Despite her best efforts to clear her mind, Yuka had been tormented throughout the night by memories of her childhood. She awoke early in the morning. The sun hadn't even come up the horizon yet. She could feel her clothes clinging to her uncomfortably as a sticky layer of sweat covered her entire body. Had she been tossing and turning all night? She sighed, trying to bring her hand to her forehead when she felt something pulling at her wrists. She looked up to see that both her hands had been handcuffed to the headboard of her bed. An overwhelming sense of dread filled her as she realized that someone had infiltrated her room and tied her to her bed. As she nervously looked around to see who the perpetrator was, she heard a soft humming sound coming from the darkness in her room.

"Finally, you're awake..." a girl's voice spoke to her. Yuka immediately recognized it to be Toga's voice. "You seemed to be having some trouble sleeping. Luckily for me, when I slipped those bindings on you, it didn't seem to wake you up..."

She stepped towards the bed, the gleam of her blade shining brightly as the moonlight hit its surface. Her twisted smile then appeared before her as she fiddled with the small knife she held in her hand. Yuka stared at her in shock, trying to understand what was going on. She chose not to speak for now, preferring to wait for what Toga had planned next.

"I've been thinking about what you said last night..." she said as she climbed on top of her, straddling her hips as she continued to play with her knife. "You didn't mean what you said to Big Sis and I, did you?"

Yuka's eyes widened. So that's why she was there... Her eyes wandered around her, trying to find a way to free herself from her bonds. She had no idea what Toga had planned to do with her, but seeing that sadistic smile of hers coupled with her knife twirling did nothing to ease her mind.

"Because..." she continued without really giving her time to respond to her previous question. "... if that's true, then that would mean... we're not friends... and that would make me really... really sad..."

She bent forward, leaning her upper body against hers. Yuka could feel the cold touch of metal being pressed against her throat as Toga's face grew uncomfortably close to hers. Their breaths mingled with each other for a while before Yuka turned her head away in disgust.

"You wouldn't want to make me sad now, would you, Mia?" she asked in a hurt tone. "So please, tell me you didn't mean any of those awful words... I want to hear it from those sweet lips of yours..."

She licked her lips as the blade of her knife trailed upwards towards her face. She lightly grazed the skin of her lips using the tip of her knife, sending shivers down her spine. She knew that Toga had some crazy tendencies, but she never anticipated her to go so far as to infiltrate her room while she slept and tie her to her bed. From the look in her eyes, she could tell that what she had said had deeply upset her, so in order to get out of this alive, she needed to diffuse the situation. Violence wouldn't solve anything right now. Plus, she couldn't help but feel pity for her. Himiko had been so desperate for a friend and she had wholeheartedly thought that she would find that friend in her. Perhaps even more than a friend judging by the way she had been eyeing her since she had joined the League. After reflecting for a bit on how best to handle the situation, Yuka finally spoke up after a long silence.

"Toga I-..." she started to say, but the rest of the words were strangled by her throat tightening up under the pressure of Toga's knife. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings... but you have to let me go. The others will eventually figure out what's going on and they'll apprehend you..."

Himiko started to laugh. "Oh Mia', you really don't get it, do you?" She leaned in close to her ear. "No one's gonna know I'm here... I've locked the door behind me. As far as anyone else is concerned, you're just sleeping in your room, peacefully, and I'm still in my room." She let out a high pitched giggle. "So you see... no one's coming to save you."

She flicked her wrist sharply, cutting a small incision in Yuka's cheek with the tip of her knife. The strike stinged her skin slightly, but overall, it wasn't too painful. Pearls of blood started to form from the wound as a delighted expression appeared on Toga's blushing face.

"Ahh you look so cute with that cut on your face, Mia'!" she said gleefully. "And with that yummy blood pouring out of it... It gets me all hot and bothered just thinking about how it tastes... Won't you let me have a taste of your delicious blood, Mia?"

She leaned in even closer, running her tongue along the small stream of blood that had dripped down from the cut she had just made. Her eyes rolled back into her eye sockets as she savored the taste of Yuka's blood in her mouth.

"Ooohhh Mia'!" she moaned in ecstasy. "You taste even better than I imagined it. Let me have some more..."

She then closed her lips around the wound she had carved on her cheek, sucking on it to draw more blood. Yuka flinched at the pain as she struggled against her restraints.

"Toga stop!" she ordered her in a more severe tone of voice.

Himiko moaned against her face as she drank the blood directly from her wound. After a few moments, she released her from her sadistic kiss, her eyes still clouded over with lust.

"But it's sooooo good, Mia'..." she groaned as she licked her lips greedily. "I want more... but since you don't want us to be friends, I guess I'll have to take it from you by force..."

Yuka's eyes darted up towards Toga's blade as she lifted it up to strike at her again.

"Wait! Himiko, stop!" she said in a panicked tone, using her first name to invoke more familiarity between them. "I didn't mean what I said the night before! Please... Forgive me. I didn't mean to upset you this much..."

Her eyes softened as she looked up at Toga. She was doing this out of self-preservation, but she also couldn't help but feel sorry for her. What happened to her for her to become this deranged love-starved psychopath? What kind of traumatic past had she gone through for her to become this person? Toga looked at her for a moment, her eyes peering into hers, searching for any signs of deception. When she finally decided that she was being truthful, she started to smile as she lowered her weapon.

"Really? You mean it, Mia?" she asked in a relieved tone.

"Yes... I'm sorry I rejected you and Big Sis Magne," Yuka said as she relaxed a bit. "Now, can you please untie me? I don't want us to fight anymore..."

Toga seemed satisfied with her answer and gladly removed her handcuffs. Yuka massaged her wrists once she was finally free, and before she could do anything else, Himiko suddenly crashed down on top of her, burying her face in the crook of her neck as she laid on top of her.

"I'm so glad to hear it," she said in a soft voice. "It makes me so happy to know that we're back to being such good friends, Mia..."

Yuka completely froze, not knowing what to do. She had wanted to get away from her once she had released her from her bonds, but now that she was sitting on top of her, she didn't know how to react. It wouldn't be hard for her to roll her off to the side and escape through the door, but she ultimately decided that it was best to play along for now and she wrapped her arms around her in order to hold her against her. Even though she had previously threatened her with a knife, she somehow felt relieved to have her in her arms like this. It meant that she wasn't trying to kill her anymore.

"I'm happy as well..." Yuka said to her unconvincingly. Toga didn't seem to catch on, though.

"Your scent is just so comforting, Mia," she said. "I could just fall asleep on top of you like this..."

Yuka could sense her breath evening out as Toga laid on top of her. In a way, her presence was oddly comforting to her as well. The steady sound of her breaths, her slightly sweet aroma and the warmth and weight of her body on top of hers felt soothing somehow, despite what had just happened mere seconds ago. She could feel herself drift away slowly as her eyes felt heavy.

The two of them were awoken a few hours later by the sound of someone knocking at Yuka's door. She was startled both by the sound and by the fact that Himiko was still lying on top of her. She had slept surprisingly well while she had been laying there on top of her, almost frighteningly so. As the knocks came once again, Yuka groaned as she struggled to free herself from Toga's grasp.

"What is it?" she said loud enough so the person on the other side could hear her.

"The boss just called for a meeting." Yuka recognized Dabi's voice coming from the other side of the door.

"We'll be down in a minute!" Toga answered before Yuka had time to respond.

There was an awkward silence where Yuka placed a hand to her forehead. Great... Now everyone was going to think there was something going on between the two of them. Yuka sighed deeply as she fell back against the bed. She could hear and feel Himiko chuckling on top of her.

"I had a really nice nap with you, Mia," she said as she looked up at her. "Hopefully, we get to cuddle up more often..."

Yuka exhaled deeply. "Will it make it so that you don't repeat this morning's incident?"

"Pinkie swear!"

"Then fine... but knock before you enter... and try not to bother me too often, okay?"

"Awww see? We're already becoming the bestest of friends!"

She leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, making Yuka scrunch her nose before she pulled away from her completely. She skipped around the room while she waited for Yuka to get dressed. Once she had put on some clothes, they both left her room and descended down towards the bar. Once they crossed the curtain door, they could see that a few of their colleagues had been whispering to each other, but stopped as soon as they walked in. Magne shot a crooked smile at the two of them. Toga waved at her enthusiastically before grabbing Yuka's hand and pulling her towards her, bringing her over to where Magne was standing. Once she was surrounded by her two favorite people, she wrapped her arms around Yuka's arm and looked up at her with a wide grin. Not wanting to fight back against her, she just rolled her eyes and let her hold on to her arm for the time being.

"Well, looks like the two of you have warmed up to each other," Shigaraki remarked with a snarky tone.

"It would appear so..." she answered with a sigh. "What's our next move, boss?"

"Now that we've secured the last piece of the puzzle, it's time to move on to phase two of my plan..."

"Which is...?"

"You'll be striking at a U.A. summer camp."

Excited whispers started rising up from the other members of the league. After everything that had happened between U.A. and the League of Villains, Yuka figured it was only a matter of time before they would be sent on a mission against them. Most of the students who enrolled in U.A. attended the hero course in order to achieve a higher degree of fame and fortune than they would normally get if they attended any of the other hero universities. In a way, it represented everything that was wrong with today's society: too many fake heroes plaguing the streets pretending to be the paragons of society while they basked in their money and fame. It sickened her how many there were that were only in it for the fame and fortune and U.A. was a breeding ground for these types of fake heroes. Since U.A. was such a strong symbol in modern society, it was only logical that they would strike at them more than the other schools.

"I've put together what I call the 'Vanguard Action Squad'," Tomura explained. "Your mission is simple: Capture and kidnap Katsuki Bakugou."

He lifted up a picture of the young Bakugou to show to them. Yuka instantly recognized him as the one who had won the annual U.A. Sports Festival. He was hard to miss since he had caused such a huge commotion during the festival's award ceremony. Yuka disliked him a lot and was not thrilled about bringing him back to the hideout.

"What about the other students?" Dabi asked from the back of the room. As usual, he was standing off to the side while he leaned nonchalantly against the wall behind him.

"They're of no consequence to me for the most part. However..." Shigaraki paused, pulling out a piece of paper from a file that was placed on the counter next to him. "There are a few of them I would like eliminated if possible."

He slid a piece of paper with a list of names away from him as well as a set of pictures of some of the contestants from the Sports Festival. Of course, all of them were from Class 1-A, since they had been the ones to face off against them during the attack on the U.S.J.

"You're free to kill any of these people except..." He pulled up a picture of a green-haired boy with freckles. "... this one. Leave this one to me. I want to be the one to kill him..."

Yuka carefully analyzed the names and the pictures attached to them. The others didn't seem to care much about their targets, especially Dabi, who didn't even move when Shigaraki had taken out the photos from his file. After having a quick look at the kill list Tomura had written out for them, she stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm guessing everyone here is going," she supposed, looking around briefly at her colleagues. "Along with Moonfish, I presume?"

"That's correct," Tomura answered as he turned his attention towards her. "And you'll also be joined by a guy named Muscular that's not here at the moment."

"Is he going to meet us there?"

"Kurogiri will have him transported to you once you get there."

"Speaking of which," Compress said as he stepped forward to speak. "I assume you've located this camp, yes?"

Shigaraki smiled behind his mask. "We have a pretty reliable source that has given us the exact location of this training camp. The location had been kept secret even to members of the faculty since they've come to suspect that a traitor might be leaking information to us."

"I say, that's most impressive, Shigaraki!"

She had to admit that it was pretty impressive that Shigaraki had managed to get the location of the training camp despite the school having taken measures to ensure the camp's location remained a secret even to members of their staff. She remained silent however, not wanting to inflate Tomura's ego any further than it already was.

"When are we leaving?" she asked plainly.

"Tonight," Shigaraki answered. "You have until then to prepare yourselves. If you need anything specific, send a message to Giran and he'll probably be able to get what you need for tonight's mission."

"Alright... Anything else we should know?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Good, then we should all prepare ourselves for tonight's mission." Yuka turned her gaze towards her colleagues. "There's bound to be pros with them, so don't go in thinking this'll be a cakewalk, got it?"

Her eyes met with Dabi's figure in the back of the room. He could feel her intense gaze drilling holes into him, so he turned his attention over to her as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Tch... What are you looking at me for?" he asked with an amused smile.

Yuka remained silent as she turned her dark eyes away from him. She then started to walk towards the curtain door leading into the rest of the hideout.

"I'll be in my room until it's time to leave," she announced. "If you need me, you'll know where to find me..."

And with that, she disappeared beyond the curtain door, leaving the rest of the group to plan and prepare however they saw fit for their upcoming mission. She retreated back to her room to prepare and meditate, grabbing something from the kitchen on the way there to eat. She wanted to be alone while she prepared for her mission and didn't want to risk having breakfast in the kitchen in case any of her colleagues, most notably Toga, tried to socialize with her. After what had happened with her in the early hours of the day, the last thing she wanted was for her to disturb her while she was trying to prepare for tonight's mission.

Fortunately, no one followed her to her room and Yuka was free to begin her morning meditation. She hoped that her mind would be calmer than the night before but as soon as she sat down to begin her breathing exercises, she was suddenly overcome by an intense coughing fit. She tried to subdue her cough as best she could, but as the intensity kept building, she was forced to remove the face mask she had put on when she had left her room earlier and coughed up a small amount of blood on the floor. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence for her since her lungs had been damaged throughout the years by her quirk, but it usually only occurred when she had used her powers for an extended period of time. The fact that she was coughing so much when she was at rest was a bit concerning to her. She didn't have time to worry about it, though, since she heard a knock at her door a few moments later.

"Is everything okay in there?" she heard a voice call out to her from the hallway. It was Magne's voice.

Yuka thought about not answering her but in any case, she couldn't, since she started coughing again as soon as Magne finished speaking. Magne then started forcing the doorknob trying to open the door, but to no avail. When she thought she had given up, Yuka felt herself being pulled towards the door by an unknown force. Once she hit the door hard, she groaned out through her coughs before hearing Magne speak again.

"Yuka, open the door!"

She wasn't going to leave her alone so she relented and unlocked the door to her room. Hearing the lock on her door unlatch, Magne pushed her way through the door and the force pulling Yuka towards it suddenly stopped. Magne then knelt down to see how she was doing and was shocked to see her mouth stained with blood.

"My god Yuka! What's going on with you?!" she asked in a panicked tone.

Yuka wanted to tell her to leave but by now, the coughing had gotten so bad that her face had turned bright red and she was struggling to breathe. She pointed towards a black duffle bag sitting on the floor in her closet as she desperately tried to keep herself from fainting.

"Bag..." she managed to say between coughs.

Magne quickly grabbed the bag from the closet, stuffing it into Yuka's arms as she quickly started to rummage through it. Yuka then took out her gas mask as well as an odd capsule. She held the mask up to her face and inserted the capsule into the side of it. A low click was heard followed by a long hiss and Yuka breathed in deep. As soon as she breathed in whatever was inside the small capsule, she felt an instant wave of relief wash over her as her coughing subsided. She continued to take in long, slow breaths as she slowly recovered from her fit under the watchful eyes of Magne.

"What the hell was that you just inhaled?!" she asked, still in a concerned voice.

Yuka let out a long sigh as she pushed the door closed behind her.

"Medication for my lungs," she answered in a breathy voice.

"Are you like sick or something? Don't tell me you're terminally ill!"

She let out another more annoyed sigh. "What's it to you? Why do you even care?"

Magne expression became more serious. "You're Toga's friend. Besides, it's my job to worry about you guys. They don't call me Big Sis Magne for no reason..."

She helped Yuka up the floor and onto her bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to her as the young woman continued to breathe in heavily through her mask.

"I'm not dying anytime soon if that's what's got you worried," Yuka answered curtly, before breathing in a long, raspy breath.

"It doesn't sound like it to me," Magne said as she looked at her with concern.

Yuka shot her a look with her dark gray eyes. "I'm fine, Magne... You don't have to concern yourself with me."

"Yeah yeah you're a real tough one, but save it for someone who actually gives a damn!" Magne rolled her eyes at her. "Look, I get it. You're afraid to lose people you care about, so you act like you don't care about anyone... but I can see right through you, Miasma." She looked directly into her eyes through her tinted shades. "You're not some uncaring lunatic like some of us are... You have the eyes of someone who's seen some fucked up shit and who doesn't want other people to go through the same shit you've been through, isn't that right?"

Yuka looked into her eyes for a short while, before turning her gaze. She couldn't stand to have her look at her. How was it that she could peer into her eyes and see her for who she really was? Yuka had spent her life trying to convince herself that she didn't care about anything or any one, and yet, she had never been able to shake the feelings she harboured deep inside. For all the bravado she put out, trying to make herself seem like the uncaring, unfeeling person that she desperately wished she was, deep down, she cared way too much for her own good.

"What are you getting at, Magne?" she growled angrily.

"I'm saying that you don't need to shut people out," Magne replied. "The rest of the world's already against us, so why make even more enemies? Look, I'm not saying we should become best buddies or whatnot, just that we support each other, 'cause the rest of the world ain't gonna come to our rescue if shit hits the fan. So, what do you say, love? Mind telling me what's wrong?"

As much as it pained her to admit it, Magne was right. If she was planning on sticking around for a while, she was going to have to get along with some of her colleagues, especially since they were all living together under the same roof. Plus, with everyone else out to get them, it would be a lot more manageable if she had people behind her to support her if she ever got in trouble...

"Before I tell you, promise me you won't breathe a word of this to anyone, alright?" she told her as she looked back at her.

"I'll take this to my grave if I have too," Magne replied with a slight chuckle.

Yuka breathed in a long sigh. "You've probably guessed that I'm not immune to the effects of my quirk, but it goes beyond that. My quirk is damaging to my body and when I use it a lot, it really chips away at my lungs."

Magne stared at her with a surprised expression. "Shit... And how are your lungs now?"

"Not good..." Yuka answered as she shook her head. "Truth be told, my condition's been getting worse each month. I've tried suppressing my coughs through meditation and breathing exercises but sometimes... It's just too much for me and I have to take these capsules to calm the pain. I try not to take them too often because the more I use them, the more resistant my lungs become to their effect."

"Damn... I'm really sorry to hear that, Yuka."

"It's not all. I can't go outside without a mask on because of all the pollution. The air in here is barely tolerable when I don't have my mask on."

"Yeah I can see why. It's crazy how much dust there is everywhere. You'd think a bunch of ruffians lived here."

Yuka couldn't help but smile at her sarcastic comment, which made Magne smile in return. Her smile quickly faded with Yuka's, though, as she continued to talk about the effects of her quirk.

"How long has it been like this?" Magne asked her.

"A year? Maybe more..." Yuka confessed. "There are probably treatments that I could get to improve my lungs, but... Well, I've pretty much given up on the prospect of healing my lungs at this point. The only thing I can hope for right now is that I accomplish what I've set out to do before my lung completely give out."

"And what would that be?"

Yuka hesitated to answer for a moment. "To cure the world of fake heroes who only strive for fame and glory."

Magne smiled. "I take it you're a huge fan of Stain like Spinner then?"

Yuka shot her a look. "Don't compare me to that cringy lizard..."

The big woman started laughing. "I know right? He's so pathetic... I can't believe he tried to make a pass at you the other day when we came to get your stuff."

"Uurgh don't remind me..."

Magne started laughing even more, which made Yuka smile. After chatting with her for a few more minutes, the two of them separated once Magne made sure that Yuka wasn't in danger of succumbing to an asthma attack while she was gone. Once she was out of the room, Yuka returned to the floor to start her meditation ritual which had been so rudely interrupted before, in preparation of what was to come in the evening.