Arc 4 - The Ballad of Suffering.


Your Pain is Now Mine - Title Fight


"I just wish that you trusted me more,

I know you're scared, but we all are

Maybe then we could have prevented what happened

Prevented what can still happen

Or maybe, that's just wishful thinking."


It was empty.

The city of Musutafu was empty. By nine PM, the streets were deserted, shops shut earlier than their signs said and responsible adults triple-checked that they had locked their doors. This was a natural response to what the city of Musutafu had been going through in recent memory, terrorist attacks, nasty gang wars and even the resurgence of dangerous villains.

The U.N.'s clear warnings.

If things got worse, they would step in.

Forcefully.

The bitterness of the air contrasted heavily with the Sakura season blooming.

April had come in full swing, but not even the beauty of rebirth or a fresh start could truly change this city. Piles of trash were piled on the street, from binmen who refused to come to the area to the residents who refused to take out their neighbour's trash, the garbage was just sitting there all alone with no one interfering. The fact that it was just ignored, looked over, it was a tragic sight to behold.

As a collective how easy it was to simply brush over what wasn't desired.

How the citizens only piled onto the garbage, never taking responsibility for the sight that had endured in solitude for so long. Someone else will take care of it, they speak to themselves. It's not my problem, I can hear the others say. It's not my job, the whispers say to me as I peer down at the emptiness surrounding it all. Graffiti lined up every wall, and even the 'unmarked' walls were because every square inch was already painted over to try and hide the graffiti.

But all it did was scar the wall.

All it did was hide the imperfections that made the wall itself, an ignorant act from a shop owner who wanted to try and pretend everything was perfectly fine. Just like the trash sitting in the middle of the street, it was ultimately a futile attempt at simply living.

I stood alone on the empty roof of a building, hands in my pockets as the bittersweet April wind made my jacket flutter around. I looked down at my phone and sighed. I had time. I had only been patrolling for a little while, and that was because I had been busy just before my patrol. Nejire was supposed to do it, but she got sick so I had to step in. I sighed at that, wondering when more people would be able to join our little 'group.'

The Special Reinforcement Group.

Outside of a few cases here and there, most of Nejire and I's time was spent lazing about or on patrol, considering Nanao did most of our paperwork, I considered that the two of us were simply lucky. Other heroes, especially those in my class, were not so fortunate - That isn't to say that Nejire and I didn't do any work to ease the load off Nanao. We did. It just wasn't to the right… standard.

It was unfortunate that only Nejire and I were a part of our little group considering I was told I could essentially invite anyone into the group. Then again, who'd really want to join a group of misfits led by me of all people? I couldn't blame anyone in Class A or B jumping at my offer, because it's not like I was even getting paid that much for this. Certainly not as much as their exclusive contacts with the big hero agencies.

"Oh, fucks sake…"

I was already kinda late, and as I peered down into a dark alleyway I realised I'd be even more late. It didn't take long for me to jump down, using my Nimbus to slow my fall and levitate me to the ground, only for the group of men to have not heard or even seen me. I blinked at them in surprise as I stood behind them, thinking of the best ways to get their attention.

It was obvious that they were criminals.

Besides the black face masks and the dark clothing, or the fact that they were predictably slinking around a dark alleyway, it was perhaps the weapons in their hands that tipped me off the most. How comfortable they felt holding knives and wrenches, resting them on their shoulders with a touch of familiarity only someone with experience knew.

"Hehe, this score is going to be great man!" One of the burly men said behind his mask. "Taichi-, Get the fucking wrench ready!"

"Er, yessir! Oh, do you think we can stop after this for some food?"

"What are you, retarded?! No MacDonald's joint is going to be open at this time. Hell, I was watching this place all day and they shut down at six. Their sign says they shut at eleven. The owners are too afraid of what will happen to them if they don't shut, and I don't blame them. There are some nasty people on the streets taking advantage of this situation in our city."

"Like who?" I asked, stepping forward from out of the darkness.

"Like who?! Wait, what the fuck?!" I watched as all five of the men turned around in surprise to stare at me as I awkwardly waved at them. "Who the fuck are you?! What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"Eh, just some cleaning up," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Ah. Shit. I forgot my badge… Oh, it's right here!"

I reached into my jacket pockets, navigating through my lighter and cigarette packet before I reached the shiny metallic badge that proved my identity. The group's eyes comically widened as they looked at my detective badge.

"E-eh?!"

"Hold on, a fucking copper? Here?!"

"Relax guys, it's just one guy. And there are five of us," The leader replied calmly, a false sense of superiority leaking into his voice.. "And he's a detective. He doesn't even carry a gun, wait-, Is that a fucking sword?! What kind of detective has a fucking sword?!"

At this point, I couldn't help but burst out into laughter.

"You punk! Don't you dare mock us-,"

I stepped forward, slamming the hilt of my sword against his chin as he slowly flew up into the air before crashing into the ground with a dull thud. That was their leader. The guy holding the wrench stared at me, before staring back at the wrench as he dropped it from his hands, raising them up innocently.

"I just needed the money for my Mum's sick bills!"

"So what? Want me to write you a check for a sob story? You're still robbing an innocent man's place, dumbass," I replied, using my Quirk to pick up the wrench on the ground into my hands and then lob it at him, watching as it banged against his head before he slumped to the ground with a satisfying sound. "Huh. I guess it's easier to fall asleep than fight. Oops? Nah, I totally did that on purpose."

I turned around to face the other three men who had slowly started to back away in fear.

"Come on, don't tell me you're afraid now? This isn't any fun."

"I-, I know who you are!" One of the men yelled crazily, pointing his sausage finger at me as his face fell in fear, his muscles simply moving by themselves to get away from me.. "I saw you in the paper! You're that famous detective! The one everyone said solved the gang war just a month ago! Detective Dragon!"

"...Huh?" I tilted my head at him in confusion, blinking at his little nickname. "Detective Dragon? What the fuck kinda name is that?! Absolutely not, fattie. Who the fuck made that nickname? I oughta beat their fucking arse as well. Was it you, fucking fat bastard? Are you the one that made that name up?!"

However, my yells only seemed to scare the fat man who screamed as he ran away… straight into a fire exit, knocking the man out. I sighed, shrugging my shoulders at the other two members of the group that were trying to slowly walk away.

"It's Detective Yamazaki, a part of the Special Reinforcement Group. Of all the days you had to rob a pharmacy store, why'd it have to be tonight?" I asked them, but I knew I'd get no answer. "Fuck. Now I'm going to start the new school year off on a bad note. God damn it. Now, are we going to finish our little tango or what?"

One of the men pulled out a short knife, waving at me angrily as he leapt to try and slit my throat. I lazily stepped to the side, grabbing the man's hand as I used a little bit of my Nimbus to apply extra force, breaking the man's hand immediately. The screams of pain as he dropped the knife hurt my ears, especially as he looked down at his crooked hand and began to uncontrollably wail.

I elbowed the guy in the face, watching him fall to the ground before I stomped on his face, knocking him out before I kicked the knife away, slowly pivoting to face the last guy who stared at me, trembling and in fear.

"You know, he was really an idiot for attacking me. I'm technically a Hero too-,"

However, the last man had already begun to run away in fear.

"Damnit."

I didn't wait a single second longer as I sprinted after him, evading the bing bags he was throwing at me to try and slow me down. But I simply used my momentum along with my sword to slice away at the bins with ease, only to realise how stupid of an idea that was. I grew more angry at myself, wiping garbage away from me knowing that my costume would now smell.

Fucking idiot!

"Get away from me! Demon! Demon Detective! Anyone, help me! PLEASE!" The man yelled as he frantically ran into the main road, slamming his hands on the windows of any passing car. "He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me! I'm gonna' die! Please, someone help me! SOMEONE HELP ME-, AH!"

I watched as the man tripped up over his own foot.

It was slightly comical how he fell down on the floor but his body refused to yield as he wiggled forward to escape the terror he was facing, grabbing by the curb and the lamppost to simply live.

"Haha, you fucking idiot," I slowed down to a jog, shaking my head at his stupidity. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you high or something? To be honest, I don't think it matters even if you are. I'll let the police at the station deal with you."

But I observed as the man was determined to get away from me, crawling on the floor as he pulled out a knife from his boot and began to manically wave it around. My eyes narrowed at him, tapping my sword against the floor as I approached him.

Skrrt.

Skrrt.

Skrrt.

"I-, Just let me go, please!" The guy pleaded with me. "I didn't even want to do this! I told them it would be a bad idea, but they forced me, man! I'm not even eighteen yet. Please, I promise I'll never do this again. Please. I don't want to go to jail, man. They're gonna kill me. I'm just a kid. I-, I fell in with the wrong crowd, okay? I get it now. Please, I don't think my family can take this right now. I promise I'll be good!"

"..."

"Please, man! Have some empathy!"

I sighed as I peered down at him.

It was pathetic in a sense. It was clear he wasn't someone the police would find useful in the investigation outside of picking up another loser on the streets. And while it sorta was my job…

"...Fine. Go. But if I ever see you do something like this again, I'll make sure you get put in the worst prison cell possible. And throw the knife in a drain. If anyone asks what you were doing tonight, make sure you have an alibi," I reached over to pick the guy back up. He wasn't any older than me. "And where is your wallet?"

"My… wallet?"

I nodded at him.

"Yeah, I'd like to know what your name is so I can check up on you and make sure that you're not doing anything stupid like this again," I told him, flicking through his wallet as he passed it to me. "James Saiki? What the fuck?"

"My- my Dad is American."

"Hm," I hummed, taking out a few bills from his wallet before I threw it back at him. "Alright, James. Here's how this is going to work. Do you see these? Anyone asks you what happened, say you were robbed and you don't know who did it. If you even think of committing a crime, I'll find you. You even skip school for a day, I'll find you. No matter what, you can't escape me. Listen, I don't want to do this, so you better behave."

"Th-thank you!"

"Scram already. I don't wanna see your face anymore."

I watched as the kid scrambled away, weeping tears of happiness. I was definitely going to check up on him and his family when I had the time, not because he was a kid but because, unlike the other bastards, he was the first to really apologise. I did get the feeling that this was a stupid mistake the kid made, and I sorta felt bad for him.

I knew exactly what it was like.

And I'd seen it happen to a good kid before too before the life of crime completely stole his life away from him. It wasn't much, but it was the least I could do to prevent another Denji from happening…

But perhaps it was futile.

It's been a month since I've settled back into Class A, a month since the start of our third and final year studying together yet nothing still felt right between us. Even worse was that it had effectively been three months since I had started to work with Nejire and the police since I'd carved out my own path, yet I was still no closer to finding out anything about where Raiden was or how to cure myself.

The villains that attacked All Might's funeral two months ago were still at large.

A promise I had made to Death Arms in his dying moments, one regarding the investigation of the missing ten billion Yen hadn't led anywhere yet, all it felt like was chasing loose ends. Maybe I expected too much, three months isn't that long, but two years ago three months took me from the start of U.A. to just before our tumultuous school trip.

Maybe I needed to push myself.

To become more than just a detective who acted as a Hero.

But-,

"H-how dare you let that shitty brat get away?!" My thoughts were interrupted as I turned around to see the leader of the men pointing a gun at me. But he was also holding a struggling woman. "I saw exactly what you did! Now you listen to me, and you listen well! If you don't let me go right now, I swear I'm going to put a bullet in this chick's head! And if you try to come after me, I'll sing to the cops about what you just did!"

I closed my eyes, sighing at him.

"Put down the gun."

"Why?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" The man yelled at me frantically. "I mean seriously! Why the hell do you care so much about us?! You're a fucking cop, don't you have better shit to do? Actual criminals to find?! Do you think any of us want to rob a fucking pharmacy? Why the hell are you letting the shitty brat go, what about the rest of us? We all need the money too! There is no justice in that!"

"Put down the gun, and maybe we can talk."

"I don't want to put the goddamn gun down, Detective!" The man crazily screeched, "No one wants to listen, so what the hell is a talk going to do?! Is it going to pay my bills?! Is it going to feed me?! I'll fucking kill you! I'll fucking kill this girl too! Right fucking now! I'll put a bullet in her head! I swear, if you don't let me go-,"

"Okay. Just put the gun down. Last chance."

I took a step forward.

"I'm not joking-,"

Yet, when I glared at him, I saw the man and woman freeze in terror.

"Run."

I watched as the man yelled in fear, falling to the floor as I stalked him. Unlike the other guy, he didn't even try and crawl away. He aimed his gun and fired shot after shot, each one of the bullets missing me by quite a distance as all he was left with was an empty gun that he kept on clicking at me until I stood right in front of him and kicked the gun away.

"Plea-,"

Smack.

I punched him in the face, sending him flat on the floor as I knelt down and punched him again.

And again.

And again.

He threatened an innocent person. Someone like Miwa-,

Someone like Eri.

Innocent eyes shone brightly at me, it wasn't my fault but this animal nearly killed an innocent person. He held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. Blood rushed to my head as I brought my fists down on him, watching his useless attempt to put his hands up and try and guard against my attacks only made it worse as he shied away from the crime he had nearly just done.

So I punched him, again, and again, and again. He could have killed someone all because he was a selfish prick, so I punched him again, and again, and again. For all his ranting, I guess he must have forgotten that he was bargaining for his freedom while nearly taking away someone else's freedom, so I punched him again, and again, and again.

And again-,

The man gurgled up blood as he tried to say something to me, his face was black and blue and his teeth had now changed colour to red. A small dribble of blood fell from his nose onto the floor as his eyes, struggling to stay awake, stared at me in judgement.

As if this is my fault.

Like I was the one who was in the wrong.

Tch.

Why was it my fault? I just did my job.

Freakin' assholes.

I let go of the man's collar, watching him flop to the ground as I stood up to face the woman. She looked alright. Nejire taught me to always try to face a victim of an assault with a smile on my face so that I make a warm and comfortable environment for them. I tried my hardest to smile at the terrified woman, to let her know that I was here. That she was fine and there was nothing to fear.

"Hi, are you hurt or-,"

"Get away from me!" The woman whispered in fear, stumbling backwards as she threw her purse at me. "Ta-take anything, please! Just don't hurt me. I won't call the police, please. Just let me go. Please, don't take your anger out on me-,"

"Anger?!" I repeated in confusion, trying to get closer to calm her down but this action only seemed to terrify her as she stumbled over her own feet and looked up to me in horror. "...Hey, I just want to help…"

"PLEASE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

My shoulders sagged as I kicked her purse back at her, trying my hardest to ignore her flinch at that. Tears rolled down her face as she slowly picked up her purse, distrusting me entirely before she got up and ran away from me in fear. I snarled at that, kicking the curb in annoyance as I rounded back on the man who was struggling to stay awake.

Tch.

"Anger? Anger? You lucky fucking cunt, if it wasn't for me you'd be-, Argh," I waved my hands in the air in fury, turning away from the beaten-up man as I sat down on the floor and called the nearby police station. I was already late as is. And this didn't help. "Fucking stupid pricks. Like they'd ever understand. Tch. And you, arsehole, go and try and tell the police about what I did, I'll just say that kid tipped me off. Here's your lesson for next time, don't force kids to help you commit crimes."

The man simply blinked at me in response.

Whatever.

I turned away from the man, the sounds of the sirens getting closer as I pulled out my lighter and cigarette packet, huffing loudly as I lit one of my remaining cigarettes. I smelt like garbage, I had blood everywhere and now I had a little case to write up. And worst of all, I only had three ciggies left.

And I was late…

God fucking damnit-,


Chapter

Seventy

One

'Blue Hair Glistening Red'


Sighing, I made sure I didn't smell even after my shower at the office.

I rushed over to my dorm, holding the bag with my dirty costume in one hand with my keys in the other as I went up a familiar set of stairs. It was eleven in the evening, nearing midnight and all I was wearing was an old t-shirt I had stashed at the office, some jeans and a beanie to try and dry my wet hair quicker.

"I hope everyone's not too pissed…"

I winced as I slowly approached the door, twisting the handle to try and see if it was unlocked, but I had no such luck. I slowly inserted the key, turning it around as I turned the handle once more, but as I slowly opened the door, I realised I had fucked up. The lights in the living room were still open. I jumped into the dorm, slowly shutting the door as I quietly took off my shoes and crept around.

It looked like Kirishima and Sero had fallen asleep while watching a movie.

Sighing in relief, I walked over to the washing machine and threw my costume in with a few tablets and scent fresheners, setting it on mixed wash before I turned around and slowly went up the stairs-,

I guess maybe I could get away with it-,

"Going somewhere?"

Ah.

I slowly turned around, cringing as the lights downstairs were suddenly switched on. Kirishima and Sero stirred up awake, and I realised just how fucked I really was. All of Class A had been hiding, waiting for me to come back to the dorm. With the lights fully on, I could see the banners they had put up as well as the empty bowls of snacks and bottles of alcohol.

'Congrats on making it to our third year!'

"Uh, bed hopefully," I replied sheepishly. "Good night?"

"Good night?!" Jiro repeated. "You spend the whole day out and miss our party, and all you can say is goodnight? Last week you said you would be here for our party celebrating the fact that we've gotten into our third year. What happened?"

"I was unexpectedly busy," I told her, but I was largely speaking to all of them. "Listen, I'm sorry I couldn't make the party. It's not my fault some idiots thought it would be a good idea to commit a robbery in front of me, or that Nejire was sick so I had to take her patrol tonight. That's not my fault. Could we reschedule the party for another day?"

"You didn't even message us."

"Well, I didn't want to ruin your party just because I couldn't come on time," I said awkwardly. "That's not exactly fair. You were planning it for a while to begin with,and it's not like I could just ignore what my job requires me to do. So, I had to compromise. At the very least it looks like it was a good time, and I guess I wish I could come to it. Sorry, really."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have sent a text," Iida replied. "We would have pushed the party back because ultimately it's not the party we care about. I understand that you're busy, we all are, but at the very least you could have messaged us that you would be late. That way we wouldn't have stayed up waiting for you to come back if you were even deciding on coming back."

"...Alright, my bad."

"Sora!"

Midoriya's voice was calm and steady as he stared at me.

"The party's not over."

Some people like Sero and Bakugo glared at Midoriya for suggesting such a thing, and even Kaminari and Mineta looked nervous at that. I simply sighed, shaking my head at him as I pointed at the clock on the wall. I was too tired to deal with us, I just wanted a nap and to go to sleep…

After I played my brand new game, of course.

"It's late. We also have school tomorrow-,"

"Like you aren't going to go upstairs and play games all alone in your room."

"Urk-,!"

That hurt. It felt like Jiro had shot a 'truth bullet' into my heart, and I couldn't refute what she was saying because that was exactly what I was planning to do with my free time. And judging by the looks of everyone else's faces, there wasn't much I could do to convince them otherwise.

"So-chan!" Mina yelled loudly, throwing her arms up in the air. "Come on, it'll be fun. Just one drink. For us? Don't be like that, just because you ruined one party doesn't mean you have to ruin the after party!"

Ugh.

The things I do for them.

"Fine," I sighed, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "Alright, alright. Who's the bastard hogging all the Vodka and lemonade? Oh and play some music, if we're having an after party might as well do it right. And no, I didn't ruin your party if we're having a second one."

It was undeniable.

The smiles on their faces.

"So, half-and-half?" Bakugo asked me with a smirk as he passed the Vodka bottle over to me. "Not the half-and-half bastard, as in for your drink. Half Vodka, half lemonade. Punishment for being late, you shitty cloud watcher."

"Cute," I replied with a snort. "But I prefer my drinks to be stronger. Sixty-forty maybe? But I doubt you could handle that much alcohol. You don't look exactly sober, mate. And Jiro! What the fuck are you playing?"

I watched as Jiro turned around to glare at me, TV remote in her hand, as she browsed PlayTube for music videos. She had searched up her own private playlist and had tried to put that on, the worst part about it was that it had weird shit on it.

"Hey! There's nothing weird about Deftones!"

"At least she's not listening to TV Girl or worse. Weezer," Kaminari replied, recoiling in disgust. "But c'mon Kyoka, the man asked for some good music. And I have to agree. None of this shite."

Jiro pouted at that.

"Shite? I'm sorry, what do you suggest, Denki?"

"J Cole-,"

"Absolute not," Jiro cut him off, throwing the remote at me. "You pick, Sora. But make sure it's good, or else I'll take that remote back from you and I don't care if you don't appreciate good music. And no American rap, please. Just because you, Kaminari and Bakugo are the only ones that listen to it doesn't mean we have to as well."

"I wouldn't say you have good music taste, Jiro."

She blinked at me in response.

"Huh? I know the guy with the most fucked up playlist I've ever seen isn't talking about good music taste," Jiro replied, playfully kicking my shins as she sat down on my left. "Still listening to Kendrick and saying he's the best artist of all time?"

"He's easily the GOAT. I mean did you hear him diss that other guy? 'Dear Ado'-,"

I watched as Mina rolled her eyes at that.

"It's Gaga. She's the greatest. No debate."

"No, I think it's Brittany, kero," Tsuyu chimed in. "She's clearly more iconic."

"And hotter," Mineta added with a derpy grin. "Ow! I'm just saying."

"He's not wrong, Brittany in 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' is a classic," I replied. "Although, the music video for that is partly in a school. Do I find schoolgirls attractive? No, I think it's just Brittany."

"Pe-do! Pe-Do!" Kaminari and Mineta yelled in unison. "Sora is a pedo!"

"The irony of the two of you calling me a nonce isn't lost on me," I replied, punching the two of them on the arm. "If I'm a nonce then you two are even worse. Don't forget about the vending machine incident."

Both Mineta and Kaminari quickly shut up.

"Vending machine?" Yaoyorozu asked, a quizzical look flashing over her face as she edged closer to our couch. "I suppose that sounds like a fun story to tell… When you've drank a little more, Sora. And put on a song, won't you? Maybe some idol music. YASAOBI is popular, no?"

I sighed at that, shaking my head at her.

"Fuck no. We're playing good music."

"I like it," Yaoyorozu meekly replied. "Is that bad?"

Bakugo snorted, patting her back reassuringly.

"You like shitty music made for the consumers, that surprisingly makes so much sense," Bakugo retorted, turning around to glare at me. "Put on some Linkin Park. Or Death Grips. Or Tupac. Or Travis. Or Lil Uzi Vert. And I want the slowed, reverbed and bass-boosted remixes, none of this pussy shit."

"You listen to slowed and reverbed songs?"

"That's the only way to listen to them," Bakugo replied, ignoring the stares he was getting. "It's not my fault you extras think that they're dogshit versions of the songs. It adds an extra layer of depth to them, okay? Plus, they sound cool. You know. Primetime music to add in the background when killing a villain."

"No wonder your fans make so many edgy AMVs of you with Linkin Park in the background. You're a softcore emo boy," I jibed, ignoring the growls from Bakugo. "Come on, you said it yourself. And hey, to be honest, I think those edits go hard too. Be grateful you don't have videos of someone throwing blood on a poster of you."

"Shut up! Just play a fucking song already!"

"Uh… anyone wants to throw some recommendations?"

"Anything by Nirvana," Tokoyami said. "Maybe 'Rape Me'?"

"Kanye! Kanye! Kanye!" Iida chanted, a far cry from his usual self as he gobbled up and down on his seat, spilling his beer over the floor without realising. "...Sorry, I recently discovered his album 'Graduation' and was simply astounded by his boundless creativity. His personality was certainly unique, but the music speaks for itself. Quite frankly, one of the greatest modern auteurs in Music in my opinion."

"Come on! Just play Love Game by Gaga!" Hagakure moaned. "Or Smile by Lily Allen! That's a good one, you have to admit. OoO! Just put on some Miley! Katy Perry! Put something on!"

"...How about David Bowie?" Aoyama asked. "Or Pink Floyd. I also really like Panic At the Disco!"

"Nah, they're not manly enough! Well, they're pretty good, but even you have to admit that Green Day, Blink 182 and Blur are way better!" Kirishima jumped in, his red hair soaking wet with beer from which Sero had accidentally poured over him. "What do you think, Sora? I'll even throw in the suggestion of Gorillaz, since I mentioned Blur. I also think Joy Division could be a shout."

"Hey, if we're playing Britpop, we might as well do it right. How about some Radiohead?" Denki jumped in. "Cause I'm a creep! I'm a weirdo! It's a banger, right? Man, I fucking love some Britpop. I mean, I know we are in Japan but Britpop is still pretty cool!"

"Denki, Radiohead isn't Britpop," Jiro corrected her boyfriend. "I tell you that every single time you mention them."

"But…"

"Nope! One song doesn't really count!"

"How about Red Hot Chilli Peppers?" Mineta asked. "Everyone likes them, right? I mean I love them, but that's just me. If not, I think some Frank Sinatra or ABBA would be nice for everyone to just vibe to."

"Red Hot Chilli Peppers are a shout, to be fair," I replied, humming to myself. "But, I sorta wanna' play Kendrick-,"

"No!"

"Why?"

"He's not even that good!"

"Fine, fine, how about Tame Impala?" I asked for no cheers. "Oh come on. The Less I Know the Better. Eventually? Let it Happen? Bullshit no one here doesn't want to listen to Tame Impala."

Jiro snorted at that.

"All you like from him is his album, Currents."

"Hey! Elephant is a cool song too."

"...You don't even know the album it's from."

"Boring, just play some Taylor Swift already!" Uraraka yelled from her seat where Midoriya was curled up next to her, slightly dazed judging by the lipstick marks all over his face and neck. "Please! Anything by Taylor Swift will do, the greatest artist of all time bar none."

"Woah, there. Hot take, but Taylor's not even that good."

"You take that back, Jiro!"

"Uraraka, you wouldn't know good music if it hit you in the face with your Quirk."

"Sorry that I'm not an audiophile that listens to niche bands that are emo and shit!"

I sighed, shaking my head at everyone as I downed my glass of Vodka and lemonade. Using the remote, I typed up the first song that came to mind. Home. Or, my old home. I don't know why, but even in this life I couldn't escape Manchester, not that I disliked the city that much. Outside of giving rise to two of the worst football clubs and fanbases to have ever existed…

"Oasis? Really?"

"Hey, I know Oasis is overplayed, but I still find them nostalgic," I replied with a smile on my face. "Are they cheesy? Yeah. Are the Gallagher brothers obnoxious? Also a big yeah. But it's between this or Plug in Baby."

Kaminari laughed, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Do you even know all the lyrics to Wonderwall?"

I rolled my eyes at him, snorting at his challenge.

"Do I? I said maybeeee, you're gonna' be the one that saves me~!"


Huh?

"Sora-sensei, here I am reporting for duty!"

I was simply taking the trash out as a fair-haired boy with brown eyes stood before me, only a little smaller than me. Sai Yafuso, the boy the school had deemed worthy for me to mentor. Or rather forced me to mentor. I sighed, throwing the garbage in the right bins before I turned to yawn at Sai who was wearing his U.A. school uniform tie and all while all I wore were sliders, a pair of shorts and an old football top.

"Er… Duty?" I scratched the back of my head in confusion. "Mate, you just joined U.A. like a week ago. Have you done rescue training at the USJ yet? Fuck are you talking about 'duty'?"

"Well, since you are my mentor, I thought it would be prudent if you mentored me outside of school as well!" Sai replied. "I wish to join the S.R.G. and work under you, Sora-sensei! Please, let me join!"

"..."

"...Sora-sensei-,"

"Didn't I tell you to drop the 'sensei'? I'm only two years older than you, not twenty," I said to him. "And, I mean, you want to join? I… I'm not too sure I can even ask you to work with me. I mean, technically I guess you could because I'm half-hero and half-detective, so I guess you could intern under Nejire who has a full hero licence. And since Nejire works for me, it could work like that."

"Perfect-,"

"But, you do need a provisional Hero licence for that. You don't have that, you haven't even gone through your first Sports Festival yet," I cut him off. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to hire you. God knows how much I'd be able to delegate, but there are a few hoops you're going to have to go through. I just don't think you're ready for it, Sai. It's not like what I do is something a little firstie like you needs to worry about."

"But-, I can prove myself, I swear! Just give me one chance, Sora-sensei!"

Hmm.

"...My answer is still the same. You just joined and you're still in your first year, stop bugging me and go hang out with your mates. You're going to spend three years with them, you'll be lucky to spend a few months with me with how things are going," I told him with a sigh. "I used to know a bright-eyed kid just like you. He had a lot of spunk. Came to this school thinking he'd rule the world and tried to move up when he wasn't ready, tried to be a hero when what he should have done was spend more time with his loved ones. Trust them more."

"W-what happened to him?"

"Ever heard of Aozora?" I asked Sai with a wolfish grin. "Search him up if you get the chance. You don't want to end up like him. It's okay to not push forward in life sometimes, you're just a kid and you don't need to put yourself in danger like I do."

"But why?! There's only two years between us-,"

"Because I'm the one that fought villains when I was just like you. I'm not saying this without reason, you're still a kid with some innocence and I'd rather not ruin that by giving you the chance to make the same mistakes I-, others made in your shoes," I cut him off. "I'm not in the business of disfiguring children. I'm sorry, Sai. But my answer is final. Listen, if you do well during the Sports Festival, I'll ask Nejire to send you an offer. If you still want to choose to work with me for a week over anyone else, then be my guest."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, but you're a bright kid. When the offers come rolling in from all over Japan, just remember that what I offer in comparison to them is nish," I said to him with a smirk. "You're welcome to come, just don't complain when all you do is paperwork. Ah, man, maybe we do need to hire a receptionist. Or an assistant. Hm. I suppose Nejire is my assistant, useless as she may be-, Oh, right! I have a teeny favour to ask you, Sai."

"...Does it hurt my chances of interning under you?"

"Nah. Doing it though will make me consider you more, er, thoroughly, however," I pulled out a few thousand Yen notes, handing it over to him. "Since you're all dressed up, can you go to the family mart and buy me some food and drinks? As much as you can carry in two bags. Just sandwiches, water, rice balls, and maybe even some shrimp rolls if there are any left. Oh, and famichiki too."

Sai took the money with a determined grin on his face.

"Can I ask why?"

…How could I tell him that my entire class was hungover from last night? Nah, I couldn't tell him that, it would probably ruin his spirit. Then and again, at his age, I was playing games all night with Kaminari and Mineta, so it's not like I wouldn't understand what a late night meant. He probably could too.

"Training to see if you follow orders. Now chop-chop! What's your first class?"

"Er, history with a teacher called 'Aizawa'. Never met him. Is he strict?"

Jackpot.

It felt like I had won big as I shook my head at Sai, dramatically sweeping my hair back as I chuckled slowly. Oh, man. This was gold. There was no way I had to pass up this opportunity, no matter what!

"Aizawa? Strict? Nah, he's just a softie," I told him, waving off Sai's concerns. "You leave him to me. Did you know he's also my Uncle? Truly what an amazing coincidence, just go get the food. I'll go visit him and say you're running an errand for me so you aren't late, just a little busy. Plus, since I'm your mentor, I can help you out in history since it is my best subject."

"Oh, sweet! Alright, I'll see you soon!"

"Yep, bye. Oh, and get some sweets if you can too~!"

Man, it was fun corrupting the next generation.


"Nejire!" I yelled, swivelling around the chair in our empty office. "What are you doing?"

I watched as Nejire, who was wearing a green dress, high-heels and a choker turned to wave at me. She was standing on her desk holding fairy lights as she failed to reach the corners of the ceiling, a frustrated look appearing on her face.

"I want to add some decor to our office!"

"...Why?"

"So that when people eventually join us, our place doesn't look like it has no personality!" Nejire cheerfully replied. "Even you have to admit, Nezu might have cleaned up the place and added furniture and computers, but it does look bland. Maybe a potted plant here and there, some lights, even a few posters! At the very least it would look more homey."

"This is our office."

"Which also has spare bedrooms, private bathrooms and a massive TV and lounge. Oh, how could I forget the kitchens too?" Nejire sarcastically bit back. "I know you like working in the dark with no distractions, but you're not a vigilante. Some colour would help liven up this place."

I shrugged my shoulders at that.

"I mean… I guess? To be honest, I don't really get it, but whatever. At the very least tone down the intensity of those fairy lights, you're more likely to blind the two of us and whoever joins us eventually than light this place up," I told her, turning back to my work. "Oh, and can you pick up my order at KFC-, Oof."

I was cut off as I felt Nejire rest her head on my shoulders.

"Whatcha doing?" Nejire asked inquisitively as she stared at my screen. Multiple different pages and old reports were open as I had a piece of paper and pen sitting on my desk with different dates and case numbers jotted down. "Detnerat? Toyota? Hm… Oh, are you planning on buying a car again? I know that your old car was stolen by some villain called Gyro you failed to catch, but-,"

"Not exactly," I cut her off with a sigh. "Before the whole Yakuza business a month ago, Kaminari and Jiro did a small investigation for me. The South had been sending shipments to the city, it's how the gang war nearly went off perfectly."

"What do you mean?"

"Detnerat's containers didn't have their products, they had weapons in them. And the men that handled the containers were Yakuza members from Osaka, the same ones we then fought," I explained to her. "See, our group split off during our small raid. You fought those people downstairs, Kaminari fought some people on the stairs. But most importantly, Kyoka was stuck with Natsuki."

Nejire hummed at that.

"I heard about that. Also, Zero appeared?"

"Yeah, Kyoka explained to me what happened. Essentially he was giving us information, betraying Ryuji despite helping design his weapons and whatnot," I told Nejire. "He also told Kyoka that someone was behind the Osaka Yakuza. That someone was funding them, which is why Detnerat containers were being used to ship both weapons and men to the city. But he also mentioned something really interesting."

"Hm?"

I pointed at the middle of my computer screen, a single word document was open with its words bolded and highlighted. It was an investigation I was curious to look into, especially after All Might's funeral.

The case of the missing ten billion Yen that Death Arms failed to solve.

The same case he entrusted to me.

I had been so busy the past two months dealing with the fallout of All Might's funeral, revising for my finals, the entire Yakuza gang war that took over the city for a bit, working with Nejire, moving back into U.A. and whatnot.

"...You're still looking into that?" Nejire asked me in confusion. "I thought you would have given up considering you read every single report Death Arms wrote during the investigation. You even said it yourself that every lead he had led nowhere or had no evidence. Didn't he try to tie the missing money to foreign governments trying to start a war or something?"

I chuckled at that.

"Close. His theory was that Korea had stolen it and was planning to bomb us soon. Backed up by a schizo addict that jumped off the roof of Death Arm's office," I replied. "All in all, not exactly a good theory. And now the freakin' U.N. is breathing down our necks with their stupid threats. Tsk. Something feels wrong with this case. I can't explain why, but I really want to stick with it."

In a sense it wasn't just a feeling.

My head throbbed in pain.

The one Quirk I hadn't used on command.

My Foresight Quirk.

"Exactly! Death Arms was a good Hero, but don't you think after the Shie Hassakai raid he got a little too cocky?" Nejire asked me curiously. "I mean he was constantly seen going around the city to help rebuild it and became a people's hero, even if more people were starting to hate Heroes. I swear he also called himself the 'Hero of Musutafu' before he died. I know he told you to look into this case, but I don't know. It just seems like a dead end."

"The money is still missing, Nejire."

"And? The case is 'ongoing' in the sense that it hasn't been closed yet, even Nanao told you that. It's a dead end. It's been nearly a year since the money was stolen anyways - The press reported it as five billion and now we know that it was actually ten, but so what? And even if there is more money that was stolen, there isn't a mystery here to be solved, Sora," Nejire said to me. "It's an interesting case to think about, but what leads do you have? A villain's word?"

I hummed at that.

"...But why would he lie?"

"Why wouldn't he lie? Didn't Natsuki say to you himself that he has plans in motion? If you spend all your time trying to crack an unsolvable mystery, you won't have enough time to catch the real criminals," Nejire lectured me. "Or you could continue to be enthralled by a stupid case when you really should be helping me decorate our home! Come on, it won't kill you to smile and help me choose a plant for our office!"

"I'm allergic."

"To plants? Now I know that's bullshit.


"Oh, why don't we all go shopping?"

There I was, standing in the kitchen humming to myself as I stared at the empty shelves in the fridge I shared with Kaminari and Mineta. All it took was that single question for an entire day's worth of plans to be derailed in an instant moment as I quickly shut the door and sent a dirty look over at Jiro.

I could see in her eyes what she was doing.

The smug grin on her face, the self-assured confidence in her eyes and ultimately the way she had gathered everyone but me made it completely clear for everyone to know what this was truly about. Perhaps that was why when Kaminari shot me an apologetic look I simply accepted my fate for what it was; dictated by Jiro's strong emotions towards our class getting along better.

It was a fact that I had been living in the dorms for nearly a month now, but it was also a fact to say that outside of Jiro, Kaminari, Midoriya and more recently Mineta, I only had a handful of conversations with everyone else, and even then they were quite short. Just a simple 'Oh, what are you cooking tonight?' or 'How were your patrols today?'

And that was with those who didn't seem to mind me.

Others like Sero and Uraraka, the more fierce students more opposed to my return, barely even talked to me, and if they did it was only because they had to. Unlike Kirishima and Bakugo who threw barbs at me whenever I walked by, or I was just flat-out ignored completely by some like Tokoyami and Hagakure. Even those that were more happy to see me back like Yaoyorozu and Iida didn't have any clue on how to approach me, much less hold an actual conversation with me without making it awkward.

To say that there were serious communication issues in this class was an understatement.

"Shopping? I think that's a great idea!" Mina added, shooting a sly look in my direction. And there was another crazy person that thought this was a good idea, damn. "It's not like anyone is doing anything, I mean it's a Saturday. We're all off work so-,"

"Actually, I can't take work off," I interrupted Mina, leaning over the kitchen counter as everyone in the class turned to look at me. "You guys tend to forget that I'm not a Hero. I'd love to take work off, believe me, but then someone has to fill my shift."

"...Really?"

"Hey, I traded in my patrols during the day for those at night, but that comes with the caveat that during the day I have to be on call," I said to them. "Thanks to the new laws you can rest easy until a crime where someone uses a Quirk is thrust upon you. I'm also a detective for the Musutafu Police Department, which means unlike you I have to deal with non-Quirk crimes in addition to your responsibilities. No rest for the wicked."

"Yeah, but don't you have Nejire?" Jiro asked me with a frown. "Why can't she do what you do?"

"Because she's not a detective. I am. Sure, I can send her to do my duties while I go off and fuck about with you guys, but what's she going to do? I love Nejire, she's great, she's also a dumbass," I told them. "Not to say that I'm not, but I can solve a crime. Nejire's good for apprehending a criminal, not for doing paperwork and following up on leads. Different skills. But hey, you guys go out and have fun. I'll be fine-,"

"Nu-uh!" Mina cut me off childishly with a pout.

"Fuck you mean 'nu-uh'? I don't want to get fired from my job."

"You won't," Jiro rolled her eyes at me. "Firstly, you aren't an actual member of the police. Well, you are, but in the sense that you're like a special division of it. Secondly, you've been 'working' every day for the past month. Either you go off to Kanazawa for the weekend, stay with your parents or are on patrol. We only really see you in class or if you're making food."

"I'm a busy guy-,"

"Then why don't we go visit your workplace?" Yoayorozu asked."You've never shown anyone it before, so why not? It's on the way to the nearest shopping centre anyway, so we can just leave you halfway. And if you're really that busy, we can visit you later."

"Right! That's a great idea, Yaomomo," Mina nodded, getting her turn to speak before me. "What do you think, Jiro?"

"That's a perfect plan."

"...You know, the three of you witches really impress me sometimes," I eventually said with a defeated look. "Fine, fine. You win. I'll just tell Nanao that I'll be buying some groceries, God knows I need them. But, I can't take the train."

"Huh?!"

"I need to fill up the gas on my bike," I replied. "It's running low, and since I work late chances are the trains are cancelled. Now I don't want to walk halfway across the city to get back here, or even back to my parents. So, I need to ride my bike. And it can fit one person, so-,"

"Can… I come?"

I stared down at Todoroki who looked at me without a shred of emotion on his face as he said those words. Huh?

"I mean, it makes sense if one of us goes with you, just so while you drive I can text the others to make sure they know where we are. It's not like you can text and drive at the same time," Todoroki told me. "Plus, I've never ridden on a bike before. I am… interested to see how it performs."

Well, that was true.

But-,

"Hold on, I don't take passengers that aren't cute girls!" I yelled loudly, wagging my index finger at him. "And since it's my bike, I'm gonna' have to veto you on that one man. But hey, if any of you cute single ladies want to take a ride with me~"

"Denied."

"Absolutely not."

"I think I'd rather eat vomit."

"...Could you have been less harsh?" I asked with a sigh. "Whatever, fine then. Let's go, Todoroki. Musutafu traffic isn't anything to scoff at. Do you have a helmet? I can lend you mine and just create a helmet from my Quirk if needed."

"Or," Yaoyorozu interrupted, procuring a light blue helmet from her body instantly, "You can use this one, Sora. That way no one is driving dangerously. You two best get going then… We'll meet up with you at the shopping centre?"

"Sure. If I'm not tired, I'll even give you a tour of my office."

"Great!"

It didn't take long for everyone to start to get ready for the day out, and all I needed to do was throw on a pair of jeans before Todoroki and I left the dorm to go to the parking area of our school. Sakura leaves were scattered all over the floor, and if that wasn't the sign of Spring then I didn't know what was - It was so annoying, especially when the leaves got stuck in my hair.

"Tsk, fucking leaves," I complained, ruffling my hair to get rid of them. "You're lucky, Todoroki. You and your perfectly natural hair, your tall height, sharp jawline and piercing blue eyes-, Gah. It feels unfair to compare you to me, it's like a night and day difference. What girls want and what girls don't want in a man."

"...I'm desirable?"

I rolled my eyes at Todoroki's obvious sarcasm as we arrived at the parking lot. His white and red hair caught the warm hues of the coming evening, and I walked beside him with a casual swagger, hands in my pockets. We approached my sleek black motorbike, the same one I had got back in our first year at U.A., tossing Todoroki my helmet as I wore the one Yaoyorozu made for me.

"Here. So your head doesn't crack."

"Planning on getting into an accident?"

"Well if I see a child running across the road, I do have a duty to speed up," I replied with a grin, getting on my bike. "Joking of course. Not that anyone would ever be able to prove anything, but whatever."

"You enjoy hitting kids?"

"Woah. No."

"Just don't make the ride too reckless. I have a reputation to uphold, Sora."

I hummed in response, starting up my bike as he sat behind me, and we took off into the main road. The air wooshed around us as I gained speed, turning around familiar corners, U.A. disappearing from my side mirrors as we approached an intersection - Only much to my dismay for there to be a line of cars waiting to get through. The traffic seemed to multiply the closer we got; however, cars had just spawned everywhere and I couldn't help but sigh as we crawled to a halt.

"I knew there would be traffic… but not this bad."

"Seems like everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere," Todoroki observed the chaos with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe they all want to play the new Like A Dragon game. Unlimited Richness. Have you finished it yet?"

"Finished it? I haven't even beaten the last five."

"Oh. So I'm ahead of you."

"You are?! Anyway, that's beside the point. I doubt there's so much traffic because of a game, surely it must be because of lovey-dovey stuff," I replied. "People are just horny to meet their partners and go have hot and sweaty sex. Tch. If they don't hurry up then they'll be having hot and sweaty sex with a hospital bed soon, hurry the fuck up you slow fucks!"

I saw Todoroki roll his eyes at me in the side mirrors.

"You're so dramatic. Still, I can't deny that your theory is plausible, everyone's in a hurry to be somewhere important. Not that we also aren't going somewhere important, but judging by the look of determination in their eyes perhaps it exceeds even our own," Todoroki told me. "Perhaps we should message everyone else that we'll be late due to the horniness of society, do you think they'll accept that?"

"As an excuse? No, they'll probably blame me and think I've manipulated you to go to a casino or a pub," I said. "Honestly, it might just be a date night or something. It is Saturday after all. Guess Musutafu is a city of romance, who would have known?"

Todoroki hummed at that.

"You believe in that?"

"Dude, I'm single, the only partner I have is my right hand and a few websites," I sarcastically told him. "I mean I did have… Whatever, it was a long time ago. It doesn't matter now."

"You mean Jiro?"

"Yeah, you dumbass. Who else am I talking about? Tokage? Of course, I'm talking about Kyoka, there's no other person I dated," I huffed out. "...Sorry. Didn't mean for it to sound so rough. You know, for a while it was just me and her. Then I had to go fuck it all up, and now it's just me."

We were stuck in traffic and I turned around to face Todoroki.

"Do you still love her?"

I laughed at the question, refusing to meet his mismatched eyes as I revved the bike, hoping to at some point go again. My silence was my answer, and Todoroki knew that as he hummed in response, accepting it for what it was and not commenting something like 'I should give up' or that I was a 'loser' for still having feelings toward her. It's not like I ever got closure or was able to move on.

"You know, I understand how you feel."

"Really? Tell me Icy-Hot, who the hell have you dated?"

"Yaoyorozu for one."

I nearly crashed as Todoroki told me that, my head turning around so fast I thought it would snap off and fall to the floor. Huh? What didn't help was Todoroki's blank look as he revealed that information to me, he only looked disinterested in the entire conversion despite it being so important I wanted to stop near a restaurant and grill him about it.

"Yaoyorozu? Like Momo Yaoyorozu? Our Yaoyorozu?!"

"Mmh."

Todoroki's short nod didn't help whatsoever.

"When the hell did this happen? I had no idea."

"A few months back, you hadn't come back yet," Todoroki answered. "She asked me out and we dated for a month, but it just didn't work out. I didn't exactly know how to handle things, and neither did she. Yaoyorozu broke things off with me simply because it wasn't what she wanted right now, or maybe for some other complicated reason like that. I suppose I never realised that I perhaps may have liked her until now."

"Damn, I missed out on a lot of things-,"

"Frankly, Sora, this isn't any of your business," Todoroki cut me off with a serious look on his face. "I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, but you walked out of our lives. You can't just walk back in and expect all of us to accept you with open arms. This has nothing to do with you."

"...You're right, it isn't my business," I nodded in agreement. "I did walk out of your lives, so it's hypocritical for me to say anything like 'tell me about what happened when I was away'. Truth be told, you don't know what happened to me either at that time. If we were once friends, right now we're nothing more than strangers."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Why don't we start over, Todoroki?" I asked him. "From the very beginning. No more masks, just me and you. Ignoring our little fight during our first Sports Festival where we both taught each other an important lesson, let's start fresh. You're the one who brought up that we can't go back to how we used to be, which means you want something new. Something different."

Todoroki smirked at that.

"I didn't think you'd pick up on that."

"If it was the old me I would have sulked. I'm not saying that you should forgive me or not hold me accountable, but it's not like you're innocent here either - So fuck what happened between us, let's start from the beginning," I said to him. "Fuck rebuilding the foundations, let's just buy a new and bigger house. Hi, I'm Sora."

Shoto Todoroki's laugh seemed to speed up traffic, or perhaps it was just in my mind.

"I'm not doing that. I don't want something new or different, nor do I want the friendship we once had. You still don't understand me or what I want," Todoroki told me with a small smile. "You still don't understand what anyone in our class wants. You're not the only one who's matured, Sora. None of us as kids that need or want to be helped along in life, we have the strength and self-determination to follow our own paths."

"I'm glad-,"

"Sora, we're nearly eighteen. Bakugo's eighteenth birthday is next week, yours is in two weeks and a half, and then in less than a year we graduate, we'll be adults having to face the world on our own - You're the type of person to reject that. No matter what, you'll help someone you care about even if it's detrimental to you because you just don't care about yourself," Todoroki told me. "That's how you saved me, at the cost of your own body. Midoriya used to be the same. Do you really think anyone in our class wants that? To see you do that again?"

"No, but-,"

Todoroki shook his head, cutting off my sentence.

"And personally, I don't care about the 'new you'. You shouldn't be ashamed of your past. The earnestness you have, how much you truly care, that's why we became friends with you, not because you're a big boy who can shoulder all this 'responsibility' and 'accept yourself'. You over complicate simple things," Todoroki teased me. "You don't need to change things with Monoma or Tokage. You didn't need to change your approach with Kaminari, you guys are like brothers. But you change the way you deal with everyone else in the class…"

I couldn't find an answer to that question as the traffic light turned green.

Even if it was a Saturday near the middle of April, it felt lively as the city of Musutafu was far more busy during the day than at night - A disparity of sorts that only I could realise. I was in the position that I could see this difference with my own eyes. A stark contrast between the city of dreams during the day and the city of despair at night, and in a sense I understood why both parts of the city existed.

After everything that had happened in this city, it still stood tall proudly. So during the day, everyone was comfortable walking around normally. At night, Musutafu's true face was revealed in a way, the darkness that the city had consumed over the many tumultuous events that had occurred here in such a short period of time, the uneasiness and anxiousness of what the city's future held coupled with the desperation of criminals made for an interesting discussion on the city.

On my home.

And, I guess, the same could be said of Class A. How they present themselves to be stronger than they actually are, and how behind the facade they put on they're ultimately just teenagers at the end of the day. I was the only one situated in the class to see this, but I also knew that I was wrong. We had gone through so much together, even from the very first week at U.A. as fresh first years to now as we entered our final year at the school.

We weren't those kids anymore.

"Sora, it's not that none of us don't want you in our lives - The fact is we became friends with you because you supported us. And I don't know when that support turned into a pathological need where you derived your own self-worth in saving us, because subconsciously that shift did happen," Todoroki explained to me. "Instead of it being a thing you did because we were friends and you cared for us, you started to save us because without it there was no point in your life. Because you hated yourself and your existence when you inevitably slipped up, you stopped having any self-worth whatsoever."

"..."

"And you can stay quiet, but the truth is that back then you were depressed. Back then, you should have left our class the first time around - To truly learn the lessons you recently learned, because then the raid would have turned out differently. Because then everyone's lives would have been different from how they are," Todoroki said. "But you didn't leave because you desperately wanted to be needed by us, and we were just as bad. We were so weak we just accepted your help thinking you wouldn't ever falter, just like All Might. But we were wrong."

"..."

"All Might failed, and it was only natural that you would fail too. We all fail, and putting you on that pedestal only led to you being isolated from us. I understand why you lied and kept us in the dark, you didn't want to let us down," Todoroki added sadly. "And that's a mistake I regret making. Not stepping aside to assure you that we were in your corner too. So no, Sora. I don't think our old friendship is something that needs to come back. But there was something good there, ignoring that and starting fresh isn't what I want either."

"What do you want then?"

"A balance, Sora," Todoroki answered with finality. "A balance from the friend I once had and the man you want to become now, it's hard. It means letting go of the past, but not ignoring it. Not erasing it. That's where you are wrong. And that's something only you can find, I've found my balance. From my ice to my fire - From my Father who's a Hero to my brother who's a Villain, I've found my balance. I know what I need to do. I don't need your help in achieving that, but I wouldn't mind support from a friend."

"...Yeah, that can be arranged," I replied with a small smile. "Man. I didn't expect that you of all people would lecture me. Everyone's changed so much these past two years. It's sort of scary actually."

Todoroki laughed.

"Says you. You're the one that's changed the most, and you're still changing."

"What can I say? A man who stays still is a boring one."


I sighed.

"Uncle. What the fuck happened here?"

It was a sordid state, Aizawa's room at U.A. that was. I knew that the man barely cleaned up after himself, he much preferred to live in a pigsty than a room and that wasn't an exaggeration - Months of instant ramen and takeout boxes littered the floor building a fort made out of them, the blinds were shut so much that mould had started to grow on the walls and the worst part of it all was that Aizawa was contempt with it.

"I… I haven't been to this place in a while."

"When was the last time you even visited your room here?"

"Honestly, probably December," Aizawa replied honestly. "Since the whole business with you and Gyro. Funny to think that it's almost six months since that happened, since you came back to U.A. Certainly I don't feel it."

"Eh, it's been a while. A lot has happened."

"Maybe. Mind giving me a hand?"

I snorted at that, shaking my head as I kicked over a can of empty baked beans, looking at Aizawa in amusement as he sighed to himself. It was at that moment that I caught him bringing out his cigarettes, offering one to me as I used my lighter to light both of them, taking a long drag as I cleared his couch to at least sit-down.

"Why'd you want to meet?" I asked him. "Especially here. What's wrong with your apartment? I mean, sure a student and his teacher going back to the teacher's home might raise some eyebrows, but you're family… Or maybe that makes things worse."

"I don't think anyone will care. Truth is, I'm just not sure whether my apartment is bugged or not," Aizawa replied nonchalantly. "Wipe that look off your face. To be honest, I don't know whether or not your office is bugged either."

"Huh?"

"Sora, answer me properly. What the hell have you been looking into?" Aizawa asked me, unusually serious as he tensed up. "...I wouldn't have asked you this if it weren't important. What have you been researching?"

"What do you mean?"

Aizawa sighed, running a hand through his hair as he took a long drag from his cigarette. He didn't look just tired, he looked stressed. It was the worst I had ever seen the man, even when he worried about me he didn't look this bad.

"...Nezu invited me to his office earlier. He wanted to relay to me how much of a success you and your group have been. Solving cases and ultimately providing a strong face for the police in the city," Aizawa told me. "But that led to an entirely different conversation. Now I know you, and I know that you don't like to tell the truth. I know that you lie, you hide things from everyone, but don't lie to me here - What the hell kinda case are you looking into that caught the HPSC's attention?"

My eyes widened at that.

"The… HPSC?"

Aizawa nodded at that.

"More specifically, the task force Endeavour's in charge of. If you remember, during All Might's funeral he said he would be working with the HPSC to ensure peace - In a sense, the opposite of what you and the S.R.G. stand for," Aizawa explained to me. "The point is you got Endeavour's attention, kid. A HPSC representative wants to meet with you soon to discuss certain details. So let me ask you again, what the hell are you researching?"

"Hey, I already told you. Just Death Arms and the missing money from a year ago," I told him, shaking my head in disbelief. "I just don't understand why that's such a big deal. I mean the HPSC isn't even involved, why the hell do they want to meet with me?"

Aizawa snorted at that.

"Have you forgotten the current political climate, Sora? People distrust Heroes, hell more and more people are campaigning to actively get rid of them. For Japan to become the first country in the world without Heroes in over two hundred years," Aizawa reminded me. "Even the U.N. is inserting itself into this country little by little. You want to go chase an unsolved case, be my guest. But clearly, something you did attracted the HPSC's attention, so what was it? I'm on your side, Sora. Really."

"I-, I-, I don't know," I honestly told him. "I just read a few case files on Detnerat and read over the Toyota case I solved back in Sendai. That's all, really. I was going to try and visit Ryuji in jail and ask him a few questions, but with my patrols and school work, I've been busy. I also want to try and talk to Detrenat about their role in shipping the Osakan Yakuza weapons just a month ago during that whole ordeal. Plus, Jiro is trying to force things between Class A and I to be a lot better than they are, which drains a lot out of me. I genuinely can't think of a reason why the HPSC would want to meet with me."

Aizawa sighed at that.

"Fuck."

"What?"

"It's just-, I can't help but feel I'm the one missing something here," Aizawa told me. "I feel like I'm failing you. I tried to get you to be my apprentice with Shinso, but Nezu stopped that. He was the one who behind my back set up the S.R.G, to get Nejire on board and convince you to become a detective. And ever since then, it's like you've gotten through one big event to another and all I can do is watch in horror, unable to help you, once again."

"..."

I watched as Aizawa inhaled loudly, shaking his head at me.

"It feels like I can't help you when I want to. I want to help you so badly. I just want you to be okay, to be safe. I promised Hinata and Gekko that, and it feels like I failed at that already because of Nezu and the rest of this rotten world dragging you down once again," Aizawa bitterly spat out. "You've been so busy lately, and so have I. But that's not an excuse, I'm the adult in your life that needs to step up and-,"

"Stop blaming yourself, Jesus," I cut him off with a glare. "You're even worse than me, and that's saying something. Uncle, I'm fine. Really. You've done your best to help me, and to keep helping me - And I appreciate your concern. But, I guess, Todoroki reminded me of the fact that I'm nearly eighteen. I love you, really, but you don't need to keep worrying about me."

"I'll always worry about you, kid. You're practically family."

"I don't call you my Uncle for jokes. You are my Uncle," I reminded him with a small smile. "Listen, everything's going to be alright. I'm not one to say that lightly. You just gotta have hope, no matter what. You're the one that taught me that, so don't forget the lesson, alright? I'll be fine, and so will you. No matter what Nezu has planned for, what the HPSC want or what any fucking villain tries to do, I'll be fine. Sure, I'm on a time limit but I'll find a cure for that."

"...You're too hopeful."

"Well, not all of us can be as depressing as you are," I cheekily replied. "Seriously. Since when did Shota Aizawa mope around and talk about his feelings of inadequacy? You should give me detention for just having to listen to you talk like that, hell I should be the one giving you detention for that Oscar-worthy performance. Jeez. You know Jiro and Mina call you Dadzawa."

I watched as he cringed at that.

"Why on God's Earth would my female students call me… that?"

I grinned.

"Think Mina has a crush on you. Man. That's why she calls you her 'Daddy'-,"

"Stop!"

"I think she wants you to 'punish' her, what do you say? Uncle? C'mon, how about we-,"

"SORA I SWEAR I'LL GIVE YOU DETENTION FOR A YEAR IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" Aizawa exploded at me angrily, his eyes refusing to meet mine. "...Sorry for my outburst, but what you said was quite inappropriate. I'm a teacher. I have a moral obligation not to have... relations with my own students, and I intend to keep that obligation even after your class has graduated. Not to mention I'd prefer if you didn't inquire about my love life either, judging by that look on your face."

"Wha? Me? Never… But I have to ask, are you dating Present Mic? I mean, I heard these rumours and~"


I sighed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Tokage who had recently changed up her look, yet again. She had dyed her hair yet again, this time going from a deep crimson red to a light blonde colour that oddly suited her. "I'm eating breakfast. Could you… I don't know, step outside for a bit?"

"Step outside? Oh, you forgot, didn't you."

"Forget what?"

"Er… We're supposed to introduce ourselves to the new first-year heroes. Classes 1A and 1B. Why do you think the kitchen is empty for a Tuesday morning?" Tokage asked me with a grin. "I came here to remind you of that, and luckily I managed to see you eating cereal still in your pyjamas."

"That's today?!"

"You have about… twenty minutes to get changed, I think? Go upstairs and throw some clothes on, I made us some sandwiches we can eat on the way to the hall," Tokage said with a wink. "My, my. It's like I'm your wife or anything, cooking you food and everything~! So, should I come upstairs and help you get changed too? We could even sneak in some 'fun time' and have children too-,"

I rolled my eyes at Tokage's outlandish statement.

"This is why you're single."

"Okay, and you still love your ex."

"At least I have an ex."

"...Fair point, I'll give you that one."

Running up the stairs, I barged my door open as I hastily looked around for my school uniform. I found my trousers quickly, putting on my shoes right after as I scurried around to try and find my shirt and tie. It didn't take long to see them folded on my chair before I put them on, combing my hair only slightly - Not that it did good as my brown hair still looked like a mess. The only thing that was left was trying to find my blazer, which felt like it had disappeared entirely.

But as I opened my wardrobe, I caught a glimpse of it.

Not my blazer.

A dark brown aviator jacket with white fur lining that looked very worn and washed out, adding to the charm of it. I didn't even realise I still had the thing as I reached out to grab it, pausing before I sighed to myself. No. It was the old jacket of Oboro Shirakumo when he was a hero, a jacket Aizawa had kept before he passed down to me back when Iida and I went to Hosu nearly two years ago now.

It was a jacket I had worn as part of my hero costume as 'Aozora' for a few months before the summer camp incident before I changed Aozora's look to include a mask and hide my identity for good. Before Aozora ceased to exist only a few months after, a tragic 'accident' claimed his life. My days as a hero were over, there was no use in wearing the jacket that meant nothing to me in the end.

Grabbing my long white overcoat, the same one I used whenever I worked as a detective, I mentally prepared myself for the scolding Yaoyorozu and Aizawa would give me for 'improper uniform' and setting a 'bad example' to the first years. Thankfully, as I rushed downstairs, Tokage was still waiting for me.

"Are you trying to be a bad boy?"

"I mean, if that's my reputation I might as well live up to it," I replied with a shrug, grabbing one of the sandwiches Tokage had laid out for me. "Mayo, chicken and sweetcorn? Bullshit you made this. You don't know how to cook meat."

"I-, I had help, you insensitive buffoon!"

Sniggering to myself, I ushered Tokage out of the dorm as I locked the main door, the two of us walking with a brisque pace to the main hall despite knowing that we were late. Not even ten minutes later we entered the hall with sheepish looks on our faces as a mixture of people glared at us - Yaoyorozu, Kendo, Aizawa, Vlad King and even a few first-year students.

Thankfully, I had enough decency not to glare back.

Tokage however…

"My, my. It seems my beauty has attracted their attention, probably because you're such a gremlin that I look like a Princess," Tokage teased, flipping her hair behind her shoulders. "Maybe I should do a photo shoot with Vogue? Setsuna Tokage, Heroine extraordinaire as well as the best dressed, best looking and third-time winner of most charming smile for a student at U.A."

I sighed at that, sitting down beside her near one of the rows situated at the back.

"Could you tone it down a bit?"

"I'm a star, how could I not shine?"

"Easy. Just get a gun and point it at your head, Setsuna-,"

"You know it's rude to tell girls to off themselves. What if I actually did it, hm? Then you'd be eating your words, as well as eating a charge. Enjoy prison, Sora. Make sure to drop the soap for me, hon, I'd love to see your face when a supervillain enjoys his shower time with you~"

"If that happened, I think I'd kill myself and join you in the next big adventure."

"See! You love me too much to let me be alone, not even death could separate us!" Tokage teased, hugging my arm tightly. "I told you, So-chan. You're stuck with me forever and ever!"

Nezu cleared his throat, killing off our conversation, however.

"Now that everyone has joined us, we can start the workshop I specifically engineered for today!" Nezu cheerfully told us. "The experienced third years meeting the young first-year Hero students! As I'm sure all of you are aware, the newly revamped mentor program has gone off to a flying start! As such, I've curated this event to further deepen the bonds between all four classes!"

I couldn't exactly blame him for that.

On paper, it sounded like a great idea. To cultivate the next generation of Heroes, to make the current most popular Heroes start to endorse and train the next set of Heroes that would become just as popular as we currently were - A way to fuel the U.A. propaganda and Hero train even more. A PR stunt that had no negatives.

Plus, well, it was also a good idea to help train us.

In less than a year we'd be graduating and thrown into the real world, some of us would start a Hero agency right away and would be managing a lot of people. Hell, I was technically already doing that.

"I know that for the third-year students, this is a massive shift. A burden of extra responsibility is being added onto your shoulders - Yet it is a burden I think all of you can handle well enough. U.A.'s brightest the media calls you, but I'd like to remind the young Heroes in this hall today that you all started just as they did," Nezu said. "It's something that I wish everyone in this world would be reminded of. It is why the mentor program was revamped and has been placed on a higher importance this year. I hope to see you take these young Heroes under your wing and allow them to develop in ways you wish you could have in your first year."

Nezu paused at that, and I could feel his eyes glance in my direction.

"…It is my aim for the next generation to surpass the last. For a system where it is less about one or two strong Heroes, but a united front of Heroes that inspire our society to be better. Truly, I wish that to be the case. For all of us to live with determination until the end. As I understand it, many of you in Classes 3A and 3B have been fighting against gang wars and villains, and while I hope for Classes 1A and 1B to not share the same fate as you all did during your first year - There are trying times ahead of us. Times which require us to hold our heads high and fight."

Nezu cleared his throat as a small smile appeared on his face.

"No matter what, I hope to see that U.A. will not fall or change in any way shape or form in the future. No matter what it may hold for us, I hope that all of us can remain here together," Nezu added. "But that's all I'll say for now. Please, introduce yourselves Classes 3A and 3B. I'm sure some of you will pique the interests of your elders. Now, without further ado, please let's start with this workshop!"

I clapped politely as Nezu walked off the stage, his eyes gaze never turning away from mine.

Tch.

Nezu was a good guy, I knew that. Yet he always gave me the creeps. It was like watching a chess master make a small move that would come back to bite the other player twenty turns in the future. I had no idea what Nezu's plans were but he always unnerved me. Maybe it was the fact that every adult barring Aizawa inexplicably trusted him, or maybe it was the sway his word held over the public.

Or perhaps it was because he was a rat.

"...You okay?" Tokage asked me.

"I'm fine," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Wish I could go for a smoke break, but I'm not that lucky I guess. Man. Maybe we should have skipped this. Outside of Sai, the kid I'm mentoring, I don't really care about the others."

I stared as a few students went up to the podium and shyly introduced themselves.

"To be honest, that's understandable. I have this nerdy girl from 1B who's like the total opposite of me," Tokage told me. "Honestly, she's afraid of her own shadow. Don't know how a klutz like her passed the U.A. Hero exam, but I think she'll be one of the first to drop out."

"Hm. Midoriya was like that."

"No, he wasn't."

"He was afraid of fighting at one point," I pointed out to Tokage as I saw Sai go up on the podium next. He gave me a big thumbs-up as I waved at him. "Anyone can grow strong. I mean just look at you. Back at the start of U.A. you were afraid of changing the timeline because we might all die, now look at you. You're the one pushing for us to change everything no matter the consequences. Heh."

Tokage flushed red at that.

"I-, Ugh, you're frustrating. Dredging up the past that currently doesn't matter."

I smirked at that.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, how about you-,"

Tokage's sentence fizzled out as both of our attention was stolen by the next student who stood at the podium. It was funny. They say looking at a reflection of yourself in real life makes the world stand still, but in my case, I immediately shot up from my chair in shock. Blue hair that went past her shoulders, but it wasn't that she had blue hair that was startling.

No, it was the shade of blue hair.

Which I suppose meant it was the hair. My mind couldn't make sense of it as I stared at the girl whose dark blue eyes betrayed no emotion or feelings towards anything really as I clenched my fists. It really was funny as I turned to look at Aizawa, whose mouth hung low as he stared at the girl like he was seeing a ghost, and that's how I knew something was completely wrong.

It was impossible.

What was even worse was her name.

I only captured the last syllable of her family name, which then sent my mind into even more of a frenzy. 'Kumo.' It was impossible to have that as a last name, Aizawa and I knew that fact so how the hell was this girl standing in front of us?

Words were said but none of them even registered in my mind as I walked up to the podium, the girl only simply staring at me curiously. It wasn't even that she was studying me, she was just curious about me. Her hair was distracting, especially since it was a shade of blue that I hadn't seen reflected back at me in years now - It was the exact same shade as my hair once upon a time ago.

It didn't take long for me to summon my Nimbus - a sword materialising out of thin air as I pointed it right at her neck. The hall was silent, either everyone didn't know what was going on or their minds hadn't caught up to what was happening as Aizawa and Tokage both rushed onto the stage alongside me. I watched as Tokage pinned the girl on the ground, and Aizawa was using his Quirk to stop her from using her own powers.

It was frankly impossible.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked in a shaky voice, swallowing whatever bile I felt come up. No. It couldn't be-, "Why the hell do you look like me? Why the hell did you call yourself Shirakumo?"

The girl simply blinked at me in response.

Her slanted and tired eyes didn't reveal a single thing.

"...Sora…?" Tokage's shaky voice captured my attention as I watched her point to this girl's forearm, and I felt my blood run cold. It wasn't that I didn't expect it, after all, we were all created by a madman. But seeing the number 'fifteen' reflected back at me with ink that never faded made me want to vomit. "Who the hell are you? Hey, girl, answer! Why the hell do you have that number on you?!"

Tokage's frantic voice seemingly snapped everyone in the room into action as I was grabbed by both Midoriya and Vlad King, and pulled away from the girl who only looked up at me blankly. Aizawa was restrained by Midnight, Present Mic and Ectoplasm while Tokage was viciously trying to fight back against Jiro, Kendo and Mina.

It was just…

Impossible.

"Her name is Katsumi Shirakumo," A squeaky voice revealed to us. Nezu. He looked so smug as he stood by the silent girl. "...I found her a while back, and I decided to nominate her as a recommended Hero student. Of course, as I quickly realised, there was more to Katsumi than I ever even realised. Katsumi, please show everyone your Quirk."

I watched as the girl snapped her fingers emotionlessly.

And I never even could have imagined in my wildest dream for it to be true.

Staring at the dark blue cloud that popped out of thin air made Midoriya and Vlad King's grip on me relax just loose enough for me to wriggle my way out, coming face to face with the cloud that just appeared. And then I summoned my own Nimbus, silver in colour. It was uncanny how similar the clouds looked, despite their different colours and shapes represented within them.

Like they were siblings.

And so as I stared down at Katsumi Shirakumo, in my heart I already knew the answer.

I knew who she was from the first moment I locked eyes with her.

She was my sister.

"I already did a blood test, Sora," Nezu told me - that smirk of his never leaving his face - it infuriated me so much. "Katsumi is Oboro Shirakumo's daughter. That means that she is your half-sister-,"

Smack.

Anger fuelled my every step as I walked forward and punched Nezu in the face so hard he went flying backwards, but no one dared to step forward to try and stop me. I was right in the end, we were all just shocked at what had happened.

I collapsed on the floor, struggling to breathe as a low rumbling erupted from me.

Laughter.

I just couldn't stop laughing.

How…

Why…

What the hell?!


OoO.

I love plot twists that come out of nowhere not because they're random, but because they truly can have the potential to change up the entire story. Think Raditz in Dragon Ball, obviously it makes sense but in the context of the story it was a massive curveball - And that's what this truly is.

I mean, All For One never said he didn't make other reincarnates.

All he said was that Sora was the last one made by Yukari and Setsuna was the last one made by her mother. I mean we're talking about All For One here, an egomaniac villain that just fucks with people for fun, are you telling me no one could have seen this coming?

Originally Katsumi was just going to be a random reincarnate, the fifteenth, but then I had a really good character arc in mind which fit very well with the story told in Part 2 (and this specific Arc) so I just couldn't help myself.

But yes, this is the final reincarnate and I mean that truly.

Trust me, it all makes sense and it will all tie together with a bow tie and whatnot. I'm incredibly excited to write our Katsumi because I truly think she'll be the best character I write.

So, I hope you'll enjoy this little cliffhanger until next time!