Disclaimer: My Hero Academia belongs to Kohei Horikoshi.

As he rides in the train to U.A. High, Tanaka looks back on how chaotic his first week of school has been so far. First the assessment test done by his teacher, then the battle trials, followed up by the incident with the reporters the next day, before the disastrous encounter with villains at the USJ. It was during what happened at the building that a few of his classmates got their first encounter with VKX, a serial killer from his hometown of Lotal that has targeted villains for the past ten years. How exactly the masked killer even got there or what he was even doing there is anyone's guess, as he disappeared soon after the other members of the school faculty arrived.

After that, school was canceled for the rest of the day, and everybody was given a few days off so that they could recover from what had happened. Out of all the members of Class 1-A, only the shadow user's classmate Izuku Midoriya was the only one who was critically injured. He was one of a handful of those who'd escaped without a single scratch on them.

As for the villains responsible, they were a different story entirely. A large portion of them were brutally killed and torn apart when VKX showed up on the scene, not showing a single shred of mercy to any one of them whatsoever. Those that survived were completely traumatized by what they witnessed and had to be sent to prison for their own protection.

-U.A. High, 1-A Classroom-

While everybody else is busy chatting with each other about what happened to them a few days ago, Tanaka is reading his book. He'd already looked through the news outlets on his phone for any new updates on the USJ attack, and so far, there doesn't seem to be anything that can give him a clue as to where the leaders of the group calling themselves the "League of Villains" might be.

'League of Villains?' he thinks to himself, scoffing. 'What kind of idiotically cliché name is that? I swear, whoever came up with that has absolutely no originality at all.'

-Meanwhile, at an unknown location-

"ACHOO!" The villain known only as All For One sneezes, catching the doctor off guard.

"Are you okay, Master?" he asks, a look of concern on his face.

"I'm fine, Doctor," the villain reassures his loyal cohort. "It's just a little sneeze, that's all. I guess I must've inhaled some dust while I was contemplating."

"I see," the doctor says, relieved.

-Back with Tanaka-

But despite that, whoever was the mastermind behind that group clearly had a goal in mind. Which was to kill All Might. And they clearly had no hesitation in trying to kill a bunch of high school kids in order to try and break his spirit before outright killing him. But even if they were to try to accomplish anything, they would most likely end up having large targets painted on their backs.

"Hey Tanaka," someone calls him. The brunette looks up to see that it was Ojiro.

"Yes," he says, calmly.

"You doing okay?" The tailed blonde as a look of concern adorns his face.

"Oh yes, I am," the brunette answers, resuming his book reading. "I was just thinking of what had just happened to us and such."

"Who would've thought that we had to endure an actual villain attack like that?" Sato chimes in. "And to think that someone like VKX was even capable of just downright killing them like that was something that was beyond messed up."

"As much as I would agree with you, there are worse ways to go than what Midoriya, Tsu and Mineta saw before he started that smokescreen covered rampage of his," the shadow user responds.

"Are you serious right now, Tanaka?!" Mineta screams. "What could possibly be worse than having stakes plunged into your eye sockets?!"

Tanaka looks at his short classmate, a deadpan expression on his face.

"Let's see," he says to the short teen. "There's the possibility of getting strung up from a streetlamp by your intestines for one, thrown into a woodchipper, heck he even tried dissolving someone's skin and bones with a gallon of hydrofluoric acid."

"How did that guy even get his hands on hydrofluoric acid?!" Mineta replies, even more scared now.

"I have no idea," the shadow user admits. "But at least it was quick, unlike when he used lingchi on a few of his victims somewhere in the 150 number mark."

"Lingchi? What the heck is that?" Kaminari asks.

"It means 'slow process'," Yaoyorozu answers, apparently familiar with the subject. "It's a type of execution method that was used prominently in China, beginning from 900 CE all the way up until the early 1900s. Executioners use a knife to remove portions of a convicted criminal's body for an extended length of time, prolonging the pain before they eventually die. Around a thousand cuts It was usually reserved for those that have committed heinous crimes such as high treason against their country, as well killing their father or mother among them."

Hearing this causes everybody, with the exception of Tanaka, to feel varying degrees of fear. The pony-tailed girl looks at the latter, a look of concern on her face as she asks, "Have the few victims VKX used this method on actually-"

"Committed the aforementioned crimes? Yes, they have," the brunette replies, solemnly. "How is it that he found out was most likely due to having seen it on the news. Although, how exactly he managed to have found out where they lived has been eluding the authorities for quite some time. The fact that he went this far south into a city like Musutafu was something that caught me completely off guard, as he would usually do his killings either in my hometown or in one of the other cities surrounding it."

But before any more talk on that topic should come up, the school bell starts to ring. That means that class is about to begin.

"Everyone!" Iida shouts, standing up from his desk. He almost toppled his chair due to the abrupt action. "Homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and get to your seats!"

"Uh, hate to burst your bubble Iida," Tanaka deadpans. "But we're already in our seats."

"You're the one standing up right now," Sero also deadpans.

"Oh, right. My apologies," the class representative apologizes.

'I wonder who will be teaching us for a while,' Tanaka thinks.

Having finished reading his book for the day, the brunette puts it back into his backpack and putting it away. He looks up to see who is opening the door, only to find something bizarre. Standing right in the doorway, body all wrapped up in bandages, is their homeroom teacher.

"Morning," Aizawa says to the class, not caring for the fact that he looks like a mummy right now.

"You're back already, Mr. Aizawa?!" The entire class (minus Tanaka) shouts at once.

"Mr. Aizawa?" Tanaka says to the teacher. "Are you sure that you should be walking about with the amount of injuries you have? For all we know, some of them might reopen."

"As much I would appreciate your concerns Tanaka, my well-being doesn't matter right now," Aizawa replies to his student. "More importantly, the fight is not yet over."

'Seriously, what now?' Tanaka thinks, a few of his classmates bringing up their own theories about what their teacher means by that.

"The U.A. Sports Festival is drawing near," Aizawa finishes up.

"THAT'S A SUPER NORMAL SCHOOL EVENT!" everybody shouts, with Tanaka going so far as to face fault on the floor. If anybody else were in his position, they would most likely do the exact same thing.

"Mr. Aizawa, are you sure that it's a good idea given what we all just went through?" Tanaka questions, concerned. "I mean, we did just go through a villain attack a few days ago."

"I have to agree with him," Jiro points out. "It's a bit too soon."

"What if the villains attack again or something...?" Ojiro adds, clearly voicing everybody's worry.

"I understand the concerns you may have," Aizawa says to his students. "But I can assure you that it's necessary. They think of it as U.A. showing that our crisis management system is as solid as a rock by holding this event. Security will also be strengthened to five times that of any of the previous years. Above all, our sports festival is a chance for you all to be great heroes. It's not an event that can be canceled because of a few villains."

"Aside from what happened on the 13th annual Sports Festival?" the shadow user questions.

"...What happened back then was a tragic event that should not have ever happened in the first place," the walking mummy that is the class homeroom teacher responds, clearly aware of the particular event that was just under discussion.

Everyone else has a confused expression on their faces, clearly quite curious as to what happened on the 13th Sports Festival.

"You sure about that?" Mineta says, uncertainly. "It is just a festival of sports."

"Mineta, you've never seen the U.A. Sports Festival?" Midoriya asks the short teen.

"I don't think that's what he meant," Tanaka says to the greenette.

"Yeah, that's right," Mineta agrees. "That's not what I meant at all."

"So what exactly happened on the 13th annual Sports Festival Tanaka?" Ashido asks, curiously.

The shadow user, due to having done research on the Sports Festival during the times he spent in the school library, shares what he has learned.

"Let's just say it involves a group of disgruntled Olympic gold medalists that weren't exactly happy with how the Sports Festival uprooted and made all their hard work and accomplishments seem insignificant and pointless in comparison," was what he said.

"In the past, the Olympics were once called a festival of sports, and the whole country was crazy about them," Aizawa explains, putting some context to what his student is talking about. "But as you all know, with reductions in both scale and population, they are now a shell of their former glory. And now, for Japan, what has now taken its place is the U.A. Sports Festival. Of course, not everyone is happy with this change. As your classmate has already mentioned, a bunch of former Olympic players have made their displeasure rather clear."

"What did they do?" Hagakure asks.

"They managed to blow up the stadium while there were people inside watching the festival play out," their teacher answers. "While it was later discovered that the culprits have placed a number of bombs with enough firepower to demolish an entire building, how they even managed to place them all throughout the stadium's seats and such without ever getting caught on our surveillance cameras at the time, where they got them from, or why they would even decide to pull off such an atrocity during a school event of all things have been eluding everyone that survived it ever since it happened. Since then, our security has had to be extra vigilant in order to prevent another illogical incident such as what happened that year from repeating."

After having a mini history lesson about the Sports Festival, as well as that of what has happened on the festival's 13th year, all of Class 1-A can't help but think of the opportunities being offered to them when it comes around.

"Of course, all of the top heroes in the country will be watching. For scouting purposes," Yaoyorozu says, clearly determined to be seen and scouted by as many pro heroes as possible.

"After we graduate, it's typical for us to get hired in the hero agencies as sidekicks," Kaminari adds.

"I can already see you become one of those eternal sidekicks when we do graduate, Kaminari," Tanaka says to the electricity user.

"Me too," Jiro adds. "Since you are dumb." This causes the boy in question to feel insulted by what two of his classmates had just said.

"Seeing the Sports Festival on TV is one thing, being in it is something else," Tanaka remarks.

Midoriya turns to look at him, a look of excitement on his face.

"You actually watched the Sports Festival, Tanaka?" he asks excitedly.

"Yeah, last year was my first time watching it actually," the shadow user answers. "It was quite exciting so far, up until a second-year student accidentally used his quirk and ended up flashing himself on live TV. Not even sure what could've caused the guy to do that, but it must've been embarrassing for him."

The hero fanboy sweat drops upon hearing that, having also seen that moment happen last year also.

Aizawa continues his explanation on how joining a pro hero agency can give each of them a chance to gain experience and popularity, with this chance in getting noticed only happening once a year during their time in the school. He even warns them not to slack off before dismissing homeroom.

-Lunchtime-

As soon as classes have ended and lunchtime has begun, everyone in class gets ready to either head over to the cafeteria or get into whatever they packed for lunch from home. A certain shadow user packs up to do the latter.

"Hey Tanaka," Kirishima calls out to him. "You heading over to the cafeteria?"

"Yep." Tanaka responds. "I was hoping to get something to eat since I... forgot to make lunch today. I guess I was so caught up on what has been going on the past few days that I completely forgot to pack something to eat."

"If you would, I could make some lunch for you," Sato says.

"Thanks for that, Sato," the brunette replies, clearly appreciating the offer from his classmate. "But I'm good."

"So what do you think we should do when the Sports Festival comes around?" Midoriya asks him.

"My suggestion would be doing some training during the two weeks leading to it. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing just that," he replies.

"I find that to be an excellent idea, Tanaka," Iida brings up. "We must all be in tiptop shape when the day arrives."

"Deku, Iida, Tanaka," the aforementioned three turn to look at Uraraka, flinching a little as they see what appears to be an intense expression on her face that is so uncharacteristically like her. "Let's do our best at the Sports Festival."

"U-Uraraka, your face... I-it's..." Midoriya stammers out in fear, clearly freaked out by what looks to be the girl's intense face. Almost as if a sudden change in personality have come over her.

'That look she's making is rather freaky,' the shadow user thinks to himself. He can clearly hear Ashido point out that that this is not like Uraraka's usual personality at all. He also hears Mineta start saying something along the lines of "PM-" before a certain frog girl's tongue cuts him off by slapping him on the cheek. His eyes briefly turn to look at the short teen's head bobbing up and down for a second. 'You really need to keep your shut you know.'

"Everyone!" the gravity user says to her still creeped out classmates, pumping a fist into the air. "I'm gonna do my best!"

While this is going on, Tanaka packs up his things and puts them away while his classmate is busy scaring her classmates with her sudden change in personality. He hears her head over to his desk right as he puts away the last of his things.

"I am going to do my be-" that was all she was able to say before getting slapped in the face by a notebook being held by Tanaka. The shadow user has an unamused expression on his face as he did it. The force from the slap causes the brunette girl to fall to the ground, thankfully avoiding the desks and chairs along the way.

"Ow. What was that for, Tanaka?" she asks, holding the slapped cheek to try and ease the pain.

"You're scaring everybody," he replies.

"Wait, I was?" the girl questions, looking at everybody. They each nodded in response, clearly backing up what their classmate said. She then blushes in embarrassment before bowing and saying, "Sorry."

With that said, the brunette boy heads over to the cafeteria. On the way there, he walks right past a man with orange hair tied into a ponytail with orange-red eyes. The man is wearing a suit consisting of a short-sleeved shirt with a black tie, beige pants and brown dress shoes. He looks to be carrying a bundle of papers in one hand, most likely paperwork for the teachers and faculty.

'Must be a new member that got hired sometime before the school year started,' Tanaka remarks in his head. He continues his walk toward the cafeteria, not letting anything else keep him from getting something to eat.

Unbeknownst to him, the new member of the staff was looking toward the boy as he was heading over to his destination. A small smirk adorns his face as he resumes what he's doing, clearly having something going on in his head. But whatever it was no one else has the slightest idea.

-U.A. Cafeteria-

After having to deal with Uraraka's sudden change in personality earlier, Tanaka and Tora get into the lunch they got from Lunch Rush. Kaeda, on the other hand, is busy with whatever project he has on his computer. As they were about halfway done with their respective meals, the former two would then gaze at their quirkless friend as he types away on his keyboard seemingly without a care.

"Hey Kaeda," Tora says to Kaeda. "Whatcha working on over there?"

"Hmm? Oh, just something that might help with the trainwreck that is the school security system, like I said a few days back," the quirkless genius replies. He had already finished with his lunch a few minutes ago, so he's spending the rest of lunch period working on his computer.

"Really? What sort of project might help with that?" Tanaka questions, having just finished his lunch as well and putting the tray away.

"Here, let me show you," Kaeda says, showing his two friends what's on the computer screen. On the screen is what appears to be a complex series of numbers and letters, all done in a series of patterns for various kinds of programs. "This is a series of algorithms that can detect any and all kinds of interference throughout all areas of the school before finding the quickest and most efficient way of counteracting it. With this, we can not only fix the security system for the school but also improve it further."

The two hero course boys could only whistle in amazement at what their friend had done. This seems like a pretty good idea for the school. After all, what happened at the USJ was something that should not have happened in the first place and the security system really does need a bit of an upgrade in order to prevent a repeat of that.

"This is quite an impressive project you have made," someone says.

"Oh, you think so?" The quirkless genius turns to whoever complimented his handiwork. It only takes a few seconds before he, along with his two friends sitting next to him, realizes that the one that gave the compliment was the principal himself, Nezu.

'What the?! When did he get here?!' All three boys yell mentally, not expecting the principal to actually sit right next to them in the first place. Nor were they expecting him to actually have a laptop of his own that's customized to his size.

"Why yes I do," the chimera replies in his chipper tone. "Your little passion project would make an excellent upgrade for the school's security system. I have to say that something like this is definitely worth my attention."

"Uh... thank you sir," Kaeda says, blushing a bit in embarrassment. He then notices what looks to be a USB extension cord connecting his computer with the principal's, which the latter had just removed. It's only then that he notices that the program he was working on wasn't on his computer anymore.

"What the...? How did you...?" He was trying to ask his two questions before finding that the principal had closed his laptop and put it away. "Uh, sir? Is there something you would like to talk with us about?"

The chimera looks over to the boys, still smiling as he begins to talk to them.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he begins. "I was well aware of your little stunt with the school's database, and I have to say that I am impressed at how quickly you were able to crack the code in such a short amount of time. Although, I am a bit curious as to the reason why you would actually do something like that when you're just barely into the first week of the school year."

'CRAP! HE'S FIGURED IT OUT!' Kaeda yells mentally, a freaked-out expression on his face. Sighing to himself, he then decides to confess the reason behind what he did.

"Well sir," he says. "I was rather curious about what was going on with it following what happened with the school barrier the other day. While I was working on it, I found some text messages sent to one of the leaders of the League of Villains talking about what was about to go on the day of the attack."

"Oh my, that is certainly troublesome," the principal says, a bit of worry in his voice. "That may need to be looked into once the Sports Festival is finished. Thank you for informing me about this."

With that said, he puts away his computer and walks out of the cafeteria. He leaves the three boys alone, contemplating whether to actually trust the principal or not about this. But considering that he is one of the smartest beings on the planet, who clearly cares about the wellbeing of his students, they may as well try to. After all, he is a Pro Hero that specializes in strategies and such.

"Do you think we can trust him?" Tora questions, clearly worried.

"Does it matter?" Tanaka says. "Right now, we need to focus on what we're going to do when the Sports Festival comes around. This is an opportunity for all of us to show everybody watching what we're capable of. Besides, there's no way for the League of Villains to actually try and attack us when there's going to be a whole lot of Pro Heroes that might come and watch us."

Thinking about that, the three Lotal natives all decide not to delve into it any further before they head off to another part of the school for the rest of the lunch period. Hopefully the rest of the day would come and go without anything crazy happening.

A/N: With that, I am done. Happy New Year, everybody! Hope you all are doing well, because I sure know I am so far. I just thought I want start the new year off with another volume. I was planning on doing this earlier, but circumstances such as having to help with the house and such, as well as the usual writer's block, have made things rather difficult. Just thought I'd point that out. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Good luck with the new year, wherever you are!