My Hero Academia: Dynamite And A Laserbeam (Definitive Edition)

by DeathlyJazzHands55

Musutafu. The place where it all began. The place where Japan's greatest hero was born, and where his backstory took place. This was the place where the future number-one pro hero was born. But this isn't about him. This is about someone who just wanted to live a normal life and got dragged into this mess. That is Yoshihara Kira's story. (Definitive Edition of MHA: DLB)

9. Ch 8: Renegades

Nemuri walked through the front doors of Love Deluxe with a far clearer and sounder mind than she had when she had left this morning, thanks in part to the pill she had taken. Checking the time on her phone, she frowned. It was 10:30 p.m., and she was only now just getting home. Originally, after their game of Uno, Shouta was going to take Nemuri home. But, he was called out for an emergency hostage situation in Hosu, making that impossible.

Hizashi would've taken her home, had it not been for the fact that he was tipsy, as was Nemuri. So, they both had to wait until Shouta got home for her to go anywhere. Public drunkenness, aside from inside bars, was illegal, and the last thing either of them wanted to be arrested for being drunk in public even if they were only tipsy. So, in the meantime, the pair decided to sit down and watch the first half of the new Gundham series, which had been one of the best ones so far in Nemuri's opinion.

By the time Shouta got home, he was banged up and bruised, but still willing to drive her back to the hotel. Without any fanfare, they did just that. The drive the whole way was silent, neither of them talking about anything. She was half convinced that Shouta was half-asleep driving, but he managed.

That brought her to now, with her standing in the foyer of Love Deluxe, and approaching the counter. The hotel was closed on Sundays, so it wasn't like she was walking up to the counter to speak to anyone. Rather, she was walking up to the counter to pick up a letter that was just.. sitting there.

When she picked up the white envelope, Yoshihara's name was scrawled across it, meaning that it wasn't an officially shipped letter, which made it even more suspicious. Still, she wasn't going to open it. Especially because there wasn't exactly a reason for her to.

Taking the letter with her, Nemuri walked over to the elevator, walked in, inserted and twisted the key, and waited for the elevator to take her to the suite floor as the doors closed. It didn't take long for her to reach the suite floor, and when she stepped out of the elevator, she did so not seeing Yoshihara.

A frown took up her visage. "Where is she?" Nemuri thought, before sighing. "I can't be bothered. Here goes nothing!" As that thought ended, Nemuri cleared her throat and shouted. "Yoshi-chan! You've got a letter! I found it on the front desk!"

As Nemuri finished shouting, a groan came from Yoshihara's bedroom. A few seconds later, a very tired, groggy Yoshihara dressed in a dark blue, white collared nightgown that reached down to her knees emerged from her bedroom, hair covering her eyes and making her look like the girl from The Ring, just blonde and not soaking wet.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up! I thought you were binge-watching more One Piece," Nemuri apologized as Yoshihara grumbled incoherently. Slowly but surely, she walked down the stairs, before stumbling into Nemuri, latching onto her waist to keep herself stable. Needless to say, Nemuri was not comfortable with it. "U-Uh, are you okay?"

"Tired. Need balance. Give me a second…" Yoshihara mumbled, inhaling sharply, before taking a step back and exhaling. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, and with a slightly dry, almost pissed-off tone of voice, Yoshihara spoke. "This had better be important, or I'm going to put cinnamon in your coffee."

"You wouldn't dare!" Nemuri faux gasped, a smirk on her face as Yoshihara chuffed.

"Just give me the damn letter," Yoshihara said as Nemuri passed her the letter in question. Frankly, Yoshihara was not in the mood to be reading anything. She had been very keen on sleeping, hence why she was in a nightgown and not standard attire.

After the meeting with the Midoriya, Inko, Kujo, and Sakunami, Kira decided that it would be worth trying to catch up on the sleep she had missed from waking up so early this morning. If there was one thing she valued more than anything else in the world, it was her sleep schedule. And if anyone messed with it, she'd have a few words to say to them about it. A few very pointed, violent words.

What made the whole thing even worse was that she had actually been sleeping soundly, which was a much-welcomed change after how the last two days had been nothing but stressful. Nothing bad had happened today to warrant her being stressed out, and now, just as she was getting some decent rest, someone had decided it was a good idea to send her mail.

Yoshihara's only question right now was why Kayama-san had decided it was a good idea to wake her up over an envelope with a piece of paper shoved inside of it. Unless it was from someone like The Principal of U.A. saying she got accepted early for some stupid reason or another, Yoshihara didn't quite care what the letter was about.

She wasn't particularly in the mood to read the letter, and after looking at it, seeing her name scrawled across it in thick red kanji, her opinion didn't change much afterward. She looked from the letter, back to Kayama-san, and frowned. "Who's it from?" Yoshihara asked, her tone of voice rough as she yawned into her hand. Kayama shrugged, putting her hand on her hip as Yoshihara walked toward the closest couch to sit down.

"It doesn't say who's it from. But, because it was delivered to the desk, I'd have to assume it was urgent. No one just drops a letter off for no reason, and have it not be urgent," Kayama-san said as Yoshihara rolled her eyes.

"If it was so urgent, then they should've given it to me in person," Yoshihara drawled, before opening the letter. A part of her was slowly getting unnerved by the whole thing. Kayama-san did raise some good points, albeit strange ones. As she finished opening the letter, she took out the piece of paper and unfolded it, beginning to read its contents.

I know who you are, Kira Yoshihara and I also know what the name Midoriya Izuku means to you. If you don't meet me in the forest just outside of Musutafu by midnight tonight, I will kill him, and I know where he lives. Just in case you don't believe me, tell me, does the address 1967 Tattoine Street, Apartment number sixteen on the twelfth floor of the Chewbacca Apartment Complex sound familiar to you? I've included pictures inside the letter of the exact location, too, just in case you think I'm bluffing. If you truly care about him, and truly see him as a friend, then you will do as I say. Come to the forest. Midnight. Not a second sooner, and not a second later. Consider this your only warning. I'll be waiting for you – yours truly: Anon.

Yoshihara's grip on the piece of paper tightened as her expression shifted into one of anger. Someone had been spying on her, someone who knew about Midoriya. They weren't kidding either, as there had been photos in the letter of Midoriya's apartment.

They were serious, and that irked her something fierce.

As the seconds piled on, and as Yoshihara's anger began to stir within her chest, it became increasingly clear that someone was actively threatening Midoriya, and for what? She didn't know, but she was getting angry. It was extremely difficult for her to get genuinely furious. But this did it. She felt her blood boil, and her mind comb over with fury the likes of which she had never felt before.

The only times she had felt this angry was when she was being called a very unpleasant word in that little notebook of hers, or when she had found someone attempting to sexually assault one of the dancers outside of Akira's club around a year ago. But aside from those times, she had never gotten this angry before.

"This bastard has balls, I'll give them that. Just wish they'd say this to my face rather than through a piece of paper," Yoshihara thought, glaring at the piece of paper as Killer Queen appeared behind her. Not even a second later, it ripped the letter to shreds, the pieces of paper hitting the countertop. As it turned out, much to her increasing fury, she was not going to be going back to bed. This was too much to ignore, and it was pissing her off something fierce.

She knew what she had to do, but getting to the location in under two hours was impossible on foot. She had to get someone to drive her there, and the only person she could think about being able to do that would be the partially drunk Kayama-san.

"I'll have to risk it, for Midoriya's sake…" Yoshihara thought, as she looked over to Kayama-san, whose expression had been overshadowed by concern and worry, most likely due to her reaction to the letter.

"Yoshi-chan? Is everything alright?" Kayama-san asked, raising an eyebrow as Yoshihara composed herself, taking in a deep breath and exhaling. The last thing she wanted to do was act solely based on her rage. She had seen far too many anime and read far too many manga that showed the adverse effects of thinking with one's heart instead of their head.

But, unfortunately, she was going to allow her anger to control her. Just this once. No one threatened her friends and got to live to see another day. Not unless there was a damned good reason to keep them alive. Case-in-point, Inko. The only reason she was still alive was because she was Midoriya's mother. If it wasn't for that, she would be dead.

And so, running on that logic, Yoshihara spoke. "Kayama-san, can you drive me to the forest at the edge of Musutafu?" Yoshihara asked as Nemuri bobbed her head ever-so-slightly to the left, her expression going from concerned to confused.

"Whatever for? Just curious of course. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," Nemuri said, crossing her arms with a raised eyebrow as Yoshihara cursed under her breath. Of course, she'd hit her with that question.

"It's important, okay? I—" Yoshihara paused, sighing as she contemplated what to say. She didn't want to tell Kayama about Stands, but as she tried to word what she needed to say, it became more and more obvious that she was going to have to tell her. From what Kujo had told her, and how he had worded it, it seemed like those with Quirks would be essentially useless against Stand Users.

And in a world predominantly run by those with Quirks, an influx of Stand Users in any area with the right abilities could make quick work of even some of the strongest heroes. However, the same could be said about the other way around. It was like a chess match, except it was heavily favoured by one side.

How could one beat their opponent if they couldn't see what their opponent was doing? The short answer was that they couldn't. It was like throwing a softball at a brick wall and trying to break it. Sure, with brute force, one could eventually break the brick wall, but at what cost? At the end of the day, it would be pointless to tell Kayama-san. It wasn't as if she would be able to do anything.

Well… that wasn't entirely true. If Kayama-san used her Quirk and got the jump on the supposed Stand User, then maybe it would be worthwhile. Hell, for all she knew, the would-be killer wasn't a Stand User. They could've just been an overconfident dude with more than likely a shitty Quirk.

"But at the same time, is it worth risking that? There's no real way to confirm if the person who sent this letter was a Quirk User or a Stand User. Either way, one of us is getting horribly injured. There is no avoiding that. Not to mention that with everything happening the way that it has, it would be better to assume that this individual is a Stand User. After all, as the adage goes, "Stand Users attract other Stand users." Better to be safe than sorry," Yoshihara reasoned with herself, her frown deepening.

There were too many outliers to risk Kayama-san getting involved. And so, rather than needlessly endanger the person sheltering her, she neglected that idea completely. She also pushed aside the reason for this person threatening Midoriya to get to her. That didn't matter right now. What mattered was making sure they never had a chance to do that in the first place. Which was the whole point of asking Kayama-san to drive her to the edge of the city.

A part of her considered ignoring the letter. After all, Inko was there and she was a Stand User. One with years of practice on her belt. If anyone could protect Midoriya, it was her. But she quickly threw that notion out the window and into a metaphorical vat of acid. She wasn't going to risk that. Not even in the slightest.

She cared too much about Midoriya to risk his life for her selfishness. It was weird because she had only known him for a short time. But damn it if he hadn't endeared himself to her. It was the only reason why she was willing to go to bat for him like this. To potentially risk her life for his.

There was also the fact that he unknowingly was part of the reason why she didn't kill herself that day after work. Had it not been for her watching that video, then she probably wouldn't have been so busy thinking about her plan to end her life. Otoshi more than likely would've never peered into her thoughts and found out, Kayama-san more than likely wouldn't have been called, and her life would've been over by the end of some rope hanging from an edge of a wall.

She owed her life in small part to Midoriya. So, if she died trying to protect him, then so be it. She was more than willing to die to protect the person closest to her, aside from Akira and Kayama-san.

And so, with a serious expression, Yoshihara sighed. She didn't have to exactly explain what a Stand was, but she still needed to convince Kayama-san to make her stay out of this. And so, with that in mind, she spoke.

"Look, whatever you do, you cannot get involved at all, whatsoever. I know you're a pro hero, but… a villain with a power that isn't that of a Quirk, or at least, I think so anyway, is going to kill my friend if I don't meet my friend's would-be killer in the forest. I need to be there before midnight, lest he kills that friend. The would-be killer knows where he lives, and I don't doubt it would take him very long to get there. So please, can you take me to the edge of the city? I'm kinda in a rush," Yoshihara said as Nemuri recoiled.

"Yoshihara… what do you mean?" Nemuri asked, slowly, looking at her with a hint of worry in her eyes. Yoshihara looked away, shame on her face as her shoulders slumped. She could've worded that better, and she knew it.

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. You could try to understand, but the basic concept would illude you," Yoshihara said, walking over to the couch and sitting down. She was starting to get stressed out. This was the worst thing in the world to wake up to, and it was only getting worse. The clock was ticking, and she had no idea how to tackle this.

"Well, you could still try and explain it," Nemuri began as she approached Yoshihara. "If your friend is in danger, I can always get Present Mic and Eraserhead to help me deal with the villain. It's my job, after all," Nemuri said, sitting beside Yoshihara as she shook her head.

"No. You and your friends be useless against them." Yoshihara's blunt tone shocked Nemuri. Though, it wasn't uncommon for those that she was trying to prove a point. It didn't make any sense to her. Yes, she had taken her medication, so her Quirk wouldn't exactly be in great condition to use, but to be useless… that didn't make any sense.

"Useless… why would I be…." Nemuri frowned, crossing her arms as she looked over at her. "Yoshihara, you aren't making any sense? My Quirk could just knock the guy out, and Eraserhead could erase his Quirk should that fail, and we can get him into a prison cell with Quirk deactivating cuffs. I don't see how I'd—" Without warning, something tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to look over it, only to find nothing. Nemuri paled, looking left to right, up and down, only to find nothing. "What was—"

"That was me," Yoshihara said, as Nemuri looked over to her with a raised eyebrow.

"But.. you didn't move. I would've seen you move if it was you," Nemuri said as Yoshihara frowned, scratching the back of her head as she slumped forward.

"Well, yeah. But… I don't know how to accurately describe this, but, it was me, but it wasn't a the same time. You know how Ghosts work, yeah? How you can't see, interact with, or hurt them, but they can do all of that to you?" Yoshihara said as Nemuri hummed in acknowledgement.

"Yes, I know. But, how does that apply to you?" That was when Nemuri frowned, crossing her arms as she raised an eyebrow. "Although, come to think of it, you said you had a Quirk, but never used it. Not even during training. I outright forbade you from using it during training. I just thought that you were Quirkless and lying to me because you didn't know how I'd react—which I wouldn't have, mind you. I still would've trained you regardless but—"

"Kayama-san, please," Yoshihara interrupted, as Nemuri stopped talking, closing her mouth as Yoshihara pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're right, I don't have a Quirk. I… have something else."

"Something else? What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that I have a power other than a Quirk. So does Kujo. So does his Girlfriend. And, assuming I'm right, so does the guy who wants to kill my friend. We're all a part of a group of people who have powers that have long since gone undocumented, and The Speedwagon Foundation goes out of its way to keep it that way," Yoshihara explained as Nemuri blinked, confusion taking up her visage.

"A branch of The American Government? What do they have to do with—"

"They're not just an American-based organization. They operate all over the world. They even have a headquarters in Tokyo. I'm surprised you never noticed it. They're literally across the street from Might Tower," Yoshihara interrupted again as Nemuri huffed.

"Can you stop interrupting me?" Nemuri said as Yoshihara looked at the ground, clenching her hands into fists. Nemuri saw this and sighed. "Look, can you please stop being vague and just spit it out? The more you dance around it, the less I believe you."

"Alright, fine," Yoshihara said, leaning back into the couch with her arms on either side of her, and as she did, once again, something grabbed Nemuri by the shoulder, only this time, it shoved her forward and off of the couch. Nemuri spun around, only to feel something punch her in the stomach. It wasn't a hard punch, but it made her flinch. She put up a block to protect her face, only to be still hit in the nose, which caused her to trip over the coffee table and land on the other couch.

Nemuri stared at Yoshihara, who stood up, hands in her pockets as she stared back at her, her expression blank and unreadable. "You felt all of that, right? That's my power. You cannot see it, nor can you interact with it in any meaningful way, just like a ghost." As Yoshihara said that, she walked over to Nemuri, and outstretched a hand to her, which Nemuri took as Yoshihara helped her to her feet.

All Nemuri could do was stare at Yoshihara in utter disbelief at what just happened. "You weren't joking when you said I'd be useless… I couldn't do anything at all. I couldn't block it, I couldn't see it. I was a punching bag…"

"That's what I meant by you'll be useless against the person who wants to kill my friend," Yoshihara said glumly, looking away dejectedly. "This is the same power as the villain that attacked me at Midoriya's house, and the same power Kujo and his Girlfriend have. I am a Stand User, and what you felt was my Stand, Killer Queen. They all have unique abilities of their own, and mine just so happens to place bombs on whatever Killer Queen touches. Though, I have to choose to do that, which I didn't this time."

"So let me get this straight," Nemuri began, looking at Yoshihara with narrowed eyes. "For the past few days, you've been dealing with these so-called Stand Users, getting injured to the point of near-death each time, and telling me that these villains had been dealt with by other pro heroes when in reality you've been the one dealing with them, in a sense acting as a vigilante, all under my nose and lying to me about it?" Nemuri asked as Yoshihara shrunk into herself, nodding.

Nemuri let out a long, exaggerated sigh, rubbing the sides of her temple as she contemplated everything that had been said to her. Her, essentially, adopted daughter had gone out of her way to lie to her about doing vigilante work, was hospitalized twice in the same week, and was now asking her to do that again albeit to protect her friend, and for her to assist in it.

She had to commend her for her bravery, even if it was vaguely disguised stupidity in Nemuri's eyes. She wanted to tell her no and frankly, she should've. Then she would deal with it on her own with the help of Shouta and Hizashi. She wanted to tell Yoshihara that she was putting her foot down and prevent her from risking her life again. Not until she was a proper pro hero.

She wanted to do all of this, yet she couldn't. If even for a second what Yoshihara said was true, and if her assumption was correct, then there was no way she could take down the villain and save her adopted daughter's friend's life. And so, even though it was against her better judgment….

"Alright. I'll drive you to that forest. But no more of this nonsense until you at least step foot in U.A., got it? At least then if you get injured you'll have more people to help you out," Nemuri said, getting up from the couch as Yoshihara snapped her head up to look at her with wide eyes.

"I thought you were going to—"

"Punish you? Like hell, I would kiddo. I know it's a bad idea, but if what you say is true about Stands and how I can't do anything to deal with them, then it would be impossible for my friends and me to save your friend," Nemuri said, before heading toward the elevator, "Get changed, and then we've gotta go. It's already almost 11:00. Besides, I think I've got a plan. It might be stupid, but if it works, then we can have this done before the clock strikes midnight!"

As Nemuri said that, Yoshihara nodded, before rushing up the stairs. She hadn't expected Kayama-san to be fully behind her on this, and while this was probably one of the dumbest things she had ever done in her life, she wanted to—no, she had to make sure Midoriya was safe.

After all, if she was going to be a heroine in training, then what better way to prove that than by saving a life?

Determination settled within her bones, as she changed out of her nightgown, and back into what she had worn early that day. She wasn't going to damage a new outfit for something like this—because she knew she was going to get hurt from this, it was a no-brainer. When she got down to the main part of the suite, she joined Kayama-san in the elevator, who was now dressed in a brown trenchcoat, as she put her phone away into her pocket.

"What was that?" Yoshihara asked as Kayama-san smirked.

"Just finished contacting someone. We're going to make a pit stop by the nearby bar to pick them up. With any luck, they'll be ready when we get there. Trust me when I say I think they'll be the lynchpin in our plan," Kayama-san said as Yoshihara raised an eyebrow.

"And what exactly is our plan?" Yoshihara asked as the elevator doors closed. Kayama-san, for her part, just smiled.

"I'll fill you in on the way there. Don't worry, Yoshi-chan, you're friend won't even know what happened. This'll all be done off the record, so it won't affect you. This won't be the first time we've helped Vigilantes, and it more than likely won't be the last."

"We?"

"You'll see." And on that note, the elevator doors opened, and they walked out and out of Love Deluxe. Whatever it was that Kayama-san was planning, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Yoshihara trusted her judgment, because what else could she do?

Either way, it didn't matter. The bastard who sent her that letter wouldn't know what was going to hit them. She would make them pay dearly for what they threatened to do.

No one threatened her friends and walked away alive.

[XXXX]

Izuku couldn't sleep. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't. He lay in his bed, his eyes focused on the ceiling. The fan in the center of his room creaked as it spun while the cold chill of the night quietly breezed through the small opening he left in his window. Anxiety filled his chest as he slowly sat up, letting the covers sloth off of him to reveal his bare chest.

He looked down at himself, slightly impressed with the hard work he had put into his body. Sure, he wasn't at All Might levels of muscle—he doubted he needed to be—but it was something that most kids at Aldera would never achieve. Well, ignoring Kacchan, of course. But still! He was proud of the work he had put in.

Hell, Kacchan even noticed during gym class last week. Rather than sling an insult at him, Kacchan gave him some pointers. He'd even remembered the exact words he had said to him.

"Well, shit. Never thought I'd see the day that scrawny little weak-ass Deku would work out! Just a tip, don't overdo it. You'll ruin yourself. And don't take that as me being nice to you, either, shithead! If you do, I'll blow you up, got that!"

It was odd…. Kacchan being nice to him. It wasn't normal at all. Regardless, he was happy for it, even if he then proceeded to shove him into the side of a locker the next day.

Kacchan was weird. That was why he wasn't entirely convinced that he was a horrible person, despite Kira-san's opinions. While that was all well and good, that wasn't why he was having problems sleeping. Rather, it had to do with his mother, and what she had told him once they had gotten home after their meeting with Kira-san and her other friends.

Cutting straight to the point, his mother had told him that she had been the one to try and kill Kira. That she had been the one to attack them.

To say he was a little angry was an understatement—and it took a lot to make him mad. Only a select few things could make him angry. Seeing little kids get hurt, someone slandering All Might, and liars.

He hated liars.

As far as he was concerned, liars were worse than villains. Because with villains, at least then they wore their intentions on their sleeves. They were evil—for the most part—and they wanted to cause trouble. But a liar? Well, it was in the name. They lied, and lying was to Izuku as The Devil was to Christians.

To an extent, he wasn't exactly thrilled that Kira had lied to him, either. But, because the "villain" in question was his mother, he could let it slide. Only this once, though. In a way, she was protecting him from the truth of the matter—that his mother went out of her way to try and kill his friend.

She said it was for a good reason, but he didn't want to hear it. For the first time, ever, he raised his voice at his mother. He, Izuku Midoriya, shouted at his mom. It was something he never imagined possible. He had never been that angry before in his life. That his mom would try to kill his friend for the chance that something bad could happen in the future was utterly inane to him.

Ever since that, he hadn't so much as looked in her direction. He secluded himself in his room to study, and when his mother brought him dinner, he didn't so much as say thank you. Instead, he glanced at her, and turned back to his work, scooting the bowl of Katsudon closer to himself. He even remembered outright glaring at her at one point.

He felt bad for doing it, even though he shouldn't have. He knew he was completely in the right to be angry at her, but in his heart of hearts, it didn't feel right. At the same time, it had been the first time that he had ever had a friend like Kira-san. A friend that didn't try and stab him in the back or belittle him.

His mom apologized to him over and over again. Yet, despite that, he refused to accept her apology. Izuku was generally a forgiving person. But there were just something's that you didn't forgive. Case in point, what his mother had done.

And yet, he wanted to forgive her. He wanted to be the bigger person here. But after what she did? Both to Kira and to him? Why should he? She used her Stand to beat him up. He had broken ribs for the better half of a day. Without Quirks and advanced medical science to keep up with Quirks, he could've been in the hospital for weeks.

If there was anyone who deserved to be apologized to, it was him. He and Kira. Which, granted, his mother had done already. But that was beside the point. Why should he, a victim of a villain attack perpetrated by his mother—the person who was supposed to do everything in her power to not let something like what she had done to him happen to him—apologize to the villain?

"Because it's the right thing to do, that's why…" Izuku thought to himself, chastising his actions. People make mistakes. His mom made a mistake—albeit a massive one. But it wasn't completely unforgivable. Her motives for doing it, while skewed, weren't awful. All she wanted to do was to protect him, even if it was in a very possessive way.

He couldn't blame her for it, either. All of his life, Izuku had been Quirkless. Picked on by just about everyone and because of that, he was a massive scaredy-cat. He cried a lot and got emotional over the smallest things. People called him names, beat him, and chastised him for existing.

For all of his life, he had been discriminated against. The worst one to do it by far was Kacchan—and yes, he was still using that nickname for him. He was still his friend, even if Kira had made some valid points against him. He knew him longer than she had, so regardless of her opinion, until he did something completely disgusting—which yes, that meant he didn't count the whole "go jump off a roof" thing as unredeemable, despite other people's opinions if they had known—then it would remain that way.

His point was, from his mom's perspective, having at least been a little clued in that he wasn't exactly being treated right at school, and then him suddenly making a friend outside of Kacchan with said friend being a girl, she had every right to be at least a little suspicious. Then there was the whole "Stand users attract other Stand users", and an overly cautious mother could easily go into mother bear mode and see Kira as a threat. A threat that needed to be taken care of.

Although, he didn't know what breaking his ribs had to do with it. Maybe it was a mistake—which, given how his mother was stronger than she looked, he was more willing to say that was the case.

Izuku crawled out of bed, dressed in nothing but All Might-themed pyjama pants. He looked over to the time. It was 12:05, meaning that it had just passed midnight. He walked to his bedroom door, opened it, then walked out into the hallway. He could hear the TV coming from the living room, and as he walked out to the living room, he saw his mother on the couch, staring at the TV with a saddened look on her face.

She noticed him out of the corner of her eye, and looked over to him, her expression perking up slightly. "Izuku, I—"

"No. Just don't. Let me say my peace, and then I'm going back to bed," Izuku interrupted, as his mother deflated a little. "I'm sorry for how I reacted. I was angry, and I still am, but I've calmed down since then. What you did was bad, but it's not unforgivable. I just need some space to myself for a little while."

"And I'm sorry, too… I should've never reacted the way I did either. I've already said this, but I did what I did because I was afraid. Afraid that my past might have caught up to me…" his mother replied as Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Past? What do you—"

Before Izuku could finish his question, his mother's phone rang. She looked down at it and raised an eyebrow. "Kujo's calling?" Inko muttered, confused as she answered the phone and put it on speaker. "This is Inko Midoriya speaking, how can I—"

"No time for chit-chat! Kira's in the hospital and is in critical condition. I don't have any more information than that. Her guardian just called me, frantic and horrified. Get to the hospital, now! I would pick you up, but I'm already almost there, so get some public transport if you have to!"

Before either of them could respond, the panicked-sounding Kujo hung up the phone. Izuku bolted to his room, his expression marred in confusion and panic.

He didn't know why all of this was happening now. Kira was in critical condition, and he didn't know why, but by the sounds of Kujo's voice, it probably had to do with what they were researching.

This then proved that a criminal organization was behind this.

But then, if that was the case, then why did he feel like this was somehow his fault?

[XXXX]

[-Five Minutes Earlier-]

A black and pink striped 2024 Camero pulled up to the edge of a heavily forested area, the front lights on as Yoshihara stepped out, the engine still humming, looking back at Kayama-san who nodded, giving her the all-clear. "I know this is going to sound redundant given what you're about to walk into, but please try and be safe. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do," she said as Yoshihara hummed in confirmation.

The plan was an odd one, and it completely depended on the person that Kayama-san had contacted earlier to do their part, but if it all worked out, then she'd walk out with minimal injuries and a slightly wounded sense of pride.

She turned to face the forest, a chill running down her spine as she stepped into the heavily wooded area. This was, in all likelihood, a bad idea. But given that Midoriya's life was on the line, she didn't care. All Yoshihara cared about right now was making sure that this bastard got what was coming to them.

She glanced at her phone, it was 12:00 am. Whoever awaited her within the forest was about to get the ass-kicking of a lifetime. If there was one thing that you didn't do, it was targeting her friends. This asshole made that mistake, now it was time for him to find out what happened to pieces of shit like them.

Stepping deeper into the forest, far enough to where when she looked back, all she could see was more forest, she found herself entering a clearing. A valley of trees surrounded her at all angles, in a ring shape. It seemed oddly man-made, but then again, the city did have plans for this place to become a park, so this was probably their doing.

As she scanned around the area, a pit formed in her stomach as the sounds of owls hooting and rustling bushes filled her ears. She'd watched one too many B-grade horror movies to know that scenes like this usually spelt trouble, but to hell with that.

"I swear to God, if this doesn't work, and I die here, I'm going to haunt that mosshead until my soul disappears into the aether…" Yoshihara thought as she took in a deep breath, she let a wave of calm blanket over her before. She gave her surroundings a tertiary glance before finally clearing her throat, and speaking out to the forest-like void.

"Alright, you win! I'm here! What the fuck do you want?" Yoshihara shouted, clenching her right hand into a fist as, suddenly, without warning, she felt a searing pain in her left shoulder, blood squirting from the sudden wound as she screamed out in pain and shock.

"AAAGGHHHH!"

Clasping her wound with her right hand, she looked around her immediate area as she gritted her teeth. "The fuck was that?!" Yoshihara thought, her eyes darting from place to place. It felt like a bullet had made dug into her skin. Blood trickled down her arm as she gnashed her teeth together.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't allowed even a moment of downtime, as Kira could hear the sound of something rushing towards her. Instinctively, she dodged out of the way of whatever attack had been thrown or shot at her. When she got out of the way, she glanced over to where she had just been, as three holes appeared in the ground in the spot where she had just stood a few moments ago. Her eyes widened, blinking as she gripped her shoulder.

"If I hadn't moved those things would've hit me! Where the fuck is this guy?!" Yoshihara thought, sneering as she glared at the trees that were in front of her. "That's where they have to be. They have to be in the trees!" She thought as she snarled. "Enough hiding, show yourself you fucking coward!" Yoshihara shouted as a burst of demented laughter filled the air.

"Kshshshshsh! And here I thought you wouldn't show up! I guess it goes to show just how gullible you truly are, Kira Yoshihara!" A voice echoed throughout the forest, coming from every possible angle. It sounded young, around about her age to be exact. "This is a kid! The bastard who's threatening me is a kid?! I thought this was some stupid adult! But a kid?! What the hell is this idiot thinking?" Yoshihara thought as she took a step back, the pain in her shoulder getting worse as she winced.

"What the…?" Yoshihara muttered as lifted her hand from her shoulder glancing at her wound as she let go of it. However, as she lifted her hand, her skin around the wound began to peel off of her shoulder, and along with it, a trail of blood as thick as her thumb began to cascade down her arm. Yoshihara felt sick just looking at it, and to make matters worse, the wound was beginning to turn purple, and as it did, the wounded area only seemed to grow and spread, like some sort of disgusting skin-eating virus.

"What the fuck did you do to me?!" Yoshihara shouted as she looked back toward the trees, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the immediate area trying to look for something, anything to tell her where her attacker was hiding.

"Confused, aren't you?! Well, it doesn't matter! I sent you that letter because I knew at the mention of Midoriya Izuku, you'd come running to save his life from certain death! That's what friends are for, right? Well, unfortunately for you, that'll be impossible! You're Quirk could never hold up to what I have! Once I'm done with you, I—"

"So, my assumption was right," Yoshihara interrupted, her voice cold and full of malice as a pinkish-purple aura formed over her body as the voice sputtered. "You don't have a Quirk. You're a Stand User. Why else would be hiding," She spat, summoning Killer Queen as she sneered. "I don't know where you are, but once I find you, I'm gonna turn you into fucking ash!" Yoshihara roared as the voice went silent.

For a brief moment, an eerie tension filled the surrounding area as Yoshihara's eyes darted from left to right, trying to find where the bastard had been hiding. After a few more moments of tension-filled silence, the voice laughed yet again, only this time it was more subdued than downright psychotic.

"Well, this just got interesting. I look forward to finally meeting you… if you get the chance!" Then, out of nowhere, several objects came flying toward Yoshihara, and as Killer Queen got ready to deflect them, they impacted her body, shooting her in the abdomen, chest, and left leg. She stifled a scream of both rage and pain as the wounds began to copiously bleed. Much like the wound on her shoulder, she could feel them begin to grow and spread rapidly, her skin cracking and falling off as she continued to bleed.

"This bastard…! The damage these things do isn't much, but what concerns me is why the area affected is turning purple…" Yoshihara thought as the pain got far, far worse. So much so that she was forced down onto one knee. Her skin began to fall off at a far more rapid rate and to make matters worse, she was starting to become light-headed from all the blood loss. "His ability… it's eating away at my skin! Not only that, but it's spreading!"

As her skin continued to fall off, pain erupted through her body. It was the kind of pain that got worse and worse as time went on. All the while she could do nothing but panic and look around for where her attacker was coming from. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see a damned thing!

"Damn this bastard! Where the hell is he?!" Yoshihara thought as she continued to look around her surroundings. It was clear that her attacker was in the trees, which put her at a disadvantage. Much like Kujo's Stand, it was seemingly long-ranged. Meaning that he could attack from the safety of the tree tops, while Yoshihara was a sitting duck.

Yoshihara tried to move, but her wounded leg wouldn't so much as budge. From the looks of things, it made sense considering she was shot in the thigh. Thankfully, it wasn't near the femoral artery. It was just below the kneecap. If her attacker had been just a little higher though, she would've bled out. Not that she wasn't bleeding out already, but it was a far slower process.

Killer Queen wasn't a long-ranged Stand by any means. But, that didn't mean she couldn't attack the user. After all, it can turn whatever it touches into a bomb. And so, using that logic, she had an idea. Killer Queen scooped up a ball of dirt and turned it into a compact ball while embedding a bomb into it.

"Now all I have to do is wait until you slip up, fuckface…" Yoshihara thought as she patiently waited. Luckily, it didn't take long for that to happen, as almost immediately there was movement in the branches above. Without hesitation, Killer Queen launched the ball of dirt toward the movement, and as soon as it got closer, the ball fell apart due to a flurry of slashes. However, as the ball began to break apart, Killer Queen pressed its thumb down on its hand, causing the ball to blow up in her attacker's face.

"Ack—you asshole!" The voice of the Stand User echoed out as Yoshihara smirked, a sensation of pride washing over her. If she kept this up, maybe she could hit her target. Although, given that his Stand seemed to be pretty fast, she doubted it would be easy.

"Gotcha, fuckface, now, are ya gonna tell me just what the fuck you want from me, or are you gonna be difficult?!" Yoshihara snarled, attempting once more to stand up, only to fail. Her leg wound had gotten just as bad as the one on her shoulder, and that wasn't to say anything about the one she had under her right breast. It too was starting to get worse, as blood was pouring like a river down her body, pooling around her as a headache began to form.

"Gotta wrap this up as soon as possible… I'm starting to get woozy. Any minute now I could pass out from blood loss… and if I do that, I'm as good as dead…." Yoshihara thought as the voice growled.

"You think that's enough to defeat me?! I won't let some puny explosion even so much graze me! All that did was slightly annoy me, you hear, nothing! Absolutely nothing! DIE!" The voice shouted as several more flying objects came at Kira from two different angles.

Killer Queen dove in front of her, punching rapidly to knock away as many of them as possible, all the while it bellowed its warcry.

"SHIBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBOBO!"

In the end, Killer Queen was able to deflect three of them, as one was able to slip past the cat-like Stand and pierce Yoshihara in her sternum, just barely missing her heart by a few inches.

"AGGGGHHhhhh!" Yoshihara's scream died out as she coughed up blood, a large pool now surrounding her from the collective blood loss from all of her wounds. She choked ever-so-slightly, coughing more and more as Killer Queen yanked a small purple needle-like object from her neck.

It was small, nearly half the size of an actual nail. It was no wonder why Killer Queen had been having a hard time hitting them away, they were the size of half a peanut!

"Hah! Take that! You'll die for sure now! I outrange you, and because of that, I can continuously take potshots at you until you bleed out! Stand or not, weak vermin like you don't belong in U.A.! You're taking up my spot in the recommendation exam, once I get rid of you, there will be nothing stopping me from becoming the most popular hero to date! I'll surpass All Might, and you'll die here, alone and forgotten!"

Fear and anger flashed through Yoshihara as the boy taunted her. Die alone… Forgotten? Those words. She heard them before. It was a coincidence, yes, but all the same, they were the same words that shesaid to her.

Rather than feel useless like she assumed that bastard had intended her to feel, all Yoshihara felt was rage. Cold, unbridled rage.

She refused to die here.

She needed to take this more seriously. It was obvious that they outranged her, and even if she did throw a dirtball in their direction, their Stand would just rip them to shreds before it could explode, making the effort useless. There was no use in wasting her already depleting energy on such a task.

The wounds all around her body had continued to crack and decay, so much so that the areas where the wounds were the skin had deteriorated had gotten so bad that it began to show muscle. Blood continuously seeped from her body as she began to feel even more light-headed than before, resulting in her vision slowly fading. She was running out of time.

"No. I have to do something…" Yoshihara thought, looking over to Killer Queen.

And then, she remembered the plan and a devilish smirk appeared on her face. "This asshole thinks he has me cornered when in reality it's the other way around!" Yoshihara thought, staring up at the tree line, her expression switching to a neutral one. The last thing she wanted to do was to give her plan away.

"Gone silent on me now? Well then, I guess that means I can just finish you off! Who knew that this would be so easy?!" The voice spat as they laughed. "Heh, since you're dying anyway, I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you who I am. But I'm not coming down there, that would be stupid!" The voice said as a boy no older than Yoshihara stepped out from the darkness above within the trees.

A boy that she vaguely recognized. He was from her school, and she had vaguely remembered bumping into him once at the school's entrance.

His grey hair was short, almost in the style of a crewcut and he wore a shit-eating grin on his face. His eyes were bright orange, and he wore a black denim jacket, a spiked collar, and a red v-neck shirt underneath. His pants were a dark grey, and his shoes were pitch black. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, and his posture was lazy, leaned back against the tree as he faced her directly.

Then, there was his Stand.

It was a humanoid Stand, taking the form of a hunched-over, lean, physically boney monster. It had pointed spikes protruding out of its back, and large, five-fingered claws the size of steak knives, with the tips seemingly shaved off, though one of them had been growing back. Its legs were long and spindly, and its feet were completely flat with no toes to speak of.

The stand looked to be the same height as its user, though it had been hunched over, so there was no way of telling. It had a large overbite with jagged teeth, and it had no eyes to speak of, only black empty sockets.

"S-So… you're the bastard who threatened to kill my f-friend," Yoshihara stammered, her skin slowly going pale due to blood loss as the Stand User smirked.

"Yup! And to think that was all it took to draw you out was threatening that pathetic, Quirkless loser! You really are a weakling, aren't you? Both in mind and in ability! I mean, who cares about that waste of air? He's gonna kill himself anyway, right? All Quirkless failures kill themselves in the end, so you've been wasting your time!" The Stand user taunted as Yoshihara felt her blood boil. However, she kept calm. She was waiting for something to happen, and it was taking its sweet time.

"Come on now, any day now!" Yoshihara thought as her body began to shake. By her estimation, she only had another minute before she would fall unconscious.

The Stand use sneered at her silence, and then, he scoffed. "I hadn't expected you to be a Stand User, though. That genuinely caught me off guard! But, it seems as if my worries were completely unfounded! Your Stand can't hope to hurt me! I outrange you by a decent amount! Even with your stupid little explosion ability, you're nothing compared to my Stand!" The Stand user boasted, his eyes gaining a demented shine as he laughed.

"You know what? Because I'm so confident you'll die, I'll tell you my name as well! Hell, maybe you'll recognize my family's name. After all… you did kill my uncle. He followed you to that corner store, and now I know how you killed him. You blew him up using your Stand! So think of this as karmic retribution! So you better remember the name Taro! Taro Tatsugi! My Stand is Renegades! I'm sure you probably don't care, but it doesn't matter, now does it, cause you're gonna die!"

Taro smirked, a silver aura forming around his body as he narrowed his eyes at Yoshihara. "Renegades poison isn't exactly the strongest, but the more of it that's in your body, the more lethal it becomes, so just stand still, all I gotta do is shoot you five more times, and I'll put you out of your misery!" Taro spat as Renegades aimed one of its fingers toward Yoshihara.

Just then, a shadow silently slinked behind both Taro and Renegades. When Yoshihara saw that, a dangerous smile took over her visage as her eyes gleamed with determination. A surge of adrenaline flowed through her body as she slowly began to stand up on shaky legs, blood dripping from her body as Taro recoiled.

"Eh?! How the fuck are you standing up! I hit you in a major tendon! You shouldn't be able to stand up!" Taro shouted, confusion on his face as Yoshihara glared at Taro, rage pouring out of her in the form of killing intent, which caused Taro to pale.

"You know… people like you… piss me off," Yoshihara started, reaching for something in her pocket. Renegades fired off one of its poison-filled nails, aiming directly for her wrist. However, Killer Queen deflected the shot as it bounced harmlessly into the ground, making Taro snarl. It was then that Yoshihara pulled out a walkie-talkie with the receiver end taped down so that it was always captured audio. "So I came prepared."

"W-What?! Who were you talking to?! I told you to come alone!" Taro shouted, taking a step back on the branch he was on as a hand snapped down on his shoulder. The grip was strong enough that it made a cracking sound, causing Taro to wince. The boy spun around, coming face to face with two narrowed, red-glowing eyes.

"Boo," the man spoke as a strange bandage-like material wrapped around Taro, squeezing and restraining him, forcing the boy to put away his Stand as it sucked the air out of him. The man's long black hair rose high, and the stubble on his chin seemed to have the same effect, though not as badly. The man wore a black bodysuit, along with a grey utility belt that matched his scarf. Not only that, but he also wore a pair of black sneakers, which completed his look.

The man glared daggers at Taro, who began to sweat bullets. "W-What the fuck?! H-How did you—"

"Shut up," The man interrupted, his tone blunt and dry, just like his eyes. "It's people like you, who do whatever they possibly can to attempt to be heroes that sicken me. Especially if they resort to means like this. I have to hand it to the problem child, when I first heard her explanation, I was worried I would be dealing with a crazy kid, alongside a crazy woman that I call a friend. But from what I've seen today? And considering I've had my Quirk directed on you the entire time, with nothing happening? I was wrong about that. So now, you're going to jail for the attempted murder of a minor," the Pro Hero Eraserhead said, taking Taro's spot on the branch as he dangled, all the while he stared in horror.

"WHAT!?"

[30 minutes ago…]

Nemuri and Yoshihara pulled up to a bar near the outskirts of Musutafu where a man in a black tracksuit and a massive scarf stood, leaning against the wall of a dive bar. Nemuri and Yoshihara stepped out of the car as the man let out a sigh.

"Alright, Nemuri, this better be good, otherwise I'm going back to bed. My patrol doesn't start for another few hours, so dragging me out here better be worth it." the man said as Nemuri waved him off dismissively.

"Oh Shouta, you know full well that I would never call you during your little nap time with your boyfriend~," Nemuri said as Shouta coughed into his hand.

"Nemuri, please, no teasing right now. Tell me, what is it that you want?" Shouta bit out, glaring at her with considerable annoyance in his eyes.

"Okay, okay, jeez. You see, Yoshihara's friend is in danger. Someone wants her to go to the woods alone for whatever reason they may have. If she doesn't her friend will die. However, this guy has a power that Quirks can't affect. Then, I thought of you. With your binding cloth style of attacking, once the guy reveals themselves from their hiding spot, you can wrap 'em up and prevent them from attacking. Plus, if they turn out to have a Quirk, you can erase it to make them harmless. So… what do you say?" Nemuri asked as Shouta looked over at Yoshihara.

"And what makes you think I believe that? What other powers out there exist that aren't Quirks? Unless you can prove it, don't waste my time with bullshit. I'll help you two anyway, if you can't prove it, don't get in my way," Shouta stated before looking over to the blonde. "Unless you can prove it, that is?" Shouta asked as Yoshihara rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well, the thing is, people without these abilities can't see them. But, they can feel them," Yoshihara said as, suddenly, Shouta felt something tug on his hair. He looked up, then back to the girl, who had a smirk on her face.

"Alright, try that again," Shouta said, his eyes blaring red. "My Quirk negates other Quirks, so—" Before he could finish, something closed one of his eyes by force, which caused him to shake his head and deactivate his Quirk, all the while Yoshihara was still smirking. Shouta sighed, having seen enough. "Alright, I believe you. Can't exactly use a psychic Quirk when I'm looking at you with my Quirk turned on, so you gotta be telling me the truth." Shouta said, sighing, rubbing at his eyes. "Let's go save your friend."

[Now]

"Y-You!" Taro choked out, all before the silver aura appeared around Taro again, as a sadistic grin took up his visage. "You think this stops me! Ha! You're stupid, you really are daft! And you call yourself a Pro Hero!? Don't make me laugh!" Taro spat, a strained sneer on his face as Renegades loomed over Shouta, its right hand raised to the side of Eraserhead's head, fingers pointed out in a stabbing gesture.

"Eraserhead! You're going to be an example as to just how strong Renegades is!" Taro declared as the Stand reared its arm back, unbeknownst to him. Then, before Yoshihara could warn him, Renegades dug its claws into the man's head, blood spewing out from the attack as Eraserhead felt the sudden sensation of being stabbed.

Pain flowed throughout him, as Renegades slammed the other side of Eraserhead's head into the tree, knocking the man unconscious before Renegades ripped its claws out of his head, allowing him to fall to the ground in a heap. The only reason why Yoshihara was confident that he was alive was because his chest was still moving up and down, indicating that he was still breathing.

Yoshihara's eyes widened, fear replacing confidence. In one fell swoop, her plan fell to pieces before. She should've known this would've happened. It never occurred to her that Taro would've used his Stand at a close range. She was a fool to think otherwise.

Just as Taro was moments away from falling to the ground, he grabbed the branch he had been standing on, breathing heavily as he looked down at Eraserhead's fallen form, his sadistic smirk there for all to see.

At that moment, Yoshihara coughed up blood, her body feeling weaker than before. She fell back to her knees as her legs gave out on her, pain soaring throughout her body. She shook violently, as she felt her breathing become shakier. "No! No, not now! I-I can't die here!"

"I have to say, you scared me for a second," Taro said, a hint of respect in his tone of voice. "I truly thought you had me beat. Bringing Eraserhead into restraining me was a smart move, I'll give you that! But now he's out of the picture, all because, yet again, like a fool, you underestimated me and Renegades! You see, my Stand's poison attacks your red blood cells, which causes your body to decay! At least, where it shoots anyway. But like any good poison, it'll spread! Since you've lost so much blood, maybe I should just leave you here to die a slow and painful death? I was going to be nice and put you out of your misery, but since you pulled that trick, you deserve it."

As he said that, his sadistic smile widened. "Also, since you went back on your word, and came with assistance, that means killing that useless Deku is back on the plate! With both you and him dead, that leaves more deserving people to go to U.A. After all, I heard he was applying too. It would be a waste of a class slot, don't you think?"

Yoshihara snarled, trying to stand up again, failing as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Killer Queen begin to fade away, flickering in and out of reality as it began to crack like fine China when exposed to hot water. "W-What…?" Yoshihara muttered as Taro snorted.

"You're dying, and because of that your Stand is dying with you! Once that happens, I'll win! Seeing as that's happening, it means this battle is over!" Taro shouted, pointing at Yoshihara as his expression became manic. "I win! You lose! Dynamite and a Laser beam is over!" Taro shouted, laughing manically as Yoshihara clenched her hand into a fist, her energy slowly draining from her body.

She felt pain all over. Blood drenched her once clean clothes, and the wounds on her shoulder, chest, left thigh, and sternum had decayed to the point where all you could see was muscle. She should be dead. She should've died by now, and yet her heart continued to pump. The only thing keeping her going, at least in her opinion, was her rage.

She looked at the ground, shadow covering her eyes as Killer Queen continued to crack. Although, it was no longer fading in and out of existence. Rather, it had become more ethereal than materialized, bordering between life and death.

At that moment, for just a split second, she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't make out many details, but the figure was a man. A man just as bloodied as she was, though, like Killer Queen, he was ethereal. Like a ghost. He was dressed in some kind of purple suit, and he had pale skin, yet aside from that, there was nothing else she could make out about him.

In a faint, almost whisper-like voice, the ghost spoke.

"You will not die. It is not your time. Get up, now."

At that moment, a wave of adrenaline that came out of absolutely nowhere hit her like a truck, and she felt completely energized once again. The ghost was now gone, but whatever it had done, it had given her the boost she needed. A small, barely noticeable smirk took up her visage as she spoke. "You made… one fatal mistake… Taro…" Yoshihara managed to spit out between heavy breaths. Taro raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face.

"Oh really, and how exactly did I make a mistake, eh?" Taro spat, Renegades aiming a shot for her head. "It doesn't matter what mistake I might have made in the past, I got a shot lined up for your head, and when it hits, you'll drop dead. But, cause I'm so nice, I'll let you speak. C'mon, what're your last words? I'll make sure I'll tell them to that Quirkless loser right before I kill him too ~!" The grey-haired boy taunted as Killer Queen came to Yoshihara's side, raising its right arm, confusing Taro.

"Eh, what are you doing, dipshit? Are you going to waste the last moments of your life looking like a goof?!" Taro spat, glaring down at Yoshihara. Killer Queen extended its index finger, and when it did, Taro raised an eyebrow. "Oh! You're going to mock me, aren't you?! Ha! Not happening, Renegades, Fi—"

Before Taro could finish, a bubble appeared on Killer Queen's finger. The bubble in question had a skull insignia on it with stars in its eyes, which wasn't too dissimilar to that of the skulls on the sides of its shoulders. The bubble began to Spin, golden energy sparking off of it, though it was invisible to the naked eye, and as Yoshihara looked up at Taro, he flinched upon seeing her face.

"You, like a fool, underestimated me and Killer Queen," Yoshihara said, her eyes devoid of life and emotion as Killer Queen launched the bubble off its fingers. Taro's eyes went wide, fear marring his expression.

"What the fuc—"

As soon as the bubble made contact with Taro and his Stand, the bubble exploded, releasing a loud btoom throughout the forest as shockwaves that blew leaves off of trees and the branch off of that particular tree that Taro had been hanging onto.

Suddenly, the pain that she had felt from the poison in her system faded away, and the purplish hue around the wounds went away as well, though the actual wounds themselves didn't disappear.

Yoshihara watched as a singular, bloodied hand fell from the area where the tree branch was. Moments after it hit the ground, it slowly began to disintegrate away into nothingness. Her eyes were stone cold, no emotion to be seen lurking within.

There was no sadness, no rage, no joy, no remorse.

All that was there was pure nothingness.

Yoshihara began to slowly pick herself up, Killer Queen helping her as she limped over to Eraserhead. They both needed to get medical attention, fast. She had no idea when that ghost's extra boost of energy was going to fade away, so she had to make it count.

"Have to… get to… Nemuri…" Yoshihara thought, adrenaline controlling her every move as she used Killer Queen to drag Eraserhead out of the clearing. Pain seared through Yoshihara's body as tears fell down her cheeks.

A part of her brain screamed at her to stop moving, but another part screamed at her to keep moving. She was scared. The last thing Yoshihara wanted to do was to close her eyes, fearing that if she did, she'd die. Her eyes trailed to Eraserhead, who had what appeared to be a broken leg, and maybe a fractured skull considering what Renegades had done. There were five holes in the side of his head though the wounds didn't look too deep, but deep enough to where they could be fatal.

Only one thought pounded against her head, and that thought was to get to safety, to get to Nemuri, to get someone to help them.

Her limp kept getting worse as she walked, but no matter how much it hurt, she kept walking. She had to get out of the forest and come hell or high water, she wasn't going to let anyone or anything stop her. Eventually, after what felt like a literal hour of walking, Yoshihara could see the entrance to the forest, and when she did, relief washed over her.

She didn't know how long she had walked, but as soon as she felt that sense of relief, she felt her adrenaline spike, and she picked up speed. She was so close, she couldn't stop now. She was right there. In the distance, she could see Nemuri, who was seconds away from entering the forest.

Nemuri most likely heard the explosion, and with that look on her face, she was probably contemplating entering the forest to go see if everything was all right.

When Yoshihara came out of the forest, Nemuri nearly screamed bloody murder. "YOSHIHARA!" Nemuri screamed as Yoshihara smiled, blood still dripping from her wounds.

She was still alive, but even she knew it was only barely.

"I… I did it… Midoriya is now… safe…" Then, without any warning, she fell to the ground as her eyes slowly drifted shut, her Stand disappearing entirely, followed by the sound of it shattering to pieces, all the while Nemuri rushed over to her adopted daughter, screaming profanities as she dug her phone out to call the emergency services.

After a few moments of her phone ringing, the emergency services picked up. "Hello, emergency hotline speaking, how may we direct your call?"

"This is the Pro Hero Midnight, off duty. Send an ambulance to the southern road exit of Musutafu City! I have two gravely wounded individuals with a possible third within in the forest, one confirmed minor and the other a fellow pro hero Eraserhead, who is on duty! They'll both die without immediate medical attention!" Nemuri said, trying to keep her composure while on the phone.

"Alright, ma'am, we're sending one now! It should be arriving in three minutes from now, I have another call coming in, and because we're extremely busy tonight, I'm going to have to cut the line. I wish you the best of luck, Midnight-sama."

With that, the phone operator hung up, leaving Nemuri by herself as she ran over to Yoshihara, kneeling on the floor as Nemuri cradled Yoshihara's upper body in her arms.

"Yoshi-chan… c'mon, please, don't die on me, please!" Nemuri cried, holding the blond's body up to hers as she could feel her soft, gentle breathing on her chin. Tears freely fell from her eyes. She didn't care that Yoshihara was bleeding, or if it would stain her clothes. All she cared about at that moment was ensuring that Yoshihara was safe.

Nemuri ripped parts of her clothing apart to stop the bleeding, doing all that she could keep Yoshihara alive until the ambulances arrived. She looked over in the distance and saw Shouta. He was still breathing, and he appeared to be in better condition than Yoshihara. Nemuri picked up Yoshihara, grunting with slight effort as she walked over to Shouta.

She set Yoshihara down, tearing more off of her shirt and pressing the rags against the five holes in Shouta's head. A small pool had begun to form under his head, and while his skin was paling, his breathing was clearer than Yoshihara's, meaning he would recover better than Yoshihara would have.

And so, Nemuri focused all of her attention on Yoshihara. She couldn't lose her. If she did, she would never forgive herself. This was all her fault. It should've been her, not Yoshihara who went in there. What the hell was she thinking letting her go in there! What kind of horrible person was she to let a child get into a near-death experience like that?

By the time the ambulances arrived, the bleeding had mostly stopped, but the paramedics weren't taking any precautions. Both Eraserhead and Yoshihara were loaded into separate ambulances while Nemuri sat in her car, fear coating her bones and soul as she gripped at her chest.

"Stupid! Stupid Nemuri! Why did I let her do this!? I should've just gotten my friends together to deal with the villain, not let her do it! Stupid, dumb, idiotic, moronic dumbass!" Nemuri thought, tears still falling from her eyes as she watched the ambulances speed away.

Turning on the engine of her car, she followed them to the hospital, the only thing on her mind being: "Please, please be safe Yoshihara… Don't die on me."

[XXXX]

When Josefumi had heard about what had happened to Yoshihara, he was none too pleased with the fact she hadn't called him, or Karera for help. If she lived this, she was going to get an earful from him. He sat in the waiting room, tapping his foot on the floor waiting to see the doctor.

"That damn idiot! She could've gotten herself killed!" Josefumi thought, growling under his breath as he glanced over to Nemuri, who had also been waiting for the doctor to come out to tell them the news.

"Why didn't you try and stop her?" Josefumi asked, a snark to his voice as Nemuri snapped her attention over to Josefumi. She looked at him, fury in her eyes as Josefumi nearly recoiled.

"What does it matter to you?" Nemuri snapped back. "You were the first person to ever attack my daughter, right? I saw you on the cameras when I looked over the footage after the attack. I don't know how you became her friend, but I don't care. I don't even want to talk to you, but let it be known that I didn't know how dangerous these Stand things were until she came out of that forest. Now mind your own business." With that, she returned to staring down the emergency room doors.

Yoshihara had been put into critical condition by whomever she had fought, and it was a miracle she was still alive and breathing by the time she got to the hospital. Karera was going to come with Josefumi, but she didn't because she had other stuff she had to do, i.e. more research into the bullet that they had gotten their hands on.

Josefumi went to get up to go to the front desk to ask if Yoshihara was okay when the waiting room doors burst open.

"Kira-san!" Midoriya cried out, dressed in a thrown-together combination of a shirt that read "happy" and All Might pyjama pants, looking over at Josefumi before rushing over to him and grabbing his shoulders. "Where is she?! I-Is she okay?!" Midoriya said, staring into Josefumi's eyes as Josefumi gently pushed Midoriya off of him.

"I don't know. She's been in surgery for over an hour now. The Stand that attacked her had some kind of skin decay ability. From what I saw was shot in the sternum, thigh, chest, and shoulder. She's lucky to have even survived the trip to the hospital," Josefumi said, a heavy amount of concern in her voice as Midoriya's eyes became watery.

Without warning, Midoriya cried, hugging Josefumi. He didn't reject it, he just let it happen, holding him up as he did. As that happened Inko stood in the doorway, worry on her face as she looked at Nemuri. She walked over to her and sat beside her, who glanced at her.

"Are you Midoriya's mother?" Nemuri asked as Inko nodded silently. "I see… did you know that the person who attacked my daughter had threatened to kill your son if she didn't go in and stop him?" Nemuri continued as Inko gasped.

"No," Inko replied softly, her eyes darting to the floor. "I'm glad that my son's safe now, not that I knew he was in danger to begin with, but all the same, thank you. I just hope Kira-san makes it. I was told she was in critical condition…"

"Yeah…" Nemuri muttered, staring down at her hands. "For all I know, my daughter is dying in there, surrounded by strangers and medical equipment. I'm scared out of my mind for her safety, and I'm not even her biological mom…" Nemuri muttered, looking up from her hands and back over to the emergency room doors.

"Speaking of which, I wonder why I've never met her…? She should be here, right? The receptionist told me that she had contacted everyone on her contacts list and who shares a last name with her. So why isn't she…? Oh, fuck it, who cares, she's probably a deadbeat, which explains where I found her... Ugh, here I go rambling to get my mind off of things. I'm sorry about that, truly," Nemuri said, rubbing her eyes as Inko smiled softly.

"No, no. We all have our ways of dealing with stress. Mine just so happens to be stress-eating. At least your habit doesn't hurt you directly," Inko said, suppressing a laugh.

Nemuri spaced out, looking at the doors intently. She wanted to just run in there and see what was happening to her adopted daughter, to know if she was alright. Instinctively, she knew she'd be okay, mostly because Medi-lady was there, as well as a few other people with healing Quirks. Hell, the Head Doctor had even taken interest in her and decided to go pitch in a helping hand, too! So Nemuri knew she was in safe hands.

However, that didn't change the fact that there was a chance that Yoshihara could be dead… and that scared Nemuri the most.

Everyone sat in the waiting room as patient after patient came and went, some also staying for surgery, families crying about the loss of loved ones, while at the same time, anxious would-be fathers sat, waiting for their babies to be born. It was all a rush of emotions.

But out of everyone in that room, Izuku was feeling it the most. Yoshihara was a close friend to him, even though they had only known each other for three and a half days.

"Can Stands be that strong that they can just decay people like that? Can Quirks do that as well? Is there a Quirk that exists out there like that?" Izuku pondered to himself, staring at the floor. Two hours had passed since he had arrived, and still not a word from the doctors or the surgeons. It was almost 2:00 am, and Izuku was getting tired, but he stayed awake, just so he could hear the news, bad or good.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Izuku asked the pompadour-haired teen beside him as Josefumi shrugged.

"I don't know. I've dealt with my fair share of Stand Users that had been strong enough to put me in the hospital for months. She could be here for months for all we know, but I—"

Josefumi wasn't able to finish his sentence as, right before their eyes, Yoshihara walked out of the double doors that separated the waiting room and the rows upon rows of surgery rooms, wearing a hospital gown. She was using a cane to walk most likely because of the limp she had.

Beside her was the Head Doctor, who had a hand on her back. His hair was bushy, very bushy, it almost looked like a hat in some regards. He had very pale skin, and his eyes were a light shade of blue. He wore a white doctor's coat with blue surgical clothes underneath with a bear pin on the right lapel.

"Yoshihara!" Izuku shouted, jumping up from his chair as the doctor put a hand up.

"Hold on, stop! Don't touch her. She's very, very fragile right now!" The Head Doctor said, sighing as Izuku chuckled nervously, sitting back down. "My name is Dr. Tomioka, full name Tooru Tomioka if you needed to know," Tooru said, taking his hand off Yoshihara's back as she walked over to Nemuri, who met her halfway.

Nemuri wrapped Yoshiara into a gentle, but firm hug. For her part, Yoshihara wrapped a single arm over Nemuri's back, resting her head on Nemuri's shoulder as Tooru smiled at the heartwarming reunion. After a few moments, the two parted as Tooru stepped up, nodding at Nemuri, who looked at him with a thankful gleam in her eyes.

"Ms. Kayama, just so that you are aware, she has a bottle of pills in her pocket that she must take for the next week if she is to heal fully. She has to take two a day until the bottle is empty. If you require a refill, depending on if the pain is still intolerable, you have one refill prescription," Tooru explained, passing the bottle to her.

"Thank you, Dr. Tomioka," Nemuri said, bowing.

"Oh, it's no problem. To be fair, had it not been for my ability, she would be dead," Tooru said, a blue aura surrounding him as he rubbed the back of his neck. A metallic figure appeared behind him, its head looking like a microphone with a bowler hat atop it. It wore what looked like a button-up jacket and a pair of black jeans. It had a cane in its left hand with small bear-like markings lining the cane. It also wore a strange scarf around its neck with a strange, swirly pattern.

"Wait, you're a Stand User?" Josefumi asked, raising his eyebrow as Tooru shrugged.

"Honestly, Wonder Of U is a Stand that only really works when either myself or other people are in danger. It misdirects Calamities away from other people and directs them toward animals like birds or bears. There were several times during the surgery that Wonder Of U activated to prevent her from dying," Tooru said as Nemuri's eyes widened.

Had it not been for the fact that Tooru had been a Stand User with such an incredible ability, Yoshihara would've died, multiple times over. Nemuri looked at Yoshihara, the urge to put her into a bear hug was unnerving. She'd have to do that when she was fully healed.

"Thank you, Dr. Tomioka, seriously. You have no idea how relieved I am to finally have a Stand User actually help this time instead of hurt," Yoshihara said as Tooru smiled.

"Ah, It's no biggy. I've always wanted to be a doctor. That, and my Stand doesn't have many offensive capabilities. It's not physically strong and its ability is more defensive than offensive. So helping people just seemed like a better idea than hurting," Tooru explained, looking at the time. "As much as I would like to stick around and chat, I'm a busy man, and I have more patients to tend to. I hope we never meet again, you know, 'cause that would mean you'd have to have another surgery," Tooru said, a joking tone to his voice as everyone waved goodbye.

When Yoshihara felt the cold breeze of the night hit her skin, she shivered. The hospital was warm, and a part of her just wanted to stay there overnight so she didn't have to deal with the cold. She turned to Izuku, who looked at her with a lost puppy expression.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kira-san," Midoriya said, no stutter in his voice at all, which made Yoshihara smile. He was growing a backbone, good.

"Thank you, Midoriya-kun," Yoshihara said, before her smile turned into a smirk. "You can call me Yoshihara if you want. I think we're past the point for formalities, yeah? Friends address one another by their first name and or nickname, and I hate my nickname," Yoshihara said, her tone of voice slightly teasing as Izuku's face flushed.

"I-I mean…! Sure, I-I guess… uh… Yoshihara…. Uh, c-call me… uh… Izuku, then," Izuku replied, his stutter back in full force as Yoshihara couldn't help but snicker to herself. At least his stammer was getting better, and not worse.

"Heh, it's kinda cute, actually," Yoshihara thought, before a hand clasped on her shoulder. Looking up, Yoshihara was met with a smirk from Kujo.

"Next time, don't hesitate to call me if you need backup. I've got your back if you've got mine, yeah? We're allies, so don't be afraid to use me as such," Kujo said as Yoshihara nodded. With that, he let go of her shoulder, nodded at Midoriya, then walked away.

In the distance, Yoshihara saw a black car with tinted windows from all sides. A single flag with a wheel logo on it was tagged on the back, meaning it belonged to some rich company. At the same time, Kujo was walking toward it, meaning that it was from The Speedwagon Foundation. That explained how he got here, and despite the fact she expected nothing less, it was still a little shocking to see that he had a personal chauffeur.

"Izuku! We gotta go!" Inko called out to the boy's right, as Izuku looked over his shoulder. For a split second, Izuku frowned, before sighing.

"See you at school, Kira—I mean, uh… Y-Yoshihara," Izuku stammered, clearing his throat as he walked over to where his mother was. They had come to the hospital in a small but effective red Voltzwagon Beetle. It was a vintage car, and considering it was no longer being made, seeing one was quite rare.

Nemuri walked up to Yoshihara, looking down at her with a gleam of worry in her eyes. "You are incredibly lucky, Yoshihara. I hope you understand that until you get into U.A., outside of school, you're grounded from leaving the suite, right?"

"What!? Why!" Yoshihara balked as Nemuri gave her the "Are you serious" look.

"One, you scared me half to death. Two, I need to monitor your recovery. And three, vigilantism is no joke. Whether or not you weren't given a choice in the matter, I still need to reel you in somehow. Now stop arguing with me, you need to get home and get some rest."

And so, with a resigned sigh, Yoshihara followed Nemuri back to their car. She would need to change out of the hospital gown when she got home and have it returned later. Her pyjama's had been totalled with her fight against Taro, meaning she'd need to get a new pair of pyjamas as well.

"Oh well, you win some, you lose some I guess." And with that thought, Yoshihara entered the car, closed the door, and buckled herself in. She placed her cane on the floor of the car and relaxed into her seat. She dozed off, which earned a chuckle from Nemuri.

Today had been a stressful day, but despite that, Kira Yoshihara slept peacefully knowing that Izuku was fine and that the bastard Taro would never so much as breathe ever again.

Standing on the rooftop of the hospital, a certain blond-haired ghost wearing a purple suit and black tie smirked, fading away, content that his descendant was alive. He might be forced to wander the earth as punishment for what he did, but he would do so watching over his family, much like his father before him.

And thusly, The Ghost of Yoshikage Kira vanished.

-To Be Continued in – Recommendation Exam-