Happy New Year to all! Let's start the new year with swearing, trauma, and death!

Axccel: Yes, the Assassins have narrowed their scope too far in their war against the Templars, even though said organization is their greatest threat. It's a dangerous balancing act.

Gamelover41592: Yikes indeed.

LEGOBRICK13: I, uh, think some of that miasma stuck around a little longer. Oh no... anyway, here's the next chapter. I will make you like Bakugo, so help me! At least this version of him!

maxperseus130: I like to think I'm a man of culture. Which culture, though, is up for debate.

Monkey D. Conan: I'm glad you recognized the importance of this chapter. Where Izuku goes from here, only time will tell.

Monster King: Will do!

Movieboy66: Except Izuku isn't necessarally after Heroes. Still, it will take a while before we fee the societal effects of the Pricetag Killings.

Pirohiko-Baltazar: The power that comes with deciding who lives and who dies is not something anyone should wield, but those who do are not perfect and Izuku is no exception. He has to learn, and to learn, one has to make mistakes. Just like the legends of old.

Ranger McAleer: Can't have AC without some darkness and angst, can you?

Shadowwolf1997: Alright, there's a lot to go through, so let's get started. I could have done that, but I think Izuku would have been on a high from the first success, resulting in his rashness. Plus I wasn't sure I would have had the time to do multiple successful missions beforehand without dragging things out unnecessarily. I agree the masters we've played would have been more understanding, but because all of them have been in the same shoes at some point. And yes, many of the Assassins are too focused on the Templars. Their rivalry has changed how they define 'innocent' and Arno had a fallout with his own Brotherhood, he wouldn't be happy about the state of Osaka. All this was intentional and will result in problems down the line.

stevenpiskunov2: Izuku is a flawed individual just like every other person and even Ezio didn't start his journey until he was 17, but Izuku's only 15 at this point. He has a lot of growing to do yet.

Wizardwolf 1020: I haven't watched JJK, but I have who has and has told me plenty about it. Believe you me, all the shit WILL hit all the fans in due time.

zakan: Thank you!

ZonZus: I wasn't sure how you'd react to abject failure from our MC since so many stories have him never fail so spectacularly. I'd been planning this failure for a while and simply needed a way to bring it about, so I'm happy with how it turned out. Obviously, Izuku is not perfect and will make mistakes; the same mistakes of some of his forbears because we know the thought processes that influenced them. I don't know if I'll use contract missions, but it'll be a ways off if I do.

Chapter 57:

A Lost Gamble

Bakugo laid on his back staring at the wooden ceiling, a sharp pain in his abdomen fading to a dull ache that spoke of a cracked rip, as he tried to understand what the fuck just happened.

The first few days of his work as the NSG Agency had sucked. Yokai had refused to let him even wear his Hero costume and shoved him into test after test while the Silent Mouse, as he'd started to think of his quiet fellow student —he would have called her Churchmouse but Vine Hair had the monopoly on things Bible and religious among their classmates, and his nicknames would be accurate, dammit— got to go on patrol with "the Squad" and he was left behind with a babysitter. It was maddening.

Until, after he chose to walk away instead of another argument with Mesmer, Yokai finally let him enter the Cave, a Quirk training area nestled under the agency in the roots of the great Sakura tree. The center of this area was a sparring arena, and the first thing North Squad Go wanted to see was him against Silent Mouse, and then—

He couldn't quite remember what exactly happened. He charged in with a right hook, she ducked, a flash of movement, and pain.

"What the hell…?" the boy moaned, rolling onto his side as he held his stomach. He could hear Mesmer laughing at his sorry state, the bitch. "Dammit, Glowstick. You said no interference."

"No one interfered," the thrice-damned leader of the Hero team said through a chuckle. "Not hand, foot, tail, nor Quirk. Fact is, Kodai here just one-shotted you like a badass."

"No, that can't—" He opened his eyes to see the Silent Mouse looking at him with her ever-blank expression, her head cocked to the side and a sledgehammer in her hands, a retractable line connecting its handle —which was the diameter of his bicep— to a toolbelt around her waist. She was dressed in a pink tracksuit as her training clothes. As he watched, she set the sledgehammer down so it stood on its head and pressed her hands together, shrinking the weapon until it was a normal stone-head hammer, the line retracting to drag it to her waist with the other tools there. "…What?"

"Kodai's a lot tougher that people give her credit for," Length offered, walking over to place a proud hand on top of the girl's head. "Fighting hand-to-hand just isn't her forte, even if we keep telling her to work on that."

"Mm," Silent Mouse acknowledged with a blink but no other outward sign. Evergreen walked over, kneeling by Bakugo and offering a plastic bag about the side of a matchbox, the insides a gelatinous green.

"Here's some goo for that bruise she have you," he grinned. Goo, as they'd told him, was the product of one of Evergreen's cousins, a medic at a local hospital. His Quirk produced a healing salve that could treat most physical injury but not illness and more damaging wounds would require more goo. Every member of North Squad Go was expected to carry some on their person at all times during training or missions. Much as Bakugo wanted to reject it, he could feel at least one cracked rib from whatever attack had hit him.

"I think that got the point across," Yokai said. "You might think of yourself as a big shot, but you're not even the top of your own weight class, kid. Just the loudest. You're all power and no control whereas Kodai is nothing but control."

"I wouldn't say that," Mesmer put in.

"You need to refine yourself," the heteromorph continued, ignoring the woman. He gestured to a burn mark on the floor behind the Mouse. "That will be our focus for the month. You've got plenty of raw force in your Quirk, but you need technique, tactics, and variety. If you continue as you are, you're gonna have to cover a shit-ton in collateral fees over the course of your career. Sure, construction companies will love you, but everyone else?"

"I don't need people to like me," Bakugo growled through the stinging side effect of the goo's healing. He pushed himself to his feet as his rib mended. "I'll be Number One even without it."

"Clearly you don't remember what I said after kicking your ass during the exam. You'll top out at two like Endeavor that way."

"I'm not Endeavor. I'm Katsuki Bakugo, and whatever I say I'll do, I'll damn-well do it."

Yokai and the others studied him, eyebrowes canted. Thought she didn't break the silence, it was CoolBlue who breathed the first question.

'WHY ARE YOU SO SET ON BEING NUMBER ONE?'

"Because I said I would," Bakugo answered, his voice tight. "Does there need to be more than that?"

"Right…" Yokai rolled his eyes. "Well, your problem and Kodai's are opposites. You need to train your precision while she'll keep working her Quirk and body's limits. You, follow me. Blue and Green, too. Mesmer and Length, you're with Kodai."

Grumbling, Bakugo followed to one side of the Cave, a target range from the looks of it. Against the wall was a lattice of wires holding round targets, each painted with a bullseye. Yokai gestured to it.

"This," he said, "is our target range. Here, we will help you develop a long-range attack."

"I've already got one," Bakugo grunted. "AP Shot."

"And tell me, do you need your support gear to pull it off?" Bakugo's silence and narrowing eyes answered that question. "Support gear can and will break on you at the worst times. You need a ranged attack that you can use at any moment."

"And what would you suggest, Glowstick?"

"I'm so glad you asked," the man smiled, ignoring the student's condescension. "You can choose the method based on how your Quirk functions, but I brought Evergreen and CoolBlue to give you demonstrations. Green, Blue, if you would?"

"Sure thing, boss," Evergreen said as CoolBlue nodded. The dark-skinned man stepped forward first, holding his hand out so Bakugo could see the sap beading from his fingertips. He pulled his arm back slowly before whipping it forward. "Ever Needle!" Five lines of sap stabbed into the center of one of the targets, all in a tight cluster.

CoolBlue stepped forward next. She could not speak so she did not give an attack name as she crossed her arms before her body. He breathed liquid nitrogen over her arms before throwing them outward, a pair of thick icicles each stabbing into their own targets. She turned to Bakugo, using her pointer fingers to make herself smile.

"Personally, I think Green's attack is closer to your Quirk," Yokai commented. "However, I'm pretty sure you can't detonate your sweat remotely, nor control its shape and viscosity. That'll be the issue you need to work around."

"…No, I can't," the blond admitted. "I have to have some contact to make it explode."

"It'll be hard, but I think this could work," Evergreen thought aloud, a hand on his chin. "Is it possible to throw your sweat fast enough that a burning part on the end doesn't catch the rest of it until the whole thing hits something?"

"I don't think that's feasible," Yokai said before Bakugo could comment about how stupid the idea was. "Sure, maybe it's possible, but there's no way the kid could pull it off."

"Ex-fuckin'-'scuse me?" the blond questioned.

"Yeah, it'll take a lot of work," Evergreen defended. "Hm, maybe… No, he's probably not willing to do that."

"We should come up with something easier," Yokai continued. "Course, it won't be as strong. You'd need the refined control of a top-tier Hero to do something like that, Green."

Bakugo knew what they were doing. They were taunting him, challenging his pride and ego to make him do what they wanted. And damn if it wasn't working.

"Back the fuck up," the student ordered, pushing Evergreen out of the way. He rubbed his hands together, building heat, oil, and sweat. He focused, his eyes narrowing. His hand shot forward. "Remote Detonation!" His hand exploded, launching him to the side. "Son of a bitch!"

Yokai bit his finger, doing his best to not laugh audibly. Yui looked up from the bolt she was repeatedly increasing and decreasing in size to greater extremes, blinking at the cursing blond. Mesmer cackled beside her while Length simply shook his head. As the watched, Bakugo got to his feet to try again.

Length sighed. "I'll go get some earplugs."

-AHC-

His fingers hurt like a bitch and his arms ached, but that didn't mean Bakugo was done. Yokai had ended their training when his explosions had stopped happening on top of his hands and, rather, about two inches away. Even that much improvement took hours, not including the break for dinner (which was a hassle in itself considering the damage his hands had already sustained by that point).

All that said, his legs and torso were fine, which Bakugo considered a waste. If he wasn't sore going to bed, then he didn't work hard enough. He needed to reach the top, and he wasn't going to get there lying down. To that end, he had to wait until everyone else had gone to sleep to do anything.

Contrary to popular belief, Bakugo did know how to be quiet. One learned fast after waking his father in the middle of the night. Masaru Bakugo was a calm and collected man until you pushed him to his limit or denied him sleep; at that point, only one of the Top Ten Heroes could save you from his wrath. Suffice it to say, nighttime was a time to be silent, just another skill he'd mastered, so it was only a quiet click that heralded his entrance into The Sakura's workout room.

It was perhaps the only room he really cared for in the tree-building, decked out in top-of-the-line equipment to rival or surpass any public gym. Closing the door, Bakugo moved to the line of treadmills —five of them— and removed his black tank top only to freeze. He blinked. Someone else was here.

The first thing his eyes registered were taught muscles rippling under the back of a black sports bra, each muscle sculped from at least months, if not years, of hard work. Arms strained as they held weight aloft from an upper pulley on a cable machine, biceps and triceps shining with sweat that dripped to the floor. All this topped with a head of straight, black hair. The figure froze, apparently sensing his gaze, and silently lowered the considerable weight she'd been lifting.

"…Just because you're not moving doesn't mean I can't see you," Bakugo sighed after a moment. Yui Kodai turned, an embarrassed blush tinting her cheeks red, but the blond wasn't looking at her face. His eyes were drawn to her stomach and the chiseled six-pack thereupon.

How could he not look? It rivaled his own! And he didn't know she's been hiding all that under— He shook the thought away with a string of mental curses. It didn't matter whether she was stacked, ripped, or both. Still, maybe she really did hit him hard enough to crack his rib earlier with a body like that.

To her credit, the Mouse made no move to try to cover herself, hands on her bare legs and her blush the only show of emotion. Bakugo forced himself to look away, two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Alright, I think we both know the situation here," the blond began. He opened his eyes just in time to see the Mouse's own snap up to his face from his topless torso. "I'm not supposed to be here and you're not supposed to be here, so here's the deal. You and I will ignore each other and say nothing to fuckin' Glowstick and the Gang. We'll do our workouts, not talk about them, and not rat each other out. Deal?"

"Mm," the Mouse agreed with a nearly-imperceptible nod. She turned away from him, reaching down to grab a water bottle by her foot, showing off her toned arms and legs in the process. In all likelihood, she had no clue what that motion did for her definition.

'No, bad,' Bakugo mentally chastised. He stepped onto the treadmill, determined to ignore the Mouse for the next hour or so. It was a task easier said than done, even if he would deny such and subsequently blow up anyone who challenged the notion.

For some reason, that workout was surprisingly satisfying. The dream he had that night, however, would never be spoken of to anyone. Ever.

He was busy not thinking about that dream the next morning, his breakfast consisting of only coffee—black, of course. People who put cream in coffee are weaklings. He blinked, watching as CoolBlue breathed liquid nitrogen into a bucket Silent Mouse had supersized. Once it was full, a little mist overflowing, the pair balanced it on the entranceway. There was no door, but they had placed it in such a way that any movement would tip it over.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he questioned. Silent Mouse turned to him, raising a single finger to her lips. He blinked, shrugging. She kept their secret and he didn't really care about her chaos, so he didn't have any reason to rat her and CoolBlue out. The pair exchanged a look —he guessed it was a smile of some sort, but he couldn't tell— before CoolBlue took a seat and Silent Mouse moved to the stovetop. She was apparently a good cook and had made breakfast for North Squad Go during her internship, a practice that had since continued.

As it was, he didn't wave her off when she placed a plate of tamagoyaki, nori, and rice before him, similar plates before the pro hero and her own seat. CoolBlue offered a thankful nod to the girl, Bakugo a grunt. He wasn't thankful; he could cook just as well as she could.

"Hey, Blue?" a certain voice called from the hallway. Bakugo lifted his mug, hiding a savage grin behind his coffee. A freshly-showered Glowstick appeared in the hallway, still trying to dry his fox tails with a towel. "Have you seen my—?"

The bucket tipped, liquid nitrogen falling over him even as the clang of the bucket hitting him sounded. He yipped, his hands rising for the bucket only for Silent Mouse to press her palms together, the bucket shrinking even as the water in his tails' fur froze. Glowstick cursed, flailing, the inside of the bucket frozen to his hair. Bakugo's grin widened as Glowstick fell over, CoolBlue and the student trading a high-five with equally-blank expressions, though the younger may have had just a hint of a smile.

Sculpted like a statue, keeping secrets and pranking the Glowstick, plus a decent cook? Maybe the Mouse wasn't so bad after all.

-AHC-

The next few days followed in a similar pattern as he improved his new Remote Detonation under the watchful eyes of the pro Heroes during the morning and evening, patrolled in the afternoon, and snuck to the workout room by night. The Mouse was a regular during their secret not-a-rendezvous, the girl clearly no novice when it came to both sneaking and exercising. As it turned out, her Quirk increased or decreased an item's mass along with its size, so she needed to be strong enough to use said items. Suddenly, he didn't feel so bad about his reaction to that sledgehammer to the gut.

Knowing what she could do made their occasional spars more even, but his winning was a coin flip at best, a nugget of respect for Silent Mouse starting to grow against his will. Sure, she never spoke and never emoted, but she was a damn hard worker and he could at least acknowledge the effort she put in. One did not gain muscles like hers without putting in time and a shit-ton of effort. If only she'd show them off…

'No, bad,' he thought again. He refused to lose to stupid invasive thoughts. He was better than that, dammit. He didn't need any weaknesses.

"So, I really need to know," Yokai began one evening during a dinner of Evergreen's homemade ramen, the redheaded fox-man pointing his chopsticks at the blond student. "What's the deal with you refusing to work with anyone? You know you'd learn more if you trained with others."

"I don't need others," Bakugo grunted. "They'd only drag me down."

Yokai frowned. They'd had this conversation before, each one ending the same way, but he was convinced there was a much deeper motivation behind the boy's refusal. Still, it was getting to the point where they needed to hear it if they wanted any chance of addressing it before the work-study ended.

"Alright, kid," the leader of North Squad Go sighed. "I'm done waiting for you to answer."

"Then you'll finally drop the damn subject?"

"No. We're gonna pry it from you so we can deal with your problem."

It all happened too fast for Bakugo to react. All at once, his hands and ankles were frozen to the chair, rendering normal use of his Quirk impossible. Sap bubbled from the wooden floor, creating a slick runway that Length's extending chopsticks easily pushed him over, stopping in the middle of the room. Silent Mouse simply sat there, seemingly unaffected by the actions as the pro Heroes stood as one and surrounded the boy.

"I'll give you one more chance," Yokai said. "Tell us what your deal is before we pull the story from you by force."

"You can't do this!" Bakugo hissed, straining against the frozen bindings. "Fuck off! This has to be illegal!"

"It's really not," the man grinned. "We're just trying to help our student. Mesmer?"

"Truthful Trance." Purple smoke rose around her as the petite Heroine moved her arms in a motion similar to dancing. Bakugo tried to hold his breath —maybe if he passed out, he could escape this— but his burning lungs eventually gave in to instinct. The gas was a sickly-sweet, making him cough. Fuzz overtook his mind, his screaming thoughts receding to the back of his mind as a weightless feeling made his eyes unfocused. His struggles slowed.

"What is your name?" Yokai asked.

"Katsuki Bakugo." The boy's voice was bland, devoid of any emotion.

"What is your quest?"

"To become the Number One Hero, just like All Might."

"What… is the average wing speed velocity of a swallow carrying a coconut?"

"I don't know."

"Why do you always do that?" Mesmer questioned. "My Quirk isn't a toy, boss."

"You always rain on my fun," Yokai pouted only to quickly return his attention to the student. "Bakugo, who is your best friend?"

"I don't have one, even if Kirishima is trying. It would have been Izuku Midoriya, but he finally stopped trying."

"Finally?" the pro echoed as his team traded looks. "You realize All Might is willing to work with others, yeah? Why aren't you?"

"Connections to others are a weakness that can be broken and exploited. I don't want to experience that again."

"And whose connections hurt you?"

"My paternal grandparents."

"And now we're touching on the trauma," Length commented. "Kodai, you're welcome to leave. You don't have to stay for this."

The girl shook her head. Pushing her plate away, she stood and moved to her main teacher's side. After all, she too wanted to know why Bakugo insisted on pushing everyone away. Yokai glanced at the others, making sure they were ready.

"Bakugo, tell us what happened."

Katsuki loved his family, his best friend, and his Quirk. They were the three most important things in his four-year-old life. His Quirk: Explosion was the perfect combination of his parents' Quirks. His mom's Glycerin only made her skin softer and look younger, which had served her well as a model in her younger days. His dad had Combustive Sweat, allowing him to make his sweat explode with enough force or heat. Both were cool, but everyone —Mom, Dad, Izuku, and Grandpa and Grandma Bakugo— agreed that Explosion was the kind of Quirk a Hero would have.

Katsuki and his best friend Izuku already had plans to become a top Hero duo in the future as soon as his Quirk came in. It didn't matter what; Katsuki knew Izuku would have something super powerful, though Izuku said he was hoping for Fire Control. Auntie Inko said his dad could breathe fire and she could move small stuff with her mind, so it made sense that the two together would be moving fire. Even if it was something totally different, they'd make it work! Katsuki couldn't wait!

These were pretty common thoughts for the young boy as he made his way home from school. Tiny explosions would pop over his fingers periodically, even if the nice policeman always told him he wasn't supposed to. He just couldn't help it! Explosion was a strong Quirk and he needed to get used to it!

"Back already?" a voice asked, pulling Katsuki from his thoughts. It was the neighbor, Mr. Voleur. He was a foreigner in his forties, tall and bald with an ovular face and purple eyes, but Katsuki didn't know where he was from. No matter what, he always wore one of those flappy fishing hats, and it was always wet. He said his Quirk pulled water from the air through his scalp, so he wore the hat to not dry out the air, which sounded silly to Katsuki but Quirks were weird. One of his and Izuku's classmates could pull his eyes out and reel them back in like a tape measurer, so he supposed Mr. Voleur could dry air. The man sat on a rocking chair on his porch. "I thought you were staying at a friend's house?"

"Izuku got sick," Katsuki pouted. "Auntie Inko told me to go home until he gets better. She doesn't want me getting it, too."

"And your parents?"

"Busy. And Grandpa Chi doesn't move too well no more and Grandma's con-sul-ting at the station, but I'm a big kid! I'm gonna be a Hero, so I don't gotta be scared!"

"I see, I see," the neighbor said with a nod. "Say, I was just making some cookies for the local soup kitchen. Do you want a couple? I'm sure they won't mind if one or two go missing."

"That sounds great!" Mr. Voleur was a good baker in Katsuki's experience. Not as good as Auntie Inko who baked when she was stressed, but good. He hurried to the porch as the bald man stood, opening the front door. Sure, Mommy always said not to follow strangers, but this wasn't a stranger. He could trust Mr. Voleur.

The house didn't smell like cookies. Katsuki barely had enough time to think this before the door shut behind him. Instantly, a hand grabbed his throat, Voleur yanking his hat off and shoving it in the boy's face. It didn't smell like water, either, his body starting to tingle and go numb.

"Quit struggling, brat," the man growled. "I'm sick and tired of this country and I need this payday. They've got a plan for you, so we'll both be better off. You'll have a life of doing good and I'll get a life of luxury." Katsuki stared at him, his arms going limp, confusion in his eyes. "Oh, my Peritia? I secrete a paralyzing neurotoxin from my head, not absorb water. That'd be stupid."

The neurotoxin took full effect, Voleur tucking the boy under his arm. For lack of a garage —unlike civilized countries, in his opinion— his sedan was parked out on the street. He reached it quickly, opening the back and stuffing the toddler into a car seat to buckle him in behind the driver's side.

"Alright, that should do it," he nodded, clicking the last belt in place. "You're not going any—"

Katsuki's palms exploded, sending fire and smoke up the man's front. He coughed, stepping back by instinct as he tried to clear his airways. Despite the glare on his little face, Katsuki couldn't help the rush of pride at his maneuver, not that it helped his situation.

"Damn brat," Voleur hissed, wiping ash from his face. "They'll beat that insubordination out of you, just you wait until we get to France."

He closed the automatic door, disappointed he couldn't slam it, before climbing behind the wheel and starting the engine. He glanced at the boy in the rearview mirror, a pleased grin coming to his face as he imagined how much money the explosive brat was worth.

The window beside him shattered, the man flinching long enough for a hand to reach in, grab him by the throat, and drag him out, broken glass scratching him on the way. Katsuki's eyes widened as a man with greying-brown hair threw Voleur to the pavement, metal-capped walking cane pointed at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with my grandson?" Chi Bakugo demanded, almost-literal fire in his red eyes. He wasn't a large man though he was broad of shoulder, his body still fit for a man pushing 70 despite his aching joints and need for a cane, those being the reasons he and his wife had moved in with his son and daughter-in-law. Clearly, adrenaline was enough to counter his age to the point where he could drag a man through a window. Or maybe that was his lingering training from his work with the police as a blood analyst.

"You wouldn't understand," Voleur growled, getting to his feet, his paralytic-soaked hat crumpling in his fist. "I'm getting that boy a life to bring peace to the world. With a Peritia and lineage like his, it's his duty to—"

"You don't get any say in what my grandson does!" Chi shot back. "Katsuki's life is his to live! No one gets to make that choice for him!"

"Clearly, you will never understand," the kidnapper muttered. He dropped his hat before reaching into his pocket and drawing out a switchblade. It flicked open, reflected light flashing in Katsuki's eyes as clear liquid dripped from Voleur's hand. "Good thing he won't remember any of this once his training starts."

"He won't be going anywhere."

The younger charged the senior, Chi's experience with the police helping him fend off Voleur's knife with his cane. Unfortunately, his age still played a factor. Voleur was just faster than him, the man reaching forward to wrap his hand around Chi's cane. A hard yank ripped the tool from the elder's hand, Chi nearly throwing himself backward to avoid the following swing. Even so, the tip of the knife caught him, cutting a horizontal line across his chest.

"Shit," Chi muttered, his body starting to shake. "What…?"

"My real Peritia causes paralysis," Voleur grinned, stepping forward. "Now die for the good of the future."

The knife flashed as the man buried it to the hilt in the senior's gut. Katsuki tried to cry out, to move, to do anything, but his body simply wouldn't respond. Blood dripped down the side of Chi's mouth as his shaking arms came up, wrapping around Voleur in a horrid hug.

"I think…" he coughed, "you forgot something. My Quirk… is Combustive Blood."

Grandfather and grandson both saw the moment Voleur understood the mistake he'd made. He started struggling, trying desperately to escape Chi's hold, but the paralysis had turned the man into a cage.

"No!" he cried, shouting in both Japanese and French. "No! No, please—"

His screams were lost in the massive explosion of Chi's blood combusting. The paralysis left Katsuki the moment Voleur died, his charred remains falling backward to all but shatter on the concrete. Chi staggered back, his shirt burned away and his chest naught but a soot-covered burn so terrible the knife wound could not been seen from the rest of it. Katsuki yanked at the belts holding him down, resorting to blowing them up when they refused to give under his trembling hands. The door was too slow as well, the toddler blasting it off its track and tumbling to the ground. He crawled with now-scraped hands and knees to his fallen grandfather.

"Grandpa!" little Katsuki yelled, tears in his eyes. "Grandpa!"

"Katsuki," Chi said, his breathing labored. He smiled a bloody smile. "Thank god you're okay."

"B-But you're not! I-I'll get— I-I'll go— one-one-nine—"

"No, Katsuki," Chi coughed, one of his hands settling on the boy's. "It's okay."

"But—"

"Listen to me. I've lived a good life… and now I'm dying a good death. No matter what happens, be true to yourself… You're a Bakugo, Katsuki… and a Bakugo can do anything. A Bakugo does what they say they'll do… And a Bakugo is the best at what they do… And you… you want to be a Hero?"

"Y-Yeah," Katsuki choked out, holding his grandfather's burnt hand in both of his, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Then I know you can do it… You'll be the greatest… Number One… You're a Bakugo, Katsuki… and a Bakugo can do anything… I love you, Katsuki…" He stopped, his hand going limp.

"…Grandpa?" Katsuki asked. "Grandpa? Grandpa!"

The funeral of Chi Bakugo was held one week later. It rained, as if the skies themselves cried for the death of a good man. Despite the weather, over a hundred people attended, all to mourn a pillar of their community. They were his friends from the pachinko parlor, the folks who ran the soup kitchen where he'd volunteered, his co-workers from the police, the families of victims whose cases he'd helped solve, and more Katsuki had never seen before. Some would come to the family and talk about Chi, what a good man he was and how he died a hero, but it was white noise in Katsuki's ears.

Grandpa Chi was dead. Grandpa Chi was dead, and everyone was sad. Grandpa Chi was dead because of him. Katsuki felt like he'd swallowed barbed wire because this was all his fault.

The worst sight of the funeral wasn't the closed casket or the yet-to-be-filled grave, it was the old woman knelt beside it, her wails heard even over the rumbling thunder and showering downpour. Chi Bakugo had been Grandma Yuri's whole world, had been since they first met when she was a detective, and now he was gone. Katsuki didn't hear any of the words said nor any of the sutras chanted, his mind locked on the guilt in his stomach and the old woman.

When the time came to lower the casket, Masaru Bakugo had to pry his mother away, bundling her in his arms as they lowered her husband's remains into the earth. That was the last time Katsuki ever heard his grandmother's voice.

Yuri Bakugo deteriorated fast. She refused to get out of bed, refused to eat, and couldn't sleep. She wouldn't acknowledge Mitsuki nor Katsuki's presences and only reacted to Masaru, if only because he looked like a carbon copy of Chi at that age. Even then, she'd only hold his hand and stare at his face, crying silently.

For Katsuki, this only compounded his nightmares. Every night, something would jolt him awake in a cold sweat, causing the boy to clutch his All Might plushie and pad to his parents' room, crawling into bed with them for comfort in their warmth. Except that night, they weren't there. Needing someone, anyone, he followed the muffled sounds of voices until he stood on the stairs, his parents apparently in the kitchen.

"In a layman's terms," a voice Katsuki didn't recognize said, "she died of heartbreak."

The boy peered around the railing, finding his parents on a video call on the computer.

"What do you mean?" Mitsuki asked, holding her husband's hand.

"The medical term is Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy," the man on the computer said. "Also known as Broken Heart Syndrome. In any other case, she could have lived another decade, but her emotional state weaken her heart until it stopped. Frankly speaking, Yuri Bakugo decided she didn't want to live in a world without her husband, and her body made it happen. She lost her love, so she followed him. It's… almost romantic in a tragic way."

"It's what she said would happen," Masaru whispered, on the verge of tears himself. He'd just lost both of his parents within two weeks. He gave a wet chuckle. "She wanted to go first so she'd never be without him. Their friends always said she was obsessive."

Mitsuki said something, but Katsuki stopped listening. The All Might plush fell from his loose hands, hitting the stairs with a quiet wump. He fled to his bedroom, throwing the covers over himself as he started to heave, his tears drenching the mattress.

Love got his grandpa killed. Love killed his grandma. Love left him, his parents, and the whole neighborhood in tears. Love made him feel this way. What other conclusion could he come to?

Love was a feeling that would only hurt in the end. What if Broken Heart Syndrome got him or his mom or his dad next? Katsuki wouldn't be able to stand this a second time. Family, friends, connections, love… for his sake and for everyone else, he needed to throw it all away. Love would never hurt him again, and love for him would never hurt anyone else.

Because he was a Bakugo, and a Bakugo can do anything.

"So that's what I did," Bakugo finished, the bland monotone caused by Mesmer's truth gas not diminishing the impact of his tale. "I pushed everyone away. Izuku was the hardest. When he was diagnosed as being Quirkless, chasing our dream of being Heroes would have just gotten him killed. I did everything to discourage him, but he's too stubborn. When he quit trying to be my friend, I thought he'd finally gotten the message, but he's still in UA. I won't be able to face Aunt Inko if he dies because I couldn't stop him."

North Squad Go was emotional to say the least. Evergreen and Mesmer had turned away, arms covering their eyes, Length's held unshed tears, and CoolBlue was breathing heavy despite her lack of outward sign. Yui sniffled, using a now-oversized tissue to dry her cheeks. Dark Chakra swirled around Yokai.

"I'll fuckin' kill him," the man hissed, taking a step toward the student. His Quirk wrapped down his arms, coating his fingers in burgundy claws as his tails whipped the air, coated in their own layers of Dark Chakra. The rest of his team moved instantly, frozen chains, sap shackles, gaseous bindings, and a lengthened barrier of metal all restraining and blocking their leader. He glared at Length, the man having stepped between him and Bakugo. "Get out of my way, Sokutei."

"Naru, stop," Length said. "You don't want to do this."

"He turned his back on family, So!" Youkai yelled, struggling against the bindings. "He doesn't deserve anything he has! Why should he‽"

"That doesn't mean you can murder him. Mom wouldn't want you to."

"My mother died holding me in an alley. She's dead."

"But our mother isn't," Length shot back. "You know that—"

Yokai didn't want to listen, breaking through the bindings and shoving Length to the side. He took another step toward the blond only to stop. Yui, tears streaming down her cheeks, had placed herself before Bakugo, her arms spread in his defense. Yokai seemed to deflate, some of the air coming out of his sails as his tails drooped.

"…You too, Kodai?" The girl nodded. Yokai growled, turning and stomping toward the hallway. "Fine. I'm going on a patrol. I better not see that ungrateful brat" —he pointed a clawed finger at Bakugo— "until tomorrow at the earliest or I'll eviscerate him."

'I'LL GO WITH HIM' CoolBlue promised, hurrying in their leader's wake. The others didn't stop her, hoping the woman's cooler attitude and calm demeanor would keep their hotheaded leader out of trouble. Length sighed, running a hand through his hair. Yokai had had a Trauma Button about family since his took him in and it only got worse over the years. Clearly, seeing the shrink wasn't helping.

"Don't touch me," Bakugo grumbled, the remaining pro Heroes turning to see that Yui had wrapped the dazed boy in a comforting hug. "I don't want it."

"Don't want it or don't want to like it?" Mesmer asked.

"Don't want to like it," he answered, still under the lingering effects of the truth gas. "I don't need weaknesses."

Mesmer, Evergreen, and Length shared looks before the former waved her hand. Bakugo slumped over, his head falling against Yui as he snored softly. She snapped the weakened materials holding him to the chair and picked him up.

"Take him to his room," Evergreen suggested. "Mesmer's gas will leave this a hazy memory like a dream. He shouldn't remember any of it clearly."

Yui nodded, carrying her fellow student to his room. As she left, the remaining trio turned to each other.

"What are we supposed to do about that?" Length began. "The kid watched his grandparents die and concluded love and connection caused it. And I hate to say it, but he's right."

"Scars like that don't heal in half a month," Mesmer agreed. "Hell, they don't really heal, period. He's built his own armor and I don't know if we can crack it, and definitely not in the time we have. We'd need something major for that. Something life-threatening."

"Maybe we can't crack it," Evergreen agreed, glancing back the way the students had gone, "but maybe all we need to do is dent it. We can leave the rest for later."

-AHC-

Silent Mouse would not leave him alone. It didn't seem to matter how much he flipped her off, yelled at her, or physically shoved her away, she just kept sitting close to him, trying to pat his head, and offering advice via charades which the pros would then have to translate. Sure, that gave him the idea to produce explosions from more than just his palms —doing it from his elbows made his punches hit a whole lot harder, even if he broke his hand the first time he tried— but he didn't want the help. He had to drive her off before they returned to UA or her actions would cause rumors of the sort he did care about.

Bakugo had enemies; he knew that. He couldn't have anyone seen to be close to him or they might be a target, especially once he was Number One.

Almost thankfully, Yokai called everyone into the briefing room during the last week of the work-study. He sent an almost-unseen stink eye toward Bakugo like he had been the last few days, but Bakugo didn't care. He wasn't here to make friends with the man; he was just glad he'd gotten more training out of it than his shit internship with Best Jeanist.

"I promised we'd do more than just train and patrol," the Hero told the students as the rest of his team entered. "Well, we've received a request from RunRun. Apparently, this one's been floating around from Hero to Hero, some taking it and some passing it on, each one coming up just empty enough to hand it off. RunRun thinks we might have the key to finding something of substance."

"And what might that be?" Mesmer questioned, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. "We aren't the only solid Hero team. Hell, there are Heroes who can mimic just about all of us and do it better in some cases."

"She's got a work-study of her own," Yokai answered. "LoneStar took a look at the file and recommended us. I think you'll see why in a minute." The fox-man flicked upward with a finger, holograms of uploaded files appearing before him on the holo-screen showing a castle-shaped building and several photos from various times. "This is the [Lucky Rook], a newer casino out of Kyoto. Endeavor and the Flaming Sidekickers checked it out looking for the Hero Killer and got kicked out and banned for their trouble. The other Heroes who tried have received mixed results but just enough suspicion to keep the investigation open."

"Okay, but why do they think we'll crack the case?" Evergreen asked. In response, Yokai poked one of the photos and enlarged it, showing a plain-faced man in a nice suit. He had just the start of a dark mustache.

"This is the casino's owner, one Yonjo Kodai."

"Uncle Yonjo?" Silent Mouse whispered. That was the most syllables Bakugo had ever heard from her in a single breath.

"Uncle?" Length echoed. "That's… convenient? But what's with all this suspicion around a casino? This is Japan, there are thousands of those everywhere."

"Just about every Hero noted the workers and the local businesses tick all the boxes for classic Yakuza."

"Yakuza?" Bakugo laughed. "It's 2169. There haven't been any Yakuza since their fuckin' family system fell apart in the Dark Age of Quirks and the first pro Heroes cleaned up the scraps. They wanna waste time investigating a bunch of damn posers wanting to LARP historic?" The Heroes and Yui stared at the boy, having not expected him to know what LARPing was nor to use such vocabulary. He glared back. "Don't fuckin' look at me like that."

"Well personally, I think there's too much suspicion to leave it alone," Yokai commented. "We'll pop by and use Kodai's connection to score a non-confrontational meeting with the boss. Otherwise, he only comes out angry. We'll just try to determine if they're connected to the Hero Killer or if Endeavor's claims about the man's apprentice being there opening night was just a fluke." He enlarged two other pictures, one of a blonde girl sitting at the bar and other of a still shot of seemingly that same girl running in a hooded outfit, though that one was grainy. "Kodai, brat" —Bakugo growled; Yokai ignored him— "you should already know this but I'll remind you for posterity. The age of consent in Japan is 16 while the minimum age for drinking and gambling is 20. You are underage and cannot legally partake in any of the pleasures of the street. If someone offers you anything, turn it down."

"We're not morons, Glowstick," Bakugo groused as Yui's cheeks darkened slightly.

"Well with you…"

"Shut the fuck up and shove it up your ass!"

North Squad Go snickered at Bakugo's expense.

-AHC-

The group of seven looked up at the castle-themed buildings, the crowd around eyeing them with a clear mixture of curiosity and wariness. It didn't help that Bakugo growled at them for their looks.

"Do we have to put you on a leash?" Mesmer questioned, dressed in her skintight Hero costume of concentric circles. "Please say yes. I'd love to embarrass you by putting you on a leash."

"Fuck off, Washboard." Before any of the Heroes could move to chastise the boy, Yui reached up and smacked him in the back of the head. Her Hero costume was mostly a bright red with accents of green arrows pointing down from her shoulders and up from the sides of her legs. Around her waist was her toolbelt, decked out with her hammer as well as a flathead screwdriver, a pair of scissors in a sheath, a ruler, and a small bag of nuts, bolts, and other objects. A red helmet with a center fringe and another green arrow down the middle kept her hair out of her face. Bakugo turned to her. "What the hell, Mouse?"

She blinked at him, gesturing to her costume, which was not as flattering as it could be in Bakugo unmentioned and personally-unwanted opinion.

"Rule's right," Evergreen noted, dressed in his own costume. It was covered in metal armor painted to mimic wood, fuzzy green lining at the joints meant to match the pine needles that made up his hair. He had a pair of vaguely-pistol-shaped pieces of support gear on his thighs. "When in uniform, we need to refer to each other using our monikers, not your stupid nicknames."

"My nicknames aren't stupid, Pine—" The Hero's eyes narrowed. "…Evergreen."

"Aww, you're learning," Yokai grinned, cooing mockingly. CoolBlue chuckled silently at his side, putting a demure hand over her lips. She was dressed in a kimono similar to the one she'd worn when Bakugo first arrived at their agency, though there were hints of an armored bodysuit underneath if one paid attention to the places where fabric stopped to show skin. Yokai's costume was a burnt orange with black accents, the whole thing making him look covered in the short fur of a beast. His tails were exposed, flicking the air.

"Shut up," the boy grumbled. Satisfied that their perpetually-combative sidekick was sufficiently cowed for the moment, Yokai marched his way toward the Lucky Rook, ignoring the newest building down the street and the young women blowing kisses at passersby. Bakugo refused to even look; some of them looked to only be a couple years older than him at best. Because he looked away from the [Kings' Queens] establishment, he didn't notice the small figure making his own way inside. Yui, who did not have the same aversion to the appearances of the lascivious women, did notice but did not say anything, unsure of where she had seen the purple-and-spherical hairstyle before.

The monkey Heteromorph muttered an English curse as the group approached, running a hand down his face. He did this in clear view of them before putting on a strained smile.

"Welcome to the [Lucky Rook], Heroes. If you're here to test your luck, I'll have to ask you to wait in line like everyone else."

"I suppose we are, in one sense of the word," Yokai answered, offering the warrant an undercover policeman had handed him as they entered the street. Said man stood across the street, playing the part of a man who had bet more than he should have and now had to fend off the teasing affections of one of the oiran who thought he couldn't pay. "We are here on official business, but we have something of a personal interest. Could I trouble you to call your boss?"

"The boss doesn't have time to meet with every Hero that comes sniffing around."

"He'll meet with us."

"Yeah? Why?"

Yokai gestured behind him, prompting Yui to step forward. She gave a shallow, but respectful, bow to the bouncer. "This is Yui Kodai, one of our work-study students."

"Ko—?" the man blinked, studying the girl. He stepped back, pulling the collar of his shirt out slightly. "S-1, this is Front Man with a question for the boss." He waited for a response. "Got Heroes at the door wandering if the boss knows one Yui Kodai."

The sudden crash on the other end was loud enough for the Heroes to hear over the tiny speaker, the bouncer flinching at the noise. They watched him for nearly a minute before he the monkey-man stepped forward again, his dexterous tail unclicking the velvet rope.

"The boss will see you now," he said. "I'll have someone escort you to the third floor. Oi, Spinner!"

North Squad Go stepped into the establishment, Yui and Bakugo quietly marveling at the colorful decoration. A green lizard Heteromorph with purple hair dressed in the same casual suit outfit walked over, wishing a roulette table luck as another worker took his place.

"You called, Rusty?" the lizard-man asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I know you were supposed to start your break, but could you escort these Heroes to the double-V-I-P area? Boss wants to meet with them."

"Sure thing," he replied, giving the group a subtle side eye. "Right this way."

He took them to a staircase in the back, acting almost like a tour guide as he pointed out the amenities and attractions of the Lucky Rook from the blackjack tables to the bar. The pro Heroes noted that despite his calm exterior, the man had a knife tucked into his pants at the waist, visible only when his suit jacket moved the wrong way. If the students noticed, they didn't indicate it, which at least said that Bakugo did not.

"Here you go, folks," he said, gesturing to a red-and-black area with plush lounge chairs, glass coffee tables, and a fully-stocked bar. "The double-V-I-P area. It's only been rented once since we opened."

"Thank you, Iguchi," Yonjo Kodai said from one of the seats. His suit was blue over a white button-up, his dark hair slicked back. He leaned against the back of a couch, one leg balanced on the other and a hand holding a glass of clear liquid by the top to show off the golden rings that adorned his fingers. On either side of him were what seemed to be a pair of twins, half-Japanese with olive skin, black hair, and blue eyes. The one on his left was dressed in a small, red number, projecting confidence as she leaned against the armrest. The other was dressed in a more conservative black dress, her nails clicking against a full drink. Behind the couch stood a bald man covered in tattoos and shirtless under a black jacket with red accents. He wore sunglasses and had his arms crossed. "Would you care to stay?"

"Sure thing, boss." Spinner —Iguchi— took up his boss' silent wave and moved to the bar, making himself a drink. The fact that Yonjo did not immediately greet the Heroes did not go unnoticed.

"Please, sit," the owner said, gesturing to the other seats around the table. "Care for something to take the edge off? Iguchi's not the best bartender, but his luck with roulette and pachinko borders on Quirked. Tatou tells me the others have started calling him Spinner because of it. So, drink?"

"No, thank you," Yokai firmly denied. "We can't drink on the job."

"We wouldn't have told," Yonjo shrugged, swirling his cocktail. "Oh well. What brings you Heroes and my darling niece to the hotspot of Kyoto's nightlife? Not to gamble, I'm sure."

"We received a tip," Yokai began, choosing his words carefully. Even though Yui's presence scored them a meeting, the man's body language showed that it could go south very quickly. "We wouldn't have normally taken it except that your connection to Rule peaked our interest. We're trying to help her start a wonderful Hero career, you see, but we were afraid the rumors around your business could… dampen her reputation."

Yonjo's eyes narrowed slightly at his choice of words as Iguchi took up a position on his flank, mirroring Tatou except with a drink in his hand. "I don't find damp things to be a negative," he said. "Who's the other brat?"

"Another work-study from UA. Powder Keg."

"Fuck you, Glowstick!" Bakugo yelled. "My moniker's King Explosion Murder God!"

"Shut up," Yokai growled. "One, officially it's King Explosion God, no 'murder' in it. Two, that's way too long and what the hell are people supposed to call you? King? Three, I did take that into account. Keg. K-E-G. King Explosion God. Now quiet, the adults are talking."

Bakugo went to argue more only for Rule to set a two-foot hammer on his shoulder and give him a side eye. He growled. His name was something they could argue about later. Length, dressed in his own red-on-green arrow-themed costume sent the girl a thumbs-up, much to Bakugo's ire.

"Right…" Yonjo muttered, ignoring the red-clad twin beside him giggling at the blond boy's temper. "Anyway, I assure you our business is perfectly legal and above board. That's why so many other Heroes have left emptyhanded. There is simply nothing for them here unless they wish to partake."

"Perhaps," Yokai agreed, "but you know how the public is. Perception is sometimes more important than the truth."

"Yes," Yonjo muttered. "I am well aware of that unfortunate fact of life. It cost me my last job while my boss kept his with a slap on the wrist. What is the word… Ah, yes. I was a scapegoat, all because a Hero needed one more case to keep his license."

"That is unfortunate," Yokai admitted. "Even so, one incident should not control whom you work with. If something similar happened because of any of your new associates—"

"We do not work with the Hero Killer," the man sighed, running his free hand through his hair. He moved his other hand, downing the rest of his drink. "As I have told many of your associates, Hero, we are just a casino. Many of us were down on our luck and we banded together. We pooled what we could come up with, found a couple investors, and started the [Lucky Rook]. Now we find others in need and offer them a way to get back on their feet."

"It's true," Spinner —Iguchi— offered. "I came through here by chance. I'd been fired from my job because a customer thought I'd looked at her funny, then bumped into some Quirkist drunks who chased me here, threatening to call the cops on me if I dared to defend myself. The good folks around here rescued me. New lease on life, I'd say."

"We have another concern," Yokai said, bringing the conversation back. "There's a rumor that your group here may be—"

"You can't just barge in here!" the voice of the Heteromorph bouncer yelled. Bakugo was the closest of the group to the railing, the boy only needing to glance over to see what was happening below. The monkey-man had backed up a little, now standing just within the doorway so he could still block whoever was outside. "If you want to get in, you have to—"

He screamed, staggering backward while clutching at his chest. As every patron, employee, and guest in the establishment watched, the man turned to dust. Another stepped over the pile that used to be a person, his pale face hidden by a severed hand grasping his face. Bakugo gripped the railing, recognition flashing through his mind.

"Where is the Hero Killer‽" the man demanded, an individual of purple vapor appearing behind him. "Bring him to me now!"

"Rusty!" another worker cried, a blue bull Heteromorph charging toward them horns-first.

"Dan, stop!" a woman yelled. The gas-man waved his hand, a portal opening ahead of the bull-man. His head and shoulders passed through, reappearing from another pointed toward the floor where his horns stabbed into the material. With another wave, the portals closed, severing the man in a visceral manner.

"Fuck!" Yonjo swore. "We're under attack! Men—!"

"Leave this to us," Yokai ordered. ["North Squad, Go!"]

Five pro Heroes and one student Sidekick vaulted over the railing, Bakugo a moment behind since he hadn't been expecting such a maneuver. Their landing cracked the flooring under the carpet, seven Heroes glaring at the Villains that had just murdered two men.

"Who the hell are you NPCs?"

"We're—"

"You're the bastard that led the attack on the USJ," Bakugo interrupted. If destroying a person's entire body was the effect of the man's Quirk, then Deku was lucky his arm was only nearly shredded rather than lost that day. "You said you wanted to kill All Might."

"You were there?"

"Tomura Shigaraki, that boy is one of the students of 1-A," the portal user said. "He was one of those that attacked me."

"Oh really?" the head Villain grinned. "I wasn't expecting a main objective to show up on this side quest, but I'll take it. Maybe a few more deaths will drag the Hero Killer out of his hidey hole. After all" —He flexed his fingers— "you have to always kill the mobs first. Still, seven and fodder on two are unfair odds without our own. Kurogiri? Let's make those other quest rewards useful."

Two portals opened inside the Lucky Rook, hulking monsters Bakugo recognized as Nomu stepping through them along with a number of lesser Villains armed with implements like baseball bats and knives. Based on the screams coming from outside, there were others in the street.

"We can handle the men," a blonde woman dressed in the loose suit jacket uniform of the Lucky Rook said, cracking her knuckles.

"And you are?" Yokai questioned.

"Victoria Card, co-head of security. We can't let this go without doing something."

"Fine," the Hero team leader agreed. "Length, handle the portal guy. Blue, Mesmer, the monsters here. Evergreen, take the kids and—"

One of the Nomu dashed forward with a burst of speed a creature of its bulk could only have with a speed Quirk, grabbing the tailed man by the face before driving his head into the floor. His tails whipped up, wrapped in a razor-sharp layer of Dark Chakra that sliced at the beast. It didn't seem to even notice the destruction of one eye or shoulder, both regenerating in seconds.

"Shit!" Bakugo gasped, his hands coming up to blast the madman that appeared before him, his jump and response sending him backward away from Shigaraki's hand. "Change of plan, Mouse! Looks like this ugly bastard wants us!"

"Huh." Air rushed past the blond, a baseball-sized screw nut whizzing by his head toward the white-haired Villain. Shigaraki reached up, practically catching the projectile that pushed him back even as it decayed to dust. Bakugo glanced back to see Yui with her hammer at a full five feet, her stance showing she'd hit it like a baseball.

"Outside," she said in a voice almost normal volume. Bakugo nodded. He couldn't use his more powerful attacks inside a building that he'd have to pay to repair.

"Don't slow me down, Mouse!" He charged forward as the screw nut finished falling apart, his palm inches from the Villain. "Die!"

The ensuing explosion blasted Shigaraki backward as he screamed, the man skidding toward the door. Yui race by, spinning to catch the airborne man in the side, blowing him out the front door.

"Tomura Shi—!" Kurogiri called only to be forced to dodge an extended knife.

"Your fight's with me," Length grinned.

-AHC-

Today was a good day for Minoru Mineta because he'd become a man. Sure, he'd had to lie about his age to get into the Kings' Queens, but his fake ID had worked. And sure, he hadn't lasted nearly as long as he'd boasted he would, but the fact that he lasted even three minutes with a woman like that oiran was a miracle in itself. And sure, it had cost more than several months' allowance and work, but it was all more than worth every single yen.

Now he was no longer a boy. He was a man. He was on top of the world; reality itself was his oyster!

And the screams started. The diminutive boy froze as he comprehended the scene before him, two monsters and multiple Villains tearing into the street as people ran for their lives. A pair of Heroes rushed out of the Lucky Rook, one a woman in blue and the other a man in green, each attacking one of the monsters, one with wings and the other a hulking thing with only one eye. Local security rushed in, evacuating patrons and crossing weapons with the attacking Villains. Mineta turned, ready to leave the area and save himself.

Another man flew out of the casino, landing on his back and rolling over. He pushed himself to his knees, scowling back the way from which he'd come. Mineta recognized his outfit as that of a Supervillain, concluding that this must be the one leading this assault on the red light district. A part of him screamed to run, but another whispered, cutting thought the panic.

This was the big bad, here before him, focused on something else. This was Mineta's chance! If he could capture a Villain like this, then Aizawa would have to let him back into the Hero Course! And the oiran of the Kings' Queens would be so grateful for what he did, he'd have free visits for life! This entire, perfect, imagined life flashed before Mineta's eyes, and he charged.

"Grape Rush!"

Sticky purple balls lined the road, the boy bouncing over them toward his prey. He'd barely turned before Mineta was on him, more balls from his hair sticking to the man's outfit and face.

"I don't have time for another NPC," the Villain growled. He swiped at the student, Mineta using his smaller stature to roll under the man's swing before planting another ball right in his face.

This was it! This was heroics! This is how he would get popular with the ladies and prove to his family that he was worthy of their legacy! Hyped up on endorphins and adrenaline, Mineta grabbed two balls from his head and jumped, sticking them to the man's shoulders in an attempt to push him to the ground. He wobbled.

And Shigaraki touched the ball on his face, the orb decaying to dust. Mineta gaped as the man did the same to every other one in reach before a pale palm filled his vision.

"Turn to dust."

-AHC-

Yui stared, the dying scream of another UA student vanishing into the wind as his body fell apart. He'd charged in before she could do anything to stop him and had died in an instant, bringing the number of dead for the night to at least three. She shook, trying to push through the fear in her mind to figure out what to do.

Bakugo didn't have such problems, the boy using his explosions to blast himself forward.

"Point Blank Stun Grenade!"

The blast had more light than heat, forcing Yui to look away. The Villain flailed, forcing the blond away from his dangerous fingers as his hands sweated more.

"Mouse!" Bakugo yelled. "Figure it out or leave! I don't have time to protect your ass!"

The girl's eyebrows furrowed, her lips pursing. He was right. She was supposed to be a Hero student; she couldn't freeze like that. Yui charged forward, her hammer shrinking back into its normal size even as she expanded her scissors.

Shigaraki blinked away the spots from his vision, barely having enough time to throw himself to the side as a girl with a massive pair of cutting blades slashed the air where his wrists had been. This was supposed to be a simple quest! Go, wreck some shit, kill the Hero Killer. There wasn't supposed to be a Hero team in the building!

"Damn," he hissed, digging his fingers into the concrete. He ripped up several hunks of the manmade stone, flinging them at the girl who blocked with her giant scissors. While her vision was obscured, Shigaraki charged forward, bringing his hands down to dust the NPC. "Die, you bitch!"

"Howlitzer Impact!" The attack drilled into Shigaraki's side, burning a hole in his clothing, but he did not fail completely. Bakugo skidded to a halt before his fellow student, the girl staring at the chunk of metal missing from her scissors from a single touch by the Villain while Bakugo noted the destruction of his righthand Grenade Gauntlet, broken and breaking pieces crumpling from his arm.

Surprisingly, for his frail form didn't seem to have the constitution for it, Shigaraki managed to remain standing, smoke wafting around him as a maniac gleam entered his eye.

"Don't underestimate me," the man chuckled. "My level is higher than yours."

"You mean you're older," Bakugo rebuffed. "That doesn't mean fuck-all, though. You can't do shit of you can't touch me, Hand Bitch."

"I am the successor to the greatest darkness to ever plague Japan! I will destroy everything you fake, attention-seeking Heroes have built! I will remake this world into the one Sensei always wanted! I will—!"

"Hah." Shigaraki jumped back, the concrete where he'd been standing cracking and shattering under the force of a sledgehammer. A part of Bakugo's mind noted that the sheer power casually displayed by the short, plain girl wielding said hammer was one of the most attractive things he'd ever seen. It probably helped that he didn't have a negative opinion of her despite his own efforts. Not that he would ever admit that aloud, of course.

"You bitch," the white-haired man hissed as she yanked the head of her hammer from the new crevasse in the ground. He reached forward, grabbing the handle of her weapon, forcing her to release it lest he reach her, too. "I'll enjoy killing you with Decay."

She scrambled for the tools on her belt, only her screwdriver and bag of goodies still in working order. Her mind blanked as, for the first time in her life, she faced imminent death coming toward her.

"Go to hell!"

"Die! Remote Detonation!" Another explosion, something Shigaraki was obviously growing tired of, went off in his face, staggering him. Bakugo's other hand, his left one, grabbed Yui's shoulder and dragged her back, dropping the girl on her rear. She looked up at the blond's back as he sent a scowling side-eye at her. "Damn it, Mouse! Get your head on straight before he kills you or get the fuck out of here!"

Eyes focusing, the girl pulled herself to her feet and stepped beside the boy, the pair studying the man trying to clear the ash from his eyes. She reached for her bag, pulling out several rings she proceeded to pull in half. She gestured with them.

"I think I get it," the blond said, taking the half-rings as they grew. "You really think we can pin him down with these?"

"Uun," Yui nodded. She decided to give the boy an opening, pulling her screwdriver from her belt and expanding it. Offering a nod, she ran in.

Shigaraki was starting to get wise to their tricks, the man meeting the student's charge with one of his own. He swiped at her, his open palms coming within centimeters of the girl's skin as she bobbed and weaved, aiming her oversized flathead at his joints. Shigaraki overextended, Yui flowing into a sweep that pulled his feet out from under him. She didn't want to give him a chance, swinging her screwdriver down.

Shigaraki rolled, barely avoiding the weapon. Its metal stabbed into the concrete below, burying the flathead in its entirety. The wall of the Lucky Rook exploded outward, the two Nomu from inside being thrown out through the combined efforts of Yokai and Mesmer. Yokai speared them both through their chests with his tails, Mesmer wrapping gas around their throats and mouths.

"Holy shit," Shigaraki breathed. "What kind of surprise Field Bosses are you?"

"The kind that stops dickwads like you!" Bakugo yelled, another explosion shoving Shigaraki back to the ground. Yui yanked her tool from the concrete and shoved it before the Villain's throat like a two-handed sword. Bakugo seized the moment, pinning one of the man's wrists to the ground with one of the half-rings.

"You—!" Shigaraki yelled, reaching up with his other hand. Yui stomped on his arm, keeping it down so Bakugo could similarly pin his other wrist. With his hands trapped, they proceeded to do the same to his legs and waist. He kept screaming like a petulant child, prompting Yui to expand a bolt and shove it in his mouth.

"I was hoping for more," Bakugo grunted once the man was muffled. "This is the bastard who led the attack on the USJ? He's just a weakling without his guards and soldiers."

"Good work, kids," Yokai said, the pair turning to see that he, Evergreen, CoolBlue, and Mesmer had dealt with the Nomu, each in their own ways. "We're lucky he wasn't more dangerous or used to fighting multiple people. Now we just have to wait for Length."

"Tomura Shigaraki!" Kurogiri called, the man warping out of the Lucky Rook to assess the situation outside. The man had no signs of damage on his person save several lacerations to his suit. He reached toward his pinned boss, probably to form a portal below him. "I will—hurk."

He looked down, finding a blade sticking out from just below his sternum. A hand wrapped around him as the dark miasma began to dissipate, revealing a young man with white, cloud-like hair. He fell backward into the arms of the blonde from the pictures Yokai had showed them, dressed in the outfit from the chase video, her hood shading her eyes.

"I'm… finally free," the man whispered, smiling despite the trail of blood coming from the corner of his lips. One hand reached up, the killer holding it in one of hers as their eyes met. "The voices are gone. My curse is lifted. Thank you, sister."

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

"I… don't need to. Your weapon is enough."

"What happened to you?"

"He took me away, forced me to spill our secrets, and at the end of my life, I finally return…"

"Your burdens are lifted, brother," the blonde murmured, cradling him as his life drained away. She did not know him, but he had apparently been one of theirs, lost like countless others to the war. "Having returned home, you may sleep forever. Requiescat in Pace."

The portal user closed his eyes and stopped breathing, the smile still on his face. The woman laid him on the ground, crossing his hands over the wound.

"Killer!" Yokai gasped. The blonde jumped to her feet, taking off toward the crowd even as she flicked the blood from the blade on her wrist. "Blue! Mesmer! After her!"

"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki screamed, struggling against his bonds and with the bolt lying beside his head. "You bastards! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all! The Hero Killer will only be the first! I'll dust your entire band! Your so-called Broth—!"

A crossbolt pierced Shigaraki's throat. Wet, disgusting sounds came from him as the man choked on his own blood. Bakugo and Yui stared, the projectile having passed so close between their heads that it ruffled their hair. Yokai spun, spotting the shooter on a nearby rooftop.

"Hero Killer!" he called. "Green, with me! After him!"

"Stay here," Evergreen ordered, taking off after their leader in pursuit of the fleeing Villain. Silence fell, Bakugo turning to his fellow student.

"What a fucked up—"

She crashed into him, tears streaming down her cheeks as her hands fisted parts of his costume. He stumbled, catching her without thinking as her tears soaked the front of his outfit. He didn't say anything nor did he push her away, even as Length stumbled out of the Lucky Rook looking worse for wear. Kurogiri must have been a more formidable fighter compared to the Nomu, or maybe simply more intelligent and, thus, more dangerous.

"What happened out here?" Length asked, taking in the scene. Two of the Villains dead, the Nomu dead or incapacitated, and the human attackers put out of commission, though not without casualties to the defenders.

"Shit happened out here," Bakugo grunted. "We're just lucky the fan it hit wasn't bigger."

Yui stopped crying after a few minutes, but she did not let go and Bakugo didn't have the heart to shove her off after an ordeal like that. He knew what it was like to face something so dangerous. She probably blamed herself for the Villain's death, reasoning that if they hadn't pinned him down, then the Hero Killer or whoever did the deed wouldn't have had such a clear shot. He knew how the aftermath felt when you blamed yourself, warranted or otherwise.

"The Hero Killer got away," Yokai grunted as he and Evergreen returned. "Slid under a dumpster and vanished."

"I mean, we got part of him," Evergreen said, holding up a sap-covered wooden foot. "Now we know why he went to ground."

"The girl's gone, too," Mesmer reported, she and CoolBlue returning. "We lost sight of her for one moment and poof." She clapped her hands, causing a burst of purple gas with her Quirk. "Like magic. Must have been some Quirk."

"Well, insurance is going to be a pain," Yonjo Kodai grunted, approaching with Tatou on one side and Victoria Card on the other, the girls from before absent. The tattooed man's markings were red now rather than black, Bakugo noted, both bodyguard with signs of damage. Yonjo's side was bloody from a wound under his suit and he had a black eye. "Still, I suppose it could have been worse."

"The Hero Killer and his apprentice were here," Yokai said, turning to the man. "Care to explain that?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? That guy was looking for him and he showed. That's nothing to do with us." Yonjo dismissed the fox-man, focusing instead on the students. "You, boy. You protected Yui."

"Yeah, I fought with the Mouse. So what?" Bakugo replied. He and Yonjo had a brief staring contest before the man grunted with a small nod.

"Alright," he sighed, running a hand through his ruffled hair to flatten it. "This was a shit night, but I guess thanks is in order. You lot aren't so bad. Come back some time, we'll give you a few free rounds." He reached into his suit pocket, pulling out two business cards, one he offered to Yokai and the other to Bakugo. They had his name as well as the outline of a rook and a phone number. "We're above board, but we see some shit. If you need something, you've got a favor from us."

Yui let go of Bakugo, running up to wrap her uncle in a hug, careful to avoid the wound in his side. He sighed with a small smile, patting her head.

"You can tell your dad I'm doing fine, Yui. I'm not mad about what happened, ok? Both he and you are welcome here." Yui nodded into his chest before letting go. Yonjo turned, returning to the building. His bodyguards each nodded before following, leaving the Heroes in the street as police sirens started to grow in the distance.

"Rule, Powder Keg, it's time you got a crash course in police statements."

The papers would call the incident The Kyoto Crash, but the front page would have nothing but the sensational first murder of the Pricetag Killer, leaving the attack in the background.

End of Chapter 57

Shigaraki is dead, the League of Villains over before it could really begin, and Bakugo's backstory is revealed! This chapter is over twice the normal length, but I didn't want to split it in half. Still, I hope this gives some serious insight into my version of Katsuki Bakugo and where I'm going to take him. Next chapter will cover Tsuyu's work-study, then we'll cover Momo's, and finally combining the others that aren't so long. Who's looking forward to more in the year 2024?

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods