A/N: Hoping that this chapter finds everyone in good health and spirits. I probably don't say it often enough, but truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to those of you who have continued on this journey with me for so long. No, this is not an announcement that I'm about to go on hiatus or any such bit. I simply wanted to take a moment and put it into words that you guys are a major contributing factor to my desire to persevere and improve myself as a writer in general. So again, thank you.

Inherited Will

When Akarui finally managed to get Mina off of his brother, he was quick to say, "Alright Kurai, explanations, now. Why'd you take off like you did, and what have you been doing in this cave for the better part of a day and night?" Turning to the pink girl, he added, "I'll ask that you wait to deprive my brother of the ability to breathe until after we have said explanations, and are not in a cave full of my worst nightmares."

"No promises," she answered as she kept a tight hold on Kurai's arm, who was looking a little dazed from the lack of air and rush of oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin that his brain had just been flooded with. "He's mine, and he's not allowed to go anywhere without me, ever again."

"What if you two have different missions that-?"

"Kid, did I stutter?"

"Ugh…" Akarui groaned as he sat against the cave wall. "You two are nauseating."

"I would like to take a moment to say I had very little control over what just happened," Kurai mumbled, still appearing somewhat cross-eyed.

"Take that moment to start giving me some answers," his brother grunted. "What happened back in Kanto? I assume your future vestige took over, but that's about all I've been able to surmise."

"The gas that was released not only forces someone's quirk to activate, it enhances it to a degree that the body is not meant to handle, which leads to most people being killed by the stuff," Kurai replied, his eyes beginning to sharpen as he remembered the horrific sights from the morning. Mina thought it an interesting mark of their dynamic that Kurai didn't bother to wonder how Akarui knew about the vestige situation- he just knew, and that was good enough for the hero. "The only reason I'm alive is the same as every other patient in Itomori- we were all on quirk suppressants. That stuff is strong, and it seems like it worked well enough to keep our powers from just exploding, though I get the feeling that would have changed if we had kept breathing the gas. Even on the off-chance that we survived exposure, there were Humarise members waiting outside the hospital, with guns. They were under orders to kill anyone who came out who had a quirk."

"That's sick," Akarui growled, his eyes becoming harder as he took the new information in.

"The whole thing was sick," Kurai replied, a similar look in his eyes until Mina nuzzled his cheek with her hair. "I'm okay," he assured her as he leaned into the gentle touch. "No more spastic One For All episodes, I promise."

"And how do we know that you're good for that?" Akarui asked flatly. "Don't get me wrong, it's good to see you acting like yourself again, but how do we know that this isn't just a temporary relapse?"

"Like I said earlier, my vestige and I came to an understanding once he and the others revealed a rather important detail about One For All to me," his brother answered as he looked him in the eye. "Apparently, it's not a good thing to get your hands on this quirk if you already possess another power, as evidenced by my untimely demise on Nabu."

"I thought you died because of suffocation and other injuries," Mina said with a puzzled frown. "That's what the coroner told us."

"That was certainly a factor, but it wasn't the straw to break the camel's back, as it were," he said with a shake of his head. "I know All Might theorized that Energon and One For All joined in my body would have done some serious damage to my insides, but he underestimated the severity of that factor. Every cell in my body basically aged to death in minutes, destroying any chance that I had of recovering from serious injuries like the ones I had already suffered. It's happened before, though it admittedly took a lot longer the first time around."

"Wait, you're saying that another one of the past users was killed by One For All?" Mina asked, still looking confused.

"The fourth user, Hikage," Akarui said, sitting up a little straighter as he did. "It was him, right? Everyone who possessed One For All died fairly young, except for him- I think he was like forty, or something when he passed away?"

"I take it you figured that out after reading about the past users?" Kurai asked his brother.

"More or less," the other boy responded. "From what we could tell, he had the power for something close to twenty years before he handed it off to Lariat. All Might said that he was one of the few who didn't seem to have died in battle, which seemed kind of weird for a user of the quirk."

"He knew that there was too big a gap in power between him and All For One," Kurai explained. "He decided to train in seclusion so that he could improve the power as much as possible before he would hand it off to the next guy. The plan mostly worked, but as time went on, he started to notice something strange about his body- he was aging really fast, and his skin literally started to crack in places, leaving him with these weird, dark scars."

"He aged to death," Mina finished for him, her eyes going wide again. "Is that gonna happen to you again?"

"Nope," Kurai answered, giving both her and his brother a vast measure of relief. "But it does bring me back to why I can't pass One For All off to someone else. If I did, they would only suffer the same fate as Hikage and me. Someone like Todoroki probably wouldn't die as fast as I did, but given how powerful the quirk has become now, I doubt that he'd last long enough to master it and defeat All For One and Shigaraki."

"But since you no longer have another quirk, One For All won't damage your body like it did before," Akarui mused. "There's also the fact that your body was already toughened up by over a decade of enduring and adapting to Energon, so you don't seem to have any trouble using One For All at full power."

"Well, I think I fractured- or at least bruised- a fair number of the bones in my arms and legs, but nothing's so broken that I need casts," Kurai said with a shrug. "Don't get me wrong, first chance I get, I'm taking as much ibuprofen as is safe for human consumption. But yeah, according to the vestiges, I'm more than ready to take this quirk into battle against just about anyone."

"Wait a sec," Mina said as a thought occurred to her. "You said that anyone who already has a quirk shouldn't wield One For All anymore, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then what's gonna happen to Eri?" she asked him worriedly. "She's had the power for a while, now. Is she gonna start aging super-fast, too?"

"Eri will be fine," he swiftly assured her. "She's lucky that she has the power to reverse things to before they were damaged, including her own body. Her original quirk can undo the harm that normally possessing One For All would inflict on her." He paused before he admitted, "The vestiges didn't exactly take that into account when they accepted her as a vessel; mostly it seemed as though she was their last chance to be able to defeat Shigaraki in the future. Lucky us, huh?"

"That's a word for it," Akarui sighed as he drummed his fingers on his knee. "Seriously, though. Are you sure about taking up the fight again? If One For All needs a quirkless host with a strong body, I'm sure Togata would take it on if we explained the whole situation to him."

"I'm sure," Kurai sighed in response. "It's not my first choice, but I am resolved to finish this fight. Besides, I think it's better that Lemillion succeeds with Permeation, rather than One For All. His quirk was a huge part of what made him who he is, and I don't see a reason to change that."

"Okay, just one question left, then."

"That being?"

"Why, oh why am I sitting in a puddle, in the dark, in the one place on earth I would nuke if I'd had Energon, when you could have told us all of this is in literally any hotel room?!" Akarui demanded furiously. "Or even better, my room back at UA?!"

"They could be bugged."

"Not with me around, they wouldn't be!"

"Fine, there's two reasons," Kurai deadpanned. "One, it was not my conscious decision to come here- blame future me. Second, the vestiges and I needed a place to talk, off the radar, with zero chances of being disrupted so that we would be able to come to an understanding with each other. If I was sitting back at UA, there's no way I'd get five minutes to myself so that I could talk to them, especially once word gets out that I'm alive again. I'd have to be dealing with them and everyone else at the same time, and I don't think that would have ended well for anybody."

Akarui went to argue, then reconsidered before muttering, "Fine. But if you invoke this oath again- for any reason- within the next five years, I'm lighting your mattress on fire while you're sleeping on it."

"Oh, stop acting grumpy and come give your brother a hug!" Mina laughed as she beckoned to the younger boy. "You know you're glad to see him!"

"Gee, I would, but there appears to be an oversized gum wad attached to his everywhere right now, and I'm not getting in the middle of that," he said flatly.

Kurai and Mina both chuckled at that before the older boy stood up with his girlfriend and moved toward his brother, who also got to his feet. The elder brother then pulled his sibling in for a rough embrace as he said, "Thank you, Akarui. For coming out here, and looking after things while I've been away. I'm sorry I left you with so many problems to handle on your own."

"Hah," Akarui scoffed past the lump in his throat. "Joke's on you. I hardly did anything, and now they're all your problems again." After a moment, his façade broke down, leading him to return the hug as he said, "It's good to have you back, dumbass."

"Good to be back, smartass."

"Get ready, we're about to hit the drop zone."

"I already heard 'em on the radio, Icy-Hot!"

"Could you two please maintain some semblance of professionalism while we're on a mission, especially with a coalition?" Myrtenaster levelled her best scolding glare at the two boys who had been arguing while Deku pulled the hood of his new stealth suit over his brow and stood up with a grim look about his mouth. Freezer Burn merely shrugged at the reprimand while Ground Zero muttered something under his breath and affected to look away from the pale girl.

The four of them were riding along with a number of Endeavor's sidekicks in a plane that would drop them above Humarise's Japanese HQ. With the organization's chemical attack on the Kanto Ward, the World Hero Alliance had assembled and declared them an international terrorist group. Now they had heroes in every nation racing across the globe to find all of the bases that belonged to the fascist idealists, and arrest their leaders.

It has to be said that it was something of a novel experience to see the Regal Heroine dressed in all black, the exact opposite of her normal color scheme. It made her look even paler than normal, and her eyes in particular stood out from beneath the cowl on the costume like white-blue pearls that could freeze one's soul if they peered too closely.

"Get ready, newbies!" Burnin grinned at the students, bringing them all to attention. "We're comin' in hot!" Even as she said it, explosions began to echo outside the walls of the plane, causing the pressure in their ears to spike every few seconds and setting their teeth on edge as a result.

"Who knew they'd have anti-air weaponry?!" Deku shouted to be heard over one particularly close explosion. "These are pretty old school defenses!"

"Well, most of their members don't have quirks, so they don't have many options," Freezer Burn called, even as an alarm began to blare through the transport.

"Here we go!" Burnin shouted as the rear hatch began to open, admitting the chilling night air of the lower atmosphere into the cargo space. "Go, go, go!"

Without any further prompting, the young heroes launched themselves out of the plane and allowed gravity to do its work, pulling them at high speed toward the ground. Each of them took in the scene bellow them, noticing all of the white robes running about like agitated ants, and the brief flickers of fire that preceded the explosions that boomed in the sky around them.

After about two seconds of falling, Deku tapped his earpiece and asked, "Myrtenaster, do you have a clear line of sight on those cannons?!"

"Affirmative!"

"Then let's do it!" Aiming his right hand as he fell, Deku willed a large ball of energy to gather in his palm, like a small green star that was falling to the earth amid the fire and exploding metal. "Dekunaster Combo…!"

"Northern Lights!" his classmate yelled in tandem with the appearance of a jade hex about halfway between them and the ground. Deku hurled the energy blast at it, striking the conjuration dead center, which made it glow brightly before it spat out a dozen thin lasers on the side facing the ground, each one arcing in a different direction to slam into one of the cannons that was trying to take them out. The result was a series of explosions that lit up the base below them like the flashing lights on a Christmas tree display.

"Good work, Deku and Myrtenaster!" they heard Endeavor say in their earpieces. "Everyone, press the attack before they start to form ranks!"

"What's he praising them for?!" Bakugo snarled as he flipped in midair so that his feet were now falling in front of the rest of his body. "Anyone coulda done that!"

"Let's see you do one better!" Myrtenaster shot back as a series of white hexes began to appear along her projected trajectory.

"Hah! Just watch me, Ice Queen! I'm gonna blast twice as many of these flunkies than the rest of you put together!"

"Most of these people don't have quirks, Bakugo," Freezer Burn admonished his comrade. "We can't go all-out without the risk of hurting them."

"Shut up, I know that!" Ground Zero raged as he began to unleash a series of explosions that slowed his descent speed considerably. Likewise, Myrtenaster and Deku began to hop from one glyph to the next in order to change their momentum enough that they wouldn't be flattened as paste on the ground. Freezer Burn also worked to alter his speed as he unleashed a torrent of fire at the ground, forcing many Humarise members to scatter for fear of being burned alive.

The quartet hit the ground, rolled, and then sprang right back into action. Ice, fire, nitro-blasts, and lasers all flew out from their group, incapacitating Humarise members by the dozens as they tried to understand how the heroes had gotten the jump on them so quickly. The zealots were mounting a fierce- if strangely uncoordinated- defense, but the UA students had trained against and experienced far worse over the course of their freshman year.

They easily broke through the first wave of defenders without any casualties, allowing them access to the massive building that served as this branch's base of operations. Once inside, they were met with more resistance, but again, they seemed to lack any sort of real plan for defending their base. It was at this point that Myrtenaster voiced the thought that had been running through all of their minds for a few minutes.

"Anyone else feel like this is too easy?" she asked as she hamstringed a man who had been about to shoot at Ground Zero from behind a pillar. "Seventy-one."

"They're a buncha quirkless idiots!" the explosive hero shouted as he kneed one acolyte in the face while roasting another pair with his power. "Seriously, how dumb do ya have to be to pick on an entire world of people with an evolutionary advantage over you?! Seventy-eight!" If anyone thought it was inappropriate that the two high schoolers seemed to be keeping an actual score for however many villains they took down, they said nothing at the time.

"The followers may be fools, but the intel that we received on Flect Turn indicates that he's a very persuasive, intelligent man," Freezer Burn answered over the com channel, as he and Deku had pushed ahead with a few of the other sidekicks. "This may be a trap."

"That doesn't matter," Deku replied as they heard him fire off a laser blast that bowled over a group of gunmen. "If we fail to capture their leader now, we'll have given up the element of surprise for no reason. Even if it is a trap, we have to do our best to apprehend him."

"Aw, don't worry about it, Deku," Ground Zero smirked as he slammed an elbow into another acolyte's head, knocking them senseless to the floor. "Once you and Icy-Hot both botch it, I'll come in and finish the job the right way, show you losers how it's done! Eighty-one!"

The interns and sidekicks all could have sworn that they heard a deep growl coming through the channel following that remark, but they were all too busy to bother wondering about it at the time.

"So, you've got control over how many quirks now?" Mina asked as her feet touched on the sands of the beach, Kurai's arm having kept her up as he had levitated over the rocks and slippery bluffs that ran along the shoreline.

"Well, Blackwhip and Float have been easy enough to access," he answered as he stepped down next to her. "Haven't had a chance to try Smokescreen, but Danger Sense made my head feel like it was gonna split open in Kanto until I had gotten the gas out of the city." With a slight frown, he added, "It's one of those ones that I have no control over whether it's on or not, so hopefully it doesn't go off for every little thing."

"It's gonna start going off in about five seconds if you don't put me down," Akarui grumbled sourly. He was currently being held aloft by one of Kurai's Blackwhip tendrils, and looking none too pleased about the fact.

"You were the one who said 'no' to the piggyback," his brother pointed out.

"True, but I also don't feel like explaining why you look like a hentai villain if someone happens to- whoa!" His snarky comment was cut off when Kurai promptly dropped him on the sand without warning, giving him a face full of the stuff. He scrambled to his hands and knees before he spat the grains out as vigorously as he could and coughing out, "Worth it! Pleh!"

"Nice to see that things are back to normal," Mina giggled as she leaned on Kurai's right shoulder, enjoying the warm feeling of his natural arm in her hands, as whole as nature had intended his body to be.

"Ah, I did miss the ability to whack him without feeling guilty about it," her boyfriend grinned as he watched his brother dust himself off.

"You never felt guilty about it," Akarui spat, still trying to get the grains of sand out of his mouth. "Blech! I think some of it got stuck in my teeth."

"Sounds like a personal problem," Mina said as she turned toward the town, pulling Kurai along with her. "Let's get back to the hotel. My outfit's all wet, there's salt in my hair, and I want a shower."

"Some dry clothes would be nice," Kurai agreed. He frowned as he looked down and muttered, "I don't have any of those, do I?" Unlike his brother and girlfriend, he had not had the opportunity to pack a day bag with necessities like clothing for his excursion to the beachfront village.

"I'll buy you some in the morning," Akarui said as he moved to walk alongside the pair. "Until then, use a bathrobe, or something. I dunno. Do whatever your girlfriend tells you to do."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I got two hotel rooms," he deadpanned. "I got one for me with a big-ass bathtub, and I ain't sharing. You two do whatever you want in the other one, as long as I don't hear anything through the walls. Mph!" Once again, the younger boy found himself face-down in the sand, courtesy of a hearty shove from his sibling.

"I swear, he gets more annoying, every trip I take with him," Kurai muttered with flaming cheeks.

Akarui let them get a little ways ahead of him this time before he reached into his belt and pulled out an earpiece that he quickly fastened in place before using his phone to dial a familiar number. He waited only a few seconds before he had Nezu in hear, exclaiming, "Where are you, Hikari?!"

"Not important," he answered bluntly. "What is important is that we found Kurai, he's safe, in his right mind, and we're bringing him home in the morning."

"You sent the heroes I called in on a wild goose chase halfway across Japan!" the little animal all but shouted, obviously still upset that he had been duped. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing this has been?!"

"Frankly, you should be embarrassed on the grounds that you tried to outmaneuver me," Akarui deadpanned. "I said no tailing us, and you ignored my demand. Therefore, I feel absolutely no guilt for tricking you."

"It was a safety measure for your sake!" Nezu protested. "What if something had gone wrong?! What if your brother was beyond reason?!"

"Well, he's not, and even if he was, we've already established the fact that we don't know any heroes who could contain him," Akarui said as he continued to use the same dry tone. "I knew how to handle the situation, and if you couldn't trust my judgement on this, what the hell were you thinking, hiring me to help with the school's defenses that are supposed to protect everyone under your watch?"

"I thought you might listen to a logical approach when I had reason to exercise caution!" Nezu sighed heavily.

"I guess ignoring logic when it really counts is a family trait, then," Akarui shrugged. "In any case, we'll be back tomorrow by early afternoon at the latest. Let Kurai have a chance to rest and recover from today's ordeal before we put him back in the thick of it. He says he's ready to get back in the fight, but I'm thinking that he could do with a nap in a place that isn't full of crazy people."

"Tell me where you are so that I can send a security detail," Nezu tried to plead, but Akarui was already shaking his head in the negative.

"You do that, and you'll just attract attention, even if the heroes are being discreet," he stated. "Our best move is to keep his anonymity going for as long as we can. No one has connected 'Kai' to the mysterious hero who appeared in Kanto today, and the two of us grew up knowing how to keep a low profile in public- and that was without the benefit of a near-total body alteration. Nobody recognizes him because he doesn't look like Kai."

"You boys really are too stubborn for your own good," Nezu grumbled. "There will be repercussions for this, Hikari." Apparently he had come to accept that if Akarui didn't want to tell him where they were, there was currently nothing that he could do to change that very frustrating fact.

"At what point did you think I cared about the consequences?" Akarui chuckled. "Kurai is safe and healthy, and that's all I can ask for. If those conditions have been met, I don't really care what happens to me. Cut my pay, restrict my privileges, take away my toys, I don't care. I'm doing my job and looking out for what's left of my family."

There was silence on Nezu's end for a few moments before the little animal said, "We will discuss your punishment upon your return. In the meantime, do not allow anything to happen to your brother. We can't afford to lose him again, and he's been through more than enough."

"You think I don't know that?" Akarui snorted. "And what the hell do you think I've been doing all day?"

"Risking your brother's safety and the future of the world because of your arrogance."

"That was rhetorical!"

By the time he had caught up to his brother and Mina, they were already in the hotel. Having known that they would probably prefer some time to themselves, he decided to make a stop at a twenty-four hour convenience store for some food and a change of clothes for Kurai. The night air was cold enough to keep him awake, despite the fact that they were closer to the dawn hours than the middle of the night.

Even so, he was still tired enough that he nearly forgot to retract his sonic disrupter glove back into the compact bracelet before going inside. He waved a greeting to the cashier who looked about as tired as he felt before he grabbed a basket and went further into the store. Moving as quickly as his tired feet would allow him, Akarui proceeded to grab a first-aid kit, whatever looked like it would make a quick breakfast, and some of Kurai's favorite snacks and orange sodas. I'd say mom would kill us if she knew we were gonna drink soda first thing in the morning, but I think that threat only works to scare one of us, now, he thought with a tired chuckle as he finished grabbing a bottled ice coffee for Mina.

He paid at the register, and then set off for the hotel, looking forward to a warm bed and a change of clothes, himself. He sent Mina a text message to let her know that he would be stopping by to drop off the clothes that he had acquired for his brother. He was a little surprised when she replied almost instantly with the words, 'Text me when you get to the door. He fell asleep as soon as we got in.'

Really? he thought with a bemused grin. I go to the trouble of getting us separate rooms, and he just crashes as soon as they get there? The thought that she might be lying about their current activities did occur, but he quickly put the thought aside. His future sister-in-law was crafty whenever pranks were involved, but she never lied where Kurai was concerned.

He did have a longer day than we did, he admitted silently as he found himself in front of the door before sending Mina the notification that she had requested. He waited a few seconds before he heard the latch coming undone, and the door swung open to admit Mina, dressed in casual clothes, and her head wrapped up in a towel as she stepped aside to give him free entry.

"Come in," she whispered when he hesitated.

Nodding quietly, he moved inside, a smile breaking out on his face when he saw that Kurai was indeed sleeping heavily on one of the beds. The exhausted boy hadn't even bothered to get out of his wet clothes- he really had been tired enough to just pass out as soon as his body recognized a chance for a deep rest that would allow him to recover from the hellish events that he'd been subjected to. His injuries had been easy enough to conceal from the half-asleep receptionist when they made their way into the hotel lobby, but they would still need to be treated, even if with a limited first aid kit.

"He should have a shower and change," Akarui sighed as he turned back toward Mina. "He'll get sick if he sleeps in cold clothes and a wet bed like that." He then gave vent to a short chuckle before saying, "I guess this is karma for every time he mocked me for wetting the bed."

"How long was he able to hold that over on you?"

"About three yea… Wow, I am more tired than I thought," he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. When he heard Mina giggling, he gave vent to a short growl and moved to flick Kurai on the head, saying, "Wake up, brother. Your girlfriend is forcing me to provide comedy material about my own childhood instead of yours', and it's not a good look for me." To his surprise, Kurai merely let out a short grunt before continuing to snore softly. "Well, it's official. He's dead again."

"Pfft," Mina snorted as she pushed him aside. "Amateur. Watch a pro at work."

Seeing her crouching slightly by Kurai's side of the bed, Akarui then said, "Might I remind you that it's probably a bad idea to surprise attack someone in their sleep who could knock All Might into next week?"

"I know what I'm about, Aki," she said with a sly grin as she held up a small bottle of what looked like hand soap. "Check it." Moving quickly, she uncapped the bottle, set the tip over Kurai's head, and squeezed a large dollop of the green substance into his ear.

The result occurred a lot more quickly than Akarui would have expected, with Kurai stirring as he tried to swat at the space above his head, then sitting up and scratching at his ear as he grumbled, "The wha…?" His eyes cracked open as he peered at his fingers before he muttered, "Classic."

"Come on, sweetie," Mina said as she pulled on his arm, trying to get him to stand. "We need to get you washed off and into the new clothes that your brother got for you. Some bandages on those cuts and bruises probably wouldn't hurt, either."

"I'm already washed up," Kurai mumbled as he tried to fall back on the bed, only to have Akarui flick him on the ear. "Ow! Would it kill you to just let me get a few minutes of sleep?!"

"No, but if I take you back to UA with even a hint of the sniffles, I'll never hear the end of it from your principal," his brother deadpanned. "Come on. Mina will help you get washed off and bandaged; then you can sleep."

"I will?" the pink girl inquired. "By myself? Wait, what will you be doing?"

"Taking a bath and then a nap," he replied as he moved toward the door, having managed to get Kurai on his feet, albeit a little unsteadily. "I told Nezu that we'd be back by early afternoon tomorrow, but he also kinda pissed me off, so I'm not bothering to set an alarm for a reasonable hour. I'm sleeping in."

"I heard that," Kurai mumbled as he tried to sink back to the wet mattress, only to have Mina flick his other ear while Akarui made his exit. "Ow! Stop that!"

"We've been had," Ground Zero snarled as he and the other intern heroes stood outside of the base's main office, where Flect Turn was supposed to be hiding out. They had just heard over the radio that Endeavor's team had been unable to locate the Ideotrigger Bomb that was also supposed to be on the premises. The fact that they had managed to capture all of the Humarise members in the base did little to assuage the solemn mood that had fallen on all of them.

"Their higher-ups must have planned for us to come here after the attack on Kanto," Freezer Burn muttered. "What I don't understand is that if this was supposed to be a trap, why didn't they have a better setup?"

"What do you mean?" Deku asked him.

"Usually when villains want to lure people like us into an ambush, they have some kind of plan to make sure that we don't make it out in one piece," Myrtenaster told him. "But this whole base was completely disorganized and underprepared for an attack, even if they managed to employ anti-aircraft weaponry against us. Even so, they could have employed Trigger against us, right? From what we've seen, there are no major leaders from within the organization present, either. It feels like these people were left as fodder for us to find. I think that makes it safe to say that we weren't the real targets of tonight's trap."

"Then what was the objective?" Freezer Burn murmured.

"Probably letting their boss get away while we were busy with his flunkies," Ground Zero growled. "We know he was here yesterday from surveillance photos- he probably let us know where he was on purpose, so we'd come looking for him as soon as the Alliance got its crap together."

"This was all just a smokescreen," Deku muttered. "But if that was the only point of all this, and he let himself be seen, why would he also let it be known that he has another bomb here that we couldn't find? Maybe it's a double bluff, and he made his escape so that he could hide the bomb somewhere else in Japan, or maybe he sent it away so that even if we caught him, he could still have it set off by one of his operatives…"

"Does anyone want to stop him?" Myrtenaster asked in an aside to the other boys.

"Good luck trying," Ground Zero huffed.

After practically being manhandled by his girlfriend through the course of a brief shower, Kurai finally found himself in a set of warm, dry clothes that admittedly felt a lot better than the soaked shirt and jeans that he had taken from a mannequin that had been left on the street in the aftermath of Humarise's attack. He still lacked any socks or shoes, but that could be dealt with once he'd gotten at least six hours of sleep.

Once Mina had finished binding the parts of his body that were more than likely inflicted with stress fractures, as well as covering his open wounds with bandages, Kurai found himself standing in front of the bed that he had gotten wet with seawater, swaying back and forth with exhaustion as he realized that he might be better off sleeping on the floor with a spare blanket. When his roommate saw him grabbing the extra sleeping gear from the closet, she tilted her head at him and asked, "What're you doing?"

"Bed's wet, so I'm for the floor," he mumbled as he put the pillow under his arm. "You can have the one I didn't mess up."

Mina blinked at him a couple of times before she inquired, "Why would you need to take the floor, though? You're not gonna join me?"

Kurai raised his head to look at her directly through bleary, unfocused eyes, as if he was not sure that he had heard her correctly. "I wasn't sure that I would be allowed," he finally admitted. "I figured you might be ready to reestablish the 'at arm's length' boundary, now that the moment of emotional highs is over, and things are settling down." He swayed again, and for split second, Mina was worried that he would collapse, but then he shook himself awake so that he could tell her, "You said that when I felt ready to reopen our normal interactions, you'd be willing to talk about it, and I didn't want to push any buttons I had no business even going near. After everything you've gone through for me, I didn't want you to think I was trying to take advantage of the situation…"

He started to rock back and forth in a precarious manner yet again, so Mina rolled her eyes and gave him a light sideways shove that ended with him falling on the dry bed with a slight grunt. Grabbing the blanket that he had dropped and hopping so that she landed on her stomach next to him while looking at his now-bewildered face, she smiled gently and asked, "Are you sorry for what you did when you came back?"

"Yes," he mumbled. "Very. For all the things I did, and what I put you through, in particular…"

"Do you promise not to do it again?"

"I promise."

"Do you promise to love me and let me share in your burdens from now on, One For All related, or not?"

"I promise…"

"Then enjoy your stay as my personal heater," she giggled happily as she pulled the large blanket over them before snuggling close and resting her brow against his. "B-T-dubs, we're never sleeping in separate rooms again." When she waited a few seconds with no reply, she cracked an eye open to see that he was already fast asleep, which was quickly evidenced by the light snores coming from his mouth. Rolling her eyes again, Mina reached over and shut off the light before turning back and whispering, "G'night, Kurai. I love you, so much."

It wound up being the best sleep that the two of them got since their days on Nabu Island.

The three exhausted teenagers didn't wake up until nearly eleven in the morning the next day, which was a first for the two boys, barring their hospital visits following life-threatening injuries. Mina and Kurai were actually up first, but they just ended up sitting next to each other and talking so that he could get caught up on the little things he had missed at UA while he had been in the hospital. Now that he was somewhat rested, and the last of the adrenaline had worked its way out of his system, he was definitely feeling the full extent of the pain from his injuries, but he did his best to keep his complaints to a minimum, not wanting to ruin the peace that had finally set upon him and his girlfriend.

The pink girl was actually in the middle of telling him how all the gamers in their class had been single-handedly defeated in a Smash Bros. match by Ruby and Yang's uncle, when they heard a knock at the door, followed by Akarui saying, "I got Nezu on the line, and he wants to talk to Kurai. Is now a bad time?"

"I'll be right there," his brother answered as he tossed the blankets off of his legs and made for the door, Mina giving vent to a slight pout as he did. Moving as quickly as his damaged bones would allow, Kurai undid the lock and opened the door to admit his brother, who held up his phone to show that it was on 'speaker'.

"We're all here," Akarui said as he moved inside and shut the door behind him. Kurai noticed that he was also holding what looked like a portable radio, but he decided to focus on what the principal had to say for the time being.

"Hikari, are you alright?" Nezu asked, sounding almost frantic.

"I'm as healthy as I can be, considering everything that happened yesterday, and my head feels better than it has in a long time, sir," he answered readily. "Did Akarui inform you what occurred between the vestiges and myself?"

"Only that you had come to an understanding," the little animal answered while heaving a sigh of relief. "I take it that there was more to it than a simple discussion?"

"Yes, but I'd prefer not to say anything else over the phone," Kurai replied. "This is better discussed in person."

"If you're worried about the call being tapped or even remotely monitored, don't sweat it," Akarui said as he held up the black device in his hand. "No one's eavesdropping on this chat of ours'."

"Well, then in that case…" Kurai proceeded to inform the principal about everything that he had learned concerning One For All, and the dangers involved in passing it on to someone who already possessed a quirk. "My future vestige seized control of my- well, our - body in order to take me to a place where there was no chances of us being interrupted by external forces. I am sorry that I've caused inconveniences with all of this, but after my triumphant return in Kanto, as it were, there's no way that I would've gotten a minute to myself to get things sorted in my head with the other vestiges. Now, though, we don't have to worry about my brain fragmenting itself, or One For All going out of control. Bonus, it turns out I can use my version of 100% with just relatively minor damage done to my body."

This gave Nezu pause for a moment, which eventually led to him asking, "And how does your version of the quirk's full power scale in comparison to that of All Might?"

"Well, even though it wasn't a proper merging, and it was only for a few minutes, Energon did enhance One For All's strength considerably," Kurai answered him. "When I was able to wield both quirks against Nine, we're talking about me being able to use something like 100,000% of One For All on the fly. Because I separated them before they could completely merge, though, I'd say that Eri and I can use something around a hundred-twenty, maybe one-hundred-thirty percent of Izuku's version of the quirk, which is considerably above All Might's capabilities."

"You were a thousand times stronger than All Might himself?" Nezu asked. "That can't be right- according to Midoriya, your powers were indeed greatly enhanced, but nothing like what you're describing."

"Did you guys miss the part where we punched a Class 6 hurricane out of existence?" Kurai deadpanned.

"Hurricanes only go up to class five-"

"They get promoted to the sixth tier when a multi-quirked villain is the one creating it and firing about four other types of attacks at me while I'm choking to death," Kurai said to cut off his brother with a flat glare, who then appeared somewhat conflicted.

"Fair point," he conceded. "Continue."

"In any case, that number doesn't really matter anymore," the former cyborg said to his headmaster. "Direct exposure to Energon boosted One For All's base strength permanently, even if only a fraction. That's why I was able to basically shred the gas into atoms with nothing but aerokinetic force above Kanto- something that even All Might wouldn't have been able to handle."

"It's also something that the Paranormal Liberation Front will be unable to counter until they have Shigaraki at the helm," Nezu mused aloud. "If nothing else, this will have ensured our time to prepare for the coming war- given that we can all survive the efforts of Humarise, that is."

"Has the World Hero Alliance assembled in Hong Kong, yet?" Akarui now asked, looking grim as he did.

"They have," Nezu answered him. "They officially began operations yesterday afternoon."

"Then what's my move?" Kurai asked before his brother could voice a new thought. "Akarui told me that Mister Aizawa was planning to have me released from the hospital, but somehow, I don't think that anyone will look too hard into the disappearance of someone who technically didn't exist to begin with, especially given the scope of the damage and casualties in Kanto. I can probably return to UA without much trouble- but whether or not I do it in a public lighting is probably another matter."

"Actually, regarding that…" Nezu paused to gather his thoughts before he said, "Aizawa and I believe that it would be best to keep your resurrection a continued secret for the time being. We were originally planning to have you return here incognito, and have you stay in hiding until the war with Shigaraki's forces, but given what you have told me regarding One For All, I believe that it may be in our best interests to put you to work undercover in another country while we attempt to track down the whereabouts of Flect Turn."

"The leader of Humarise," Akarui said when his brother looked a question at him.

"Ah."

"Do we have any leads on his hiding hole, or are you just planning on picking a random country on the globe with a blindfold on?" Mina asked dryly. "How do you know where Kurai would be able to make a difference in this crazy fight?"

"I could make the argument that he might be a decisive factor in any battle that he may end up taking part in, but I do have a specific region in mind," the principal answered. "I asked Eri if she knew anything about where Humarise's true base of operations could be, and initially, she said that she had no idea. However, she did mention that in her future, the Paranormal Liberation Front defeated their leaders fairly quickly and acquired their bases for their own use, which helped spread their influence and power structure across the world. I had her draw up a map of all the bases she could remember, and while a good number of them overlapped with locations that we know Humarise operates out of, there was one base that we have absolutely no knowledge of. When I asked if she was certain, she told me that this was the base where Midoriya met his end in the future."

"Wait, why would he have left Japan?" Kurai asked with a frown. "I thought him and everyone else in the UA Alliance were committed to driving the Front out from their place of origin."

"Apparently some sellouts lured him and a few of our other friends into a trap under the pretense of needing aid and promising the same if they helped their cause," Mina said with evident disgust. "It was some bigshot heroes from Europe asking, and for the most part, heroes were still fighting the good fight at that point, so no one suspected anything until it was too late."

"The base is on a peninsula just barely within the borders of a small country called Otheon, though it does also border closely with the neighboring country of Klayd," Nezu informed them. "Incidentally, Endeavor's agency already seems to be in talks with some of the members of the World Hero Alliance to go to Otheon, where another Humarise base is known to be. Other top agencies are planning to deploy around the world to assist countries that are overrun with crime even more than our own."

"He's not staying to help maintain security in Japan?" Kurai asked disapprovingly.

"Apparently he and a few other agencies raided the known Humarise establishment last night while we were meeting up," Akarui said with a small shake of his head. "Flect Turn was supposed to be there, but now it seems more likely that he's hiding out in the secret HQ near Otheon. Heroes all over the globe have been attacking every Humarise base they can find since last night, trying to find him and the bombs they're threatening to use, but nothing promising has turned up so far. Whatever the case, there are plenty of agencies to deal with finding the outliers of the stupid cult in our country. Meanwhile, smaller countries are in need of big hitters like Endeavor to handle this kind of global emergency. Him going overseas makes sense in this scenario."

"I guess I get it," Kurai murmured as he saw his brother's logic. "But where do I fit in all this?"

"Gran Torino has already taken Eri on as an intern in an official capacity," Nezu told him. "We mostly asked him to do so in order for her to be able to keep up the necessary appearances of a hero course student while she actually spent her time studying the needed materials for being a hero here at UA. Now, though, we need someone capable of using One For All in the field, so he will be going to Klayd with Eri. After we finish our discussion, I will be asking him if he would be open to accepting you as another intern, so that you would be able to join him and Eri in secret when the time comes."

"Knowing the old man, he'll complain about it, but I don't see him turning down the request, given the circumstances," Kurai mused.

"Who are you calling old?!"

All three teenagers' eyes bugged open as they stared at the screen when their ears registered the gravelly voice of All Might's mentor. "Gran Torino?" Kurai asked, just to be sure. "How long have you been-?"

"You're meeting me at Haneda Airport in two days, kid," the former teacher growled. "I just got in a minute ago, while you were talking about where our enemy's real base is. Once we've finished with this Humarise business, I'm going to have you working yourself to the bone, mastering One For All like a real pro! We'll see just who's feeling old by the time I'm done with you."

Kurai looked like he wanted to apologize, but then he paused, his face falling as he let out a small groan. "It's not that funny," he grumbled. When Akarui and Mina gave him puzzled looks, he reluctantly explained, "Miss Shimura is having a rather extensive laugh at my expense."

"Nana's there?" Gran Torino asked, sounding startled. "I know Nezu had mentioned that Eri had managed to establish contact with the past users at some point, but…"

"Yeah, I can talk to them pretty much whenever I want, and the same is true in reverse," Kurai admitted. "They mentioned that they passed on my situation to Eri, so I kinda assumed that she would tell Principal Nezu what's happened." After another pause, he deadpanned, "Oh. My vestige says that she wanted me to do the explaining so that it wouldn't seem like she was just trying to cover for me."

"Why would-?" Nezu let out a heavy sigh before he said, "We don't have time to worry about what might have been right now."

"Gee, where have I heard that recently?" Akarui pretended to wonder, leading Kurai to slap him on the back of the head. "Ow! Stop doing that!"

"No." Turning back to the phone, the elder brother then said, "Two days, Haneda Airport. I assume you and Eri will have my necessary gear and paperwork for me to leave the country when I get there. What should I do in the meantime?"

"Stay wherever you are," Nezu ordered. "Don't do anything that would attract attention to yourself, heroics or otherwise. As for your brother, I need him to return to UA, posthaste. I've promised his efforts to the coalition of scientists who are working to create a countermeasure in the event that Humarise is able to detonate any more bioweapons."

"If you want me to get an early start, send me any data you've got on the substance they used in the bomb," Akarui said, his eyes sharpening as his magnified intellect prepared to go to work.

"The substance is called 'Trigger'," Gran Torino cut in. "Heard of it?"

"Yeah," Akarui answered with a slight wince. "Nasty stuff, that. Not very addictive, but it does crazy damage to your body after just three or four uses, especially if it's inhaled instead of injected into the bloodstream."

There was a brief pause before the elderly hero asked, "How do you know so much about that stuff, kid?"

"There were rumors about a new drug matching Trigger's description shortly before I was paralyzed and my father was murdered," the boy answered. "I kept an ear to the walls of the dark web and kept hearing about it here and there, though it seemed like the stuff was being monopolized by one group in particular. Must've been Humarise."

"You were doing what-now?" Kurai asked his brother with a small frown.

"I don't have to tell you everything," Akarui shrugged. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"A statement that would sum up our working relationship," Nezu sighed again.

"I have just one question," Mina said before Akarui could get into it with the principal again. "Where do I fit in with all of this? I haven't gotten any word about what Mister Musha's agency is going to be doing about Humarise."

"Your job is to get Hikari to the airport in two days and then return to UA," Nezu answered. Before any of them could protest, he preempted them by saying, "It's not a matter of punishing any of you. If I could send Ashido to Klayd with Hikari, I would. I understand that she is a large part of why he has not long since lost his mind entirely. But Yoroi Musha's agency is on standby here in Japan for this emergency concerning Humarise. As a provisionally licensed hero, Miss Ashido cannot act on her own authority, especially in another country. Therefore, I cannot send her with Gran Torino without the express permission of her current mentor."

"That's actually not true," Akarui said, causing both of the other teenagers' heads to snap toward him.

"Excuse me?"

"With the gathering of the World Hero Alliance, the planet is currently under the Apocalypse Contingency," he told the principal. "That means that a provisional license from any hero's homeland is as good in any country until the crisis has passed. Mina's free to act in the event of any emergency she comes across, no matter where she goes. There would be some extra paperwork involved in the event of an actual battle or emergency rescue that she takes part in, but she could go with them. She'd just technically be travelling as a student abroad, but it works."

"Does she already have the necessary paperwork to go to another country?" Nezu inquired, surprising the three teenagers when he didn't try to argue the point.

"Yeah, I got it done for when we went to I-island, and the passport is still good," Mina answered readily. "If Eri is going with them, she can bring my travel stuff to the airport."

"I'm not running a babysitting errand, kids," Gran Torino cut in. "If you two want to go on a date, you may as well stay at home. We have hero work to do; there's no time for frolicking in the sunshine."

The pink girl flushed angrily, but before she could utter a retort, Akarui interjected to say, "With all due respect, sir, you're underestimating Mina. She stood alongside Midoriya and my brother in a battle against All For One's knockoff and walked away with her life, which is more than we can say about Kurai. They're not strangers to holding a professional standard while working together- they'll hardly be sightseeing while working under you." His protest was touching to the young couple, even if Kurai looked a little miffed about his brother's choice in words.

"This is true," Nezu added, once again surprising the younger heroes. "They worked well together to assist in the takedown of a human smuggling ring during their first semester, and I received several positive reviews of their combined efforts from their class representatives during their time on Nabu."

There was a brief silence on both ends of the line before Gran Torino asked, "Are you gonna vouch for this because you're afraid of what they'll do if we try to stop them, or because you really think it'll make that much of a difference whether she comes along or not?"

"I choose to believe in my students," Nezu answered without hesitation. "They may not make the best decision every time they set out, but that is what being young is all about- growing up from the mistakes that we make. In this instance, however, I rather think that this is the correct path to take."

"Why is that?"

"A hero with something dear to protect is a formidable force to behold," the principal replied. "If our enemy is truly as dangerous as we fear, then we shall need the vessel of One For All at his fiercest to succeed. Eri is already firmly resolved to do what she must, but I see no reason to withhold Ashido's assistance in bringing out the hero that exists in Hikari back to the fore."

There was another brief pause before Gran Torino sighed and grumbled, "I'm not responsible for her safety if she comes to Klayd. That said, I also won't keep her from riding next to us on the plane."

"Thank you, sir," Mina said with a sigh of relief.

"Hmph."

"If we're all clear on our roles, then I'm gonna get myself packed to go," Akarui said as he brought the phone closer to himself. "What time do my brother and Mina need to be at the airport on Thursday?"

"I'm looking at some flights that'll take off in the late morning," Gran Torino answered.

"Got it, leave securing the tickets to me," the younger boy told them. "I'll also get you a hotel for week in Klayd's capital. Consider it a thank-you from me for looking after my brother while he's gone."

"Where do you get the money for all this stuff?" Mina asked him.

"Don't worry about it," he replied quickly. When the others kept staring at him, he rolled his eyes and added, "I didn't steal it, if that's what you're worried about. Seriously, you think someone with my mental capabilities wouldn't find a way to make bank on the side? Come on."

"As long as nothing illegal was involved…" Kurai grumbled. He didn't miss the slight shrugging motion that his brother gave him, but he decided that there would be a better time to address the issue. For now, he said into the phone, "Mina and I will be there on Thursday, midmorning."

"We'll see you there," Gran Torino replied gruffly. "Don't get too busy playing 'house', you hear?"

"Got it," Kurai and Mina said through gritted teeth while Akarui made a visible effort to contain his laughter.

"And Kai?"

"Yes, sir?"

"No more playing 'chicken' when it comes to the life of a hero," Gran Torino warned him. "You've got an entire world, and the hopes of the past nine generations of One For All to carry, now. They don't have time to be waiting for you to make up your mind every time something comes along that disrupts your way of seeing things. If you're going to use this power, you damn well better use it for the right reasons."

"Don't worry," Kurai replied with a grim sort of smile. "I may not have the same, single-minded approach to being a hero as the Ninth, but I still inherited his will, good and proper. For everyone who has gone before me, I will stand my ground as a hero worthy of One For All."

About an hour later, Akarui checked out of the hotel, and his brother and Mina saw him off at the train station. "Safe travels, both of you," he said after hugging Kurai. "And when you catch up to Flect Turn, kick his ass."

"Can and will do," the elder sibling assured him with a grin. "By the way, your birthday present is under my bed back at the dorms. Since I won't be around to give it to you in person in time, feel free to open it up when you get back."

"Under your bed?" Akarui said in a bewildered tone. "That can't be right, I already… Er…"

"I know you always check my room for my present every year, which is why I almost never hide it there," Kurai chuckled with a shake of his head. "But I didn't say that it was on the floor, I just said that it was under the bed."

"How can it not be on the floor if it's-" Akarui paused in mid-sentence before he smacked his forehead and exclaimed, "You stuck it in your box spring?!"

"Bingo." As Akarui began grumbling to himself, Kurai leaned over to say in Mina's ear, "This about the only event of the year where I consistently outsmart him."

"Nice," she giggled before she stepped forward and gave Akarui another hug. "Thanks for getting me here, Aki. And for stepping up when it looked like I wouldn't be able to go with him."

"Ah, no problem," the boy said as he scratched at the back of his head. "You said it yourself, you'll have the same family name as us before too long, and you've got the spine to back up that claim. That's a good enough reason for me to look out for you like I do for this idiot." So saying, he jerked a thumb at Kurai, who simply rolled his eyes.

At that moment, the platform announced its last call for the train heading out of town, which meant that their time was up. Giving Kurai a solid fist bump, Akarui then shouldered his pack and went on his way. "See you guys soon!" he called back. "Try not to do anything too stupid!"

"Got it, don't be like you!" Kurai called after him, just in time for the younger boy to flip him the bird and duck inside the train. Shaking his head with another exasperated grin on his face, he turned to look at Mina, who was gazing at him with adoring eyes. "Well, we seem to have this afternoon and all of tomorrow with just the two of us," he said as they intertwined their fingers. "What should we do with it?"

"Well, we've been ordered to keep our heads down in a sleepy little tourist trap of a town," she answered as she pulled on his arm to lead him away from the train, which was beginning to move. "I say we do our best to blend in with the crowd."

"So, see the sights and grab all the local dishes we can try before we're back to work?"

"Hey, I haven't been on a date in two months," Mina said, her grin widening as he allowed her to lead him whichever way she chose. "You know how I am about charging interest when it comes to delayed quality time."

"That is a tab that I am more than happy to settle," Kurai replied as he gave her fingers a slight squeeze. "Mind if we head to the east side of town? There's a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that makes the best fried fish you're ever gonna find."

"Ooh, that sounds awesome, cos I am starving."

"Given that one of your more influential role models in the future seems to be in the habit of finding loopholes to exploit when I'm not looking, I have to wonder if your request doesn't have an ulterior motive," Nezu said as he looked across his desk at Eri, who was waiting with a patient, docile look on her face.

"There's nothing for me to hide, sir," she answered quietly. "My mission is to maximize our chances at avoiding the outcome of my future in any way that I can think of, big or small. What I aim to accomplish with this excursion easily falls under that category."

"Why him in particular, though?" Nezu inquired. "Surely there are other heroes who could benefit from the application of your power."

"By all accounts, he's exactly the kind of person who deserves to have a second chance," Eri replied quickly. "Even when it seemed like he had nothing left to give, he found a way to keep saving people. There's also the fact that if Kai admires and respects him, I find it reason enough to offer my help."

"Do you not find it dangerous that your ideals are shaped so strongly by one individual?" Nezu pointed out. "You leave almost no room for another's influence in your mind."

"I want to be a hero, and Kai's actions embody heroism itself," she stated. "Even more than All Might, his convictions led him to make the ultimate sacrifice so that others wouldn't have to. Can you really make the argument that I've chosen a poor role model?"

"I could argue that you've chosen someone rather reckless to emulate, but I also cannot deny that his heart is in the right place," the little animal sighed. "If that is what you wish to heed, then it would be foolish of me to deny you the opportunity. You may make your detour, so long as it does not delay your rendezvous with Hikari and Ashido."

"Thank you, sir." Eri allowed a delighted smile to crease her face as she added, "I'm sure Ingenium and Kai will be very grateful for this once all is said and done, too."

Kai: What are you up to?

Mataras: Pardon?

Kai: That bit at the beginning- you're up to something. You'd never try and butter your audience up, otherwise.

Mataras: First of all, that hurts. Second, I'm not the brown-nosing type. I really just wanted to say thank you to the readers who have been supportive for all this time. Gratitude should never come with attached strings.

Kai: ...I don't believe you.

Litrosh: Nah, he's being honest.

Kai: Wait, really?

Litrosh: Mataras is not good at lying. He can be misleading, certainly, but he cannot tell a straight lie to save his life. If he's delivering something in the way of thanks or a compliment, it should be taken at face value.

Kai: Didn't he lie about me-?

Mataras: Not arguing that point again! Let me be nice for once, dammit!

Deku: Next time- Worth the Wait

Kai: Even in hiding, I'll be ready to Go Beyond.

Litrosh: Plus Ultra!

?: Notes

Northern Lights: A combined Ultimate Move put together by Deku and Myrtenaster following the former's acquisition of Energon. Myrtenaster conjures a focusing hex at which Deku then fires a substantial laser. The hex splits the light into multiples that seem to strike their targets with more piercing properties than the normal impact pattern, though the explosive forces generated still seem to be just as potent. This move appears to be optimal for long-range use, as such a maneuver would likely take too long to wield effectively in close-quarters' combat.

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unleashed...

Ever since he had won the Sport's Festival and appeared on television alongside Gang Orca, Kurai had begun to receive looks of acclaim from the occasional passerby. When he bested the Shadow Nomu in Fukuoka, he had been living on the UA campus, so he had only a limited knowledge of the fact that he would no longer be able to go in public without more than one person recognizing him as the Guardian Hero, though he had begun to get more of an idea of that reality on Nabu Island. Doubtless that when he officially made his return from the dead and his new appearance was revealed to the public, his popularity would only increase once again, so to be able to walk around under the guise of a normal boy out for a night on the town with his girlfriend was something he was determined to enjoy for the limited time that he had available to him.

Once they were seated inside the aquatic-themed establishment, Kurai decided to bring up a topic that he had been about to address at the bathhouse, before he had been interrupted by their respective laughing fits. "Had any time to think about what I should do with my hair when we get back?" he inquired after the waiter had left with their orders in hand.

Mina, not having expected the question, took a moment to peer more carefully at his head, and the state of the mop that adorned it. Normally, he kept it relatively short, but his last haircut had been weeks before their mission to Nabu Island, making it essentially three months since had asked Asui to give it a trim. Her having younger siblings meant that she was well-versed in caring for differing hairstyles, and she had been happy to lend her cosmetic skills to her classmates who requested it. His silvery strands had grown to the point that they brushed the nape of his neck and hung over his eyes if he did not comb them to the side. The last time he'd worn his hair this long was when they had been attacked at their summer camp.