A/N: I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the festival arc as much as I'd hoped you would! I tried to make it as interesting as I could without including any battles (including the weirdness that was Gentle Criminal), but I worried that it would fall flat. Guess I overthought it?

In any case, enjoy one of the final chapters of Phase 3 for Your Hero Academia!

Face Him

While the cleanup for the concert was underway, Izuku and Kurai were hailed by Mirio, who said that he had something to show them. At first the two of them were confused by his statement, as he didn't appear to have anything on his person, but they soon realized what he meant when an excited Eri started to tell them about how much the concert had surprised her, and how she had fun with all the music and dancing- all while wearing one of the cutest smiles that the two of them had ever seen. Both of them were filled with joy at the sight, knowing that they had finally cast out Chisaki's shadow from the child's spirit.

Izuku was less excited, but still just as surprised when he noticed that Akarui was also sporting a huge smile, a far cry from the little twitching movements that had replaced his once-broad range of expressions. Kurai responded with another smile of his own as he held out a fist to his brother, who bumped it solidly with his own. "Good to see you looking like yourself," he told the younger boy. Shifting his gaze toward Togata, he added, "Thanks for watching out for him in there."

"No sweat!" the former hero trainee said happily. "It was my pleasure- he's real spunky; not at all like you, Hikari! I was totally surprised at how different you two are." Kurai's face fell flat in response, which made Akarui's smile widen again.

"Yeah, he's real brave," Eri gushed as she looked up at the paralyzed boy. "There were these people that were being kind of mean about the concert, and he made them stop."

"He did?" Izuku asked, surprise still clear in his voice. "How?"

"It was a group effort," Togata said evasively, so Kurai decided that he would press the topic with Akarui at a later time.

"Well, at any rate, we're glad that you enjoyed the concert," he told the trio. "We have to get back to cleaning up, but we'll join you at the beauty pageant, okay?"

"Okay!" Eri chirped. She hesitated before she asked, "When you get there, can Deku hold me up? I think Lemillion's getting tired."

"Whaaaaaat?" Togata laughed, even as he rotated his muscular shoulders. "You're imagining stuff, Eri."

Izuku and Kurai chuckled before the quirk inheritor replied, "Sure, Eri. Me and Kai can take turns so that Lemillion can have a rest."

*Can Rose carry me again?* Akarui typed out. *That was awesome.*

"Don't get ahead of yourself, hotshot," Kurai smirked. "She'd be way out of your league even if you weren't in a wheelchair. Besides, weren't you emailing Melissa last week?"

*She got a boyfriend.*

"Oh no, what shame…" Kurai snickered, moving to the side when Akarui tried to run his foot over with his chair. "You have about as good a chance of hitting me with that thing as Professor X did turning Magneto back to the good side, and… I think I lost where I was going with that."

*Welcome to Dorkville, population: you.*

"I have some things to say to that, so you're lucky that Eri is here."

The cleanup took a little while due to the people that kept coming to congratulate them on a job well done. Even some of the people that had been hoping for them to fail came to offer their apologies for doubting their intentions, much to Bakugo's visible satisfaction. Everyone was talking about how much fun they'd had, and how glad they were to know that the other students had enjoyed themselves. Tenya was a little embarrassed when Tensei called him to tell him that he had enjoyed the livestream that Akarui had set up, but it was also clear that his brother's approval meant a great deal to him.

As soon as they were done with cleaning up their mess, class 1-A went back to the dorms to change into more casual clothes before heading off to the beauty pageant. Itsuka Kendo from Class 1-B put on a good showing, as did several of the other contestants, but Kurai couldn't help being genuinely impressed with Nejire's demonstration of her quirk and natural charms, even if Mina teased him about it. He even managed to turn the tables on her when she asked if he thought she would win by teasing her that he'd rather keep her all to himself, which resulted in her turning into a stammering mess. This in turn caused Akarui to make gagging motions while Yang and a couple of the others laughed at the byplay between the three of them.

After the showings were all done, the students put down their votes for their favorite contestant and departed to let the judges count through the ballots. Since the winner wouldn't be announced until five in the afternoon, the class then dissolved into smaller groups in order to explore the various stalls around the campus.

Mina, Kurai, Kaminari, and Hagakure took Akarui with them through a haunted house set up by the general studies course. The younger boy didn't seem too surprised by most of the traps and gimmicks, likely because he'd gotten plenty of sunlight and his quirk was in full effect, but he seemed to get a kick out of everyone else's reactions.

There was an obstacle course in which people could compete without their quirks, so Izuku and Kurai went head to head, with the second boy coming in first place. He did, however, point out that it wasn't really a fair contest due to his prosthetic giving him an edge in terms of physical strength.

Next, they took to the food stalls, with Izuku getting some crepes for Ochaco while Kurai picked out some candied strawberries for Mina and Eri. They offered some to Akarui as well, but he answered that he didn't want to accidentally make a mess with the chocolate and fruit, and so stuck to his liquid diet that he had been given for the day.

The boys spent a while playing with Eri, tossing a ball and letting her tag them out when she chased them. Once she had been worn out a bit, the girls took some time to braid Eri's locks with flowers, and Weiss even gave her a hairpiece that resembled a little crown to complete the look, which surprised her classmates. The entire time, Eri kept smiling, laughing, and playing like any normal child would, and the sight made those that had been involved in the work studies very happy.

It was an enlightening experience, Kurai thought, to see everything through the eyes of a child. To Eri, many of the things that he would have passed by without a second thought were so fascinating and new that she couldn't help but marvel at them. Everything was a fresh experience for her, and with Chisaki's shadow gone, she could finally begin to enjoy life itself.

There was one instance that was filled with tension, unfortunately. In the excitement of the day, the class had forgotten that while he was not a part of the festivities themselves due to the extra classes he'd been put through, Monoma was allowed to attend the event itself. As such, it was inevitable that he would run into Kurai eventually, and when he did, he seemed more unhinged than ever.

"Well, if it isn't the son of the traitor!" he cackled as soon as they locked eyes in the quad. "I see while I've been putting extra effort into my studies, you and your class have been taking it easy! Just you wait, this semester is gonna be class B's time to shine while you guys are left in the mud where you belong!" As he began to rant, the other people in attendance gave him looks of irritation and moved off, even as Izuku and Togata moved to take Eri away from what might become an ugly confrontation.

Kurai was glad that Mina was hanging out with the other girls right then, because he was pretty sure that she would have started a physical altercation with the maniac. Noticing a distinct lack of the other boy's classmates in the vicinity, Kurai finally decided to retort, "If that becomes the case, at least I'll still have friends with me in the muck. You seem to be in pretty short supply of those right now, and you're supposedly in a different league than me- even if that league seems to lack a hero license."

"Ha!" the student from class B scoffed. "People will come flocking back to my side once they realize that we are the truly superior class! I don't need a license to be better than you! Hahahahaha!"

As this was happening, Akarui typed out, *Do you want me to put his citizen's registry up for grabs on the dark web?*

"Give it a second," his brother smirked.

"Is there a problem here, Monoma?" The gruff voice of Vlad King stopped his student's cackles in his throat as he turned to look up at the angry man, who shifted his gaze toward Kurai. "Has he been giving you grief again, Hikari?"

Kurai hesitated, wondering if he should even bother with it, but then he felt Akarui's fist bump his back, and he knew what to do. Maintaining his neutral disposition, he answered in a cold tone, "Not so much grief as irritation, sir. I'd explain his actions to you, but I'm sure you witnessed enough for yourself."

"I did, but I was curious to see what you had to say about it," the blood hero groused before grabbing his student roughly by the collar, who began to protest ineffectively. "You're a solid kid, Hikari. Don't let anyone take that away from you."

"Yes, sir."

As Monoma was led away by an irritated Vlad King, Akarui asked, *Still want me to give out his info?*

"I'm tempted to say 'yes', but I'm not interested in sinking to his level."

*No worries. I'm not above that.*

"He's a UA student, so that could create security issues for the school."

*Rats.*

"Don't worry about it. He'll eventually learn his lesson and quit trying to pick on me, or he'll get dropped out of the hero course. I'm good with either."

The rest of the festival was all fun and games after that. Nejire was named the Beauty Pageant Queen, much to the collective delight of the Big Three and their peers. As the sun started to go down, the boys took Eri to see some puppet shows and try to catch a goldfish, but none of them managed to pull it off. That didn't matter, though- they were just a group of kids having fun for once.

When the time came for them to say goodbye to their guests, Izuku and Kurai stood at the main exit to see them off. "We're glad that you came today, Eri," All Might's heir said to the child, who looked a little sad that their time together was drawing to a close.

"You should be able to see her again, soon," Aizawa told them.

*Hey, I was part of the visit, too.* Akarui gave his brother an incredulous look as he added, *Are you not gonna miss me?*

"Not really, no," Kurai smirked before they bumped fists. "I'll try to visit next weekend, provided I'm still keeping up with my studies."

"If you continue to maintain your current work ethic, I'll be inclined to grant you that visit," Aizawa said. "Just don't think that you can start slacking because you've caught up on all your classes."

"Sir, no sir," Kurai answered swiftly. Turning to Togata, he then extended a hand and said, "It was good to see you again. I'm still looking forward to the return of Lemillion."

"Oh, you know it!" the older student laughed as they exchanged a firm handshake. "Okay, Eri, let's hit the road!"

"Wait, before you go!" Izuku said as he moved his hand out from behind his back. "I got a surprise for you, Eri." He held out a stick to the little girl with a bright red fruit encased in a sugar coating that made her eyes go wide with surprise and delight.

"A candy apple?!" Togata gaped. "No way, I couldn't find one anywhere!"

"We saw that the vendors weren't going to make any, so Izuku decided to make her one," Kurai chuckled as she accepted the gift from her friend. "Sweets aren't our forte in the kitchen, but Sato showed him how it goes."

"Yeah, it actually wasn't that hard to make," Izuku added as Eri bit into the treat, her face lighting up with delight as she munched on it.

"It's the best thing ever!" she chirped happily.

"All right!" Izuku grinned as he stood up straight. "I'll be sure to make them again when you come visit us! Now you have something to look forward to!"

"Mhmm!"

Kurai reached down and ruffled her hair a bit as he said, "See you soon, Eri. Let me know if Akarui is being mean while he teaches you, okay?"

"I don't think he is," she replied as she looked at the disgruntled boy in a wheelchair.

"I'm glad, but I'd still like to know if that changes, okay?"

"Okay."

Izuku laughed as he waved at Akarui while saying, "It was good to see you, too, Hikari. Let us know as soon as anything happens with your research or health."

*Sure.* Akarui looked like he was going to type out something else, but then he lowered his hands, a look of intense concentration on his face. Just as Kurai was about to ask him if he was okay, he lifted his shoulders a fraction, opened his mouth and breathed out, "Ah… Ah… I… will…win." Each word was spoken slowly, as if painful and laborious, and the tone was hoarse from disuse, but Akarui had just done the impossible.

He had spoken with his own voice, leaving his brother and the others dumbstruck. Kurai and Togata's mouths were actually hanging open, and even Aizawa took a moment to look impressed. Akarui smiled at them all again before he turned his wheelchair around and started heading toward the car that was waiting to take him and the others to the hospital.

As Togata and Eri started to follow him, Aizawa said in an undertone, "I'd call your class' concert a success. Well done." With those words, he departed without a backward glance over his shoulder.

A couple of weeks passed after the school festival, and things mostly went back to normal for the students of class 1-A. The biggest change for Kurai was that Monoma no longer spoke to him, even going so far as to avoid him whenever they came into close proximity, though he would still taunt the others at any opportunity that he had. They weren't entirely sure of what the teachers had done this time to finally get him to back off of Kurai, nor did they really care. At this point, Monoma garnered no respect from any of his peers, and while there was still a sense of rivalry between the classes, it had lost much of its hostile edge.

Two Fridays after the festival, Kurai and Mina were watching a movie when the boy got a phone call from All Might, which was odd. Normally if he wanted something from one of them, he would just wait until one of his classes and pull aside whoever it was that he needed to address. Once Mina had paused the film, Kurai picked up the phone and said, "Hello, sir?"

"Young Hikari," the man answered from the other end. "You're on speaker with both me the principal. Normally I would call you in to the office, but this shouldn't take very long."

"What shouldn't take long, sir?" Kurai asked a little nervously while Mina gripped his free hand. She could just hear the teacher, so she stayed quiet for the time being.

"The villain known as 'All For One' has offered an exchange," Principal Nezu answered somberly from the other end. "He has agreed to tell us the location of one of the bases for the League. In return, he requested a single conversation with you."

Kurai nearly dropped the phone in shock as he heard those words. His mouth dried out and his stomach clenched painfully as his hand shook. Mina started rubbing his back as she took the phone from his hand and set it on speaker before saying, "What does All For One want with Kurai?"

"Miss Ashido?" All Might asked, sounding a little startled by her presence. "Is anyone else there with you?" He knew that she and Ochaco were aware of the story behind One For All at this point, but it seemed that he was still attempting to exercise caution when discussing the ancient enemy.

"No, it's just us," she answered with a slight huff. "I'm on now because Kurai looks like he's about to crap himself, but I think he needs my original question answered."

"We're not entirely sure why All For One wishes to speak to Hikari," Nezu informed them, maintaining his calm attitude as he did. "We debated on whether or not to inform you of this development, but you are a licensed hero now, even if only on provision. It is your choice to make decisions like this when they are presented to you, but we believe that the intelligence may be worth the exchange that he has offered."

"Me, I'm against this," All Might cut in, sounding grim. "It is your call, Young Hikari, but I do not advise interacting with All For One, even with him completely locked up and unable to use his powers. He's a master manipulator, remember."

"I'm well aware," Kurai said a little shakily, finally managing to find his voice. "Hasn't it occurred to you guys that the League might have a trap ready wherever he sends your team, or whoever's going to investigate this?"

"We had Tsukauchi use his quirk to determine whether or not he was lying," Nezu replied. "After thorough questioning on his part, the detective has determined that All For One has not set a trap for us in any capacity. The fact that he withstood such scrutiny from the detective at all speaks to me about his genuine desire to speak with Hikari. Now, whether or not Shigaraki has prepared something in the meantime may be a different matter, but we will deal with that when we get to it."

"If we get to it," All Might countered. "Hikari hasn't given us his answer yet."

"The answer is 'no'!" Mina replied angrily. "I don't care what this guy is offering, he's already done enough to Kurai as it is! No offense, Principal Nezu, but you're crazy if you thought that any of this was a good idea! Right, Kurai?" When she looked at her boyfriend, her stomach dropped as she realized that he appeared thoughtful instead of resolute. "Kurai, don't tell me…"

"Can I have some time to think it over?" he asked into the phone. He still appeared to be shaken, but he was breathing a little better, and some color had returned to his face. "I need to talk this over with some of the others."

"Others?" All Might repeated, sounding nervous again. "What others?"

"Everyone in class 1-A knows that my quirk came from All For One," Kurai answered, sounding a little exasperated. Before All Might could berate him, he said, "I don't care if they know where Energon came from. They've all earned my trust, and I said nothing about yours' and Izuku's powers. I need to get their take on what I should do. I'm inclined to agree to the meeting because we might be able to strike a blow to an enemy that needs to be stopped right now and five minutes ago if possible, but I see where Mina and All Might are coming from. I have a bad habit of throwing myself into danger without considering the consequences, so I need to examine this with eyes that are as unbiased as possible."

"I understand," Nezu said peaceably. "The sooner the better, but as I have said, the choice is yours'."

"Thank you, sir," Kurai nodded, even though the animal couldn't see him.

"Like he said, Hikari, it's your choice," All Might said heavily. "But Miss Ashido… Please do what you can to talk him out of this."

"Gladly, sir," she said through slightly gritted teeth, which told Kurai that movie night had definitely just been ruined.

Once he had bid the teachers a good night and hung up the phone, he held up his hands in a surrendering motion and said, "I'm willing to be convinced that this is a bad idea."

This seemed to take out some of the fire that had been building up in her, because her posture relaxed considerably, though she still looked irritated. "If they need the info that badly, why don't they just torture it out of him?" she grumbled as she shut off the TV. "It's not like he doesn't deserve it."

"I agree with your sentiment, but the problem is that he's already in a precarious state of health as it is," Kurai replied, having been told of this alongside Izuku some time ago. "Ever since his fight with All Might six years back, we're pretty sure that he's been using some combination of a regenerative quirk and one that halts aging to stay alive. Now that he can't use his powers, he's being kept alive mostly on machines, and you can't exactly do a number on a guy like that without killing him almost immediately. The only way the heroes can get anything out of him is if he volunteers it."

"Rrgh…" the pink girl growled. "The guy just wants another opportunity to mess with you, Kurai. Don't give him anything more than he's already got on you."

Her words made him pause before he reached out and intertwined his fingers with hers' before he said, "What does he have on me anymore, Mina?"

"What do you mean?"

"My father is dead, my mom is pretty much in prison for life, and Akarui is on a pretty unforgiving timer at this point," Kurai said calmly, without any of the bitterness that usually laced his voice whenever he discussed the topic of his family's fate. "You and all my friends have already set yourselves against his machinations, so there's risk to you no matter what I do… What can the man actually even do to me anymore?"

"You and All Might both just admitted that he's a master at mind games," Mina reminded him, though she did not relinquish her hold on his hands. "He could be trying to unbalance you, just for kicks. He's done it before, and it's not like he has much else to do for entertainment- so to speak." She realized that the last part had been unnecessarily harsh, so she made an apologetic face.

"I know what you meant," he reassured her. "And you're probably right. All the same, I want to know what the others think. You and I are too close to this to see how a hero should really act in this situation, and I need an outsider's perspective on it."

"Is my advice not good enough?" Mina asked, looking hurt as she cast her eyes downward. "I thought that we were supposed to be partners in this."

Kurai reached out to lift her chin up and force her to meet his eyes before saying, "You are my partner, Mina. I am paying attention to what you're saying, believe me. My first instinct is to go and confront him, just to have the satisfaction that I could finally get something out of him, even if it costs me something painful." His face heated up as he thumped his chest where his heart was as he continued, "But you're in here, too, and I don't want to hurt you through it, especially just to be petty."

Mina's own face colored a little bit as she said, "That was so cheesy, dude. If you're trying to win me over on a 'cute' factor, it almost works, not gonna lie."

"I thought I already won you over after I fought Nomu," he chuckled as he pulled her closer. "You and me are on the same team, right? I am listening to you, but I also need to know that you'll support me, even if I do something that you don't like. You know I would do the same if it was the other way around, right?"

Mina fell quiet for a time as she sat next to Kurai against the wall, a rare expression of deep thought on her face. When it was broken, she turned to him and asked, "Why do you want to go? Don't tell me it's because of the information that we could gain, because we both know that with or without it, the heroes will do everything that they can to stop the League, and that All For One would never tell them anything too crucial to his plans. This is something that you want to do, and I need to know why."

Kurai, having somewhat expected the question, answered her, "I need to face him, Mina. Even if it's with a foot of bulletproof glass between us, even if he's on life support, even if he's powerless, I need to confront the guy that's responsible for the way my life has gone. My parents are responsible for who I am, but All For One- whether I like it or not- is responsible for what I am. If this is my chance to find out why he did what he did to me, I owe it to my circumstances to find out the truth. I…" He hesitated here, and Mina searched his gaze intently.

"Tell me," she murmured. "I promise I won't get mad."

Kurai let out a long breath before he admitted, "I also need to know if he intended for me to become an agent of evil. I do want the chance to rub it in his face and tell him that he was wrong to give me Energon, because like One For All, I will use it to destroy everything that he tried to build. After everything that he's done to me, I want to have at least one victory against him, no matter how petty it may seem to others."

"You could beat him by refusing to go at all," Mina urged him. However, she also closed her eyes and leaned on him as she added, "But I understand why you need this, too. If the others can't convince you that this is a bad idea, then I'll support you- even if I really, really don't like it."

"Thank you."

That night, Kurai gathered the people that he trusted most to help him decide what he should do; that is, Mina, Izuku, Ochaco, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Iida. Once he had laid out the situation to them, there were arguments to support both courses of action that lasted until well past midnight in Kurai's room. The other members of Team Lightning Drop worried for his mental well-being, and thus urged him not to engage with All For One at all. Izuku especially, having been in the presence of the villain, begged that Kurai refuse his request to spare himself the horror of the man's very being. On the other hand, Kirishima and Todoroki were of the opinion that if he ever truly wanted to cast off the shadow of the enemy, he needed to confront the man directly and stand firm if he had the chance. They even pointed out that what they had done in the presence of All For One to rescue Bakugo was much more dangerous than what Kurai was being asked to do.

Strangely, Iida was the quietest one out of the bunch, merely listening while the others began to recycle used arguments with different words, and Kurai tried to reign in the tempers that were starting to flare. Just when Kirishima and Izuku were about to start yelling, the class president stood up and held up his hands for silence, which the others gave him fairly readily.

"Kurai should go," he said simply, stunning the others, as they had all expected him to say just the opposite.

"Tenya… I appreciate the support, but why do you…?" Kurai was unable to form the words to ask what he was feeling right then.

"Your reasons for wanting to face All For One are good ones," his friend answered. "There is some manner of revenge to be had in your confrontation with him, but it is not an obsession that is consuming you, meaning that I believe you are prepared to maintain a level head when you meet him, unlike I did when I went after Stain. In this case, in addition to furthering the battle against the League, I think that a certain level of catharsis could be good for you, given everything that you've had to suffer from his actions. And it's not as though you will be alone in this confrontation, even if All For One cannot use his powers. I'm sure that All Might or another person capable of handling an escalated situation will be at least close by, if not actually in the room with them. You will be in as little danger as you possibly could be when confronting All for One, so if you absolutely feel compelled to do this, now is the time." Turning to address the others, he said, "We should trust in Kurai's ability to handle the situation in front of him. Thanks to your efforts, he is in a much better place than he could be right now. He can do what he needs to do."

Kurai's face lit up with a smile as he said, "Thank you, Tenya."

"Of course, Kurai."

"Does that mean that you'll go see him?" Izuku asked his friend nervously.

"…I will." His words caused half of his friends to let out sounds of distress, with Mina putting her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, but Tenya is right. I'm in as good a place as I can be for this, and it'll be in as safe a place as it could ever be. And I need to know the truth about my powers, and what he meant them to be for."

"Dammit, Iida," the pink girl groaned before she fixed a stern gaze on the class rep, who met her look unflinchingly. "If he comes back all messed up again, it's on you."

"I won't," Kurai told her and the others. "I promise that no matter what he tells me, I will come back as I am now, if not better. This does not end with me in the hospital again."

Mina shifted her eyes to rest on his before she held out her hand and said, "Pinky promise it."

"Done," he grinned as he wrapped his little finger around hers'. He knew that she was upset that the argument had not gone her way, but he was glad to see that she was holding true to her end of the bargain. As he let their hands remain as they were, he turned to his friends and added, "I appreciate all of you coming here to talk about this. I'm glad to have people like you beside me."

"You got it, man," Kirishima said with a toothy grin as he moved toward the door. "Show that bastard that you don't mess with a man's family."

"Be careful," Todoroki cautioned him as he stood up from the floor. "I agree that you need to do this to move on, but don't take All For One lightly."

"I'll be careful," he assured them as they left, Iida soon following.

"Good luck, Kurai," he said as he moved to take the lift down the hall.

The boy then turned to the other members of what would hopefully be a hero team, knowing that it was them that he was disappointing, as evidenced by their sad faces. Seeing them, he shut the door behind him and said, "Okay guys, let me have it. Tell me I'm being reckless again, that I'm not considering the well-being of those around me, whatever else I'm going to do wrong in deciding to act on this offer."

Before Izuku or Ochaco could step in, Mina stood up and said, "Our own feelings about this aside, Kurai's right about one thing. If he's ever going to face All For One, this is the best time for it to happen. I don't like it, and I'm really hoping that he'll back out at the last minute, but if this is what he's set on doing, then we need to have his back, not tear him a new one. He's not doing this to be self-destructive. He's doing it to help others, and to get answers about himself that he may never get otherwise. Izuku, you'd probably do the same if you were in his position."

"You guys weren't there that night," the green-haired boy said with a shudder. "All For One… he's not even human anymore. He's Death itself."

"If Deku is scared of this guy, you know how bad he has to be," Ochaco added worriedly. "I just can't help but feel like this is a trap."

"I know I wasn't there, but I saw his fight with All Might," Kurai reminded his friends. "I know what this guy is capable of, even now, and to be honest, it scares me. Even so, Izuku and I both knew that we would have to confront him eventually if All Might didn't defeat him. Now that he has, I refuse to allow him to have a hold on me, no matter how minute." After a second of thought, he added, "Who knows? Maybe a lingering fear of him or what he represents is what's keeping my root chakra locked up. If I can conquer my fear of him with this, then I'd say that's an added bonus."

Izuku looked down at his scarred hand for a moment before he said in an ashamed voice, "He's right. I had almost forgotten since All Might defeated him, but we had promised to take up the fight against All For One in his name if he couldn't do it himself. When you think about it like that, Kurai is just keeping up his end of the deal."

Since there wasn't a lot that Ochaco could say to that, she decided to excuse herself. Before she let herself out of the room, though, Kurai moved stand in front of her with his arms spread out a little bit. "I'm not usually big on hugging people outside of my family or Mina, but you look like you could use one right now."

Ochaco smiled weakly at that, but she did accept a brief embrace from her friend. "Thanks," she told him. "That does feel a little better."

"I'll be okay, I swear," he told her.

"You better be, or else I'll have to use some Gunhead Martial Arts on you," she half-joked before she left, Izuku close behind.

Before the quirk inheritor left, he said to his friend, "I'm sorry I forgot what my goal was supposed to be. If I hadn't, I probably would have understood what you were trying to say sooner."

Kurai immediately shook his head in the negative at that, however. "Your goal is to become the number one hero in the world, and that won't be achieved just by standing up to All For One," he told him firmly. "We may have similar ideals, but our goals are not necessarily identical. You haven't done anything wrong, Izuku." The other boy smiled at that before he shook hands with his friend and bade him good night.

As soon as he was gone, Kurai turned back toward Mina, who was looking out the window with a blank look on her face again. "Do you want to spend the night, or do you need some space?" he asked her quietly.

She sighed and said without looking at him, "Honestly? I wanna be mad at you for agreeing to go through with this whole thing, but I'm guessing that you'll get enough of that from All Might. I will support you, but right now… I wanna finish our date night like this whole thing didn't just happen."

"It's past midnight," he chuckled tiredly, even as he reached out a hand to her. "So you know I love you if I'm willing to sit through the rest of High School Musical with you right now."

Giving him a smile back, Mina grabbed his hand and hopped off of his bed as she said, "Good boy. We're sleeping in, too. It's a Saturday, so no classes."

"I actually already promised Todoroki that I would work out with him in the morning before he goes to visit his mom, so…"

"I knew it! I knew you have a side chick!"

The next morning, All Might was an unhappy man as Nezu made his call to the Tartaros prison that All For One would soon be receiving a visitor. Once the conversation was completed, he clenched his bony fists as he said, "This is insane, sir. Even without his powers, All For One should not be taken lightly! Isn't this setting a bad precedent? If we act on the Intel that he provides, and it turns out to be good, it'll just be easier for the authorities to trust him again when he tells them that he wants to make another deal! And what about young Hikari?!"

"Hikari is aware of the risks that this poses to him," Nezu answered calmly. "Honestly, I had hoped that he would refuse as well, but we are his teachers, All Might. We cannot choose the challenges that life will throw at him like we would a test based on our academic courses. We can only hope that we have prepared him well enough to handle the tribulations that are no doubt bound to befall an inheritor of All For One's powers- much like I was only able to do my part in preparing you to fight him years ago."

All Might's fists tightened again, but he only said, "I still don't like this one bit."

"Nor do I, All Might. Nor do I."

A couple of weeks, three background checks, and a lengthy interview later, Kurai found himself being driven in Detective Tsukauchi's car toward a massive off-shore prison that contained all of Japan's worst criminals. Men like the heads of the more violent yakuza families and Stain were kept within their walls. No one had ever escaped from the place, due to the presence of the high-ranking heroes that were paid to guard it in addition to a veritable army of security drones and police officers, all of whom had been thoroughly vetted before being allowed to work in the place.

Even with all the scrutiny that Kurai had been subjected to, it still took him and Tsukauchi another hour to get into the facility, due to the fact that they had to thoroughly inspect his mechanical arm for any potential jailbreak items. Once he had been determined as a non-threatening presence, he and the detective were shown to the wing and cell that had been made to hold All For One.

"You'll be separated by a wall of glass that can withstand just about any manner of physical force and can repel many attack-type quirks," the warden was explaining as they walked. "This is for both your safety and his confinement, as well as the chance that you lose your temper and try to blast him. You will stay seated in the chairs that are provided for you. You are not to give him any current news regarding the outside world. If I tell you to leave the cell, you do it. If I think that you are about to do something stupid, I can and will shoot you with a tranquilizer dart and have you ejected from the premises. Are we clear, Kai?"

As he was coming in on business, Kurai had assumed his hero identity (minus his scouter and sword), and thus had introduced himself by the appropriate name. He nodded firmly at the warden as they stopped in front of a thick door and said, "I understand, sir."

"Good," the taller man grunted as he moved to open the door. "Try to make it fast. I don't like the idea of a kid your age in there with that psychopath."

"Me neither," Kurai muttered as he allowed Tsukauchi to go in ahead of him. Into the belly of the beast, then, he thought grimly as he stepped through the entrance to confront the man responsible for ruining his life.

Kai: Wait, so was that the finale for this phase? Didn't feel like a conclusion.

Mataras: No, I said that this was 'one of' the last chapters for this arc.

Kai: Oh.

Mataras: The next chapter is Phase 3's grand finale, and man is it gonna be a doozy.

Deku: Wait, seriously?! If the third phase is coming to a close, then does that mean...?

Kai: I'll know what kind of hero I'm going to be from now on by the end of next chapter.

Mataras: Yep. For a quick recap, Phase 1 was about you overcoming the limits of your quirk, Phase 2 had you dealing with the physical trauma and limitations of your damaged body, and Phase 3 has been meant to solidify your hero identity- what it means to be Kai.

Kai: You sure you can encapsulate that into one more chapter?

Mataras: We're talking a chapter that's at least twice as long as the average one that I release for this story.

Deku: That's... gonna be a lot.

Mataras: Well, a lot's gonna happen- including something that I've been holding off on for quite some time, now.

Kai: Wait... Am I about to-?

Mataras: The final secrets of Energon will be revealed in the next chapter- Stand

Akarui: Awesome! I've been dying to learn about this one!

Kai: Here's hoping I'm not the one who dies to learn about it...

Deku: Don't say that, Kurai! Whatever comes at you next chapter, I'm sure you'll be ready to Go Beyond!

Mataras: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

The instant that he felt that he could keep his voice under control, Kurai said, "He looks like a human fried potato."

All For One smiled and said, "I have All Might to thank for that fact." His voice was powerful and charismatic, even in his damaged state. Kurai might have wondered if he wasn't using some kind of psychic quirk to make himself sound more impressive if it weren't for the fact that the man would be shot in the head by an automated turret the instant that he tried to use a quirk. It was then that Kurai further understood how the man had instilled such loyalty in his minions- it wasn't just All For One's power, which was a fearsome thing in its own right. No, this villain was charismatic, and his voice carried the tones of absolute authority in them, as if him speaking something into action would make it so. Those two factors combined with his cunning made someone that people followed not out of fear, but of a genuine loyalty to the man himself, regardless of his own personal ambition or ideals.

The others were right; even like this, he's dangerous, Kurai thought warily as he and Tsukauchi sat down in the chairs that had been provided.