An eerie silence in the area as four teenage boys are at a table at an outdoor restaurant. "It's quite quiet now that all the ransacking, pillaging, looting, pilfering, thieving, robbing, and larceny is over," said the boy with yellow hair. He wears glasses and is in casual attire. He sips a warm black coffee.
"You're just using different words for taking what's not yours," the boy with black hair said, kicking his feet up on the table. He's wearing only black clothing.
"It's rude to put your foot on a dining table. You're kicking dirt into my food," said the boy with brown hair chewing meat in his mouth. The platter on the table next to him was full of different types of meat.
The gray-haired boy standing next to the black-haired boy says meekly, "Talking with your mouth full is also rude."
The brown-haired boy finished chewing his food and then said, "Ah, that's right Yasuo, thank you for reminding me."
The yellow-haired boy took another sip of his coffee and then said, "Should we call it a truce now that Youta has returned?"
"You can if you want Kenji. But not me," replied the black-haired boy. "He may be the de-facto leader now, but that doesn't mean he controls the organization fully.
"You do know we are facing complications on all fronts, Souta." The yellow-haired boy puts down his cup of coffee. Adjusting his glasses he says, "According to my calculation, our organization will crumble if we keep fighting for control of the leadership position."
"Well, maybe I would be more accepting of his return if he had Akumi in hand. Of course, it's only when she disappears that he comes back," said the black-haired boy. "That's not a leader I would follow."
"So what about you Yasuo?"
"I will follow what Souta agrees with," replied the gray-haired boy.
"That's just like you Yasuo," the brown-haired boy laughed. "Though I'm one to agree. He may be back for now but does that mean he's going to stay? I would rather keep my position until I know for sure he is committed." He then bites into a chunk of meat.
"And I thought I was the smart one," the yellow-haired boy chuckles. With a dubious glint in his glasses, he said, "So then why did you call us here if not for a truce?"
"Because I would hate for anyone else I know to suddenly go missing," Youta replied. He stands at the front of the table staring down at the group.
"Ha. That's great coming from you. Your toy gets stolen and you come back to us to try and get it back," the black-haired boy mocked.
A single death glare from Youta got him to shut the boy's mouth for a moment. "I didn't see you trying to do anything!" Youta was upset but not at the comment but at himself because he knows that the boy was right.
"I would appreciate it if you put away your killing intent," said the gray-haired boy.
"I could say the same to you, Yasuo," Youta responds. The two boys both stare at each other with the tension only getting higher until the gray-haired boy does as he is told and puts away his killing intent. Youta shortly does the same. "I know I've been away and you guys gained some notoriety in the organization. So much so that you three are considered candidates for the leader position. That's why I'll ask you once and once only." Youta slams his hands on the table and sternly asks, "Are you with or against me."
The brown-haired man speaks first, "Now that's the old Youta I know and love. Count me in. If you ever need me just say the word and I'm there. I know you have something fun planned. If you're leading then I, Daichi Aburaya, forgo my candidacy for leader."
"Quick to act on the situation as always, Daichi," the yellow-haired man said, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. "I still don't believe it. I'll remain neutral for now. After all, I don't really care who takes the leader position as long as it's not Daichi. He's too much of a wild card to be leading."
Youta looks at Souta for his response. Souta leans back on his chair giving it a good thought. "What if I said I'm against you."
"Then I'll eliminate you," Youta responds.
Everyone was quick to respond as Youta activated his quirk. Youta's red light sphere barrier appears to have captured Souta but in his place was a tall and thick tree. The barrier was only big enough to encase Souta so the sphere instead cuts through the tree making the top half of the tree fall. As the tree falls it splits into three and one each falling on Daichi, Kenji, and Youta. Two men then suddenly appear in front of Kenji, cleanly blasting the tree into particles. One Woman in front of Daichi splits the part of the tree falling on them in half. Youta pushes the timber falling over him with his red light over to Souta and Yasuo. Another woman stands in front of Souta and Yasuo as the part of the tree falling on them shrinks into a piece of paper.
The tension was high as a man's voice spoke from behind Youta, "I'd prefer to not appoint a new leader so soon. But seeing as you're trying to kill off my benefactor I might have to." The man had a small black knife to Youta's throat.
"I could say the same," Hysteria appears behind the man and has a gun to the man's head. "Now, why not drop the knife, and let us all just calm down." The man moves his knife away from Youta's throat and Hysteria does the same with his gun.
"Okay now everyone. We know the rules. No infighting in the open. If you want to kill each other do so quietly," a much older man says as he walks in the middle of the entire group. "You're a new leader and his son no less so I'll give you a pass just this once. But if it happens again we're going to have a problem."
Youta turns off his quirk taking mental notes on who's on whose side. Walking away he gave a warning, "If your answer doesn't change you better keep an eye open when you sleep tonight, Souta."
"I'll extend the gesture," Souta replies with a smile.
—
"So Youta, we heard you were this close to not returning to UA. Want to give us a reason," Tetsutetsu said, pinching his index finger and thumb together.
"Tetsutetsu, why would you ask that so tactlessly?" Kendo said, smacking Tetsutetsu on the head. "You don't have to answer him, Youta."
"No, it's okay. I understand that everyone here was wondering what happened to me after I ran out and then disappeared for a few days." All of Class 1B's eyes were on Youta waiting for an answer. Youta gave an awkward smile as he gave a sigh and said, "Would you believe me if I said I found it too difficult to become a hero?"
"Difficult? Please, your records say otherwise," Monoma said, shaking his head. "I'm confident you can become a hero in your sleep and I mean that in the most literal way."
"No really guys." Youta closes his eyes and rubs the back of his head. "My attention is just split so much that my main objective here isn't becoming a pro hero."
"Then why? Why come back to UA if you have something else you want to do," Tetsutetsu asked.
"Do you even have to ask," Youta said solemnly.
The group stopped walking as they finally arrived at the Training Kitchen Land also known as Gamma Gym. Vlad King opens the door and shouts, "That's it for you class A! We have plans to make use of the TDL from this afternoon on."
Izuku and Youta immediately make eye contact for a moment before Youta breaks to stare at Bakugo. Bakugo also stares at Youta for a moment before looking away.
"Eraser, You best get out of here."
"You're about five minutes early. You've got a little trouble telling time?" Aizawa sighs then said, "Well it's not like some of them are using their time wisely anyway. Alright class we're going to end it a little early! I hope some of you think over what you're lacking and come back better prepared!"
Class A gathers together to leave. Izuku goes over to talk to Youta but Youta ignored him and instead walked in front of Bakugo. Everyone there could feel the tension between the two. Izuku looked toward the teachers for help in case they decide to fight, but to his surprise, they were also just watching. "Let's talk after we're done here," Youta said stiffly.
"What's there to talk about," Bakugo said annoyed. Youta doesn't answer then Bakugo leaves.
"Alright everyone, show's over! Get to work," Vlad King said to class 1B. Reluctant but eventually they start to separate as one of Ectoplasm's clones escorted each one of them to their own space to train their special move.
Izuku tried again to get Youta's attention and ask about Akari but was again ignored. "If this is because I couldn't get Akumi back I'm sorry," Izuku said to Youta. This finally made Youta face Izuku again but he still does not say a word. "You must have heard everything that happened from Akari. There was nothing we could have done."
"No, Izuku. There was something we could have–"
"Then tell me! Why are you keeping me of all people in the dark," Izuku shouted immediately after hearing Youta's words. "Didn't you say before that I was the key to getting her back?"
"Akari told me she hates heroes and villains alike. But you know who she told me she hates the most." Izuku stays silent anticipating the answer as Youta has a look of pity over Izuku. "The first name she called was you. You're a coward, she said. You failed twice, she said. But what are best friends for, she said."
"Being late and making girls cry," Izuku replied seriously. Some of class A and B found his reply funny but held back their laughter since this was a serious conversation. The teachers continued watching with their ears keen for any new information that might come out of this confrontation. "Do you hate me too?"
Youta shook his head and said, "Not as much as Akari."
"So why talk to Bakugo? It's not a secret he's the second person Akari hates the most."
"If you're asking me that then you know less of Bakugo than I do," Youta shouts, not holding back his hate towards Izuku. His fist was clenched and his face frowned. "You wanted to become the next All Might, don't you!? Well, you're not! You can't even throw a good punch without breaking your arm let alone last long enough to get to Akumi. You think she would show herself in front of you now when she knows that you are one of the only people who can stop her! I rather have you kick back and get involved after you decide to grow a pair and learn how to use that damn quirk of yours!"
This hits a nerve in Izuku as he activates One For All Full Cowl 10% and lands a punch on Youta's face. The punch stings a bit but nothing more. Youta wasn't even moved from the standing position he was in.
Ida stepped forward and said, "Izuku stop–"
"Hold still Ida," Aizawa demanded. "Same goes for the rest of you."
"But…" Ida tried to rebuttal but was quickly stopped by a single glare from Aizawa's red eyes.
Anger in Izuku's eyes as he grabs Youta by the collar and said, "You could have dodged that punch easily! So why did you take it!"
"All you have is speed. Perfect for running away. There was no power in that punch." Youta ready his fist for a punch. "If you want to punch you have to put YOUR BACK IN IT!" With one quick step, Youta punched with his full force, not holding back into Izuku's face. The punch knocked Izuku back to where he was standing and he fell to the ground with a bruise starting to form on his face. Standing straight, seemingly towering over Izuku, Youta menacingly looked down at Izuku. He then said coldly, "Instead of punching me for information, try finding the answer yourself. You never tried asking us for help before so why start now?" Youta turns away and a second later his red light forms a platform beneath him as he says, "I'm done talking with you." He lifts himself and a clone of Ectoplasm with the platform onto an elevated area away from Izuku.
Ida goes over to help Izuku up asking if he was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry too much. I figured they didn't like me too much to begin with if it wasn't for Akumi."
"Don't say that. I'm sure he was just saying things like that because of the heat of the moment," Uraraka said as she walked over to Izuku to check on him.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Izuku said dejectedly, looking at the ground with shadows covering his eyes.
"And it won't be the last," Aizawa said. The other class A members started to leave and the members of class B began their training. "As I said before, I hope next time you come better prepared, Izuku," Aizawa said as he left.
"Come on Izuku let's get out of here and cool off a bit," Ida said, pushing Izuku along to the exit.
As Izuku was being pushed out Youta takes a glance at him without Izuku noticing. "That punch didn't have any power in it you said," Ectoplasm said as he saw a bruise forming on Youta's face.
Youta spits a tooth out and said, "It stings and nothing more."
Ectoplasm knowing not to push buttons changed the topic, "So do you have any special move ready?"
"I have two I'll work on today." Youta raises a hand. The red metallic full-body armor with black outlines shines red. Then the shine gets directed toward the white metallic sleeve he has on his right arm.
His left arm was covered in the same red metallic armor pattern and had kept its shine. At the center of his chest was an unnoticeable resuscitation machine designed cleverly to look like the core of a power suit. Youta could have easily made a power suit, but the continual energy cost would be a hindrance in a prolonged fight. Although the armor aspect was something he incorporated after the Hero Killer incident.
The shine from his left hand comes out and forms a disk. With a flick of his wrist, the red disk cuts the cemented earth into multiple human-sized rocks and throws them into the air then shouts, "Full Stop!" Crossing his arms together, the light absorbed into the white sleeve shoots out multiple red orbs encasing the rocks stopping them from falling.
"I see you're able to now have multiple barriers up at the same time, but how many can you have at the same time? Also, I'm assuming you can do this to stop debris from falling onto civilians and capture villains at the same time or does this only apply to moving debris," Ectoplasm inquired.
"Yes and no. Anything from the outside will not be able to break in, but anything from the inside will be able to break out. And I can have as many as needed the larger the barrier the stronger it is."
"Hmmm… Why does it work that way exactly?"
"I can enforce the red light from the outside, materializing them and solidifying them without the worry of accidentally having my light phase through and solidifying inside of a person." Youta solidified his light through one of the rocks inside and it shattered into small pieces. "And that's what would happen if I did try. I can't enforce it from the inside because there is a limited source of light inside, and as time goes on, the barrier naturally weakens."
"You seem to have this moved pretty thought up already."
"Of course I do. This is the one move I can confidently do in a blink of an eye without having to worry about where my light would form." Youta moves the rocks back down on the ground and waves his hand to dissipate his red light. "Now for the attack." Youta snaps his finger pointing a finger up and a small little red dot appears just a few meters above it. "I call this one Laser Pointer." Youta points at the wall of cement in front of him and the red dot follows just as fast denting the cement.
"Is this a work in progress? This little dot seems easier than your multiple large red barriers."
"This technique relies solely on this equipment here." Youta points to his right arm with a white metallic sleeve covering his right shoulder connected near his heart. "Without this equipment, I can't perform this technique to its fullest potential."
"What would it look like if you didn't have that equipment?"
Youta taps the bracelet on his right arm and the metallic sleeve gets sucked into the bracelet revealing the same type of sleeve he has on his left arm. "This bracelet reacts to my quirk and forms this metallic sleeve so that I can't more easily control my red light without having to stop my heart or any part of myself. Having to stop my heart for something so small is a nuisance and should be used for larger attacks." Youta looked at Ectoplasm and said, "Do you want to see it?"
"Hmm now that you mention that I guess it wouldn't make much of a difference. What can you do and not do with the equipment?"
"With this bracelet, I can make complex shapes. Without it, I could only make simple shapes. The bracelet allows me to summon and change the size of my light instantaneously without having to wait for the light to accumulate. It's perfectly suited for my quirk. It's easy to carry around and fits comfortably on my arm." Youta holds this item fondly.
"You can do a lot more with it can't you?"
"Of course, I can. I just don't have names for them yet."
"I could help with the naming."
"No," Youta said bluntly.
Youta's training continues with Ectoplasm having little to say about Youta's named moves. They moved on to live testing the moves on multiple of Ectoplasm's clones. No class B members tried approaching Youta because they unanimously agreed to give him some space until after he talked with Bakugo. And thus a long training session came to an end.
When everyone was leaving Vlad King pulled Youta to the side. "What do you have planned?"
"I'm going to talk with Bakugo," Youta replied to Vlad King.
"What do you plan afterward?"
"It depends on what Bakugo and I talked about."
"Let me be straight with you Youta." Vlad King looked straight into Youta's eyes and said, "I am this close to giving up on you. You missed most of our sessions, you don't live in the dorms, and last but not least you're up to no good. I understand your impatience but if this continues I don't even know how to punish you. I can't fail you since you would be fine with it. I can't force you to stay because of your family. I can't even give you homework since I would have to be the one grading them. I'm at my wit's end here."
"This is why I didn't want to come back, but here I am. I apologize but like you heard me say before my objective isn't to become a pro hero."
"Then what is it? Why did you decide to change your mind after watching the video."
"Because Akumi asked me to… It was her last request for me to look after Akari and become a hero with Izuku. But how can I focus on doing that when she is still out there doing who knows what?! I'll play by the rules so you don't have to worry, but I'm not going to waste my time here by being confined in a dorm because of some curfew. Villain organizations are racing to fill in for the big bad All Might took down. Yet, no one is rushing to fill in All Might's shoes. And as a matter of fact, did you know that many small-time unknown heroes are quitting because of the rise in villain activity? Quantity over quality is what pro-hero society has become. I'm starting to regret helping in putting The Hero Killer in prison because I have information on many more villainous villains that are worse than him. Most of them are evil for the sake of being evil. Those are the easy-to-deal-with villains because they don't work well in groups. The more methodical ones that have a reason to be villains are the difficult ones. Deep-rooted reasons like discrimination of quirks, misinterpretation of quirks, and dissatisfaction with quirks. It makes it so easy for anyone to become a villain. Even I could become a Villain. No, I am a villain. I broke the rules, didn't I? So did some members in both class 1A and 1B. Why are we not thrown in jail? Is it because we tried to do good and it ended well? Yes, it's exactly that. Pat on the back. Good job at breaking the rules in society's favor. Don't say anything though since if you did it wouldn't favor society. Are you able to deny that? And don't even get me started with all the secret governmental stuff that happens behind the scene. Why anyone would want to be a hero for them is young and naive but full of hope nonetheless. Just how much could they take before seeing the corruption of hero society? In truth, it's not that you won't expel me, you can't expel me. That's the best punishment for me."
"Is this who you truly are Okazaki? Or did you find out about something you shouldn't have and this is how you ended up?" Vlad King had a look of disappointment and sadness on his face.
"I was never meant to be a hero in the first place, Kan-Sensei. Neither I, nor Akari, nor Akumi were meant to be heroes. And now I'm trying my best to be one. And if my best isn't good enough then that's because I never had it in me to begin with."
"Never had it in you, please, go cry me a river!" Bakugo kicks open the door to the gym and shouts, "And here I thought I had changed for the worst. But I come to find that Little Stop Sign is whining about how hard it is about becoming a hero. Quit pretending! Either you're with us or you're against us there is no in-between. You're more Half 'n' Half than Icy Hot."
"What are you talking about, Bakugo?" Vlad King is confused as to what is happening and why Bakugo is so casual.
"This delusional man here is having another one of those midlife crises. I swear you three need to go to an insane asylum. At the very least that damn nerd Deku has a good head on his shoulders."
"What is he talking about Okazaki?"
"Calm down Vlad. I talked it over with Bakugo. Just let him deal with it." Aizawa said coming out behind the door to the gym.
"Eraser?" Vlad King sighs and walks towards Aizawa and says, "This is my student you know?"
"Just shut up and watch like we've always been," Bakugo said bluntly and walked in front of Youta. They stared at each other for a moment before Bakugo said, "So, are you going to say something because I thought you had better things to do."
"What should I do Bakugo?"
"HUH?! I can't quite hear you. Can you repeat that?" Bakugo mocked Youta by leaning over with a hand over an ear.
"Please Bakugo. You're the only one left that I can fully trust. What should I do?" Youta looks down.
"This is why I dislike You, Deku, Sponge, and Tattle Teller. Deku is weak but at least he has resolve. You, Sponge, and Lie Detector are strong but lack any resolve to do anything without each other. Always allowing yourself to be strung along. Pathetic! You should quit while you're ahead."
"Really? Can I leave everything here to you and Izuku?"
Bakugo begins laughing then he shouts, "Did you think I would let you have the easy way out!? We've been over this before, Red Flag. I'm going to beat you fair and square. So you better not quit because if you do I'll kill you myself." Bakugo goes over and pokes Youta on the shoulder. "That idiot has no idea what she is doing either. You relied on her too much and now that she's gone you can't even make the judgment call." Bakugo then repeatedly poked Youta's head with his index finger. "You're a Stop Sign right so then decide for yourself when you want to stop, you Stop Sign. You can signal your light all you want, but that doesn't mean anything if no one cares to follow the rules." Bakugo stops poking Youta's head and said, "Now I'm going to walk out of here, and if I don't see you and Akari in the dormitory within curfew hours, pray to God that I don't become a hero because I'm going to put your ass in jail before you can turn around and say red light." Bakugo walks out of the gym and headed back towards the dormitory.
"So, what's your answer," Vlad King asked as he and Aizawa walked over to Youta.
Youta got to his knees and bowed his head to the floor and shouted, "I, Youta Okazaki, Apologies for everything I said in the past few hours! If you can find it in your heart to accept me back into UA!"
"Tell us something, Okazaki. Was everything you said before your true feelings or was it just nonsense spoken out because you didn't know what else to say," Vlad King asked.
"Most of what I said was my true feelings, Sir Vlad King Sir," Youta said frankly.
"Ok, you can just continue to call me Kan-Sensei. Hearing you call me by my hero name sounds weird in this setting. And get up, will you? I'm not mad just disappointed."
"Yes Kan-Sensei Sir." Youta stands up straight with a slight smile on his face, his bruise still there.
"Drop the Sir." Vlad King points a finger down.
"Yes Sir, Kan-Sensei." Youta salutes.
Vlad Kings sighs then continues talking, "What was that all about? One moment you're acting crazy the next you're following orders like a dog."
"First time," Aizawa said. "Welcome to the club now you know what it feels like to have an unstable student that on the surface is perfect but dig a little deeper and… Well… You know."
"I mean I saw signs of him changing. I'm afraid to find out what changes Shimizu incurred."
"Akari's a bit crazy as of right now," Youta responds with a laugh. "A bit yandere if you know what I mean. I guess losing Akumi has awakened something within us. I kept my distance to not imprint on her since I am the only one left who she trust."
"This is a headache. I can't tell whether or not you're joking. You owe everyone in class B an apology as well. Also, is this going to be a future problem down the line? And is there anything else I should know about?"
"Hmmm. Well, I should tell you that I'm the leader of my organization now. Of course, as of now, I don't have complete control over it since the leader position was kept vacant and many had tried taking over before I came back to it. Then there are all these other things going down in the criminal underworld, illegal trade networks, meta-liberation armies, yadi yadi yada. Nothing important."
"Youta you have connections to the underworld?" Vlad King grabs onto Youta's shoulder and shouts to him, "Why would you not contact the authorities about this?! Tell Us Everything Now!"
"It's a trade secret. I as a leader of a neutral organization have to keep secrecy. Or else I lose all credibility and would have to say goodbye to connections. Besides, don't you think it's good to have someone to have some insider information?"
Aizawa rubs his eyes, "Akumi is part of a villain group, and Okazaki is part of a neutral party. What's next, Akari is part of a Hero militia."
"Akari is in a contract with a well-known hero family. Although she doesn't want to be in it from what I can recall."
"Seriously this sudden change is way too jarring. You were just about to quit being a hero, going on about your sanity, and now you're as chipper as a cartoon character," Vlad King said, rubbing his forehead.
Youta takes a look at the clock in the room "I need to get going. It could be curfew at any moment. Bakugo's going to kill me if I don't bring Akari along."
"Go get changed. I need a small break from this whiplash."
"You'll get used to it," Aizawa said, patting Vlad King on the back.
As Youta was leaving Vlad King asked Aizawa, "So Bakugo explain what exactly?"
"Yeah, Bakugo paid special attention to those four while growing up. Each one of them is an idiot, he says. Izuku, as you've seen, is self-sacrificial. He takes after the former number one after all. Shimizu relies too much on other people to solve her problems without putting much effort into solving them herself. Akumi as we know knows things she shouldn't, which makes her an idiot when she thinks things will go as she knows it. Some of her actions may be influenced by the multiple consciousness inside of her body."
"Finally the least normal among them all is Youta. He has a psychopathic tendency, if pushed in that direction we'd have a villain on our hands," Vlad King said. "When he's focused, he'd win by any means necessary. But when it comes to his friends and family he'd lose it every time."
"I see you're paying attention to your students."
"Of course, he is my student," Vlad King said proudly with his chest.
Aizawa crosses his arms. "Weren't you just about to give up on him."
Vlad King smirks and says, "At least I still have all my students."
"Yeah and would you believe me if I said there was a fourth." Aizawa waved his hand as he left.
"There's a what!?"
Youta arrives at the changing room and switches back to his UA uniform. No one else was in the room which was for the best. Youta wouldn't know which emotion he should be showing after everything that he had said. It didn't matter for now as he ran out of the campus. Youta then forms his red light and zips back to his home where he had left Akari.
The talk with Bakugo has revealed to Youta that the safest place to put Akari is at UA. No one outside can get inside without professional heroes, the government, or himself noticing. As long as he doesn't have complete control of his organization, Akari is a major card that can be used against him.
Bakugo has a plan to get Akumi back. No one knows Akumi better than Bakugo, not even Izuku or Akari. Bakugo has that over Youta. It's because no one else has ever been hated and loved by Akumi; they couldn't understand her as well as Bakugo could.
He wasn't sure if he should act on this information alone, but not acting would be worse. He had enough of waiting for things to spiral out of control. There wasn't any time to stop when the race had already started. And he and Akari are in last place right now.
Flying over the cities now there were fewer people outside. The once-busy streets were mostly quiet. People's lives still seem to be normal, but there were noticeably more shady dealings happening in the open. There were more officers on patrol. Some roads were blocked off due to high villain activity in the general area, during the night where there used to be one hero on patrol every 5 blocks now can't even be seen every 20 blocks.
When arriving at home he found it odd that the front door was left open. He decides not to enter the front door and instead looks through a window. Seeing the mess inside and inferior that the building had been broken into he decides to finally enter through the front door. It was quiet; the only noise he could hear was his footsteps.
"Mom? Ryoto? Anyone," Youta shouts. Walking through the halls they were uncannily empty. Going toward the center of the room there seems to be some sort of red liquid running along the wall. The waiting room was a complete mess. Books were scattered on the floor, and the chairs were flipped and or broken. He continues into the living quarters which now have a smell of iron in the air and the window door leading to the yard was shattered. The couches flipped over and the cushions were torn apart.
Youta continues walking through the hallways he sees the secret doorway to the basement of the house had fallen apart. Youta takes a breath and slowly descends the dark staircase with the only light being his red light. After going down a good flight of stairs he comes across a steel vault door. It was dented but still closed. On the side of the vault, there is a panel asking him to input a code which he does. The vault door's gears start turning and opening.
When it fully opened there was a single spotlight in the middle of the room. Ryoto was on the floor and a man in a cloak had his back towards the door. The man started laughing and then said, "Finally. I did it. It's done."
"Akari," Youta asks as he enters the poorly lit room.
The man turned around and said, "Oh, new master. How's it going?"
"Hey Youta, can you close the door? It's a bit distracting." Akari pokes her head from behind the mand.
"What are you doing? And why is Ryoto on the floor?" Youta walks into the room turning on the light. Youta noticed that there were more gadgets lined up on the walls and tables than there was the last time he was there.
The man and Akari were stunted by the sudden flash of light for a moment then Akari said, "Why'd you turn on the lights."
"Come on get packed, we're going back to UA."
"No, I hate it there. Plus we're so close to being able to build a tracking device to find Akumi."
"Tintink packs her things," Youta said to the cloaked man.
"But new master, we were just getting to the interesting part. We need to test if this gadget works or not." The man holds up a spherical device with an antenna poking out of it and a screen at the center of it. His green cloak knocks over some tools to the ground causing them to fire a laser cutting through a table.
The sprinklers turned on because of the fire that was set after the laser turned off. "You're not going to find Akumi like this Akari," Youta said as he pressed a button on a panel that has now appeared in place of the light switch turning off the sprinklers.
"No, but you see I can." Akari's eyes start glowing as she says, "If I can connect this color with that and use this." She picks up a transponder. "I should be able to." And an explosion goes off. Youta encases the explosions in his red light before it can spread out too much. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Akari you're going at it all wrong. You need to add this first." Tintink picks up a green gadget off the ground, but Youta snatches it out of his hand.
"Ok enough. Ryota please send Tintink back," Youta said.
Ryoto suddenly stood up straight and said, "With pleasure, Young Master."
"Hey, what are you doing," Tintink said as Ryoto shoves him into a door and disappears with him.
"Come on Akari. It's been a week now. You'll need to get out of here eventually. Staying in here all cooped up isn't going to do you any good."
"No. I don't want to go back out there. Not without knowing where Akumi is." Akari puts on her goggles and focuses on tinkering with her tools and gadgets.
Youta was reluctant to tell her this but did so, "I lost contact with your sister Akari."
"Why would I care," Akari said, not taking his focus off of the gadget as it started sparking. "She doesn't even have a safe space for me anymore."
Youta goes over to Akari and places his hands over her hands and says, "I know you care about your sister just as much as you do Akumi. Don't pretend like you don't care about her."
Akari looks at Youta and then backs down at her gadget, "Everything was better when Akumi was around… So did she leave me too."
"Hey, hey." Youta takes the goggles off Akari's head and places a hand on her face so that they can see eye to eye. "We don't know that yet."
"But I've been a bad sister. I've always been. I made it so difficult for her. She must have been disappointed in me. She's good at hiding it." Akari closed her eyes and leaned her head on Youta's hand.
"Look at me in the eye Akari," Youta says but Akari keeps her eyes shut. "Come on Akari. It's about time we decide for ourselves what we want to do. Without input from anyone else. Just you and you alone."
"I want to stay here. Away from them. I want my best friend back."
"And If we don't go back then there is no way Akumi will come back to us."
Akari opens her eyes and it's glowing red. "How are you so sure about that?"
"Because, Akari, third time's the charm."
"But…" A light bulb goes off in Akari's head. She wipes her eyes and backs away from Youta as she comes to a realization. "How many times did Izuku fail at getting Akumi back?"
Youta thought for a second and said, "Two times."
"Two times… Two is one away from three… Yes, yes why didn't I think of it before!" Akari gabs Youta's hand and says, "Let's go back. Akumi must have figured Izuku would fail until the third try. That has to be it."
Youta doesn't say anything and lets himself be dragged along. They pass by Youta's mom along the way and Akari apologizes for the mess while still dragging Youta out of the house. Youta's mom wishes them good luck and to not worry about the mess.
"Youta come on, use your quirk and get us back to UA asap."
Youta with a smile on his face complies with her wishes. Youta presses the bracelet and the metallic sleeve forms on his arm. Conjuring his red light below him and Akari, Youta lifts themselves into the air and zips back to UA just before curfew.
"Alright we're here," Youta said as he landed on the ground in front of the dormitory building.
"Good, you brought back Akari," Principal Nezu said. Standing next to him were Hound Dog, Midnight, and Vlad King. "Youta, Please we're going to have to ask you to hand over Akari for a little bit."
Akari went behind Youta. Youta pats Akari on the head and says, "Don't worry this is all part of the plan. They aren't going to send you back. Trust me."
"What plan? Tell me first," Akari asks.
"We don't want another Akumi situation with all the students around," Midnight said pointing to the door and it burst open as class 1B came pouring out.
"What are you all doing here," Vlad King asks.
"We heard the news that Youta was finally going to come to stay at the dorms," Rin said.
"We heard it from class A after going over to apologize for his transgressions," Shiozaki added.
"We were planning to surprise him with a welcoming party, but then you guys showed up!" Tetsutetsu shouts.
"Guy's, really I? You didn't have to." Youta laughs. "Not that I didn't expect this. Anyway, Akari, it's best if you go with them for now."
"Why should I? If I wanted, you'd help me leave, right," Akari asked Youta sincerely.
"About the contract. We may be able to get you out of it," Principal Nezu said.
Akari's grip on Youta tightens for a moment before she gets out from behind Youta and walks to the front. "Just how exactly?" Her eyes started glowing as she stared coldly at Principal Nezu.
"We shouldn't talk out here with all of them here should we," Principal Nezu asks. "I know we failed you once or twice, but isn't your magic number three."
"It's not my magic number, but fine I'll go with you people for now." Akari walks over to the group of heroes. "It's not like you guys have any ill intentions." She turns around to wave goodbye at Youta. "Make sure I don't stay here for longer than needed."
Youta waved back and said, "I will so stop worrying."
With that, Akari leaves with the rest of the heroes leaving only class B. Youta turned to face the class as they also stood up and waited. Youta got into dogeza and shouts, "I'm sorry for trying to quit prematurely and not even having the courage to fully commit to the class! I brought shame to class 1B and tarnished its reputation with the other classes! If there is anything I can do to–"
"Okay, we get it!" Shishida lifts Youta. The entire class surrounds Youta.
Awase lightly punches Youta on the shoulder and said, "You didn't think we would get our license without you did you?"
"With you back it means we have not just our ace member but we're one class member up compared to class A," Monoma said.
"Normally Monoma I would hit you for that comment but right now I don't think I have to," Kendo said.
"Look guys, it's okay to ask me whatever question you like. You can even say whatever you like. I stopped caring after a while. I find it more helpful that everyone is so transparent with me even though I've been so secretive with you all."
"So are you going to answer me or not?" Tetsutetsu asked. "Why did you want to quit becoming a hero?"
"Ah, that's complicated indeed. I think this is a question answered on another night."
"What!?" Tetsutetsu had a fist raised while Honenuki held him back.
"I never said I was going to stop being secretive. Come on guys. Really if anything Kendo and you are the only ones who should know. I can't be saying it in front of everyone here you know. They're not rule-breakers yet. So if you want to know we'll have to do it in private."
"Rule-breakers? What do you mean by that," Tsunotori asks.
"It's been a long day guys, at least for me. Can I just answer anything I'm willing and allowed to answer tomorrow," Youta asks.
The class unanimously said no as they bombard Youta with random questions. Many related to him, others to his relationships, and some just because. Youta does his best to answer all that he can and or is willing to share.