Chapter 20
.::Small Revelations::.

"Almost done?"

"Almost," Ochaco called back weakly, tugging on a new shirt. She grimaced as she did so, finding it just a bit too snug to feel comfortable wearing around a notorious villain, but she had no choice. It had taken five minutes to reach the abandoned office building Dabi had set up camp in, and by that time her original outfit had been thoroughly drenched. Not even the contents of her backpack had been safe, the rain seeping through the fabric to leave most of the clothes cold and damp. This shirt had just been the driest thing left.

Lesson learned, buy a raincoat, she thought sullenly as she turned to face the door. ...I really don't want to go out there. Knowing that Dabi was waiting outside for her to open the door really put a damper on her mood.

Honestly, she still couldn't believe she'd actually followed him after hearing his name. She'd never seen him, but everyone knew that the guy with the fire Quirk named Dabi had been the one to kidnap Bakugou during the training camp. He was beyond bad news, he was one of the most dangerous villains of all. Ochaco felt on edge just being in the same building as him.

But what else could she do? She needed shelter, and more importantly she needed to find Deku. Terrifying as he was, this guy was her best lead.

Lightly slapping her cheeks, Ochaco steeled her nerves and opened the door. She stepped outside and found Dabi in front of a makeshift clothesline made from a rope strung between two columns, hanging up his coat next to her still-dripping clothing. He wore just a long-sleeved shirt now, the sleeves slipping down his arms as he stretched them upwards to expose more of the hideous purple scarring along the full length of his arms.

She had to fight not to stare at them as he glanced back at her, arching an eyebrow. "No glasses or stickers?" he commented, and Ochaco groaned while burying her face in her hands.

"It's not worth it," she whined. The glasses' lenses had been covered in rain droplets, and her attempts to wipe it off just left large smudges that made everything look blurry. Meanwhile, her face had been too wet to get the stickers and bandages to, well, stick. She'd had to use one of her other shirts to dry herself off since she hadn't thought to buy a towel, and given it had already been damp too it didn't really help much.

Dabi just chuckled, turning back to snap a clip over the sleeve of his coat. "Yeah, figured as much. Points for the disguise though, most people don't think that far ahead." Ochaco just nodded awkwardly, still highly wary of the man. He didn't recognize her, did he? "By the way, smart call avoiding that car earlier. Could've gotten kidnapped."

Ochaco almost startled at his words, reminding her that he'd said the exact same thing before it started to rain. "What!? But—but that was a police cruiser!"

Dabi actually snorted at that, turning to face her fully. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it was real. Some crooks have been patrolling the streets around here to look for runaways and other easy targets." Ochaco stared at him in disbelief.

"But—seriously?" she asked. "I mean, aren't you more suspicious?"

"Yes I am," Dabi replied with an air of amusement. "And yet you followed me anyway." Ochaco just glared at him while he rolled his eyes. "Think for a second though. That area's really rough, and yet there was police cruiser rolling around every few minutes. Doesn't that seem weird to you?"

Ochaco felt her glare wilt a bit at that, giving way to a contemplative frown. Now that he mentioned it, it did seem strange she'd seen the police cruiser three times in the span of a few hours. Usually police didn't bother spending so much time in rundown areas like that because petty crime was basically a given. Villains usually didn't even bother going to those sorts of areas outside of networking or hiding, if only because there usually wasn't anything worth stealing or targeting there.

Dabi could obviously see the gears turning in her head, and smirked knowingly. "No police officers would bother patrolling this part of town that often. It's just a ruse by some crooks to make it easier to lower people's guards and get them into the cars. It only started up recently, once the actual police catch on they'll take care of it."

"If you know this, then why haven't you called the police?" Ochaco challenged with a frown.

"Already did," Dabi replied without missing a beat, and she nearly stumbled. Wait, what? Seeing her disbelieving look, he rolled his eyes and added, "Let's just say I've had some encounters with traffickers in the past and I'd rather not have any repeats." Ochaco remained silent at the bitter edge to his tone, her disbelief giving way to something more somber. Somehow, this dimension just kept getting worse.

She averted her eyes with a frown, looking out the broken windows. Through the gaps in the boards she could see the rain pounding hard and heavy, the rhythmic thumps on the walls only adding to the melancholic mood. Is Dabi even a villain here? she wondered distantly. She had absolutely no idea of the man's motives in her native world, hadn't even known his face until now. With all the differences, he might not have reason to turn to villainy in this one.

A flicker of light drew her gaze back to him, turning her head to see him use a lighter to ignite a rag he tossed onto a pile of scrap wood. He'd arranged a makeshift indoor fireplace in the center of the room using stones and the bottom half of what had probably been an oil drum, safely containing the fire. As she watched he sat on a backless bench with ratty leather cushions, probably salvaged from the lobby, and nodded at her as he picked up a fireplace poker.

"Take a seat, kid," he said. "Might as well get warm." Ochaco nodded slowly as she walked over, sitting on another chair with dirty off-white fabric also likely salvaged from the lobby or some other waiting room. It felt weird to sit around a fire on rundown office furniture like this. She fiddled with her thumbs as she stared at the blaze, Dabi pushing around the wood with the poker to spread the flames. "So, what's a girl like you doing on the streets, anyway?"

She bit her lip, stubbornly avoiding looking at him. "Does it really matter?" she muttered.

"Probably not," Dabi agreed. "But it's weird to see a kid your age on the streets alone. Is it a crime to be worried?"

"Are you really worried?" she asked under her breath, still naturally cautious.

"A bit, yeah. Blame the brotherly instinct, you look like you're my brother's age." That got her attention, finally looking at him in wide-eyed surprise.

"You have a brother?" she asked, and he nodded with a faint smirk.

"Yep. Actually I've got two, but the other one's in college and we're not really in touch anymore." He set down the poker and leaned back a bit, eying her from the corner of his eye. "Speaking of, have you seen any kids with black hair and an eye patch running around? About your age, a little taller than you?"

Ochaco frowned and shook head. "No, I haven't. Sorry." Biting her lip, she decided to take a chance and pressed, "Did—did he go missing?"

Dabi gave a half-laugh at that, the scar around his lower jaw pulling upwards as his smirk grew. "Little over a week ago we woke up, and he suddenly just iced me over and ran off."

"Iced you over...?"

"Have you ever been trapped in a miniature iceberg?" Dabi deadpanned, and Ochaco blinked, her thoughts flitting back to Todoroki and Sero's match at the Sports Festival. A shiver ran down her spine, for once not from fear but just from how cold that glacier had felt even from the stands.

"No, but it sounds cold."

"Believe me, it's even worse when you have scars like this," Dabi drawled, sounding faintly amused as he tapped his cheek. His smirk then fell as he sighed, hunching forward with his arms resting on his knees. "Been trying to find him ever since, but no luck so far. Kinda a long shot you'd know him, but worth a try."

The villain sounded tired, not to the level Aizawa-sensei usually did but still enough to tug at Ochaco's heartstrings. Under his casual demeanor he really was worried, she could tell it wasn't an act to get her to lower her guard or sympathize with him. "Do you have any idea why he suddenly ran away?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"Not a clue. When I say we woke up and he suddenly iced me over, I mean suddenly. I wasn't even awake thirty seconds, hell probably not even ten, and then I was trapped in an iceberg and the brat took off running. By the time I managed to come to my senses and melt the ice, he was gone." He reached into the pocket of his jeans to pull out a phone, scowling at it as he added, "And to make it more annoying, the brat's been ignoring my calls. I know he still has his phone and doesn't always turn it off, but he's not answering."

"Have you tried texting him?" she suggested, and Dabi shook his head.

"No way. Text leaves an even easier trail to trace than phone calls." He glanced at her almost speculatively, adding, "Any chance you have a phone?"

Now it was Ochaco's turn to shake her head. "Sorry, I left it behind. I only left yesterday, and I haven't gotten another one yet." The ease she admitted it caught herself by surprise, not expecting to be so open. What happened to being careful!? Judging by the way Dabi straightened her response caught his interest, his blue eyes sparking intently in the firelight.

"That recent?" he mused. "With the way you're dressed, I figured you'd been on the streets a bit longer."

"I raided a lot of thrift stores for clothes," Ochaco admitted, her shoulders drooping tiredly. "I wanted to make sure I looked as different as possible. The only thing I kept are my shoes and a water bottle."

"Think you'll have a lot of people looking for you?" Dabi asked, and when Ochaco remained silent he huffed and rolled his shoulders in a loose shrug. "Eh, don't feel pressured to answer that. Like I said earlier, you've done a pretty good job with the disguise so you probably don't have to worry about that at least. But that said," he added, that intense gleam returning to his eyes, "why did you run away?"

Once again she bit her lip, hesitating to answer. She knew she shouldn't be so open with him, he was a villain in her world and a stranger at best in this one. She had no idea of his motives, and less than zero reason to trust him. But he was also a member of the League of Villains in her world, and might be her best lead to find Deku yet. That lone thought made her hands clench into fists atop her lap, her resolve settled.

"I'm... looking for a friend," she started slowly. "His name's Midoriya Izuku, but I call him Deku." She glanced at him as she spoke, searching for any recognition of his name—either name. But Dabi just inclined his head slightly as if to silently tell her to go on. Her heart fell a bit as her gaze returned to the fire, realizing he didn't know Deku. The chances of Dabi being able to help lowered drastically, but she still pushed on anyway.

"We hadn't seen each other in a while, but a couple of days ago I suddenly saw him while I was out shopping. And at first I was so excited," she admitted, a small smile playing across her lips. "We're so close, he's one of my best friends. But then I tried to get his phone number, and he suddenly started acting all cagey and kept saying no. And then..." She trailed off here, frowning as she glanced at him. "Do you know Shigaraki Tomura?"

That one he recognized, the man sitting straighter and his eyes narrowing. "You mean the leader of the Villain Alliance?" he asked lowly, and Ochaco had to fight to not show her surprise. Villain Alliance, huh?

"Y-yeah, I guess so," she confirmed weakly. "I don't know for sure, but... He came up to us, a-and said he was... he was Deku's brother." She frowned, turning back to the fire as she pulled her knees to her chest. Just remembering that brief encounter, even if she hadn't known the danger at the time, left her feeling chilled. "And I know they're not blood related, that he's an only child, but Deku called him Tomu-nii. They left pretty soon after that, and I didn't realize who it was until later."

She paused then, not sure where to go from there. "When I got home," she said after a few seconds, much quieter than before, "I found an article saying that Deku's parents died a long time ago. He ran away after that, and they never found him. I can't help but think if the Le—the, the Alliance, took him, for... some reason."

After that she fell silent, no longer knowing what else to say. Dabi didn't say anything right away, only the crackling of flames filling the silence. "...Shit," he finally said, and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "Yeah, no, this is way above my pay grade. But are you seriously looking for this kid even knowing all that?"

"He's my friend," Ochaco defended with a frown. "I'm not going to leave him alone!"

"You realize you'll probably be recruited as a villain though, right?" Dabi countered, meeting her eyes with an icy gaze at sharp contrast with his fiery Quirk. "I don't know what kind of Quirk you got, but if it's anything remotely useful the Alliance will snap you up."

His words made Ochaco's breath catch for a moment, giving voice to the thoughts she hadn't dared dwell on too much, and her mouth pressed into a thin line. "I know that, but I don't care," she declared, meeting his gaze with a steely resolve of her own. "If it means I can help Deku, I'll do anything."

For several long seconds neither of them spoke, just matching each other's gazes with steely looks. Ochaco could see Dabi searching her but didn't falter, almost glaring back at him in challenge. After a long time he finally sighed, breaking the one-sided staring contest as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm gonna regret this," he muttered, making her perk up, and before she could ask what he meant he met her gaze once more. "Nabu."

"H-huh?"

"Nabu," he repeated. "In Shizuoka prefecture, right by the border to the Kanagawa prefecture. I don't know where they are, but that's where the Alliance has their main headquarters."

Ochaco sat up ramrod straight at that, her eyes widening. "What? How do you know that?"

"I've got a friend tied to the Alliance. Not a full member, but close enough." Dabi shrugged, turning back to the fire while Ochaco sat even straighter.

"You know someone in the Alliance?" she pressed, leaning forward. "Who? What are they like?"

"Doesn't matter," Dabi replied sharply, and she immediately cut off any further questions, instead remaining silent as he continued. "I was thinking of heading out there to see if my brother headed there, or at least maybe get some help looking for him. It shouldn't take more than a couple hours by train to reach it. You can probably catch one when there's a break in the storm and get there before sunset."

Ochaco listened intently, slowly sinking back into her chair. "Nabu, huh," she murmured to herself. Even without researching the League (or, Alliance, apparently), she knew the police wouldn't have any idea where they were based. Nabu wasn't a major city by any means; she'd only heard of it in passing from one of her middle school classmates who'd moved from there. Hardly the kind of place you'd expect a major villain organization to set up headquarters.

Hands curling into fists, she raised her head to look at him. "Thank you," she said as sincerely as possible, and he snorted.

"Don't thank me. You have no idea what you're walking into."

I probably know more than you think, she thought, mind flitting to her class's numerous close calls with the League, but she kept the remark to herself. "Um, can you tell me about your brother?" she asked instead. "You've helped me so much, I can at least keep an eye out for him."

Dabi huffed, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "Not much to say. Kid's pretty quiet, real awkward if you talk to him. We've been calling him Tatsuo, but doubt he'd keep using it. Knowing him, he's probably going by Yuki or something ice- or snow-related like that. Brat never was too good at coming up with names."

Ochaco felt her own mouth quirk into a small smile at the fond exasperation in his tone. She could tell he really cared about his brother, she could see it in that faint smile, so oddly gentle in contrast to his ragged-looking face. At the same time she felt a small pang of grief for him though. She couldn't help but wonder what his brother was up to in her own dimension, and if maybe his absence had to do with his motivation for joining the League of Villains.

For everything wrong with this world, maybe some details were better after all.

While walking around Odawara in search of the runaways, Shouto learned many things about Naota.

The boy was nine years old, and had a Quirk which gave him feline characteristics—specifically, cat ears and a tail. According to Naota that was the main extent of his Quirk though, and that they gave him no particular advantages. He didn't have claws or enhanced reflexes, or an enhanced sense of smell or anything like that.

If anything, his Quirk actually proved more problematic than helpful. His cat ears did give him more sensitive hearing, which made him more prone to sensory overload and couldn't be blocked with headphones due to their shape. Finding clothing that accommodated his tail also proved troublesome, since while stores did provide clothing for a variety of body types and Quirks, tails were actually somewhat rare in their society and had enough variation to require specific tailoring. Meanwhile, he had all the dietary restrictions of a cat, so he had to be careful about what he ate.

The largest problem though?

People found his cat traits cute, which seemed to cause only more problems.

"I remember people always offering me candy and stuff," the little boy told him gloomily, his hood pulled over his ears and eyes trained on his feet. "The teachers told us about stranger danger and stuff so I never took any, but it happened to me way more than other kids. Other people would say how cute my ears looked. And towards the end, sometimes people would even just—pick me up and run."

"In broad daylight?" Shouto asked in surprise, and Naota nodded almost vigorously as he looked up at him.

"Yeah! Like, I'd be walking to school, and then some random guy would just grab me and run away! I always kicked and screamed a lot so people would come and help, but this one time no one did. I only got away because I managed to bite his arm and make him drop me, and then I ran!" His mismatched eyes had a fire in them, a glimmer of pride in his ability to escape, but Shouto still found himself frowning.

"Why didn't your mother walk you to school then?" he asked, and the boy flinched and looked away, ears visibly drooping beneath his hood.

"Momma did a couple times, but she said it was annoying and she had to go to work. She and dad had to spend a lot of money to get me special clothes and food so I just tried not to be too much trouble. All the police reports took up so much time, too..."

At this point Shouto didn't like the picture Naota painted of his parents. He only had experience with Endeavor, and he certainly didn't like the man, but for all his faults he had cared a good deal about their safety. One particularly powerful memory had been when he got them together shortly after his seventh birthday, so he could drill the warning signs of human traffickers into all of his children.

"You might not all become heroes," he had told them, gazing at Fuyumi and Natsuo in particular, "but there are some criminals who are far more heinous than any I will ever encounter on a patrol, and who will never dare show themselves in front of a Pro Hero like myself. If you're lucky you will never encounter these sorts of people, but if you do, you need to know what to look out for."

The warning had stuck with them all, and after that Shouto had made a point to always be just a little more wary of strangers who seemed suspiciously nice and friendly. He didn't get left alone in public often, but now and then he would be briefly separated from his father or siblings while running errands. During that time he never approached strangers, always working to find his family as fast as possible.

One of his happier childhood memories had been a celebratory dinner one night after Natsuo had stopped a little girl from following a stranger, complete with his brother's favorite cake for dessert. He remembered Natsuo had even been flustered by the attention and claimed it wasn't a big deal, but Endeavor had countered that he'd saved a little girl from death or even something worse. "Any life saved is worth celebrating," he'd said gruffly, one of the more surprisingly positive values Shouto could recall.

Really, for all his complaints about the man's parenting, Shouto couldn't deny that Endeavor was still a good hero and made sure to encourage heroic behavior from all his children. (The cynical part of his mind pointed out it was probably more to encourage Shouto, as if to say, "See, if your siblings can do this much, imagine what you can do," but he quickly silenced it.)

He pushed the memory away for now, refocusing on Naota. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but his story matched all the warning signs of human traffickers Endeavor had drilled into them. It made him feel uncomfortable to consider, but it made sense. "How did you end up here?" he asked, and to his surprise Naota suddenly brightened, his ears perking beneath the fabric of his hood as he stood straighter.

"Aya-nee brought me here!" he replied happily, almost bouncing on his feet as he beamed at Shouto. "This guy tried to pick me up and run away like always, but then Aya-nee showed up and flew at him with this jump-kick like, wham! Pow! He just went down! And so then she took me home, and after talking to momma and dad, they said I could go with her! And so then she brought me here, and I've been living with everyone else ever since!"

"I see," Shouto hummed, mentally applauding this "Aya-nee" for her actions while condemning the boy's parents. No good parent would ever hand over their child to a complete stranger. It was incredibly lucky she was a good person. "Will I get to meet this Aya-nee later?"

At that Naota deflated, though he looked just sad as opposed to downright miserable like before. "No, she doesn't actually live here. She says her job is too dangerous to come here much. I haven't actually seen her since then..." Shouto frowned again, but before he could press for more information Naota perked up and added, "But it's okay, because I have a bunch of other really awesome brothers and sisters now!"

"I see," Shouto said with a slow nod. The fact that Naota hadn't actually seen this "Aya-nee" since then did ring some alarm bells, especially since she apparently had a "dangerous job" Naota didn't know, but the runaway network itself didn't seem to be a threat. He had to admit, this had to be one of the better possible outcomes for the boy given he'd left with a stranger.

Still, this was another point against telling the runaways about his situation. It reminded him he had no idea who was connected to their little network. For all he knew it could be a front for a trafficking ring, slowly gathering up runaways in one location to make it that much easier to snatch them up when the time came. Actually, he should probably mention that possibility to one of the older members the next time they met just to be safe.

Hopefully that would happen soon. He'd noticed some birds had begun following them a while back, and while he'd been a bit wary of jumping to conclusions it had been going on long enough he believed it must be intentional. It had already been close to two hours since they started looking after all; by now Naota's absence must have been noticed and it made sense that they'd have Kouda use his Quirk to look for him.

Sure enough, Shouto could hear someone jog their way from the left—the side with the eye patch, annoyingly—and turned to greet them. He paused though, because while he did see Kouda approaching, he did not see Shiozaki's increasingly familiar head of green vines. Instead he saw a blond teenage boy with blue-gray eyes—a very familiar boy.

"Naota, there you are," he called, and Naota's ears perked up, head turning to face the newcomers with a bright smile.

"Nei-nii!" he called, and pulled his hand free from Shouto's to rush over to the pair. Shouto watched the boy all but tackle the blond in a hug with a cool gaze, feeling an almost reflexive sort of wariness towards him. While he still did not know all of Class 1-B's members, Monoma Neito had left a far stronger impression than most with his constant challenges and taunts towards his class.

He had his usual smug-looking smile as he returned Naota's hug, one arm wrapping around his back while the other patted his head. "There you are. You really worried us when you didn't come back." As he spoke Kouda walked over and bent next to him, at which point Naota peeled himself away from Monoma to tackle him in another hug. Kouda murmured something too quiet for Shouto to hear, and Naota pressed himself even closer.

"I'm sorry, but Masa-nii's mom showed up and he told me to run and..." Naota mumbled a rambled summary of how he'd ended up with Shouto, voice slightly muffled by Kouda's sweatshirt. Shouto didn't really pay attention, his focus quickly turning to Monoma as the other teen approached him, making him tense minutely.

"You're Yuki-san, correct?" he asked, his tone as grand and magnanimous as always even as he kept his voice soft. "Maria and Rockfish told us all about you. Thank you for helping Naota-kun, we were quite worried when he and Namo didn't come back." Shouto remained on edge for a moment, waiting for some snarky comment about how he could do better or something else of the sort. When no such remark came though, he felt a bit of confusion and only raised his guard further.

"It was no problem," he replied with a short nod. "I had nothing else to do today, and he seemed worried." Almost as an afterthought, he asked, "The other person he was with... Namo, I think you said? Is he okay? Naota said he saw his mother and told him to run...?"

At that Monoma sighed, folding his arms with a small frown. "Unfortunately, it seems his mother found him, or so Rockfish has heard. Namo, like many of us, ran away to protect his family because his Quirk got a lot of attention from both heroes and villains, but his family didn't agree with his decision. His parents never stopped searching, regardless of the risk it posed to them."

"I take it that's common?" Shouto asked. If he ever ran away Endeavor would definitely look for him, though maybe not for the same reasons Namo's parents did. Monoma nodded, turning back to him.

"A large majority of us chose to run away to protect our families, yes. Why? Is your reason for being here different?" He cocked his head to the side ever so slightly, a sly sort of glint in his eye as he commented, "I mean, I suppose they must be since you're searching for Gentle Criminal."

Shouto could almost feel his emotions shutter at the sly dig for information, his face smoothing into a blank mask as he met Monoma's gaze squarely. "My reasons for running away are none of your business," he intoned flatly. "The same applies to my search for him. Besides, I'm more interested in his partner Phantom Shadow."

Monoma hummed, eying him for a moment longer before finally shrugging. "I guess you are correct about that," he allowed, and Shouto blinked in surprise, expecting a more confrontational response. The blond then smiled again, extending a hand. "Forgive my rudeness, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Kaitou, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Shouto stared at his outstretched hand dumbly for a moment, trying to figure out his angle. This version of Monoma seemed oddly polite compared to what he was used to, and it was starting to really confuse him. Why wasn't he ranting at him about the superiority of Class 1-B—

Oh, wait. That's why. He and Monoma did not presently attend UA in this world, so of course Monoma didn't have the one-sided class rivalry fueling his actions. To him, Shouto was just another random homeless runaway who had helped watch over one of the kids.

Relaxing a bit now that he finally understood the boy's strange behavior, he nodded and shook his extended hand. "It's nice to meet you too," he replied, trying to cover up his awkwardness. Monoma just smiled pleasantly as they released their grips, glancing at his palm briefly.

"I see," he hummed to himself, and something about it sent a chill of foreboding down Shouto's spine. Monoma's hand soon fell to his side, meeting his gaze once more. "I look forward to working with you, Yuki-san."

"...Likewise," Shouto responded after a moment, suddenly feeling wary and on edge again. Something told him he just made a big mistake, but he didn't know why.

Hizashi opened the door to the recording booth with a sigh as pop music streamed over the speakers, his shoulders sagging tiredly. The room outside the booth was empty save for the lead audio engineer at the soundboard and Nemuri, his fellow hero draped over an armchair in the back of the room with her phone. "We've got about five minutes before this set finishes and I sign off," he told her bluntly. "Do you want to go over it here, or go somewhere else?"

"Somewhere else will be best, I think," Nemuri sighed after a moment's thought. "I need some more detailed input this time, preferably without listening ears. No offense, Masuda."

"None taken," the sound engineer replied smoothly. "I don't want to hear about hero business anyway."

"Smart man," Hizashi snorted, and ducked back inside the recording booth with a sigh. He dropped back into his seat and pulled the bulky headphones back over his head, letting them rest loosely around his neck for the moment as he distantly listened to the last song of the current set.

Today had been long, longer than usual. The studio had asked him to record some extra broadcasts in advance for the upcoming holidays, wanting to air episodes every week day in December instead of just three times a week. He'd still do those three slots live, but it was easier to record the rest in advance. After today's session he'd need to take it easy and rest his throat. Good thing he'd recorded today's broadcast, too.

After this, it would be straight to work with Nemuri. They'd enlisted help from Sir Nighteye and one of his sidekicks to scour Uraraka Ochaco's phone and laptop for any evidence the second they got their hands on them. The girl's decision to run away weighed heavily on Nemuri, having become quite attached to her during her time as Suimin. It had been so encouraging to see even one of their colleagues return to teaching, and though they hadn't met her, her abrupt disappearance left a heavy gash in all of the former UA faculty's hearts. If Shouta were there—

No. Hizashi banished the thought before it could fully form, shoving down the ugly ball of grief and anxiety that always accompanied thoughts of his best friend. The song was coming to an end, and he pulled the headphones back over his ears, letting the beat finish before taking a breath.

"That's it for today's show, everyone!" he announced, characteristic smile plastered on like usual. "Thanks for tuning in, and remember to Put Your Hands Up! I'll be back on air tomorrow!" He leaned closer, his smile dimming just slightly as he finished, "And, last but not least, to my favorite listener. I don't know where you are or what you're up to, but I hope today's been a little better than the rest. I hope I'll see you soon."

The recording light switched off, and he removed his headphones for the last time.

So much in this chapter! In this AU if it wasn't already obvious, Dabi is 100% Todoroki Touya. The recent manga arcs heavily imply this to be the case anyway, to the point I'll be legitimately surprised if it isn't the case. In any event Ochaco has yet to make the connection. It's a pretty big leap to assume a villain is the older brother of one of your friends and also the son of the Number 1/2 Hero, and she has no idea of the Todoroki Family Drama.

On that note, a little glimpse at a peaceful dinner in the Todoroki house. I've mentioned before that I fully acknowledge Endeavor was abusive, but I also don't like people villifying him in every single aspect of his life. The man's a pretty good hero or he wouldn't have gotten to be Number 2 no matter how strong he is, and I can see him instilling those values in all of his children even if he didn't expect them to be his successors. Whether the dinner was to genuinely reward Natsuo or try to encourage Shouto to try harder, I'll leave to you to decide. (For the record, Touya would be "dead" by the time the dinner happened.)

Also: hi Monoma! A lot of people figured he'd be targeted for his Quirk, and you're all absolutely right! Kaitou is a reference to his Hero Name, "Phantom Thief", since Kaitou is a direct translation to that. It also happens to be a regular name too, hence why he can get away with using it. Now if only Todoroki could remember his Quirk. Pretty sure he never actually saw Monoma use it in the Sports Festival since Monoma used it mainly against Bakugou's team, and during the training camp I don't think ever worked together.

Question for next time: do you think Sir Nighteye's team found anything?