The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Three

Naomasa Tsukauchi's apartment was rather ordinary, he thought.

Ever since his sister moved out, he had struggled to think of what to do with the second bedroom. His first plans were for some kind of storage room, but he found he didn't have nearly enough things to make that worthwhile. Until now, he hadn't had any use for a guest room as work kept him too busy for him to enjoy much of an active social life. He could count the number of friends he saw outside of work on one hand, and he never invited them over. The time to relax and hang out wasn't something he could spare often.

He had eventually landed on trying to turn it into an office or study room. It was the most practical idea he had come up with, and really it only necessitated a few bookshelves and a decently sized desk. He hadn't even removed the bed – frankly, the option of being able to pass out after pouring over case files was too tempting to resist.

Kage Sekai seemed satisfied with the room, or at least Tsukauchi hoped. He was pacing around it in a circle and looking up and down. He didn't look particularly displeased, but something was clearly sticking out as strange to him.

"Is something wrong?" Tsukauchi asked, causing the boy to startle out of his thoughts. He shook his head and gave an apologetic smile.

"No, it's nothing." He said. "It's just…different from what I was expecting, I guess. For some reason, I was picturing a futon." Tsukauchi let out a soft chuckle.

"I considered it, but my sister preferred the idea of a mattress." He explained. Makoto said that it would have improved both of their sleep schedules to get bigger beds, as opposed to the futons they used back when they were kids. Personally, Tsukauchi thought she just didn't like the idea of sleeping so close to the floor.

"It's more…familiar than I thought it would be." Tsukauchi barely caught the boy's words. He seemed to mumble them out, not quite deciding on if he wanted to be heard. Nonetheless, Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow. Even if it was something small, any kind of memory could be used to help solve the case.

"Did you sleep on a bed at home?" He asked. He wasn't expecting Kage to give a definitive answer, so the boy nodding was surprising.

"Yeah. It was kinda like this, actually." He admitted with a wistful tone in his voice. "I had a bunch of bookshelves, and a shelf next to my bed that I used as a desk. Er, a-at least I think I did." He stammered out at the end. Tsukauchi took note of it carefully.

He didn't possess a Quirk that let him see through lies like his sister, but he had been a detective more than long enough to know when someone was hiding something. He wasn't lying before, when he said he didn't have any of the answers they needed, but clearly, he had some memory of a past that he wasn't disclosing. It was possible that it was just the room that brought it out. If so, that was a good sign – visual stimuli being used to bring out lost memories was something pretty manageable. A lot of memory wiping Quirks weren't all that thorough, and could be dispelled with simple methods like that.

Taking Kage on a walk around the area was something he could manage quickly, and it might help him piece some things together. It would probably also be a good idea to check out local train stations and see if they could retrace his steps.

"I'm sure we can get you back to your own room soon." Tsukauchi reassured him. Or, he tried to reassure him. For some reason, those words caused the boy to flinch. His expression lowered. The notion of returning home somehow bothered him. Yet again, Tsukauchi took note. It was possible, after all, that Kage had ran away from home for some reason before losing his memories.

But that didn't match his attitude from a moment ago. Something was missing.

"In the meantime, feel free to make yourself comfortable." Tsukauchi offered. "I'm sure after all the excitement you've been through, you'll want to rest before anything else. The bathroom is just down the end of the hall if you need it." He gestured to it. Kage took a moment before nodding, almost as though he didn't realise he was supposed to respond.

"R-right." He said, and Tsukauchi could tell something was deeply wrong from the sound of his voice. His throat sounded dry and scratchy all of a sudden, and it seemed like he would sob. "Thanks, detective Tsukauchi."

"Just Tsukauchi will do." He said. "Now, it's best that you get some rest. I'll come see you before I head in for work tomorrow to see how you're doing. If you get hungry, there's leftovers in the kitchen. All you need to do is reheat them."

Kage nodded slowly. He walked over to the bed and carefully sat down on it without saying anything. His gaze was latched onto the floor, as though he was somehow enraptured by the wood tiles. Tsukauchi frowned. He supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised that Kage was feeling sad, given his circumstances. He had seemed fine earlier, but it was only a matter of time until everything sank in.

What would All-Might do, he couldn't help but ask himself.

"Kage." He said firmly. The boy turned to him with wet eyes and an empty frown. Tsukauchi channelled as much warmth as he could into a smile, one wide and bright like his friend did all the time.

"We'll get you home. I promise."

Kage moved his lips upward and shut his eyes. It was supposed to be a smile in response.

"Thanks. Goodnight."

Kage laid down in the bed. Realising there was nothing left he could say, Tsukauchi turned off the lights and closed the door. Once it was shut, he let out a sigh.

Somehow, he had never seen a child look quite so sad.

Kage slept. And as he slept, he dreamt.

He found his mind stirring in what seemed to be, at first glance, a featureless black abyss. His first thought was that he was falling, but touching whatever was underneath him revealed that it was somehow solid. Some kind of glass, perhaps? He was able to stand on it just fine. Then again, he was dreaming. There was no need for any internal logic.

Everything about his new life was insane. The new body, the new powers, the fact that he had died, being reincarnated in a fictional cartoon universe. Dreams being strange would be the sanest thing to happen since he woke up.

A thought entered his head and found its way spoken without him ever trying to speak it.

"If I know I'm dreaming, can I see them again?" A voice spoke softly. It took him nearly a full minute to register that it was his own – really his own, not the voice of a Japanese teenager named Kage Sekai. For the first time since waking, he had spoken in his own voice. He had some semblance of himself, even if it was only in his dreams.

The dream was lucid. He understood how that worked. He just had to think of something and it would happen, unless he woke up first. But he figured that if he was going to wake up after realising he was dreaming, it would have happened by now. He shut his eyes and tried as hard as he could to visualise his family.

The images came out blurry and barely comprehensible. He could see their silhouettes, but details were near impossible to make out. Brown hair, maybe? White skin, it seemed. He couldn't see any of their eyes. No, that wasn't quite right.

He couldn't look any of them in the eyes.

How could he? He had abandoned them all. Abandoned everyone he had ever known, every place he had ever seen. Or perhaps they had abandoned him. Perhaps being reborn somewhere else only meant he was unwanted in his own world. After all, if his spirit persisted after death, why couldn't it stay where it was? Dying was bad enough, why did he need to go through a whole new life as someone else now? A whole life that must have had its own family, its own friends, its own life.

Did he kill them?

The thought sent him stumbling back onto the ground. Idiot. Selfish prick. He had spent so much time feeling sorry for himself, sulking that he couldn't go home. But what about Kage Sekai? His new body had a name, it had an identity. One that was also abandoned, one that would never go home itself. Perhaps the two had swapped places, and somewhere there was a Japanese boy trying to talk about Quirks and heroes with some very confused Scottish police. The thought was equal parts depressing and amusing.

"That is not how it works."

He jumped, hastily getting back onto his feet and searching around for the source of the voice. He had heard it before, he knew somehow. It was certainly familiar, though no names came to mind when he tried to recall. Some part of him recognised the voice, but a strange certainty in his head told him that it wasn't his mind.

"W-what do you mean?" He had intended to ask who the voice was, but the second of his questions spilled out first before he could stop it. There was nothing visible in his surroundings that looked like a mouth or a speaker. The black void around him was just a tiny fraction clearer. It wasn't just pitch-black darkness – there was some kind of thick fog that permeated the air around him. It didn't totally cover him, though. There was a window of space around him that was clear of the fog. The floor he stood on and the surroundings around him held no visible landmark of any kind, but it was separated from the outer layer of shadows.

"Kage Sekai is gone. Only you were saved."

"Saved?" He said, the word bitterly crawling out of his throat. He had still died; he hadn't been saved. If anything, this was more of an afterlife. It may have taken an unusual form, but he certainly couldn't say he had been saved from any fate he had faced.

"You were preserved. Your words are strange. Communication is difficult. You are not ready."

"Not ready to talk?" He tilted his head in confusion. "We're talking now, what's so difficult about that? We can just figure out what words to use, whatever you are." He rolled his hand and invited the mysterious voice to continue. He realised as it did that it wasn't speaking from any central point, but rather its voice was being carried around the space as though it were wind.

"Words are not the problem. You are not ready. You need time to adapt."

"You want me to adapt?" He questioned. He put a hand on his chin. Given the apparent difficulty with talking earlier, he wondered as to whether the voice was being metaphorical about adjusting to his new life or being literal. He was in a new body, after all. Was there something wrong with it? Its earliest memories were marked with blood across his hands.

"All of the above. We are not yet in sync. You are not ready. We shall speak again in time."

"Wait!" He called out, but his voice had changed. It was back to Kage's, and as he reached out a hand, he could tell it was that of his new body. The black mist was approaching now, swirling around and taking down the floor he was standing on. He focused and tried to channel his new power to push it back, but all it did was make the mist swirl faster. He looked around. "I still have questions! Tell me who you are!"

The voice gave no response.

"YOU OWE ME!" He cried out. "YOU STOLE MY LIFE AWAY, THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS TELL ME WHY! WHY AM I HERE?!" His voice echoed and seemed to reach the winds, joining the swirling mist. It slowed, but didn't stop. After a pause, the voice spoke up once more.

"The path you have chosen. Is it what you desire?"

He thought about it. He did have a goal now, which he supposed was the intention. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, if he had some grand destiny he was being ignorant of. As for what he wanted, he had no idea what that was. He hadn't really had time to think about what he wanted to do. He was too busy trying to find a purpose or an explanation to worry about his desires. He answered in the only way he could.

"It's all I've got, so it's the path I'll follow."

"I see. You have not changed as much as I thought."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Had he and the voice been friends before? Was there some gap between his death and waking back up in Kage's body, or was there something else, some missing piece he wasn't getting? He was hoping for answers, but all he was getting were more and more questions for the pile.

"Walk your path, and know that I follow. We shall speak again. Farewell, K-"

"-age, are you alright?" He blinked, and suddenly he was staring up at the ceiling of Tsukauchi's spare room. He glanced around without moving. His hand was outstretched into the air, and although it was quickly receding, it had been completely covered in black energy. He also noticed that he was no longer in the bed. It seemed he had moved in his sleep and had fallen over. As he woke up, he noticed a thudding pain in his back that supported this. He groaned as he pushed himself into a seated position. Tsukauchi was looking at him with a confused expression, but he didn't look overly worried. He gave the man a quick smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He rubbed at his eyes with one hand. The darkness had vanished from his other arm, though it felt tingly and tense. Some kind of energy build up? Were his new abilities tied to his stress levels? There was a villain from canon with powers like that, and he even had dark markings on his body – he only remembered seeing him in the manga, so he didn't know if they were pure black like his or some other colour.

"Just a weird dream, I think." He explained honestly. Tsukauchi let out a sigh of apparent relief. For a flicker of a moment, Kage felt bad for worrying him at all, but he pushed that aside. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." Tsukauchi said. He looked past Kage for a moment and over to the window, which Kage briefly looked to as well. It seemed to be early morning, with the sun still midway through rising. "I needed to get up for work anyway. I've got a lot to do, even outside of helping you." Kage tilted his head.

"What do you mean, helping me?" He asked. "Aren't you already doing enough by letting me stay here?" Tsukauchi let out a warm chuckle in response. Kage frowned. He didn't think he was being funny; he was just asking a simple question.

"Well, you're not wrong," Tsukauchi agreed. "But there's more to account for than just giving you a place to live for now. You said you wanted to get into UA, right?" Kage nodded.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with you?" He asked, still confused. He had just woken up from a very confusing dream after an already exceptionally baffling day, so naturally he was having trouble parsing just about anything. "Do you do recommendations or something?"

"Nothing so grand, I'm afraid." He replied. "But your situation is a little unique. We don't have access to any of your academic records, assuming you have any at all. The only thing we have on you is that ID you showed us, and even then, it's clearly been doctored. We have reason to believe whoever or whatever took your memory doesn't want you to return to where you were before, nor do they want anyone looking into it."

Kage considered. The detective did mention how they didn't have much record of him, but it sounded like the situation there was more complicated than he first thought. He did notice the ID was obscured, but he didn't realise that this was a more widespread issue. It was probably for the best, he thought. He wouldn't want to go to some Sekai family and have to explain that he had taken their son's place.

That, in some way, he might have killed him.

He shook his head to dispel that thought. Idiot. There was no point getting hung up on things he couldn't control. If he beat himself up over it, he would never accomplish anything. It didn't matter if what he was doing was immoral if he couldn't change it. He just had to keep thinking like that, and push his guilt as far away as he could. Maybe he could toss it into that foggy abyss from before. At least then, he wouldn't have to look at it.

"Because of that, applying to any high school is going to be a challenge. Especially one as discerning as UA." Tsukauchi continued. Kage refocused on his words and hoped the man didn't notice his brief crisis of conscience. "So, we're going to have to figure out what sort of education level you have first. Once that's done, we can look into transferring you into an appropriate school until UA's entrance exams so you'll have some kind of record to draw from."

Oh, right. Kage had to admit it had completely slipped his mind that UA wasn't just where the plot happened and where heroes were made, but a school. One that required information on all of its students.

He suddenly realised that he would have to go through high school again. He wasn't even done with it the first time! At least he would be learning cool superhero things and not just increasingly boring and largely useless drivel.

"Alright." Kage nodded. He quickly jumped up to his feet and clapped his hands together. Energy was coming to him now that he had a goal, even if it wasn't a particularly exciting one. Hell, maybe some normalcy like school would be just what he needed to keep himself together. Everything else was already so weird, having something simple and recognisable to ground himself would be great. "Where do we start?" Tsukauchi smiled at his newfound eagerness.

"For the moment, I've laid out some basic textbooks and things in the living room." He jerked a thumb in that direction. "I've also taken the liberty of providing an English translation. I've noticed that your Quirk seems to activate when you're speaking Japanese, but not English." Kage instinctively touched his neck. Sure enough, he could feel a faint thrumming energy within the veins around it. In order to speak the native language of the country, it seemed his strange powers were required. He recalled being unable to read the signs outside earlier without activating his powers as well. They were translating things somehow.

Given the rules regarding Quirk use, it seemed likely that such would be considered cheating in an exam situation. He had to figure out how to read and speak Japanese without the use of his powers, then. He was in a Japanese boy's body – don'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutit – so maybe it would have some equivalent of muscle memory to help him along? He hoped so. Trying to learn a new language on his own was not something he was looking forward to.

"What about my…" His mouth lingered on the word. It felt wrong somehow. "My Quirk?" Tsukauchi considered for a moment, but Kage found his attention drawn to his hand. He attempted to focus energy into it like he had done before. It took a moment, but an inky blackness became visible in his veins. He hadn't had the time to notice any sensations in it before. It felt…tickly, like a cold breeze that made his hairs stand on end. Except it wasn't cold. It wasn't especially hot either, however. It was lukewarm in his arm. He waved it around a little and noticed the temperature seemed to slightly shift as it moved around.

"We'll figure something out for that in time." Tsukauchi said eventually. "For the moment, I'd like to ask if you could avoid using it as much as possible. I understand you probably want to test out your abilities since they're seemingly new to you, but you're not a hero or even a hero student yet. It's still illegal to use your powers. We let you off with a warning last time, so please don't make me have to repeat myself." Kage gulped. There was a sternness in Tsukauchi's words that he wasn't prepared for. He got the distinct impression that the man would be "repeating himself" to Kage once he was behind bars.

"Understood, sir." He straightened. He wasn't sure how well he could keep to the detective's instructions, but he wasn't going to do anything to intentionally make things worse for the man. Still, if a situation called for him to use his power in order to save someone, he wouldn't hesitate no matter what the law was.

Tsukauchi sighed, no doubt catching on to his willingness to break the law. Still, he wasn't going to say anything and it hadn't become a problem yet. He elected to ignore it for the moment. He'd given enough warning; he must have thought. If Kage chose to ignore it, that was his problem.

Both of them had too much to do without getting caught up on such things.

Over the next few weeks, Kage's life fell into something of a routine. He would wake up early in the morning and go over more textbooks and tests pulled from the internet whilst Tsukauchi went away to work. He would often try to ask the man about what exactly he was doing, but he remained firm on not disclosing any information about any cases or investigations he had going on.

He didn't even tell Kage if there was any news regarding his own case, though whether that was secrecy or a lack of information, he couldn't tell.

Out of curiosity, he had tried looking himself up a handful of times. There weren't any Sekai's he could find in any phone books, and trying to look up his name online kept bringing him to completely different names than his own. His last attempt had brought him to 'Ichigo Kurosaki'. He'd stumbled into a handful of names he recognised from media in his world.

The connecting element was always some connection to death, the soul or the afterlife. If there was a God, Kage was sure He was finding this hilarious. He wanted to punch Him in the eye.

His initial theory that his new body would pick up on the muscle memory of the Japanese language even with a new mind inside seemed to be accurate. Without his powers, he still struggled to get the tone of his speech across, but it only took a few days before he managed to read his first sentences without them and understand it well. At this point, he was able to read and even write in both Japanese and English with relative ease.

Kage tried not to think about how this meant someone must have taught his body the language in the same way his own parents and teachers had. How they might have been searching up his name in their language and similarly finding nothing but an assortment of references only he could even understand.

He wasn't very good at it, but he still tried.

Once the language barrier was dealt with, his academic skill became his main focus. He was never a great student before, but he wasn't a terrible one either. He had a tendency to rely more on his memories than studying, as he struggled to stay engaged in just pouring over things he felt like already knew. With the motivation of getting into UA, however, he was able to work past his usual disinterest.

Tsukauchi made a point of compiling all of the work he had been doing, building something of a portfolio that could be brought to actual schools in the hopes of enrolling him in something more traditional. Kage learned that he would be expected to attend a middle school, something he never did in his past life – before, he had just gone from primary to secondary school with no in-betweens. He was unsure if that was because of his schooling specifically or if it was a regional difference between his home country of Scotland and his new home country of Japan. He doubted it would matter. If all went well, he'd only have to deal with it for a few months before going off to UA.

Today was no different at first. Kage was managing some maths work that had been giving him a headache yesterday. Mathematics was always his weakest subject, and one he could never find much motivation for in the past. Even with his new goals, he couldn't help but frown at it as he tried to parse the numbers into something that made sense for him. He was so engrossed in trying to decipher the wordless language that he hardly noticed Tsukauchi arriving back from work early. It was only the mid-afternoon when the man made his presence known.

"How's it going, Kage?" He asked as he entered the living room. In response, Kage leaned his whole body back against the couch and let a groan slide out of his body. Tsukauchi laughed. Looking over, Kage noticed he hadn't taken off his coat at the front door like he usually did. "Well then, how about you take a break from that and we try something else?"

"Sure!" Kage jumped up; energy renewed at the opportunity to do literally anything else. He had been so busy with trying to prove his education that he relished whatever else the detective was offering. Even if it was just doing the dishes or cleaning around the house, anything would be better than what he was doing. "What's the plan?" Tsukauchi smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Come with me." He beckoned Kage over. "I'll explain on the way." Kage nodded as Tsukauchi went over to the door. He put on a set of shoes – ones the detective had provided when he found that the ones Kage had been using were torn up, probably from that time he went into a burning building. The man had been very accommodating with him, getting him several sets of clothes on top of all of his other work. Kage didn't know how exactly he was to repay the man, but he was sure there was a debt by this point.

"We're going out?" Kage asked, stepping out from the door and following Tsukauchi outside the apartment building. "Is this a work thing? Do you need me for an investigation?" Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow at him strangely.

"Kage, detectives don't take on kid sidekicks."

"The fun ones do." Kage joked, playfully crossing his arms and pouting. Tsukauchi laughed and ruffled his hair with one hand. Kage smiled inwardly, but made a show of being upset as he shook off the man's hand. The two had an amicable relationship by now, but Kage found some amusement in messing with him just a little. On the surface, his strait-laced attitude just made him fun to tease and play around with, usually meaning Kage would play up an aloof attitude like any other moody teen.

On a deeper level though, Kage was trying his best to keep himself from getting too attached by keeping a distance in a way that wouldn't make him seem too rude or ungrateful. The man was trying to track down whoever his 'real' family was, it wouldn't do to treat him like a parent or a family member.

Even if that was something he needed.

Kage had only been outside briefly before, so he took the time whilst the two were walking to examine the surroundings. The city was densely populated, but the streets were often clearer than he was expecting them to be. They were still busy, but he had expected to be crushed up against everyone constantly. In reality, there was still plenty of clear space and distance between people.

He was slowly getting used to the people themselves, though he still found himself gasping in shock and having to hurriedly look away when he noticed some of the variety of Quirks on display. There were many people with strangely coloured skin, horns or other bizarre features. They passed by a woman with the lower body of a snake wearing a business suit on her torso, being accompanied by a man with stone-grey skin who stood at about eight feet tall. Tsukauchi nodded in acknowledgement as they passed, whilst Kage just kept staring. He'd asked Tsukauchi if they were people he knew, but apparently, he'd only bumped into them once or twice on the way to walk.

"I know it can be a lot to take in, but manners are more important than curiosity." Tsukauchi explained. Kage cringed at himself shamefully, embarrassed to have been called out. "Instead of staring, try just smiling and nodding. People will probably be less put off that way."

"R-right." Kage scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry…" Tsukauchi gave him a nod and didn't belabour the point. Kage made a point to avoid staring as much as he could at the people, focusing on the buildings. Most of the signs were in Japanese, usually advertisements or logos for hero organisations.

The canon series had always presented heroics as a large industry, but it wasn't until Kage was actually in the city that he could really get a sense for just how pervasive it was. Almost every business was in some way tied to heroes. Their merchandise was everywhere and there was no end to the number of conversations about them that Kage overheard. People wore hero clothes, carried hero phone cases and hero bags.

Most of the heroes were ones he recognised. All-Might was everywhere, as expected. Wherever he was, Endeavor was usually not far behind. Best Jeanist was another frequent appearance, particularly around clothing stores. Nezu, the principal of UA, was surprising in how much he was represented. Kage supposed he certainly had a marketable look to him.

There were also a few heroes Kage didn't recognise, which shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. One wore a finely-tailored suit and what looked like a witch's hat that obscured the upper half of their face completely. Another was a helmeted man in a black and white suit with a cape that ran down to the bottom of his back. A third was a woman with a mask that had eight eyes and had large spider legs protruding from her back. None of them rang any bells to Kage. He didn't know if they were exclusive to anime episodes or movies he hadn't seen or if the world he was in was simply larger than he ever considered.

The building Tsukauchi and he stopped at was yet another hero-related business, this time tied to one Kage did recognise. It took him a moment, he had to admit.

"Gunhead Martial Arts Gym?" Kage read the sign on the front of the building. Tsukauchi nodded, making sure his translation was accurate. Kage tilted his head. "What are we doing here?"

"Quirk use is prohibited in public," Tsukauchi explained. "But since you want to get into UA, you'll need somewhere to actually practice your abilities. Determining your limits and the nature of your Quirk should also help in terms of our investigation, so it's a win-win. I asked around and pulled in a favour or two to get a membership sorted. There's even a surprise for your first day." Kage's eyes went wide. He supposed what the detective was saying made sense in a practical fashion. He probably didn't think too much of the effort he was putting in.

But, still. He was doing so much to help some kid he barely knew. Kage was a total stranger. Even if he felt obligated to not let him sleep on the street, this was a lot.

"Thank you." He smiled. Tsukauchi looked at him strangely. He didn't seem bothered, more confused than anything.

"Don't thank me just yet, we haven't even been inside." He sighed. "You might hate it. Worse, you might like it and we'll have to arrange a schedule for your workouts on top of your education. Really, I'm just adding to your workload." He gave a grin as he joked. Kage wondered if Tsukauchi was uncomfortable with gratitude. Maybe he wasn't used to hearing it outside of work.

That seemed sad to him.

They stepped into the gym. It had dark brown wooden floors and beige coloured walls, and seemed a lot bigger than it had on the inside. There was a desk at the front door, and behind it, Kage could see several people practicing some martial arts – he couldn't tell what style it was exactly, but it was definitely some sort of combat work. A few people were sparring and making some use of their Quirks, seemingly enhancement or reinforcement-based abilities good for blocking blows. The desk was being managed by a woman with short brown hair and a visor on her face. She glanced up, seeing Tsukauchi. He tipped his hat in greeting.

"Welcome back, sir!" She greeted cheerfully. "Mister Kuchihige has been waiting for you. I take it that this is the boy you mentioned?" She leaned over to look at Kage. He awkwardly waved, unsure of what he was supposed to do in this situation. He'd never really been inside a gym aside from the ones at school. She gave him a smile and matched his wave exactly, which helped him relax.

"Kage Sekai." He introduced himself. The woman nodded and turned back to Tsukauchi.

"I'll tell him you've arrived. He'll take you to the assessment room you requested." She tapped her visor. It was at this point that Kage noticed that the visor was not a piece of apparel, but was in fact attached to her face. It flashed yellow for a moment and gave off a small 'PING' sound. She nodded and returned her attention to her desk.

"Who's Kuchihige?" Kage asked Tsukauchi. He didn't recognise the name from any canon material. Also, if his understanding of Japanese was accurate, didn't his name mean 'moustache'? What kind of person was named after their facial hair? "Is he the surprise you mentioned?" Tsukauchi opened his mouth to answer, but a suited man slammed doors to reach the two and cut him off.

"I am Kuchihige, my friend!" The man spoke with a refined and posh accent, and wore a suit that would probably have made him look right at home as someone's butler. He had slicked back black hair that rode a little way down his neck and had small and narrow eyes. Kage couldn't tell what colour they were – green or brown it looked like. His most distinctive feature, however, was a thin moustache that reached quite far off his face. It was cartoonish and twirled at the end. Kage noticed that one end of the moustache held a pen. He strode forward and took Kage's hand, kneeling down and shaking it vigorously.

"Hageshi Kuchihige, at your service." He proclaimed, still shaking Kage's hand. "It is a wonder to meet you, Mister Kage Sekai, for I have heard both much and little about you." Kage could tell the man was speaking with a happy and energetic tone, but his mouth was flat and neutral. His moustache seemed to shake slightly, wagging like a dog's tail.

"Uh, nice to meet you?" Kage tried. The man released his hand and stood bolt upright, staring at Tsukauchi. His expression made it look like he was glaring, but his tone remained full of enthusiasm and lacking any hostility.

"Ah, Naomasa Tsukauchi. A pleasure as always! I'm thrilled to see this young man you've taken in is well mannered." He shook Tsukauchi's hand with the same vigour as before, which didn't seem to faze the detective. "The last few I've evaluated were so uncouth." He shook his head with exaggerated bitterness. Tsukauchi sighed before turning to Kage.

"Kage, Kuchihige." He introduced. "He's here for-" Kuchihige cut him off with a raised hand.

"Please, sir, allow me." He said. He turned to Kage. "I am a government agent, you see. Specifically, I work for what is known to the world as the Quirk Unit of Evaluation, or QUE for short. It is our role to assess the Quirks of others, note down their information and assist in the naming of them. We then send this information off to hospitals, schools and other relevant record-keeping organisations so that they might have a detailed record of your abilities for future reference." Kage nodded slowly as the man explained, making theatrical gestures in his speech. He seemed…dedicated.

"Do you usually have to send a person for that?" Kage asked. In canon, he remembered how Izuku had apparently just called up his Quirk registry. Did he have to meet someone like this and it was just never shown? Kuchihige nodded.

"An excellent question, my friend!" He pointed a finger into the air. "A lot of our appointments can usually be done over the phone or at other hospital appointments. It is rare that we get a chance to really stretch our legs, but every so often there is a situation that warrants special attention!" The man made a show of stretching his legs as he explained. The effort seemed to be making him sweat, but he didn't take any notice of it.

"Your case is one of these special notice cases, mister Kage Sekai!" He continued. "I have been informed that you have shown an especially wide range of abilities. Your capabilities, as well as your ambitions and your age seemed like something worth observing in more…active circumstances. Why, when mister Naomasa Tsukauchi gave his suggestion, I couldn't help but agree and arrange everything!" Before Kage could ask what he meant by 'active circumstances', the man pulled a pocket watch out of one of his suit pockets. His eyes widened.

"Speaking of which, we should get moving!" He declared. "We don't want to keep our third and final friend waiting." Tsukauchi nodded. Kuchihige rotated a complete 180 degrees and strode through the doors further into the gym. Tsukauchi sighed before going to follow, encouraging Kage to do the same.

"Sorry about him." Tsukauchi said. "He can be a lot to deal with, but he's very good at his job." Kage shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. I kinda like him!" He admitted. "He seems fun. Is this the surprise you mentioned?" Kage raised an eyebrow. Tsukauchi grinned.

"Not quite." He said. He didn't say anything more as the two of them followed Kuchihige through the gym to a staircase. They walked up and on to another floor of the building. It was less open than the ground floor had been, instead full of corridors and doors lined up all around them. The doors had signs on them, but they didn't denote a purpose. Rather, they simply indicated whether a room was 'reserved' or 'vacant'. Kuchihige walked up to one of the 'reserved' doors and knocked on it three times, moving his hand diagonally across the door with each knock.

"Come on in!" Kage raised an eyebrow. He recognised the voice behind the door, but couldn't quite place it. "I'm all set up for ya." Kuchihige turned briefly towards Tsukauchi and Kage with a raised eyebrow. One end of his moustache moved to stroke his chin. Kage nodded after a moment's hesitation.

Kuchihige flung the door open. Inside was a mostly empty room with a series of mats laid out on the floor. Standing in the room was a muscular man wearing a white mask with four holes on it. His chest was exposed, though he wore a dark grey vest and baggy pants. On his wrists were two large metal objects that looked like gun barrels. He had white hair, wild and spikey behind his mask.

"Howdy!" Gunhead waved politely as he introduced himself. "You must be Kage Sekai. Tsukauchi told me all about you." Kage opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Words failed to come to him for a few moments. He looked over to Tsukauchi, who had walked over to the side of the room with Kuchihige. He grinned and nodded.

So this was the surprise. Kage grinned.

"That's me!" He cheerfully introduced himself. He glanced around the room. There didn't seem to be much in here, so he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing exactly. "I'm sorry, this was all a surprise so I don't really know how this works. This is some kind of test for my powers, right?" He asked. Gunhead nodded and placed his hands on his hips.

"Yup! But we'll also be testing your combat ability." He explained. He nodded towards Tsukauchi. "I'm told you're tryin' to get into UA. A fine goal to strive for, but it's not gonna be easy. Just being able to use your powers won't be enough. You'll want to be able to use 'em well." Kage nodded, realising what was going on.

"That's where you come in. Is this a private lesson?" He asked to confirm. Gunhead gave him a thumbs up. He took a combat stance.

"Sorta. Here's how this is gonna work." He said. "We're gonna have a sparring match! Feel free to use your Quirk as much as possible – we are also trying to evaluate your powers, after all. Don't worry about hurting me, I'm a pro. We'll be going for about ten minutes. If you manage to knock me out of the mats, you win! If you get knocked out, you can just step back in. You only lose if you're out of time. Does all that sound good?"

Kage nodded, starting to get excited. He had used his powers before when he first arrived in this world, but he hadn't had enough time to figure out their limits. He took a deep breath and focused hard. An energy filled his body, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he was now covered in black veins that gave off a faint glow. He did his best to mimic Gunhead's stance, but as he did so, he found his body instinctively shifting to a different one. He put himself a little lower to the ground, with his torso leaning forward.

He wasn't sure why, but it felt more natural.

"I'm ready."

"Alright then, let's get started!"

AN: My original plan here was to use Death Arms in Gunhead's place, but since he's shown teaching martial arts, I felt like he'd be a better pick. Hageshi Kuchihige's name means "fierce moustache" and I made him up pretty much the day before I finished this chapter. Enjoy!