This fic returns! After almost a week!

Well, last chapter's AN troll didn't work out quite as well. Again, I wanted to scare you all with a fake cliffhanger, but a lot of people didn't read the end of chapter PS and then actually thought this fic was ending.

I won't toss this fic to the trash… for now. And I won't cry in any of your yards like historical Hans did if you insult it… for now.

Enjoy!

-SpiritOfErebus

…

(T-minus 20 days)

"This… was an attack by the League of Villains." the hero association spokesman said, in the midst of a ton of flashing cameras and clamoring reporters.

After the brief silence in the aftermath of the statement, the room exploded once more.

(T-minus 19 days)

"This… was not an attack by the League of Villains." the journalists analyzing the footage said.

"First, that was obviously a smoke bomb, meaning that it wasn't the work of the black mist villain reported back at the USJ. Secondly, there was a definite pause between Hans Christian Andersen's question and the villain's answer, showing hesitation." he said, pausing the court camera video feed. "Before you say that this was all fake, it was recording all of the footage from before the attack as well, and that wasn't released anywhere else. This means that… this is the only camera that survived the incident. And that our conclusions were valid."

Their bosses nodded. Their second-rate newspaper and online journal was honestly struggling to even stay afloat, and any semi-sensible take about this topic that would cause discussion would probably keep them going for a little longer.

"So, what form should the article be in?"

"...Let's just try a video essay."

(T-minus 18 days)

Hans walked out of the hospital, adjusting the bandages that wrapped the previously serious puncture wound. With the help of what healing magecraft he understood, and without the help of his noble phantasm (he did not want to turn that part of his body entirely into inflexible mermaid scales), he was able to give a statement for the courts while pretending to be injured, then being discharged the next day.

He really didn't want to go back to the courtroom.

Thankfully, Rikasakusei was perfectly willing to keep fighting. Though inconvenienced with the fact that he now could not digest any animal products and was therefore forced to go vegan, his digestive system was so efficient now that he didn't even need to eat three meals. Just one and a half.

As his parents welcomed him and frantically checked him for residual wounds, Hans spoke.

"Remember two weeks ago, when we had that conversation after the USJ?" Hans muttered.

"Yeah, son." his father said, tussling Hans's hair. Hans did not resist, seeing as his upper body was currently being secured by his mother's various illusionary quirk hands as she ran her real hands around Hans's body to detect anything more abnormal than the mermaid scales and burns all over his body.

"Then there's no need to say anymore." Hans said. "Though I do feel like I was pretty useless."

"You saved a man's life!" his father said. "That's the second time you've done that in the fifteen years of your life!"

"He wouldn't have gotten hurt if I wasn't so incompetent." Hans said.

"Don't worry… you're still learning." his mother mumbled. "I still couldn't really independently use the third pair of hands I have until I was in college, you know. Quirks take time."

Despite the mild discomfort and the fact that his abilities literally could not get stronger, the actions made him feel… warm.

"By the way, the villains were after me." Hans said, nonchalantly. "Didn't the Self Defense Cooperative or something send a flier? You might want to sign up for that thing so they'll actually take care of our neighborhood."

"J-join a gang?" his mother said. "Isn't that just a bit extreme?"

"I dunno." Hans said, shrugging. "But at least they don't look like a gang anymore. Did you know that they did that supposedly violent labor strike, and that all of their actions were counted as necessary company-related defense measures?"

"...How do you know about this, son?" his father said.

"I had a lot of time relaxing on that hospital bed." Hans said, walking out into the streets and looking for their family bike. "Where's the bike, by the way?"

"We, uh, took a taxi."

Hans immediately whirled on his father, spitting curses about wasting money.

With a slightly abashed, yet happy grin, his father accepted the punishment. After all, their son hadn't changed… too much.

Now, if only the world stopped trying to kill their son, things would be even better.

(T-minus 17 days)

"Hans-buchou, welcome back." the trio said, standing up and bowing when Hans approached the entrance of the room.

Hans immediately backed out of the room.

"Sorry," he said immediately. "Wrong room."

"...I think we weirded him out."

"But calling him sensei or senpai is a bit strange." Yaoyorozu wondered.

"And you thought that calling him manager was better?"

"What the fuck?" Bakugo muttered, uncharacteristically quiet. "Did he start a fucking cult or something?"

(T-minus 16 days)

Some strange footage was released.

And the internet exploded… once again.

As the relatively professional journalists hired an analyst to try and determine who actually sent the villains to attack the courtroom, the Hero Association was under fire once more.

"Where is the footage sourced?" one of the board members said, a bit stressed out now that they were hosting another meeting in the same week about the exact same topics.

"Yohaku Media. Their footage is actually sourced from the courtroom, too, so there's absolutely no saying that the footage was a fabrication." the media monitor said nervously, looking at all of the high profile members of the Hero Association standing before him.

"And why is that?"

"Because the court system has confirmed that the camera indeed has lost footage, and that the media company should share the information with them so they can keep a record of the proceedings."

"...The court case is going to keep going?"

"We didn't kill all of the villains. They'll keep going until a conclusion is reached."

(T-minus 15 days)

"This is Konspiracy Kabuto here. Thank you for the good reception on the last video about why there are chemicals in the water that are giving all of the animals quirks. I'm here today to talk about a more serious topic."

Todoroki's breath seized up as he curled up in front of his computer. It was a brief moment of respite he was allowed after dinner. Apparently, even Endeavor wasn't demanding enough to try and make him train after eating.

As one of the loyal viewers to Konspiracy Kabuto's channel, he had been a subscriber since the man wearing a tinfoil hat over his beetle horns had just begun, posting videos about why All Might wasn't real. Todoroki disagreed, but some of the points that the content creator made, like why All Might was only appearing around Musutafu these days, made some sense.

After Konspiracy Kabuto stopped playing his intro, he continued on with the video. Todoroki prepared to listen to what shocking piece Konspiracy Kabuto came up with, bringing out a notebook and pencil himself.

"Today, I'm going to talk about why the Hero Association is evil!"

Todoroki paused. That wasn't what he was expecting. Sure, there were suspicious points about the Hero Association's response, but his father was the literal number two hero. If he was being controlled by the association, the association weren't doing a very good job.

As the beetle-horned man ranted on about minute details in the footage, Todoroki quickly sketched a diagram of the courtroom and slowly began to go over what had happened.

Sure, the combat skill that his classmates had demonstrated was slightly worrisome for the sports festival coming up, but they were almost all close range fighters, and Yaoyorozu was pretty slow in making that big explosion, honestly. His ice could still probably freeze them instantly.

What was weird, however, was how the Hero Association lawyer seemed to put their hands in their pockets just as the smoke grenade exploded and the walls of the court broke.

But if Konspiracy Kabuto, a highly educated defender of truth didn't see it, then Todoroki deemed it not as important.

Did the Hero Association do it? Maybe.

Todoroki would add this to his wall. He would have to buy some more red yarn in the future.

(T-minus 14 days)

"Hey, keep it still! Keep it steady, okay? I'm still recovering." Hans said, sitting on top of Ojiro and using Kirishima as a desk. Yaoyorozu was sitting in the corner of the room filled with concrete pillars, yawning and producing what looked like purple slime.

"How are those sleeping compounds coming along?" Hans said, looking at Yaoyorozu.

"It's… ahhh…" Yaoyorozu yawned, almost using the hand that she was making the substances with to stifle her yawn. "Still… a work in progress…"

"I told you to use a gas mask!" Hans shouted. "Even if you don't absorb the chemicals because it's all coming out of your skin and there's no force making you absorb it, you can still inhale it!"

From across the arena, several students were taking a water break.

"I don't know how they do it." Sero said, to a group of students that were relaxing from their own efforts at expanding their quirk's usability. "It doesn't look like they're doing much, but they… really owned the villains back at the court. I was… pretty useless, to be perfectly honest.

Aoyama said nothing.

(T-minus 10 days)

"Hawks's hero rank is dropping."

Hawks sat in the room with the generically clothed agents sent from the high command.

"Well, what do you think would happen after you ordered me to delay going to the court as much as possible?" Hawks said, smiling easily and crossing his arms. "If my efficiency goes down, my hero rank goes down. Especially in an incident as public as this."

"Well, thankfully, nobody suspected it was intentional." the agent said. "So, continue with your normal operations."

(T-minus 9 days)

"I've realized something!" Konspiracy Kabuto said, gesticulating wildly in front of the camera in his video. "Hawks is working for the Hero Association."

All heroes do. Todoroki thought.

But that was something that was going to go on his wall. Reaching under his bed, he almost pulled out his yarn, before he heard heavy footsteps in the hall.

Quickly, he shut his computer and slid a wall over his elaborate conspiracy map.

Nobody would know that he had been doing this. Not even people beyond these four walls.

(T-minus 5 days)

"I… apologize." Hawks said, his normally easygoing smile now a completely serious expression. "My inattention was the reason that the students were so endangered. But amidst the calls during the spree of attacks of indeterminate origin, that really was the best I could do."

"But isn't your quirk heavily tied to speed, sir? I-"

"-about the sudden change in route that many hero fans had noticed weeks ago-"

"-confirm the rumors of the fact that you are working for the-"

"Silence!" one of the press conference managers shouted. "One at a time! One at a time, please!"

Hawks sighed, and pointed at one of the reporters. Nothing could have beaten his training with the association in terms of pain, but this was getting to become a close second.

If only he wasn't the son of a villain… and if only he didn't have to rely on a fake identity provided by them to survive.

He felt sorry for all the other children that the association had taken in and trained as their agents. The thought of speaking the truth bubbled up on his lips, but he quickly swallowed the words and quenched the thoughts.

After all, this society still needed the Hero Association, right?

Right?

(T-minus 3 days)

"Are we all set with the plan?" Yaoyorozu said, sitting in a cafe with two others.

"I still don't get why I need to get Hans." Kirishima muttered. "I'm-"

"You have to be the one." Ojiro said firmly. "You are his antithesis. You're optimistic. You're dedicated. And you can show him that a bright future exists for people that do their best."

"Not me…" Yaoyorozu muttered. "I was just blinded by my apparent superiority because of my upbringing. I still had so much unfulfilled potential, but I wasted my years… playing pretend. Thinking that I was special."

"I had already given up." Ojiro said, looking up with tearful eyes. "I knew that I was simply… designed to be inferior to literally everybody else in the class. I was so… normal… so unremarkable… Hans changed that. But that still doesn't change the fact that I had accepted that I was normal."

"I… I'm a coward, too." Kirishima muttered. "Do you remember when Hans used his quirk on me during the USJ?"

"You stood up to the monster that crushed Aizawa-sensei instantly." Yaoyorozu said. "That was impressive."

"I was shown my failure… somehow…" Kirishima said. For a moment, he gritted his teeth, unwilling to say what came to his mind. Then, he sighed. "It was when I didn't act to try to save somebody. I just stood there, paralyzed, as a giant villain threatened two girls. I didn't even think of doing something."

"And now… you're here. At UA. Trying to be a hero after two terrorist attacks." Yaoyorozu said, patting the teenager on his shoulder. "We're all working for a brighter future for both ourselves and society. Hans just needs another person to tell them that…"

"Tell him what?" Ojiro asked, curious.

"No, it's silly." Yaoyorozu muttered. "It's kind of stupid, actually."

"Just say it." Kirishima said, smiling ruefully.

"To tell him that he's doing great."

(T-minus 1 day)

It was the day before the sports festival. On that day, Hans slept… really well. It was a dreamless sleep. He closed his eyes, slowly wading through the abyss of sleepiness for a couple of minutes, fell asleep, and then woke up.

Looking out at the Sunday sun, Hans felt the urge to do absolutely nothing. Tomorrow would be a troublesome day.

Yawning, he put on a button-up shirt and slipped on his blue slippers, before his back settled into a slouch. Snapping his fingers in his room, a place heavily saturated with his attempts at creating a bounded field, many things sprang into action immediately.

His potted plants watered themselves. His empty fish tank cleaned itself, despite it not exactly needing to… considering the fact that the little mermaid had gone to visit a little girl a couple of days ago.

Atop the doorframe, two bronze stars were tacked above the door frame. Hans smirked when he saw the constant reminder that he was literally designed to be an inferior servant and heroic spirit, before stepping out into the small living room that was directly connected to the kitchen.

Outside of his window, a parade of blue flags with the words SDC printed on them flew atop the doorway of his neighbors, and even in front of the grocery store. A red blur and a green flash in the distance chased what looked like a dark shadowy poster thing.

It was a common sight at this point. Hans wondered what hooligans with nothing better to do were chasing the poor, poor posters.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Hans asked a potted plant.

Out of the potted plant, the Elder Tree mother crawled. Storing some of the dirt that came out with it into a cup made of roots, it shambled over to the table, bringing some cereal with it.

"Do you want milk in your cereal?" the tree said, presenting a milk carton.

Hans looked at the japanese crawling over the milk, being sponsored by some sort of bovine hero.

Implications of the sponsorship aside, it was sort of sickening to have heroes literally everywhere. Didn't people get tired of celebrity worship?

"No." Hans said. "I don't feel like I deserve it."

The dry cereal made his gums feel like they were being scrubbed with sandpaper.

(The Day)

The day had come, and Hans felt like… something was off.

It wasn't the tense air. Everybody was uttering and glaring at each other, some sort of implied warning spreading across the school like a virus.

It wasn't the twitching muscles of nervous students right before a test. It wasn't the cold sweat that Hans could see had stained the uniform shirts out of the anticipation of humiliation or glory.

There was no rain, and there was no storm that was on the horizon.

But still, there was something there that wasn't there before.

Walking to the changing rooms and holding the clothes that were a size too large for him, Hans found it. What everybody else had felt and what Hans knew existed.

Lingering hope. Optimism. Unrealistic expectations of their own abilities. People deluding themselves into thinking that they would do well in a pointless event designed to make UA billions through advertisements, broadcasting rights, and reaffirming the fact that there would always be more heroes pouring out of the system, ready to serve society by maintaining a pointless status quo.

His reverie was disrupted by an angry blonde.

"Listen up here, you little fucker." Bakugo said in a deep and menacing voice. Hans looked up calmly.

"Do you always talk so loud because of yourself?" Hans asked.

"What the fuck are you saying?" Bakugo said, growling. "I'm talking to you here."

"Ah. You didn't hear me." Hans said, grinning. "Perhaps the persistent explosions have caused some lingering health issues, huh?"

"Piss off!" Bakugo said, kicking the wall besides Hans and swaggering away. Bakugo was already done changing. "I'll show you during the festival that all your bullshit is meaningless. All your speeches and your talks are just you bitching about being weak."

Bakugo turned, his red eyes glowing with anticipation.

"Nothing matters in the face of true strength."

Hans sighed. Hopefully, this would be the last pointless challenge of the day. This festival was already a gathering of tropes. The protagonist would struggle, and then win or something. Powers would awaken. Rivalries would be set and flashbacks would become the spirit of the land.

Hans wanted nothing to do with it. Therefore, during the first event, he decided that he would just… sit there… and refuse to participate, consequences be damned.

If he would be kicked out of the hero course for that, then so be it. This was the limit of his ability, after all, and he had only survived that crossbow bolt because Rikasakusei was stupid enough to jump in front of it.

"Why am I doing so much internal monologuing?" Hans muttered. "It's not like anything I think matters."

And then, Todoroki approached Midoriya, and issued a pointless challenge of his own. Clearly creating a rivalry theme for the upcoming event.

With the tentative hopes in his internal monologue shattered, Hans numbly put on his uniform, rolled up the sleeves, and with the giant letters 'U' and 'A' on his torso and legs respectively because of the sports uniform, followed the rest of his classmates to showboat in a glorified gladiatorial competition in front of millions in the country that wanted to watch high schoolers try to impale or explode each other.

…Great.

Education was really just so practical sometimes.

The sports festival starts next chapter. I didn't want to split the race up into different chapters, so I left you with this transition chapter.

It'll take a while to plan and write, so, uh… It'll take a bit.

Also, if somebody can catch the music reference, you get a digital cookie!

Discord link: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV

-SpiritOfErebus