Chapter 98
.::Why "Skeleton Man"?::.
"So, let me get this straight," Rogue said, hands steepled near his forehead as he regarded a sweating Kirishima and Shouji. They stood in the abandoned karaoke bar used as a previous meeting point, several of the other runaways gathered around to watch the questioning. "You two hopped on the first train this morning from Musutafu... Transferred to the proper bus an hour later to finish the ride to Odawara..."
He lowered his hands and stared into their souls. "And completely failed to notice two people following you."
"Sorry," Kirishima muttered while Shouji averted his gaze, thoroughly embarrassed. Around them several runaways just quietly smacked their foreheads in disbelief. Behind them in the back of the room, Kendo Itsuka and Iguchi Shuichi sat tied to chairs back to back with many layers of rope and duct tape.
Both had rather sour expressions as they watched the scene unfold. With the windows boarded up the main source of light were flickering candles and portable lights, giving an eerie ambience to the scene. The bulky winter coats from the cold, and the fact a few of them had cheap festival masks only added to the tense atmosphere.
"So, think we're gonna get killed by some weird cult?" the lizard man asked flatly, keeping his voice low.
"Wow, way to be an optimist, Spinner," the teenage girl muttered back with a sardonic smirk, before turning back to face the crowd with a sigh. Yep, this was definitely a new low for them.
It started when Amari-san asked Itsuka to go to the memorial garden on her behalf.
She hadn't been lying when she told those two about visiting the garden on behalf of a former classmate's mother. Amari-san had been one of the reasons Itsuka decided to move to Musutafu after graduating middle school. The woman had been a common visitor to the dojo, having practiced martial arts herself as a child before an injury forced her to quit. She and Itsuka had been particularly friendly, and kept in contact even after her visits stopped with her son's death.
So when thinking about what to do after middle school, moving to Musutafu had been one of her first thoughts. Teenagers in Japan didn't need to go to high school after all, and Itsuka didn't feel too motivated to keep going to school for various reasons. For starters, she could spend that time working to get some cash. Also, it'd free up time for her real passion:
Vigilantism.
(To be more accurate, Itsuka wanted to be a hero, but after the UA Massacre most hero schools had closed. So vigilantism it was!)
Admittedly, Musutafu might not have been the best choice for a vigilante career, since it still had a few publicly operating hero agencies. A lot of heroes had already worked in the area before UA closed, and continued to work there afterwards, especially once it essentially became a replacement Tokyo. It had a lot of options for part-time jobs though, and besides, Amari-san offered her a discounted room at the apartment building her sister owned.
Moving to Musutafu turned out to be one of the best decisions of her life, especially after meeting her shut-in neighbor, Iguchi Shuichi. It took two weeks to even realize she had a neighbor because he almost never left his apartment. Initially she'd just wanted to help him break out of his shell as a good deed, but in the end he became her vigilante partner and most trusted ally. Together, they were Battle Fist and Spinner, the protectors of Musutafu!
Hah, phrased like that, it sounds like some corny shonen manga summary. The thought popped into Itsuka's mind on more than one occasion while listening to Shuichi excitedly ramble about their exploits and growing reputation.
They couldn't be too flashy though, since again, Musutafu still had some active heroes. On more than one occasion they had to flee from some Pro Heroes, and they had to take a couple breaks until the heat cooled down. Still, it didn't bother her too much. Just stopping some petty crooks and seeing the relief on the faces of those they helped was pretty good in her book.
Also, fighting criminals helped her vent the frustration after she quit her job.
That had been the other reason she'd started visiting the garden every day. The convenience store where she worked had never been the most upright place, but the managers had become increasingly worse. The final straw came when a villain attack outside had the manager on duty abandoning her and the other poor cashier while the coward hid in the back room. Didn't even try to wait for them to get there, just ran right in and locked the door. They had to take cover behind the counter while the fight raged outside, at one point even shattering the front windows.
Needless to say, that shift ended with a nice red mark on the left half of the manager's face courtesy of her oversized palm.
So yeah, without a job and thus nothing to do during the day since they acted at night, Itsuka had a lot of free time. Originally she figured she'd just visit Amari-san and help her as she recovered from her recent hip injury (falling down a flight of stairs was no joke), but she'd instead proposed going to the memorial garden. Given Amari-san had visited every day since moving, Itsuka should have seen that coming.
She herself hadn't visited too often since moving, but... it was a nice change of pace. Peaceful and quiet, with a few regulars who'd stop by each day. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to spend hours there, just walking around and making small talk with the regulars. She got to know them pretty well, greeting many by name by the end of the first week visiting. She even managed to talk Shuichi into visiting a couple times, a major feat given his shut-in tendencies.
The mood could get somber at times, and she saw more than one person break down in grief there. After all, at the end of the day, it was a memorial for many children who died in a horrific incident. Children younger than she was now, whose futures had been cut short far too early. Overall though, the atmosphere in the garden just felt so serene and relaxed. Just the sort of change of pace she didn't know she'd needed.
And then those two showed up.
Seeing two boys her age on a Thursday, when people should be at school or work, caught her attention. One even had on a mask over his mouth, while the other covered his mouth with his scarf and pulled his hat down, as if trying to hide his face. Even so, she didn't find it too suspicious at first; it was pretty cold after all. They lingered for about an hour before leaving, and that was that.
Then they returned later that same day before sunset.
At that point, Itsuka's instincts were on high alert. People didn't visit the garden multiple times in one day. As a martial artist she had been taught to be particularly aware of her surroundings, an instinct only strengthened by her time as a vigilante. So between that and being already wary of them, it didn't take long to recognize they kept looking at the entrance, particularly when people arrived.
She knew right away their glances weren't just basic curiosity, they were clearly looking for someone specific. Plenty of people used the memorial garden as a meeting spot, but she doubted that was the case for them. Once again they stayed for an hour before leaving just a bit after sunset, Itsuka leaving soon after.
Then they came back twice the next day, still clearly looking for someone, and her suspicions only amplified. She even briefly followed them after the second visit, and saw them leaving graffiti tags in various places. When she checked one of them, she found it had some cryptic message about All Might and UA, and the name for a Tweeter account. That account only had photos of more graffiti with weird messages, adding to the mystery.
When they showed up the third day, she already had Shuichi waiting there to help. Using his appearance to make him out to be shady left a bad taste in her mouth, but "teenage girl worried about being alone due to a shady guy" was the easiest cover story they had. It gave a natural way to approach them and make small talk without diving right into "I see you here every day" and potentially raising their suspicions.
It also gave an opportunity to get a read on their characters. And the conversation that followed... wasn't what she expected.
"So they just went straight to talking strategy to fight me, huh?" Shuichi asked as they sat on a bench in a different part of the garden a few minutes later.
"They didn't want to fight, but they talked about how to get you out of there so the garden wouldn't be damaged," she confirmed with a sigh. "Once they realized no one else was around, they basically expected you to attack, so they were talking about plans to lure you away first."
She popped the tab of the soda can Shuichi had grabbed from a nearby vending machine for her, sipping it while he frowned. "Yeah, that sounds pretty decent to me. It doesn't sound like they're too shady to me. Unless you think they were trying to set up some sort of trap? Get you to trust them so they can lure you into something else later?"
"No, they were totally sincere," Itsuka refuted almost sullenly. "You should've seen the looks on their faces when they first thought you might attack here. That red-haired guy was totally horrified."
"So they at least don't have plans to pick a fight here," Shuichi summarized, crossing his arms.
"Nope," Itsuka sighed, taking another sip from the can. After she finished she frowned and added, "But that doesn't mean they won't pick a fight with whoever they're looking for outside the garden."
Those guys were looking for someone, that much was obvious. Along with how they kept staring at the entrance, those graffiti messages they left seemed to be a message of some sort. The cryptic and random content was probably meant for someone specific who'd recognize it and send a message to the Tweeter account. Someone they didn't know personally, or they wouldn't be going through all this trouble.
The question was who, and why.
Everything felt so shady. Seriously, the repeated mentions of a "skeleton man" in the Tweeter pics felt really ominous. Then there were all those photos about "it's your turn" or "you're next" and several variants of "we beat Stain" which just rang all sorts of alarms with how vague that was. Something was going on, something big, and she couldn't just turn a blind eye to it.
In that moment, she made up her mind and crumpled up the can. "I don't know if we can follow them after this without them being suspicious, but I followed them to a hotel last night. It's a pretty cheap one not too far away."
Shuichi sat up straighter at the comment, eyes shining excitedly. "We're doing a stakeout, aren't we?" he asked eagerly, and she grinned as she nodded.
"Yeah!" Their first stakeout as vigilantes. This would be big!
Hours later, they'd both regret their life decisions as they took turns fighting off boredom-induced sleep from an alleyway across from the hotel. So much for suspicious people being more active at night...
When morning came, their patience seemed to pay off though, because Shuichi nudged her awake to point out the pair exiting with backpacks. They followed the duo to the train station, where they bought tickets from an electronic kiosk. Itsuka managed to get close enough to see what they selected on the screen, and after a moment of hesitation bought two tickets for her and Shuichi.
Following them was risky, but something was going on, something spanning multiple cities. And it was their job to find out what.
Which brings us back to the present.
"How do you not notice a literal lizard man?"
The apparent leader of the mysterious shady group, a guy they called Rogue, looked utterly exasperated as he gestured to Shuichi. "I don't know!" Kirishima (not Kiriyama) whined. "We were just focused on getting back, I guess?"
"Enough to never notice you were followed," Rogue said flatly, and Kirishima winced.
Yeah, they definitely need to work on their awareness, Itsuka reflected as she watched the exchange. They'd managed to follow the pair pretty far without getting noticed. It was only after they reached Odawara and saw the two meet up with a few other people in some woods that they finally got noticed. Some pink girl dressed like a greaser (Kirishima called her Ashido?) had somehow recognized Itsuka and blurted her name, despite the fact Itsuka had never seen her before in her life.
In any event, that blew their cover pretty fast, and ended with them jumped by a lot of people. While they'd put up a fight, they were ultimately outnumbered and lost pretty fast. And now they were here, tied to chairs in an abandoned karaoke bar.
Points for creativity with the hideout, I guess...?
"They followed you on a train and bus transfer," some blond guy with a tail piped up, perfectly deadpan as he echoed Rogue's earlier comment. "They had to be following you even before you left Musutafu. I get that you're new to this, but you too, Parasyte?" He turned to shoot "Shoshi" a disapproving look, the bulky teen shrugging awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck.
"I guess I was distracted," he muttered. "I noticed the lizard one on the bus, but I didn't think it was the same person from yesterday."
"How many lizard people have pink hair?" Rogue groaned.
"Hey, that's not pink!" the pink girl who Itsuka did not know, yet who knew her, interjected with a scowl. "That's more purple than pink!"
"That might just be the lighting," said a guy with a white and blue plaid headband. "It's kinda dark in here."
"I dunno, it looked kinda pink to me when we were all outside," some floating guy said thoughtfully. "Kinda right on the edge. Dusty rose, maybe? That's 'dusty rose' in Japanese," he added, briefly shifting to English and back. "Don't know if it has a name in Japanese."
"Why do you know some foreign color?" Headband asked flatly.
"Long story involving a really weird argument about costume colors."
"Well, I still say it's more purple than pink!" Ashido huffed. "Lavender, maybe? No, wait, color's bit too red for that..."
"Are they seriously talking about my hair color?" Shuichi whispered to Itsuka in disbelief as they continued bickering.
"I think so," Itsuka muttered back, feeling just as exasperated as Rogue looked. Another blond guy stepped forward—someone had called him Kaitou if she remembered right.
"Everyone, we're getting off-topic," he announced, getting their attention. "We still have yet to identify these two, and why they followed Kirishima and Parasyte in the first place." That had everyone's attention back on them. Great.
"Don't you already know who we are?" Itsuka asked sourly, glaring at the pink girl. "I mean, you obviously know my name."
"Yeah, but I don't know this you," Ashido countered. "I don't even really know the 1-B you!" What?
"Don't," Rogue said before she could say anything else. "Just, don't. Please, we already have enough headaches." He had the look and tone of a man who regretted being born.
"Look, she knows random names, but that's it," tail guy added to Itsuka. "It's weird, and there's an even weirder story behind it that you won't believe."
"Try us," she challenged, glaring them down.
"No." "You won't." "Not worth it." "We didn't believe it." "It's pretty out there." "I still don't know if I totally believe it."
Everyone spoke up at once, making it quite clear they didn't think she'd believe them. Including at least one person who apparently didn't fully believe it themselves, though she wasn't sure who'd said that last bit. "Just assume she knows your name and nothing else," tail guy said flatly once they all quieted. "But that alone doesn't tell us anything. Not what you do, why you're here, your Quirks... And we don't know his name, either."
He side-eyed Shuichi as he spoke, and Itsuka could feel him squirm a bit. "Tch, I don't have to give you my name," he grumbled.
"And we're sure as hell not telling you about our Quirks!" Itsuka added fiercely.
"We don't need you to," Kaitou said loftily as he strolled over. He lightly tapped her shoulder, making her flinch, and he hummed as he glanced at his palms. "Oh? This is interesting." Even as he spoke his palm rapidly inflated until it was the size of his torso, making Itsuka jolt in recognition. Fuck. "Well, this is an interesting one."
"Huh, giant fists and a lizard guy," the floating guy mused, hovering on his back as he crossed his arms. "That's actually familiar. I think it was..." He then nodded and rolled to face them with a snap of his fingers. "Got it! You're the vigilantes in Musutafu, right? Battle Fist and Splinter."
Now they both jolted, because how the hell did he know them? "It's Spinner!" Shuichi sputtered indignantly.
"Ah, I see," floaty-guy said while Ashido jumped in alarm. "I'll get that fixed whenever I get back—"
"You're part of the League of Villains!" Ashido interrupted while pointing at Shuichi, and all at once everyone devolved into panicked shouts and accusations.
"He's part of what?" "Wait, he's a villain?" "He's one of them?"
Once again the voices overlapped as everyone exclaimed in shock and disbelief, making the two vigilantes flinch. "What the hell, he's not a villain!" Itsuka shouted angrily on her friend's behalf. "We're vigilantes! Are you just saying that because of his Quirk?"
"What, no!" Ashido yelped, looking horrified and offended. "I'm a mutant too! I'm saying that because Bakugou told us there was a lizard guy named Spinner who was a Stain wannabe!"
"Who the heck are Bakugou and Stain?" Shuichi demanded irritably. "I don't know either of those names! And I'm sure as hell not some wannabe!" His defense didn't seem to help much, as the arguing just continued to escalate.
Itsuka had never felt so on edge, even during a patrol; she had no idea how they'd fare if someone were to attack them now. The tail guy looked particularly angry as he took a step towards them, prompting Kaitou to stand in his path to block him. If Itsuka used her Quirk she could probably break the ropes, but they'd still be outnumbered and didn't know all of their Quirks. On that note, Kaitou's hands had returned to the normal size, but she couldn't be sure he could no longer use her Quirk.
"Wait, wasn't Spinner one of those names you had Uraraka test?" Rogue suddenly asked over the loud din, and just like that the pandemonium came to a halt.
"Yes, yes it was," Floaty guy confirmed, fairly amused. "I remember Ashido and Kaminari taking turns rambling about how he was apparently a Stain fanboy, and then Todoroki having to explain who Stain was to everyone else."
"Yeah, and he did a terrible job at it," some other guy said, which had them jumping yet again. Someone had called him Glitch earlier, but he hadn't actually talked until now. Damn, the way his voice constantly changed was even more off-putting than his glitchy appearance. "The only thing I got out of that was that he kills heroes."
That had Shuichi cringing. "And you think I'd want to be like him?" he sputtered, staring at Ashido in shock. "What the heck? We're vigilantes! We're trying to help people! The world's already screwed enough without more people trying to kill people!"
To her credit, Ashido actually looked somewhat sheepish at the rebuke. "Actually, since Uraraka-chan could say your name, you're probably not part of the League here? Since she can't talk about the Alliance and all that?"
"Can someone please explain that part at least?" Itsuka asked in exasperation. "I get you're all shady, but—"
"If anyone's shady, it's you!" Headband interrupted with a scowl. "Who follows two people across multiple prefectures?"
"Yeah, well, who visits a memorial garden multiple times in one day looking for someone, and makes a shady Tweeter account posting weird graffiti messages!" Itsuka countered. Several of the people flinched with open surprise, and she huffed as she continued, "Yeah, we looked up that account handle you plastered all over Musutafu. How can you possibly call that not shady?"
"Are you working for some skeleton man?" Shuichi blurted, which had several more people reeling in surprise.
"Skeleton man?" Rogue repeated faintly, sounding very much like he dreaded the answer as he turned to Kirishima and Parasyte.
"...We, uh, didn't want to say his name in the graffiti," Kirishima said sheepishly. "It'd be kinda alarming, y'know?"
"...Graffiti?" tail guy repeated, just as blank. There was a moment of silence, and as Itsuka took in their confused and uncomprehending expressions, she realized something: almost no one here knew about the ominous Tweeter account.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that this might not be the highly organized criminal organization she and Shuichi thought it was.
While everyone stared at Kirishima and Parasyte, they both slowly turned to Ashido. "What're you looking at me for?" she asked with a frown.
"You didn't tell anyone?" Parasyte asked.
"I wasn't hiding it! I told Kou—Rockfish!" She amended the name at the last second to an obvious codename, continuing, "He was with me when Punk-Step texted the first photo and I drew that sword around that statue!"
"I... can see him neglecting to inform anyone else," Parasyte sighed. "He isn't the most vocal individual, so I can see him assuming you would have told someone."
"Hold on, explain what you're talking about," Kaitou said. "You made a Tweeter account for... graffiti?"
"It's called 1-A_No_Dream," Shuichi piped up before anyone else could respond. "That's 'one-dash-A', and underscores between the words. The username's written with English letters." Even as he spoke several of them pulled out cell phones to type in the username.
"...Huh, it actually is just for graffiti," Headband piped up in surprise. He faltered for a second before saying absolutely deadpan, "'Ingenium can walk.' Wow. Shocker."
"Oh, that sounds like a new one!" Ashido exclaimed cheerfully before wondering aloud, "I wonder if that one's in Hosu?"
"Ashido, why is that a message?" Kirishima asked faintly, sounding very scared of the answer, and she flinched and grimaced.
"Uh, I'll explain later."
"You're next," Glitch suddenly said, somehow managing to convey a perfectly flat tone even as his voice fluctuated in pitch. "It's your turn. Help them get back to the skeleton man. Endeavor is a flaming garbage can. Endeavor was a dick at the Sports Festival."
"Why are at least two of those Endeavor messages at places I recognize from here in Odawara?" Rogue asked with a groan.
"Because it sounded like he's been a jerk to Todoroki back home," Ashido said plainly. "I guess they'll tell us the full details whenever they get back...?"
"All hail the rat lord," tail guy piped up as he stared at his phone. "All hail the dog lord. All hail the bear lord. All hail the... quokka lord? What's a quokka?"
"I don't know. We're not sure what Nedzu is, so I guess everyone just put down different options?" Ashido shrugged while Itsuka squinted at her. Nedzu. That was UA's principal. Hard to forget him after the press conferences he gave in the aftermath of the UA Massacre; clips from the one where UA announced its closure had been plastered all over news broadcasts for months.
"Who let the dominatrix referee the Sports Festival?" Headband suddenly snorted. "Is that about that Midnight lady?"
"I'm sorry, did you just say dominatrix?" Rogue asked with a flinch.
"Yes, yes he did," Kaitou confirmed as he looked at his phone. "Looks like it got posted yesterday. I for one think it is a very good question."
"Do you have a dominatrix at your school?" tail guy asked incredulously, and Ashido shrugged as she held up her hands.
"It's just Midnight-sensei! So, uh, probably," she conceded.
Kaitou sighed as he looked down at his phone. "Well, these graffiti messages are quite ominous without any proper context," he commented. "I can see why other vigilantes would get suspicious. We'd probably try to investigate it too." That had Itsuka and Shuichi more alert.
"Are you guys vigilantes too?" she asked.
"A few of us, but not all," Kaitou replied with a shrug.
"That guy goes by Lupin in the field," the floating guy piped up, and gestured to tail guy as he added, "And Lee over here goes by Whiplash." That had pretty much everyone turning to look at him sharply.
"We never told you our codenames," tail guy (Lee) said with narrowed eyes.
"You don't need to. The folks at Nighteye's agency keep eyes out for vigilantes who could be potential recruits. I've analyzed enough security videos to recognize you two even without your costumes. How do you think I recognized those two?" He gestured to Itsuka and Shuichi at the last bit.
"Wait, isn't Sir Nighteye All Might's old sidekick?" she asked, and felt Shuichi jolt.
"Wait, does that mean you're all working for heroes?" he yelped.
"No, just him," Ashido grumbled with a scowl. "He stalked me and Kiri all the way here when we left Kamino."
"The last part is true, but I don't actually work for him," the floating guy added nonchalantly. "Can't really hire a literal ghost after all."
Thump.
Everyone turned as Shuichi's chair tipped over onto its side. Itsuka could twist her head just enough to see his eyes bulging as he tried to lift his head so he could look at Mail. "Ghost?" he yelped. "You're a ghost?"
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean that literally," Itsuka muttered with a sigh. Seriously, it was probably just some ghost-like Quirk—
"He does," half the room responded in varying degrees of annoyance, much to her surprise. Kaitou continued, "I still don't fully believe it's not just a Quirk."
"I mean, technically it is," floating guy said, still amused. He floated over and lowered to "touch" the floor, straightening out of his slouch to give a small bow as he added, "Mail, at your service. Been dead for sixteen years now, and stuck on this mortal plane ever since."
Itsuka just stared at him in shock, her brain short-circuiting. What? He was actually dead? "He says his Quirk stayed active after he died and keeps him stuck here," Lee added for their benefit. "We're still not entirely sure how true that is or what it does, but at this point I'm starting to believe him."
Kaitou faltered and spun to face him, looking utterly stunned. "Wait, you are?"
"I've been stuck on babysitting duty the past two days," Lee said with a shrug. "We've had a lot of time to talk, and it's been kind of, uh..."
"An existential nightmare?" Mail supplied helpfully.
"Yes." Surprisingly both Lee and Glitch responded, the latter adding, "I've been stuck listening too since I have to be nearby for my Quirk to work. If he's telling the truth, then just think about everything he's said so far about how it works."
"The more you think about it, the more disturbing it gets," Lee said with a grimace. "Not sure I'd wish it on my worst enemy. Seems like hell on earth."
"Karma catches up with everyone," Mail mused, reclining on his back again with arms folded behind his head and legs crossed. "Given the stuff I did when I was alive, I'd say this is a pretty even trade-off. But hey, at least I get to see some of my siblings actually become semi-normal members of society."
There were many ominous implications to that statement, and Itsuka had no idea where or how to begin unpacking it. "So then, why are you here?" she finally asked. "How are any of you guys connected? Because it's pretty obvious you're not on the same page about anything."
"Is there even a skeleton man?" Shuichi added, still on the floor.
"Good question," Rogue said tiredly as he turned to Ashido, Kirishima and Parasyte. "Why skeleton man? Just... why skeleton man?"
"Because that seemed like the best way to describe that person without naming him," Parasyte answered with a shrug. "Kirishima already said that. He did look like a skeleton in my dream, too."
"That is still so weird and hard to imagine," Lee muttered.
"Yeah, took a while to get used to that," Ashido agreed with a light shrug.
"That still tells us absolutely nothing," Itsuka interjected flatly before they could go on another tangent. "Also, could someone please get Spinner off the floor?" The group glanced at them, Shuichi wiggling his feet for emphasis, and Lee and the headband kid stepped over to help pick up the chair. Once they'd righted him they went to a corner of the room to join the others in a huddle, talking in hushed voices too quiet for the vigilantes to really hear.
"Okay, so is them having a meeting good or bad?" Shuichi whispered.
"I have no idea," Itsuka whispered back. "I don't think we're going to get killed at least, so hooray for that...?"
"Yay," Shuichi said with absolutely zero enthusiasm, making her quietly snort. "At least it's not some giant organized crime ring like we thought, I guess. Still have zero idea on what's going on though. Do you?"
"Not a clue," Itsuka sighed, just as the group broke their huddle. Rogue stepped forward, further cementing her initial read on him as the unofficial leader of this group.
"Alright, we'll tell you some of it, but we won't give you all the details because frankly, you won't believe most of it," he said bluntly. "We only believe it because we had multiple people we already knew vouch for everything. Also, this whole situation is incredibly dangerous for literally everyone involved," he added gravely. "Once we tell you, there's no backing out at all on your parts. So say the word now, and we'll let you g,o and we all just pretend this whole thing never happened."
Well that was ominous. "Then why risk telling us anything at all?" Itsuka asked suspiciously.
"Because we kinda need all the help we can get, and every option helps," Kirishima said sheepishly.
"Yeah, if you guys are vigilantes, you're probably more experienced than most people we know," Ashido added with a nod. "I mean, you guys did manage to follow Kiri and Shouji all the way here! That's gotta count for something, right?"
"Besides, he's probably going to tell the heroes everything he knows about us and you once he figures figures out how to get back to Nighteye," Kaitou added with a sigh and a brief glare towards Mail, who just shamelessly shrugged.
"Only after I get home. Until then, I'm just enjoying the show and rooting for you guys. Although, if you told me some more details about the situation with Midoriya—"
"No," half the room chorused, not letting him finish.
"Well, I tried." Mail shrugged, apparently unbothered by the instant rejection.
"Midoriya?" Shuichi repeated inquisitively, bringing their attention back to him and Itsuka.
"Alright, we'll get right into it," Rogue sighed. "Have you heard of a group called the Villain Alliance?"
Many people wanted more Kendo. I did too. And I also need a getaway driver for the escape plan, and Spinner did a pretty good job for a guy who learned to drive from video games.
Thanks for your patience last week! I've decided my original plan for Chapter 100 unfortunately will NOT work out. But luckily I have another option I think you guys will either enjoy or hate. Or both! Either way, progress will be made. On that note: only two weeks left! The fan art contest is still open until then!
Question for next time: Why the heck is Spinner called Spinner? I actually have no idea on his name's origin. I'm open to both silly answers and serious ones, I just want to know WHY.