The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Twenty-Five

Despite having eaten very little today and having slept even less, Sora Kinzoku felt ready and alert as she burst out of the UA cafeteria. This was the moment she had been preparing for all day, the lingering threat that had been on her mind.

As soon as she saw the press outside in the morning, she was tense. Kage was the only one who would know why, but he seemed relaxed and casual all day, as though the threat of what could happen were they to fail in their self-appointed mission didn't bother him at all. Perhaps it didn't, she thought. He already knew what would happen if they didn't succeed. Maybe he was prepared for it.

Sora was not. But she had no other choice. The alarm wasn't going to patiently wait for her to psyche herself up. Villains weren't going to hesitate because she wasn't sure if she wanted to be here or not.

This was the hand she was dealt. She needed to play her cards.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she allowed herself a moment to pause and take a look at it. Displayed upon the screen was a brief text from Kage.

"You go high, I go low. Call if you see trouble. Stop it if you can. Will meet up ASAP."

Sora took a deep breath in. Then out. Her heart remained racing and the wings on her back remained tense, but at least there was a faint semblance of a plan. Besides, with both her and Kage scouring the school, there was a solid fifty-fifty chance that she wouldn't even run into any villains.

She raised herself into the air, just barely, and began flying fast and low around the immediate area. Flying like this often felt closer to hovering than her preferred soaring through the air, but there was little she could do inside. She reached the first staircase and flew up to the first floor – the cafeteria itself being on the ground floor, which was largely taken up by big rooms like an assembly hall. Classes only appeared at the first floor and above.

If Sora were a villain looking for a school schedule, there were two places she would think to check. The first would be a classroom – she knew that most UA students carried their schedules digitally, as they were emailed to students, but it would make sense for a few people to have printed copies. If not the students, a teacher would likely have one on a desk somewhere.

The second place to check would be the teacher's lounge, but it was also a riskier area to go near. If the villain was there, they would be close to any present teachers who weren't being distracted by the press outside. If Sora was the only one there, they might question her on why she wasn't evacuating with the other students.

Sora didn't have a good answer for that, despite how she was asking herself the same question.

She dismissed the thought. She had to remain focused and ready to act at a moment's notice. Kage had said that he had no idea how long the infiltrating villain would be present for, or where they would be, so there was no room for hesitation. She continued drifting through the air on the first floor.

Much to her dismay, she heard something. A voice she didn't recognise, accompanied with the sound of rifling papers.

"Come on, come on..." A raspy, nasally voice said to itself. Sora stopped herself from rounding a corner, peering out carefully and hoping not to be heard. The figure speaking was a tall and lanky man with what looked to be silver balls on his head instead of hair. He had similarly metallic looking ends on his fingers, which were currently pulling things from out of a student's bag.

There was no sign of any struggle, thank goodness. Whoever's bag the man had stolen, the student most likely had left it in class at lunch. It was shiny, like it had glitter on it or something. It struck Sora as familiar, but she didn't have time to think about that right now.

"Where'd the kid leave it?" The villain groaned. "The boss was real clear on who to get this stuff from. If this isn't the right bag, I'm gonna shoot someone. Don't care about who sees it." Great, Sora thought. She was dealing with a murderer. That was exactly what she needed.

Why did it matter which student they got a schedule from? Apparently, their boss – either someone named Shigaraki or someone who went by All For One; Sora had been briefed on the two of them somewhat by Kage – was specific about where they got what they needed, but why? How could they even know?

They must have had some kind of informant within the school, she realised. She held back a gasp at the thought. If Kage hadn't mentioned that, did that mean he didn't know who it was? Maybe this person was someone in danger of being discovered, so he had to keep quiet on it.

Of course, there was one other possibility. One she didn't want to consider. Kage knew a lot about the heroes and villains and their plans. He believed it to all be because of his whole reincarnation situation, but did that make it true?

His power had an awareness of its own. He had told her it was sentient. Was it not possible that he was some kind of sleeper agent? Someone with implanted memories or who had been driven mad by the process of what was done to him?

If that were true, then she would be walking into a trap no matter what she did. She had to believe it wasn't. Kage was being honest with her, as much as he was able to be. He had told her too much about what was to come for her to believe he was a spy. At the very least, he wasn't acting against anyone of his own will or to his knowledge.

She was only being doubtful because she was terrified. She was desperately looking for an excuse to just run and ignore what was going on just ahead of her. Kage being a spy and this whole thing being a convoluted trap would have been the perfect reason for her to flee with her metaphorical tail between her legs.

And if she ended up being wrong, it would put everyone in her class at serious risk. She was scared, and she wasn't sure she was ready for this in the slightest, but backing down meant people she knew getting hurt because of her inaction. She was no hero, but she couldn't just let that stand.

"Hey!" She called out. The villain stopped. She heard them drop the bag onto the floor and begin looking around, moving closer to her. That was good. Terrifying, but good. She didn't really need to fight the bad guy, she just needed to lure them away.

She flew back down the corridor fast-

"Got ya!" The villain cried out with a manic grin. They thrust a hand forth and something burst from one of their fingers. A small, silver orb-like object. Sora moved in the air so she could deflect it with her wings.

That proved to be a mistake.

The small orb exploded, shattering one of her wings into a dozen flying chunks of shrapnel and scrap metal that now sharply jagged at the terrain around them. The UA windows were solid enough not to break, but she could see several of the ones nearby had been cracked. Sora herself felt cuts rip all across her body, forcing her to tumble to the ground.

She rolled painfully. Her head was swimming, and blood was all around her. The villain cackled.

"Ahahahaha! That's what you get for messin' with the great Gin Dangan!" They leaned back and howled. After a moment, they stood back up straight and paused, tilting their head. "Aw, shit. I just gave away my name, didn't I? Damn pride. Oh well, got no choice. Gotta kill you now." Their leer was mad and entirely unapologetic.

Sora's other wing raised up, but without its companion, she couldn't manage to take flight. Her legs were sore and bloody, as was much of her torso. The act of pulling herself up nearly made her scream and black out, but she managed.

"Y-you...don't have to..." She tried to plead for her life. It was hardly the heroic thing to do, and she was shamefully very aware of that. She knew that the proper thing to do would be to get back into the fight. Give some one-liner to intimidate the bad guy and try punching them before they could get another shot off.

It would be a thrilling and brave way to die. But Sora wasn't the self-sacrificing type. She could take a beating, but she didn't want to die. Gin Dangan narrowed their eyes.

"Oh? Begging?" They stepped closer. Sora tried to move back, but she couldn't get far. Her legs wobbled and didn't allow for her to run or even take solid steps. "Here I thought this place was some big, fancy hero school. Turns out some of you have brains! That's good, makes 'em all the more fun to blast out." The villain giggled gleefully.

"Don't k-kill me..." Sora said, raising her hands up in a gesture of surrender. She kept her other wing up, just in case he still tried to shoot her. "I-I won't tell anyone you were here, so p-please." Her voice broke, fearful tears streaming down her face. The villain leaned in close to her.

They smelt of blood. Sora wanted to vomit.

"Hmmm..." They stroked their chin mockingly. "Tell you what, I won't shoot ya if you can help me out! See, there's a couple things I gotta look for before I can get outta here. You help me get what I want, and I don't have to leave you as a bloody stain on the halls. You made enough of a mess as it is, right? Wouldn't wanna give the school cleaner more work!" They laughed. This time, Sora nervously joined in and frantically nodded their head.

She told herself this was a bluff. Maybe it was. If she had a few more minutes to live, maybe she would find her courage in them.

"What is it you need?" She asked. She knew they were after a school schedule. Sora could probably try lying and say she could get one from the teacher's lounge. That would lure the villain to people who could help, and then everything would be okay.

In a worst-case scenario, she would just have to give them exactly what they wanted. But would that even be so bad? Kage had said everyone came out of the USJ fine, right?

She thought back to Deku, broken and unconscious after the battle training. Recovery Girl had fixed him up, sure, but that didn't make him fine. They wouldn't have the luxury of a medical escort next time.

"Lookin' for a class schedule, first of all." The villain explained. "Gotta find a time where we can get All-Might all alone. He's a teacher here, right? Nod if I'm right, or I'll blow yer brains out." Sora nodded quickly as the villain placed one of their fingers under her chin. It seemed like each one was topped with some kind of barrel to shoot his projectiles.

"Y-yeah, he teaches hero s-stuff." She said hastily. Dangan rolled their eyes at her, and she flinched under their gaze.

"'Course he does. Damn goody two-shoes. But it's no big deal, he'll be dead soon." He said casually. Sora knew from Kage that the villain's plan to kill All-Might wouldn't work. She trusted that this was the truth. But hearing it from the mouth of a villain who was ready to kill her at a moment's notice shook her faith.

In that moment, she felt convinced All-Might would die. She'd die far sooner.

"The other thing I need from you, kid," Gin Dangan clapped their hands together. "is the location and any information you can give me on another one of you brats. His name's Kage Sekai. Dumb name, I know. I mean, what kinda hero's called Shadow World? That's a villain's name if I ever heard one, and I've heard some mean ones." Sora paused. Her fear was beaten out by a sudden sense of confusion. Her body stopped trembling for a moment.

"You want Kage?" She asked. "Why?" Kage himself hadn't said anything about being the target of the villains. Quite the opposite, he was convinced that he and Sora weren't supposed to be involved at all, that their presence would be a surprise element if anything.

Gin Dangan shrugged.

"Hell if I know." They said. "Apparently the boss wants to know about him. Some kinda history there, I don't ask questions. I just steal what they tell me to steal and kill who they tell me to kill. Which brings us back to you, kid." Gin glared at her. They reached out with one hand and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up and slamming her against the wall. Sora gasped, suddenly struggling to breathe.

"If you tell me what I want quick enough, maybe you'll still be breathing!" They said with a wide and toothy grin. "'Course, that don't mean I'm gonna stop. But hey, I'm a man of my word. No bloody stains on the floor. Just the one big body to get rid of!" They laughed. Sora grunted and tried to grab their arm and shove them off, but they lacked the strength to do so.

Their vision blurred. Dangan's shining metal head stood out to her, its reflection matching the venomous glare in his eyes.

Wait. It was metal. His little explosive orbs were metal.

She knew what to do with that.

Her one remaining wing shook. She knew she could pull metal towards herself, couldn't she? There was a lot she could do with metal especially explosive metal devices on someone's body. The battle training flashed into her mind.

"Can you let your wings disassemble on their own?"

"I... don't know. I've never tried that before."

It wasn't exactly wrong. She had never tried to deliberately disassemble her wings whilst they were up. But stopping assembly midway through, on the other hand? That was something she had tried. That was something she knew how to do, even if she hadn't done it in some time.

A lot of what she could do were things she hadn't done in a long time. She just wanted to fly. All the other stuff didn't matter to her like it did to mom. Still, everything had a time and place.

"Argh!" Dangan dropped her to the ground as several of his metal orbs pulled themselves out of his head. There were holes beneath them. Sora guessed they usually travelled down from his head to his hands. "What the hell? Get back here!" He called out to the orbs that rose further out of his head.

"I need those to blow her brains out!"

"Oh?" Sora managed a grin. "Like this?"

She let the orbs fall. They impacted the ground much faster and harder than she had expected. She didn't know if that was because of her or not, but the KABOOM that burst out quickly drowned out her thoughts.

She was tossed back by the blast, but she managed to use her one remaining wing as a shield. She gritted her teeth and willed this one to stay together, unlike its counterpart. It shook and shuddered, but it stayed intact and protected her from most of the damage.

Gin Dangan had no such advantage. She heard him fly back and clatter against the broken scraps of metal from before, landing harshly on the ground. She could hear as his flesh was torn open. As the smoke cleared, she briefly wondered if he was dead.

He wasn't. He groaned and began getting to his feet. Sora tensed, readying herself to run. Her remaining wing wouldn't last much longer. If she disintegrated it now, she might be able to maintain more energy for a sprint.

"I'm gonna kill you for that, kid!" Gin roared. Sora stepped back.

Someone else stepped forward.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" A familiar voice yelled out. In a flash of blackened light, Kage Sekai burst onto the scene. Gin fired off three more of his shots, but all of them were met with a large wall of shadows.

"Shit, more of you?!" Dangan cried out, frustrated. "I thought you'd all be distracted outside! That was the plan!"

"Your plan's failed!" Kage said, his voice bursting with rage and confidence that Sora couldn't comprehend. "You're not getting to make your attack, and All-Might's not dying any time soon. You've lost. Accept that and maybe I won't bash your skull into a paste." The black energy coiled around his arms, almost covering them completely. His hands looked clawed and bestial.

"You sure know a lot, kid." Dangan growled, before suddenly widening his eyes as he realised something. "Wait a sec, you're-!" Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a sudden dark mist that appeared beneath him. Kage rushed to try to catch him, but it was too late.

In an instant, the villain vanished.

Despite feeling like hours, the whole scene likely only lasted a couple of minutes. Sora stumbled back and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Kage stopped, took a deep breath and walked over to her, the power around his arms dissipating. They were shaking as he knelt down beside her.

"Are you okay?" He said. "I heard the explosion, and I'm sure the teachers will be on their way any second now. What happened?"

Sora didn't know why she responded the way she did. It was honest, but it certainly wasn't right. Still, she said it anyway.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Kage Sekai was staggered by Sora's words. His mouth fell open and closed several times, unsure of what to say.

Sora's expression was angry, but it looked to him to be more hurt than hostile. She was clearly injured and scared, as anyone would be given what had just happened. He took that into consideration. Sora continued.

"Of course I'm not okay!" She cried. "I almost just died! No one is okay after that! Gods, this was a terrible idea. Why did I agree to this? Why are we even doing this, we're kids! We're not ready for this, and I don't know why you would want to be!"

"Sora..." Kage began gently. "I know it's scary, but we did good. We stopped the bad guy, we're both alive and Recovery Girl can-"

"We're both alive?" Sora said in disbelief. "How is that enough for you? Look at me!" She gestured weakly to her bloody clothes with one arm that was clearly struggling to move.

"I don't want to just be 'alive', I don't want to be hurt! I don't want any of us to be hurt!"

"And no one will be, thanks to us!" Kage tried. Sora looked at him with a baffled expression, tilting her head. It was clear that his words weren't having the desired effect.

"You said no one else would be anyway." She pressed. She pulled herself to her feet, clearly pained by the motion as she gritted her teeth. Kage stood quickly, though he hesitated to try to support her given her mood. "You said that in your story, no one got hurt all that bad, right? Nothing that Recovery Girl couldn't handle?"

"I-I know, but I can't be sure!" Kage replied. "The story I read doesn't completely line up with this world, even if a lot of the events and people are the same. We're living proof of that!" He gestured between the two of them with one hand.

"If I assume everything's the same, and then things go wrong, that's on me." He argued firmly. "If I can act, I have to! I'm responsible for all of this!" Sora was struggling to stand properly, but she managed to grab Kage's arm. He hissed as she grabbed onto a slightly burnt patch of skin. She noticed.

"This is all you're responsible for!" She glared at him. "The things you do. Just because you know some things from a manga doesn't mean you're some chosen one sent from above to save the world. You're a kid just like me, Darren! Why is this all on us?"

"If we didn't do anything, we'd be putting it on everyone else!" He pulled his arm away, causing Sora to stumble. She caught herself on the wall. Despite their argument, Kage made sure to watch her closely to make sure she didn't hurt herself. "They're just kids too, right? I know it's not fair, but we're not the same as them – I'm not the same! I can't be!"

"And why can't I?!" Sora screamed, silencing any words he could have said. "Why did you have to bring me into this, huh?! I don't want to be a saviour. I don't even know if I want to be a hero! I can't handle people depending on me like this. Maybe you're doing okay with piling on the weight of the world to your shoulders, but the last time anyone needed me, I ran away!"

"You..." A mix of sympathy and anger burned within Kage. He didn't know which would ultimately win out, only that he didn't like the feeling. "You asked me to tell you! I wanted to keep you out of it! You're the one who came up to me at the party and demanded answers, you're the one who pushed to be let in on all my plans, all of that is on you! I'm sorry it's been rough – I really am – but you don't get to complain at me because of a choice you made!"

There was a tense silence in the air. Kage took a few breaths, as did Sora. Neither seemed to trust their words.

"You're right." Sora finally said, breaking the silence. Her legs were wobbling. Kage braced himself to catch her if she fell. "I made a mistake; I get that now. But I think we both need to acknowledge that we're not ready for this. Neither...neither of us wanted to be in this position. Maybe things would be better if we weren't. If I didn't pass, and if you were...were..."

Kage thought she was hesitating because she was about to say something horrible. His mind had already filled in the blank.

"If you were still dead." She would hardly be the first person to have thought that.

When he realised it was because she was struggling to remain conscious, he didn't know whether he felt relieved or disturbed.

When she fell, he almost failed to catch her.

When Naomasa Tsukauchi got a call from the principal of UA, he knew things were bad.

The school almost never needed to call the police. It was a pillar of the hero world, and as such, it had extremely efficient security. Villains had attempted to make themselves known to the school and target it, but there were next to no success stories he was aware of. They would have had to have been before All-Might's era at the very least.

The fact that he was told that a rogue villain had seemingly infiltrated the school using the press as a distraction was alarming enough. The news that Kage Sekai had been involved in the incident was enough to have his heart racing.

Even as he stood in the principal's office, maintaining a patient expression and an even stance, he couldn't deny the stress that was pouring out of him. Principal Nezu clearly noticed. The small animal – that was all Tsukauchi felt certain to describe him as, for he bore resemblance to a few different creatures, like a bear, a dog or a mouse as he himself liked to say – slid a tray of tea over to the side of his desk to make it easier to reach.

"Thank you, sir, but I'm fine." He lied. Nezu's face was hard to read, but he could tell that his words failed to convince him.

"There's no need to lie to me, young man." Nezu seemed to refer to most people as young, regardless of their age. His own age was something of a mystery, though he had been a teacher at UA for many years. "You're so stressed it's almost enough to make me sweat! Please, take the tea."

Tsukauchi hesitated a moment, but gave in and allowed himself a sip from the freshly poured cup. Nezu always seemed to have tea ready, regardless of the circumstances. Maybe he could predict when exactly it would be most helpful for calming people down with his Quirk. Or perhaps he simply loved to have it all the time himself.

He sighed. The drink helped, though he was still a little nervous.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for my behaviour, it's just-" Nezu waved a hand dismissively before he could finish.

"Nonsense, mister Tsukauchi. You hardly need to apologise to me, of all people, for being worried about a student's safety." Tsukauchi was slightly surprised, but he supposed the source of his worries would be obvious to one so intelligent and perceptive. "Frankly, I find it touching. It's reassuring to know that Sekai has such a good caretaker."

"Thank you." He felt compelled to say again, nodding his head politely. He looked over to the door of the room. "I don't mean to be rude, but if I might ask, what's keeping him? We really should get a statement as soon as possible." He hid his deeper concerns beneath a layer of professionalism. It helped to keep him focused. Nezu didn't call it out, though he had to know what he was doing.

"I'm told another student, Sora Kinzoku, was injured in the incident." He explained. He poured his own cup of tea and took a sip from it. "She's one of Sekai's classmates, and he insisted on taking her to Recovery Girl himself. No doubt she's taking care to examine both of them as we speak, and perhaps advising them on taking better care to warn adults before going off to fight villains." The principal chuckled. Tsukauchi gave a small smile. It was reassuring to know that Kage would be well cared for.

The name of the other student sounded somewhat familiar to him. It only took him a moment to recall why – it had shown up in a missing persons case several years ago. During his investigation into Kage, Tsukauchi had searched for similar cases to see if there were any links he could explore. The Kinzoku case was one of the first he had checked.

Kage had last been seen going to a train. A young Sora Kinzoku – a girl who couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old – was found and recovered outside of an abandoned train station. There were rumours about such places, but nothing concrete had come up. It was a tenuous similarity at best, but Tsukauchi had few options. Still, he had ruled out the connection in his head.

It was an odd coincidence that those two would both be present in the same school. The same class, even. Fate seemed to have something of a sense of humour.

After another moment or two of calm silence, the door to the room gently opened. Kage peered in uncertainly and slipped into the office. Immediately, Tsukauchi could tell something was wrong. Not physically, thank goodness. Kage didn't look injured, nor did his uniform even appear damaged. But his head was low and his eyes were clearly distant.

"Ahh, mister Sekai! Thank you for joining us. Please, take a seat." Nezu extended a hand out to a chair that had already been positioned in front of the desk. Kage wordlessly walked over and collapsed into it.

"It's just Kage." He mumbled, only barely loud enough for him and Nezu to hear. "You don't need to use my last name." Nezu nodded.

"Very well. Kage, then." He said. "I see you are rather distressed. You should know that Recovery Girl will have miss Kinzoku in perfect form again in no time. The worst she has to worry about is a lecture, perhaps being sent home early. Given that you also seem uninjured after an encounter with a villain, I would think this to be cause for celebration." Nezu warmly chuckled.

"Mhm." Kage hummed. It was clear he was only half-hearing what was being said. He forced himself to look up from the ground and look at the two of them in the eyes. His eyes were red and still damp with tears.

"Kage, are you alright?" Tsukauchi felt compelled to ask, his own expression softening. Kage lightly shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not hurt." He gave his answer, which wasn't really what Tsukauchi was looking for. "I only showed up at the end of the fight, and I was able to block the villain's shots. If you're looking for information, I think Sora knows more than I do at this point." Kage seemed to relax a little into the more standard procedure. Discussing the details of what had happened seemed to be easier to him. Tsukauchi wasn't sure what to do about his emotional state, but this was ground he could manage.

"I see." He nodded. He took out a small notepad and wrote down what Kage had said in quick bullet points. "Was there anything you were able to glean from the villain before they escaped? Anything at all would be helpful." Kage took a deep breath and straightened in his seat. He seemed to think for a moment before replying.

"He said something about a boss, so this wasn't his idea." He said. "It looked like he was looking around the classrooms for something, specifically searching student bags. If I had to guess, I think he wanted a class schedule to get back to whoever he was working with. I don't know for sure if he found one or not. He also said something about an attack. I think the people behind this are wanting to move soon."

"He did, did he?" Nezu took a sip of tea and directed attention over to him. Kage almost flinched as he spoke. "This is certainly concerning behaviour, though I must say that I am impressed you managed to deduce so much about the villain's actions through just one brief encounter." He looked over to Tsukauchi.

"It seems he's picked up a thing or two from you, detective!" He joked. Tsukauchi gave a brief chuckle in response, and even Kage smirked a little. Tsukauchi took note of everything once more. He was already forming ideas in his head of what the villain's goal and plan might be. If they were planning an attack, it probably wasn't just on UA in general. If that was the plan, there would have been more than one villain sent in whilst the press had the staff distracted.

The need for a class schedule suggested that they had specific targets in mind. Targets they wanted isolated from the rest of the school. They were searching for an opening.

Given the new arrival of a certain high-profile teacher, he could guess who they were after. Oddly enough, he felt more relaxed to know that, if only because he was certain that their plan would not succeed. Even if they had some kind of teleportation means to get into UA, there was no way they would be able to take on All-Might and win.

Almost no one could.

"Was there anything else, or was that all you could discern at the time?" Tsukauchi asked. Kage furrowed his brow thoughtfully. After a moment, his eyes widened. This reminded Tsukauchi that Kage had seemed remarkably calm and controlled during his explanation, despite his earlier state. Nothing he said was surprising or concerning to him. He recounted it with the same casual energy as Tsukauchi would when describing his day at work.

This was the first time he looked surprised.

"I... I think he recognised me." Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow whilst Nezu leaned closer, both notably more interested in that particular piece of information. "I don't know for sure, but when he saw my face, I could swear his eyes widened. I think he was about to say something to me before he got warped away. I don't know if it means anything or if I'm just being paranoid." He placed a hand on his forehead.

"Did he look familiar to you at all?" Tsukauchi asked. Kage shook his head.

"No, as far as I can tell, I've never seen him before." He said. He tilted his head after that, as though something had just occurred to him. "Although, the portal he used to get away sticks out in my head. It was dark and misty, like it was made of fog or something. There was definitely something about it..." He trailed off. His voice sounded confused as he spoke. The recognition clearly wasn't something he had expected.

Kage hadn't recognised much of anything since the investigation into his past had gotten started. Nothing in the city seemed to provoke any strong memories. The fact that this villainous portal did gave Tsukauchi an indication as to why that might have been.

The fact that the first piece of footage they had of Kage showed him with blood on his body clicked into place in his head, as did his panic when he was next seen. Even at the time, he had looked like he was trying to escape something.

Kage had been a prisoner.

"This is deeply concerning news, Kage." Nezu said, looking down at his desk and frowning. "To think that one of my students would be targeted by villains, especially so early into the school year. It's disturbing to think about. If you have any concerns for your safety, please do not hesitate to inform us and we will take suitable precautions." Kage blinked, as though surprised by the offer of extra security.

"Thanks, but I don't think that will be necessary." He said, raising a hand as though to ask the subject be dropped. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Besides, any security is probably best kept at the school. That's much more likely to be their real target."

"I suppose you have a point." Nezu replied. "Very well, but please inform us if anything else comes to light regarding these villains or your apparent connection to them. If there is more to this villain's interest in you, I would like it to be known and properly dealt with. I take the safety of my students very seriously. Which reminds me," His expression turned sharp as he looked Kage directly in the eye.

"What exactly made you and miss Kinzoku decide to run off on your own?" His voice was lower, though not quite threatening. It was still enough to make his presence firmer, and Kage clearly noticed, flinching as the principal spoke. "Surely you should have been evacuating the building with the rest of the students, given the alert."

"I-I wanted to go find the teachers." Kage said, and immediately Tsukauchi knew he was hiding something. He didn't know what Kage's true goal might have been, but he could tell that the teachers had been a secondary concern. "You know, get a sense for what was going on. I thought that if Sora and I could figure that out, we could help calm people down or something."

"I see." Nezu said. "Given Sora moved first, I assume she had the same idea?"

"I mean, I guess so?" Kage shrugged. "It's not like we would have been able to plan anything. We didn't know what we would have run into. She might have just been looking for another exit that wasn't so crowded. A bunch of people trying to shove her around sounds like it would end badly." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. Nezu stared at him for a moment before deciding to drop the matter, relaxing his expression into an easy smile.

"Perhaps. There could have been any number of motives, I suppose. It's not important right now." He waved a hand and dismissed the subject. He took a sip of tea, and as he did so he gave a subtle look to Tsukauchi, who nodded back. The signal was clear – don't draw attention to it, but take note. Something remained amiss about this whole thing.

"Can I go now?" Kage asked. He fidgeted uneasily in his seat. "I've told you everything I can, and I don't want to spend too long out of class. Aizawa doesn't need more reason to dislike me..." He muttered that last part, though it seemed the principal caught it. He let out a laugh.

"Don't let that man bother you, he's like that with everyone." He said. "If you're sure there's nothing else you want to tell us, you can go. Thank you for your time, Kage. Though, if I may, I'd ask that you try to avoid engaging villains in direct combat within the school if it can be helped. Make sure you pass this along to Sora as well. There's no shame in a tactical retreat."

Kage frowned. It was clear he didn't see things the same way Nezu did. Tsukauchi supposed it only made sense that a kid would have a more simplistic concern about letting the bad guy get away. Plus, he was being taught by All-Might. It was only natural that he didn't want to leave a situation until it was dealt with.

"I'll keep that in mind, sir." He said. He hesitated for a moment, as though wondering if there was something else he should say, but he decided against it. He pulled himself out of the chair and walked out of the office. Once they were sure he was far enough away as to rule out the possibility of eavesdropping, Tsukauchi and Nezu turned to one another.

"Keep a close eye on him, detective." Nezu instructed. "He's certainly trustworthy, but he's clearly not being entirely honest with us. I would hesitate to say it's anything that might put the rest of us at risk, but..."

"He's not concerned about himself." Tsukauchi agreed. Kage showed no concern for his own safety, even seeming confused when others demonstrated such behaviour. The desire to hide what could have been helpful information further supported this.

"I'll see what I can do." He said. He only hoped that would be enough.

"That villain's failure troubles me." Garaki admitted whilst he tended to so

me of the machines behind his master. Life support for one so advanced and with so many unusual physical elements was a delicate process, but he was skilled enough with it by now that he could easily talk and work at the same time. "It seems like a waste, and it will only set back the boy's plans."

"Not to worry, doctor." All For One said, calm as ever. What was left of his face was enough to give a relaxed smile. "We already had what we really needed, thanks to my little agent on the inside. This served an additional goal, one that he was not privy to, but one that I felt important to address. And on that note, it was a success."

"Oh?" Garaki prompted.

"I never expected him to be able to capture Kage Sekai during that mission, but the encounter was illuminating." He explained, tapping his fingers against the armrests of his chair. "I only wish he had the opportunity to get more out of the boy. Still, it's clear he knows about our plans."

"He's a dangerous element." Garaki said. "If he has any memory of what we did, it could damage our further proceedings. What should we do?" All For One chuckled, amused by the question.

"Isn't it obvious? We take him, dead or alive."

AN: This chapter was a tough one, particularly with that conversation between Sora and Kage. I wanted to bring the two into more direct conflict with one another, but the first version of that scene read as sad when what I really needed was anger. For Kage, this is a necessity and a responsibility that he cannot avoid. For Sora, it's something she wished she never got involved with in the first place. Kage is driven by selflessness, Sora cares first and foremost about herself. They both want to help, but it's only natural that their dedication and concerns are different. I hope it worked well, and I'll see you all next time as we approach the last act of this arc – the USJ. See you then!