Shouto is barely awake when he drags himself to the breakfast table, falling asleep into his bowl of rice. Fuyumi clucks admonishingly when she wanders back towards the table with a pot of miso soup and sees the bags under his eyes. Her admonishing look turns downright judgmental when he bypasses the soup for the carafe of coffee at the center of the table.

'Shou-kun, were you up all night again online? ' She prods, reproachfully, sitting across from him.

His intended, 'No, of course not, it 's a school night, ' comes out instead as a garbled,

'mrrgghh, '

in response.

Fuyumi just sighs, divvying up the plate of tamago between their plates and the placeholder for a still sleeping Natsuo. 'Growing boys your age need sleep, you know. ' She remarks, in a caviling tone that automatically has him rolling his eyes. 'Especially with how much energy you 're burning in a day, now that you 're at U.A. Are you meeting with a nutritionist at school? '

'Lunchrush handles most of that, ' Shouto deflects, prodding at his rice.

Fuyumi tsks. 'But how is he supposed to know your dietary needs if you 're not voicing them to him? ' She points out, reasonably.

She 's got a point, but no one

else

in his class has gotten preferential treatment at lunch and he doesn 't want to be the first to do it. Not when he 's already so set apart from everyone else. There 's already talk of him being standoffish and pretentious, no need to add fuel to that fire.

Shouto doesn 't exactly help things along, being as selectively mute as he has been in school.

But he just ' never knows what to say, or how to act.

He 's had the very best tutors his whole life, and has spent almost every waking hour of his day not in his classes in some kind of extracurricular. During middle school, he had cardio and physical conditioning in the mornings before class, followed by combat training in the afternoons directly after class, and afterwards quirk specialized training. Ever since that disastrous night when Endeavor was permanently scarred and Touya-nii was proclaimed dead on the scene, his father has been entirely off hands with every aspect of his life. Especially in regards to his training as a hero.

He hired the absolute best in the industry for Shouto 's education, so he was hardly complaining. And he 'd decided on his own to become a hero, regardless of his father 's personal ambitions for him.

Some days, though, he wonders if maybe Fuyumi had been onto something.

She 'd fretted endlessly over his decision, worrying how it might affect his social and emotional growth to be so cordoned off from other kids his age. Shouto had dismissed the idea as ignorant and short-sighted; the conditioning he filled his hours with were integral skills he needed to succeed as a hero ' to be the kind of hero

he

could be proud of. In light of that, who needed friends? It didn 't help that Endeavor was in staunch agreement with Shouto 's choice; between the two of them adamantly refusing to consider other options, she could only throw up her hands in defeat.

Having encountered a group of cohorts he intended to actually create bonds and socialize with, he was realizing just how woefully inept his social skills really were.

Not only were the other children in his class equally as ambitious and talented as he was, but Shouto found most of them to be fairly amiable and agreeable characters. And they would be useful contacts when he began his hero career.

The only problem was ' he had no idea what to do with them all.

Some tried to include him in conversation sometimes, but he never knew what to say in response. He didn 't know any new trends, sports teams, actors, or musicians. He didn't have any social media of any kind. He had basically nothing in common with any of them, aside from a shared ambition to be career heroes.

And the one he wanted to be friends with the most was the same one he had the least in common with.

Midoriya Izuku made absolutely no sense to him.

He ostensibly had a quirk, although he had never once demonstrated it. He came from an apparently fairly standard family background, with a father that worked oversees and a nurse for a mother. He went to an entirely unremarkable middle school, where he received overall favorable grades, but had no real extracurriculars or academic highlights to make him stand out. As far as Shouto was aware, he had no specialized training. Shouto may or may not have had to do some rather unsavory digging to find all this out, but most of it was easily traceable online if one knew where to look. And Shouto knew, since he spent a great deal of his time troving online forums. He might not have any social media accounts of his own, but he knew a great deal about navigating the internet.

(He had no real time for hobbies, and no friends to whittle away what little free time he had. So what he did instead, was spend hours and hours scrolling through the internet in a manner that had Fuyumi near apoplectic.)

Midoriya was entirely unknown and unexpected, and that was sort of what Shouto liked best about him. He had an unassuming aura to him, and a generally nervous and skittish personality, lending him an air of unreliability and mediocrity. In reality though, he was a tactical genius and an unparalleled strategist, and had the physical conditioning to back it up. The first time Shouto had seen him fight in the battle apprehension test he 'd been utterly flummoxed. The matchup should have been decided from the get go. Iida Tenya came from a famous family and likely had the same sort of personal specialized training Shouto did. And Bakugou Katsuki had an exceptionally powerful quirk and knew damn well how to use it. In contrast, Midoriya Izuku had an alleged strengthening quirk he hadn 't used at all during the quirk physical apprehension test, and Uraraka Ochako had a flotation quirk.

And yet, Midoriya and Uraraka had been the undisputed winners of that matchup. Neither Iida nor Bakugou showed an ounce of Mirodiya 's aptitude for spatial awareness, battle strategy, and plan execution. In a world where everyone else overly relied on their quirks, Midoriya didn 't even need to use one to win.

It was a bit awe-inspiring, to be honest.

Shouto wished he could approach the boy and ask him how he 'd come up with such a flawless plan on the fly, but he wasn 't even sure how to say hello to him.

He sighs heavily, reaching for the coffee once Fuyumi 's properly occupied with her own breakfast.

Natsuo trudges in with all the grace of a grizzly bear stumbling out of hibernation, flopping into his own seat. 'The old man 's not back yet? ' He brightens at the very thought.

Fuyumi purses her lips. 'He 's still in Tokyo, I believe. ' She replies. 'I don 't think he 'll be back for a few days, with all that 's happening there. '

'Small blessings, ' Natsu-nii remarks, digging into his breakfast with relish.

Shouto is of a similar opinion to Natsuo, honestly, but he refrains from adding anything when he catches Fuyumi 's gaze. She 's always been holding out hope they 'll all somehow find a way to get over their father 's neglect and glaring absence in their lives to make some kind of amends. Shouto is usually too polite to summarily obliterate all her dreams, and just lets her have her small fantasies. He 's fairly certain she knows anyway, deep down, that their family is never going to be the idyllic tableau she sees in all her favorite daytime k-dramas.

Fuyumi sends Natsuo a pinched look across the table, but says nothing in response. The silence descends into something tense and unspoken. Shouto doesn 't really know what it is; he just knows it's been there, an unacknowledged but tangible presence haunting them all, for as long as he can remember.

It probably has to do with Touya-nii, he thinks. None of them have really accepted or moved on from his death. Not even their father, for all that he refuses to speak of his mysterious eldest.

Evidently Natsuo can no longer bear the oppressive quiet, and swipes the remote off the table and turns the television on. It says a lot that Fuyumi doesn 't even scold him for turning on the tv during mealtimes. Shouto looks up briefly from the mush he 's making out of his eggs and rice when he hears Natsuo flip from early morning children cartoons to the morning news.

'It 's a developing situation, and we don 't have much information still, '

a man 's voice explains, as shaky pedestrian footage shows crowds of onlookers go from staring at the massive Odaiba gundam to the pillar of scorching flames erupting into the sky behind it.

'The media liaison for the Mos Eisley precinct mentioned earlier it 's an ongoing investigation, so they 're not at liberty to explain much more than what they already have, '

adds a female voice.

'What 's unsaid in this statement is the presumption that this incident must therefore be related to the city 's ongoing efforts to stem organized crime. '

'It 's incredible that so many top heroes can be in the capital and

still

have this happen right beneath their noses. '

A third voice laments.

'What does this mean for the safety of the citizens in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area? '

Natsuo snorts. 'The old man 's

real

hard at work, I see. '

'It hasn 't been confirmed, but we 've received eye witness reports that Japan 's fastest hero, the Number Three Hawks seems to somehow be involved. He was seen escorting what appears to be a group of hostages into police custody in the Kuat Shipyards last night, just after news helicopters captured this footage here ' '

The newsroom disappears into a clip from the news helicopters. The dark expanse of Tokyo bay unfurls beneath the camera, ringed in the glare of city lights. The camera pans upwards, where a flock of massive drones becomes visible in the view of their spotlight.

'As you can see, these are military grade, state-of-the-art unmanned aircrafts, each equipped with a half dozen air-to-surface missiles. If this is indeed a play by organized crime, then we should expect foreign actors to be involved with this level of weaponry. '

Fuyumi makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat. 'Oh god, dad ' '

Even Natsuo doesn 't look quite as disdainful as before, a pensive crease in his brows.

'They were summarily destroyed by an unknown assailant before any missiles were properly launched, but it was a close call for the greater metropolitan area. '

'There 's been no reports, official or otherwise, on how they were so effectively destroyed, '

the female voice adds.

'But the video evidence does suggest certain conclusions ' '

The man interrupts abruptly,

'There 's been no confirmed accounts of Dabi in the vicinity, so this comment isn 't anything more than mere speculation. '

'Nonetheless, the evidence

is

compelling, '

the third voice insists, just as the helicopter catches footage of the drones being torn apart by an invisible force.

'We know of no other way this could have possibly happened otherwise. No hero

or

villain currently alive has a quirk that acts quite like Dabi 's. And the manner in which these drones were destroyed is tellingly similar to many of his other exploits. '

Natsuo barks out an incredulous laugh. 'Why even bother with heroes when this guy 's around to do all the actual work? '

'You know it 's not that simple, Natsuo, ' Fuyumi counters, although she doesn 't seem especially upset about it, merely resigned. 'All that red tape surrounding heroes exists for a reason. '

'Fat load of good it does, ' Natsuo returns, uncharitably. 'No matter how many laws they try to slap across them, heroes still get away with being the scum of the earth, and no one says anything about it. '

He 's specifically referring to their father, Shouto knows. And it's pointless for any of them to deny it. No matter how many genuinely good heroes exist in this world, there 's always ones like his father who get away with disorderly conduct, property damage, and even manslaughter.

Anyway, despite being a hero in training, Shouto more or less agrees with Natsuo. Dabi is ' well, it would be prudent to call him a rather decisive character. He 's the match that 's struck something of a burgeoning revolution. His very existence, and the indisputable good he does for society, has incited all sorts of debate. Shouto wouldn 't be surprised if there were protests in the street soon enough; he and Natsuo and Fuyumi aren 't the only ones who recognize the inherent flaws in the hero industry agenda. It was impossible not to, when Dabi exposed them just by existing.

Dabi had gone from something of an internet forum boogeyman to a household name within the space of a year, and with his meteoric rise to infamy came the inevitable social commentary.

Shouto had already been a longtime lurker in most of the hero forum boards to begin with, so he 'd always known of Dabi. Since the beginning of his criminal history internet denizens had been debating his status as a villain versus vigilante. He had just as much infamy as Stain, although their philosophies (and it was debatable if Dabi even

had

a philosophy, he seemed to just do whatever he wanted) were entirely different. With all the hype and the mystery surrounding the supervillain, it was hard not to get swept up in the excitement of it all.

When Shouto drags himself out his thoughts Natsuo and Fuyumi are in the middle of a deep discussion. It appears the topic of the morning has inevitably migrated to the (missing) elephant in the room: their father.

' 'trying his best ' '

'What best?! ' Natsuo 's chopsticks clatter to the table. 'He 's a fucking idiot who had kids to carry on his hero

legacy,

because god forbid he wasn 't the Number One, and when it became clear how much of a

stupid fucking idea

that was, he ignores us all and pretends we don 't even exist! '

'No he doesn 't! ' Fuyumi denies, shaking her head rapidly. 'He just doesn 't ' he doesn 't know what to do with us. '

'Because he never actually wanted kids. ' Natsuo stresses.

'Be that as it may, ' Fuyumi returns heavily, because there 's really no arguing with that, 'He 's trying to make amends. '

Natsuo gives her the most disgustingly incredulous look in response.

'I said he 's

trying;

not that he 's actually any good at it. ' She admits, causing Natsuo to scoff in amusement.

'Still, it 's something, don 't you think? ' She continues. 'He asks about all of you when he calls ' and he does call, once a week or so. I know he 's not ' he 's never been a very good father, or much of a father at all really, but it 's not that he doesn 't

care,

you know? '

'Too little too late, I say. ' Natsuo disagrees, sounding rather unsympathetic to the subject. 'Where was that

care

when he was beating Touya-nii black and blue, huh? Don 't tell me you don 't remember that. I don 't care how much of a prodigy Touya-nii was, or what level of training he needed, he was still a

kid.

And Endeavor would go at him in the training room like he was a fucking adult! '

Fuyumi winces at the reminder. Shouto sits up a bit straighter at the mention of Touya-nii ' it 's rare that anyone in his family ever voluntarily speaks of him.

'And then when it became obvious he was never going to get Touya-nii to do what he wanted, he tossed him aside the moment he 'd gotten his prized

creation. '

Natsuo pauses. 'No offense, Shou. '

'None taken. ' Shouto says, shrugging.

'How the hell is that the actions of someone who

cares?

To me, he 's just a selfish prick who 's better off just staying away. ' Natsuo ends bitterly, picking up his discarded chopsticks and stabbing angrily at his tamago.

To be frank, Shouto 's a bit ambivalent on the subject of their father. He 's not interested in any kind of reconciliation, like Fuyumi, but he 's also not holding a grudge, like Natsuo. Probably because he barely remembers Touya-nii, and how their father treated their eldest brother. He has a few memories of his own training with their father ' just as brutal as Natsuo painted it as ' but he had been so young at the time they 're just snippets of pain and fear. He 's barely seen his father in the decade since, so he feels rather removed from the man. He 's more likely to see him on tv than at the house. He 's fairly sure Endeavor must have an apartment near his agency, because he 's almost never home.

'He 's changed, ' Fuyumi says, and it must sound weak even to her ears because she winces immediately after.

She 's always had the best relationship out of all of them with their father, probably by virtue of being the only girl, and one with a quirk he never had any interest in. He had always been a distant and unapproachable figure in her life, but not one that was intentionally cruel. He never raised his voice at her, or forced her into training so hard she puked. And she was the only one who ever got any praise; usually for keeping the house tidy or for cooking dinner or doing the laundry. But for Shouto and probably Touya-nii, there was no praise or recognition to be had in the training room. Endeavor was never satisfied with anything he ever did. As for Natsuo; it was almost as if he didn 't even exist. Fuyumi got the occasional acknowledgment, and he and Touya-nii got all the focus and attention 'dubious honor as it was ' of their father, and Natsuo never got anything.

So it was no surprise that Natsuo wasn 't interested in hearing about how the man had 'changed '. There was unlikely to be anything Endeavor could ever do to make up for the years of neglect and trauma he 'd inflicted on all of them, in Natsuo 's eyes.

'Tell that to Touya-nii. ' Natuso replies, flatly.

Fuyumi 's entire face pales terribly. Natsuo looks stricken, as if he wants to take it back. In the end though he just purses his lips and gathers up all of his plates. 'Thanks for the meal. ' He says, briskly, and then storms off.

Shouto takes that as his own cue, collecting his own plates. 'Thank you for breakfast, Fuyumi-nee-san. It was delicious. '

Fuyumi looks up, dismayed. 'Oh, Shou-kun, you 're leaving already? It 's still so early. '

'We have a field trip today. ' He intones.

'Oh? ' She perks up a bit. 'Where to? '

'USJ. '

She gasps in delight. 'Universal Studios Japan?! '

He shakes his head. 'No it 's the ' Unforeseen Simulation Joint. ' And then, to her blank expression; 'Hero stuff. '

Fuyumi 's expression falls, but she nods nonetheless. 'Oh. That 's ' that 's nice. Well, have a good day then, Shou-kun. Let me grab your bento before you go. '

//

@ru-kun | My Own Worst Enemy

Some days I actually get my shit together ?? But then I lose it again like 2 days later

Comments

398|

Likes

575 |

Retweets

591

//

'I should have brought a better lunch than this, ' Uraraka laments, as she peers down at her paper brown bag she 's halfway into stuffing into her backpack.

'My mom overpacked mine when she heard we were going to USJ today. You can share with me! ' Izuku offers.

Uraraka looks torn, up until Izuku shows her the

three

bentos his mom had shoved into his hands this morning before he could protest. In her defense, she 'd been so excited to hear he

finally

had some friends to share with and was insistent that he share with his classmates, so the amount made sense. Of course, his mom totally had ulterior motives beyond just benign charity and goodwill; Yui-chan had stopped by to take the train with him to campus (he was on the way for her) and his mom had taken one look at her and gotten all starry-eyed. Izuku had tried to protest that Yui was just a really good friend, but he 'd known it was a lost cause.

'Oh! ' Uraraka enthuses, eyes wide. 'That looks delicious! '

'She made a bunch to share, ' Izuku explains, sighing, already feeling tired even though they haven 't even left for the buses yet.

He looks over towards Yui 's desk, wondering if he could offer some to her also without it being weird. Would that be weird? He doesn 't think so, but he 's also never had any friends, so he really wouldn 't know. The offer with Uraraka had basically just fallen into his lap. Maybe he could ask Iida instead? He glances over towards the class rep, then immediately shuts down the idea. He 's got what is undoubtedly a chef-prepared meal in an immaculately packaged bento sitting right on his desk.

Before he can tear his eyes away, he 's accidentally meeting the eyes of the (second) most quiet student in the class. His mismatched gaze is so stoic and unyielding Izuku almost squeaks as he hastily turns back around in his seat to give Uraraka all his attention.

He doesn 't turn back around, but he feels like he can feel Todoroki 's eyes on the back of his head anyway.

Izuku truly, genuinely, has

no idea

what he possibly could have done to warrant attention from the Number Two Hero 's son.

Both his scores on the entrance exam and the quirk apprehension test were really nothing to write home about. He 'd passed both without using One For All in any capacity, something that bemused All Might but also delighted him. After all, the longer they could keep it under wraps, the better. All Might had a lot of enemies after all, and Izuku was still young and vulnerable.

He 'd worked with Yui to take down a few of the three pointers during the entrance exam, which apparently totally bewildered and derailed the examiners, who reputedly had never in the history of the exam had ever had two examinees work together. That just floored Izuku: heroes work together all the time! It 's basically a cornerstone of heroism! Teamwork is such an integral part of the profession ' how could the exam be entirely individual based when testing for an industry that almost always required some level of teamwork? Even the big shots like All Might and Endeavor and Hawks had to work together with others!

Anyway, so he and Yui scored quite a few of those, with Izuku scouting for weaknesses and assisting Yui in getting the most useful items to use her quirk on. Afterwards they 'd stumbled upon both Uraraka and Iida getting caught in the path of the zero pointer, and Izuku had managed to climb onto it with a combination of Uraraka and Yui 's quirks and pry it open with a giant oversized nail clipper courtesy of Uraraka 's miscellaneous beauty pouch, and then trip it using a massively elongated hair tie, once again courtesy of Uraraka.

Allegedly he 'd confused the examiners so terribly that they had to revise the entire point distribution strategy and awarded bonus points for both rescues and teamwork. In the end, he 'd passed on those alone without taking down a single robot with One for All. As for the quirk apprehension test: most of them were similar enough to the physical conditioning he 'd been doing for months that he easily passed in the middle of the pack.

That is to say; he passed, but he didn 't exactly do anything monumental.

And his performance in the battle test was equally as clever, but ultimately still showcased nothing of One for All. He 'd basically just channeled as much of Dabi as possible and infuriated Kacchan into blowing up enough pieces of the building for Uraraka to incapacitate both him and Iida under the rubble. Aizawa-sensei eagerly applauded him on his novel application of the environment (or as eagerly as Aizawa ever did anything, which was really just an unenthusiastic shoulder clap) and quick thinking on his feet, but again, it was hardly anything flashy. Todorki himself had easily won the battle test with a truly impressive display of his ice quirk, used a combination of both his fire and ice to take number one in the class in the apprehension test, and undoubtedly got the highest score on the entrance exam of the whole entering class.

So why on earth did Todoroki seem so interested in him? If he was looking for a rival, Kacchan was probably a better option. But Kacchan was probably too busy pitching a fit over Izuku 's existence in his class to even pay an ounce of attention to the other boy.

Izuku sighs heavily.

Kacchan was a whole other can of worms he wasn 't too keen on examining right now. The boy had predictably flown off the handle when he 'd found out Izuku was also in Class 1-A. He 'd insisted vehemently Izuku couldn 't be a hero because he was quirkless, to which Aizawa-sensei had stoically pointed out he 'd passed the exams regardless, under the same criteria Bakugou himself had, and therefore had just as much of a right to be there as Bakugou. Kacchan didn 't really have much of a coherent retort to that, namely because the idea that a quirkless kid was in any way, shape, or form his equal had him in explosive fits of rage. But according to the testing standards of U.A., Izuku ' without demonstrating any quirk at all ' was considered just as worthy to attend as Bakugou.

Come to think of it, maybe that 's why Todoroki was always staring so intensely at him.

Everyone else in the class had already commented on it; mainly they all had nothing but benign and curious remarks on the matter, but took it in stride. A few were just genuinely ignorant to the reality of quirkless people and needed some explanations, but everyone had been nice so far. Or they just didn 't comment on it at all. Izuku assumed Todorki had been part of the latter half ' but maybe he was secretly like Kacchan, and was actually pretty mad about it? Maybe he felt slighted, being in a class with a (supposed) quirkless kid, being the son of a top hero.

'Midoriya-kun? ' Uraraka calls, pulling him out of the spiral of his thoughts.

He shook his head rapidly. 'Sorry ' what did you say? '

She points to the front of the room, where the rest of the class had gathered to follow Aizawa-sensei out to the bus. 'We 're getting ready to leave! '

'Oh! Right! ' He hastily swipes up his headset, before jogging to catch up with everyone else.

He palms the shiny black material in his hands as he diligently trods down the stairs in between his classmates.

He 'd ended up changing his original childhood dream costume to something slightly more practical after discussing it offhandedly with Dabi a few times. The supervillain had an incredible amount of practical experience in the field, so his advice was exceptionally astute. All Might probably had more experience, but he had an entire support staff outfitting him all the time so he didn 't have much personal input in any of his designs. Dabi himself had zero need for armor of any kind, but he did have helpful insight into fabric types that offered the best maneuverability, and what sort of silhouette would limit air drag and increase speed.

The end result wasn 't terribly different from his original idea, just a bit more fitted and much darker in color.

He 'd been so excited to finally get to wear it, during the battle tests. But now, as he files down in line with the rest of his classmates, he feels a strange sinking feeling in his gut. Nervousness, maybe? Getting to go to USJ is a pretty big deal, especially for a class this young. He really wants to prove himself, and so his anxieties are getting the better of him.

The rest of his classmates are chattering excitedly around him, their enthusiasm increasing in volume as the bus trundles up the road.

Izuku shakes his head rapidly, clearing his thoughts. It 's just a funky mood, is all.

//

Aizawa probably should have expected this.

'... Where 's Sato-san? ' He says, in a tone that means he doesn 't really know if he wants to know the answer.

Their surprisingly young and good looking driver grins up at him. Somewhere in the interim of today and the last time Aizawa had politely inclined his head to the U.A. 's resident bus driver he 's gone from a spritely older gentleman with a hunchback into a teenage pop punk gremlin.

'He was so excited to have a surprise day off to go out of town for his granddaughter 's ballet recital! I 'll be sure to send him your regards. '

Well, that was a far sight better than Aizawa had expected. He 'd assumed he 'd find the poor man passed out in an electrical closet missing all of his clothes. Although upon further consideration, it appears Dabi didn 't even bother with the pretense of the uniform at all.

'It 's too early to deal with this. ' Aizawa sighs. 'Please tell me you have a license. '

'I know how to drive! ' Dabi retorts, affronted.

'... That didn 't answer my question. ' Aizawa deadpans.

He hustles his kids in their full regalia onto the bus and decides his best bet is to just ignore his own impending doom until he 's had at least another half hour of sleep. He has to imagine Dabi wouldn 't decide to spontaneously drop by to be their bus driver if he didn 't at least know how to control automated vehicular machinery. And if he can 't ' well, the objective of today 's lessons was rescue experience ' no one said that experience couldn 't be gained on rescuing

themselves.

He 's tired enough that he

should

have been able to totally conk out within minutes of the bus moving, but Dabi 's presence nearby is enough to entirely derail that farflung dream. He would hardly call he and Dabi friends, acquaintances, or even coworkers, but these days they tend to toe the line of allies a little too closely for Aizawa 's comfort. If he 's here right now, entirely unannounced, Aizawa has to wonder at the reason. Are the kids in danger?

Aizawahasn 't seen much of the elusive villain since he 'd agreed to be their informant. He and Tsukauchi receive updates on increasingly girlish stationery delivered with increasingly outlandish romantic gifts sent to Naomasa 's precinct. The last update had been scrawled on a pale pink card attached to a white stuffed teddy bear holding a heart. Aizawa has no idea what the hell Detective Tsukauchi is doing with all the flower arrangements and balloons he 's been getting, but fortunately that 's the detective's problem to handle. Aizawa keeps abreast on the latest news from Dabi, but has been understandably distracted by the start of a new semester.

Which makes it even more concerning that Dabi would show up

here

of all places, entirely unannounced.

Aizawa groans, giving up any kind of rest as a lost cause, and hastily swipes out his phone to text Thirteen to give him and his students a fifteen minute buffer before making her entrance, ostensibly for a pep talk. In reality, he wants the quick break to level with Dabi. Is he just messing around, or is something really going on here? With Dabi, there 's really no way to say.

Fortunately Dabi ' regardless of his status as a legal driver ' gets them to the USJ without issue, and the rowdiness of the kids behind him increases tenfold as the bus sputters to a halt.

He shouts at all of them to stay in the bus and puts Iida in charge as he all but punts Dabi out of the bus.

'Do you have an actual reason for being here, or are you just here to cause problems for me just because you can? ' He asks lowly, barely audible over the rumble of the idling bus, which is exactly how he intended it.

'You give me too much credit, ' Dabi grins, leaning back against the hood of the bus. His posture is relaxed as he lounges with his hands in his pockets; to the kids no doubt snooping behind them, he 'll look entirely at ease. 'I don 't have

that

much free time on my hands. '

So it was as Aizawa expected. Privately, he wished this impromptu surprise had just been an attempt at Dabi 's awful sense of humor.

Aizawa sighs. 'How bad is it? '

Dabi doesn 't answer at first, peering around at the world from behind his impenetrable sunglasses. Aizawa is dead certain the young man has a telekinesis quirk, and yet those eyes always have him second guessing his surety. He has a way of staring at things that 's positively unnerving. Even now, as he surveys the idyllic landscape, Aizawa feels as if he 's seeing something entirely different.

'Where 's All Might? ' He asks, instead of answering.

Aizawa 's brow pinches. 'He 's meant to be here, but he 's been held up. ' He admits, seeing no reason to lie.

Dabi makes a thoughtful noise. 'Interesting ' intentional? I wonder ' ' He drifts off, shaking his head. 'Well, that might work out in our favor. '

'How so? ' He asks, a little impatient. Dabi still hasn 't answered his question, and the longer he takes to answer the more Aizawa worries. His students are here, after all.

'Like I said in my last report, that kid who 's currently calling the shots for the League is obsessed with taking down All Might. He plans on staging his big debut against him here. '

'Now? '

It keeps everything in him to keep his voice down. The bus engine can only do so much to mask them from Jirou 's earjack, which he

knows

her classmates are bribing her into using. He clenches his jaw. 'And you 're only telling me this minutes before we enter the place? '

Dabi scratches his cheek. 'Well, ya see, I only got confirmation about the plan last night, and I 'd heard USJ and assumed they meant Universal Studios Japan. But after checking it out immediately after, I realized I definitely had the wrong place! How was I supposed to know there were

two

USJs? Whose brilliant idea was that anyway? '

Aizawa sighs heavily. Great. Just great.

'Do you have any further information on the League 's objective for today? Is there any way to stall them? '

'All I know is that the majority of their recruitment initiatives have been for this attack, and beyond just revealing themselves to the public, they intend to kill All Might while doing it. They seem

pretty

confident for a large but ultimately ragtag group of b-rate villains, so I have to imagine there must be some ace they 've got up their sleeve. '

Dabi sounds so nonchalant about it, Aizawa almost wants to lash out at him.

He refrains at the last second, gritting his teeth hard enough to break something, wondering if every moment of his acquaintanceship with the villain is going to be this fraught with heretofore undiscovered levels of anxiety, or if there 's light at the end of this tunnel somewhere. He glances at the supervillain, who still doesn 't look like anything is amiss. Yeah. There 's no light here.

'And you didn 't think I

might

be concerned over this with my class of first year students in attendance? ' Aizawa points out, perhaps a bit more snappish than he 'd intended.

Dabi looks a bit taken aback. Aizawa doesn 't think Dabi 's ever witnessed his temper before.

His expression hardens into something austere. 'I 'm not going to let anything happen to them. ' He vows.

Aizawa nods wordlessly, finding himself suddenly too exhausted to speak further.

Dabi frowns. 'It 's still possible to drive them back to campus. ' He says, slowly.

Aizawa pinches the bridge of his nose. Then he exhales harshly, shaking his head. 'If we do that, they 'll know we 've been tipped off and might call the whole thing off. '

He hates to even think it, hates to even consider weighing the safety of his students over the possibility of capturing the League. But even with Dabi 's assistance fleshing out the landscape of the criminal underworld, any news on All for One has been slim. Short of asking Dabi to join the League on their behalf ' something both Eraserhead and Naomasa are adamantly against ' they don 't have any other leads.

He shouldn 't even be entertaining the idea of it. It goes against all the better instincts he has as a teacher. Yet at the same time the intuition he 's honed as an underground hero is telling him to trust Dabi. He doubts he even knows the bare minimum of what the supervillain is capable of, and even then he believes with the utmost assurity that Dabi could easily handle this alone. Even acknowledging this doesn 't do much to stem his nerves as the idea of subjecting his first years to something like this, however. Even if they 're adequately protected between himself and Dabi and Thirteen ' does he want to expose his fifteen year-old students, only weeks into their hero training, to something like this?

'This might be our chance to finally make some headway into this case. ' Aizawa sighs deeply. 'We won 't let this opportunity go to waste, but we 're going to play it as safe as possible. '

Dabi nods. 'Understood. '

At least he seems to be taking this situation with the severity it warrants, now.

Aizawa gets it, he really does. For a supervillain like Dabi, he 's certain the idea of a bunch of half-rate goons and a fledgling league of virtually unknown villains is downright amusing. It 's no surprise he found the entire situation rather humorous. Considering what he 's been up to in the last few months, this is child 's play. But there are

actual

children involved right now, innocent and ignorant to the true horrors of the world they 're working towards.

And in his defense, he looks to be taking this much more seriously now that the students ' safety needs to be taken into account.

'I 'm sending an update back to Principal Nedzu that we 've been tipped off to a possible villain attack at USJ, and to have the rest of the staff on standby and ready to engage if we don 't check back in within the next fifteen minutes. ' Aizawa proclaims, after he 's given the matter some thought.

Dabi makes a noise of agreement. 'Including All Might? '

Aizawa considers it briefly, before dismissing the idea. 'If absolutely necessary. I 'd rather not play into their hand, and it sounds like All Might had been at the center of their plans. '

The white-haired villain shrugs, clearly ambivalent on the subject.

Aizawa clears his throat. 'In the meantime, we 'll proceed as planned as if nothing is amiss. The moment they attack, student safety is our number one priority. The moment we 're certain they 're not in danger, you 're free to engage however you see fit. '

'Got it. So how do we play this? Should I hang back and hide somewhere? '

'You 'd only make yourself even

more

suspicious to my already suspicious students. ' Aizawa sighs. 'And no one believes you 're actually the bus driver. I 'll introduce you as a teacher 's aid for the day; just try not to draw attention to yourself. And for the love of god, don 't say anything. '

Aizawa 's well aware of how tall an order this is to a person like Dabi, but he may as well

try

to hem off the rumors before they start.

'That 's fine with me,

senpai~ '

Dabi agrees, making Eraserhead regret everything about this already.

'Great. I 'm going to let them out of the bus now. At least try to look professional, okay? ' The day has barely started and Eraserhead is already wishing it was over. He has so many problems, and it slays him that almost all of them are entirely the supervillain 's fault.

'Gotcha, senpai! ' Dabi crows, far too enthused with his new role.

'And ' Dabi, ' Aizawa pauses, and the seriousness in his voice has Dabi 's smile falling from his face. 'I need you to apprehend, but not kill. '

The villain looks rather churlish at the ultimatum, but doesn 't dismiss it out of hand. 'Yeah, I understand. '