; it was essentially the same process as taking in Kota. Izuku got a lot of attention from his peers when he got photos from Inko on his phone of Eri and Kota playing together at the Midoriya-Yagi residence. The UA staff was also happy to hear that Eri was adjusting well to her new life. Some wished that Eri didn't have to be sent away, and many expressed regret that Eri had lost her quirk which allowed for miraculous recoveries that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

But they were heroes; they were good at dealing with the hands dealt to them by fate.

The morning after he and Inko took in Eri as a foster daughter, Toshinori got a phone call from Gran Torino. "What's the situation, sir?" Toshinori asked.

"Well I got good news and bad news, Toshi," Sorahiko said, "The good news is that we were able to capture the mist villain fellow from Dabi's Crew."

"Alright!" Toshinori said, excited by such wonderful news; the loss of Kurogiri was bound to put Dabi's Crew back a bit. Although the fact that the villains were now down their walking teleportation portal, Toshinori relented when he focused on how Sorahiko also said there was bad news. "...What's the bad news?" asked the former Symbol of Peace, dreading the news.

Sorahiko let out a tired, mildly resigned sigh. "When we captured Kurogiri, we encountered a behemoth of a man who Kurogiri identified to us as Gigantomachia. He's even taller than Usagi at her full height. More of a walking natural disaster than a man, Gigantomachia from the vibes I got can only be bested if Dabi were to sic both of his elites on him. It took several police officers giving their lives for me and Naomasa to escape with the captured Kurogiri in order to get that misty villain away and into custody to firmly deny his power to Dabi's Crew."

Toshinori gulped nervously, rattled to hear that police officers had given their lives in order to allow for Sorahiko and Naomasa to get away with the captured Kurogiri. Getting further details, Toshinori heard from Sorahiko that a total of six police officers were killed, and it was by grace that the remains of the slain officers were all left behind after Gigantomachia left, allowing for all of the dead to be recovered. All other persons taking part in the raid to capture Kurogiri, although they all survived, were all hurt. Sorahiko and Naomasa were no exceptions; Sorahiko with a cast on his left leg was calling Toshinori from his room at the hospital.

After a few pleasantries were exchanged, Toshinori ended the call. Although good that Kurogiri was captured, it came at the cost of half a dozen policemen's lives. There was also how a villain whose threat level made him comparable to Usagi and Felgrand had come out of the woodwork. Gigantomachia was going to be a major threat, a threat that Toshinori never saw in the alternate timeline. Did Gigantomachia simply never come to be a thing there? Did he die and was forgotten before the heroes had a chance to encounter the supposed behemoth?

It would be very bad indeed if Dabi was able to gain sway over Gigantomachia. The blue flame villain already had two giant elites, each on their own a force that scores of pro heroes would get wiped out by. The fact Usagi and Felgrand turned out to be young kids being led astray by Dabi made things worse. But if Dabi were to gain himself a third big elite, then the threat posed by Dabi's Crew might just get to the point that hero society, no matter what and regardless of what all Toshinori had done, will still see the rise of the bad future from the alternate timeline.

The former Symbol of Peace hoped that something can be done to prevent that.

The following day in the Class 1-A dorm building, Izuku and his peers were decorating for the October month as October had just been ushered in. To help cheer up Izuku and his peers as they had been informed that UA had to cancel its yearly school festival, Toshinori had Inko bring Kota and Eri by to visit. "So why was the UA school festival canceled again?" Inko asked her husband.

"Nezu felt it was necessary to help put more focus on getting things ready to help deal with the dangers facing society that lay ahead," Toshinori said, "And the festival wasn't wholly canceled, just postponed. He does plan to allow for Halloween festivities on the thirty-first, however, to make up for how the school festival has to be put off for the time being."

Inko nodded in understanding as she turned to look at how the foster children she and Toshinori took in were interacting with the Class 1-A students. The girls of the class were all fawning over how Kota had shoes exactly like Izuku's but sized to fit Kota, and Mina got a laugh when she got Eri to rub Ochaco's considerable belly by telling the little quirkless girl that rubbing Ochaco's belly will grant good luck. Turning back to face Toshinori, Inko asked, "What was that you were talking about earlier concerning Izuku and his classmates getting along with the class that sabotaged them to make them fail those licence exams?"

"As per Hound Dog's suggestion and Nezu's approval slash ordering it," Toshinori began, "Aizawa and Kan will be having Class 1-A and Class 1-B work together in a series of exercises and events designed with the express intent to make them get along, drop what bitter resentment any of them have for each other. Hound Dog will also be working with students individually to address specific issues, such as Monoma's particularly fierce bitterness towards Izuku's class, as well as how both Komori and Yanagi are bound to be dealing with various issues as they had been rendered permanently quirkless."

Inko nodded once in understanding, then turned to look to see that Kota was now rubbing Ochaco's belly while Eri nodded in approval and Mina laughed her butt off; for her part, Ochaco looked a little embarrassed. But Inko took note of how Eri was having a good time. "...Eri is quirkless as well," Inko said, "And yet it doesn't seem to be a bother to her. She seems less bothered by it than Izuku was by his apparent quirklessness, and he never really showed it."

Toshinori had a hint of grim understanding in his expression as he nodded along with his wife. "Yes, I got it that Eri thought her quirk to be some sort of cursed burden, no doubt from how it was the reason her blood was used by the Shie Hassaiaki to make that horrid quirk destroying drug. As such, it's ironic in a way that the very drug made from Eri's blood had, albeit accidentally, been administered to Eri herself, rendering her quirkless, her blood useless for making more of that vile poison. Although she was starting to get the hang of her quirk, able to use it to undo horrid damage suffered by others."

The Midoriya-Yagi married couple turned back to look at the students and their kids, saw that Eri was talking to Tsuyu about something. Seeing the surprised look in the frog girl's eyes told Toshinori that something was up, so he called Tsuyu over. Tsuyu, followed by Eri and the other 1-A girls, soon reached the former Symbol of Peace. "I saw that Eri got your attention, Young Asui," Toshinori said, "She didn't say anything to upset you, did she?"

Tsuyu gently shook her head in the negative. "No, All Might. Eri actually told me about how she, Togata-senpai, Yanagi, Komori, and Mirko had encountered Samidare near the end of the raid on that Shie Hassaikai group kero."

"According to Eri," Mina began, "Tsuyu's little brother stated an interest to track down Mineta so he could beat him up, due to how that perverted little troll acted towards Tsuyu on the first day of school here at UA earlier this year. Apparently, Lil' Samidare doesn't like guys acting naughty towards his sisters." Smiling a bit, Mina went on, "I think that counts as proof that Tsuyu's little brother is still a sweetie."

"Eri... also said something about what Samidare said during their encounter that caught my attention," Ochaco said, a hint of concern in her expression, "Eri said that Samidare also had expressed interest in beating up Togata-senpai but decided against it because, at the time, Togata-senpai had just gotten out of a fight and had lost an eye. Eri told us that Samidare expressed interest in beating up Togata-senpai due to hearing about the sparring match he won against the whole of our class, during which Togata-senpai's clothes fell off and he accidentally flashed all of us."

"Err, yes," Toshinori said, "Young Togata does have problems with phasing while trying to keep on his clothing. It's why his hero costume is made from a special fiber that was made using some of his hair."

"But there's a problem with Tsuyu's little brother knowing about the sparring match we had with Togata-senpai," Ochaco said, "No-one outside of those who saw it happen were aware it even occurred, much less were aware of any specific details. How did Samidare not only find out about the sparring match in and of itself, but also heard specific details such as Togata-senpai accidentally flashing us? Also, Eri told us that Samidare not only knew that Class 1-B was guilty of sabotaging us, but he knew the names of those involved in the act."

Toshinori instantly was alarmed. The very obese wealthy girl standing before him had pointed out a very pertinent fact; the only persons who not only knew about the sparring match but would also know specific details about it would be all of the Class 1-A students, Aizawa, and the Big Three. If none of them said anything about what all went on to anyone, then no-one outside of those who were there to see things for themselves would have any idea of what all had gone on. Aside from potentially the fact Mirio beat all of Class 1-A; that'd be hard to keep secret, especially from Recovery Girl.

But everything else that had occurred during that event ought to have been kept off the records, meaning that only those in the know would be able to know about it. And there's no possible way that the information could have gotten out on it own accord. As such, there was only one possible explanation for Samidare, who is Dabi's elite bodyguard Felgrand and thus should NOT be one of the persons who can be reasoned to be in the know, to not only know about the sparring match but the fact that Mirio had accidentally flashed Class 1-A during it.

Someone from right within the walls of UA was leaking intel to Dabi's Crew.

It was like an icy-cold dagger piercing Toshinori's heart, but the logic of the conclusion he'd drawn to was too sound to dismiss, at least right off the bat. It also would explain how here in the current timeline, the attack on the provisional licence exams led by Dabi's Crew was a lot more refined and focused, rather than seeing a bunch of villains run wild and go chaotic like they did during the version of that attack that occurred in the alternate timeline. There's also what Ochaco said about Tsuyu's little brother not only knowing about Class 1-B being the real guilty party behind sabotaging Class 1-A, but he got specific names.

Sure, it reached media that Class 1-B sabotaged Class 1-A during the provisional licence exams; Toshinori was able to figure that's how Dabi's Crew would learn of why Class 1-A wasn't able to get out into the field. But specific names were kept out of the media to avoid singling out any of Sekijiro's students. Ochaco clarified that Eri said she saw Samidare grasp Yanagi by the throat while berating her for participating in the act of sabotage that saw to Tsuyu failing, meaning he knew Yanagi was one of the guilty students from Class 1-B. Samidare had even shown that he knew Komori's name, although he knew that Komori wasn't one of the guilty Class 1-B students that sabotaged Class 1-A.

...But he still knew their names, still knew specific details that he shouldn't be reasonably be expected to know without someone on the inside leaking the intel to him and the rest of Dabi's Crew.

Inko turned to look at her husband, a look of concern on her face. "...Toshi?" Inko said, "Is everything alright?"

"...I need to speak with Nezu," Toshinori said, "We need to call for a meeting. There's a major emergency that Young Uraraka her just brought to my attention. Can you look into getting Kota and Eri home by yourself? This may take a while."

As Inko and the 1-A girls all looked surprised and some worried, Aizawa came walking up. "Hey All Might," Aizawa said, "I hope you keep it in mind that kids apparently are very fond of chi-"

"Aizawa, we need to have an emergency staff meeting," Toshinori said, "I just got word from Young Uraraka that the villains have info that they can only know if someone within UA leaked it to them."

Instantly, the underground hero's eyes widened out of alarm. "You can't be serious, All Might," Aizawa said, his tone barely above a whisper.

"It's the only explanation I can think of," Toshinori replied as he and Aizawa left together, but not before stressing it to Inko and the girls to not tell anyone of what they had discussed just now. Toshinori also told Ochaco that she may be called into the meeting to give testimony, so she ought to be ready for that.

Later at an emergency UA staff meeting, Toshinori brought the info he got and his concerns up almost immediately. Aizawa instantly saw the point being made by the former Symbol of Peace and agreed it was the most logical conclusion. Ochaco was also brought in to tell the teachers what all she knew; Eri also had to be brought in as she was the one who told Ochaco in the first place. By the time all testimony was given and Ochaco and Eri were dismissed, the UA staff members sitting at the meeting were sitting back in their seats, all of them wearing varying looks of defeated resignation on their faces.

Hizashi gently shook his head. "...I can't believe it. My theory I had come up with earlier, about there being a spy for the villains within UA, turned out to be true. That was just me giving off a little bit of bullshit, but it turned out to be real." The loud pro hero dragged a hand down over his face. "I can't fucking believe it. One of our own has been selling us out to the villains."

"The only possible persons who could have leaked that intel would be either Shouta, one of his students in Class 1-A, or any of the Big Three," Nemuri said from where she sat between Aizawa and Hizashi. Folding her arms over her chest, Nemuri went on, "So one of them is a traitor."

Pointing at Aizawa, Sekijiro said, "Well I got a feeling it ain't Shouta himself, he's too much of a lazy bum to even attempt to do double agent work where he betrays heroes to the villains." Folding his arms over his chest, Sekijiro went on, "No offence Shouta, but you don't strike me as double agent for villains material."

"No offence taken," Aizawa replied with a hint of amusement in his tone. Letting out a troubled sigh, the underground hero continued, "But for safety and protocol reasons, you guys still ought to keep me on the list of suspects until you're able to officially clear me. Same goes for keeping all of my students and the Big Three on the list of suspects."

Folding his arms over his chest, Hizashi said, "I never really did trust that ditzy airhead Hado. Just what is she plotting?"

...

Over in Nejire's dorm room for her class's dorm building, Nejire was brushing her teeth while she was thinking about herself marching through a field of flowers with cats that can walk on their hind legs, all of them were dressed as marching band members, and they were all playing cutesy marching band music.

...

Back in the meeting room with the UA staff meeting, Hizashi's eyes narrowed out of suspicion. "I think that Hado ought to be suspect number one in our investigation to uncover who the traitor is."

"This revelation might seriously dampen our ability to get my students and Shouta's students to drop all hostilities between them and have them get along with one another," Sekijiro remarked. Turning to look at Aizawa, Sekijiro asked, "What do you think about it, Shouta?"

"We're going to have to proceed with the plan to forge unity between your students and mine," Aizawa said, "But with the revelation that a traitor within UA leaking intel to the villains might end up being one of my students, thing there will be a lot more difficult. There's also the fact that my students still have to go to those remedial classes to try and earn their provisional hero licences." Leaning back in his seat, Aizawa said, "I hate to say it, but I can't think of anything that could make things here worse than they al-"

The underground hero was cut off when an alert sound came from someone's phone, prompting Nemuri to pull her phone out. "Sorry, it's a news notification," said the eighteen only pro hero, "I'll just-" Stopping short as she saw the news notification on her phone, read what it said, Nemuri said, "Uhh... huh. Well now, that can't be good news for Yaoyorozu."

END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Author's notes;

This chapter sees the Shie Hassaikai shenanigans wrapped up, a damage tally done, and UA having to cut corners in order to better address both the growing threat of Endeavor and that of Dabi's Crew. Toshinori and Inko take Eri in, there's confirmation there's a traitor within UA leaking intel to the villains, and Nemuri sees a news bit that she says isn't good news for Yaoyorozu. Things are going to be getting even more heated.