Eijiro ran his free hand through his stiffened hair once again as he and Mina continued to walk through the crowded upper terrace of the mall. The giant building was quite crowded, and oriented to have mirroring walkways around the edges with large, bridged gaps between them on all three levels. Eijiro took a long drink of his raspberry smoothie while taking in the sights of the familiar storefronts, only to sputter as Mina elbowed him enthusiastically in the ribs.

"You are getting so many looks from cute girls, dude," Mina whispered. "And a few boys, too."

"Pff," Eijiro replied dismissively before coughing twice to try to clear his throat of freezing, fruity sludge. "Yeah, right. You're just saying that."

"I'm super not," Mina protested before taking a sip of her own bright green drink. "Start paying attention, Eiji- you look incredible."

"…all thanks to you," Eijiro admitted as he took another pull through his plastic straw. "How do you know they're not all staring at you?"

"'cause I know," Mina said simply. With a quick motion, she planted her free hand firmly within Eijiro's field of spiky locks and gently turned his head slightly to the left. "Those two are totally sizing you up. At least say hi."

Eijiro's eyes widened as his field of view shifted, only to find a pair of teenage girls looking him over and whispering to each other, just as Mina had said. One of the girls' eyes were hidden behind a veil of deep blue hair, while the other had a brow raised and offered Eijiro a coy smile as he and Mina moved to pass them.

"Uh… hi!" Eijiro tried, offering the best shark-toothed smile he could manage.

The girl with the obscuring hair's cheeks turned a bright red and she shrunk back a bit with a nervous smile, while her brunette friend gave Eijiro a confident wave before pulling the other girl off to the side. Eijiro turned to watch them pass, both of them giggling all the while. The boy strained to hear what was being said through the crowd and picked up on one of them saying "No, he was totally looking at me, not you!" before the two began a friendly argument over who had 'dibs'.

"…see? I've made you into a total ladykiller," Mina said proudly as she tugged at Eijiro's arm and continued along the wide platform. "Get used to a lot more flirting from all sides. Next, we work on your game."

"Heh… I dunno, Mina," Eijiro said hesitantly. "I'm not… 'looking', I guess?"

"And why not?" Mina asked, sounding almost upset. "Don't tell me you're 'fine on your own' or anything like that. Dating's fun, Eiji. Sometimes, it even ends up being something you didn't know you needed."

"Yeah, I know," Eijiro agreed. "But it's… complicated, especially right now. I mean, if I do get into U.A., I'm gonna be totally focused on hero training. The only way I could really put any time into an actual relationship would be i-"

"If you were dating someone else at U.A.?" Mina finished for him as she launched her emptied drink into a nearby trashcan. "Lucky for you, I know a girl who plans on starting there at the same time you will. Maybe I'll tell you who… if you're a good boy. After all, she's very cute, and aggressively single."

"Really? You do?" Eijiro asked with a surprised blink.

"Mm-hmm," Mina replied with a grin. She seized Eijiro's wrist and pulled him along into a clothing store, its front display full of mannequins wearing bright, flashy colored shirts and shorts. "In fact… you've already met her, and know she's looking at hero schools."

"I have? And I do?" Eijiro asked, his mind running wild with possibilities. "I-I mean, I've met a lot of your friends, now. Maybe I just forgot…?"

"Maybe," Mina offered airily as she tugged Eijiro along to a clothing rack and began to leaf through the shirts. "But I don't think you'd forget this one. She stands out. See if you can figure it out."

"U-uh, I'll… I'll try, sure!" Eijiro replied before swallowing nervously and joining Mina in the search. "But, um… if I can't figure it out, can you introduce me again, later? I don't want to miss out…"

"I might," Mina teased as she pulled a bright orange shirt with a lime slice upon the chest out from the rack. "But sometimes, you've just gotta take a leap of faith, man. Who knows what could happen?"

Eijiro accepted the shirt and tucked it under his arm, trying his best to decipher the insistent look in Mina's eyes. After a moment, he turned his attention back to the clothing and continued his search with a nervous shiver.

"So, uh… I forgot to ask- did you hear about the attack at the park near Arcadia High last night?"

"What?" Mina asked as her eyes widened. "No? What attack?"

"Oh, it was a pretty big deal," Eijiro began as he pulled out a yellow shirt and secured it with the other. "All Might was there. Saved two kids our age after they got jumped by a villain. Apparently, the attacker's in lockup now, and it looks like he was trying to kill them. His sentence isn't gonna be light…"

Mina stiffened and folded her arms across her chest.

"That's… insane," she hissed. "Villains trying to kill high school kids? And being cowards about it by ambushing them at night?"

"Yeah, it's… kinda scary," Eijiro admitted before sneaking a black shirt into his hoard. "There was nobody else there to help. All Might just happened to be in the area and messed the villain up pretty bad. If he wasn't in the right place at the right time, they could be dead…"

"Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya," Mina said suddenly.

"Huh?"

Eijiro looked over to find Mina staring at her phone, which she turned toward him to reveal side by side pictures of the boys.

"They're the ones that got attacked. Recognize 'em? I don't."

Eijiro let his gaze linger on Katsuki's face for a moment. Something about the unfamiliar boy's annoyed glare and tight-lipped expression unnerved him, especially in contrast to Izuku's cheery smile.

"…no, I've got nothin'," Eijiro admitted. "Arcadia High's pretty far from here, after all."

"Yeah, well, I figured it was worth asking," Mina replied as she pulled her phone back in to continue reading. "I don't like this. This kinda crime isn't normal."

"Is any crime normal?' Eijiro asked as he waved Mina toward a changing room on the far wall.

"You know what I meant," Mina answered as she rolled her eyes. "Something about it just feels… off. How'd you hear about this?"

"It was on the news this morning, before school," Eijiro answered as he walked into the booth and put his smoothie on the bench before beginning to roll off his shirt. "They did a whole piece on it with footage from the park. It was kinda nuts- huge patches of burnt grass, and a partially melted garbage can. Nobody has any idea what the hell happened."

"All Might does, but he's not saying," Mina corrected as she leaned up against the outside of the dressing room wall. "The article I'm reading's got an interview with him, and it's… weird. Really weird. He doesn't give any specifics about the attack, but he puts a lot of emphasis on staying safe and the importance of heroes and authorities banding together to fight crime and keep everyone safe. It's really… somber and direct."

"…somber and direct?" Eijiro questioned as he pulled on the orange shirt. "That doesn't sound like All Might at all…"

"No, it doesn't," Mina agreed. "It's… you should read this. Something's not right, a-"

A loud, yet distant sound of an explosion interrupted Mina from elsewhere within the mall. The impact was enough to cause the building to tremble, and the girl had to take several steps and whirl her arms to remain balanced.

"Mina!?" Eijiro yelled as he knocked into the side of the booth. "What the hell w-"

"I don't know!" Mina called as she ran out of the store and gripped the railing of the upper terrace.

The girl leaned forward slightly to look down toward the lower levels of the mall, only to see a large, bestial looking quadrupedal creature sprint across the bottom floor. Another impact rang out followed by more screams from far below, and Mina turned back toward the store and cupped a hand around the side of her mouth as she began to yell.

"Villains! Villains are attacking!"

Eijiro burst through the dressing room door and ran to Mina's side as several other patrons within the clothing store began to sprint for the exits. He barely managed to weave through the crowd to get to Mina before another rumbling noise on the floor just below theirs echoed through the mall. A humanoid figure with bark-like skin flew across the gap just below the teens to engage the villains, and smoke began to rise from the ground floor shortly thereafter.

"What… holy crap, it's a full-on battle!" Eijiro yelled as he watched the scene unfolding through the open area beyond the railing.

"This is bad," Mina added. "Really bad! It sounds like there's a ton of them! C'mon, Eiji, we've gotta get down there!"

"What?" Eijiro asked, eyes wide as Mina ran for the nearby staircase. The girl paused and turned to look at him, her own expression one of fear and confusion. "Mina, we can't j-"

"What if people are hurt!?" Mina yelled, looking frantic. "What if we're the only ones who can fight!?"

"We can't fight!" Eijiro protested as more and more people ran past them toward the exits. "We're unlicensed and not actively being attacked! And that was Kamui Woods just now- he's a pro! Mina, we can't get involved, we'd be in the way, and it's illegal!"

"Screw the law!" Mina replied as she looked toward the stairs as another scream came from the level below. "Eijiro, I can't j-"

"Mina!" Eijiro interrupted as he gripped her arm. The girl turned to look at him, and for a moment, he froze. He took a deep breath in through his nose before shaking his head and doing his best to put on an authoritative tone despite the tension and noise all around them. "I'm not letting you get hurt! We might be heroes someday soon, but we're not heroes right now. We can't do this. Come on, we have to go, and you know it!"

Mina resisted briefly as Eijiro gave her arm a firm tug in the direction of the fleeing crowds. She watched silently as a thick, twisting plume of smoke rose from somewhere below them, and the upper body of a giant professional hero wearing a violet horned domino mask and a tight white bodysuit emerged in the central gap between terraces.

"…fuck!" Mina yelled before stomping a foot and turning to face Eijiro once again. "Run! Just… let's go!"

Eijiro merely nodded and tightened his grip on Mina as the pair broke into a run, blending into the crowd as they hurried to escape the mall that had become a battleground.

"And what did you learn today, Lemillion?"

Mirio Togata gave his mentor a confident smile as the pair walked back into the Nighteye Agency offices, side by side. Sir Nighteye himself was wearing a smart, light grey suit that contrasted his deep green hair and the yellow streaks within it. The man was tall and lanky, with an incredibly businesslike aura about him. He adjusted his glasses with his middle finger as he gave the teen an expectant look.

"Well, Sir, I think today's lesson was mostly about the importance of categorization," Mirio began as he pulled upward upon his headband and the attached orange visor, removing it from in front of his face. "The reason that the other agencies lagged behind us is that they couldn't keep their evidence in order. Instead of taking the time to categorize and cross-check what they were seeing, they tried to just throw everything into a big pile and sort it out later. It ended up costing them later."

"…good," Sir Nighteye praised as he flicked on the lights and made his way to his rather spacious desk. "Remember this mantra- nothing wastes time like trying to save time."

"…huh," Mirio considered as he did an overhead stretch. "That makes a lot of sense, Sir. I'll keep it in mind."

"Make sure that you do," the professional hero instructed as he lifted a rectangular remote from its place atop the pile of papers upon his desk. "You did well today. Return to U.A., take care of yourself, and be ready for another investigation tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir!" Mirio answered with a wide smile. He watched as Sir Nighteye turned on the small, box-shaped television mounted near the ceiling in a nearby corner. The teen's smile faltered immediately as a news anchor appeared on the screen, standing before what appeared to be a burning shopping mall.

"-thorities are still searching the area for three villains currently at large, and have issued shelter in place orders for all residents within ten miles of the mall. Several pro heroes are still on scene, including All Might, who put a swift end to what unfortunately became a deadly conflict. Evacuation efforts are ongoing, a-"

"Sir, isn't that mall relatively close to here?" Mirio asked as he looked across the room at his mentor, who had already stood and planted his hands firmly upon his desk. The man's knuckles were white, and he stared at the screen with his jaw set firmly.

"…ten minutes by foot," Sir Nighteye answered quickly. "Lemillion, I hate to ask this of you, b-"

"Evacuation efforts are ongoing, and three villains are at large and nearby. No real hero would turn that down in favor of getting some sleep. Let's get out there!" Mirio cut in as he secured his visor in place once again.

Sir Nighteye looked at the boy for the briefest of moments before briskly walking around the desk and making his way out the door with Mirio in tow.

Author's Note:

Bet you didn't expect the main villain of the story to reveal himself this early. That bastard Eijiro Kirishima stole a citrus shirt! The rest of this story will be about the ensuing manhunt and the terrible things that happen as a result.

On a slightly different note- the same warning applies for next week as the one from last chapter. As of right now, things aren't looking good, but I really can't say what's going to happen either way. If no chapter is coming, I'll leave a note in my profile.

-RD