Over the Top

by papireaz

When I died, I expected a few manga volumes. Maybe to learn what the One Piece is. Instead, I found myself in a world that I recognised, a story I had read and what's worse was that it was a story I had no interest in wanting to involve myself in! Then and again, the offer to become a Hero is far too tempting...

39. Issue 38

Hologram - NICO touches the walls.

---

I was led to a changing room, where Hawks said he'd wait outside for me. I placed my briefcase on the floor before I took off my blazer and threw my tie on the floor. Unbuttoning my shirt, thankfully I never tuck my shirt in, I opened up the briefcase to see my new costume. But before I could see that, there was a small note placed on top of it.

'I hope you enjoy your new costume! Also, hope you like the surprise :)'

It was written in familiar, neat handwriting.

Mei…

Did she help in making the costume? I didn't know that. Maybe I should buy her some chocolates or something? No, she broke my sword. This was probably the closest thing I was going to get to an apology. I stuffed the note in my pockets as I looked inside the case, and grinned. Holy shit, they went all out for me. The first thing that I picked up was a mask, but it wasn't any mask.

A white mask with a painted red slit for a mouth that twitched upwards ever so slightly, as well as two painted curved eyes that were fully black. The mask only covered my face, but looking at the inside I could see how well-crafted it was. I smiled at the small 'M.H' logo printed on the inside of the mask. It was so small that if I blinked I probably wouldn't be able to find it again.

I put it on, and to my surprise, it just fitted perfectly.

I looked in the mirror, admiring not only my new mask but also the muscles on my body. Damn, I looked good.

"Are you done in there? Are you putting on makeup or something?"

"Uh… In a minute!" I replied. Damn, I wasn't going to be able to admire my muscles for much longer.

What a prick.

I know, right? But he's still my second favourite hero of all time.

I should drop him down at least to tenth for that comment.

That's a little too harsh, don't you think?

It's not harsh enough.

I took off my shirt, leaving me only with a white t-shirt that I wore underneath my uniform. Luckily, the next piece of my costume was cool. It was just a grey mesh-like jumper that I put on, however as I felt the material I started to grin at it. This was premium quality, no to even say it was 'mesh' was an understatement. I summoned my Nimbus to create a small knife and tried to stab it. It barely managed to pierce the damn thing, which made me want to dance around happily.

The next item for me was trousers. They were the same trousers from my old costume, grey cargo trousers, only they were a little darker. I also had a leg holster added to the trousers, however, nothing was inside them. Perhaps I could fill them up with a weapon or two? I'll ask Hatsume for ideas when I get back. The next thing to be put on were the same black boots that I always wore, although this time these boots gave me even more of a height boost compared to normal…

Not that I wore them for that boost in the first place!

And finally, to complete my costume, a black overcoat. It was made from the same materials as the jumper, only instead of buttons, it had a zipper. There were many inside pockets, and at first, I was overwhelmed.

Should I leave it open or zipped up?

Hmm, I sort of like it unzipped.

But won't it get in the way of me fighting? Wait, I can always use it as a cape or something.

I looked back into the briefcase, to see that there was one final item that I hadn't worn. A chest harness? I don't remember asking for this… I took off the coat to put the harness on as I realised that this was going to keep the coat in place. Huh. That makes a lot of sense. The harness was a darker black than the coat, which made me realise that the overcoat had a few silver-ish lines around the edges of it, a similar colour to my hair. It wasn't bad but…

I looked like I total edgy vigilante.

Maybe I should ask for the overcoat to change to white?

Then I would look silly. I like black, makes me look cool.

Oh, maybe the jumper? And then make the cargo trousers white as well! A nice white and black contrast.

I suppose that sounds cool.

If I add spikes can I beat someone to death with my costume?

"Are you done yet?" Hawks asked yet again. "I've been waiting here for ten minutes. We need to hurry up, as much as I respect your dedication to trying to skip this exam, I do have patrols that I need to be getting to."

"Yeah, just give me a moment."

I put my school uniform, neatly folded, into the briefcase before I shut it. It was then that I saw a small panel on the side of the briefcase, and opening it revealed something, not even I could have seen. A dagger with a slit in the middle, making it seem like it was two knives instead of one. Curiously, there was also a small handle that didn't have a knife sticking out from it. It was rather bulky, and there was a button where my thumb would rest on it.

As soon as I pressed a button, the handle came to life as it turned into a stun baton.

Wicked.

I pressed the button again to watch the baton retract.

How fucking cool is that?!

They really outdid themselves.

I placed the baton in one of my pouches, before placing the dagger in its sheath and strapping it onto my harness. I grabbed the briefcase and headed to the door, where Hawks waited for me on the other side. He whistled at my costume, taking my briefcase from me as he put it in a locker, before taking me to the room where my test would be conducted.

"You look like a vigilante. An edgy one. Just some kid that went into his father's wardrobe and picks out his winter clothes put a Halloween mask on and went out to beat criminals using 'society' as an excuse," Hawks said. "All that's missing is a trenchcoat and some spikes on your boots. Maybe some eyeliner and a speech about human nature and you'd be a perfect main character from a superhero movie around one hundred years ago. You'd even use a pistol and would be pro-killing villains to maximise your edge. There would even be a scene of you brutally murdering someone for fan service."

"And your costume looks like a male stripper," I replied, flipping him off. "Only good thing about your outfit is the jacket. Do you want to swap?"

Hawks laughed at that.

"I quite like my jacket, but if you want after the exam I can give you this one. I have a hundred spares anyway, I'm sure I can leave you this one. Want me to sign it?"

I shook my head at that.

If he signed it, I'd never be able to wear it!

Although I did have Shirakumo's old jacket that Aizawa gave me… it was still ruined from the very brief period I wore it during the Hosu incident. Actually, why the hell didn't I think of using that instead of this?! I'd look way cooler, and less edgy, and I'd introduce some much-needed colour to my costume! Underground hero or not, my style was important! As I lamented over the fact that the jacket I was currently wearing was stupid, we eventually made it to the testing site.

It was a simple room with a dead body tied to a chair.

Upon closer inspection, it was simply just a doll that looked eerily like a human. They had been brutally murdered, with their fingers and toes being flattened by a heavy object. Probably a sledgehammer considering that the rest of their feet and hands had no markings, showing that whatever turned them into mash was a blunt object. I turned to look at Hawks, who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"The exam has already started. The first section of this exam is to figure out what happened to this person, and why. I'll be here to answer any questions, although I can't solve the exam for you. You are permitted to inspect the body, however, you do have a time limit. Ten minutes. No pressure." He then smiled at me, wishing me good luck. Damn it, if he didn't have perfect teeth, I'd want to punch him directly in his smug face.

They say you should never meet your heroes, and now I finally understood why.

Well considering his fingers and ties were flattened, I'd wager that they were tortured before dying. Walking closer to the body, I inspected the back of its head. Running my hand through their hair, I grinned as I found another piece of the puzzle. As expected, there was some 'blood' on it. They were hit in the back of the head, which was what led them to die. I wiped the 'blood' off my hand, and on their clothes, and sighed as Hawks stifled a laugh at me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Tch.

I turned back to the body and hummed lightly.

So they were tortured and then hit in the back of the head, ultimately killing them. Why? My next best idea was to rummage around his pockets, and luckily that was the best next move I could have done as I managed to find a piece of paper scrunched up inside his breast pocket.

Was this a bank statement?

Who carried this anyways?

I sighed, folding the bank statement and placing it in my pocket, before turning my attention back to the doll. There wasn't anything else in their pockets, even after I checked multiple times. I was stumped for an answer, and that was when Hawks said that this phase of the test was finished.

"Report to me Aozora, what happened here?"

"This… human was tortured and murdered."

Hawks nodded at that.

"And do you know why?"

I resisted the urge to shake my head. I was missing something… No, I checked the body completely. Other than the piece of paper, which was their bank statement, there wasn't anything else on them. It wasn't as if the number on the back statement was particularly impressive, but they did a rather sad life before they died. It was as if they were trying to save money almost as if they had… debts to pay.

Beneath my mask, my eyes probably lit up in excitement as I realised the 'truth' behind this victim.

"They couldn't pay their debt off in time. The people that killed him were the people that he owed money to, right?"

Hawks nodded at that, confirming my lucky guess. Whew. That was super lucky.

"The yakuza are notorious for their brutal ways of dealing with their 'customers' so to speak," He then walked forward to the victim, lifting up their shirt to reveal a carp tattoo on his back. "As well as traitors to their own clan. You were close, but not close enough. Next time you should examine everything, got it?"

"But I'm not a detective? And isn't that obstruction of justice or something? If I do that, won't I be tampering with the investigation?" Hawks smiled at that, nodding as he agreed with what I just said.

"Precisely. Had you just agreed with me, I would have failed you on the spot. As a hero, you should always leave the investigations to the proper channels. The information will come to you eventually, so you should just be patient and try to help wherever you can. You're only mistake was that you believed too much in your theory, despite a proper autopsy not being done. However, knowing how procedures work and upholding the law is even more important than that, so you pass the first test. Congratulations!" Hawks then clapped for me, almost as if he was convinced I was going to fail right away…

That fucking bastard-,

"Now, on to our next test," Hawks handed me two pieces of paper, both with written statements as well as a picture of two random men. "These are our two suspects, James Eikichi, a half-Japanese yakuza member who was friends with our victim. And our victim's boss, Tetsuya Iketani. Your next task is to figure out who killed our victim, you have fifteen minutes in total to read both statements, and an additional five minutes to ask me any questions." I raised my brow at that underneath my mask.

"What are you, an omnipotent God?"

"Something like that, yes. Your test starts now."

I clicked my teeth in annoyance as I looked at the two statements. Which one should I read first, the friend or the boss?

"Wait, what are the statements even for?" I asked Hawks, and as I skimmed the first few lines of both statements, they didn't mention anything like that. They were just arguments as to why they didn't do anything, with none of them offering anything like any alibis or reasons why it couldn't be them. Just a generic 'he meant so much to me, I could never kill him!' Unfortunately, Hawks didn't answer my question. He instead brought his phone out to… message someone.

James Eikichi:

It can't have been me! He was my best friend! My brother in all but blood! I swear I didn't kill him! I swear on it! It can't have been me! He was murdered in cold blood, and I swear whoever did it is going to pay!

Tetsuya Iketani:

It can't have been me! He was an honourable worker! He was a family member! I swear I didn't kill him! I swear on it! It can't have been me! He was murdered in cold blood, and I swear whoever did it is going to pay!

Both of the statements started off like that, and as I read further I realised that they were both written exactly the same, only changing a few words every now and then. The more that I read them, the angrier I got. There was no way I could find out who killed the victim, not when neither of them said anything of substance. Maybe they were working together to cover up the fact that they had killed the victim. No, if they did that then they wouldn't have the exact same statement.

The two of them would have written statements that backed each other up, not said the exact same thing. Line for line. It was like they actually were innocent, not because of their statements saying that they were, but because of the way the statements were written. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this test was specifically engineered for me. Or rather, engineered to figure out how far I can see in the future.

How did the person die, and who killed them?

All the answers would be revealed to me by Hawks once my time was up, meaning that the HPSC was trying to gauge how far I could see into the future. No, it was more than that, they were trying to see how I activated my Quirk, if I could control it and how they could use it for their own benefits. If I passed this test, then they would push me to work for them as a detective or in a role similar to one. That meant that realistically, the one person behind this all had to be…

"It's you, isn't it?"

Hawks seemed genuinely surprised at my answer.

"Why would you think that?"

"You are the one holding the answers, always guiding me. Plus, you've been pissing me off for the past fifteen minutes. So I want to believe that it's you who committed a crime, if only just to annoy you," I said to Hawks, "Therefore I believe that you are the one who is behind all this. Hawks, you are the murd-,"

Dodge.

I narrowly dodged a red feather that was sent towards my head. Had I not dodged it, I would have died due to getting stabbed in the fucking face. I rolled to the side to avoid another red feather that was hurled my way, this time I wasn't as lucky as it tore my jacket off completely.

Tch.

I know right, what an utter bastard.

I want to kill him.

No way! I respect him far too much!

But this is way over the line! I really liked that jacket.

"What's wrong?" Hawks asked me cockily, twirling one of his feathers like a knife in the air. "Congratulations, you made it to the third and final test. Got any last questions?"

"Just one," I replied, grabbing my new knife and pointing it at him. "If I rip your jacket up, do I pass or not?"

"Try to survive first, and maybe you'll find out."

---

DECIDE 3

'Ordinary Peace'

---

Making rapid hand signs in succession, I moulded two fox constructs and three crows, sending them attacking at Hawks. Even as his feathers ripped through my constructs, unlike before, they didn't disappear and kept charging forwards, forcing Hawks to take to the skies in order to avoid my attacks. But he couldn't avoid the crows as they began to circle him, attacking together to try and peck at his award-winning face.

Serves the bastard right.

"Hey, I thought the face was a no-go!" Hawks shouted, slashing one of the crows in half before grabbing another by the throat and squeezing them until they dissipated. "You aren't playing fair."

"You tore my new coat to shreds!"

"And you want to maul my face, that's not an equivalent exchange." I shook my head at him, instead recalling all my constructs and using a quarter of it to build sturdy wings, taking after Hawks as he hurled even more of his feathers at me. I grinned as I used some of my Nimbus to build a shield, deflecting the most dangerous attacks, before turning the shield into a Chidori in my right hand, tearing not only through his jacket but also some of his shirt underneath his jacket.

However, in response, he sent three feathers to try and stab me. I managed to dodge two, but the third managed to graze my cheek. Blood dripped down from my face and into my mouth. This was exciting. After realising that I could follow him in the air with ease, he flew back to the ground, deciding to try and fight me from a distance. That was until he plucked out two of his feathers, before sharpening them and pointing them directly at me.

He was challenging me to a sword fight.

I only had a dagger on me, which wasn't going to cut it. But at the same time, if I could disarm one of his swords, I'd be able to use the dagger more effectively. Then and again, I had just started on really training how to use the sword properly - Even if Hawks was horrible at it, I had to bank on him being worse than me. And that wasn't a smart bet, especially considering he was a pro-hero working for the HPSC. There was no way that their poster boy didn't know some kendo.

But…

I did have that move to use.

Flying down low, I landed close to Hawks, creating a construct of my Kazekiri. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. If I actually had it with me, then it would be a much simpler matter. I was going to wipe the blood off my face before I realised I was wearing a mask. Hawks couldn't see my face. That meant even if he was good at reading people, it would be harder for him to accurately gauge my feelings for this fight.

Hawks didn't waste any time as he flew overhead, swinging at my torso as I managed to block both of his blades. Leaning backwards, I tried to kick him in the stomach, but he manage to get away from me before I had the chance to land the attack on him. Not giving Hawks a chance to breathe, I used my sword's length to swing at his feet, managing to clip him in the right leg. I grinned at that, I managed to-,

Crack.

If it wasn't for my mask, I would have one of Hawks feathers lodged between my skull. I watched as my mask shattered, it's broken pieces fall to the ground slowly as Hawks launched another attack. I didn't have enough time to dodge his roundhouse kick to my temple, nor his feather grazing my arm, causing me to drop my sword in pain. Before long, Hawks was standing over me, his blade pointed at my throat.

"Disappointing, don't you think?" He remarked and any trace of humour from his voice was long gone. "To think how easy it would be for me to kill you. I mean seriously, who would care if a random kid like you goes missing? Your friends? Family? Maybe, but a cover story can easily be arranged. But that's beside the point. You were itching to fight me from the start, but is this truly the result? I mean, I'm going easy on you. You'd think you put up a good fight, but that would be a lie. Stay down. Final warning. You've failed this exam, and for the record I was not the murderer."

He backed away slowly, but I didn't allow him to leave so easily.

Grabbing my dagger, I instantly jumped at him, stabbing him in the collarbone as he threw me off him. Clearly, I didn't hurt him that much since he grabbed my dagger and threw it on the floor, grabbing a few more of his feathers to use as blades. It was then that I realised that he had stabbed my leg when I was on the floor. Shit. That fucking bastard. I created another sword construct, but this time I was going to use that attack.

"Do you really want round two?" He asked me, grinning. "If you think I'm going to allow you to pass because you've shown 'heroic' spirit or something, you're wrong. I admire heroes, I really do. Someone like Endeavour who never gives up. But coming from you, let's just say it doesn't have the same impact. Without your mask, you just look like a feral animal ready to pounce at me, so here I am." Hawks pointed at his chest, where he had suffered no wounds.

That was why he was so cool.

I wanted to kill him.

Gripping my sword with my right hand, I lifted my thumb and pinkie finger from the hilt of the blade, pressing them together as I growled in anger, swinging a wave of Nimbus at the hero. I watched as the wave of Nimbus travelled slowly, breaking apart piece by piece. And by the time it reached Hawks, it was a pathetic attack. He cut it in half, smirking to himself as he rushed me with his swords raised. He thought that this was over, that it was done.

That he had won.

"Urgh."

I watched as Hawks coughed up blood, his trajectory towards me had changed. He crashed into the ground, trying his hardest to get back up. But he couldn't. He was confused, I could see that from his face alone. His left eye was closed because of the pain he was in, while his right eye scoured the area to see if he was being attacked by someone else. If something else was affecting him before eventually the eye finally found the culprit.

Me.

"What did you do?" He asked me, confused.

"It's rather simple," I replied, lifting up my sword, before pointing it at his back. One that was full of stab wounds, small tiny pieces of Nimbus that had been scattered had managed to find themself lodged into not only his back but his legs and arms as well. "That wave of Nimbus I sent towards you. That was my attack. To you, it grew slower and weaker as it came closer to you as if it was a final ditch attack that I used to overwhelm you."

His eyes slowly widened in understanding.

"You made it look that way, didn't you?"

"Yes," I nodded, smiling at the fruits of my labour. He was on the ground bleeding. "Before I shot that wave towards you, I made a hand sign using my thumb and pinkie finger. Essentially, I made pieces of the wave scatter around the room, waiting for a few seconds before I recalled them to my blade. You were in the way of the pieces flying towards me, and so you got hit. Even now, they are attempting to completely rip you apart to get back to my blade. I call this attack Tobichiru, or scatter."

It was ruthless.

It was necessary.

It was torture.

It was restricting my opponent.

I enjoyed inflicting pain.

I could make the pieces dissipate at any time I wanted.

I'm one step closer to killing someone.

I'm one step away from killing someone.

"That's genius," Hawks replied, grinning at me. "And here I thought U.A kids had everything given to them on a spoon, guess I was wrong. But you have one fatal flaw in this plan of yours," Hawks held his left hand out, "I can do exactly the same." From behind me, one of his feathers that I had ignored flew towards me so fast that I couldn't react. At the course it was going at, it would most likely find a way through my chest, puncturing my heart and most likely killing me.

It grew closer and closer to me, and yet I remained calm.

Both my index and middle fingers pressed against each other, and I summoned my Nimbus cloud inside of myself. I felt sick like I was about to vomit, but I ignored that feeling as I expanded it inside my body, filling it up entirely until I couldn't breathe, keeping still for as long as I could. I watched as the feather phased through me entirely, a small hole appearing where the feather passed through me before Nimbus filled it up entirely as if there was never a hole. Hawks was shocked, and I immediately dropped the hand sign as soon as I was safe from the danger.

But my legs couldn't take it as I collapsed to the floor, clutching my chest in pain as I gasped for air.

Kamui.

My ultimate attack. For as long as I kept still while holding the hand sign, I wouldn't be able to be hit by anyone or anything. The downsides of this were that I couldn't breathe, nor could I move since the Nimbus inside me wouldn't be aligned properly. The way it worked was that I essentially made a body double within me using my Nimbus, coating my insides, allowing anything to pass through it without damaging anything. However, if I moved even a centimetre, the body double would be off.

And I would be harmed.

If I couldn't keep the hand sign together, I would also be hurt.

And if I held it longer for more than a few seconds, I would probably die.

Hawks managed to crawl his way towards me, plucking another feather as he used to throw it at my foot, making me groan in pain. I didn't have enough strength to grab it and throw it back at him. My dagger wasn't anywhere near me, and I couldn't get my breathing or concentration back in control to make another construct to fight back. This was it. It couldn't end here! We were having so much fun. There must be something I can do to fight back! I couldn't defend my own existence.

I won't allow it to end here!

The end of the road.

"You…" Hawks caught up to me, sitting up as he grabbed the feather that was lodged in my right foot. But instead of killing me with it, he threw it to the side. "Pass. You pass. Congratulations, you have passed the provisional license exam, Aozora."

Huh?

"I'll explain it for you," A man's voice said from the entrance. He wore a black pinstripe suit, expensive black oxfords and a white shirt buttoned up. A grey vest and silver tie completed his look, along with his white slicked-back hair and clean-shaven face, he looked at me curiously. He had black eyes, yet despite his expensive attire, he looked rather plain for a man so young, and I placed him in his early thirties. Not to mention his height, he wasn't tall nor was he particularly short. Standing at around five foot eight I'd wager, he snapped his fingers as two identical women walked into the room, and began to heal us.

By just touching our wounds with their hands, chanting underneath their breath, our wounds were slowly healed, leaving only a faint scar. Bowing their heads to us, they disappeared as soon as they just arrived, leaving Hawks and me alone in the room with this mystery man. He unlocked the doll from the chair, kicking him on the floor, before offering me the chair.

"I insist, you are our guest after all." The man said.

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself then." The man then ordered Hawks to sit on the chair, who did so as quickly as he could. It was clear to see that this man had power, not the kind of power that made others afraid of him, but the power that made people respect him. I got up from the floor, watching as the man studied me intently. He didn't say anything for a few seconds before he cracked a smile and offered his hand out to me.

"Isshin Sagawa. A pleasure to meet you, Sora Yamazaki."

"Yeah, good to meet you as well. Who are you exactly?"

Isshin didn't reply, only bringing out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from his breast pocket.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" I shook my head at him, watching as he selected one cigarette and put it in his mouth, lighting it on fire as he sighed, taking in a long drag and exhaling the smoke. "As I said, my name is Isshin Sagawa. If Hawks was the one conducting your exam, I am the one who witnessed it. It's as Hawks said, you passed the exam." He then handed me a small card that had a picture of me on it, my name, date of birth, date of card issued and my hero name.

"Is that it?"

Isshin didn't reply, choosing to blow out more smoke.

"You gave an impressive performance. I told Hawks to go easy on you, but you were ruthless. Truth be told, I had no idea that heroes like you still existed. I thought in our modern era filled with money-loving fools and fame-hungry whore's, a hero like you wouldn't be found." Isshin replied, smiling at me.

"And what hero is that?"

"One who loves fighting," Isshin answered. "The way you dealt with Hawks was absolutely brilliant. Sure you lost, but it was because of the gap in experience between you that led to you losing this fight. Sure, if Hawks were going all out, you would have died. But even then, you nearly bested Hawks at his easiest, a feat not many can claim. Each strategy you came up with was executed flawlessly, they were calculated and efficient. Near the end, you even surprised me, and that doesn't happen often. When I saw all those little pieces of your Quirk moving, all of them puncturing Hawks, I couldn't help but admire that level of ruthlessness. Tell me Hawks, did it hurt?"

"Like a fucking bitch."

"Language." Isshin's tone of voice changed, and so did Hawks' demeanour.

"Sorry, sir."

Sir?

"What are you? A top dog at the HPSC?"

Isshin took another drag out of his cigarette, debating whether to answer my question or not.

"Something like that."

"Well, what do you want? You gave me this private exam, to test my Quirk that can see into the future, right? Did you get what you want?" Isshin smiled at that, but it was the sort of smile that sent shivers down my spine. It was like a snake smiling as they see its prey, and it made me uncomfortable in my own skin. I just wanted to run away from him at that very moment.

"Perceptive. I like that in heroes," Isshin replied, pointing at me. "Too many heroes nowadays are far too busy with photo shoots or posting Instagram stories to really notice what's happening around them. They only care about themselves, and they are piss poor at acting as if they care about others. But that type of hero sells, they talk about the daily 'grind' of earning enough money to purchase anything they want. Somehow, your generation loves that hero."

"Who doesn't like watching idiots flaunt their money only to be robbed a week later?"

Isshin chuckled at that, throwing his cigarette on the floor, before stepping on it. "True, watching those fools get what's coming to them is satisfying. Sora, if I may call you that, let me get right to the point. I like you. The HPSC has been very interested in you for some time now, and so I'm here on behalf of our chairmen to offer you a spot in our organisation. You'd be working with Hawks here on a day-to-day basis, while we manage your PR. All you have to do is complete any work we give you."

"Like a dog?"

"Precisely. Heroes are dogs of the government, after all, all we do is point the direction in which you bark and bite. Sometimes it's crime domestically, and other times its problems in other countries," Isshin replied coldly. "And like a dog, you'll be able to fight anyone you want."

"I don't like fighting."

That's a lie.

I love the thrill of fighting.

"You can't fool me, I could see the grin on your face a mile away when you were sparring with Hawks," Isshin replied, "But oh well. Maybe you don't like fighting, and you smile while fighting because you were nervous. Anyways, we at the HPSC can offer a lot more benefits than just fighting strong opponents. A high-paying salary, free healthcare and a guarantee that your family and friends will be safe."

"Sorry, I'm not some assassin you can use to kill people you want to be eliminated," I told him, "I have bigger goals in life than to become your weapon. Working for you sounds like an unbreakable contract, and sadly I'm the type of person to run away from a sinking ship."

"Oh?" Isshin leaned against the wall, amused by what I said. "Please, do continue. What is it you think we do exactly?"

"I don't know, you tell me. What happened to Lady Nagant?"

Isshin grinned at that.

"She's now a villain, sadly."

"No, you used her as a tool until she broke down. And when she broke down, you tossed her away without any regard for the destruction you caused," Fuck this. "That's what happened. Do you think I'd ever work with the HPSC after knowing that? You must be out of your fucking mind."

"Language."

"Fuck you, asshole," I replied, "What are you going to do to me? Kill me? Put me in prison? Do your fucking worse, you corrupt piece of shit. Go ruin some more innocent lives to line up your pockets while you are at it."

I'm playing with fire.

Fuck this guy and his shitty attitude!

I could die.

I'd rather die than bow my head to this fucker!

I don't want to be anyone's slave.

I'm my own person! I have my own path to follow. I'm Aozora! And I don't need to listen to some guy in a suit trying to tell me whats best for him and his company without ever truly understanding me. Isshin bobbed his head, shrugging his shoulders as he shared a look with Hawks. Isshin turned back to me, motioning for me to leave the room. It's like he didn't even listen to what I just said.

"I expected that answer. You're too much of a loose cannon anyways. You're far too alike to a hero I detest, one that thinks with their heart rather than their mind. Well, that's not true, emotions are created by the mind. You are far too much of an emotional person to be used by the HPSC, so this answer was expected. Despite that, you should know the offer is still open for you," Isshin replied. "You showed great promise today. Although your detective skills were a little shoddy. If you want we could help you train them."

Tch.

"You know I'll never take it, right?"

Isshin didn't reply, only choosing to walk towards Hawks and punch him in the face hard. Yet Hawks did nothing in response, he only took the beating and remained seated. That made me angry. Isshin clocked his fist back to punch Hawks yet again, this time drawing blood, and as he prepared himself for a third punch, I got involved.

"The fuck do you think you are doing?" I asked him angrily. Who does he think he is? Why was Hawks just taking it like it was a punishment? Just what the fuck is going on?

"It's as you said. Just like Nagant, Hawks here is our tool. I'm disciplining him." Isshin replied, amused at my decision to interrupt him.

"Why?" I asked him angrily, tightening my grip on his arm. I couldn't take this anymore. Isshin pressed his finger on my chest, pushing me backwards as he stared directly into my eyes, daring me to continue.

"Are you asking or commanding me, boy?" I gulped, taking a step backwards as Isshin unbuttoned his cuffs. "Let me get this one thing straight with you. Whether you work for the HPSC, or at an agency, anything you do as a hero doesn't mean anything. Don't ever forget your role in society, a shiny weapon that inspires other weapons. Hawks was inspired by Endeavour, and how many of your classmates were inspired by All Might?"

"That doesn't matter," I replied. "My class will surpass even All Might. I know they will, so you can fuck off with that weapon talk. We'll carve our own path. Especially me, asshole. I'll never be a weapon - I'll be an underground hero even if it kills me! Even if my body ends up in a ditch, so you can fuck off with the idea of me being a hero you can market to inspire others! I'll never be that."

Isshin didn't say anything for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. Tears formed in his eyes as he wiped them away, refusing to stop laughing. Even Hawks had a small smile on his face, although he was far sadder compared to Isshin. It was forced. It made me want to kill Isshin. Hawks was my hero, a strong one that gave me a good fight, but here was being treated like trash. I wanted to murder Isshin so badly.

"Kid, that's hilarious. You really don't understand, do you?"

"Understand what?" What was he talking about?" I asked him confused.

"Nevermind. Ah, to be young again. The offer to work at the HPSC will always be open to you, even should you reject it now. My boss is very interested in you, it even scares me, to be honest, and her fixation on you has doubled with the election going on. Nothing like an election to get your blood pumping, eh? Tell me, who do you want to win?" He asked me.

"I don't like either candidate."

"Smart," Isshin replied, "You can never trust politicians, they all sell the same lies. Anyways, we at the HPSC are supporting Yamaguchi, aren't we?" Hawks nodded at his answer, but it felt like he was going along with what he said rather than actually wanting to vote for Yamaguchi. "That's right, all of us will throw out votes to Yamaguchi and her policies. Well with that out of the way, let's go, Hawks. We have a busy day today." Hawks nodded, standing up from the chair and walking to the door, leaving Isshin and me all alone in the room.

But just before Isshin could follow, I couldn't stop myself from speaking.

My body didn't allow it.

I didn't want to stop it.

"I'll never work for you." There was no way in hell that I was going to work with a corrupt organisation like the HPSC. The more I stared at him, the angrier I got. Just how many innocents had he killed just because they stood against the HPSC? How many families had he destroyed? It wasn't fair. Why did they have to die? What gave him the right to decide that?

"You view me as evil, but aren't I the hero?" He asked me.

"How the hell could someone like you be called a hero?" I yelled at him.

"Simple," He replied, taking another cigarette from his box and lighting it. "It's all a matter of perspective. Someone blows up a building, it's declared a tragedy. If Hawks blows up a bus full of people, he's called a hero for eliminating terrorists from our country. But that perspective doesn't come from us, nor the government. It comes from the public. They believe what they want to believe, even if it's a bunch of lies. And we serve the public, and they want to believe in heroes. Even if they will twist the truth for that to happen. Now that's the real evil, not me or the HPSC. Just like you heroes, we are another weapon in our society."

"And if I tell the police about our conversation? About Nagant? About what you did to Hawks? About the offer you gave me?" I really wanted to wipe the smugness off this bastard's face.

"Well, then Hawks would be dispatched to arrest three terrorists in our country. Hinata and Gekko Yamazaki, and their adoptive daughter Miwa Hayate. Oh, what's that? Did they put up a fight? Well, out of concern for the public, Hawks must eliminate them. Oh? They had ties to another family. The Jiro's was it? Why not take them down as well," Isshin smirked as he said all that, imagining those events playing out as he took another drag from his cigarette. "You don't want to play with fire, Sora. If you tell anyone about what happened here, well… you won't like what happens next. But I'm sure it would make for a good story that the public would eat up. Hawks would save the day again, am I right?"

"My friends ain't gonna stand for that." Zero wouldn't stand for that. Nanao and Tokage wouldn't stand for that, and I'm sure that Aizawa and everyone else in U.A wouldn't allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen. I won't let any one of them die, I will protect them all. I clenched my fist as I took another step forwards toward him. He was nothing. I could kill him so easily. He was just a nobody. Who was he threatening? Did he think he could just say all this and get away with it?

I should just kill him.

"Maybe so, but will all your friends stand against justice itself?" Isshin asked me, "Because the public believes in justice. We at the HPSC serve that justice, we protect it. Even heroes that don't work for us serve that justice, and once you are declared as unjust what do you think happens? Your friends may fight for you, but even they will be swept aside for to go against justice is to wage war against the world itself. No one can do that-,"

Grabbing him by the collar, I watched as a small tinge of fear enveloped his face. Stab him. I want to kill him. Gut him like a fish! I could kill him so easily. Hawks is standing at the door, he won't make it in time! I could do whatever I want. Let's kill him! He threatened to kill them all. He can't get away with that! If I kill him, I'll protect everyone. DO IT! I need to kill-,

"Do it," Isshin whispered, grinning at me. "Come on, hurry up and kill me. I can see it in your eyes, you want to kill me so badly. So hurry up and do it, be a hero and slay me. I'm the bad guy, no? You're a hero, so you stand for justice. So do it. Don't hesitate, just hurry up and kill me. The public will be on your side, right? The narrative will be that I threatened your family and you butchered me. You'll draw in the crowd of people who believe that family is the most important thing in life, and you'll be declared a hero. So do it. Kill me. That's what you want to do, isn't it?" It would be so easy to do it. He wants me to kill him, but I can't.

I can!

I promised not to kill anyone!

I promised to save everyone! If I let him live…

I-,

I can't.

I let him go, clicking my tongue in anger. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. I didn't say anything in response, only watching Isshin walk away from me, waving goodbye, watching his smug face retreat out of the room.

He thought he had proven a point.

And that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

That fucking bastard.

The HPSC were a bunch of fucking cunts. Why couldn't they just ignore me, just why was I the one that they had their eye on? Tch. What bullshit did I just walk into? Isshin, Hawks, Lady Nagant and whoever's their boss. The election too. Just what the hell was my world coming to?

Why couldn't I just have some peace for once…

---

My shirt was untucked, my tie was loosely held together, and my laces were tangled up, but I managed to make it back to Aizawa and Ms Joke. Everyone else in 1A hadn't even finished the second round of their exam, which was funny, considering I had fought Hawks and gotten changed yet they hadn't even finished the second portion of their exam. In fact, it had just started.

I gave Aizawa the briefcase that held my costume, or what remained, and shook my head at him.

"Did you fail?"

"What? Fuck no," I showed him my brand-new card, smiling at how shiny it looked. "I thought you were supposed to have more faith in me! Why would you think that I failed? Did you want me to fail?" Aizawa didn't bother to reply, motioning for me to sit down next to him. The seats in front of us were empty, so I took the chance to kick back and relax, damned of the consequences. Luckily, Aizawa didn't say anything.

"Are you usually this lax with your students?" Ms Joke asked him.

"No."

"What if someone sits there?"

"Their problem, not mine."

I closed my eyes, hoping to get some sleep. Hawks… was he a slave to the HPSC? Well yeah, obviously, but it's sad how he is treated. How many people had he hurt? Yeah, but he probably didn't want to hurt them. The end result is what matters, he's called a hero for ultimately destroying how many lives for the HPSC? It's not that simple, yet you call Zero a villain, despite the fact that he's helped us. That's different. Why is it different? Because it just is.

Sighing, I looked at how everyone was doing. So far, no one had failed the exam, which was a good sign.

"I think you're a little biased toward your students, especially this one. He-ll-o! Hi, can you please sit normally?" I turned my head sideways to stare at Ms Joke, was she speaking to me?

"Why?" I asked her, yawning.

"You are making your school look bad."

"So fucking what," I replied, "If anything, I'm making the school look good. Listen, lady, I just fought Hawks and nearly died! Let me sleep in peace." I was this close to snapping at her. That's rude. So? She's disturbing my peace!

"...you fought Hawks?"

"Yeah. Tough bastard. I didn't win the fight, obviously, but I landed a few good hits. Should have left the fucker to bleed out, but then that fucking clown from the HPSC came in and started to sprout some bullshit. Man, fuck those guys. I'm selling all my Hawks merch, he's a fucking sellout! Disappointing really." I needed to vent, this was so unfair! It was such bullshit!

"Did you use your ultimate move?" Aizawa asked concerned, especially since he was the one that helped me develop it. He knew the risks just as much as I did.

"Yeah. I also used 'scatter' on him, he fell for it like the dumb bastard he is. What a fucking loser. 'He was holding back' man, go fuck yourself you suit-and-tie asshole. Shoulda' stabbed that fucking guy, what an annoying prick. Threatening me like I give a shit, go ahead and do it. Fucking pussy." Aizawa nodded at that, even though he didn't like my language, he didn't say anything.

"Aren't you going to reprimand your kid for swearing out loud like that?"

"Oh, fuck you. Bitch." Was everyone trying to piss me off today?!

Language this, language that.

Fuck off.

"I'm going to walk around the arena," I told Aizawa, I needed some fresh air. "I'll be back in like ten minutes." Aizawa didn't reply, not that I'd listen to him even if he told me to sit down. The HPSC is using Hawks. But I knew that. No, I really didn't. I did. Just how much has he gone through… how many bad things has he endured just to survive? Why am I supposed to care? He's someone I look up to. Not really. That's a lie. It isn't. It is. Fuck off, the pair of you!

As always, you run away from things you don't like to hear.

Shut up.

Why? It's the truth?

I don't want to hear it from you.

No, it's because you don't like the truth.

Everyone was watching the exam unfold, which was completely normal considering every school that offered a hero course from across the country had sent students here today. The rest of the arena was empty, which made my little walk a lot better. I didn't want to deal with anyone that annoyed me for the rest of the day. Fucking bitch, trying to lecture me like that. Who even are you?! You aren't my mum to speak to me in that tone, you stupid-,

Calm down.

Why should I?!

Because you are acting like a kid having a temper tantrum right now.

Fuck off.

Hm. Fine, suit yourself.

I sighed, sitting down on the floor. Fuck. I was speaking to phantoms in my mind, Kurai, the darkness within me and that other side of me. I was essentially talking to myself. A month ago that would have been impossible, but here I am a month later - A walking contradiction. He wanted to kill so many people, and for what? Because they slighted him? Because he could? With every passing minute, I felt like my grip on the world, on my sanity, and on my control was slipping.

Why was this happening to me?

I just wanted to scream out, to yell and punch someone or something. Just what did I do to deserve a psychopath living in my mind, trying to take control of my body? Pretending to be buddy-buddy with me before attempting to convince me to commit murder? To actively try to kill my friends? And I wasn't even going to get started on that other side of me pretending like he knew everything.

"This sucks…" I whispered.

"Wanna talk about it?"

I lifted up my head to see Kaminari of all people standing in front of me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be doing your exam?"

"Aha, about that…" Kaminari laughed while he scratched the back of his head. "I kinda short-circuited. I was with Jiro and Midoriya and we were getting chased by a bunch of people, so I did the self-sacrifice thing from manga to help them get away. I thought I'd survive it, but I didn't. So here I am I guess, disqualified from the exam. How about you, did you pass your exam?"

I showed him my card, watching as he jumped around in joy holding my new card up in the sky.

"Holy shit! Dude, you are so fucking cool! Let's fucking go!" Kaminari shouted loudly, before sitting down next to me, a bright grin on his face. "We should totally celebrate! How about we ditch this place to order some pizza?"

"Aizawa is going to kill us."

"When's that ever stopped us?"

"...Fair point."

"Sweet!" Kaminari grabbed my arm as we got up from the ground, and we ran towards the exit of the arena. The Takoba National Stadium was in Tokyo, but luckily Kaminari knew his way around the city. "Pretty sure a Pizza Hut's nearby," He told me as he led me through the busy streets. "Yeah! It's just over there like I said! Hehe, Denki Kaminari's never wrong!"

"Apart from the time when you are wrong," I replied. "And that happens at least twice a day."

"Those don't count!"

I rolled my eyes at him, following him as we entered Pizza Hut. Just like me, Kaminari loved pizza. It was both our favourite food. A cute waitress gave us menus as we sat near a window, a table for two.

"Do you think we can order alcohol?" Kaminari asked me excited.

"Nah, they'll check for ID. Dumbass."

"But I already drink coke every day! I want something new!"

"Maybe try Fanta?"

"But that's just fizzy orange juice!"

"Try the red flavour then."

"What's that?"

"Uh…" I looked at the menu. "Fruit twist."

Kaminari hummed, stroking his chin as he was deep in thought over what drink to get. I looked at the menu to see what pizzas they had. I usually got a pepperoni pizza with olives on top, but they were doing an offer. Two pizzas for the price of one, only if they were the same pizza. Sadly, Kaminari hated olives on pizza. Hm.

"Let's get the cheeseburger pizza! Or ham and pineapple!"

I sighed at the choices he was offering. They were all pizzas I'd eat… if we weren't in Pizza Hut. In the end, I managed to convince him to get pepperoni and olives as long as I'd take all his olives away from his pizza. He ordered a Fanta Fruit Twist while I stuck to a coke zero, and the two of us waited for our food to arrive.

"So, what's up?" He asked me.

"A lot of things."

"Like?"

"I just feel like… I don't know man. Like I'm walking through water, and more and more things are just weighing me down. I'm finding it difficult to just take a moment and breathe with all the chaos happening around me." Kurai, Zero and the League, and now whatever the HPSC wants with me. And apparently the election as well. Shirou and Sakura's decision to move away, and now a part of me wants to see how everyone else from my middle school days is doing.

And then I've got a whole relationship with Jiro to worry about not messing up, Midoriya and a few others are still a little frosty to me for me trying to even leave 1A, Mineta was still not speaking to us, and to top it off I'm searching for my biological mother to find out if she abandoned me because she thought I was a monster, or for another reason. And to find out what happened to my older sibling. And I had to lie to Tokage about the role her mother played in our lives, not to mention helping Nanao with whatever the hell she and Yozora had.

There were never-ending problems in my life, and I was stuck.

Lost.

Confused.

How could I solve all of these problems in one go?

I can't.

"I see," Kaminari replied, his smile having been wiped off his face as he nodded at what I said. He looked oddly serious, which was a far cry from his usual demeanour. "You are worried about too many things, just as usual."

"I don't do that," I replied, flipping him off. "The only thing I worry about is the amount of time it takes to cook a pizza."

"You do though," Kaminari said, "You also tend to try to solve it all by yourself. But you know by now, that I and everyone else are standing behind you. That if you ever need help, we will be right there. Even so, I ain't stupid enough to think that you can rely on us for everything, unlike what other people in our class will try to say. There are somethings ya' gotta deal with on your own."

I nodded at that. I couldn't ask them to help me find my mother, that was something I had to do. Nor could I ask them to help me with Nanao and Yozora, or even Tokage, since they were problems I had to solve. Midoriya and everyone else were frosty with me, so it made no sense to try and ask others for help. The same could be said about Mineta, he was angry with everyone but especially with me. And I doubt anyone other than Jiro would care about my middle school friends.

About Zero and the League, while everyone in the class was hurt by them in one way or another, Zero was my problem. No one else's. And if he took control of the League, then they became my problem as well - So of course I had to take care of it. I did want the others to help me but considering all of my problems, there was nothing they could really do. I had to solve them myself.

Liar.

"That being said, Sora, even if we can't help you that doesn't mean we can't support you," Kaminari gave me a thumbs up. "I believe in you, bro. Whatever you end up deciding, I'll back you all the way!"

"That's nice and all, but how far can you really back me up? You don't know any of my problems."

"True," Kaminari replied sipping his drink. "But that doesn't really matter. I mean really dude, you are like an open book. Let me guess, a third of your problems are with our class, a third with the villains and the final third… family issues? You are a curious prick, so are you trying to find your biological dad? Mum? That sounds about right for you, always aiming for the most annoying problems to solve."

I snorted at that, drinking my cola as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Ya' got me."

"Hey, Sora… Don't get burned," Kaminari said, an odd smile on his face. "I get wanting to meet your parents. Feels like a dream, but not everyone deserves to be a parent. Sometimes it's better to let things go, to just run away. You don't have to find out every truth in your life, I guess I just don't want to hear that you've broken down again. That you decided on some crazy decision that impacts us all, and you are trying to carry the weight of the world on your back. So don't get burned so much that you don't come back, it ain't worth it."

"I…" Kaminari giving good advice? Heh, I really am lucky to have such a good friend. "Don't worry, that ain't gonna happen. I thought you didn't care about what happened back then?"

"I don't," Kaminari answered, "What happened to you when you went with the League is something I don't care about. You solved your problems, and you came back. You made your decision, so I just want to make sure you make decisions that you are proud of. Not impulsive ones, and that'll make you live with regrets. Finding your biological mother seems like a decision you'll regret, and you're the type of person to carry that regret with you for the rest of your life."

"You're scarily accurate ya' know," Kaminari was right. I am the type of person to let regrets take control of my life. I guess some of my regrets already have, which was why finding my mother - Finding out if I really was a monster - is so important. It's a decision I've made, one that I'll follow through with. I won't be able to move on without the answer, yet it's also an answer that might burn me. "Hey Kaminari, can you… is it okay for you to be there with me?"

"Huh?"

Kaminari looked shocked as to what I just asked him, which made sense. I never ask for help. And I wasn't really asking him for help, but the truth is that I can be irrational at times. I can be an idiot, and so if things do go the way that I wasn't hoping, well I'd rather be surrounded by a friend instead of being alone.

"Don't worry about it," It was stupid of me to ask. Like Kaminari would care about me trying to find my mother. "It was just a dumb request-,"

"Dude, shut up," Kaminari interjected, "I'm gonna' be there with you. You don't even need to ask, of course, I'll be there! I'm your best friend. Behind Jiro, but she's now your girlfriend, so obviously, she's a lot closer to you than me. But I'm your 'bro,' I have my own pride because of that! I'm not losing to Jiro in being your best friend, I hope you know that! I know you like the back of my hand. There ain't a need for you to try and explain your problems to me, it's like I can read your damn mind! You just say the date, and I'll be waiting next to you."

"You know, you'd make a pretty good teacher." Kaminari laughed at that, downing the rest of his drink before ordering another.

"Nah man, you'd make an excellent teacher. Yamazaki-sensei has a nice ring to it. Kaminari-sensei doesn't."

"You think I'd make a good teacher?" I asked him, surprised.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't you?" Kaminari replied. "You're smart enough to actually know a subject when teaching it, I mean you've taught me and everyone else in 1A so many things. Not just academically, but life lessons as well. We just have to look at you, do the opposite, and we've become normal functioning members of society. Admiration at its finest."

I felt my brow twitch at that as I kicked him underneath the table.

"Oi," I warned him. "Say that again and I'll beat you up.

"Kidding, kidding," Kaminari lost the smile on his face as he turned to look at me seriously. "But honestly, you'd really be a good teacher. Above all else, you care about everyone around you. While most teachers would give up on a child with attitude, you wouldn't. You'd try to solve their problems, with or without their consent. You'd inspire them to not just be good students, but to be greater. To do better. That's why I think you'd be a great teacher, Sora."

"...Thanks."

"You'd do the same for me, so don't worry about it," Kaminari replied, "I'm just glad I can finally help you. Feels like I've been your plucky sidekick all this time, now it's like I've evolved. Like a Pikachu to a Raichu. But with cool psychic abilities, since I am your best friend and all."

"Then what am I thinking of right now?"

About my damn pizza hurrying the fuck up and getting here.

"About how dependable and cool Denki Kaminari is, honestly there is no need to boost my ego even more," I rolled my eyes, watching as he pointed at himself grinning like a lunatic. "Oh c'mon, I wasn't close? You don't think I'm dependable?"

I handed him the salt shaker in response.

"Make a line of salt and snort it. A real dependable friend would do so."

"Let's do it together!"

"Deal." There was no way I was going to snort up salt, which was why I told him to go first. I watched as he poured a line of salt on our table, sighing heavily as he leaned forwards and blocked the right side of his nose, snorting it up using his left. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as he tried his hardest not to choke, as well as other members of the public staring at him curiously. Well, that wasn't true, they were looking at Kaminari as if he was an idiot.

"Your turn."

"What are you talking about?" I replied.

"Dude. Come on. Snort some salt with me, you promised!"

"I didn't promise shit, salt snorter."

"Dude," Kaminari said once again, reading the salt shaker. "I swear to God bro, you will snort some salt. Go on."

"Or what."

"I'll put some salt in your eye."

"Tch, as if you could do it. Don't make me beat you up, I don't hold back on friends ya' know."

"As if you could beat me, Denki Kaminari!" He boasted, "You are such a lowly cur. As if someone of your stature could beat me! Don't you know who I am?"

"Someone who snorts salt."

"YOU MADE ME DO IT!"

"I didn't make you do anything, idiot. You snorted salt of your own volition. What are you, a salt addict? How high are your cholesterol levels? Kaminari, if you are struggling with an addiction, it's okay. I accept you for being weak, honestly, it doesn't change a thing. I'm still your superior in every way, and you need to bow your head down and call me Lord Sora." I replied, causing Kaminari to try and throw some salt my way. Instead, he missed and hit the couple sitting behind me.

Ouch.

They were getting angry at us.

"I-, Uh… Dine and dash?" Kaminari asked me.

"Sure." Quickly grabbing my bag, as well as downing my drink, I saw one of the waitresses walking over carrying my pizza, and so I did what any good citizen would do. I grabbed the plate from her hands, thanking her of course, before running out of the restaurant as fast as I could. Kaminari followed behind me, laughing as he screamed at the restaurant.

"Ahaha, as if you could ever catch me! The best person to have ever graced this earth, Denki Kamin-,"

I kicked him in the shins before he could finish his sentence.

"Don't yell out your name after we've ordered food and not paid for it, dumbass. How stupid are you?" I yelled at him while eating my pizza. "Now, because of your stunt, I'm willing to give you a slice of my pizza."

"Just one?"

"Fine then. Two."

"Haha, sweet!" Kaminari jumped up and down excitedly. "What are you going to do with the plate once the pizza is eaten?" I shrugged my shoulders. It was a rather large plate, so it's not like I had a lot of space for it in my bag. But at the same time, I wasn't dumb enough to hand it back over to the restaurant. Tch. Hey… I could give it away as a present.

And I know just the person who would find it funny.

---

"W-what the hell is this?" Ms Joke shouted at me, looking at the empty plate confused. "Where is the punchline of the joke? This is just an empty plate?!"

"Stolen empty plate." Kaminari corrected her beside me.

"Stolen. Great, even funnier." She replied, clearly not amused. What a stick in the mud, I would have thought that Ms Joke had a better sense of humour. Instead, here she was, looking disgusted at the plate Kaminari and I got her as a present. Aizawa was trying his hardest not to berate Kaminari for failing the exam, as well as lecture the two of us for leaving the stadium, going to a restaurant, not paying for our food and stealing one of their plates.

"Aizawa, is this how you raise your kids?"

"Yep!" I answered before he could, causing him to glare at me. "Stealing is only bad when you are caught. We weren't caught, so we are in the clear. That's what Aizawa-sensei taught us!"

"Yeah, that's right! He also told us that it's not murdering someone if there is no body to identify!" This time, Aizawa and I stared at Kaminari in confusion, who then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, uhm… I meant Midnight. Yeah. Totally."

Ms Joke shook her head, clearly not understanding the joke. We weren't trying to make her laugh, we were trying to make Aizawa laugh by doing over-the-top things. Like giving his colleague a stolen empty plate. Sadly, our plan wasn't working. Like at all. I sighed, sitting down next to Aizawa as I placed my feet on the seats in front. Kaminari followed after me, and we watched the third and final round reach its conclusion.

"How much you wanna bet Bakugo doesn't get his license?" Kaminari asked me. "I bet he and Todoroki don't get it."

"Nah, I think they'll get it. One thousand Yen that both of them get it."

"You're on! All I need is for Bakugo to do a Bakugo thing and fuck up!"

Sadly, I watched as Kaminari yelled and screamed at Bakugo to mess up, only for Bakugo to somehow not mess up. The same happened with Todoroki, with the two of them passing. Actually, everyone apart from Kaminari ended up passing the exam, which made him more than embarrassed, to say the least.

"I, well, I felt sick."

"Uh-huh, that's exactly why you didn't pass the exam."

"Yeah…"

Slowly, members of our class came over to our stand. Ms Joke had already left, apparently, no one from her class had passed the exam. Oddly enough, Aizawa had a small smile on his face because of that fact, but I assumed it was because 1A totally beat the shit out of her class. Yo Shindo could go fuck himself, that smug prick.

"What happened to you?" Jiro asked me, pointing at the cuts and bruises on my face. Heh, she's lucky she can't see my now ripped-up costume. Then she would truly be horrified.

"If you hug me, I'll tell you-,"

She stepped on my foot.

Hard.

"I fought Hawks." I told her instantly.

Nearly everyone stared at me in confusion at that comment, and I laughed awkwardly. I mean what else was I supposed to say, that the HPSC threatened me? That Hawks tried to kill me, even though he was going easy on me, that Kaminari and I stole an empty plate? I sighed, with Aizawa beside me shaking his head at me.

"As much as I'd love to tell Sora off for telling a lie, I'm afraid that he's telling the truth. He did in fact have a spar with Hawks." Aizawa explained to everyone, which only made them even more confused.

"Why?"

"Haha… I can't answer that."

"Why not?"

"Because I have no idea why either," I replied, and if I'm being honest I don't really want to know. "They offered me a place in the HPSC as a hero like Hawks, but I declined. I don't know why they wanted me, but they said that their offer would remain open forever. But don't worry, I'm stupid enough to sell my soul away." I had my pride, plus I wasn't going to leave 1A.

"So? Did you win or lose?" Bakugo asked me, "I betcha' lost. Embarrassing really, I'd take his wings and shove it up his-," Before Bakugo could finish his sentence, I showed him my brand new provisional license.

"We drew, but I'd like to think that I won. Technically. I did stab him a lot of times."

"You stabbed a pro-hero and got away with it?"

"He was trying to kill me."

"Hold up, time out!" Jiro interjected as crossed her arms, staring at me in confusion. "He tried to kill you?"

"Uh… yeah? Sorta. He said he was going easy on me, but fuck him. He tore my new costume to shreds, stupid fucking birdman. I swear if I ever see him again, it's on sight." I turned from one of Hawks biggest fans to one of his biggest haters-,

"That gent hath said that he loved Bleach," Tokoyami said, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm sure it wasn't intentional. T'was just a test."

Hawks is so cool!

How could anyone ever dislike him?!

"Idiot," Jiro whispered as she stepped on my toes, "Just because someone gives you money doesn't give them the right to kill you!"

"But, I mean…" He is supporting me financially.

"Nope. No. Just shut up."

"Make me," I replied, causing Jiro to smirk as she leaned in real close and… nothing. Jiro did nothing but stare directly at me, no kiss on the lips or anything. That was disappointing. Oh wait, she was pouting. I poked at her cheeks, which got a reaction out of her as she headbutted me, not before poking me in the ribs. It was more accurate to say that she stabbed me in the ribs, fucking long fingernails.

"There, was that enough?" She asked me, oddly proud of what she had done.

"You just abused me!" I can't believe it, how could I not have seen the signs beforehand? "I'm in an abusive relationship-,"

Smack.

---

"Oi."

I was sitting on the couch in the living room, trying to go to sleep. Well to be fair, I did have a half-open manga volume resting on top of my face, but my eyes were closed. It was three PM on a Sunday, what else was I going to do? And so I ignored that voice, even though I recognised that ignoring him would only make things worse. This was why I could only sigh when Bakugo threw my manga volume across the room and began to growl at me like a feral dog.

"You bastard, you trying to ignore me?!"

"Yes." I replied honestly, which only made him angrier.

"You wanna fucking go?" He snarled.

"Like to the arcade?" Was there something in my ear? I felt like there was something in my ear. Despite Bakugo's yells, I leaned over to get a cotton bud from the living room table. Some idiot had left a box of them down here. "Dude, can you just shut up for a day? It's a Sunday, ya don't have ta' be loud on a Sunday."

"That's it! I'm sick of your shit, Yamazaki!"

Did he just…

"You called me by my name."

Bakugo stared at me, realising his mistake.

"No, I didn't. Do you need to use more cotton buds to clean your shitty ears? Stupid cloud watcher, do you think I even know your name? Please, as if I'd ever care to learn your name."

"I'm pretty sure you called me Yamazaki."

"Shut up!" He was getting louder. My, my, was Bakugo embarrassed?

"Aww, wittle Katsuki-chan is learning other people's names. How cute. Maybe Katsuki-chan doesn't want to be alone anymore?" At this point, I knew Bakugo wouldn't attack me, and I was proven right as he swore at me very loudly. If he attacked me here, I would win by default, and he knew that. He just didn't want to lose to me, which was funny.

"I'll kill you!"

"Hey Bakugo, you don't like losing do you?"

"Tch," Bakugo sat down next to me on the couch, shaking his head violently. "Losing is for weaklings. I'll never lose."

"Which is why you'll always be a virgin, you'll never lose your virginity. Will you?"

"Yeah, that's right-," Bakugo paused as he realised what he said before he turned to glare at me. Wow. He was pissed at that comment. I found that funny, Bakugo was definitely the type to bend backwards to a strong woman in his life. He just hadn't met the one yet… wait, what if I set him up with a girl?!

"I don't like the look in your eyes."

Haha…

"Hey, are you free for the day?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"I gotta do some shit for our classes, and I want you to help me. Come, we are going to the library."

"Huh? Why the fuck would I want to spend my Sunday with you?!" He asked me, but despite his tone of voice, I could tell that he was bored. The gym was closed for today, and a lot of members of 1A took the weekends as an opportunity to visit home. Luckily, Bakugo and I lived in the Musutafu so we didn't have to worry about visiting home all that much. Midoriya and Kyoka also lived in the city, but they visited home more often than us. Demanding parents I suppose.

"Well unless you want to stay here all alone for the day, I could give you a spar if you act nice enough."

"...Fine."

Great.

It was the middle of September, and so the weather had started to gradually get cold. Well, that is if you wore shorts and a t-shirt like I did. If you wore a hoodie or a jumper with some jeans you were fine, but I never wore those clothes inside the dorm or at home. It was simply just way too hot for me to wear them. Therefore I grabbed my blue denim jacket from my room, right before meeting Bakugo outside our dorm as we walked to the library together.

Luckily, it was only a short five-minute walk. Living on campus made everything so much simpler, and that much easier. It also meant that it was harder for me to be consistently late to lessons since if I didn't wake up on time, either Jiro or Yaoyorozu would knock on my door until I opened it. Well, Jiro had a spare key which I gave her so she would physically come in and wake me up.

Well, it was better than an alarm clock I suppose.

"What are you, a lovestruck idiot?"

"Shut up," I shoved Bakugo as I locked the front door to our dorm. "You're jealous, aren't you? Hop off my dick for a second, you bitchless motherfucker."

"The fuck did you call me?!"

"An incel."

Bakugo yelled more profanities at me as we walked along the main path to the library, which was on the ground floor of the third main building. He was easy to rile up, which I think he understood as he eventually shut his mouth. That was until we entered the library and it was empty.

"What's the shitty homework you didn't complete this time? I'll help you, just this once."

I stared at Bakugo in surprise.

"What are you looking at?"

"You offered to help me." Bakugo never offered to help anyone. Not Kirishima when he was cooking food, not Kaminari when he needed to find his missing charger, not Yaoyorozu or Iida when they needed to use his Quirk to bury a 'body' or even when Aizawa asked him to do something. Bakugo did the opposite of what I did, which was run away when the opportunity presented itself, he just ignored them and did his own thing.

"Yeah, and?"

"Why would you help me?"

Bakugo didn't reply, he only sat down at the nearest table and snorted. He was relaxed, I could tell that much. Even with his hands in his pockets, he still managed to look cool while sitting down, no it was more accurate to say that he was uncomfortable doing all this. My first thought was if someone had put him up to this, to try and speak to me, but then I realised how unlikely that was.

This was all Bakugo's decision.

"Shithead. When you said you were going to leave 1A, did you mean it?"

"Yeah," I replied, sitting down next to him. "It's silly, I know. I regret ever thinking it because now a gulf between me and the rest of the class just keeps on widening. Midoriya's a lot frostier to me compared to before, Uraraka doesn't know how to act around me and Mineta's just… well he's pissed at me. But I really was planning on leaving."

"You should have left."

"And why's that?" I asked Bakugo. I was interested in his answer, after all, it's not like the two of us got the chance to speak like this normally without annoying each other to the point of us having to be separated.

"You don't fit what it means to be a hero."

"And what is a hero?"

"Tch, ain't that obvious?! Someone who always wins against the villains, and not a hollow victory. Winning with their fist pumped in the damn air, all the eyes in the nation watching someone that they look up to beat a fucking villain. Someone like All Might. Someone even like our shitty teacher. But you," Bakugo paused as he thought of what to say next. "Yamazaki, you ain't that. You'll never be that. Instead, the world will watch you slaughter the damn villain with a smile on your face. Creepy bastard."

"Don't you scream about killing villains as well?"

What a hypocrite-,

"Yeah. I… I did," For the second time that day, I was surprised by Bakugo. He stared at the floor in silence, which looked so unlike him that I had to rub my eyes to make sure that what I was seeing was real. "But then that happened. All Might put his fist through whatever fuckwad he was fighting. And then the whole world exploded, fucking idiots on the internet giving their shitty two Yen on what happened."

"And?"

"And it makes me fucking mad," Bakugo snapped. "All Might killed someone to protect us. Yet those fucktards online can't see that. They don't understand. But they sprout their moral bullshit as if they've been in a fight to the death. A one-on-one duel."

"And have you been in one?"

Bakugo didn't reply.

He couldn't.

"But you have."

"That's not an answer to my question."

Bakugo stood up from his chair, before turning around to kick it across the library. We would never get along, he was far too much of a hot-head and so was I. In a sense, we were too similar to really be friends. We could respect each other, but that was as far as our 'friendship' would really go.

"I get it, alright!" He yelled at me angrily. "I get it. You're stupid enough to walk right towards your death without any care. I get that you enjoy fighting, the thrill of almost dying. Your girlfriend told us all about how you weren't yourself when you threatened to burn the forest down and kill us all. Everyone might have moved on from that, but I won't. They think it wasn't you, that you were 'possessed'. But I ain't that dumb. Whatever happened to you, it's really you, isn't it?"

I-,

No.

No?

"It wasn't me-,"

"Here we go again. Your denial of the truth. That's always what you do, deny the truth and peddle your own lies," Bakugo mocked me, "I ain't gonna fall for it. I ain't your friend. They can go and have a good time with you, but I know what you really are. Underneath your friendly exterior, I know exactly who really are."

"A monster?"

"Nah."

Huh?

"You don't think I'm a monster? But I thought that was what you were trying to say?"

Bakugo stared at me, confused.

"Why would I call you a cool name like a monster? Did you hit your fucking head or something?"

"Well, I'm fucking sorry that someone decided to go on a tirade on how much they don't trust me, and how they aren't like my friends and family because they can see 'who I really am' which usually means you'd go on and call me a monster." Fuck. Why did he always get on my fucking nerves?!

"I wasn't going to call you a monster."

"Then fucking say what you wanted to say originally then, fucking hell."

"Fuck you."

"No Bakugo, fuck you."

He didn't say anything for a few moments, only sighing as he sat down once again. This time he sat a little further away from me as he tapped against the table impatiently. Fuck was his problem?

"You ain't a monster," Bakugo eventually said. "Underneath the personality, you put on is nothing like a monster. I just see a kid. One who never grew up. Nah, more like you never got the chance to grow up. You try to act all mature and cool to emulate someone you aren't. You try to act as if you belong here with us, but deep down you don't feel like you do. That's what I see."

"You think I don't belong here?"

"If you really thought that you did, you wouldn't have tried to leave in the first place," Bakugo pointed out. "The fact is you wanted to leave in the first place because you thought you were different to us. And you are. The others might not see it, but I do. The brief looks on your face every now and then, ones filled with sadness. Being in 1A hurts you. Everyone admires you so much and it suffocates you."

He wasn't asking me, he was telling me.

"You can believe whatever you want, I really don't care," Bakugo added. He was staring directly at me, which was something he never did. "If you want to leave, then go ahead. But if you do, don't just leave without saying goodbye. It'll make dealing with the rest of the class, even more, shittier than it already is, so just say it to them. I don't want to have to deal with whatever bullshit they'll feel if you don't say goodbye. Alright? That's all, you shitty cloud watcher."

Ah.

I see.

Despite his words, I could see the corners of his mouth ever so slightly bend upwards. Despite everything he had ever said to me, I finally realised what Bakugo was truly trying to say - To not run away from my fights. To not run away from my responsibilities. It was clear that despite us not getting along, he respected me enough to try and talk things out with me. In a sense, he did care for 1A just like I did. He just showed it differently, he just wanted to make sure that if I did leave I wouldn't just do things halfway.

Just like how I planned to do it at Kamino Ward.

To leave without saying goodbye.

A mistake I would never make again.

"Bakugo, you know you really aren't all that bad. Get rid of your attitude and I think we'd be pretty good friends, don't ya think?" He snorted at that, punching me in the arm hard. Ow. That fucking hurt.

"Most people don't have the balls to say that directly to me," Bakugo replied grinning, which made me want to punch him in the face super hard. "Then and again, most people don't have the balls to do half the shit you even think of doing. Guess that's what makes you special compared to all the other extras. Don't get me wrong, you're still a side character in my story - But you ain't so bad. Maybe if you plead nicely, I'll let you work in my agency."

"Haha. Go fuck yourself you smug prick. Or better yet, how about you call your mother to come over? I think every boy in our class with the exception of you would be interested in having a gangbang with her. Can you imagine it? The shitty nerd 'Deku' making your mother scream loudly, tears pouring down her face as she yells for more-,"

And that was when Katsuki Bakugo snapped for the day.

---

I sighed.

When Aizawa-sensei said we had 'guests' for our lessons today I thought he meant something cool. Like a special Midnight lesson set in the school pool, or All Might coming bsck from his extended to leave because he was announcing that school was cancelled for the term because we were instead going to be going on a special trip to Europe. Well, All Might hadn't been teaching our lessons since the 'fateful day.' Midoriya privately assured me that everything was fine and that he would be back, just that he was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that All For One was…

Either way, when three students walked into our class I groaned loudly.

So loud that it attracted the attention of one of them.

"AH! Blueberry-kouhai!" Nejire Hado yelled loudly, running to my desk and hugging me tightly. "I didn't know we were going to be visiting your class today! Yay! Ah, Mina's here as well! Isn't this great?"

"Nejpai!" Mina yelled, getting up from her seat to hug Nejire.

Fuck.

I could feel the glare Jiro was giving, or rather I could feel the murderous intent she had for Nejire. I didn't even need to look behind me to know that Jiro was sharpening her pens and pencils for a 'fight.' Though I don't know who she was going to fight, Nejire or me. Luckily, Kaminari came to the rescue for me.

"AH! Ghosty-kouhai! Are you still a ghost?"

"Uh…" Kaminari was stunned. "You do know I'm not a-,"

I kicked him from underneath the table, laughing as he yelled loudly in pain and Nejire responded by telling him off for being so loud. "Ghosts aren't supposed to be loud!" She lectured him, and each time he tried correcting her, Nejire's voice only grew louder and louder which shut him up quickly.

"Nejpai, what are you doing here?" Mina asked her.

"Well, it started when Mirio said that we were going to all have lunch together. But then Tamaki felt a little sick, so I took him to the bathroom where he vomited all over the floor. Yuck. So Mirio and I left him there and we went to buy him some food to fill up his empty stomach, but by the time we came back, he was gone. So we went looking for Tamaki who had been picked up by Aizawa-sensei, who then said that he wanted us to speak to his class and here we are. Speaking to you, Aizawa-sensei's class!" Nejire explained.

"Uh…" I didn't know how to respond to that.

"Quiet down," Aizawa interrupted, forcing Nejire to stand next to her two friends at the front of the class. "Hado, Togata and Amakiji are third years in the hero course. Now some of you have probably already seen them, or in some cases spoken to them before, so I won't waste anyone's time by going over every little detail about them. These three are currently the brightest and best students that U.A has to offer."

The big three, huh?

I didn't see Luffy, Ichigo or Naruto.

"And I asked them to come to talk to you all today about an aspect of the hero course you all aren't familiar with. Now for some of you, this may not apply to you, for example, Yamazaki if you don't give me your phone in a minute, I will confiscate your phone for the rest of the week." Tch. Kaminari sniggered next to me as I got up from my seat and handed Aizawa my phone, for some reason he always knew when I was on my phone and when I wasn't.

"It's as Aizawa-sensei said!" Mirio began. I sighed at his cheerful demeanour that seemed to make everyone in our class happy, I suppose they found someone similar to them in terms of 'energy' or 'vibes.'

But not my vibes.

Shush.

I ain't like them.

Fuck off.

We're different.

"Hey, can you hurry the fuck up and skip to the point where we fight you?" I cut in impatiently, surprising Mirio and making my classmates angry at me. Midoriya frowned at my use of language, Mina shouted at me for being rude and Aizawa-sensei shot me a stern look that promised detention later on today. Yet despite all that, Mirio laughed it all off, clapping me on the back.

"Haha. That was a surprise, but I can appreciate someone as hot-blooded as you! There isn't a need for me to explain everything to you all, so how about I show it instead? The positives of getting a Hero Work-Study." Bakugo grinned like a wolf at that, and oddly enough even Todoroki looked pleased with the outcome. Wait, was Iida buzzing with excitement as well?!

Didn't these idiots realise he would wipe the floor with them?

Aizawa probably realised what I was thinking, which was why he pulled me out of the class for a few minutes to have a 'chat' with me.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

No, I'm not.

Shut up.

"You look pale," Aizawa pointed out, "I'm sure no one would mind if you paid a visit to Recovery Girl. Hell, your classmates are the type to force you to go anyway."

"I said I'm fine. Honestly, I feel pretty good."

"Alright then," Aizawa replied, leaning against the wall as he handed me a piece of paper. "I know you might not care about my offer, and I'm sure you want to do it all alone. But I do want to help you, Sora. I do want you to grow into the best hero you can be, for all of you in 1A to become the very best. But while most of your classmates may have an idea of what they want to do, I know that you don't. I know you are interested in being an underground hero, so here is my offer for a work-study with me."

"Huh? You'd actually take me?" I asked surprised.

"Why wouldn't I? You work hard for a 'lazy' student, you've been in more life-threatening situations than I have fingers in one hand and not to mention you're pretty stubborn," Aizawa replied. "But you also care. It's your youth that makes you special, and so if you really want to see the underground world, I'll show it to you. Without anything held back. Plus, it'll also mean you can ask my contacts for information about your biological mother."

"Why?"

"You tend to ask 'why' whenever someone ever does anything kind to you, which is why I'll ask you a question this time. Why not? Why not help a student that tries his hardest to be a hero, someone who clearly struggles? Is that wrong of me to do? You could always just ignore the offer."

I stared at the piece of paper in my hands. All I needed to do was sign it, and I'd be working with Aizawa. And that would be it. I'd be working with Aizawa, being an actual hero. I'd be able to find information about her.

"Kid, that's hilarious. You really don't understand, do you?"

Tch.

Why'd I have to think about that bastard's words now of all times? I swear if I ever saw that Isshin guy from the HPSC ever again…

"Can I have a day or two to think over it?" I asked Aizawa, who nodded. He wasn't pressuring me into anything, merely giving me an offer. Yet despite that, I was still unsure. You want to do everything yourself. No, I don't mind asking for help. You do.

I don't.

"Come on. Let's go to Gym Gamma, that's where everyone else will be."

"Why are pushing us to fight Mirio? Do you take pleasure in watching us lose?"

"Sora," Aizawa turned to smile at me, "You know all of those times you've made my life a living hell? Well, you're going to pay me back today, for all of it. So do your best to try and get hit the most, alright? This is one of the days where I'm encouraging you to be stubborn and stand back up."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of support." I scowled at Aizawa, before bursting out into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Say, if I beat Mirio, can I use my phone whenever I want in your lessons? Without you confiscating it?" Aizawa smirked at that, slowly nodding his head as he walked towards Gym Gamma, and I couldn't stop myself from feeling excited.

Hell yeah!

---

"Hell no!" I yelled loudly, staring in disbelief at the idiots standing in front of me. "You want to fight Mirio alone?! You do fucking know that our entire exercise is working together because we can't beat him alone, right?"

"Yadda, yadda, yadda," Bakugo mocked me, "Shut up already! He's just one fucking person, if we 'work together' it'll be overkill! Just watch, I'll take the bastard down with one blast!"

I sighed, turning to Midoriya.

"Convince your boyfriend to change his mind."

"S-Sora, Kacchan isn't my-,"

"FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

I winced at how loud he was.

"All I said was that you and Midoriya are-,"

Before Bakugo could try and fight me, Jiro and Kaminari dragged me away to try and avoid a fight right before we were supposed to be fighting a third-year student. Arguably the strongest third-year student. Kaminari tried his hardest to try and convince me that everything was going to be fine, while Jiro tried her hardest to get Mineta to join our little group.

"It's no use," I told her, "He ain't gonna listen."

"And what if I do listen?" Tch. I stared down at Mineta, annoyed at him.

"You made it abundantly clear that we weren't friends. That you 'had no friends.' Don't be a damned hypocrite, stick to your damn choices if you want to continue acting like you are alone," I turned to Jiro and shook my head at her, "Listen I ain't gonna work with him. Not until he sorts his shit out-,"

"Ain't that a bit rich? Telling me to sort out my stuff?" Mineta provoked, "Sora, you're the most messed up person in our class. How many times have you been stabbed? Nearly beaten to death? You hide it well, but I'm pretty sure you're damaged in the head."

"Say that again."

"Sora, pleas-,"

I pushed past Jiro and walked directly to Mineta.

"I said you're damaged in the head." He told me once again.

That fucking cunt.

How dare he.

He's nothing.

He was my friend.

And this is how he repays me?

"If you got something to say, why don't you say it to my face?" I repeated, pushing him. I didn't want to do this. He pushed me into this. We were close friends. I trusted him, and this is how he repays me.

"Sora-,"

"What?" I yelled, turning around angrily only to face him.

Oh shit.

I ducked to avoid Mirio's punch, forming a cloud to carry me upwards in the air. Tch. Jiro and Kaminari were already on the floor, and I watched as Mirio ran towards Mineta who was starting to panic.

Just ignore that bastard.

Tch.

I jumped off my cloud, which surprised Mirio.

"You want to fight me head-on?" Nearly half the class was wiped out by him alone. I was under no impression that if I fought him all alone that I'd be able to beat him, especially since even though I technically knew the trick to his Quirk - It was the timing that I wouldn't be able to pin down.

If you allow me to take control, I could-,

Shut up.

Creating a sword, I pointed it at him and watched as his grin matched my own.

"Mineta, go to Midoriya. Tell em' that his weakness is that he can't breathe when he's underground, so if we manage to make him stay there for a while then we can win." I told Mineta, who clicked his teeth in response but ran towards Midoriya nonetheless. Mirio looked impressed with my plan, which was why he bent his knees down ready to go into the ground at any time.

"You've made a nice plan, but why tell it in front of me? Doesn't that ruin it?"

"Not really," I replied, summoning some more Nimbus and making a fox and a crow. "I already know that my classmates are going to kick your arse."

"Classmates? I thought they were your friends?"

"It's complicated."

Mirio laughed at that.

"So then what's your role in this? If you know my weakness, how do you expect to corner me with just yourself? Even if you made two other animals using your Quirk, surely you must know it would still be easy for me to beat you?" I shook my head at that, despite my mind telling me to cut loose, I was smarter than that. No, I'm really not!

"My role is simple. I'm gonna fight ya' until either you're dead, or I'm in the grave!" I launched my attack on him before he could properly attack, manically laughing as I drew some blood. I was aiming for the throat, but I suppose his chest will have to do. I watched as Mirio's eyes narrowed and he went underground, but by then my fox and crow were circling around me, waiting for him to eventually come out from the ground.

Fun.

Fighting strong opponents was fun.

But Mirio didn't appear in front of me.

No, he tried to appear in front of Midoriya, Mineta and Uraraka.

Shit, he was going to-,

That bastard was running from my fight!

GET.

OUT.

OF.

MY.

HEAD!

I ran towards Mirio as fast as I could, yelling loudly as I swung my sword down with all my strength, only for him to turn invulnerable at the last second. Shit. Shit. I turned my head slightly to the left and saw a fist coming my-,

---

"Fool. You not only lost your cool, but you rushed the enemy despite making a plan just a few seconds earlier. Do you think in that brain of yours, or what?" Yaoyorozu was tearing me a new one. Not only did my K.O. at the hands of Mirio embarrass our class, but Midoriya couldn't implement the plan in time. Essentially, we lost. I sighed in response, before downing my strawberry milk and putting the empty glass in the sink.

I'd wash it later.

"I know, honestly you don't need to remind me," I replied. "I promise you, next time I won't do something like that."

"You aimed for his throat. With a sharp object." She pointed out. Tch. I didn't think she would pick up on that.

"I tripped over my shoelaces." I tried defending myself.

Yaoyorozu's eyes narrowed, but she didn't press on further with the subject. She was on to me, but most dangerously, she was smart. No, to call her just smart would be a disservice to her, she was highly intelligent - truly a gifted and talented student. It made me jealous. I was happy to be her friend but coupled with the fact that we were both on the top floor made things a little unbearable at times.

"Hey dude, can I speak to you?" Kirishima asked me from behind the counter.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Well… this is gonna sound awkward," Kirishima scratched the back of his head as he refused to meet my eyes. "You know, I sleep in the room below you. So, uh, when Jiro comes over for some 'fun' can you keep it down?"

I-,

Huh?!

"What the hell are you waffling about," I nearly choked on the air. "Jiro doesn't come over for 'fun' in fact we can't have nightly escapades! Yaoyorozu not only checks to see who's in my room at night, but she forbids people from coming into my room after ten!"

It really was like 1984.

"So then… what are the sounds I hear coming from your room? Do you jump up and down or what?"

"Dude, it's cause I'm playing games with Kaminari! That blonde-haired bimbo can't carry a match to save his fucking life! I swear, we play Downwatch 2 and the bastard picks tank to play as V.D.A but he somehow flies off the map like a fucking idiot! But if we switch games to COD, somehow he's a fucking e-sports pro! It's infuriating!"

"I see," Kirishima grinned in as he replied, "I thought you and Jiro were, well, you know."

"I wouldn't allow them." Yaoyorozu added, sounding oddly proud of herself.

"Like you could stop us."

"Well if you want to become a teenage father, go ahead."

"Momo, I know what a condom is."

"And what if it splits?"

"That's why you always carry two."

"...Interesting," Yaoyorozu hummed to herself. Did she not know about the rule? Hell, even Midoriya knew the damn rule. "I'm still not permitting the two of you to enter sexual relations-,"

"Momo, I love ya, but please for the love of God, shut up!" I interrupted her loudly. "Jiro and I have not and for the foreseeable future will not do the deed. End of discussion." Yaoyorozu seemed happy at that arrangement, and Kirishima seemed even more relieved.

"Wait, Kirishima at what time did these noises start?"

"I dunno. Three maybe?"

I gulped as Yoayorozu glared at me.

"I thought that you promised to turn your devices off at twelve," Oh damn, she was pissed. "Wasn't that our agreement?"

"It was a Friday."

"Today is Wednesday."

"Well, I felt sick so I didn't go to school today."

"We walked home together after maths!"

"I…" Damn it! She had me there.

"Sora, please don't tell me the reason why you wake up so late and are so tired is because of you and Kaminari goofing off."

"Of course not," I scoffed at that. "Jiro face times me from eleven to like two in the morning. Most days I'm on a call with her watching something together. If anything, you should be speaking to her. After all, she's the one in control in this relationship." If it meant getting Yaoyorozu off my back for a day or two, I'd gladly throw Jiro under the bus. God damn, she needed to chill the fuck out.

"Fine then. We'll go speak to her right now."

"I-, uh, I have a thing."

"A thing?" She asked me, highly sceptical of what I just said.

"Yeah, he's agreed to go to the gym with me," Kirishima answered for me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "We're gonna go now. He wants to try and lift more, which is so manly! It's making me pumped up right now!"

"Don't get so pumped up that little Kirishima squirts up from excitement." I reminded him, earning me a stern look from Yaoyorozu. However, she realised that she was beaten, and the two of us were off on our merry way. Not to the gym, however, instead, we left U.A grounds entirely.

Fortunately, it wasn't going to rain today.

"Thanks for the save."

"No problem," Kirishima replied as we entered the grocery store. "I'm gonna buy some more ready-made pasta. Maybe some lasagna if they have it in stock. Do you need anything?"

"Just some sweets. My stash is running low."

"Fair enough," Kirishima said, grabbing a basket and throwing as many ready-made meals as he could find in it. "Anyways, have you decided on what hero to do a work-study with?" I nodded at him, picking up a pack of sweets and throwing it in his basket.

"Yeah. I'm gonna do one with Aizawa-sensei. What about you? Still thinking about Fat Gum's offer?"

"Nah. I accepted Fat Gum's offer," Kirishima told me, he tried not to sound too excited, but I could see it in his eyes. He was absolutely buzzing. "Aizawa-sensei's a cool pick for you. I bet he'll throw you in the deep end, but you'll be fine. Probably. You are pretty manly after all, I doubt you won't be able to tackle anything he throws at you!"

'Kid, that's hilarious. You really don't understand, do you?'

That worker from the HPSC words kept on repeating in my head. Just what the hell did he mean? What did I not understand?

"Yeah, probably." Either way, I was going to start going on patrols with Aizawa next week. I smiled at that. Who would have thought that I'd be going on actual patrols this early? Well, I did have an idea, but that doesn't count. It was knowledge I sort of already had, or rather knowledge Tokage told me that jogged a few memories.

"Cheer up! Lately, it's like you've been going through the motions of life or something. You don't even make silly jokes in class anymore." I smiled sadly at Kirishima, it was obvious why I didn't do that anymore.

"Mineta is… he's something alright."

"He's stubborn, isn't he? Manly in its own right."

"I guess. Also pretty stupid. The bastard thinks none of us cares about him. Nah, it's more like he thinks no one could ever care for him. And like, well, I want to reach out to him. But I can't. Every time I try to do it, I'm just reminded how much I've fucked up as a friend." Kirishima snorted at that.

"As always, trying to burden the weight of someone else's sins. You shouldn't blame yourself, Sora. It's not your fault. Being a man means more than just admitting to your mistakes, you also have to know when to accept it's not your fault." I whistled at his advice, smirking as I punched him lightly in the arm.

"Oi. Who knew you could be so wise?"

Kirishima, to his credit, shook his head snorting at what I just said.

"I'm not wise. But my dad, yeah he's pretty wise. He taught me what it means to not just be a man but to be a good person. Heh. I suppose a lot of people wanted to be a hero cause' they were inspired by All Might or Endeavour. But not me. My dad's my hero, and cause of his love of heroes that's where I met Crimson Riot. He's also super manly! He also became a big inspiration for me, but being a 'real man' comes straight from my dad." Kirishima paused to help a short woman out with her shopping, reaching onto a higher shelf to get her a can of food.

He then turned back to me with a smile on his face.

"My dad told me to never take for granted what I have. Even if I don't think my Quirk is particularly flashy or anything. Even if I don't necessarily think I have the personality to be a popular hero, I don't really care. Helping others is what makes a man, and being a hero means I get to help the less fortunate. And you're like that, Sora. Although I suppose you're a little lazier, my dad would probably call you a bum." Kirishima and I laughed at that.

"I'd love to meet your dad. You come from Chiba, right?" Kirishima nodded at that, picking up some frozen meat. "Sweet. That's not far from here. I'm sure I can convince Momo to allow you to skip school for a few days to go back home if you want."

"It's fine."

"You sure?"

Kirishima nodded.

"Then ya' think we can convince your parents to come to visit you? I'm sure your dad would be proud when he sees the man you've become. I mean you've made me proud and I'm just your friend." Kirishima tried to deny it but eventually gave in to the praise, trying his hardest not to show how happy he was to hear it.

"There isn't a need for that. Anyways, my dad can't come."

…

"Dude, I'm so sorry. I didn't realise I was being insensitive and I-,"

"Huh? What are you going on about?" Kirishima asked me, confused. "Oh. My dad isn't dead, he just can't travel for long periods of time. It's his Quirk you see, he used it in a situation once to save a kid who was about to be run over. It's similar to mine, however, the longer his Quirk remains active the more brittle his bones get. After that accident, he was paralysed from the waist down. More than that, he can barely sit up straight. But it's fine, he doesn't need to see me in person to see how far I've grown!"

Resolve.

I could see how determined he was as he pumped his fist in the air, pointing at the nearest CCTV camera.

"I'll show my dad how manly I've become by getting on TV! I'll become an unbreakable, immovable object of justice for everyone around the world! That'll show him how much of a man I've become. But that's for the future, way off in the future."

"Mmh, I don't know," I replied, "In my opinion, you're already halfway there."

Kirishima grinned, fist-bumping me.

"Thanks."

---

Blood.

There was blood everywhere on the floor, on the ceiling, and on my hands.

"S-Sora…?"

Huh?

Jiro?!

She had a hole in her chest, and multiple stab wounds across her body. Perched up against the wall, I could see a trail of blood - her blood - splattered against the wall. She fell to the floor in relief as I rushed over towards her.

"Jiro! What's wrong? What happened?"

"Don't you remember?"

Remember what?!

I stepped over the bodies of Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki and Uraraka. I had to get to Jiro. I didn't dare look down at their empty faces, I ignored the feeling of wanting to cry as I tried to reach Jiro.

"JIRO!"

It was too late.

Her breathing was so light I could barely hear it, until her chest stopped moving entirely. And yet, as I looked around at the destruction around me, it felt like everything was closing in on me. One look in the mirror was all I needed to understand what happened.

I was covered in blood.

Their blood.

I killed them.

---

I woke up clutching my top while breathing heavily. My pillow was drenched with my sweat, and so was my top for that matter. I threw my top in the laundry basket, turning my pillow upside down as I got up from my bed and paced around my room impatiently.

It was five AM.

That was the fourth time I'd gotten this same nightmare this past week.

Nervously, I drank my one-point-five litre water bottle, facing away from the mirror. I was afraid that if I looked at myself through it, I'd still see their blood. It was just a dream, but no matter how many times I reminded myself of that fact - I couldn't help but think it was real. It felt so visceral, I could feel the texture of their blood on my skin…

I-,

…

"I'm a mess."

---

"-and so what I'm really trying to say is that the Kazekiri, your sword, is broken beyond repair. Even the materials were lost, well I used them to create a robot that then blew up, so I used the remaining materials to rebuild the robot only for it to somehow learn sentience and escape from my clutches. Alas, I regret to inform you that we will have to build another sword." Mei explained to me without a care in the world.

"How?" That was my only response.

Mei shrugged her shoulders, using her pen to tap at her head.

"I've been told I have a large brain."

"Large but filled with empty space," I muttered under my breath. "Anyways, as long as we can make a new sword today then everything will be fine. See I kinda forgot about my Kazekiri. Procrastination is my worst enemy, so tell me if you need to do anything and I'll do it! Apart from carrying around heavy things, my arms hurt," They didn't hurt, I just didn't want to carry shit for her. "Oh, and I like the knife. Like a lot, so thanks," I then turned around to face Power Loader. "Also, can I ask for another costume redesign?"

"You didn't like your costume?"

"I did. But can you add a few more colours to it? Like some blue, some white or something. I don't want to look like an edgelord vigilante while on the field."

"Gotcha."

I then turned back to Mei, who was lost in thought as she looked at the old blueprints for my Kazekiri. The Wind Cutter. It never cut the wind sadly. But its era was over, in a sense, it was going to be reborn…

Aha!

"Mei! I found a good name for our new sword!" We already had the basic design down, it was going to be another tachi. It was going to look similar to the Kazekiri, the exact same design with a metal handle on the left that would change its protective shell that made the blade none lethal to a literal lightsaber. Well, the colours were going to be different, grips were going to be added to the hilt and it would be ten times lighter.

I was also going to get a brand new sheathe, and small chains were going to be added at the end of the hilt to give it more style points.

"Really?"

I took some pen and paper from her desk and wrote my idea down.

"Really? You want to go with that?"

"Yeah," I replied, "It's a good name, no?"

Mei laughed.

"It's a super over-the-top name for our second baby! FUCK YEAH, LET'S GET ALL HOT AND SWEATY!"

I winced at that last line.

Maybe I shouldn't have given her three packets of sweets and coffee…

---

"What are you doing?" Koda asked me.

I was currently trying to spy on Mineta. Well, that wasn't true, I was trying to make amends with him but it wasn't really working. So, here I was trying to gather more information about him…

"I'm trying to help Mineta."

"By spying on him?"

"...yes."

Koda sighed.

"Your detective skills suck. You aren't even hiding behind the wall, I'm pretty sure Mineta can see you."

I sighed at that.

Even Hawks and that goon Isshin told me that my reasoning was sort of sucky. I guess I really would be a poor detective if I were to become one. But I was a hero, so that meant that I didn't have to-,

"Heroes still help detectives with their investigations," Koda said, frowning at me. "Didn't you know that? We went over it a couple of months ago in class."

"Then that's why I don't remember it. I don't take notes in class, nor do I really do revision outside of exams. I also probably wasn't listening. Hey Koda, you're smart, can you teach me how to be a detective then?"

"No."

"Huh?" I was more stunned by the fact that it was Koda who refused me than the fact that I was refused. "Why not?"

"I'm not a detective."

"Okay, but like, you gotta know someone who can teach me, right?"

"...I do."

YES!

"Cannya' please introduce them to me. Pretty please? I'll convince Momo to let you keep your rabbit in your room," Koda nearly folded at that. "I'll even throw in a free meal or two for all your troubles."

"Fine. But I'm coming with you!"

"Yeah, no problems. Where is this detective?"

"Like ten minutes away. He's not that far."

"Aha! Sweet, why didn't you introduce him to us earlier?"

"Because he's my grandpa?"

Oh.

Oh.

I nodded at that.

"I see. That makes sense."

It really didn't.

See if I knew my grandpa, and if they were alive, I'd want him to meet my classmates. But I don't know my grandpa, so he can't meet my classmates. Well on Oboro's side at least, I had no idea as to if Yukari's parents lived…

"Alright, let's go!"

"Like… now?" Koda asked me.

"Yep. Ya' know, a couple of months ago you were so shy you couldn't speak to anyone for more than a minute. Now you can hold a conversation and sometimes be witty, isn't that improvement?"

"I will order spiders to crawl into your room."

I ignored him.

There was no he would do that.

And anyway, I had Todoroki next door to burn my room down. And Yaoyorozu to replace my TV, PC and console considering her family company makes the ones I use in the first place, how convenient. But I didn't tell Koda all that, just in case he really did try to put spiders in my room. Eventually, Koda did take me to his grandfathers' house. As he said, it really wasn't that far away.

However, when we knocked on the door neither he nor I expected what would happen next.

The door was swung violently open, and a book was hurled in our direction. I 'took one for the team' and protected Koda by catching the book with my face. An honourable sacrifice, one that I'm sure he would spread the word on so I could become a legend and eventually get a statue made-,

"Where are you going?" I asked him. Instead of walking inside the house, Koda just turned around and started to walk back to U.A.

"Home."

"But don't you want to see your grandpa?"

"Not really."

Huh?

"So then… why did you come-,"

"Because you asked."

"Tch. Is that it?"

He didn't reply, because an older man's voice spoke faster than he ever could.

"Koji? Is that you?" Jumping from the second-floor window, an old man fell to the ground with a thump, missing Koda by an inch. Was he trying to hug him? Somehow, the spry old man got up like it was nothing and tackled Koda to the ground. "AHA! It is you! How many years has it been, my cute little grandson?"

"Seven and a half."

"Really? It's been that long?"

"Yeah, ever since you were, you know…"

Koda's grandpa laughed at that. "Oh, Koji, still as shy as ever aren't you? Oh well. Come inside, I've made us tea. And tell your friend to stop staring at me as if I'm some anomaly, it was only funny for the first minute."

Oh right.

"Hello sir, I'm-,"

"Not interested in your name," He cut me off, "Really, just get inside and sip the tea I've made for you quietly. Jeez. Kids these days, why couldn't you grow up to be more like my adorable little Koji?"

Adorable?

Little?

He was six-foot fucking one!

I'm the 'adorable' and 'little' person when I stand next to him!

This shitty old geezer-,

"Are you going to come in or not? Don't tell me you don't understand simple instructions, has social media truly rotted your brain?"

Sorry, Koda.

I'm not going to take shit from a man so old he probably can't wipe his own shit

"And has old age addled your brains, you old fart! I'm surprised you can even walk straight, are you sure you don't need me to get you a walking stick?" Koda sighed beside me, but his grandfather's reaction surprised me the most.

He laughed.

No, it was more accurate to say he was giggling with glee.

"Good to know some of you in the younger generation isn't afraid to be rude back. Koji, I'm glad you have a friend with a spine," He said, before turning to me and clapping me on the back. "Haha. Sora Yamazaki, right?"

"How-,"

"That little squirt Nanao tells me all about you whenever she visits," He explained with a smile, "The name is Hiruzen Koda. But please, just call me Hiruzen. Being called Koda just makes me feel old."

"You are old."

He laughed once more.

"Koji, I like him. I wouldn't mind if he became your boyfriend."

"I-, you-," Koji was stunned into silence as he refused to look anywhere in my direction. "He already has a girlfriend. And. And. I don't like Sora in that way. Or boys as a matter of fact!" He seemed really angry at that comment. Hiruzen merely raised his hands up in defence.

"Well, you did always seem to like All Might as a kid."

"He inspired me."

"In other ways perhaps?"

"No. Not in any other way than making me want to become a hero."

"Alright then. So, what are you here for?" Hiruzen's tone casually slipped from being jokey and carefree to serious in a matter of seconds. It was jarring to hear, not to even mention how his eyes narrowed which made him look like a real detective. "I know it's not a social call, your mother would never allow it."

Huh?

"You didn't have to bring that up, grandpa."

"You didn't tell your friend the truth, did you?"

"He doesn't need to know," Koji replied. "And if possible, I'd rather keep it that way."

"Hold on, what the hell is going on here?" I found myself asking, confused at the weird tension in the room. "I just wanted to meet a detective 'cause my skills are pretty shoddy. I don't want to intrude on… family feud or whatever this is."

Koji sighed.

"My grandpa used to be a detective. Until seven years ago. He was discharged because of… what was it again?"

"Being too emotional over a case," Hiruzen answered, laying a tray full of biscuits on the table in front of them. "Bullshit I'll tell you. It was a nasty case, but those bastards at the top don't care about justice. They care about getting paid." He sounded so bitter that it surprised me at first, but it was Koji's reaction that shocked me the most. His face scrunched up in anger as if he was used to this.

"I knew coming here was a mistake," Koji shot up from the seat angrily. "It's always about the people on top of you, but never about you. What about us? The family you tore apart because you were too busy trying to solve a case instead of coming to your own grandson's birthday party? Instead of attending grandma's funeral? You do know that the reason why I didn't visit for seven years was because of this? Because you prioritised justice over everything!" And with that he stormed out of the room, slamming the door as he left.

That was…

"Do you by any chance mind if I smoke?" Hiruzen asked me.

"Not really."

"Great," Pulling out a pipe, he sighed as he started to smoke inside his own home. The danger of this was left unsaid, he knew the consequences of his actions - He just didn't care. With each drag, the sadness in his eyes was more profound and easy to read compared to before. He looked rather like Koji in that regard, although he was much shorter. "You want my advice kid? Never work with the government. Just give up trying to be a hero, you'll be happier in the long run."

"That's for me to decide." I sipped on the tea..

"Why didn't you chase after him? I thought you were friends with him, no?"

"To be frank, I'm not that close of a friend with Koji," I answered honestly. "I'm not that good of a friend either. I pushed him to come here despite his apprehension because I wanted to learn what it means to be a detective. To have skills like a detective. I could have asked Nanao, but she's a rookie. She admits it herself that she's new to it. But with Koji it's different, no one in our class is really close to him. We are all friends with him, it's just that he's…"

"Distant?" Hiruzen asked.

"Sorta, yeah."

Koji's grandfather didn't say anything for a few moments, before bursting out into laughter.

"Fate will never cease to amaze me," He said to himself. "You're probably wondering why Koji, who's all quiet and reserved, probably nice to you as well acted somewhat out of character. But you'd be mistaken, that nice facade of Koji's is exactly that - a facade. That fool, does he not think that I don't know why neither he nor my daughter speaks to me in person anymore? I'm aware of my failings not only as a human but as a father and grandfather too."

"All that for an unsolved case? Sounds like hell if you ask me."

Hiruzen had the decency to laugh at that.

"Hell? It's worse than that, squirt. Carrying all my guilt with me everywhere I go, knowing it was my actions that caused all of it… What I would do to just take it back? They say you aren't supposed to live in the past, but I don't see how you can't live in it. Not when the present and the future are full of despair. Anyways, do you want my advice as a career detective for over forty years? Give up. There are some cases worth letting go of, and I can see it in your eyes. The hunger to solve one case."

"Ain't it ironic to say I should be the one to let things go?"

Hiruzen howled with laughter at that, taking a long drag of smoke from his pipe this time.

"That's why I'm saying it to you. I can't let the case go, even now after being discharged there are countless nights with me sitting in front of all the evidence I collected trying to still solve the mystery. If you don't let things go, well that'll be your future."

All alone.

Having pushed everyone who ever cared about me away.

Living a meaningless life, pursuing a single goal without a care in the world to what happens to me - Because I've already lost everything. There wouldn't be anything left for me to lose.

A selfish goal.

Yeah, that sounds like me alright.

No, it doesn't. I'd never do that.

But I already have.

I never have, and I never will.

So why do I still feel like I'm sinking?

"What was the case that got you booted off the force if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ever heard of the 'Flower Killer?'"

"Nah."

"Twenty-three kids dead, each with a flower stuck inside their throat. The bastard was never caught, but he sent us notes after each killing taunting us. I had kids of my own by then, my daughter - Koji's mother- and my son. By then Koji had been born, and so naturally I found it hard to separate my life from my work. 'What if it was Koji?' That was the one question that I kept repeating over and over trying to catch the 'Flower Killer.' I didn't attend my own wife's funeral because I was too busy trying to find them and make them pay. I haven't spoken to my son in a decade, Koji in seven. My daughter calls me every now and then, but she hasn't visited in years either."

"So that's it? This is your life until you die?" I found myself asking, frowning at the thought. Come on, don't be stubborn. Just apologise and-,

"Yep. I won't stop until I put the 'Flower Killer' to bed, permanently. I have nothing left to lose after all."

Huh?

"That's not justice-,"

"I never claimed it was," Hiruzen replied, smiling at me. "You young heroes are all the same. You all talk about ideals, how no one should kill villains and how the system should change for the better. But there is no better system to replace our current, flawed one. Justice isn't for the betterment of the public, it's not about rehabilitation. In our society, justice is another word for revenge. Don't be naive and think that convicting a criminal is going to solve anything."

"And murdering them because you fucked your own life going after them isn't going to solve anything either," I responded annoyed at the old man. "You say you have nothing left to lose, but that's not true. You still have Koji. If he really did give up on you, he wouldn't have come here today."

"True, but wouldn't it be better if he did give up on me? It would save him the eventual disappointment he faces when he realises I'll never be the nice grandpa he wants me to be. You understand what I mean, right?"

...

Yes.

I do.

Knowing that one day my friends and family will realise that I truly am a monster, it would have been better if they found out earlier.

That will never happen.

I won't allow it to happen.

"I don't, nor will I ever understand," I told him. "Because that's giving up on them. Koji's strong, one of the strongest people I know. Yeah, he's sensitive and shy. And it ain't a facade, that's who he is despite the bravado he might put up towards you. But he still gets up and tries to be a hero, unlike you who's given up and at this point is only living to kill someone so you can get the last laugh. You're a joke, and I'll never end up like you."

I was getting angrier by the second.

"Is that so? Then how come your eyes tell a different story," Wha-,? "Confused, are we? Hm, you don't even understand yourself but you're trying to lecture me? Ironic. The fact is that you've already ended up like me. Despite my advice, you're still going to continue with your case, aren't you? A case which I'm sure will lead you down a path you didn't think could have happened. You say how you won't end up like me, but that's your arrogance talking. Arrogance and pride always go hand in hand in the downfall of a person. It happened to me. It's happened to so many others. And it will happen to you, too." He said, pointing directly at me.

Tch.

"I'll be seeing myself out," I replied, getting up from the chair. "Don't bother with walking me out." That bastard, how fucking dare he? What the fuck does he know? He doesn't know me; he barely knows his own fucking grandson, but he has the cheek to claim that he can see my future? That I'm going to fail and turn out like him? Un-fucking-likely!

Yet, why was my heart beating so loudly? Why was my body shaking, why was I unable to stop thinking about his words? Isn't the answer to those questions simple? Because he's right-,

He'll never be right.

Not when it comes to me.

I'll prove him wrong.

I'll never let my friends and family go for a selfish goal!

Is that your desire to be truly a good person talking… or your ego? I wonder.

---

Jiro was in my room.

Well, she was actually sitting on my lap, running her hands through my hair as she told me all about her work-study. She was working with Gang Orca who was extremely impressed with her results during the Provisional License exam. According to her, she was described as an 'exemplar hero in training'. I didn't start my work study with Aizawa until next week, just because the bastard was busy marking exams.

"Sora."

"Hm?"

"Can you…" Jiro buried her head in my chest. Can I what? Wait, no, could she possibly be asking for me to-, "Can you teach me how to play a fighting game so I can pummel Kaminari into the ground?"

That was not the question I was expecting.

I was slightly disappointed but highly amused nonetheless.

Heh.

Sometimes I really do sound like a stuck-up jackass in my head. Although, that does make me sound rather cool in my own way.

"No point in doing so, he'll wipe the floor with you. Anyways, why do you want to beat him? What did he do this time?"

"He vomited outside of my door."

Oh.

"I'm sure you could vomit outside of his room."

Jiro shook her head.

"Idiot, I don't want to look at vomit! Do you know how annoying it was to clean? I even had to ask for help!" I'm so glad that I went home this weekend. I missed out on cleaning up vomit, how fun! "Anyways, when are you going to solve the sexual tension between you and Mineta?"

If I had a drink right now, I'm sure I would have spat it out.

"What sexual tension, you deranged whore!"

"Did you just call me a whore?"

"Keep your yaoi headcanons to yourself."

"You called me a whore!"

"Shut up you cur. Prostitute. Bitch. Filthy Gloryhole-," At that last comment, she decided it would be better to try and wrestle me on my bed. Suffice to say that she lost rather easily, but it was fun to see her struggle and try to escape. "Are we done now? Your mutiny was easily destroyed, however, if you still want to fight… well I'm sure I can find another way to convince you."

"Oh? Like what?"

"I'll play with your hair for an hour."

She stared at me, confused.

"You already do that," To be fair, after a shower, her hair was really pretty. "How about this then? I'll forgive you if you tell me what happens in Bleach!" I smirked at that, that was a rather easy trade.

"You're addicted to it, aren't you?"

"Well if it wasn't for the fact that my… boyfriend writes it, I still would have been a fan. But I'm a very big fan right now, so please tell me if Ichigo and everyone else save Rukia! I need to know!" With the rate Tokoyami and I were going at, we'd probably reach seven-hundred chapters in about two years. Perfect timing. We were cranking around five to ten chapters a week, which was a testament to his drawing skills.

"Yes, Ichigo does save Rukia. As to how, well you'll have to pay me to find out. Or we could schedule our payment with different methods?" I gave her a suggestive wink for good measure.

"I quite like that idea. How does-,"

Before she could finish, my door was slammed open by Kaminari who stormed into my room and sat down on my chair, spinning around on it angrily.

"Grr! I've had it up to here with Mineta! I can't take it anymore, let's jump this motherfucker and steal everything he has-," He looked at me, pinning Jiro down on my bed, then at Jiro, who tried to hide her red face in my chest. "Oh. Uhm. Well then. I'm interrupting something, aren't I?"

"Nope, you're right on time!" I replied, getting up from my bed. Jiro glared at me, before realising that this was my revenge for her saying Mineta and I have 'sexual tension.' Leaving her all flustered and wanting more. "Now let's go solve this mystery, right 'Raggy?"

Kaminari jumped on my back, pointing at my door as he matched my grin.

"Right on, Scoob! And afterwards, I'll let you enjoy your 'Scooby snack' alone in your room!" Jiro sighed, but eventually, she got up from my bed and followed us. Today was the day when Mineta would either realise how stupid he was, or we would never be friends with him for good.

There was no middle ground.

No room for negotiation.

Everyone in 1A was sick and tired of our feud, of Mineta's glares pointed at us when we aren't looking, at his passive-aggressiveness and at how badly he tried to hide his jealousy towards us.

We marched down from the fifth floor to the second floor with a mission.

Kaminari even got off my back as he straightened up, Jiro beside him doing the same with her jumper… wait, that was my fucking jumper! She stole my jumper and she didn't give it back! It was way too baggy for her as well! What the actual fu-,

"Ahem," I coughed, focusing my attention on Mineta's room. "It's time to make fucking history."

Knock.

No one answered.

Knock. Knock.

Still no answer.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Maybe he's asleep?" Kaminari asked, shrugging his shoulders. "He seemed pissed off last time I spoke to him… ten minutes ago."

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Sora, maybe he's not in his room-,"

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Just what the hell are you doing to my door?!"

Right at the top of the stairs, Mineta stared at me in disbelief. He was carrying a Macdonaldos bag, which meant that he had ordered food. It was a big bag as well, and secretly I giggled on the inside.

"It's time to pay up, bitch," I yelled, putting on an American accent. "Give me your motherfucking cheeseburgers or else I'll bust a cap in your ass!"

Jiro sighed next to me, shaking her head at my antics. Kaminari clapped, shooting glares at Mineta as he mimed reloading a handgun and pulling the trigger which would have been threatening if it didn't come from Kaminari. Yet despite all that, Mineta remained firm on the spot and didn't bat an eye to our threats.

"I'm not giving you one of my cheeseburgers."

"How many did you get?"

"Five."

I felt my eyebrow twitch as he said that. This bastard.

"And you won't give at least one to your best friend in the whole wide world who's more like a brother to you anything?"

"You aren't getting anything."

I sighed.

Negotiations had broken down.

"Let's go downstairs."

"Why should I?"

"I wasn't asking. I'm ordering you to go downstairs." At my tone of voice, Mineta took a step backwards. Even Jiro looked a bit wary, but Kaminari continued acting the same as always. I could always count on Kaminari to back me up, he really was my brother in that regard. And it wasn't the same without Mineta. I missed the three of us hanging out, making dumb jokes and getting chased around our school by the girls (Or Bakugo in most cases.)

We were going to resolve this right now.

And then Mineta would give Kaminari, Jiro and me one cheeseburger to make up for all the trouble he gave us.

"And what are we going to do downstairs?" Mineta asked me.

"We're going to talk things out like civilised people. You'll speak your shit, I'll speak my shit, Kaminari is going to take a shit, and Jiro will laugh at this shit. There are too many shits in this sentence, so many that I'm getting hungry, so let's go downstairs and eat some food."

"I'm not giving you a cheeseburger."

"Let's head downstairs." I replied, pushing Mineta down the stairs.

The four of us walked down to the living room/kitchen. Gah, what would you call it? It was an open plan so there wasn't a door or anything standing in their way. The living kitchen? No, that sounded like a nightmare or a shitty D-tier horror movie. I plopped myself on the couch, putting my feet up on the table as Jiro sat on my left, Kaminari on my right and Mineta took the seat opposite us.

No one said anything for a few seconds as he placed his Macdonalds bag on the table, and I was able to snatch it away from him before he could react. I grinned as I reached down to grab three cheeseburgers, one for Jiro, Kaminari and myself.

"Hey, give that back!"

"We're hungry." Was my response as I bit into the delicious cheeseburger. It didn't have any pickles, which was even better!

"That's my food."

"And it's now ours. Welcome to communism, bitch." I handed him his bag back and watched as he ate his fries with a ghost of a smile on his face before he killed it completely.

"Well, what do you want?" Mineta asked me impatiently.

"Why do you believe we aren't your friends?"

"Because you aren't."

I took another bite from the cheeseburger.

"Counter-point, we aren't your friends because you aren't allowing us to be your friends. We do in fact want to be your friend, but because you are being such a pain in the arse we can't be friends right now."

"You stole the food that I just paid for! How dare you call me a pain in the arse!"

"Blah, blah. Don't make me take a second burger," I warned him, "Anyways. You can tell whatever lies you want, but we both know that the reason you are trying to not be friends with us isn't because of our actions - It's cause you think you don't deserve friends. I can read you like an open book man, which is funny because Jiro did the same to me. I thought I didn't deserve to have a place in 1A, and here I am."

Mineta didn't say anything in response, not that I gave him enough time to formulate one in the first place.

"You deserve a place here in 1A just as much as me, Nah, even more than me," I told him. "But even if I wrote a five-million-word essay describing why, you'll never believe me. So instead, I'm going to beat you at your own game."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm going to list all your positive traits."

"Go on."

"Well, you're smart. You're funny, you are knowledgeable in weird subjects, you… you don't smell." Fuck, I was struggling to find good things to say! "Uhm, you're smart."

"You already said that."

"Kaminari, want to help me out?" I turned to face the blonde bastard, only to see him suddenly bash his head against the table and snore loudly. Neither of us reacted, but it did give me an idea.

I yawned and laid my head on Jiro's lap before snoring loudly as well.

If Kaminari was going to fake being asleep, then so was I!

Jiro has Talk-no-Jutsu at a higher skill than me anyways, so I'll just let her deal with things. Teamwork makes the dream work after all, aha.

"Get up you lazy bastards," Jiro growled, pulling at my ear. She then kicked Kaminari in the stomach, which must have been a helluva way to 'wake up.' Jiro then turned to Mineta and apologised on our behalf. "Sorry about them, they are trying to be funny. But it's not working."

"Oh shut up or else I won't snog you anymore." I warned her.

"Snog? Why do you always try to make things we do together sound so… mundane? Seriously, go fuck yourself Sora."

"Why don't you fuck me first?"

Jiro tried to punch me in the shoulder for that comment. Instead, she missed and hit Kaminari in the face instead. Poor sod, all he was trying to do was sit next to me as I annoyed my girlfriend/not-girlfriend. Does he have a death wish or something?

"Anyways, back on topic, isn't there other good traits Mineta has?" Jiro asked me, stepping on my foot to make sure I gave a thoughtful answer. Hm. Ah, that's a good one! Excellent, thanks for the save brain!

"He has good taste in porn."

Jiro stared at me in shock, confusion and anger.

Kaminari simply laughed at my comment.

And Mineta? Well, he was amused.

"How is that possibly a good thing?!" Jiro yelled at me.

"He could be into granny's, but he's not. Although his gangbang fetish is a bit weird, I can see the appeal. Oh and his constant step-whatever fetish is common, not for the family bit, but cause everyone who partakes in step-whatever porn is hot as hell. It's the largest genre for a reason, and it attracts the most premium stars. I can respect a man who knows the industry, but I respect someone who truly is knowledgeable about the industry. And Mineta's knowledge rivals my own, therefore I find that it is a positive aspect about him."

I paused for a second as another positive thing about Mineta came to me.

"He also owns all volumes of Bleach that are currently out. I really do appreciate that, and I would appreciate it even more if he would purchase volume three coming out in December as well."

Jiro groaned at that, rubbing her temples as a way to try and calm her down. Keyword: try.

"Anything else?"

"Hm…" I rubbed my chin, before getting excited. Holy shit, that was stubble. Like actual stubble, I'm going to be able to grow a beard! A… light blue/silver beard. God fucking damn it! "He has a cool computer. Oh, he also likes mayo. Both of us agree that tits are better than ass, but we love titties in all sizes. Mineta also agrees that pirating anime and manga, only purchasing the series you really like, is the best way to go about things. And most importantly, he recognises the genius behind single-player games unlike the blonde bozo sitting next to me."

Jiro just threw her hands up in the air and gave up.

"None of what you just said is a positive thing about Mineta."

I nodded at that.

"True. But they are reasons why I'm close friends with him, and why I believe we should still be close friends. Almost like brothers in a way. Me, him and Kaminari - Brothers bonded not by blood, but by the trials and tribulations we have faced along the way in our coming of age story!" I paused for someone to clap, and sure enough, Kaminari did exactly that. He even tried to whistle for extra effect, although it sounded like he was trying to ask someone for help because he was choking on something.

And Jiro?

She actually smiled at that.

See? I can be a genius!

"Alright, you got me there," Mineta said, smiling at the three of us. "But I still can't get over the fact that I feel like I don't deserve you. Any of you. That I don't deserve whatever this is. That secretly none of you actually care about me. That I really am alone in this class, and saying all those things will never change that. I'll always be blamed if something bad happens, I'll always be the odd one out. I know I'm the most hated member of our class, and you can't change that ever. And people will always hate on me for that."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? Was I not clear?"

"No, you were," I replied, "I'm just baffled at how stupid you are for reaching that line of judgement. Like seriously, have you been looking at porn so much that it's addled your brain or what? You are not the most hated. I'm pretty sure that's Bakugo by a far margin, then maybe me depending on what I've done recently. You are mildly perverted, and sometimes annoying, but to be the most hated? You ain't got nothing on me and Bakugo. It's mildly infuriating that you think you are hateable enough to be a part of our entourage, in our league. Get good, you fucking bozo!!"

That actually did shock Mineta this time.

"B-but other people-,"

"Fuck other people. They look at you from an outsider's perspective. Uh-oh, a fifteen-year-old boy in a diaper costume is horny for girls his age. Perhaps he's a little too horny at times, therefore we must label him to be a bottom-tier person and try to ruin his life. You may be a horny boy in a diaper costume, but you are our horny boy in a diaper costume. Only we in 1A can criticise you, which we really don't. Well, I don't. And neither does Kaminari. Jiro doesn't either, she mostly finds your antics funny."

"You do?" Mineta asked Jiro.

"Yes, I do. They are annoying, true, but it's because they are annoying that they become funny. While at times you do go overboard, and we girls don't appreciate it when it does happen, the fact is that you can fix that by yourself easily. Just don't cross the line to make things weird, and we honestly don't care. I think the 'people' you talk about should shut up before I punch them in the face." Jiro answered, finishing her cheeseburger finally.

She's such a slow eater.

"Mineta, I ain't asking for much. None of us is. Just still be our friend, that's all we want. I understand completely. Well not really, you still haven't explained why you feel this way, but I have my theories," Mineta perked up at that. "It's your parents, isn't it? Or rather, the lack of parental guidance in your life." At this Kaminari and Jiro looked at me in confusion, while Mineta stared at me in surprise.

I'm such an idiot for not realising it sooner.

After all, didn't I go through exactly the same thing in my other life?

My parents were disappointed in me, and so I thought that I didn't deserve anyone in my life. I pushed others away, in both my previous life and when I first got here - It was thanks to the kindness that not only my family showed me, but the teachers here as well. I was so stuck in my own world when I came here that I wanted to believe I was better than everyone else.

Hinata and Gekko tried to help me. But I didn't allow them to help me, I was the one who ignored them this time. It was funny how I was in a cycle back then, for a large majority of my previous life I was ignored. I tried my hardest in football, only to never be good enough to play. I tried to study to get the highest grades in my class, but I was always a few off from getting the top mark. Nothing I ever did ever made my parents turn around and congratulate me.

And I brought all that with me as Sora Yamazaki.

I ignored those who did care about me.

Fujiwara-sensei, my old homeroom teacher in middle school, was the one who gave me that last push to become a hero. Last I heard he had found a new job as a deputy head-teacher in a school near Fukuyama.

First Shirou and Sakura, and now him.

I always have to somehow make it about myself.

But Mineta needed someone like this right now.

"Yeah, you're right Sora," Mineta answered. "My parents aren't around often. I grew up watching the TV more than talking to my own parents. Dad's a drunk, he's either working, sleeping or out in a pub. My mum? She's a party girl, and she hates the fact that she had me at such a young age. Detests it. But those guys who I saw on TV? The guys who got everything they want? Who had a family? They were real heroes. I'm not like that."

"You're right," I replied. Jiro tensed up beside me, she clearly didn't agree with what I was trying to say. "You aren't anything like that. You're better than them."

Mineta looked up at me in confusion.

I see. So this is what it's like trying to help someone who doesn't understand. Hah. This is like being in hell, how the hell did Fujiwara-sensei even manage to convince a schmuck like me to change my mind on everything?

"I believe in you, Mineta. I believe that you will be a great hero in the future. So stop being a stubborn idiot and come back to being our friend, I promise you we don't bite. Well, I don't, but Jiro does so don't tell her I told you that."

Jiro grabbed a cushion and hit me across the head with it.

"You prat! It was once! An accident!"

"Yeah, yeah. How the hell do you accidentally bite a controller?" I asked her, jumping out of the way to dodge her second attack. Kaminari wasn't so lucky as he faced the full force of a cushion thrown at his face by an angry Jiro. Then and again, an angry Jiro was way more fun to easily rile up. That was always good fun, no matter the occasion.

"Alright, you've convinced me."

Huh?

Jiro stopped chasing after me as we both turned to stare at Mineta in surprise.

"Already?" I asked in confusion. I thought it was going to take a lot more convincing to get him to be our friend again.

"I was already planning on trying to make things right today. The food was supposed to be for Yaoyorozu, Iida and Midoriya. For them to help me speak with you, but I suppose you beat me to the punch," Mineta explained. "You didn't tell me anything new. I knew all this, which was why I felt even worse after what happened at the camp. You nearly left for good. I felt really guilty about how I treated you, but I suppose the two of us are both stubborn idiots. I still feel guilty, so I don't even know if trying to be your friend again is the right move."

"But isn't this just… anticlimactic? Isn't there supposed to be more catharsis to whatever this is?" I asked him, scratching the back of my head. I thought I'd feel happier, but if anything having Mineta be my friend again just makes me feel normal.

"True. But isn't that friendship? A real one, not a shitty one. Being able to fight and make up rather easily, doesn't that mean we have a strong friendship? Actually, I don't even think that word best fits what we all share," Mineta stood up from his seat and walked over to me, holding his hand out. "Ever since we first met, talking about how hot some heroes are to the four of us fighting for our lives at the USJ. It's an unbreakable bond, forged through shared experiences, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, shaking his hand and pulling him close for a hug. "It's good ta' have ya' back, bro."

"...Thanks, Sora."

---

"Are you ready to suit up?" Aizawa asked me. It was time for my first patrol with him, which was both incredibly cool and nerve-wracking. I mean just what was I supposed to be feeling right now?! Plus, I was supposed to get my 'new' new costume today, as well as my sword. I left the process up to Mei, who said it had taken her a week to get things right this time.

But above all else, I was excited.

Handing me the briefcase with my new costume, I nearly dropped it on the floor due to how excited I really was. I mean seriously, the first redesign was cool for about a minute, but now I was just wondering what really changed with it.

The mask was identical, only with the thin red line where my mouth was having changed to a thin blue line. I put the mask on, turning to face Aizawa who nodded in approval.

"You use a mask to stop the air from flying in your face. It's essentially an upgrade compared to your goggles from before." Oh right. I had goggles. I didn't reply to his comment, purely because I knew it would break his heart if I told him that I liked the mask because I thought it looked cool. Next up was the meshy jumper, the one that I stabbed with a knife and it was fine. Also, the one that Hawks had trouble with piercing. That was still the same colour as before, grey.

The trousers were also the same, only with more added pockets. Next up was the harness, as well as the knife and the stun baton that I strapped on. I grinned as I looked at the three small balls Mei had packaged with me.

Stun grenades.

Neat.

I took another closer look at the knife, it was certainly sharp enough to cut most ropes but it probably wouldn't cause too much damage if I stabbed someone with it. Well, depending on where I stabbed them.

But it was the coat that surprised me the most.

A long white-grey coat with a high collar, with blue cloud motifs on the edges. It was perfect.

There were even optional gloves that I stuffed in my pockets, I'd only wear them if it got cold. I turned around to look at Aizawa, a grin underneath my mask and he could feel it as his grin matched my own.

"Nothing ever beats watching a student wear their new costume for the first time," He remarked. "However nice your costume may look, it isn't complete without this." Aizawa then handed me a longer briefcase this time. Compared to how Mei usually packed the Kazekiri, this was in an actual container and not wrapped in bubble wrap with a warning stapled to the side.

It even had a handle!

Usually, Mei had sent it in an old Christmas tree box she had laying around.

It made me want to cry.

Oh, grow up already.

A bit rich coming from you, asshole.

"Are we going to stand here all day, or what?"

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed. This was a special moment. "I'll get on with it."

Yet, when I opened the case, I wasn't expecting this.

The Kazekiri was a beautiful tachi representing many things. The fact that I'm Japanese and enjoy samurai, the fact that it's cool and that it allowed me to have a longer reach. It represented who I wanted to be as a hero, strong and proud protecting everyone I cared about. But that was back then when I didn't have all the tools I had with me right now.

My hand signs improved the constructs that I made allowing them to last longer, be more durable and have more range.

Being a hero wasn't just about protecting others anymore, I wanted to make a 'carefree tommorrow' for them as well.

And so Mei completely scrapped the tachi design.

A silver and blue coloured blade.

It wasn't as big as the Kazekiri, but this blade was far superior in allowing me to swing the sword faster at close range. Usually, I'd have to hold the Kazekiri with two hands, but with this sword, I'd be able to use it with one hand leaving one free to make more hand signs, or even throw a stun grenade or two. But it was the intricate design and unique blade shape that drew me in.

It looked fantastical, like right out of an anime or manga.

Maybe even an RPG or two!

It looked slightly like a scimitar, with the handle being curved. Ornate silver engravings with small blotches of blue were dotted around the handle, making it look entirely unique compared to the Kazekiri. The rest of the blade was narrow, albeit with the edge curving slightly inwards near the middle of the blade, to the tip where it curved as a scimitar would. That would be perfect for trapping someone against the wall using my weapon.

From the hilt of the sword to around the middle of the sword, before the inward curve began, there were horizontal lines engraved on the blade, as well as other engravings around the blade to make it look thicker than it is. It honestly reminded me of chocolate swirls, but it still suited the blade just fine. And finally, the back of the sword also curved inwards right at the tip of the blade, before curving normally to meet with the edge and create a very pointy sword.

It felt right in my hands. Not too light where I'd be able to swing wildly, but not too heavy where I wouldn't be able to swing it properly. Unlike the Kazekiri, there wasn't a need for different 'modes' where one would be able to cut or not. This was a sword. A blade that could kill if I wasn't careful. There was no sheathe for the sword, but I didn't need it.

"Are you sure you'll be able to use that thing?" Aizawa asked me. He was concerned, partly because he didn't want to see me cleave someone in half with it, but also because I had promised myself that I wouldn't kill anyone. And I wouldn't. That was a promise I would adhere to for the rest of my life.

"Yeah. It's not going to be my main weapon, just something I'll pull out if things get serious," I replied, "Also, a swordsman needs to know restraint. If I'm going to be training on how to use a sword properly, then I need to use a real blade. As I said, I'm not going to be going for the kill. This is merely just something that completes the set."

The rule of cool.

"And what's the name of your new blade?" Aizawa asked me.

"Well originally, I was going to name it Benirenge. Like the flower. Supposed to represent rebirth or some shit. But looking at what Mei crafted…" I sighed. She really made my life difficult at times. "I have no idea what to name my sword now. It's not even a Japanese sword, so if I use a super complex and cool name I'll look like an idiot." Seriously, now what am I supposed to call it?!

"You can worry about the name of your sword another time," Aizawa told me as he opened up the door. It was around eight PM on a Friday. It was already nighttime, and if you looked hard enough the streets were starting to become empty. We were at one of Aizawa-sensei's safehouses located across the city. 'A hero must always have a safe house or two in the area where they patrol. For most it's their own home, but because I live in U.A I prefer my safe house to be on the other side of the city.'

That was the reasoning he gave me.

But this place was a dump.

It was obvious that Aizawa barely cleaned the damned place, just stepping a foot in here made me want to crawl into a shower and stay there for at least an hour.

"Aren't ya going to say something about the costume?" I asked him. The colours were bright, compared to the original edgy prototype and Aizawa's own costume. "It's not really an underground hero costume now that I think about it."

"It doesn't matter," Aizawa replied. "A common misconception of underground heroes is that we try to be 'sneaky' or something. The reason why we are called underground heroes is that we deal with the cases that the popular heroes don't want to touch, thus we are 'underground'. Having a colourful costume doesn't change the work we do, if anything it makes it easy to make sure you aren't mistaken for a vigilante or worse, a criminal."

"So then why don't you wear a colourful costume? I think you'd suit hot pink."

Aizawa chuckled at that.

"The reason why I don't wear colour is that I won a bet. If I lost my costume for the rest of my career would have been a mix of yellow, green, pink and blue," I shuddered just thinking at what monstrosity the world had been saved from seeing. "Exactly. I'm not someone that wears a lot of colours."

"A purple scarf would suit you."

He grunted at that, acknowledging that perhaps it would look good on him but that he'd never buy himself a purple scarf. I sighed as his eyes scanned over the safehouse once more, he was checking to see if everything was fine.

"Leave your uniform and suitcase here. Once patrol is over, I'll grab them for you then I'll drive us back to the dorm."

"Hold up," Our dorm?! "Do you… live in our dorm?!"

"Didn't you know? What do you think that closed room on the ground floor is for?" Aizawa was trying his hardest not to laugh at me, I could see it in his stupid face! I stuck my tongue out at him. "Acting like a child isn't going to make me move out. Also, I hope you know that I can see whenever Jiro enters your room when you think Yaoyorozu is asleep."

"Get your head out of the gutter, you dirty old geezer," I replied, putting on my mask so I could hide my red face. I was sure that no one had caught us. We didn't do anything, we just slept in our pyjamas together. That's all… Well, she slept on my bed, and I took the floor because I had a single bed. Originally she wanted the two of us to share, but as soon as she fell asleep I moved to the floor.

I didn't want her to wake up and start complaining about how she didn't get a good night's sleep.

A cranky Jiro is a bad Jiro.

Aizawa shut off the lights, and I followed him as we left the safe house. It was an unassuming apartment near the outskirts of the city, a place you'd never expect a hero to stash their costumes and weapons. And porn. I was confident that this was the place where Aizawa stashed his porn, whether it was on a USB, the single laptop in the apartment, or in one of the cupboards that were locked with a key. Even if it took me a million years, I'd find Aizawa-sensei's porn stash!

"So, what are we going to do in this patrol?" I asked him.

"Oh right, your last patrol led to you fighting the Hero Killer, not to mention this is your first time doing one with me," Aizawa scratched his head, thinking for a way to best describe the process to me. Well, I had some idea of what a normal patrol would look like, just not what an underground hero patrol entailed. "Well at first we'll look at areas where crime happens regularly, mostly gang turfs and the odd Yakuza group still about. Then… I'll introduce you to a few 'friends' of mine." He sounded sad as he said that last part.

"Alright, let's do this!" I yelled loudly, punching my fist excitedly.

…

Two hours passed and nothing.

Not a single peep. I was starting to get bored, which shouldn't happen! It's TEN PM, someone please do SOMETHING! A mugging, a stabbing, a whatever! Just give me something to chew on! Of all days to act like goodie-two-shoes, why did ya' bastards have to pick today? Why not tomorrow? Can't ya' just come out and play some shooty-stab with some rival gangs so I can do something!

I turned to look at Aizawa.

He looked the same as ever.

No, if anything he looked more relaxed. Happier. The bastard was enjoying the fact that my first patrol was a boring piece of shit! Look underneath the underneath, Sora! Why would he set this up for me? To show that not all patrols are interesting, even if he is an underground hero? Unlikely. To teach me the ropes? Also unlikely. God damn it, just what was his play-,

"CJ. Get yo' skinny ass over here before I stab you up."

"Minazuki, you threaten me again and I'll bomb your family."

"Dude, your name is Chikatoki Jikihara. The only thing you are bombing is your toilet once you take a fat dump after hearing me fuck your mother for three hours straight."

"Say that again and I swear I'll sell some heroin to your sister! How's her rehab going? We wouldn't want her to have a relapse, now would we?"

"You do anything to my sister and I'll kill your baby brother."

"If you even so much as touch a single hair on my brother, I'll kick the shit out of you."

"Tch, the Hono Tatsu Kai must be pretty shit if they are sending your ass out for negotiations. CJ, how many times have I told you to respect your fucking elders!" The man named Minazuki, a tall redhead with an X-shaped scar across his face kicked 'CJ' in the stomach, making him kneel over and spit out some blood. "You even try to kick the shit out of me, and I'll fucking murder your entire family dumbass."

This fucker-,

Aizawa pulled on my collar before I could get in close. I glared at him from behind my mask, but he didn't budge. He was waiting for something.

Minazuki kicked CJ once again.

"C'mon now, address me with some proper respect and maybe I won't visit your girlfriend. Kushina, was it? An old-fashioned name, but one my boys and I would surely appreciate. Now stand the fuck up and let's cut a deal or else my boss is going to cut my fucking balls off."

"Alright, Aniki." Minazuki grinned like a mad dog at that. He howled into the night, punching CJ in the face as if to prove that he was stronger or better.

"Know your fucking place, trash! Just cause your shitty Hono Tatsu Kai runs a portion of this city doesn't mean we gotta play nice to you. We have our own pride. Tell your boss that the Shie Hassaikai ain't gonna take shit from an old fart acting as your head chairman. Either tell him to step down and make his successor negotiate a better deal, or we'll declare war."

"War?" CJ gasped, punching the ground angrily. "You brutes have no idea what it means to be Yakuza. Do you think you can just waltz into our neighbourhood and demand shit from us? You think you can threaten us with a war on our turf?" Within a second a gun was in CJ's hands, with the barrel pointed at Minazuki's jaw which was shut tight. I was about to jump down below and stop the fight, but Aizawa-sensei's grip on my arm tightened.

Why the hell couldn't I move?

I could save someone if I just went down and beat them up!

"So, you're carrying iron with you."

"Unlike the Shie Hassaikai, we aren't afraid of pulling the trigger. Remind me again of who your boss is. Not the one in the coma, I'm talking about the manchild in charge. The one who always wears a mask? What's his name again? Kai Chisaki? What a fucking coward, if he wanted to start a war he should have come here himself."

Minazuki grinned as he took a step forwards, ignoring the gun pointed at his head.

"Talk shit about my boss again and I'll slaughter you."

CJ pointed the gun a little closer to Minazuki's head.

"I fucking dare you."

And then it happened.

Minazuki injected himself with a serum, right before his head turned into a saw and hacked him into pieces.

Aizawa moved before I could even process what happened, using his Quirk in tandem with his scarf to not only immobilise but also knock the opponent out. Not before smashing his head against a brick wall for good measure. It was brutal, but I couldn't stop thinking about CJ… I couldn't stop staring at his dead body. Even though he was dead, I could still see the surprised look he had on his face. The fear.

I was angry.

"Why the hell didn't we step in sooner?" I shouted at Aizawa. I could have prevented this. "Why did we just allow him to die? We could have fucking saved him?"

"Because that's against the law." Was Aizawa's reply, one that was tired. I was taken aback at how tired he sounded. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep? No, that wasn't it. He was tired because he was used to this.

"The law? I just saw someone get-,"

"Listen here," Aizawa's tone of voice was one I hadn't heard from the man before. "You will do as I say. I'm not going to let you get killed, or worse, start a gang war because you want to save as many people as you can. CJ's death was unfortunate, but it gave us useful information. Maybe All Might might have steppted in, but you saw what happened, right? What if you steppted in and someone still died. Then the two of us would get in trouble for that, big trouble at that."

"Like hell! I thought we were heroes. We just let someone die because it was convenient? Because it gave us information?!"

Nothing was worth killing someone over.

Nothing.

"The fact that the Shie Hassaikai are expanding their territory. They are more centred towards Takoba and the coastline, not west Musutafu. The fact that the east and the west are meeting is… troubling," Aizawa then turned to glare at Minazuki's unconscious form. "He's a bottom-level Yakuza, the fact is that the Shie Hassaikai sent him here to die. Or to send a message. That war is coming. This information will save lives, Aozora. You may not like it, but that's the nature of what I do. A thankless job that the public can never know about."

I gulped at that.

A gang war?

Here in Musutafu?

"So, what are we going to do about it?" I asked him, pointing at Minazuki.

"As I said, we need to speak to some of my 'friends,'" Aizawa replied, dragging Minazuki behind him. "They aren't that far away, just a quick ten minutes walk. We'll drop him with them while I ask them if they know anything about the Shie Hassaikai's recent movements."

"Are they really that formidable?" I mean sure, Overhaul from what I remember was a scary dude. But with the way Aizawa was making it sound like, if the Shie Hassaikai started a gang war it would be the end of peace in Musutafu for the foreseeable future.

"The Shie Hassaikai weren't that notorious until a year ago," Aizawa explained, "Overhaul was a tame leader. He didn't do anything to get on our radars, but we were suspicious. But then a new member joined and all hell broke loose. Ever heard of Azrael?"

"Like the Angel of Death?"

"A doctor who completely destroys his victims. Some of the most horrific crime reports I've ever had the pleasure of reading. But ever since then, more and more Trigger has been flooding our streets. More and more Trigger that's sold for dirt cheap, with the off chance of it working, but somehow people still buy them. They think it'll keep them safe, but really and truly it just puts them in more danger. The Shie Hassaikai not only have a monopoly on the Trigger market, but they are also the ones selling experimental Trigger."

"So why not pull a drug bust?" Wouldn't that solve everything?

"If we could do that, we wouldn't be in this predicament," Aizawa answered cryptically. But he sounded bitter. "Anyways, here we are."

Standing right in front of me was the shadiest place I had ever laid eyes on. An old building with tons of cracks all around it, not to mention some moss starting to grow on the walls. The paint was basically non-existent, and some of the windows looked like they hadn't been washed in decades. But above all else, a single sign-on top of the front door sent shivers down my spine.

Take Borei Ikka.

The Bamboo Spectures Family.

A Yakuza gang.

Aizawa walked in, with Minazuki being dragged behind him, and I followed after him. What were we doing here? Were we going to beat them up? Yeah, that made sense. The Yakuza after all were criminals, I mean just how many lives had they destroyed for profit? How many innocents had died all because they wanted to have some 'fun'? I understood Aizawa-sensei's plan, if we arrested them we'd send a message to the Shie Hassaikai. That the heroes wouldn't tolerate their actions, and if they tried to pull something like that again it would lead to consequences.

The place reeked of cigarettes and cheap alcohol. To the point where it made my nose start to itch, even behind my mask. Yet I followed as Aizawa-sensei took us deeper and deeper into the building. And yet despite that, none of the Yakuza around us seemed to bat even an eye at either myself, Aizawa or Minazuki. It was like it was a regular occurrence for them.

I readied my hand at my blade.

When the fighting starts, I'd be ready.

I'd clear the way for Aizawa and me to escape this place.

Those bastards won't know what hit them.

"Stay close to me," Aizawa ordered as he knocked on a lavish door. Premium wood with a fancy golden ornament placed right at the centre. Tch. It was probably bought with blood money, on the backs of thousands of lives lost. Yet they paraded it around like it was a good thing? Do they even have any idea what life means?! "And don't speak unless I tell you to."

"Enter," A voice replied as the three of us walked into a spacious office. Sitting alone next to a desk was a man in his fifties, he had grey hair and a small beard. He was rather large for a man his age, even while sitting down I could gather that he was a good head taller than Aizawa, but he also radiated a powerful presence. "Ah, Eraserhead. Good to see you again."

"You as well, Ryutaro-san."

Wh-what?!

"I see you've brought a dog with you today," Ryutaro said, pointing at Minazuki. "Those Shie Hassaikai mutts are barking louder by the day, from what I've heard. Alas, these are merely rumours I've heard as the owner of Club Chemistry from across the street."

"Of course. Is there anything you can tell me about the Shie Hassaikai that you've heard from your position?"

Ryutaro hummed, rubbing his thumb against his chin as he looked to be deep in thought. But I didn't care about that at all. I could only stare in disbelief at the way Aizawa was being so casual with… Yakuza. With criminals. Surely this is just for formalities, right? That we'd arrest them after? Right?

"I'm afraid I really don't have any information for you currently. Although, if you hand the new dog you've required over perhaps something could come up." Hah! That fool, does he really think Aizawa-sensei would-,

"He's all yours," Aizawa replied, untangling his capture weapon off Minazuki. "But do keep him in one piece, I will be coming back for him." I watched in horror as he was taken away, and my hand instantly wrapped around my sword. Aizawa took him to a safer place, just so when the fighting started we wouldn't lose our main source of information-,

Bang.

The sound of a gunshot from outside the room rang in my ears. It was such an ugly sound. Not to mention the fact that I heard someone fall to the floor. But there was no way it was… Aizawa would never… We're the heroes, aren't we?

"Now, what do you wish to know?"

"Everything about the Shie Hassaikai. Their movements, any partners they've gained, and the locations of their bases. Hell, even the restaurant which their members frequent the most." Aizawa demanded. Yeah! That was the Aizawa I knew! Asking for so much information that the Yakuza boss in front of us would explode with anger, thus leading to a fight!

"Their movements have been tricky to follow, but from what I can guess it involves trafficking more Trigger into west Musutafu. As well as expanding their territory. Now, as for their partners, well I've just received very interesting information from a trusted 'customer' of mine. The League of Villains has been spotted delivering materials to the Shie Hassaikai."

That didn't surprise me.

Shigaraki worked with them in canon, so why would things be different this time? Hell, maybe even Zero was controlling him or something.

"And the rest?"

"Order your assistant to leave his blade alone and stop glaring at me from behind his mask," Ryutaro replied amused. "Ah, what I would do to travel back in time and live out my youth once again."

"Aozora, stand down."

Tch.

"Like hell, I will!" I shouted, drawing out my sword. Instantly, three Yakuza members surrounded me. "Just give me the order and I'll beat the shit out of these idiots!"

"I said stand down."

What?

"Why? These people are-,"

"I know what they are, so just shut up and let me handle everything."

"But-,"

Ryutaro laughed loudly, his portly belly moving the table in front of him an inch forwards. "Oh, you poor boy. You dogs of the government are all the same. Eraserhead really has told you nothing about us, has he?"

"Ryutaro-san." Aizawa-sensei warned, but the Yakuza boss simply waved it away.

"Oh come on, if you are training the boy surely he should know what being an underground hero entails."

"He's not ready for that," Aizawa replied, glancing at me with a guilty look on his face. "He's far too naive and arrogant to understand."

'You really don't understand, do you?'

"Like hell am I naive and arrogant!" I yelled at Aizawa. That fucking HPSC guy's words. "Just what the hell is going on here?!" Before Aizawa could shut me up, Ryutaro spoke up and explained it.

"A simple law of equivalent exchange," Ryutaro said, pouring himself a glass of whisky. "We don't do any shady 'Yakuza' shit. You'd think we killed the SHie Hassaikai member we just took from you, but we didn't. We shot him in the arm. We will take his blood, his hair and send it back to his gang.A warning of sorts, which isn't against the law just yet. Of course if it does become illegal, by all accounts you can arrest me."

"You're still yakuza."

"We keep everything legit and Eraserhead turns a blind eye to the occasional tax fraud. Maybe some forgery and scams depending on his mood. In turn, thanks to his generosity, we keep our ears open to anything the criminal underworld has to offer. All the new gossip is ready to go. It works for both of us, well for me I've been doing this for decades. This gang has been doing it for centuries. That's the way the majority of us yakuza have evolved in this age."

"Ryutaro, that's enough," Aizawa then turned to stare at me, an empty look in his eyes. "Aozora… just leave. I promise you I'll explain everything later, but just go for now."

I tried to protest, but it fell upon deaf ears.

Excusing the two of us, Aizawa shoved me outside of the room and into a dark corner where no one could listen in to our conversation.

"The hell's your problem?!" I shouted at him. That was… Aizawa was…

"This is the way the world works," He replied. "How do you think we get information? In our age of Quirks, informants we have in an organisation can be found extremely quickly. This way we can protect the peace-,"

"Peace?" I asked him, confused. How is this peace? "You're letting criminals walk around freely if they cough up information on their friends. This isn't peace! How many lives has he ruined because you turned a blind eye? How the hell can you call any of this peace? It's a lie!"

I thought the HPSC was supposed to be the only corrupt one…

What a disappointment.

I looked up at him.

I thought he was better than this.

What am I supposed to do now…?

I really can't trust anyone in this world.

"This is our ordinary peace," Aizawa answered, putting his left hand on my shoulder. "This is what we do as underground heroes. We do the jobs those at the top don't want to do them. Jobs that need to be done. I don't like it any more than you do, but if I don't do this then they'll go right to the HPSC bearing 'gifts.' Two selfish parties coming together for their own benefits is a recipe for disaster."

"And this isn't?"

"If this get's out, I'll be the one to lose face. Not the system itself. The one punished will be me, and so the world will go on unaware of the truth. This is the lesser of two evils, would you rather the HPSC gain more power over the people? Or would you rather individual heroes act as the middle man preventing the HPSC from getting more corrupt? And if you think I'm not waiting for an excuse to put everyone in this building into a jail cell, think again."

"That doesn't make it right." It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"No, it doesn't," Aizawa truthfully replied. "But that's our system. Flawed, and imperfect, but it somehow functions. It can't protect everyone, but that's not our job. Endeavour, Best Jeanist, Hawks - They save people in the public from villains. As underground heroes, we serve to protect the system, which in turn protects the public. It's a thankless job, and we don't get recognition for it. If you want to save everyone without getting recognition then be a vigilante. If our politicians change the system, then so does our purpose. There's a reason a lot of people call us the 'dogs of the government'. Because that's exactly what we are."

We walked back into the room where Ryutaro was still sitting in his seat. But this time two girls were sitting on his desk, with him having grown four hands to… fondle their breasts. The girls looked no older than me. Time seemed to slow down as I stared at one of the girls, she had short orange hair. Like Miwa. If it wasn't for Aizawa grabbing my hand in time, I would have reached for my weapon. I would have killed him. Ryutaro grinned directly at me, winking as he nodded his head towards the door.

It wasn't Miwa.

Was it a coincidence? Or does he know my identity?

Aizawa didn't tell him.

Just…

Tch.

How fucking dare he.

I stormed out of the room, glaring at any Yakuza near me. I hope they try to fight me. I wanted them to attack me. I'm so fucking angry. How dare he?! How is this justice? Just what the fuck is the point of all this? I should fucking kill him!

Eventually, I found an exit, kicking the door open to reveal a small alleyway. ARGH! I yelled in frustration as I punched the wall in front of me. Over and over. I didn't stop until my knuckles were painted red with my blood. I couldn't feel anything. I watched as my skin slowly healed. I was still so angry. I wanted to keep punching the wall, but it wasn't making things better. I should go inside and start exterminating them all.

Why was I treated like a kid?

I'm not a kid.

I'm a fucking hero.

I'm not a kid.

I've been put in multiple life-or-death situations.

I'm not a kid.

Why are they treating me like a kid?

I'm not a kid.

"Ah," An amused voice came from above me. Leaning on one of the emergency staircase railings, a familiar face looked down above me. The same smirk tugged on his face like the last time we met, and this time I was woefully unprepared. Yozora waved at me from the staircase, before leaping down to the ground to stand right next to me, the stupid smirk on his face remaining even after all that. "Why the long face?"

I didn't reply, only wrapping my hand around the handle of my blade.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight," Yozora explained, putting his hands up defensively. "I just want to talk. Me and you."

"A talk? Why the hell are you here?"

Yozora tilted his head slightly to the right.

His Quirk still wasn't activated, and his eyes were brown. The same shade of brown as my own.

Yozora looked the same as he did the last time I met him. Long, messy dark purple hair that went all past his shoulders and fit his tanned skin. He was an attractive man, I could admit that. He was also taller than me, but only by a few centimetres. I had thought he was five foot ten, but standing next to him he was around about five foot eight or nine. Yet even if he wasn't all that tall, his mere presence made me suspicious of him.

Yozora was wearing a navy blue suit with white trainers. Not only that, but he had put on a white beanie which clashed with his outfit completely. He wanted others to look at his outfit and feel annoyed by it because that was who Yozora was as a person.

A provocative person who thrived off reactions.

A jester of chaos.

"Well while you and your teacher were out, I finished some lovely negotiations with a yakuza boss. I gave him two fresh girls that were loyal to Stain. Of course, he never gave them the light of day, so I gave them a mission. But that doesn't matter. Do you like the orange-haired one? She looks like your sister, no?"

…

"You-,"

"Relax, relax. I'm not going to harm your family," Yozora interrupted me, taking a step forwards as his hands were still in the air. His eyes remained normal, which meant that his Quirk still wasn't activated. "I just want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"The past, the present, and most importantly - the future."

---

Only a few hours late on this one.

Oh well.

Next chapter in about... 15 hours?

Probabaly.

All I know is that it'll be finished by the 24th - If not the 25th.