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Chapter 128

.::Falling Into Place::.

"This is wrong."

Everything... was strange.

Izuku sat on the bed staring at the wall blankly, mind largely blank. For a while everything had been white, but then the white slowly faded away and awareness returned. Consciousness felt hazy, dreamlike in a way, not fully there, but still there enough that he didn't want to think.

The room felt even more unfamiliar than before, and yet not, just slightly, slightly off. Every time he looked around, he was filled with just... nauseating déjà vu. Like he knew it, but he didn't. Some of it distantly, distantly familiar, but not to him. Or even to other-him. It was just there, but he didn't know it, not completely.

Why... did he feel like this? What happened?

"Why? Why does he keep having to run into obstacles every time he makes progress?"

"The other times would have been bad though—"

"But this time is different! They're so close!"

"It's not just him anymore, the others are counting on him too!"

It was just like that time with Aizawa-sensei. The sudden white-out. Why did it happen again? What triggered it? He'd been talking to Anjou, but—about what?

He didn't want to think about it. Thinking just made everything feel more fuzzy, static creeping into the edges of his consciousness, and he didn't like the feeling.

Maybe, he should just go to sleep. Maybe his head would be clearer when he woke up, and things would make sense.

(He knew it probably wouldn't be though.)

"This is the worst timing possible! The other three are reaching their breaking points, they need to get out!"

"There's no undoing what's been done. He can't do much as it is anyway with how he's trapped in here."

"He could have talked to that girl though! Heard the plan! Because you know they already have one!"

"Then... I guess we have to trust that his friends are as good as he believes."

"So you still haven't seen Deku?" Bakugou hissed, looking more irritated and frustrated by the second.

"Tomu won't let me go," Toga said plainly. She didn't even pout playfully this time like Hitoshi half-expected, genuinely frowning. "He won't let anyone visit him. He's still mad after yesterday."

Of course he was, Hitoshi thought bitterly. The fact someone had tried to attack Eraserhead again, despite the last couple of guys, you know, literally dying, had irritated Shigaraki like nothing else. Hitoshi hadn't witnessed the outburst directly, having been ushered back into his room along with Bakugou and Toga by Kurogiri, but they'd heard the angry shouts once the leader arrived. Heard a loud bang on metal as he punched the neighboring door with a yell of aggravation.

Thinking of that disaster yesterday had Hitoshi's chest clenching painfully, his teeth grinding in apprehension. "Do we even know where Eraserhead is?" he demanded, hunched over on his bed and clutching at his head. "Does Midoriya even know what happened?"

Toga bit her lip, uncertainty flickering in her eyes as she fiddled with the controller in her hands. "I don't know if he does," she said. "I don't think so, though. Tomu doesn't want to upset him too much when he's having an episode."

"I'm pretty sure locking him up would be pretty damn upsetting," Bakugou snapped, and Hitoshi kind of wanted to laugh at that but held it in.

"Do we know where Eraserhead is?" he repeated, emphasizing his first question with a tinge of desperation.

"Not for sure, but he's probably at Aiko's," Toga said with a shrug, and the two boys immediately recoiled.

"Aiko—didn't she give him a panic attack or something!?" Bakugou blurted, echoing Hitoshi's thoughts. Holy shit, how did this keep getting worse?

"She won't hurt him," Toga said firmly. "Aiko-nee likes him."

"The way you like me?" Hitoshi couldn't help blurting, feeling a bit hysterical. Because while Toga might be civil and normal-ish right now, she was still crazy and kind of terrifying. Being stuck with her, and only her, while super-vulnerable, would be enough to drive him to the edge of his already frayed nerves.

Toga shook her head though. "No, she doesn't love him like that, Jackie. She respects him. I think?" She shrugged, saying, "I don't really know what their deal is, honestly. I just know she just likes him a lot. But she's not a bad person!"

At Hitoshi's flat look, she amended her words, "Okay, she's a little bad. But honestly, Eraserhead's way safer with her than here right now. If anyone tries to go after him there, she'll stop them before they can even reach him!"

That's the problem, Hitoshi wanted to say, but couldn't. Not with Seiko sitting mere feet away, watching the Mario Kart racers zoom around the track while Bakugou and Toga's characters competed for first place. She'd shown up when they called her name to check if she was present, stating she was bored because Midoriya was sleeping, and had shown no inclination to leave since.

They couldn't talk about the escape with her there. Couldn't talk about why Eraserhead being away made things more complicated. Couldn't even ask Toga if she had any new thoughts on what the hell Midoriya meant by this not being a normal episode in his letter, or ask if anyone had potentially found the key where Midoriya had hidden it, or searched his room or anything that could jeopardize their plans.

They couldn't say anything. Not when Seiko could relay that to someone or complicate their plans in an attempt to alleviate her seemingly perpetual boredom.

The one good thing to come out of the mess yesterday was that Bakugou had been moved to Hitoshi's cell. Kurogiri was wary of anyone targeting Hitoshi after the attempted attack on Eraserhead, and thought they'd be safer together. Apparently the Alliance had decided Bakugou was trustworthy enough to be Midoriya's bodyguard once the episode ended, which was good enough to trust him with Hitoshi's safety too.

So, Bakugou got to be Hitoshi's bodyguard for now, because Hitoshi couldn't use his Quirk and was all but defenseless. Left with only his hands to defend himself, and while his training had been extensive, he'd been trained to fight with weapons, not his bare hands. And the man who could return that power, the one who had been forced to block it in the first place, was now stuck in Aiko's apartment which might as well be on another planet.

It was just too much. Escape was so close, closer than ever before, but also felt so far and bleak.

A knock jolted him out of his thoughts, and they all turned to see the door open to reveal the most undesirable face of all. His stomach sank as Shigaraki peered inside, scanning the room before settling on Toga on the floor. "Hah, so you are here," he grumbled.

"Of course I am," she huffed, putting down her controller and crossing her arms to glare at him. "You won't let me play with Mido-chan!"

"You're a bad influence when he's like this. When I checked on him just now he was napping anyway, so it's not like you're missing anything." He slipped more fully into the room, eyes trained on the television. Of course Seiko had vanished, dropping into a shadow the second he knocked because for some reason he didn't know she existed. Which, what the fuck was up with that?

"Who's winning?" Shigaraki asked while Hitoshi internally spiraled and raged.

"Me, obviously," Bakugou snorted, and the villain pursed his lips as he studied the screen.

"If I join, will you actually try this time?" he asked. The question had them pausing, all three teens looking at him in surprise.

"You want to play?" Hitoshi asked, his voice coming out more like a croak. "But, Midoriya's not here?"

"I know," Shigaraki grumbled. "But if you're gonna be part of my brother's party, I need to get to know you brats better. And you're playing with her just fine."

"Because we're friends!" Toga giggled, grinning up at him.

"...Right, whatever. So, if I play, will you actually put in effort instead of letting me win?" He directed the question to Bakugou, his eyes full of challenge. The last time they'd played any games pitting them against the villain, they had been too nervous to risk angering him to really try. Had been too tense to go all-out like they usually did, even with Midoriya as a buffer.

But this time, the blond rose to the challenge, red eyes meeting red without a hint of fear. "I'll fucking smoke your ass," he declared with a vicious grin, and Shigaraki's mouth split into a grin of his own.

"Good. Vigilante-brat, get off the bed and grab a controller," he said, making Hitoshi jolt a bit. "I'll be back in a minute with another one." He turned and left without waiting for a response.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Hitoshi hissed the second the door closed. "Playing with Shigaraki?"

"If we fucking got through Neko Café Manager without him murdering us, we can survive kicking his ass too," Bakugou replied briskly, and Hitoshi paused before nodding. That was fair enough. "And besides, if we can't kick his ass in real life, we can at least do it virtually!"

That was also fair, and a very good point. Beating Shigaraki in a race might be good stress relief. Hitoshi slid off the bed and sat on the floor, picking up the third controller just before Shigaraki returned with a fourth one. "You brats ready?" he asked, pinkie lifted as he waved it with a cocky grin.

"Ready as ever!" Toga declared brightly.

"You're going down," Bakugou promised, looking absolutely feral as he grinned.

"Good luck," Hitoshi said simply, letting a smirk touch his lips. Shigaraki smirked as well, plopping onto the floor next to Toga and thankfully away from them. Things might be bleak, but Hitoshi might be able to at least get some catharsis if he could just beat Shigaraki.

Tsuyu considered herself a calm and rational person. Everyone told her that she always seemed levelheaded and collected, able to keep control of herself even under the heaviest pressure. It had served her well as a vigilante, kept her from getting in over her head many times.

That said, she could understand why Ojiro and Monoma were so mad over Rogue, Glitch and Anjou hiding the truth about Shinsou-kun. She wasn't happy about it either.

"Sorry, but we had to keep it on a need-to-know basis," Anjou sighed. "You saw how those two reacted."

"You still could've told us," Habuko protested. They'd gathered in Kuroe-san's house, Tsuyu and Habuko bundled in blankets on the couch to help raise their body temperatures. The layers of fuzzy blankets probably lessened the impact of her glare as she (quite literally) hissed, "We're not going to run off to our deaths like them!"

"The less people who knew until we had a plan, the better," Anjou said with a shrug, focused on her phone. She sat on the floor in front of the couch, and Tsuyu could see she had a map open to track everyone's movements. Many dots filled the screen, some seemingly still and others moving. "We just couldn't take any chances back then. You guys are more level-headed since you're not as close to Hijack, but you're still vigilantes. We had to be careful."

"Well, maybe keeping all these secrets is a problem," Kirishima piped up as he exited the kitchen carefully carrying four mugs of hot chocolate. "Because, uh, they keep kinda backfiring on people." He set the mugs down on an end table before handing two to Tsuyu and Habuko, the cold-blooded girls accepting them gratefully.

One of the other remaining two was picked up by Aiba, who sat in an armchair next to the table with a laptop. "I agree, too many secrets can really make things complicated. Hoarding information isn't helpful, especially in situations like this."

"You don't say, La Brava," Anjou deadpanned, finally looking up from her phone to shoot the red-haired woman a glare.

Aiba let it roll off her back easily as she sipped her hot chocolate. "You didn't need to know who we were back then. And besides, you didn't seem that curious when Karasu introduced us."

"Yes, and I am going to have words with him for that." Anjou's tone was close to a threat as she looked at her phone again, huffing an annoyed sigh. "Okay, looks like almost everyone's in Nabu now. First group is already at the warehouse, and looks like Uraraka is heading to the station to meet the second group."

"Hopefully that warehouse isn't too cold," Aiba muttered with a frown. "I don't want Gentle to be chilly!"

"He'll be fine. He's an adult. I'm more concerned about making sure that Crawler won't run away."

"Hey, he's a cool guy!" Kirishima interjected. "He's super serious about being a hero. Sure, you guys technically kidnapped him, but I think we can count on him when lives are at stake, you know?"

"We'll have to take your word for it—oh hey, Jirou texted the van's ready."

"Wow, that was fast. Guess that other mad scientist girl really is reliable then."

Tsuyu sipped at her hot chocolate as she listened to them chatter, even if she didn't fully understand everything they mentioned. They hadn't briefed her on all the details of the plan; not because they were being secretive, but because it cut down on time by not having to explain everything. Time which could be spent on other more crucial things, even if it took two hours for the buses to reach Nabu.

As if on cue Tsuyu felt her phone vibrate, and she fished it from her pocket and reluctantly removed her hand from the warmth of the blankets to look at it. "Rogue just texted me, they have the next wave ready to go, kero," she announced.

"Good," Anjou said, panning the map back to Odawara. "Alright, I can see them at the station. Let me know when the last wave confirms their arrival."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Habuko muttered as she held her mug to her mouth. After Hagakure managed to calm down Ojiro and Monoma and get them to cooperate, the runaways had expedited their mass exodus. Things were moving fast now. With luck, there would be less than twenty-four hours left until the rescue was carried out, and they wanted the runaways to be out of Odawara before then.

One more wave after this one, only a handful would remain. Shouji, Tsuburaba, Rockfish, Fuse, and Ryuu had all volunteered to stay behind to guard Present Mic for the last stretch, along with Habuko once she'd warmed up a bit. Nakamura and Glitch were obviously still around, too, mainly to help coordinate everything. By the time the rescue finished, nearly all of them would be gone as well.

Leaving Odawara left Tsuyu... conflicted. She and Habuko didn't live here full-time like most of the other runaways, they liked to travel and help people, but this was essentially their home. It had been ever since she agreed to follow Habuko when the snake girl realized she was being targeted by villains for recruitment. Tsuyu had been sad to leave her family behind, but she also couldn't let her best friend endure danger alone.

It was a stroke of luck they learned about the runaway network, having run into a nameless vigilante who directed them there shortly after leaving their hometown. Odawara had given them stability, a place to seek shelter and a whole network of new friends. This would have marked their second winter here, and leaving it so suddenly felt a bit bitter.

But while they might be leaving Odawara, it was ultimately just a place. What mattered most were the people, the other runaways, who had become her new family.

As long as they were together, anywhere could become home. Even a ghost town.

"Incoming," Anjou piped up, breaking her thoughts. They heard a door open and all turned to see Nakamura enter the living room, Rintaro-kun close behind him. The pangolin boy startled at the attention and ducked a little closer to their leader, shy as always.

"Hey Rogue," Kirishima greeted Nakamura with a nod, and to the younger boy he added, "And, uh, Kabuto, right?"

"H-hi," Rintaro mumbled with a tiny nod of his own.

"Midori passed on the update, right?" Nakamura asked in lieu of a greeting.

"Yep, told me just before you came in," Anjou confirmed with a nod. Tsuyu had been nominated as the first point of contact with him so Anjou wouldn't have the text notifications cluttering her screen.

"Good. I'm going to meet Kuroe. He's upstairs, right?"

"Yeah, but why are you meeting him?"

"Stuff," Nakamura said briskly, already heading for the stairs. Tsuyu wondered if he'd have elaborated even without outsiders like Aiba or Kirishima present. She didn't know the exact nature of Kuroe's involvement with the network, just that he was involved in it somehow, and she wondered if she'd find out anytime soon.

Judging by the glare Anjou sent his direction, she was equally in the dark. "They should be telling me this stuff," she grumbled to herself with a scowl while turning back to her phone.

Rintaro looked briefly panicked when Nakamura stepped away, leaving him exposed. He almost lunged towards Anjou, diving to the floor and huddling by her side at the foot of the couch. As their arms brushed against each other he relaxed a bit, even while he eyed Aiba warily. Habuko leaned forward to graciously concede one of her blankets, letting it drape over his shoulders and cover up his tails.

It was adorable how he seemed to relax fully with the fuzzy baby blue blanket hiding him, nearly all of his tension bleeding away. He still remained a little on edge with a stranger present, but he didn't look ready to bolt now. Either way, something about looking at him right now just made Tsuyu's heart swell with sisterly fondness.

She turned her attention away though as Aiba spoke up. "Are you going to try to contact that Midoriya kid again?"

Anjou hesitated, and while Tsuyu couldn't see her face from her current angle, she could see the tension in her shoulders. See her thumb tap the phone screen, bringing up an outline of a human body with a bunch of colored bars and text too small to read. "No, I don't think so. He looks fine, but—something cut off the connection last time. The only guess I have is..."

She trailed off, and Kirishima ventured hesitantly, "One of those, uh, white-out things? Like they mentioned on that one call?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Anjou confirmed with a nod. "Guess you really aren't a total idiot if you remember that."

Kirishima looked slightly offended at the wry remark, while Aiba-san looked more curious. "White-out?"

"Sorry, it's too complicated to explain. And I really don't want to say it out loud right now, either," Anjou added dryly, setting her phone down and getting up. Rintaro almost fell over since he'd been leaning against her ever so slightly, and Tsuyu reflexively reached to grab his shoulders and help steady him. Anjou turned to the doorway as she grumbled, "I have something a little more pressing."

Almost as if on cue Nakamura returned, followed by a grumpy-looking Kuroe. "Okay, so Rogue just told me you guys are—" He stopped short on seeing the gathered people, staring at Aiba in particular. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

"Hi, nii-chan," Anjou greeted with a sugary sweet tone and smile, or she attempted to. Her irritation bled through a bit too much to really come across as sweet, her smile twitching and very clearly forced. It made her look more manic than sweet. "Real quick, when were you gonna tell me you had me add Gentle Criminal and his partner to my network?"

Kuroe winced, as did the others. "Ah, shit," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ran—"

"Hey, onii-chan, let's go talk in the kitchen for a second," Anjou cut in, grabbing his arm with a vice grip and still smiling. "I have some other questions, too. I'll be right back guys."

"Ran—" He struggled as she dragged him out, leaving the group in awkward silence.

For about five seconds.

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" They all jumped as they heard Anjou shout from the next room, Kirishima nearly falling out of his chair and Rintaro yelping. Even Nakamura looked startled as he whipped around to stare at the doorway, his jaw dropping. "YOU CAN AT LEAST TELL ME WHO I'M FREAKING ADDING TO MY NETWORK!"

"I USUALLY DO! WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE THIS TIME!?"

"BECAUSE WE WASTED A MONTH BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"A MONTH OF WHAT!?"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!"

As the sibling continued loudly bickering the group all sat rigidly, staring wide-eyed at the doorway. "This is really awkward to listen to," Kirishima whispered, sipping at the remains of his hot chocolate.

"I didn't know she was capable of yelling like that," Habuko whispered, sounding almost awestruck. "She's always been kinda grumpy, sure, but more snarky than, y'know, yell-y."

"Only with him," Rintaro whimpered, pulling the blanket over his head. Siblings did sometimes bring out the worst in each other, Tsuyu reflected. Not that she'd ever fought with her own siblings, they were too cute and sweet for that.

"It is kinda scummy he didn't tell her who she was tagging, though," Kirishima added sheepishly. "Like, that seems like it should be basic decency? To let her know she's tagging a villain?"

"To be fair, Karasu didn't know who we were back then either," Aiba commented with a shrug, turning her attention to her laptop once more. "We only started using his services later."

"Wait, then why did you meet him in the first place?" Habuko asked. "Why are you even on her network?"

"Can't say, sorry."

"What? No fair! You know a ton about us now!"

"Not really that much, actually. Just bare bones. Plus, we don't really care what you brats are doing here."

While the two talked Nakamura sidled over to Tsuyu. "I guess it's now or never, kero?" she asked quietly, and he nodded. The others turned to look as she got up, draping one of her blankets over Rintaro and dropping the rest on the couch.

"So, it's time for you two to go?" the pangolin boy asked, and she nodded as she grabbed her coat from where she'd draped it over the back of the couch.

"Yep. Sorry to leave so suddenly, kero. It was nice seeing you Kabuto-chan, even if it was for just a few minutes."

"Let's just go already," Nakamura said, already heading for the door while Tsuyu lingered a moment longer to fold the blankets together. As she tucked the bundle under her arms Habuko took the chance to slide off the couch, her own layers of blankets still clinging to her shoulders like a cloak.

"Be safe," she said, and Tsuyu nodded, offering her best friend a smile.

"I'll see you soon, Akai-chan," she promised, and her best friend nodded with a smile of her own. With that Tsuyu turned to leave, joining Nakamura by the front door where he waited with a canvas bag. As he slipped the handle into one of her hands she felt something hard slide into her palm, recognizing the familiar shape of one of the scales from Rintaro's tail.

He released his hold on the handle and moved his hand to lightly touch her wrist, meeting her gaze squarely. Though his Quirk had no visible tells she knew it was active, trapping them in a bubble of silence so only they could hear each other. "Be careful, Midori," he said firmly. "I don't know what the hell the plan is, but don't take any unnecessary risks."

Were she a bit more expressive, Tsuyu would have likely laughed. She might be a vigilante, but she was still known for being cool-headed. Impulsive and reckless were hardly words used to describe her. "I won't, kero," she swore, and smiled at him. "Take care of Habuko-chan and Rintaro-kun for me, please."

"You don't need to ask me to do that."

"I know, kero." She gripped the scale with both hands so her fingers holding the edges, and as he withdrew his arm and opened the door, she snapped it.

Just like that, she was no longer in the warmth of Kuroe's house, but a chilly and dusty warehouse. There was a surprised yelp from somewhere above but she paid it no mind, her attention turning to a nearby couch where Ojiro and Monoma sat. "Nice of you to finally show up," Monoma commented with a huff.

"It took a while for Rogue to arrive with the scale, kero," Tsuyu said, looking down at the two shards in her hand. Whatever bright tint it originally possessed had faded to dusty brown upon breaking, and she could see another matching scale on the floor by her feet.

"Oh sick, so you used those to get here?" one of the jumpers—Kaminari, she believed—said as he walked over. "I used those once, it was a real trip! Uh, figuratively, I mean," he added with a lame laugh. "And also a bit literally, too, I guess."

"They're certainly convenient for a single person," Ojiro said, and she could hear a faint edge of ire in his voice.

"Yes, a single person," Monoma said. "That's part of why we can't really use them for the rescue, remember?" Even as he spoke Tsuyu's tongue shot out to snatch the shards up like flies and swallow.

Nearby Ashido yelped in surprise and minor disgust. "Wait, Tsu-chan—okay, did you have to do that?"

"It's too risky to leave them, kero, or they can be traced," the frog girl said, turning as Ojiro approached to take the blankets. Freed from her burden, she bent down to retrieve the matching scale with her hands rather than her tongue. She'd rather not touch the dusty floor with her tongue. "Ashido-chan, your Quirk is Acid, right?"

"Um, y-yeah?" Tsuyu turned to her and tossed the scale over to her, and it took a moment for the pink girl to determine her intent. Then she blinked and bobbed her head, letting acid seep from her palms and quickly melt the scale.

"Why don't you just swallow that one too?" Kaminari muttered, but she ignored him as she looked around. She could see Todoroki and a boy with a bird head seated on the ground nearby—Tokoyami, presumably—as well as Spinner hanging out on one of the overhead rafters, staring at her wide-eyed. Surprisingly she couldn't see Kendo though, so she must be in the second group.

A dark-haired man who must be Dabi leaned against one of the crates nearby, arms crossed as he gazed at her. "Huh, that's one convenient Quirk," he remarked.

"It's actually fairly limited, kero. And also not my Quirk."

"Alright, fair enough," he snorted lightly.

"Uraraka's meeting the others," Todoroki piped up. "And I think they're also picking up a van...?"

"That's what the text said, at least," Kaminari said, looking a bit dazed. "Yaomomo works fast."

Tsuyu nodded, mentally reviewing who she'd been told was involved. If this was everyone who came on the first bus, then the second group must be Gentle Criminal, Crawler, Jirou, Kendo-chan, Kuroiro and Hagakure. A shame, Tsuyu had hoped to meet the seventh jumper and talk a bit before everything went down.

As it stood though, their group should presumably be arriving soon. And since she was now here, Tsuyu should get down to business. "Do you know my role, kero?"

"Main point of contact, right?" Dabi drawled, and Tsuyu nodded in confirmation.

"And also backup," she added. Her camouflage Quirk only worked on herself, but it could extend to her vigilante costume at least. Her role would be to spy on the rescue from nearby and keep Anjou updated on everything happening, either through text or by lending one of her senses to the other girl. At least, as long as things went smoothly; if the plan derailed, she'd abandon that role and step in to help.

"Hopefully we won't need backup," Kaminari muttered, as if sensing her thoughts, and she nodded in agreement.

"How did you even get here?" Spinner yelled from his spot near the ceiling.

"That's a secret, kero."

"What?"

"She said it's a secret!" probably-Tokoyami called back on her behalf. Spinner grumbled as his head disappeared from sight, returning to... whatever he was doing up there. Tsuyu was a bit curious, but not too curious.

Her attention turned to Dabi, who seemed to be the one in charge of this particular group. Partially as the oldest, and partially because... well, she could tell he was the most responsible besides Monoma and Ojiro. And right now, they were a bit too compromised to take up a leadership role. "Can you fill me in on the plan, kero?" she asked politely.

He cocked his head to the side. "I was already supposed to, wasn't I?" And he was, because even this was factored into the overall plan. While Anjou had been too busy with setting things up for the rescue and the move to tell her the full details beyond her role, the people in Nabu would have time while waiting for the second group to arrive. It would also serve as a good refresher for the others to make sure everyone was on the same page.

For that reason, rather than wait for her response Dabi tilted his head back. "Hey, lizard-guy, get down here!" he called towards the ceiling. "It's time to go over the plan!"

"Already?" Spinner whined, poking his head out once more. "Shouldn't we wait for everyone if we're doing a review?"

"Just get your scaly ass down here! We need to fill in the newbie and go over updates anyway!" As Spinner scrambled along the rafter towards the wall Dabi turned to Tsuyu. "Might want to also think about where to sleep tonight. There's probably gonna be a fight over the couch, heh."

"No, Midori can have it," Ojiro cut in, untangling the pile of blankets on the couch. "Midori's cold-blooded, so the floor's too cold for her."

"Unless she sleeps by Todoroki," Kaminari muttered, and Dabi snorted.

"Yeah, no, you are not cuddling with my brother, frog-girl."

"I don't plan on it, kero," Tsuyu said, walking over to the couch and sitting on one of the arms. "But can we please talk about the plan now? We only have a little under twenty-four hours, right?"

"Ideally, yeah," Dabi confirmed with a nod. "As long as nothing goes wrong and extends the timeline, anyway."

"Ugh, don't say that!" Ashido whined. "You'll jinx us!"

"At this point, we should probably just expect it to go wrong even without a jinx," Dabi snorted. "Because from what I hear, that's how it always goes with you brats."

"Yeah, it kinda is," Kaminari sighed.

"Anyways, get comfortable. Plan's not too complicated, but with stakes like this, we can't halfass the review. If you've got any input, this will be your one chance to speak up."

"Of course," Tsuyu said with a nod, leaning forward intently as he began speaking.

At the same time in another part of Nabu, two men and two teenage girls went to pick up a rental van. Meanwhile another group of teenagers followed a map on their phones towards an abandoned warehouse.

Inside a former hospital, three teenagers and a villain sat in a room playing video games while another boy slept in his room alone, voices of the dead whispering in the back of his mind.

And inside an abandoned apartment building, a dark-haired man sat on a couch with an open book in his lap while contemplating the future.

Bit by bit, everything was falling into place.

Even the things no one knew about.

Time remaining until the escape: Two hours.

The escape draws closer. This is a bit of a transitional chapter, but setting up (almost) everything.

Unfortunate news: I'm taking a minor hiatus.

As I've mentioned, lately I've been running on zero buffer, and this chapter? I wrote over half of it just last night. And today, my copy of AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative arrived. And I know myself. I'm not going to be very productive with writing for a few days at least. So I want to give myself time to play the game, and also take the chance to build the buffer.

When will the hiatus be over? I don't know exactly. Because I want to get the whole escape drafted and written to make sure everything is perfect.

Next chapter, the escape finally begins.