Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dazai is very much accustomed to being called to Mori’s office and all of the misfortune that seems to follow. However, arriving with Chuuya of all people, fills him with a detached sort of dread that comes with not really caring about his own life, but hating any sort of inconvenience. And Chuuya, in Dazai’s eyes, is nothing short of an inconvenience.

Dazai shoots a smirk towards the other that never fails to drive him up the wall before he pushes open the door. The sharp click of Chuuya’s shoes betrays his annoyance. Perfect.

Mori looks amused, but the tightness around his eyes tells a different story. He’s irritated. Dazai does some quick calculations. He hasn’t done anything recently that Mori would be this obviously upset about, which means Mori has a particularly pesky problem.

“Dazai-kun, Chuuya-kun, what do you know about the League of Villains?” Mori asks as he peers over his interlaced fingers.

Chuuya glances at Dazai from the corner of his eye before answering Mori’s question. “Well, they’re a fairly new criminal organization that operates out of Tokyo, specifically the Musutafu ward. Most of their members are small fry but the leaders have very powerful quirks. Kurogiri has a warp quirk and Shigaraki can decay anything he touches.”

“Very concise, Chuuya-kun,” Mori responds, “anything to add?” He makes eye contact with Dazai.

Heaving a sigh, Dazai adds “Shigaraki is a puppet for a man referred to as Sensei. Rumor has it that Sensei is All For One. But you knew all of this, didn’t you, Mori-san?”

Mori’s eyes glittered. “Indeed. Now you see why we need to neutralize them. All For One has been a thorn in the Port Mafia’s side for too long, and All Might did us a favor when he almost killed him. However, before we crush this so called League of Villains, we need more information.”

“You mean we’re going undercover with a bunch of villains?” Chuuya asks skeptically

“Half right, chibi. We’re going undercover, but not in the League of Villains. We’re fifteen, they’d never take us seriously, no matter how good we are.” Dazai responds, never taking his eyes off Mori.

Mori likes to play games, testing his underlings’ intelligence and skills. Dazai, however, has been playing these games with Mori for years already and knows how to read the man. He’s surprised that Dazai knows who Sensei is. Mori doesn’t have to know that Dazai accidentally hacked a League communication system for a short time, before getting booted, mainly because Mori would never let him live it down.

“You two are going undercover at a school!” Mori says, voice dripping with fake humor. “And not just any school, but U.A. High! In addition to keeping an eye on the League’s movement, please also warn me if you hear anything about the heroes deciding to finally move into Yokohama.”

Chuuya chokes on air. “That’s a hero school! And there’s no way Dazai and I could be heroes!”

Indignation builds in Dazai’s gut. “Speak for yourself. I’d make a great hero.”

“Oh yeah, I’d make an even better one!” Chuuya fires back.

“Wonderful! I’m glad you’ve agreed.” Mori smiles at them. Chuuya sputters. Dazai sighs, knowing they played right into Mori’s hand. Damn, using their competitiveness against them. Now, if Dazai backs out, Chuuya would have endless fuel against him, and Chuuya would think the same, so they’re stuck.

“Uh, Mori-san?” Chuuya begins, “I’ve never had a formal education and I doubt Dazai had much of one. How are we supposed to even pass the entrance exam?”

“Studying, I imagine,” Mori says blithely. “The entrance exam is in a month. I’ve already registered you two, so focus on preparing! Also, Chuuya-kun, would you mind helping Dazai-kun with his hand to hand as well? You won’t be given access to guns until your second year, after all!”

Dazai stiffens. “That implies we’re going to graduate U.A. How long are we going to be undercover?”

Mori smiles like a snake. “Who knows? Oh, and Dazai? Please refrain from any talk of Suicide while you’re attending U.A. It would be unfortunate if you were called in for a psych assessment. You’re dismissed.”

They make it out of Mori’s office before Chuuya breaks. “What the fuck?” He whispers. “Nothing in this world makes sense anymore.”

“For once in your life Hatrack, you’ve said something intelligent.” Dazai continues on to the elevator as Chuuya huffs indignantly behind him. Because really, what the hell is Mori playing at? Dazai is suspicious. Mori is getting more out of this mission than he’s letting on.

“Don’t forget I have Mori’s permission to beat your ass, bastard!” Chuuya yells behind him.

“Ohh, kinky!” Dazai shoots back with an angelic smile.

An incoherent scream of rage sounds behind him.

—-

“Why are you really sending Chuuya-kun and Dazai-kun to Musutafu?” Kouyou asks.

“I can’t get anything past you, can I?” Mori laughs hollowly.

Kouyou narrows her eyes at him. “If this is needlessly endangering Chuuya-kun…”

“No, no, quite the opposite in fact. I haven’t told any of the other executives yet, but All For One plans on making a move against the Port Mafia soon. I’m sure he already knows about how For the Tainted Sorrow is connected to Arahabaki, and well, it would be unfortunate if he got his hands on Chuuya-kun’s quirk.” Mori explains calmly.

“So you’re sending him to the seat of his power?” Kouyou crosses her arms, unimpressed.

Mori’s smile widens. “I’m sending him to a school guarded by the most powerful heroes that currently exist, all who happen to have a giant soft spot for children. U.A. is the safest place for Chuuya to be at the moment.”

Kouyou snorts. “And what about Dazai-kun? Is he just going to irritate Chuuya-kun?”

“Think about it, Kouyou-kun. No Longer Human nullifies any quirk, no exception, and most quirks don’t even work on Dazai. Who would be the biggest threat to All For One’s special brand of chaos, besides All Might?” Mori’s smile grows a touch more smug.

“Dazai-kun,” Kouyou breathes. “You’re moving our pieces with the most potential out of reach, and they’ll be getting stronger, ready to annihilate anyone who challenges our supremacy.”

“Exactly,” Mori leans back in his chair.

Chapter Text

Dazai lets his facades drop as soon as the door to his too extravagant apartment closes behind him. He had always preferred more simplistic spaces, but Mori insisted that a subexecutive must keep up appearances and gifted him a luxurious penthouse.

The clutter makes him feel jittery. Well, more so than usual. Dazai has never managed to completely shake the burning itch to always be occupied in some way. Coupled with his constant inability to get out of bed and actually do something, it’s no wonder his moods fluctuate like a damned pendulum. Thankfully, he’s in a high spot right now and doesn’t have to deal with Mori’s vaguely disappointed sighs when he doesn’t get anything done.

Though, Dazai muses as he grabs his laptop and flops down onto the oversized couch, the technology at his fingertips is a boon. Gnawing on his lip, Dazai quickly finds the requirements for a first year highschool student. He hums as he looks over the list. The math and science shouldn’t be a problem. Dazai taught himself calculus to stave off his usual boredom a while back, and well, he’s been living with a doctor for a good part of three years. He’s bound to have picked up some biology and chemistry.

Mori also ensured Dazai was fluent in English. Most of the international criminal groups speak it, so Dazai must too if he’s to be of use, after all. History… shouldn’t be too hard to catch up with. Most of its common sense anyways.

Japanese literature, on the other hand, is going to be a nightmare. There’s no way Dazai will be able to keep his focus on the absolute multitude of books that he’s expected to have read in order to pretend he’s had some semblance of regular education.

Dazai feels the headache building at the mere thought of spending hours of time he could be doing something useful on trying and inevitably failing to stop himself from zoning out, while attempting to make sense of the words of long dead authors who delight in spending too many words in order to convey a simple concept. At least when Dazai talks circles around someone, he has a purpose. Either gathering information or pissing them off, he’s not just talking to hear himself talk, no matter what Chuuya says.

Dazai frowns as a thought strikes him. He has made a grievous miscalculation. Why take time out of his day to read boring books, when he could keep his wildly unpredictable schedule and just listen to the books? He pulls out his phone, makes a few purchases, and stretches like a self-satisfied cat.

Continuing his search for information, Dazai’s fingertips fly across the keyboard. After all, who knows how long this bout of motivation will last? Practice exams are marked for later as he looks for what he really wants. In the privacy of his apartment, Dazai lets a victorious grin crawl across his face as he successfully hacks UA’s network. Whoever linked their all of their records to their website was a moron.

Dazai lets out a sigh after an hour of fruitless searching. There are no records whatsoever for the entrance exams. Those must be filed through a separate network. Why then, if they already have a secure network, are all of the files of past students so easily accessed? Dazai reclines, and lets his mind go to work.

Of course, Dazai bolts upright, it’s a test in and of itself. There must be an element of one of the exams, most likely the practical, that’s unfair. This is the headmaster’s way of leveling the playing field. Nezu is touted as a genius, after all.

Dazai scans the records again. All of the students accepted into the hero course initially have destructive quirks, with a few exceptions. The most logical form a practical for a hero course could take is something combat oriented. The question is, what will the applicants be fighting? It can’t be other humans, otherwise more applicants with mind altering quirks would have gotten in.

What element do all of the accepted students have in common, besides the destructive nature of their quirks? Dazai narrows his eyes. Most of the quirks, if used right, would be effective against electronics. Take the disproportionate amount of water quirks and basic enhance quirks, there must be a correlation.

“Of course,” Dazai groans, “I’m such an idiot. The opponents are robots.”

Dazai yawns and checks the time on his phone. He winces. Three AM doesn’t sound right, but Dazai has never been the best at keeping track of time. Not bothering to change clothes, Dazai makes his way to his bedroom and collapses into the bed.

—-

Dazai wakes to the soft sound of his phone buzzing on the bedside table. He picks it up without bothering to check caller ID. “Hello?” Dazai thinks he does an admirable job of masking the drowsiness from his voice.

“What the hell, shitty Mackerel!” Chuuya’s voice explodes from the other end of the phone. Dazai winces and holds it back from his face. “Do you know how many times I’ve called you? Twenty three times! Would it kill you to pick up the phone every now and then?”

Dazai blinks. “Yes, which is why I’m on the phone now! Did you know the radio waves that are emitted from a phone can eventually fry your brain?”

A snort. “I see you’re back on your bullshit, waste of bandages.”

“Ah, ah, Slug, that implies I got off my bullshit in the first place.” Dazai flops back into his pillows. “Why are you calling me at the miserable time of,” he checks his watch that he neglected to take off the night before, “two in the first place?”

“You just woke up, didn’t you?” Chuuya sounds utterly unimpressed and too much like Kouyou for Dazai’s comfort.

“No.” Dazai isn’t about to give Chuuya the satisfaction of an easy surrender.

“Sure. So if you weren’t sleeping, what were you doing?” Dazai seriously wonders why Mori introduced Chuuya to Kouyou. He used to be so easy to lead around by his nose. Now he talks back.

Letting out an overdramatized, beleaguered sigh, Dazai responds, “If you must know, I was completing a mission Mori gave me.”

“Oh really? What was it?” Chuuya sounds too smug for Dazai’s liking. It’s time to throw back one of Chuuya’s own terms back into his face.

“Self-care!” Dazai decidedly ignores that Chuuya first used it when telling him he needed to eat something other than cup-ramen.

Chuuya, however, hasn’t forgotten. “Uh huh, when’s the last time you ate?”

Dazai thinks back. “I had lunch.”

Chuuya sighs. “What day?”

“Hmm, Friday, I believe?”

A sputter. “Dazai, it’s fucking tuesday! Get some clean clothes on, grab your computer, and I’ll take you to lunch. Then we can review whatever the hell you managed to scrounge up this soon.”

Dazai frowns, he doesn’t need Chuuya meddling. Why does he even care? “Aww, is Chuuya asking me on a date?” Dazai pitches his voice up into an obnoxiously cheerful tone. “I’m sorry, but I can’t return your affections. I only date men taller than a child!”

Chuuya’s inarticulate shriek of rage is enough to reassure Dazai that Chuuya has dropped all of his annoying caring nonsense. “I’m still taking you to lunch, bastard,” Chuuya hisses before hanging up.

Heaving a sigh, Dazai contemplates if staying in bed is worth the extra headache of Chuuya’s inexplicably loud rage. Finally deciding that no, it’s not, Dazai rolls out of bed with a groan.

—-

“Fucking Dazai, can’t let anyone care about him, much less himself,” Chuuya mutters. And really, it’s not like Chuuya is unaware of why Dazai purposely pisses him off. He’s not stupid. “Crazy bastard is too afraid of letting people close, he’s getting obvious.” Usually, when Dazai’s manipulating people, they don’t even realize what has happened until it’s too late.

Chuuya swings his leg over his motorcycle and speeds off. Dazai lives fairly close, so even with lunch rush traffic, Chuuya gets there in a short amount of time.

Knowing Dazai, he won’t come down and meet him, so Chuuya parks his bike and flies up to the balcony. The door is locked. Chuuya snorts. The damned Mackerel finally started locking his doors just when it’s inconvenient for Chuuya. Typical. Regardless, Chuuya lived on the streets, locks won’t keep him out.

“Oi, Mackerel, lets go!” Chuuya yells as he slams the door open.

The sound of water alerts Chuuya that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Of course, the idiot had to get into the shower.

Chuuya’s stomach grumbles. Well fine, If Dazai is going to take forever and a day, then Chuuya is going to steal Dazai’s food. He navigates his way through Dazai’s creepily impersonal apartment. Sure, it’s decorated well, but only in the same manner a hotel is decorated well. The only proof Dazai even lives here is his laptop sitting on the couch.

The refrigerator is similarly sparse. “Oh my god, Dazai, why is the only thing in your fridge American juice pouches?” Chuuya shouts again. He grabs one and stabs the straw through it.

“You’re the one drinking them,” Dazai’s voice comes from right behind him. Chuuya jumps and turns around. “Also could you maybe keep it down? I don’t want to get a noise complaint.”

“Fuck you.” Chuuya takes in Dazai’s appearance and snorts. Wet hair, bandages, black slacks, and a dress shirt. “You look like a drowned rat. Also, lunches are usually casual affairs.” He points down at his own jeans and t-shirt.

“This is casual. Also, I’d rather look like a rat than a scrappy mutt,” Dazai says.

“It’s really not. I’m going to take you shopping before I allow you to interact with people our age.” Chuuya lets Dazai have the dog comment. He’d never let it go, otherwise.

Dazai steals Chuuya’s juice pouch. “I’d honestly rather die than go shopping with you,” he fires back and drains the pouch in one go. Chuuya looks on in horror. Dazai raises an eyebrow, or well, Chuuya thinks it’s only one eyebrow. “I thought we were going?”

The elevator ride was silent, with Dazai playing games on his phone and Chuuya texting subordinates to make sure everything will run smoothly during his potential three year absence.

They reach Chuuya’s bike and he throws a helmet at Dazai. “If you make me crash this thing, I’ll fillet you like the fish you are.”

Dazai gasps, no doubt fake, and stares at Chuuya with a teary eye. “You’d do that? For me? Oh, Chuuya! I didn’t know you cared!”

Chuuya snarls, of course the bastard would go there. “Get on the damn bike, waste of bandages.”

Dazai’s eye sparks. “Hmm, I don’t know if I should! It’s illegal, after all, for Chuuya to be driving. And you’re too short to pass as eighteen.”

“Get on the damn bike!”

—-

Chuuya’s eye twitches as he watches Dazai drink a third decaf frappuccino. Sometimes he feels like the only reason Dazai does things is to screw with people.

“So,” Chuuya draws the word out, “what’d you find out?”

“Well,” Dazai smirks, “we’re most likely going to fight robots for the entrance exams.”

“How the fuck did you get that?” Chuuya sputters.

Dazai’s lips twist into a mocking facsimile of a grin. “Now, Chuuya, I don’t kiss and tell.”

Chuuya breathes through the rage. “Regardless of you being an evasive bastard, you’d think a hero course entrance exam would have to do more with, ya know, heroing.” He muses.

“Oh my god,” Dazai breathes. “Oh my god, I’m such a fucking idiot. Chuuya, your people pleasing ways have finally come in handy!”

Chuuya’s eye twitches. “I agree completely with the first part. You are an idiot and I’m going to destroy you, but first finish the damn thought.”

Dazai sits back victoriously. “There is a secondary point system based on helping people!” He says like he just cracked the DaVinci code.

“How’d you figure?”

“Why, Chuuya,” Dazai trills, “you said it yourself! It’s a hero school. They’re going to test whether or not we’re willing to compromise the known objective and help people, which is why it’s going to be a secret point system.”

Chuuya blinks. “Right. Well, you’re exhausting. We’re going to fight every Wednesday until the exam.” With that, he gets up and leaves, disregarding that Dazai will have to find his own way back to his apartment.
—-

Chuuya walks into Mori’s office with Dazai hot on his heels, in a manner strangely reminiscent of their meeting a little under a month ago. Mori smiles at them. “Well, I hope you’re both ready! The exam is tomorrow, and I have high hopes.”

Dazai sighs. “Get to the point, Mori-san,” he says with his usual irreverence. Chuuya bristles. How the hell does Dazai get away with his disrespect?

“I just called you two in to make sure you were prepared,” Mori chuckles. “But, that reminds me, we have new intel that All Might is going to be a teacher this year. You should be fine. He’s too much of a hero to ever think of harming children, even spies. But, just in case, don’t do anything to make them doubt you.”

All Might… Chuuya has a healthy respect for the hero. Hell, everyone on the wrong side of the law does. No one wants a man who can level a building with one punch to bust an operation. Thankfully, the Port Mafia is too underground to ever have to deal with the number one hero.

Dazai’s voice starts Chuuya out of his musings. “That’s not the only reason we’re here, is it?” The only outward expression of Dazai’s suspicion is his slightly narrowed eye. Otherwise, the same serene smile he came in here wearing is still plastered in place.

Mori matches Dazai’s expression and Chuuya shivers. Whenever he’s in a room with them at the same time, he always feels like he’s being manipulated in a game only they know the rules to. “Endeavor’s son is also attending. I don’t need to explain how Endeavor sniffing you out would be a less than optimal outcome.”

Endeavor is usually too preoccupied with rankings to bother with criminal organizations, but well, the few that managed to cross him have all been reduced to ashes.

Dazai stiffens, probably reading more into the comment than Chuuya did, and replies “we’ll be careful. No one will figure us out.”

Mori brightens. “Excellent! You’re dismissed.”

—-

Kouyou sits impassively in front of the eccentric figures of Shigaraki and Kurogiri. “Negotiating” with the two is beneath her, especially considering Shigaraki’s erratic behavior.

“You’ll regret refusing our offer of alliance,” Shigaraki snarls, eyes glinting with malice from beneath the shriveled hand covering the majority of his face.

“No, I won’t.” Kouyou stands. “You have nothing to offer the Port Mafia, and we have a reputation of not backing unprofitable ventures to uphold.” She begins walking to the door.

“How dare you!” He shrieks, before rushing at her, hand extended.

Kouyou smirks. “How uncouth.” Golden Demon cuts through the meat of his hand, before pinning Shigaraki to the ground.

The misty figure of Kurogiri stiffens as Kouyou turns to look at him. “You’re lucky I have strict orders not to kill you. Next time, have a better leash on your pet.” With that, she walks out, Golden Demon dissipating.

Chapter Text

Hirotsu drove Dazai and Chuuya to the gates of UA. “See ya,” Chuuya called as he slipped out of the car. Chuuya received a grunt of acknowledgement.

The written exam is before the practical. Chuuya’s nervous about it. It’s not like he’s ever taken an actual exam before. Sure, he did fine on the online practice tests, but the energy surrounding an entrance exam to one of the most prestigious high schools in the nation ramps Chuuya’s anxiety up immeasurably.

“Calm down,” Dazai mutters, “I could feel your nerves from the moon.”

Chuuya snarls. “That’s easy for you to say. This exam will be a breeze for you, but unlike some people, I actually have to work hard! Not to mention everything is riding on us getting in.” He spits venomously.

Dazai heaves out a put upon sigh. “I really do hate saying this, but you’re much smarter than the average fifteen year old. You don’t hold a candle to me of course, but you really should be able to pass the written without a problem.” Chuuya stares at him in shock. Dazai huffs and refuses to meet Chuuya’s eyes. “Now, come on. We don’t want to stand out anymore than we already do.”

Dazai is right, of course. They don’t blend in with the sea of school uniforms in slacks and dress shirts, but it fits with the homeschool backstory Mori came up with.

They’re in separate texting rooms, and Chuuya can’t help but feel a little relieved that he’s not going to be in the same room as someone who will inevitably finish the test way before everyone else. He’s sure that Dazai will somehow make the act of turning in a test a taunt to the other examinees, making them rush and mess up.

Chuuya tunes out the speal being given by a tired man in black at the front of the room and runs through a review of all of the material he crammed into his head in the past month.

The test packets are passed out. “You may begin,” the tired man calls out.

—-

Chuuya finds a seat next to Dazai in the large auditorium UA is holding the briefing for the practical. “So,” Dazai turns to face him, smug grin already in place, “how was the test?”

Chuuya growls. “Fuck off. You were right, it wasn’t that hard.” There were a few difficult questions, but Chuuya believes he passed well enough.

Dazai hums. “Aren’t I always?”

Chuuya scoffs and nods to the front of the room where a blond man with hair styled in a manner strangely reminiscent of a parakeet stands. “So, who’s that?”

Dazai gives him a condescending look. “That’s Present Mic, a pro hero.”

“Hey there, little listeners!” Said pro hero interrupts the conversation. Dazai, who Chuuya knows is more sensitive to loud noises than him, flinches. The movement is so minute that if Chuuya had been anyone else, or if he wasn’t glaring at Dazai at that particular moment, would have missed it.

“Needless to say,” Dazai continues airily, “he has a sound manipulating quirk that specifically enhances his voice. There is also evidence he can manipulate the pitch, too.” Chuuya winces. He is intimately familiar with physics, due to the nature of his quirk, and sound waves can do some damage.

“Everybody say heyyy!” Present Mic calls out again. Dead silence. “Huh, tough crowd.”

Chuuya snorts. It’s actually pretty clever, what Present Mic is doing. Putting on a mask of exuberance so that no one takes him seriously, but in reality he probably has one of the most dangerous quirks at UA.

Papers outlining the practical are passed out. Dazai’s normally smug grin gets exponentially more infuriating. “What was that I was saying about always being right?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Chuuya mutters as he elbows Dazai in the side. Present Mic goes over the material provided by the instructions. He ends his spiel by asking for questions.

Chuuya’s attention is once again drawn to Dazai as he leans forward, a malicious gleam in his eye. Chuuya groans. “What now, Mackerel?”

Dazai hums. “Present Mic is leaving out information. There are four robots listed on the paper, he only covered three. Now, what is so special about the fourth type of robot that he wants us to overlook?”

“Why don’t you ask, then?” Chuuya begins to feel a headache form due to exposure to Dazai’s ridiculous mind games.

Dazai’s smile turns from smug to chilling. “Someone is going to ask for me. Don’t want to let any of the heroes in on how my mind works just yet, even if I did do perfectly on the written.” Chuuya rolls his eyes. Arrogant bastard.

On cue, a boy with black hair stood up and began to berate Present Mic for leaving out information, or UA for misprinting the instructions. It… really wasn’t clear what his purpose was.

Unsurprisingly, Present Mic laughed. “Don’t bother with the fourth type, yeah? They don’t give you any points!”

—-

When the pro hero who looks more at home in a bdsm scene than a high school yells start with no warning, Chuuya is off like a shot. He needs to get as many points as possible. The other prospects stand in confused silence before the pro hero laughs and tells them to get a move on. God, Chuuya needs to learn the names of all these heroes.

He rapidly changes his center of gravity from wall to wall, slingshotting forward at high speeds. Chuuya throws himself into a city square and finds himself surrounded by three pointers. A manic grin creeps across Chuuya’s face.

A gloved hand comes up and clenches into a fist. All of the robots in the square crumple up like cheap soda cans.

—

Dazai doesn’t show it, but he’s slightly apprehensive for the physical exam. For all that Chuuya tried to murder him under the guise of training, Dazai is not sure how Chuuya avoiding skills translate to robot fighting.

He pats his pocket to make sure his phone and flash drive are still in them. They are, and Dazai feels his nerves dissipate. Never let it be said that Dazai doesn’t have faith in his own skills.

The man in a bright yellow sleeping bag (Eraserhead, maybe?) yawns. “Start,” he draws.

No countdown, but Dazai had expected that. He’s not caught wrong footed like the rest, and gets a head start. He can tell he’s piqued the pro’s interest, though. Unfortunate.

Dazai puts his not as substantial as he’d hoped head start to good use. He dodges around a couple of one and two pointers before he finds a three pointer. Perfect.

The robot turns to attack him, but well, Chuuya is much faster. And Chuuya is constantly pissed off at Dazai, so he never goes easy against him. Dazai ducks under an arm and scales it’s back until he reaches the neck. Dazai runs his hand over the smooth metal. The control panel should be back here.

Dazai’s hand catches on a slightly raised portion of metal. He smirks. As Dazai pries the metal sheet off the robot, it begins to struggle, attempting to dislodge him. But Dazai is nothing if not stubborn and gets the panel open. Quickly locating a USB port and inserting his flash drive, Dazai uploads a virus into the robot.

The flash drive connects wirelessly to Dazai’s phone, allowing him to remotely hack a single robot’s programming. It took him weeks to figure out the right coding, but he’s pretty sure it’ll get him in.

Dazai pulls out his phone and overrides the programming. Luckily, a basic override does it and he doesn’t have to waste any more time. If all goes to plan, the rest of the exam will be a leisurely ride as it fights other robots.

—

The three pointer easily defeats one and two point robots, and with Dazai’s hacking, his robot’s attacks are more intelligent than the other three pointers, so he takes those down easily enough.

The secondary point system, however, is a pain in Dazai’s ass. He’s pulled more idiot kids out of messes caused by their own quirks than he’s defeated robots, which is kind of impressive considering how effective Dazai’s pet three pointer is.

Scanning his surroundings, Dazai spots another idiot kid about to bring down a building on accident. The blond is able to create explosions from his hands, and if Dazai had to guess, it’s because they secrete some sort of chemical that catalyzes with oxygen.

Suppressing a very irritated groan, Dazai leaps to the ground. He grabs Sparky’s wrist just before his hand makes contact with the robot and subsequently the load bearing wall. Dazai jerks the now shocked blond out of the way of the robot’s retaliatory attack, just before Dazai’s hacked robot engaged it.

“What the fuck!” The blond screeches. “What did you do? I swear if I don’t get in because of you…” he struggles against Dazai’s hold.

Dazai internally swears. The last thing he needs is this. “Calm down. If I had let you blow up that robot, you would have brought that building down. I don’t think that would be very heroic.” Dazai’s tone takes a on mocking lilt.

This just sets off the blond even more. Dazai lets go of his arm and the explosions are back. “I’m gonna kick your ass.” He snarls.

A loud crash interrupts him. The blond’s jaw drops as he stares at something behind Dazai. With a hint of resignation, Dazai turns around. “Ah, so that’s the zero pointer.” And really, he should have expected UA to pull a robot the size of a city block out of their asses. “We should probably run.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” A manic smile crosses the blond’s face. “I’m gonna kill it.”

Dazai stares at him. “You’re a moron.” He leaps forward, grabs the blond’s arm and takes off running.

—-

Dazai stares at the hologram of All Might as he drones on and on. Really, are heroes too good for letters now? “And I’m proud to inform you that you are now a part of UA’s hero course!” All Might’s image flickers out.

A hint of relief crosses Dazai’s mind as he downs a juice pouch.

—-

“How did the Lemon Bomber get released again?” Endeavour explodes out of his seat.

His secretary shrugs. “The police can’t keep him. The Port Mafia ensures that all of their quirked members remain in their grasp.”

Endeavour growls. “It would be nice if the government would get rid of their officials taking bribes from criminals.”

“Well,” the secretary swallows nervously, “you could try and take out the Port Mafia yourself.”

“I can’t,” Endeavour mutters, “Yokohama is entirely under criminal control. The only way to rid Japan of the scourge that is the Port Mafia would be to burn Yokohama to the ground, and that would brand me as a villain.”

Chapter Text

Much to Dazai’s displeasure, Chuuya did manage to drag him shopping. Honestly, if it wasn’t such an inconvenience, Dazai would be proud of him. Getting Mori involved was dirty, but hey, they’re Mafia.

If it were up to Dazai, he’d be in his apartment. Dazai disregards the fact that he and Chuuya now share an apartment in Tokyo. Now, he has to put up a facade. He can feel the cracks in it, but hopefully Chuuya doesn’t notice. It’s not like today’s a bad day, per se, but he’s just so numb. Dazai doesn’t feel like faking emotions right now, but he doesn’t want to deal with Chuuya’s concern either.

Dazai wanders aimlessly as Chuuya mutters items that they still need to buy. Supposedly. Dazai never had a throw blanket on his couch, and no one complained but Chuuya. “Do we really need so many blankets, Chibi?”

Chuuya scoffs. “Of course. I refuse to live in a museum. How you tolerated it still confuses me.”

Dazai cocks his head. “A museum? Is Chibi really so uncultured that he can’t tell the difference between my apartment and a place where people display art?”

“Your apartment doesn’t count as a living space,” Chuuya growls as he tosses a blanket into the cart. “It feels like a showroom.”

And well, Dazai really can’t argue with that. So, to purposely piss off Chuuya, he grabs the tackiest pillow he can see and shoved it into Chuuya’s arms.

“No.” Chuuya’s eyes narrow. “I am not putting this lime green, sequined affront to interior design anywhere near my couch.”

A spark of amusement jolts down Dazai’s spine. He was just going to let Chuuya put it back, but well, his reaction was so interesting. “Awww,” Dazai pouts. “It’s my couch too. It’s only fair that I get to choose at least one of the pillows.” Dazai throws his head back in faux distress. “Hatrack is so selfish,” he trills.

“No,” Chuuya puts the pillow back onto the shelf. “The only reason you care is to fuck with me.”

“Fine,” Dazai grouses. “I won’t insist on the pillow if I get to pick all of the coffee mugs.”

Chuuya inhales sharply. “You know what? Fine. Go pick out the coffee mugs.” Chuuya shoos him away.

Dazai really meant to only go look for the most obnoxious mugs he could find, really, but hey, he saw knives and his brain went, “ooh, shiny!” And here he is. Inspecting kitchen knives. It would be so easy to grab one and slit his wrists, but with the amount of people around, he’s bound to fail and end up in the hospital. Dazai hates the hospital almost as much as he hates himself, and that’s saying something.

Dazai tests the edge of the blade, and whistles. That’s damn good steel. Eh, might as well grab a set for Chuuya.

He’ll make up for any sign of compassion good kitchen knives show by grabbing a set of the cat shaped mugs he saw earlier that Chuuya’s bound to hate.

Their apartment winds up as an interesting mix of Chuuya’s expensive taste and Dazai’s need to give the other hives. It would look like it’s pulled right out of a magazine, if not for the lamps Dazai definitely pulled from the kid’s section and the poster of a dog that somehow got irreversibly stuck to Chuuya’s door. Dazai might’ve had something to do with it, but Chuuya can’t prove anything.

—-

“Did you know” Dazai drawls from where he’s slumped across the couch, “that first years can have knives with their costumes, but not tasers?”

An inhale comes from where Chuuya’s carefully designing his costume, but he doesn’t answer. Dazai’s been steadily working at Chuuya’s nerves for the past hour, and he can feel the breaking point fast approaching.

Dazai’s bored, and he doesn’t do bored. It would be different if he actually had something to do. He’s already memorized all the information provided by UA in both his packet and Chuuya’s. There weren't many differences, due to them both being hero students, but it seems like Chuuya’s teacher is much happier teaching teenagers than Dazai’s.

“Hey slug, what would you do if I got kidnapped?”

Chuuya snorts. “Nothing. They’d give you back.”

Dazai gasps and rolls off the couch. “Chuuuuya! How could you be so cruel?” He wails.

“Easy, you’re obnoxious.” Chuuya reaches for his mug, one of the cat ones, and sips his tea. “You should probably do your costume though.”

“Already finished!” Dazai trills from where he lays on the floor.

“Really?” Chuuya’s eyebrows shoot up. “Let me see.”

“Noooo, Chuuya would just make fun of me,” Dazai whines.

Scoffing, Chuuya gets up and grabs the papers off the coffee table. Dazai hisses and lunges at Chuuya’s ankles. Dazai should really know better, because it’s almost child’s play for Chuuya to pin him to the floor. “You’re such a brute,” he grumbles.

“I’m not.” Chuuya’s voice sounds contemplative as he flips through the diagrams Dazai meticulously drew out on some late night productivity bender. Dazai can feel the tips of his ears burn. He’s managed to train his face out of reddening, but he hasn’t quite managed it with his ears. Yet.

Luckily, Chuuya’s too absorbed with Dazai’s consume design to notice his embarrassment. Dazai is shameless by nature, so embarrassment isn’t something that happens often, but there’s something about Chuuya’s almost complementive tone that never fails to fluster Dazai. Dazai is self aware enough to realize that he never takes compliments gracefully, despite ensuring that everything he does is perfect when he bothers to actually do it.

“Wow,” Chuuya sounds impressed, “This is actually really good.” The pressure on his back eases up and Dazai takes the opportunity to throw Chuuya off him.

Suppressing a wince, because damn, Chuuya is basically all muscle and Dazai doesn’t eat nearly enough, Dazai gets up and brushes himself off. “I’m a man of many talents, Slug.” He grabs the the papers back out of Chuuya’s hands. And really, what does the design have that’s so impressive? It’s going to be made for stealth and utility. It’s nothing flashy.

The pants are a dark, charcoal gray with many pockets. They’re modeled after cargo pants, just with more mobility. Dazai is planning on filling the numerous pockets with all the weapons he can get his hands on.

The shirt is tight and navy blue, long sleeved and turtle-neck. He doesn’t know how many bandages he can get away with, but he knows he’s not going to show the large expanses of scarred skin that covers his arms. Dazai very pointedly ignores the inevitable problem of locker rooms.

Dazai supposes the coat is interesting enough. It’s black and will hit his calves. The aim is to eventually get his hand on a gun and have the coat disguise it. Most heroes don’t carry guns, even though they can and it makes no sense that they don’t, no one will expect a trainee to be wielding a firearm. It also has the added benefit of breaking up his figure, so he blends in easier.

What Dazai really wants is the knives. Mori nabbed a hero’s knife early into their… partnership, and he’s been lusting after it for years. Dazai holds no respect for the hero industry, but the support department? He can get behind anyone who makes knives that nice. The only issue is explaining away how he knows how to use a knife, but he knows his public record shows numerous attempts at running away before Mori adopted him, so it’s not like it’s too suspicious that a kid who’s been on the streets of Yokohama of all places is proficient with a blade.

“Well, anyways, you want to help with mine?” Chuuya breaks the tense silence.

Dazai barks out a laugh. “Only if I can make you wear spandex.”

“Never mind.” Chuuya sniffs. “You have terrible taste.”

—-

The first day of school dawns bright and early, and for the first time in what seems like forever, Chuuya leaves Rimbaud’s hat on his bedside table. The uniform is new, but not completely unfamiliar due to Port Mafia members dressing in suits.

The most startling development of this undercover mission basically hits Chuuya over the head when he walks out of his bedroom. Dazai, whom Chuuya has never seen without bandages over his eye, doesn’t have anything on his face. Chuuya does notice the bandages peeking out from the collar and the sleeves of his shirt are still present. “You know,” Dazai drawls, “pictures last longer.”

Chuuya sputters. “Have you been purposely screwing up your depth perception this entire time for no reason?”

Dazai sighs, like every word out of Chuuya’s mouth is an inconvenience. “I’m legally blind in this eye. It looks fine, but I can’t see out of it. I cover it because I can still perceive light and it’s disorienting.” He says it like a joke and Chuuya has a hard time determining whether or not Dazai is lying.

Finally deciding that Dazai is at least being somewhat truthful, Chuuya sniffs and grabs one of Dazai’s infernal cat mugs. But hey, they’re better than the pillow. “I need at least two cups of coffee before I can deal with your bullshit.” Chuuya thanks every god (except Arahabaki because Arahabaki is a bitch) who might be listening that he’s not in the same class as Dazai, despite Chuuya’s admittedly terrible decision that he might like the annoying bastard.

“I’m glad you finally decided to lose the tacky hat,” Dazai smirks. And just like that, Chuuya is across the table with an inarticulate screech of rage.

Dazai laughs as he dodges around Chuuya’s clumsy grab and continues snickering as he slips out of the apartment.

Chuuya checks the time on his phone and groans. There’s no time to enjoy the peace and quiet. Heh, who would have thought that his first day of school would finally happen at fifteen.

—-

Chuuya is mildly thankful that he doesn’t have to introduce himself first, so he can copy the same format as the people before him. He stands up, takes a deep breath, and says with the same confident charisma that served him so well with the Sheep right up until it didn’t, “Hi, I’m Nakahara Chuuya. My quirk is called For the Tainted Sorrow, and it’s basically gravity manipulation but I’m from Yokohama so the name is pretentious.”

The class is dead silent before a blond boy, Monoma maybe, stands up and shrieks, “you’re the one who scored the highest on the exam!” And suddenly class 1-B is roaring with questions. Chuuya’s heart stutters with alarm. Luckily Kan-Sensei steps in.

“Alright, settle down! You all can bug Nakahara-san at lunch.” Kan-Sensei calls out and the class goes blessedly silent, still caught up in the fact that there’s an actual hero teaching their class. “We need to finish introductions so we can go to orientation.”

Chuuya lets out a sigh of relief and sits down.

—-

Chuuya really didn’t know what he was expecting out of orientation, but the whole thing was blessedly normal. Despite the principal being bear-rat thing with a personality that is much too similar to Dazai’s to be comfortable, the only thing that really stood out was the absence of class 1A.

But hey, it’s not like Dazai’s teacher being a complete nutcase who expelled his entire class last year is Chuuya’s problem.

The one thing he can say for sure is that UA students have a very impressive gossip network.

—-

A quirk apprehension test? Yeah right, if this teacher gave a rat’s ass about quirks, Dazai wouldn’t be in this class. Dazai’s admittedly intrigued, but Aizawa’s threat of expulsion is real so he can’t get too far into his own head.

It would be easy to win most of these competitions, Dazai reflects, just a brush of his fingers and his classmates’ quirks would be cancelled. Not for long, but just long enough to throw them off.

A jolt of realization goes through Dazai. And that is the point. He could sabotage his classmates, but that wouldn’t be very heroic. Aizawa is into surprises, he’s trying to motivate them into messing each other up, and as soon as he deems them not hero material, he’ll expel them.

Dazai feels a sense of vague amusement. It’s so nice to have someone besides Mori actively waiting for him to mess up and let his heroic facade slip. Finally, a challenge.

Chapter Text

The downside of leaving early to escape Chuuya’s wrath was that Dazai was early to school. Dazai makes it a point to never be early to anything, yet here he was, sitting at a desk and waiting for the explosive blond to stop glaring already and confront him.

“Hey, bastard!” Ah, how does that saying go again? Ask and ye shall receive? Explosion boy slams his hand down on Dazai’s desk, leaving scorch marks.

Dazai heaves a beleaguered sigh. “Aww, first day of school and my desk is already messed up,” he pouts. “Anyways,” Dazai meets red eyes, “Did you want something?”

The blond looks taken aback for a moment. Ah, he was expecting Dazai to cower. Arrogance, powerful quirk, objectively good looks, unpleasant personality, all of those spell out that Sparky is used to being on the top of the food chain. Well, Dazai lets his lips curl into smirk, this is going to be fun.

The blond huffs angrily. “Yeah, you sabotaged my entrance exam! If you hadn’t stopped me from killing that robot, I would have been first! Not that dumb extra, whatever his name is.”

Oh, that’s cute. Little explosion boy thinks that he’s better than Chuuya. Dazai’s smirk turns a little more mocking. “Oh?” He leans on his forearms. “You and I seem to have very different memories of what happened. If I had let you blow up that robot, you would have brought that building down on a lot of other candidates, and that’s not very heroic, now is it?” The blond fumes, but before he can say anything, Dazai interjects again. “Besides, one measly three pointer wouldn’t have bridged the gap. You just want someone besides yourself to blame for not measuring up.”

Dazai knows they’re drawing attention. He can feel the eyes of his classmates boring into his back. “Kachan?” A voice by the door squeaks. Dazai cuts his eyes toward the green haired boy who spoke. Well now, he’s interesting. Dazai usually can’t feel someone’s quirk until he nullifies it, but the green haired kid? He radiates energy.

“Kachan?” Dazai raises an eyebrow.

“My name,” the blond ground out, “is Bakugou Katsuki.” His focus is now obviously on the green haired kid. No one else notices the figure behind the three students making a scene at the door. Is that Eraserhead?

Dazai hums, and suppresses a wicked grin. “Sure thing, Kachan. I’m Dazai.”

Bakugou explodes, and it’s glorious. He grabs Dazai by the collar of his shirt with a roar. Dazai doesn’t let the smirk slip off his face until Eraserhead intervenes.

“Enough! Bakugou, put down your classmate. Dazai, stop provoking him!” Eraserhead storms into the classroom. Interesting, Eraserhead correctly assumed his motives. This mission is actually starting to look the slightest bit fun. Dazai widens his eyes, the picture of innocence, but before Dazai can defend himself, Eraserhead shoots him a glare. “Everyone sit down. I’m Aizawa Shouta, and I have the misfortune of being your homeroom teacher.”

Bakugou drops Dazai and stomps all the way back to his desk. “Now that that’s over with,” Aizawa sends a pointed glance at both Bakugou and Dazai, “put these on and meet outside.” He then passes out gym uniforms. Dazai suppresses a wince. It’s just his luck that he has to deal with locker rooms on his first day of school.

—-

No one, Dazai realizes as his classmates don’t even attempt to hide their stares, has any common courtesy anymore. He ignores the irony behind him thinking that.

“So, uh,” a boy finally speaks up, “if you don’t mind me asking, what’s up with all of the bandages?”

A redhead facepalms and mutters, “oh my god, Kaminari, you can’t just ask things like that.”

Dazai laughs, and has to suppress another wince. He hopes that didn’t sound as fake as it felt. “Nah, it’s fine. It has to do with my quirk, actually. I don’t want to nullify anyone’s quirk accidentally, so” he gestures to his covered limbs and torso, “I have to make sure I don’t make skin contact.” That’s a lie, of course. Dazai doesn’t care how reportedly disorienting his quirk is, but the male half of his class seems to buy it.

The redhead nods and says “I’m Kirishima, by the way.”

Dazai smiles and responds with his own name.

—-

Dazai ends up being right about the quirk apprehension test. This becomes obvious when Aizawa finally speaks up. Dazai has been scoring solidly in the center of most tests, below the ones who could enhance their skills with their quirks, but at the top of those relying on their physical talents.

“Dazai, why aren’t you taking this seriously?” At Aizawa’s words, the entire class looks at him.

Dazai cocks his head. “What do you mean, Sensei?”

“You’re not giving this your all,” Aizawa looms in an obvious intimidation tactic. “You could easily win each of these contests by nullifying your classmates quirks.”

Ah, that’s his game. “Well, I could,” Dazai admits, “but it’s not fair to my classmates if they get expelled for something I did.” Dazai pulls morals out of his ass. That sounds like something Chuuya would say, right?

This seems to enrage Aizawa, but there’s definitely something fake about it. Another intimidation tactic, probably to see what Dazai is made of. “Do you think you’ll ever go into a fight that’s fair?”

“No, actually.” Dazai remains unfazed. Once he determines a motive, all actions become predictable. And when actions become predictable, reactions become manipulatable. “I know I’m at a disadvantage due to not having a combative quirk, yet by its nature, I’m a front line fighter. I wouldn’t hold off on using it when you’ve actually pitted students head to head. You give the illusion of competition, but this is really a test of individual potential. So, like I said, I’m not going to ruin a classmate’s chances of showing their potential.”

Dazai doesn’t give too much away, just enough to justify his method of passing the entrance exam. “You do realize,” Aizawa draws, still trying to get a measure on Dazai’s “character”, “you aren’t showing off your full potential this way, right?”

Dazai blinks. “Actually, I am. I’m certain you saw me nullify Bakugou’s quirk during the entrance exam, but I didn’t display any amount of physical prowess. So, now I’m showing off what I didn’t get to in the entrance exam.”

Suddenly, an unnerving breaks out across Aizawa’s face. “Excellent, you saw through my logical ruse. You might have the potential to be a hero, after all.” Dazai seriously doubts that, but hey. If a teacher buys his cover, then Mori can’t complain.

—-

The quirk apprehension test ends with Midoriya breaking a finger, and really, whoever told Midoriya that his quirk was a simple enhancement quirk was a moron. Enhancement quirks don’t feel like that. They’re a simple blip of dullness blinking past Dazai’s perception when he makes skin contact, no matter how powerful the enhancement.

Midoriya’s quirk, however, feels alarmingly like Chuuya’s. They might be passing Chuuya’s quirk off as a simple emitter, but Arahabaki is as much Chuuya’s quirk as For the Tainted Sorrow.

But Dazai digresses, whatever the fuck energy source Midoriya is hosting is not good at passing as an enhance, because enhance quirks don’t rip the user’s body apart. No, that’s a feature reserved specifically for host type quirks. Maybe, the reason no one has called bullshit on it though, is because host type quirks aren’t common knowledge. They’re rare enough that the government keeps them under wraps and experiments on them. Hell, the only reason Dazai knows about them is because of Chuuya.

Midoriya must have managed to slip under the radar, and it’s more than likely that he doesn’t know the true nature of his quirk either.

—-

Chuuya sneezes, and Kendou blesses him. “Thanks,” he sniffs.

Him, Kendou, and Monoma gravitated towards each other when they were released for lunch, and Chuuya actually likes them. Monoma is highly antagonistic, but Chuuya’s dealt with Dazai so he doesn’t react to a lot of Monoma’s bullshit and Kendou is just miraculously even tempered.

His day has been normal, almost, and it’s been refreshing. He likes his teacher, his classmates are actually nice people, and he’s making friends. He ignores the voice in his head that sounds uncomfortably like Dazai telling him that they’ll all hate him when they find out the truth.

“So, Chuuya,” Monoma catches his attention. “What’s it like growing up in a place without heroes.” Monoma sounds morbidly curious.

“Ah well,” Chuuya fidgets with his gloves, “I’m probably not the best person to ask. I grew up on the streets until my half sister could gain custody of me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Kendou apologizes for some reason.

Chuuya snorts. “I didn’t tell you that for you to pity me. Everything turned out fine in the end.”

“Still,” Kendou frowns. “What’s your sister like?”

Chuuya feels a surge of relief at the subject change. “She’s incredible. She knows kendo and has the best fashion sense. And I’m pretty sure Kouyou would commit unspeakable acts for a good cup of tea.” He feels his voice grow wistful towards the end, but sue him. He misses Kouyou.

“She sounds nice,” Monoma exclaims. Kendou nods in agreement. Chuuya smiles. It’s nice not having to watch everything he says for weakness.

—

Aizawa slips into Nedzu’s office. He takes note of Kan already inside. Whatever Nedzu needs to talk to them about must have to do with the first year hero students then.

“Excellent! You’re both here.” Nedzu chirps. “Kan, how’s Nakahara-kun?”

Kan shoots a confused look at Aizawa, but responds anyways. “He’s fine. A little loud and temperamental, but that’s pretty common for teenagers. Is there a reason you’re asking?”

“Of course!” Nedzu clasps his paws together. “I did a little digging, because it struck me strange that three children in one year from Yokohama would all simultaneously decide to become heroes-”

“I’m sorry, three?” Aizawa interrupts.

Nedzu grumbles a bit over being interrupted. “Yes, the third didn’t apply here though. But, back to Nakahara. Nakahara Chuuya technically doesn’t exist!” Both Kan and Aizawa sputter. “His records are fakes, but the interesting part is that the government did it. So, I dug a little more and it turns out that Nakahara-kun is the result of government quirk experiments.” Nedzu lets that sink in before continuing.

“Now, I bet you’re wondering why the government hasn’t snatched Nakahara-kun back up.” Aizawa nods, knowing Nedzu expects a response. “Well, my best guess is the Port Mafia has already claimed him as one of theirs.”

Aizawa has a sinking feeling that he knows where this is going. “And Dazai?”

Nedzu outright grins. “Now there’s an interesting student. That boy is a performer, and a damn good one, but everything about him is fake, including his identity. My systems are still running facial recognition to find out who he really is, but there is no doubt about him being Port Mafia, especially with their history of snatching up kids with powerful quirks.”

“Their guardians…” Kan starts.

“Mori Ougai is a wealthy doctor turned businessman, that’s almost a signed confession to being a high up in the Port Mafia and Ozaki Kouyou works for him.”

“So are you going to expel them?” Aizawa asks.

“No.”

“Why not?” Kan sounds outraged.

Nedzu hums. “Lots of reasons. Those boys are fifteen, for one, and maybe if they have a place outside the Mafia, they might leave. I want to know why they’re here, because if they were spies, the Port Mafia would have done a better job covering their origins. Even something as simple as the fact that I empathize with Nakahara-kun’s experience. It doesn’t matter, just that they stay.”

Chapter Text

By the end of the morning circuit of classes on their second day of school, Dazai managed to profile classmates with strong quirks and/or high intelligence. Yaoyorozu Momo and Midoriya Izuku managed to top the list. Yaoyorozu’s near photographic memory makes a dangerous combination with her quirk, and her analyses are decent too.

Midoriya obviously can’t control his quirk, but Dazai overheard the mumbling. The kid can accurately pinpoint weaknesses almost to the level Dazai can. It’s impressive, especially for someone who never formally trained that skill.

Bakugou has an obviously powerful quirk, but he’s book smart. People with common sense don’t act like Bakugou.

And then there’s Todoroki. The wild card. There’s more to his quirk than ice, but that’s all he uses. Disappointing, especially because Dazai really wants to see what he can really do. He holds himself like he was trained in combat. Dazai also noticed the slightest flinch whenever anyone mentions Endeavor. So, daddy issues. The burn scar doesn’t speak well of his home life, but it wasn’t inflicted by flames. Dazai knows what those burn scars look like. He sees them every time he takes the bandages off.

Regardless, Dazai’s new class is interesting and he fully intends to get a better read on them at lunch. Somehow, Dazai fell into a conversation with Ashido, Kaminari, and Kirishima on the way to the lunchroom and ends up sitting with them. Dazai pulls out his phone when they get up to grab food.

Ashido shoots him a strange look. “Aren’t you going to get lunch?” She asks.

Dazai looks up. “Nah, I forgot my wallet at home.” He doesn’t mention that even the thought of food right now makes him feel nauseous.

A snort sounds behind him and Dazai inwardly groans. Spinning around, Dazai plasters a wide grin onto his face. “Chuuya! I don’t suppose you have money I can borrow?”

Chuuya lets out a short bark of laughter. “Sure, borrow. Nah, I figured you’d forget everything and brought you lunch.” He throws a paper sack at Dazai’s head. He catches it and looks inside. Canned crab and a juice pouch. Dazai looks up sharply and sees Chuuya’s knowing smile.

Dazai pouts. “Aww, not a bento?”

“You wish.” Chuuya walks away.

“So,” Kaminari wiggles his eyebrows, Ashido snickering in the background, “who’s the cute redhead.”

Dazai feels his eyebrows rise unintentionally. “Who, Chuuya? His sister and my adoptive father are business partners. We’re sharing a flat.”

Kaminari throws an arm around Dazai, and Dazai does not flinch at the contact, but it’s a close thing. “So, can you introduce me?” Kaminari wiggles his eyebrows again. At this point both Kirishima and Ashido are laughing.

“Uh, sure?” Dazai shoots Kaminari an incredulous glance. “But like, why? Chuuya’s the worst.”

Kaminari lets out a shocked gasp. “You are a man of poor taste.” Dazai makes a split second decision. Chuuya will never find out about this. He will never let Dazai live it down.

—-

Dazai has his head on his desk when All Might walks in. His loud voice only serving to make Dazai’s headache worse. And then the gasps and muttering started. Dazai is sure he heard Midoriya honest to god squeak. Even Todoroki, who Dazai hoped was over the hero worship, perked up.

All Might tells the class to get their costumes on. “Oh and Dazai-kun?” Dazai turns to look at the hero. “You have to go through weapon handling classes after school before you’re allowed to wield the knives you requested.”

Annoyance builds in Dazai’s gut. Regardless, Dazai flashes a quick smile. “Understood, All Might-Sensei!” He chirps.

On the way to the changing rooms, Dazai looks over the features of his costume and whistles in appreciation. The coat is fireproof and bulletproof. The boots have built in ankle braces and the grip is specifically designed for urban combat. They even included fingerless gloves that function similarly to brass knuckles, but are also padded so he doesn’t break his hand. The support department is definitely the most useful branch of UA.

Dazai changes into his costume, relaxing under the familiar weight of a coat and the feeling of fabric against his right eye. It’s not a bandage, but the black fabric serves its purpose. “Hey bastard,” Bakugou growls, “why the hell are you handicapping yourself. You think you’re too good to take us seriously, is that it?” Bakugou gets into his face. Honestly, these students have no concept of personal space.

Dazai laughs, and he can tell this pisses Bakugou off even more. “Not everything is about you, Dandelion Fluff.” Bakugou sputters. “I’d just prefer not to have to deal with being able to perceive light changes but not actually be able to see anything out of my right eye. It’s disorienting!” Dazai pushes past Bakugou, who’s still gaping, and leaves the changing room, smile still stretched across his face.

—-

They end up in one of the cities they did their entrance exams. Repaired, of course, because Dazai’s pretty sure Bakugou wasn’t the only one ready to commit wholesale environmental devastation.

He ends up partnered with Yaoyorozu, which actually works out in his favor, because she’s definitely the most level headed member of his class. Bakugou’s team is paired up against Midoriya’s, which isn’t going to turn out well. There’s some serious grudges there.

The first thing Dazai notices about their mock battle is that the villain team is not working as a team. Midoriya and his partner-Uraraka- are, which gives them the advantage right off the start. Bakugou immediately goes on the hunt for the hero team. Again, poor move, Iida is more suited to pursuit.

And then Bakugou finds Midoriya and All Might doesn’t stop the battle. There’s malicious intent there, and for all that Dazai can’t actually hear what they’re saying, he can hear All Might ordering Bakugou not to pull the pin on his sweat grenades. Then, Bakugou disobeys and All Might still doesn’t call the battle.

There’s a reason Dazai holds little respect for Heroes, and the main one is the hypocrisy. “All Might,” Dazai finally joins in on the chorus of his classmates’ protests, “this isn’t training anymore. It’s a grudge match.” The class quiets and Dazai sees All Might’s shoulders tense up, yet he still doesn’t call it. Hero, Dazai thinks, Hero his ass.

The hero team wins in the end, but it was a pyrrhic victory. Midoriya had to be carted off the field.

The rest of the matches are uneventful, besides Todoroki freezing then thawing an entire building.

Then finally Dazai and Yaoyorozu as the villain team and Jirou and Kaminari as the hero team are called onto the field. “Hey Yaoyorozu,” Dazai catches her attention, “Jirou’s quirk has to do with sound, right?”

“Yes, she can manipulate sound waves through her ear jacks. Why are you asking?”

A gleam lights up Dazai’s uncovered eye. “Excellent. I assume she can use it somewhat like sonar, so to throw her off we can scatter radios all over the building. While we’re at it we should get into the spirit of the competition and decorate our base.”

“What do you have in mind?” She looks intrigued.

“Terrible haunted house.”

Yaoyorozu shoots him a look. “We have 5 minutes, I’ll fortify this room,” she unzips her top halfway and begins to synthesize materials, “you go be a chaotic distraction.” Dazai grins. It’s so nice working with someone who immediately catches on to his plans.

Dazai sets the speakers up to start on a motion sensor. Each sensor they set off, another speaker will start playing a discordant harmony to the ones before it. Dazai puts buckets on top of half open doors and strings clear fishing line through empty hallways. The pattern is random as to not give away the bomb’s position. The building also has air vents large enough to fit a skinny teenager, which Dazai takes so much advantage of.

Dazai drops into the room Yaoyorozu is fortifying from the vents. “I need like ten bottles of water.” She stifles a shriek, because apparently she wasn’t expecting Dazai to drop down right behind her. Dazai frowns consideringly. “Also some battery powered strobe lights.”

Yaoyorozu nods. “I like the way you think, Dazai.” Dazai smirks at her and with a mocking salute climbs back into the vents with plans on how to completely eliminate Kaminari from the battle.

The strobe lights get placed on motion sensors as well, and Dazai pours water on the ground in strategic locations, because Kaminari is jumpy Dazai would bet the cat mugs that he’ll instinctively activate his quirk when the first strobe light goes off. Dazai would like to thank Kaminari’s tendency to over share, because now he knows Kaminari isn’t completely immune to electricity.

As a finishing touch, Dazai cuts the lights.

Dazai and Yaoyorozu spend the next fifteen minutes relaxing in the bomb room. All Might calls the match in the villain’s favor and Kaminari, fried brains an all, and Jirou are cut out of the fishing line traps.

—-

Chuuya doesn’t know how it happened, but his mock battle turns into a full on two-on-two melee. Kendou and him versus Monoma and Tokage. As Chuuya punches through another clone of Monoma, he reflects on how fucking annoying both Monoma’s and Tokage’s quirks are.

Chuuya could win this in an instant, but he really doesn’t want to squish his classmates accidentally. He gets surrounded by Monoma clones, except one of them is not a clone apparently, and makes contact with the skin on the back of his neck.

The clones disappear. Chuuya spins around, eyes wide with panic. He takes in Monoma’s figure shrouded in red. “Shit.” Chuuya has a split second to react, before Monoma activates For the Tainted Sorrow.

The windows shatter, the stone cracks, then the building collapses. Chuuya wraps his power around his classmates and keeps them from being flattened by Monoma and the falling building.

Monoma quickly stops using For the Tainted Sorrow as Chuuya brings down the floating figures of his classmates into the rubble. Wide eyed, Monoma looks around. “What the hell,” he whispers.

“Congratulations, you just leveled an entire city block,” Chuuya’s voice is as dry as the desert.

—-

Oda stares in horror at the contents of the previously thought to be abandoned warehouse in Kamino. Glass tanks filled with grotesquely manipulated figures, quirked children stolen off the streets of Suribachi in cages, and medical instruments scattered across the expanse of concrete.

Oda makes eye contact with a boy with black hair, hovering protectively over a younger girl and immediately moves to start freeing the children.

Oda mindlessly dials Kouyou’s number. “Ozaki-san, There’s something you need to see.”

—-

Kouyou is in the middle of a meeting with Mori when Oda calls. “I’m sorry, do you mind if I take this?” Kouyou asks. “I sent a subordinate to investigate rumors of a new organization and he might have pertinent information.”

Mori smiles serenely. “Go ahead.”

Kouyou’s face darkens the longer Oda talks, until finally she hangs up.

“Mori-san, we have a situation.”

—-

Mori takes in the warehouse in all of its questionable glory. Oda, soft man that he is, already released the children, but he can’t fault the man for it. It makes it easier to build trust and develop skilled operatives.

Kouyou swears softly at his side.

A cruel smile stretches across Mori’s face. “All For One is getting bolder. I suppose we have to teach him a lesson about stepping foot in Yokohama.” Mori turns, black coat fanning out behind him. “Oda-kun, evacuate the children, then burn this place to the ground.”

Chapter Text

Dazai finds Aizawa in the gym for his mandatory knife training session, Chuuya and Vlad King already there. “Now that everyone’s here,” Aizawa shoots a dirty look at Dazai- which, rude, he’s only five minutes late- “we can get started.”

Aizawa hands Dazai the knives he ordered with his costume, showing him how to adjust his grip. Dazai plays along, like he hadn't known how to use a knife since he could run. Chuuya does the same. Dazai doesn’t miss the suspicion that flits across both teachers’ faces.

Aizawa’s been acting colder towards Dazai, yes, but Dazai and Chuuya haven’t done anything to give themselves away. So what do they know? And who else knows?

A bolt of realization shoots down Dazai’s spine, his hand unconsciously tensing around the handle of the knife. Nedzu’s quirk is analysis. He probably took one look at his and Chuuya’s files and knew something was up. The problem is, Dazai can’t get a handle on Nedzu’s motivation. If he even suspects that he and Chuuya are part of the Port Mafia, shouldn’t they have been arrested already?

“Dazai!” Aizawa’s voice pulls him forcefully out of his own head.

“Ah, sorry sensei,” Dazai rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, “zoned out there for a minute. Maybe I need to sleep more?” He forced out a laugh. Anxiety builds in his gut. Dazai can’t remember the last time he got lost in thought to the extent of losing awareness of his surroundings. Chuuya gives him a look he doesn’t even try to decipher.

The lesson continues and Dazai and Chuuya attempt to pass themselves off as quick learners, and only that. Dazai thinks they succeeded, but if he’s right and Nedzu knows they’re Port Mafia, then he and Chuuya need to be even more careful.

—-

“What the hell is up with you, Mackerel?” Chuuya slams the door to their apartment closed.

Dazai, an innocent smile fixed in place, twirls around. “I don’t know what you mean, I’m perfectly fine.”

Chuuya snorts, disbelief coloring his tone. “Yeah right. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you zone out like that.”

Dazai’s smile loses some of its believability, and that how Chuuya knows he’s right on target. “Hmm well, I was contemplating something. You haven’t done anything suspicious recently, have you?”

Chuuya’s mind instantly goes to the havoc wreaked by Monoma using Chuuya’s quirk. Dazai’s eyes light up, “Oh, you have, haven’t you?” He crows.

Chuuya groans. “So there’s this one guy who can copy quirks, and he got a hold of me because I didn’t want to actually kill anyone, ya know?”

“Actually I don’t,” Dazai interrupts, “I’m always down for murder.”

“Regardless,” Chuuya breathes through the irritation, “he leveled a fake city block.”

Raucous laughter escapes from Dazai’s lips. “Shut up,” Chuuya swats him, rage fueling it, so it ends up more forceful than he meant.

“Ow, Chibi!” Dazai whines, “You’re the one who let the high schooler get the drop on you and copy your quirk. Really, it’s your fault that I’m laughing at you.” A pout smears across his face, and Chuuya would very much like to break his nose.

“I’m going to end you,” Chuuya grounds out.

“Ooh, please do!” Dazai chirps.

—-

When Kan-sensei stands in front of the class, they quickly quiet. Chuuya turns from where he was talking animatedly to Kendou and Monoma, with Tokage occasionally throwing in a comment from her own conversation with two silver haired boys, and pays attention.

“Now, I know you all have only had a few days to get to know each other, but we need to decide on class representatives,” Kan-sensei begins, before being interrupted by quick muttering back and forth.

“I think it’s obvious who it should be!” Monoma stands up and exclaims. He’s going to say his own name and this whole situation is just funny, especially how out of depth Kan-sensei looks. “The class representative spot should go to Chuuya,” Monoma says smuggly. What?

Chuuya sputters, but before he can say anything, Tokage butts in. “Yeah, did you see how quick he reacted when Monoma copied his quirk? He’s really responsible!”

The rest of the class nods in agreement. “Hah?” Was the only thing that came out of Chuuya’s mouth.

Kan-sensei had a vaguely bemused expression on his face, but wrote Chuuya’s name down anyway. “Now for the vice class representative-

“Kendou should do it,” Chuuya quickly interjects.

“She’s just as responsible as Chuuya is,” Shiozaki states.

There’s a widespread mutter of assent, with a few more outspoken classmates shouting “Yeah!”

—-

Dazai couldn’t care less about who ends up as class representative. Why everyone wants it, he can’t even begin to guess.

He lets out a yawn as the rest of his class argues. Hopefully Iida or someone will propose a vote, and they can get this over with already.

His eyes drift closed, until he hears Yaoyorozu say, “Dazai is a good candidate. He did score number one on the written, after all.”

Eyes flying open, Dazai yawns again. “Actually, if you could not nominate me, that’d be great. I want to be an underground hero, class rep is too eye-catching.”

“We should conduct a vote!” Is Iida’s exuberant reply. Ah, finally some common sense.

Dazai goes ahead and throws his vote in with Yaoyorozu. She’s competent and probably needs the boost in confidence.

Dazai falls back into a half doze; the closest thing he can get to sleep surrounded by people.

—-

All through the morning classes, he pays very little attention to what the teachers are saying. When they’re finally released for lunch, Dazai unconsciously makes his way over to where Chuuya is sitting.

Dazai slips into the open chair next to Chuuya, ignoring the blond’s questioning look. Chuuya snorts, loudly, and pokes Dazai’s shoulder as he sinks down in his seat.

After rolling his eyes at Chuuya, Dazai turns to the other two members of the table. “I’m Dazai,” he says brightly. “Don’t mind me, I’m just going to take a nap.”

Unfortunately, Chuuya’s presence acts like a safety blanket, and Dazai does slip into a deeper sleep than before. He’s startled awake by alarms going off. Absolute chaos follows, the halls are backed up, students are screaming, there is no set procedure for evacuation.

Dazai gets dragged along with Chuuya into the hallways when something catches his eye. The gate was disintegrated. “Chuuya,” he tugs on Chuuya’s sleeve and points out the gate, “who do we know that can decay metal?”

Chuuya swears. “We need to call Mori.”

Dazai’s eyes glitter. “Or we could not call Mori. He’s not telling us the entire truth of why we’re here, and I believe it has something to do with the League of Villains. If I’m playing bait, I want to know.” Their voices stay quiet, unintelligible over the din of panicking students.

“How’d you figure,” Chuuya mutters.

“Think about it, we’re not subtle enough to be spies. We haven’t even gone through infiltration training. Mori’s up to something and I want to know what it is.”

Chuuya nods in assent and sighs. “I agree with you, unfortunately.”

—-

Chuuya is kicking Dazai’s ass at Mario Kart when Mori calls. Chuuya swears, certain he found out about what happened earlier, and picks up. “Mori-san, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Dazai snorts from beside him.

“Unfortunately, we have a new organization in Yokohama,” Mori’s tone is the same as ever, amused. “They’re quirk traffickers, so we have our hands full hunting down the victims. We need you and Dazai to go bring the main base of operations down. You’ll have to find your own transportation, though.”

“Got it,” Chuuya hangs up. “Get up asshole, we have a mission.”

Dazai gasps dramatically. “How can I possibly perform my best, when my partner is so mean to me?”

“Fuck off, we have to take the train and right now, there is a large chance I’ll push you under it.”

“You threaten me with death, knowing that it’s my one true desire,” Dazai trills. “Chuuya loves me after all!”

Chuuya groans. “Oh my god, shut up.”

—-

Somehow, Dazai makes it to Yokohama without Chuuya maiming him. They split up to go get their gear from their apartments with the agreement to meet up at headquarters for briefing.

Dazai dons his black coat and feels the phantom weight of Mori’s hand on his shoulder, something that, considering Mori’s history, shouldn’t be comforting, but is. He wraps bandages around his eye and grabs his gun, feeling lighter than he had in weeks.

Striding back into Mafia Headquarters feels like everything is normal again, and he derives some sick sort of humor from the secretary's flinch. Doubtless, news of the Demon Prodigy’s return will spread after he’s left again.

Chuuya is waiting for him in front of Mori’s office. Dazai takes one look at him and laughs. “You should have left the hat.”

“You should have left the bandages,” Chuuya fires back.

“At least I look good in the bandages,” Dazai says before opening the doors to Mori’s office.

Mori looks up from his paperwork. “How kind of you two to stop arguing and join us.” He motions to the red haired man sitting across from him.

Dazai smirks lazily. “If you wanted us here at a specific time, you wouldn’t have let us arrange our own transportation.”

Mori sighs. “I suppose. This is Oda Sakunosuke, he was in charge of the investigation since he found the first evidence of the quirk traffickers. He’ll lead you to their base of operations where you’ll wipe out everyone and he’ll be your only backup, so don’t do anything stupid.”

“Doing something stupid? Me?” Dazai gasps, “surely you must mean Chuuya.”

“Hey bastard,” Chuuya growls, “I’m not the one who tried to jump in front of a train.”

“Yes, but you’re also the one who let a high school kid copy your quirk,” Dazai responds.

Chuuya turns bright red. “Enough,” Mori bites out. “You two have a mission, don’t fail it.”

Dazai gleefully calls out “shotgun!” as they walk out the door.

—-

“So,” Dazai begins to needle Oda as he looks through the files, “how’d an errand boy get stuck hunting down a pretty powerful quirk trafficking organization?”

“Oh my god,” Chuuya mutters from behind Dazai, “get a damn filter.”

Dazai decidedly ignores Chuuya as he picks up amusement from their stoic escort. “I stumbled upon one of their warehouses,” he replied.

Dazai hums in acknowledgement. “Chuuya, recon says we’ve only got thirty men to deal with. Problem is, they all are likely to have quirks. Think you can do it without corruption?”

“Yeah, if you actually help, I can,” Chuuya grumbles.

“Don’t worry, I brought extra ammo,” Dazai retorts.

“So, do you actually have a plan, or?” Chuuya finally asks.

“You’ll collapse the building and we’ll pick everyone that survived off like sitting ducks!” Dazai chirps. He spares a glance to Oda to gauge his reaction. Hmm, not disturbed at all.

They reach the warehouse, and Chuuya brings it down quickly, giving no time for those inside to escape. The compression should have killed most inside, as well, but someone with a very intense mutation quirk survives. Bluish black skin, a beak, and an exposed brain make a frightening picture. But, well, an exposed brain is a design flaw Dazai takes full advantage of. He aims, then pulls the trigger. A split second later, the bullet makes contact with the brain, and the creature collapses like a puppet with its strings cut.

Dazai turns around and faces Chuuya and Oda. “Well, that’s that!”

—-

“Report,” All For One commands.

His lackey shifts nervously. “We lost all but one Nomu factory in Yokohama, as well as Ujiko’s lab. Fortunately, Ujiko was out running errands when the raid happened.”

That damned Mori. “And who was responsible?” All For One growls.

“Uhh,” the man before him sweats, “the word on the street says it was two people affiliated with the Port Mafia. They’re calling them Soukoku.”

Glee fills All For One. Imagine Mori’s face when his prized subordinates go missing only to end up a part of All For One’s vast collection. “Find out their identities and bring them to me.”

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, Dazai and Chuuya make it back to Tokyo two hours before they have to leave for school. Chuuya stares at the clock, dismayed, and asks “Is it even worth trying to sleep?”

Dazai hums. “Probably not. Hey, what do you think would happen if I made coffee with energy drinks instead of water?”

Horrified, Chuuya turns to look at Dazai, hoping desperately there is a hint of humor on his face to signify that he was joking. But no, Dazai appears to be dead serious. “So much as touch the coffee machine, and I will rip out your fingernails and shove them so far up your nose, you choke.” Chuuya says in response.

Dazai winces, “ahh, I’ve suddenly thought better of it.”

Chuuya lets out a sigh of relief, he may need the caffeine to get through the next school day but a caffeine induced heart attack isn’t the way he wants to die. “Good, if you want to overdose on caffeine, use a different machine.”

Dazai hums in response, eyes drooping. Chuuya snorts. “Damn, I wasn’t expecting an all nighter to hit you of all people so hard.”

Dazai laughs, more of a bitter bark than anything resembling amusement. “You know, having a constantly activated quirk does have its drawbacks.”

Chuuya frowns as the implications of what Dazai said sink in. “You’re telling me that you have been in a constant state of quirk overuse? How long?” He growls out.

Dazai hems and haws, feigning nonchalance before he says, “since my quirk presented itself when I was four.”

Chuuya inhales sharply. “Damn,” he mutters, “no wonder you’re so screwed up.”

“Rude,” Dazai laughs, more real than the last one.

—-

Chuuya barely pays attention to what Kan-sensei is saying. Something about no hero classes today because of a field trip tomorrow, 1-A is on that field trip today, and so on.

Chuuya smirks inwardly. Better Dazai than him having to do physical stuff after an all-nighter.

He carefully puts the feeling of apprehension to the back of his mind. It’s certainly due to being absolutely exhausted than anything bad going to happen. After all, the best heroes in Japan guard this school, who would be stupid enough to attack UA?

In his exhaustion, Chuuya may have overlooked a certain incident from the day before.

—-

The bus is hell. Dazai isn’t even being dramatic. He died and he’s in hell.

Dazai is too damn tired to put up with his classmates’ inane chatter. (Midoriya please shut the fuck up) Admittedly, he might find some of it amusing had he been in a better mood and wasn’t running on caffeine, but as it is, he’s feeling particularly stabby. Maybe that’s why Aizawa hasn’t given him his knives yet.

Probably smart, because if he has to hear Bakugou yell at someone one more time… Luckily, they reach the USJ before Kaminari manages to piss Bakugou off again. Sometimes Dazai wonders if Kaminari does it on purpose, but no. He’s just an idiot.

They file off the bus. Aizawa stops Dazai with a hand on his shoulder and really Dazai should win an Oscar for not flinching in the state he’s in. “Your knives,” Aizawa pushes two combat knives into his hands, “you’re not cleared to use them in spars yet, but they’re fine in rescue work.”

Dazai grins and hopes like hell Aizawa can’t see how fake it is or the dark circles under his eye. “Thanks sensei!”

They make their way into the foyer of the absolutely massive building in front of them as a hero in a space suit, Thirteen, black hole quirk, Dazai’s mind supplies, details the objective of this exercise.

His gaze wanders, something is off. Black mist begins to coalesce in the central atrium. Dazai’s eyes widen but before he can say anything, Aizawa is ordering them to leave. People begin to appear out of the mist, including two very recognizable figures. Tomura Shigaraki and the person Dazai has thought he killed the night before.

“Is this another training exercise?” Kirishima asks.

“No,” Dazai shakes his head. “Look,” he points to a villain in the front row, with guns replacing his hands. “He’s been on the news before. They’re villains.”

“Exactly, which is why you all need to get out of here,” Aizawa says as he gets ready to leap into the throng.

“Aizawa-sensei, you can’t! You’re quirk isn’t suited for long, drawn out combat!” Midoriya cries out before Aizawa actually does.

“No hero is a one-trick pony,” and with a slightly manic grin, Aizawa is gone and villains are falling left and right.

Then, Shigaraki begins his monologue. Killing All Might, huh? Well, All For One sure is ambitious. The question is, does Mori know? He probably does, knowing him. If Dazai hadn’t nullified Elise on numerous occasions, he would think omniscience was Mori’s quirk.

Thirteen begins to usher Dazai and his class out, but before they reach the exit, the warp villain is in front of them. Thirteen prepares to use their quirk, but Kirishima and Bakugou move to fight the villain.

Black mist once again envelops the USJ, and Dazai feels No Longer Human thrumming in his veins. He reaches a hand out, and with a pulse of blue-white light and ribbons of archaic script, the black mist is gone.

Dazai takes a moment to survey his surroundings, all of his classmates with the exception of Bakugou, Kirishima, Todoroki and Midoriya are still there. So he got the power houses, which makes sense, due to their position at the front of the group. “Damn,” Dazai grins at the villain, “I was expecting your quirk to be a bit more challenging to nullify, but turns out, it’s just an emitter.”

“Dazai!” Iida calls out, “what are you trying to do? Provoke him?”

“Yes,” Dazai slips his hands into his pockets, intentionally channeling his inner eleven year old.

Thirteen tells Iida to run and get help, which angers the mist man even more. “You’re truly arrogant, to strategize in front of your enemy,” he growls.

“Nah,” Dazai smirks, “we just know for as long as I’m here to nullify your quirk, you won’t be going anywhere. And I doubt you can fight us physically. Though, I am curious. What will you sacrifice, your pride for retreating from a bunch of kids or your men, who won’t be able to retreat once you lose the fight here.”

“Your arrogance will be your downfall, boy” the villain practically spits, before sending tendrils of mist rushing at Dazai’s classmates.

“It’s not arrogance if it’s justified,” Dazai spits back.

“Dazai, get out of the way!” Thirteen yells.

Dazai, for once in his life, does as he’s told with no complaint, knowing what’s coming next.

Thirteen activates their quirk and begins sucking the mist villain towards them.

The villain laughs. “You’re a rescue hero, you no longer have battlefield awareness.” And Dazai sees it, the warp gate opening in front of Thirteen’s assault.

Making an educated decision, Dazai quickly throws himself between Thirteen’s unprotected back and the warp gate. Who knows what kind of help they’ll need to take down whatever the hell could recover from a bullet to the brain, after all.

Another flash of blue heralds No Longer Human nullifying both the warp quirk and Black Hole. Dazai winces at the backlash. Nullifying two quirks at once always gives him a headache.

And then he hears Uraraka scream. “Aizawa-sensei!”

Dazai swears and looks to the central atrium, and really, he should know better than to take his eyes off the enemy. He’s going to blame his lack of sense on being abso-fucking-lutely exhausted, if Chuuya asks. As soon as he looked away and saw the large creature on top of Aizawa and crushing his arm, the warp villain teleported another villain, one with much more physical prowess, into the fight.

As soon as Dazai realized his mistake, the stronger villain sends him flying in the direction of the central atrium. But well, Dazai’s always been one to take advantage of his circumstances, so he takes off in Aizawa’s direction, cracked ribs and all.

Chuuya can say what he wants about Dazai’s fighting skills, but Dazai has always been fast. Not to mention, he’s very adept at pushing through pain, especially when he’s numb with sleep-deprivation. And who knows, maybe one of his ribs will slip into his lungs and put him out of his misery. Also, Shigaraki is too busy gloating to give the kill order, so there’s that.

But right now, Dazai focuses on Aizawa. If he died, it would be less than optimal for a number of reasons, the least of which being that Dazai actually respects than man.

The villain is within his grasp, all he has to do is touch it. Which is exactly what Dazai does. A stabbing pain erupts in Dazai’s mind as blue light floods his vision. It’s as if someone is driving knives into his skull. The creature shrieks under his grasp, and begins to shrink.

Distantly, he hears Shigaraki scream “ Nomu, kill him!” But the Nomu doesn’t respond as quirk after quirk leaves it’s body.

Dazai registers blood dripping down his nose, which really isn’t surprising considering it feels like his brain is melting out. He lets out a strangled moan as the last quirk slips from the Nomu, and then collapses.

Dazai vaguely remembers hearing All Might say “I am here!” Before slipping into unconsciousness.

—-

Todoroki curses when the warp villain warps him, Bakugou, Kirishima, and Midoriya to the Landslide zone. Bakugou, apparently, shares his sentiment. “Fucking hell,” he snarls, “the landslide zone is furthest damned zone from the entrance.”

“You kids have more to worry about than getting back to the entrance,” a voice chuckles from behind them.

“You want to fucking go?” Bakugou roars before throwing himself at the villain.

“So are we just going to let that,” Todoroki gestures to where Bakugou is tearing through weak villain after weak villain, “happen?”

Kirishima shrugs. “Well yeah, I don’t see why not. He’s pretty manly.”

Midoriya hums thoughtfully. “Ya know for how well informed the villains were of our schedule, they seem woefully unprepared to counter are quirks.”

Todoroki contemplates that. “It’s almost as if they’re getting their plans from someone else,” he mutters.

Midoriya inhales sharply. “Well, fuck.”

Kirishima chokes on his breath, whether from Midoriya cursing or from what Todoroki said, is a mystery.

—-

The two ringleaders warp away, leaving their pet Nomu behind.

Aizawa staggers upright, pushing the drastically changed form of the Nomu, now a skinny blond man, and checks his student’s pulse.

He lets out a sigh of relief as he feels the slower than average beat against his fingers. He wasn’t expecting Dazai of all people to risk life and limb for him, but Aizawa can’t help but be thankful.

Maybe there’s some hope for the kid after all.

Aizawa eyes the Nomu. He tried to nullify his quirk earlier but was incapable. Just how strong was the quirk holding that thing together anyway for it to put his admittedly terrifyingly good actor of student out of commission like this?

The damage done to his body finally catches up with Aizawa, and he slumps down next to Dazai. Todoroki, Bakugou, Midoriya, and Kirishima rush into the atrium from the direction from the Landslide zone. They look around in confusion.

Aizawa hears police sirens from outside. Well, It’s about fucking time, if Aizawa says so himself.

—-

Endeavor looks up from the records of the two UA students from Yokohama and smiles. He finally has something on the Port Mafia he can use. They’re going to regret the day they stuck their heads out of the sewers where rats like them belong.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, Dazai’s in the infirmary?” Chuuya hisses at Kan-sensei.

“I mean just that. Villains invaded the USJ and Dazai nullified a quirk that was too strong for him to handle and passed out.” Kan-sensei seemed unfazed by the venom in Chuuya’s voice.

Chuuya blinks. “That’s not how Dazai’s quirk works. It doesn’t matter the strength of a quirk, just the number. If he pushed it to the point where he passed out, he had to have nullified ten or more at at once.” Chuuya should know, he was there when Dazai decided he wanted to know the full limits of his quirk.

Kan-sensei frowns. “That’s impossible. He only touched one villain before he passed out.”

Chuuya shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you other than that the villain must have had more than ten quirks shoved into his body. I’m going to go see Dazai now.”

—-

Chuuya walks into the infirmary to the sight of Recovery Girl frowning in concern over Dazai’s bare arms. “Hey,” Chuuya calls, “Dazai doesn’t like his bandages removed.”

Recovery Girl visibly steels herself. “Be that as it may, he still needed an IV due to the fact I can’t use my quirk on him.”

Chuuya scowls, irritation flaring. “Still, it’s an invasion of privacy.” Chuuya knows Dazai wouldn’t want a hero to see the scars Chuuya suspects they’ll find on the inside of Dazai’s forearms.

“Nakahara-kun,” she starts, “I’m a trained professional. I can recommend him to trusted psychologists if he doesn’t want to talk to me, just please, inform someone if you notice him self-harming anymore.”

Chuuya’s scowl darkens. “Mori-san is a doctor, Recovery Girl. If he couldn’t get Dazai to go to therapy, it’s not like you can.” To be fair, Mori never really tried. But Dazai would never agree to talk to someone about his “nonexistent” problems.

Recovery Girl sighs. “Just, let me know if you suspect he needs medical attention at least.”

Eyeing her suspiciously, Chuuya finally decides she legitimately wants to help. “Of course,” Chuuya finally answers.

Recovery Girl nods. “I assume you’re going to wait here with him?”

“Yeah,” Chuuya snaps.

“Good, I need to file paperwork. Please tell me when he wakes up.” Recovery Girl shifts from concerned to business-like quickly enough. She bustles off to her office.

Chuuya lets out a sigh and settles down in the chair next to Dazai’s bed. He’s paler than usual and his dark hair stands out against the white sheets. He looks fragile. It’s not right, because Dazai is anything but fragile. He’d tear anyone who said differently to pieces, smiling all the while. But, here he was, uncomfortably skinny and pallid. Chuuya doesn’t like the worry welling up in his gut.

Chuuya makes a valiant effort to avoid looking at Dazai’s arms, knowing that Dazai really wouldn’t want anyone to see what he perceives as a weakness. But well, morbid curiosity takes over.

Chuuya expected the the pale lines crisscrossing the inside of his arms. He didn’t expect the brutal marks of what had to be third degree burns under them. The burns were definitely the oldest scars on his arm, making Chuuya wonder just how young he was when he got them. They looked older than Todoroki’s scar.

Dazai’s eyelashes flutter, then open. “Hey bastard, nice to see you’re awake.” Chuuya will deny the affection in his voice to his dying day, and luckily Dazai was still too out of it to notice.

“Chuuya? Why are you here?” Dazai slurs.

“Gets me out of class.”

“You’re such a dog,” Dazai’s voice dips in exhaustion.

“Fuck you,” Chuuya says mildly, “I should go tell Recovery Girl you’re awake.”

Dazai hums. “Not going to be awake much longer.”

Chuuya laughs softly.

—-

Chuuya raises hell to get Recovery Girl let him take Dazai home with him at the end of the day.

He doesn’t regret it until he opens the door to see a group of police officers and Endeavor outside of it the next day.

“Uh,” Chuuya says, instinctively blocking the living room with an exhausted Dazai reading on the couch from sight, “can I help you?”

“Nakahara Chuuya, under suspicion of criminal activities you’re under arrest,” the police officer says.

Chuuya basically vibrates with rage. “Excuse me?” He hisses, For the Tainted Sorrow rising to the surface and Arahabaki singing a song of destruction in his ear. Endeavor tenses.

Suddenly, there’s a weight across his back and he could no longer feel his quirk. “Really officers?” Dazai says from his position splayed across Chuuya’s back. “We’re hero students. How the hell would Chuuya be a criminal and get into UA?”

The officer clears his throat. “Dazai Osamu, you’re also under arrest.”

Chuuya can feel Dazai tense. “Ah, well, I do believe you’ve gotten your hands on some faulty information, but I guess there’s no harm going in for questioning!” Dazai chirps and Chuuya hears the underlying message. ‘Don’t resist, I have a plan.’

“Don’t say a word,” Dazai whispers into Chuuya’s ear right before four officers separate them. Chuuya’s hands are cuffed behind his back and he’s dragged to a police car.

—-

Chuuya sits sullenly in an interrogation room, Endeavor and the police officer who introduced himself as Tsukauchi across from him. His hands were still cuffed behind his back and he was starting to get restless just sitting there.

Finally, Tsukauchi sighed. “We can’t force him to answer any questions until his lawyer and sister get here, Endeavor. Might as well try our luck with the other one.”

Endeavor growled. “Their lawyers are the problem. We need these kids to crack if we want anything on the Port Mafia!”

“Then try the other kid. You’re not going to get anything from Nakahara.”

“Fine,” Endeavor and the detective walk out. Chuuya hopes that Dazai really does know what he’s doing.

—-

Dazai is resting his pounding head against the cold metal table when Endeavor storms in, his pet detective trailing in his wake. Tsukauchi, Dazai thinks his name was, looks exasperated. Good, Chuuya’s lack of response should have put pressure of Endeavor and going by the irritation displayed, it was effective.

“You’re going to answer our questions, got it boy?” Endeavor snarls. Dazai brings his head up, a lazy smirk twisting his lips. This is going to be too easy.

“Am I?” Dazai says nonchalantly. “I wasn’t under the impression I had to until Mori and my lawyer got here.”

“What is your connection to the Port Mafia?” Tsukauchi drones. Dazai’s eyes narrow. He can feel the activation of a quirk in the air, but he can’t nullify it remotely. It must not be an area of effect quirk, then.

“Hmm, wouldn’t you like to know,” Dazai smiles winningly at Endeavor. “It’s not like you can force me to tell you anything.”

“Answer my question,” Endeavor grits his teeth.

“Temper, temper!” Laughs Dazai. “It does get you in trouble with the media, you know. Also, probably why you’re not number one. Angry heroes aren’t popular with the public.”

Dazai takes in the literal steam coming off Endeavor. Damn, Chuuya’s silence really pissed the man off. Either that, or Dazai overestimated Endeavor’s hold on his temper. No matter, he just needs to stall for a few more minutes before he can enact his plan.

“Of course, interrogating a teenager probably isn’t the worst thing you’ve done in the media’s eyes.” Dazai sees Endeavor stiffen.

“What are you implying?” Endeavor ground out.

“Oh you know, I’ve seen Todoroki Shouto’s scar,” Dazai shrugged, “and who knows what happened to poor little Todoroki Touya.” A sharp intake of breath from Tsukauchi. “Certainly not you.” The final nail in the coffin.

Endeavor explodes out of his seat, fist flying. It makes contact with Dazai’s cheek and pain pulses through his face. The door opens and a woman gasps. Dazai grins at Endeavor and mouths ‘Checkmate.’

“How dare you,” and oh Dazai recognizes that voice, “hit my client.”

“Ah, Shikibu-san,” Dazai chirps, “long time, no see.” Shikibu Murasaki was probably the best of the Port Mafia lawyers, and definately Dazai’s favorite.

Tsukauchi paled, realizing how badly the situation devolved. “I don’t suppose you’ll let Dazai-kun out of those cuffs, considering how a hero,” Shikibu basically spat the word out, “just punched him in the face.”

Tsukauchi sighed. “Of course, Shikibu-san.” Dazai is quickly released.

Shikibu nods. “Also, neither he nor Chuuya-kun will be staying in police custody a moment longer or I will be pressing charges due to hero brutality against an innocent child. One who just came out of a traumatic experience the day before.”

“You can’t just-“ Endeavor was quickly interrupted.

“I can do whatever the hell I want now that you have raised a hand against an unarmed child in police custody,” Shikibu says mildly. “Now come on,” Dazai allows himself to be herded out of the interrogation room, a sense of vague amusement following him.

Mori and Kouyou, who was hovering over a long-suffering Chuuya, were waiting for him in the lobby. Chuuya starts at the bruise forming on his face, but Mori just looks resigned. (Dazai politely refuses to acknowledge the fury he sees simmering behind Mori’s eyes.)

“Sit down, Dazai-kun.” Mori motions to a chair next to the one Chuuya is sitting in.

“Endeavor hit him,” Shikibu fills everyone in on the situation, perhaps louder than she had to, going by the gasps of the officers. Dazai inwardly smirks, well played Shikibu, well played.

Mori sighs and gently grabs Dazai’s chin. He runs his hand down Dazai’s jaw and cheek. “Nothing is broken. You’ll have a pretty nasty bruise for a while, though.”

Dazai nods in acknowledgement. He feels like something hasn’t gone quite to plan, but he can’t figure out what.

The doors to the precinct fly open, and there stood a furious looking Nedzu, a heavily bandaged but no less angry Aizawa, and a bemused Kan who quickly gained a dark look when he saw the bruise on Dazai’s face.

Ah, well, he hadn’t accounted for that, actually.

Chapter Text

Kouyou raises one perfectly groomed eyebrow at the entrance of the teachers. Her first assumption was that the heroes were angry at the boys but well, she isn’t the head of the mafia’s information network for nothing. The micro expressions flitting across the dark-haired man’s, Eraserhead if Dazai is to believed, face all point to indignant rage toward Endeavor, not Chuuya or Dazai.

Her theory is further backed up by the bear-mouse person approaching the detective in a veritable storm of fury. “Tsukauchi, please tell me why two of my students are in a police precinct,” the bear-mouse states calmly. Kouyou knows a calm facade when she sees one, no matter the shape of the face. Mori’s, and even Dazai’s, are far better and she’s been able to read the two of them since she made executive.

Mori steps forward, eyes sparkling with barely contained malice. “I’d actually like to know that as well, if you don’t mind!” Dazai muffles a snort. What he finds so amusing about this escapes Kouyou.

Tsukauchi goes to say something but Shikibu cuts him off. “Apparently, Dazai-kun and Nakahara-kun are under suspicion for being affiliated with the Port Mafia, though why Endeavor believes two teenaged boys are criminals, I cannot say.” Her voice carries a believable amount of skepticism.

“Oh my,” Kouyou finally interjects, “he’s the hero who keeps destroying warehouses full of produce in pursuit of Port Mafia members, correct?”

Tsukauchi lets out a resigned sigh. “Yes, he is.”

“Ah,” Mori draws the attention from everyone in the room, “that explains it. He’s destroyed the profits of an insurmountable amount of innocent Yokohama businesses under the same accusation. I’m afraid he might be a tad bit obsessed.” He sounds apologetic, as if Mori hasn’t been purposely directing Endeavor’s attention to the Port Mafia’s legitimate competitors. Kouyou hides the amusement bubbling up with a sleeve.

“I’m going to go talk to him,” Eraserhead’s voice is soft, but it cut through the din Mori’s words caused easily. Kouyou might be a bit impressed.

Shikibu draws herself up. “I’m going to accompany you. I have every right to defend my clients’ innocence.”

Aizawa sighs, apparently resigned to the fact that he’s going to have a very good lawyer dogging his steps. “Ah,” Mori says, “if you don’t mind, my associate and I would also like to join this conversation.” Kouyou is familiar with the tone he uses. Mori makes it seem like the decision is in the hands of another, but no situation she’s ever been in has ever been outside of Mori’s control.

Tsukauchi sputters and looks as if he’s about to protest when the mouse? decides to interject. “I see no problem with it!” His eyes glint knowingly and Kouyou suspects that the small creature knows a lot more than he’s letting on. She shudders to think of what would happen if he and Mori were to match wits.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket. Interesting, seeing as Kouyou keeps it on silent, not vibrate. She looks back at Dazai, who she knows has the capability to hack her phone and turn vibrate on remotely, and he meets her eyes with a smirk and a little wave.

Kouyou sigh goes unnoticed in the current atmosphere of tension. She surreptitiously checks her phone, and sure enough, a message from Dazai stares back at her. She reads it, and, if she had any less control of her body, an eyebrow would have risen in surprise.

She glances at the white furred figure. Nezu Nedzu, the headmaster of UA, apparently. With an intelligence quirk that puts him on par with Dazai and Mori, he’s a very dangerous foe.

But the most troubling part of the message pertained to the unassuming detective. Tsukauchi, according to Dazai, has a quirk he suspects to be able to discern truth from lies. That may pose a problem. She forwards the message to Mori, who does keep his phone on vibrate. He quickly checks his phone and nods back at her.

And of course, Dazai felt it necessary to tell her in the most roundabout way possible. Kouyou gives a minute shake of her head. That boy…

With a quirk of her lips she follows the teachers, Mori, and Shikibu to the interrogation room they left Endeavor in.

—-

Kouyou enjoys the finer things in life, and part of that enjoyment stems from the sour looks she gets when people who are used to being in power realize that she is the most powerful person in the room. The look Endeavor sends her is remarkably similar, despite Mori being above her.

Kouyou glances to her side, where Mori is standing. In these moments, he reminds her of a big cat taunting his prey in the way his eyes light up and the careful, controlled movements that while seemingly harmless, belay inherent danger.

Endeavor seems to realize this as well, based on the way he draws himself up defensively, fire flaring. A vicious sense of satisfaction runs through Kouyou, because while she blatantly favors Chuuya, she still has a soft spot for Dazai and it doesn’t escape her notice how often the boy throws himself in harm’s way in pursuit of some goal or another.

Chuuya and Mori usually deal with the brunt of the fallout of Dazai’s lack of self preservation, so she rarely gets the opportunity to exact vengeance on behalf of one of their youngest. Let it never be said that the Mafia doesn’t take care of its own.

But regardless, Kouyou quite enjoys the look on Endeavor’s face. “What are they doing here?” He growls out.

“They insisted,” Tsukauchi sighs out.

“Are you telling me,” Endeavor’s face darkens with rage, “that the police are now letting the Port Mafia stomp all over them?”

“The Port Mafia,” Mori interjects, “has nothing to do with this. You target every large business in Yokohama, and now you’re targeting children.”

“They have fake papers! You can’t say that isn’t suspicious.” Endeavor jumps to his feet.

“Chuuya has fake papers because he doesn’t have any,” Kouyou says. “My brother and I were born on the streets and it’s only thanks to Mori-san’s kindness that we even have any to begin with. There is nothing suspicious about a lack of papers in Yokohama, because the vast majority of people don’t have them!”

Nothing Kouyou says is a lie, and judging by the look on the detective’s face, he knows it too. Perfect.

“The other one-“

“It’s ironic that you accuse Dazai of being Port Mafia,” Mori once again interrupts, “when escaping his biological father’s enemies from that organization is the very reason he has fake papers in the first place!”

Kouyou quickly masks the shock Mori’s proclamation causes, and once more checks the lie detector’s face. Mori is telling the truth.

Aizawa sputters and Mori turns to look at him. “From what Dazai told me, he’s very old blood in the Mafia. But after his father’s demise, Dazai could not keep his name or he would be killed as well.”

Endeavor smiles. “You just conceded that the boy was Mafia.”

“No,” Mori’s eyes flash with malice, “I told you his father was, and considering the source of a vast majority of scars, Dazai would never work for someone who was loyal to his father. Is it any wonder that a boy who was abused by criminals would want to be a hero?”

Kouyou’s eyes narrow. She has a terrible suspicion about who Dazai’s father was, and if she is right, well, she can see why Dazai acts the way he does.

The room is silent. Endeavor looks no less suspicious, but the detective is horrified. Tsukauchi must be so used to being able to automatically tell truth from lie, that he doesn’t even bother to look deeper. Shikibu isn’t surprised, but based on how protective she is of Dazai, she must know all of this already. Nezu is unreadable.

Finally Aizawa breaks the silence. “How do you know all of this?”

Mori smiles, a sad thing, perfect for manipulating these soft hearted heroes. “I used to be a doctor, you know. And you don’t say no to the Port Mafia, especially their boss.”

Gasps ring out across the room. Kouyou can see the satisfaction buried beneath the sadness in his eyes and the way he watches Nezu. Letting out a sigh of her own, she shakes her head. Leave it to the boss to turn this situation into a benefit.

Mori isn’t finished, however, and he steps toward Endeavor. “We won’t press charges or turn this into a media circus, this time. But,” Mori smiles sickeningly-sweet, “if you put Dazai and Chuuya in danger again through your investigations, I will not hesitate to sue you for all of your worth.”

The implication of blackmail there, only Kouyou, Endeavor, and Nezu seemed to pick up. Continue to investigate the Port Mafia, and you’re ruined.

—-
Mori can’t help but feel satisfied as he ushers Dazai and Chuuya out of the precinct, even as Dazai turns a too knowing eye on him. Mori huffs, he and Dazai are going to have a very long talk about sharing schemes with others someday when Dazai can’t call out his hypocrisy.

“Mori-san, a word?” A chipper voice calls out.

“Ah, of course, Nezu-san!” Mori turns around and meets the cold, calculating eyes of UA’s headmaster.

He follows the other to a closed off alley, amusement bubbling at the irony of a hero cornering someone in an alley as opposed to a villain.

“I hope you’re not planning on mugging me, Headmaster.” Mori’s voice is filled with mirth.

“Not quite,” Nezu waves the joke off, “I would, however, like to know what the Port Mafia is playing at.”

“ I thought we went over this, I’m not Mafia.”

“I’m not as easily led around as Endeavor and the Police,” Nezu’s eyes glint dangerously.

Mori laughs. “Nothing dangerous, I assure you. I assume you’re aware of All For One’s return?” At Nezu’s answering nod, Mori continues. “Well, Dazai-kun and Chuuya-kun have a terrible habit of making themselves targets, so they’re at UA for their own protection. I won’t lose the future of my organization to All For One, of all people.”

Nezu hums. “I suspected something like that. We have a common enemy, and I would like to propose a mutually beneficial alliance between UA and the Port Mafia.”

“This sounds good in theory, but in practice there’s a reason alliances amongst criminal organizations always fall. The most benefit comes to those who break the alliance first.” Mori sighs, in faux disappointment.

“Ah, but UA isn’t a criminal organization, and if you break the alliance you would put the future of your organization at risk. I have no motive to break the alliance, because the only thing I want is All For One dead.” Nezu’s voice is hard with determination.

“Dead?” Mori asks, surprise coloring his tone, “that’s not very heroic of you.”

“All For One attacked my school and put students at risk,” Nezu answers, “I’m far past the point of arbitrary human morals.”

“Ah,” a satisfied smile stretches across Mori’s face, “you twisted this to make it detrimental to the party who breaks the agreement, I’m impressed. What are your terms?”

“The Port Mafia’s assistance in ridding the world of All For One, in exchange for keeping Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya safe from his grasp on the stipulation that they attend the full three years.”

“Why the last stipulation?” Mori questions.

“You ask me to keep them safe, the Mafia is not safe for children. I’d like to keep them out of the line of fire for as long as possible.”

Mori lets out a bark of laughter. “Ah, fair enough. You have an interesting motivation, though. We have a deal, principal Nezu,” he says as he holds out his hand. Nezu reaches a paw out to shake it.

Chapter Text

Upon waking up in the morning, Dazai realized his headache was still there. Not only that, but his jaw hurt. Dazai will say what he wants about Endeavor, but the asshole packed a punch. Dazai scowls up at the ceiling. Fuck school, fuck Endeavor, fuck the Nomu, and fuck Shigaraki.

Heaving a sigh, Dazai resigns himself to the inevitable. He has to ask Chuuya for painkillers. Rolling out of bed, he ambles out into the hall, lips quirking at the dog poster plastered onto Chuuya’s door. Really, that was a burst of genius on his part.

Not bothering to knock, Dazai swings open Chuuya’s door. “Yo, slug-“ Dazai dodges a pillow that hits the wall behind him with more force than natural- “that was rude.” Chuuya groans.

“What do you want, bastard.” Chuuya huffs from underneath an inordinate amount of blankets.

“Ah, painkillers. Mori won’t let me keep any for myself.” Dazai trills, before tossing Chuuya’s pillow back at him.

Chuuya sits up and blinks blearily at him. “I take it the headache hasn’t abated?”

“Nope!” Dazai pops the p.

“Fine,” Chuuya scowls, “but you only get two.” Chuuya gets up to go to his bathroom and Dazai flops down on his bed. Chuuya turns with a glare.

“Aww, that’s not enough to put me out of my misery.” Dazai pouts.

Chuuya snorts. “That’s a euphemism for death and you know it. You’re getting two. I don’t want to have to explain to Mori why you overdosed off of pills I gave you. Now get off my bed before you contaminate is with your fish germs.”

“Chuuya’s so mean!” Dazai cries out, and wraps himself up with the blankets to Chuuya’s ire.
—-

Dazai, not knowing what the world famous UA rumor mill is spinning, or if they even know if Dazai was arrested or not, walks into class a few minutes before the bell.

Regardless of this, he still ended up with an exuberant Kaminari in his face. “Dazai! We heard you got arrested!”

Dazai blinks, looks around the room, and makes a split second decision that he’s blaming on the headache if asked. “Hm, tax evasion will do that.”

He hears Bakugou’s yell of “you don’t even pay taxes!” Before he was drowned out by the rest of the class.

The outburst of chaos was worth the instant wave of discomfort caused by the disapproving hand on his shoulder. “That’s not what happened,” Aizawa says from behind Dazai, as he gently steers Dazai out of the doorway. “Dazai was arrested based off of a misunderstanding and hasn’t actually broken the law.”

Well… That’s a lie if Dazai has ever heard one. Dazai looks at Aizawa from the corner of his eye. Aizawa’s lips twitch in an effort to not laugh. He definitely knows. Why he’s staying quiet, now there’s a question worth figuring out. If Dazai was a betting man, which he is, he’d assume Mori had something to do with it.

Dazai hates being out of the loop, and well, let it never be said that Dazai is not a nosey bastard.

—-

“Are you alright?” Yaoyorozu asks Dazai delicately between classes.

Dazai blinks, bewildered. “Peachy, why are you asking?”

Yaoyorozu arches an eyebrow. “Well, first of all, you’re using words like peachy and you like messing with us too much for an answer like tax evasion. Not to mention, you passed out due to quirk exhaustion two days ago and were arrested under suspicion of being part of the Port Mafia.”

Dazai laughs, genuinely amused. “I’m fine. How did you know why I was arrested, though?”

“You do realize Todoroki and I are friends, right?”

Dazai hums. “Must have slipped my mind. But anyways, thanks for your concern but it’s unnecessary.”

Yaoyorozu shakes her head. “I don’t think so. You seem kind of out of it today. Normally, Bakugou would be at your throat right now, but you’ve left him alone. So if you need anything,” she hesitates, “or if you need to talk, I’m always willing to lend a helping hand.”

Dazai looks at her, eyes wide. “Why?” He can’t help but asking.

“I’d like to think we could be friends and friends help each other.” Her smile is small and a touch embarrassed.

Dazai’s first instinct is to be cuttingly cruel, push her away, but that doesn’t fit with his cover. And moreover, he finds that he doesn’t want to push her away. The closest thing to a friend Dazai has ever had is Chuuya, but even then, kindness is a weakness between the two of them. Dazai doesn’t know how to react when someone is genuinely kind to him, and he hates being ignorant, but he finds that he might actually want to try this whole friend thing.

Dazai smiles back, hiding his shock with well practiced ease. “For what it’s worth, I’d like to think we could be friends too.”

—-

“Hey, you’re Nakahara-san right?” A voice calls from behind Chuuya.”

“Call me Chuuya,” he says automatically as he turns.

“Right,” the girl nods, brown hair bobbing, “I’m Uraraka Ochako.” She holds out her hand and Chuuya takes it, noting the interesting texture of her finger tips.

“I was wondering, you have a gravity quirk right?” At Chuuya’s nod, she continues. “So do I. Yet, judging by our respective entry test scores, you’re better with yours than I am with mine.” Uraraka fiddles with her fingers. “Would you help me get better?” She asks in a rush.

Chuuya blinks, surprised. “I mean sure, but chances are our quirks don’t manipulate gravity the same way.”

Uraraka nods decisively. “I know, but you can still give me ideas and tips.”

“You want to go ahead and start right now?” Chuuya asks.

“Sure!” Uraraka chirps.

As they make their way to one of the open training rooms UA maintains for private student use, Chuuya begins a line of questioning. “So what exactly does your quirk do?”

“It allows me to nullify the gravity of anything I touch with all five fingers.” Uraraka responds.

Chuuya hums, deep in thought. “You’ll have to adapt all of my techniques then, because I change the center of gravity and density. I don’t actually get rid of it all together. And my quirk is more awareness based than touch based. Also, most of my attacks are rooted in martial arts, so starting aikido or something will only help you.”

Uraraka sighs. “Yeah, I was thinking about joining a martial arts class, but I don’t know if my parents have enough money to enroll me. I’m here on a scholarship, after all.”

Frowning, Chuuya does some mental calculations of his free time. He’s completing his homework easily enough, and Mori doesn’t really need Soukoku as a team unless a large scale operation is running. “Well, I can teach you basic punches, kicks, and throws if you want.”

Uraraka hesitates. “If you don’t mind,” she trails off.

“Trust me, I wouldn’t have offered if I hadn’t actually meant it,” Chuuya snorts.

She turns to look at him, a calculating gleam in her eye. “You know, you’re really nice. I don’t know why Dazai-san complains about you so much.”

Chuuya squawks in outrage. “He complains about me?”

Uraraka laughs and Chuuya resolves himself to make Dazai’s life miserable at a later date.

—-

Endeavor seethes and throws a ball of fire at the training dummy, picturing Mori Ougai’s face. That smug bastard, thinking he can get heroes playing to his tune. Endeavor isn’t the number two hero for nothing, and some paltry criminal organization isn’t going to get the better of him.

The Port Mafia might own the courts, but even then, Endeavor will find a judge that isn’t corrupt soon. And when he does, Mori Ougai, Ozaki Kouyou, Dazai Osamu, and Nakahara Chuuya will be the first Port Mafia members he throws in jail. And even their army of lawyers won’t save them from the evidence Endeavor will be gathering in the meantime.

Chapter Text

Listening to Aizawa-sensei’s explanation of the sports festival and having observed the various personalities of his classmates only serves to convince Dazai that it will become an unmitigated disaster. Albeit a very entertaining disaster. If someone, Midoriya, doesn’t end up severely injured to the point of hospitalization without Recovery Girl’s interference, he’ll eat his boots, his very nice hero boots that are superior to all other footwear he’s ever worn.

Though, the thought of seeing Bakugou’s temper matched up against Chuuya’s gets more and more amusing the more Dazai sets the blond off. As soon as Aizawa leaves the room, Bakugou speaks up.

“I’m gonna win this, so all of you extras better stay out of my way.”

Dazai snorts. “You do realize you aren’t the only one competing who has a powerful quirk, right? Hell, you didn’t even get the highest score on the entrance exam.” Really, just imply that he’s inferior in any way and Bakugou will lose it. He’s just asking for Dazai to push his buttons.

“Hey bastard,” Bakugou starts, “you looking to get your ass kicked on live television?”

“I mean,” Dazai leans forward and makes eye contact with Bakugou, “if you think you have any chance of winning anything without your quirk, be my guest.”

Bakugou flushes, and Dazai smirks. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but most people with strong quirks focus so much on developing that quirk, they think they can’t do anything without it. Dazai just happens to be able to take advantage of that little flaw of Bakugou’s.

Yaoyorozu shoots him a look. She has likely already caught on to Dazai’s game, and while she doesn’t quite approve, Dazai knows she, on some level, is also sick of Bakugou’s shit.

“Dazai’s right,” Todoroki interjects, “none of us in here have gone a long period of time without their quirks.” Midoriya winces and Dazai narrows his eyes. Why would he have gone a significant time without his quirk? “For those of us with a powerful quirk, Dazai will have us at a disadvantage of what may be the first time in our lives.”

“Hey Todoroki,” Dazai shoots the other boy a grin, “don’t go giving away my game plan, now.”

Todoroki snorts. “If you don’t have another thing up your sleeve, I’ve overestimated you.” Well, he’s not wrong.

—-

Chuuya likes to think he’s decently humble, but when his entire class is calling for him to beat Class 1-A’s collective ass, it’s hard not to feel a bit better about himself. He likes the attention, and he has enough self awareness to admit it.

“Hey Chuuya, want to go scout the competition?” Kendou shouts over the din.

“By scouting the competition, do you mean harassing 1-A?” Chuuya raises an eyebrow.

“If she said yes, would you say no?” Monoma pops up from behind Chuuya. Chuuya consciously has to keep himself from punching Monoma, because in his line of business, Dazai is the only one Chuuya has ever left at his back.

Chuuya pushes his dark thoughts aside. “You know I’m always up for giving Dazai a hard time,” he smiles at Kendou.

“I do not understand your relationship. At all.” She shakes her head, bemused.

“Schrodinger’s friends. We like each other, but we are contractually obligated to never mention it or act like it,” Chuuya answers.

“Thanks, that clears up absolutely nothing,” Monoma interjects.

Chuuya laughs. “Wasn’t supposed to. I have to keep my air of mystery some how.”

Kendou snorts and points at the crowd gathering in front of 1-A’s door. “We are not unique.”

Chuuya pushes his way through the crowd to get to the front, Monoma following close behind. Chuuya, unfortunately, has gained a sixth sense for when one of his friends is going to start instigating things, and sighs.

“Hey 1-A!” Monoma gains the attention of a temperamental blond, probably Bakugou, from Dazai’s description. “You think you’re hot shit cause you fought some villains. Big deal! Our class has the number one student from the practical.” Monoma brags.

Bakugou snarls and Chuuya shares a commiserating look with Kendou. “Hey extra,” Bakugou activates his quirk, sparks flashing in his hands, “You’re nothing compared to the shit we faced at the USJ.”

“You all are a disgrace,” a condescending voice drawls. “The renowned hero course students, fighting in the halls like children.” The sharp remark comes from a kid with purple, gravity defying hair. “Guess that just makes it easier for the gen-ed students to dethrone you and take your spots.”

There’s a soft whistle from beside Chuuya. “Damn, this is getting good.”

Chuuya groans and looks up. “Dazai, did you start this?”

Dazai flashes a smile. “Nah, wish I did though.” He holds out a paper bag. “Popcorn?”

Chuuya does a double take. They do not have popcorn in the apartment. “Where the hell did you get popcorn?”

“I’m sorry Chuuya,” Dazai says, affecting an air of seriousness, “but I’m only allowed to have one semi-close acquaintance and Yaoyorozu can pull popcorn from the lipids in her cells at any given moment. You’ve been replaced.”

Chuuya scoffs as Dazai walks away.

Kendou turns to look at him, wide-eyed. “I suddenly understand. Scrodinger’s friends is actually very descriptive.”

—-

Kouyou perches herself delicately on one of the chairs in Mori’s office. “The League of Villains has gone to ground, unfortunately. I would love to destroy them, but to effectively take them out, we need to find All for One.”

Mori nods. “They have the same tenacity of cockroaches. If we take them out before we take out All for One, they’ll just come back.”

“However,” Kouyou’s eyes twinkle with mirth, “I believe Stain is drawing close to Tokyo, Hosu specifically. If we play it right, we can use Stain to draw out the more irritating players.”

Mori leans forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands. “Excellent. I’ll leave the Stain situation in your capable hands then.”

Kouyou smiles, all sharp edges. “I won’t let you down, Mori-san.”

Chapter Text

Chuuya gives the introductory speech, and he doesn’t do a terrible job, Dazai hates to admit. He gets the competitors fired up, doesn’t make a total ass of himself, and manages to cement his cover further by all his talk of everyone giving it their all to be the best heroes they could be. Dazai is reluctantly impressed. Which is absolutely not allowed. No, Dazai refuses to let Chuuya one up him on this hero shtick. He’s the one who’s supposed to be good at acting, so Dazai is definitely going to have to show off a bit. Actually look like he wants to be a hero and all of that.

Disgusting.

Midnight begins to run through the rules and announces the first contest. She spins a wheel and it lands on the obstacle course. Damn. And really, it’s a shame that he has to look like he wants to be here after that.

Dazai isn’t out of shape by any means, but still. He has to get into the top 50 without a useful quirk and he’s going to be disgustingly sweaty after that. Chuuya of course, isn’t going to have a problem. Dazai can almost feel his smug look.

Moving toward the starting line, Dazai doesn’t let his increasingly sour mood show on his face. Midnight signals for the race to start and Dazai takes off at a fast pace. He knows he can sustain his current speed, which puts him ahead of the gen ed students as well as a couple of his own classmates and 1 B students.

He reaches the first obstacle. “Great,” he gripes under his breath, “it just had to be the fucking robots.”

—-

Chuuya lets his mouth curve up into a wicked grin. He hasn’t been able to let loose like this in ages. Bouncing from wall to wall, he can feel the elastic, whipcord energy of For the Tainted Sorrow, howling to be fully released. Instead, Chuuya channels that power into himself, changing his density and propelling himself forward.

This is his favorite use of his quirk. The freeing feeling of flight overpowers the near constant hum of rage from Arahabaki. Sure, he loves the adrenaline rush of fighting, but pushing his body to the limits and getting faster and faster as he increases his momentum is by far more addicting.

He’s an adrenaline junky, sue him.

Chuuya pushes off a another wall, feeling the stone crack beneath his feet. He outstripped Todoroki and Bakugou before the first obstacle, and now, soaring over the third obstacle, they have no chance of catching up to him.

He touches down at the finish line to raucous applause from the audience. Smiling breathlessly, Chuuya turns to look at the screens depicting the other contestants.

Midoriya is doing something with the mines and Chuuya sees Dazai stop and turn, a considering look on his face. Dread builds in Chuuya’s stomach. He knows that look, Dazai is about to do something absolutely dangerous and I’ll advised.

Midoriya backs up and starts to take a running head start and Dazai grins, or a maniacal facsimile of a grin. Chuuya almost doesn’t want to watch but it’s like a train crash. He just can’t look away as Midoriya wacks a sheet of metal on the mines and uses it at a launch pad. As Dazai takes one look at that disaster looking to happen and decides to hitch a ride.

Honestly, what the fuck?

Sometimes Chuuya hates that he has to be Dazai’s impulse control.

—-

It’s a shame Kouyou’s face is known and she can’t afford to be branded a villain, for Chuuya’s sake, because she’s not a fan of masks. Her’s is a white ceramic piece that completely covers her face, and matches her aesthetic, but she doesn’t enjoy hiding.

Yokohama’s criminal population compare her to a venomous snake. Beautiful, colorful, but absolutely deadly. It chafes that she has to disguise herself, but she won’t let her pride endanger the boys as she hunts stain.

Stain isn’t as discreet as he likes to think he is. It took Kouyou less than two days to identify his general location and a list of targets he is most likely going to go after. High profile, but not too powerful, are his ideal prey.

Unfortunately for Stain, there’s a bigger predator in Hosu tonight than him. Kouyou smirks. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t care if Stain took out some heroes, but the League of Villains are prideful. Anything distracting the media from the USJ incident would be a personal affront to a man like Shigaraki. He’ll get upset and start making mistakes. Hopefully these mistakes will lead the Port Mafia straight to All for One. The only thing the media likes more than a dead hero is a fight, and she intends on distracting the media thoroughly.

Kouyou believes Stain’s first target will be Enginium. He’s from a hero legacy, and if he falls, the public’s faith will be shaken. She carefully trails Enginium, waiting for Stain to make his move.

Finally, in a secluded alley, Kouyou finds her prey as Stain finds his. A sword comes out of the shadows, making for the distracted hero, before Kouyou leaps in a flash of reds and pinks and blocks the blade with her own.

Enginium startles at the sound of metal on metal. Kouyou quickly disengages from Stain’s rusty, chipped sword, a contrast to Kouyou’s meticulously cared for sword. “Enginium,” she says mildly, “you should pay more attention to your surroundings.”

Stain growls and leaps for her, katana at the ready. “You made a mistake, interfering in my justice,” he snarls.

Kouyou parries. “Oh, did I?” Her voice serene. She pushes him out into the street, where a lady screams at the sudden appearance of two people locked in a sword fight.

Excellent. Time to put on a show. Kouyou goes on the offensive. Whirling and slashing, she quickly gets through Stain’s guard. He’s… not actually that accomplished as a swordsman. Disappointing. With a powerful overhead strike, her blade knocks hard against his. She sees a piece of the already damaged blade fly off as her’s hammers into Stain’s.

The cheapness of his blade disgusts Kouyou. She takes pride in her skills and the tools of her craft. To face a man who obviously prides himself on the same skills she has, but doesn’t properly care for his weapon, well, it’s a good thing she doesn’t have to make nice with Stain. She wouldn’t be able to contain her snide comments.

She disarms him quickly, but he pulls out a throwing knife and, with unerring accuracy, throws it at her mask. The knife isn’t in better shape than the sword. It’s a wonder that it throws as well as it does.

Maybe his strategy is to give his enemies tetanus. Stain’s blades are definitely rusty enough for it.

Kouyou backs up with a flourish, dodging the knife. Stain escaped in her distraction. No matter, she eyed the cameras surrounding her, she accomplished her goal.

“Put down your weapon,” a hero says from behind her. Not Enginium, so he probably called for back up. One of the newer ones, she thinks vaguely. Such a shame she doesn’t have Dazai’s memory.

Kouyou turns fully. “I’m sorry dear,” she says, relishing the man’s flinch when confronted with the unnerving visage of her faceless mask, “but I’m afraid I can’t.”

And with that, Kouyou runs into an alley, all but disappearing to the hero pursuing her. She smiles from the fire escape she scaled. People so rarely look up.

—-

Mori sighs deeply. He knows better, surely by now, but he really expected more common sense from Dazai and Chuuya. He really should have called them and instructed them not to get too out of hand in their competitiveness, but alas.

He turns back to the news. At least Kouyou-kun’s dramatics serve a purpose, he muses.

Chapter Text

The whole concept of the cavalry battle pisses Dazai off. Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? He side-eyes Chuuya. “Wanna team up?” Dazai asks.

Chuuya snorts. “Fuck you.”

Dazai grins nastily. “I’m taking that as a yes.”

“Figured you were. Go find us a third teammate.” Chuuya orders.

Surprised, Dazai looks at Chuuya for a moment. “Don’t you want to team up with your new friends?”

“Nah,” Chuuya answers, “Monoma and Kendou want to see what they can do on their own.”

“Wow, really?” Dazai blinks. “That’s weirdly noble of them.”

“Hero students.”

“Ah.” Dazai nods sagely.

“Now, shoo,” Chuuya waves his hands, “go manipulate another person into teaming up with us.”

Gasping dramatically, Dazai clutches his heart as if he was just grievously injured. “The audacity! To think, that I, Dazai Osamu, would ever-“

“There’s a time limit, asshole,” Chuuya interrupts.

Dazai blinks. “So there is.”

Scanning his surroundings, Dazai looks for a very distinctive head of purple hair. It does not take long for Dazai to spot Shinsou.

Dazai slides up beside him. “It’s interesting,” Dazai starts, causing Shinsou to jump, “I’m not sure who else noticed it, but the way you finished the obstacle course?” Dazai grins at the suspicious look on the other boy’s face. “I can appreciate a good mind control quirk.”

“Yeah?” Shinsou draws himself up defensively. “You aren’t afraid I’m going to brainwash you?”

Dazai snorts. “You’re welcome to try,” Dazai says nonchalantly, “I’m actually curious to see what nullifying your quirk would feel like.” Dazai holds out a hand. “I’m Dazai Osamu, and you’re Shinsou Hitoshi. Wanna team up?”

Shinsou cautiously shakes Dazai’s hand. “Sure,” he narrows his eyes.

Dazai’s smile is wide and off putting. “Excellent! I’ve got a full team now.”

“Wait a minute, who’s your other teammate?” Shinsou questions.

“Nakahara Chuuya.” Dazai grabs his arm and drags him over to where Chuuya is standing.

“We’re going to have a target on our backs, you know.”

Dazai grins at him. “Of course. That’s what makes it fun.”

—-

Dazai’s strategy goes like this: Shinsou and Chuuya will make up the base, with Chuuya making both himself and Shinsou in the air and steering them, Dazai ensures that he doesn’t make skin contact with either of them. They will play the defense game, because as long as they keep their headband, they win.

“Being in the air won’t make us invincible,” Dazai warns. His mind goes to Uraraka’s quirk, which can be utilized similarly to Chuuya’s, as well as Bakugou and Todoroki’s quirk. Bakugou is creative and surprisingly smart. He might have noticed the rules only say the rider can’t touch the ground and be able to use his quirk as propulsion blasts. Todoroki has a quirk he can create structures with.

As soon as Midnight starts the round, Chuuya rockets them into the air. Dazai surveys the battlefield from his perch on Chuuya’s shoulders. Despite Shinsou’s height advantage, Chuuya has a much easier time carrying him, so Shishou is just hanging on to Dazai’s leg.

Todoroki looks to be attempting to go after them, but Bakugou and Monoma are both harassing him, Monoma with Bakugou’s quirk. Midoriya is playing it safe and going for smaller headbands, and quickly racking up points.

Kaminari suddenly releases a blast of electricity, knocking back the two other teams and leaving Todoroki an opening to exploit. He immediately begins rising on a ramp of ice.

“Damn,” Dazai swears. “Chuuya, you focus on avoiding Todoroki’s team. Shinsou, you won’t get Todoroki himself to react, but try and get to Kaminari and mess them up.”

“Shouldn’t you be trying to nullify his quirk?” Shinsou questions.

Dazai narrows his eyes at the ice. “We’ll see if I can, I guess. Chuuya, if you have an opportunity, get me close to the ice.”

Quirks that affect the environment the way Todoroki’s quirk does are tricky. As soon as Todoroki stops manipulating the ice, it stops being a part of a quirk, therefore out of Dazai’s influence. But, what it looks like, is that Todoroki is using a continuous stream of ice on his ramp, which should make the ice one continuous usage of his quirk, therefore able to be nullified.

Chuuya leads Todoroki on a chase through the sky, and at one point Bakugou tries to join in. Shinsou gets to Bakugou almost instantly, and tells him to go away.

Finally, Chuuya gets close enough to the ice ramp for Dazai to get his hands on it, and the ice glows blue for a moment, before disappearing. Dazai grimaces. Todoroki’s quirk registers to Dazai as a taste, and it’s mint gum, with a faint undertone of spicy peppers. Which is an unpleasant combination.

Todoroki’s team falls for a moment, before he catches them. They don’t try for Dazai’s team again.

—-

The second round of the sport’s festival ends with Chuuya’s team first, Midoriya’s team, who, while Todoroki and Bakugou focused on Dazai, collected headbands from low point teams to get ahead, second, and Todoroki and Bakugou’s teams third and fourth respectively.

He’s slightly disappointed that more 1-B students didn’t get into the finals, but class 1-A has been stacked since day one, and the USJ incident just increased their focus and skill.

Chuuya exhales. The next round will be the tournament round, and luckily, there’s no weird twist to it. He’s going to have to remember to hold back a lot. He looks at the bracket, and his first round is Shinsou.

Well, Chuuya reflects, he has plenty of practice ignoring annoying people.

—-

Shigaraki seethes. How dare that Crimson Swordsman, as the media is calling her, and Stain steal attention from the USJ incident. Who cares that some two-bit vigilantes got into a sword fight? They didn’t attack the best hero school in the nation.

He needs media attention for his plan to work. He can’t have the public’s attention shift. Shigaraki needs to do something drastic to get attention back onto himself.

He grits his teeth. He needs a new plan. “Kurogiri!” Shigaraki shouts.

Black mist coalesces in front of him. “Yes, boss?” Kurogiri asks.

“I need more Nomus,” Shigaraki smiles darkly. He’s going to burn Hosu to the ground, and no heroes will be able to stop him.

Chapter Text

Dazai wanders off during the break. He doesn’t really have an interest in the extra events, so he aimlessly roams the back hallways of the arena. Security is fairly tight, Dazai muses, probably due to the USJ incident.

Endeavor’s voice stops Dazai in his tracks. “Boy,” the hero barks.

Dazai scowls at the wall before schooling his face into a neutral expression and turning around to face Endeavor. “You know,” Dazai drawls, “I have a name.”

“Right,” Endeavor smirks. “Dazai, or should I say Tsushima-“ Endeavor continues to say something else but Dazai can’t hear him over the ringing in his ears.

“Shut up,” Dazai hisses viciously, and Endeavor stops talking, surprised. Dazai’s hands tremble by his sides. “I don’t care what you think you know, but Tsushima Shuji is dead. Killed by his father.” He pauses, then a sharp smirk replaces the blank look on Dazai’s face. “Sounds familiar, hmm? The son of a powerful man with a flame quirk dying in a training accident.”

Endeavor growls lowly. “I didn’t kill Touya.”

Dazai snorts harshly. “Well, aren’t you father of the year. It’s interesting, though, when someone can draw parallels between the number two hero and the old boss of the Port Mafia. Really says something about the hero.” With that, Dazai turns sharply on his heel and walks away.

—-

Dazai feels an old sort of panic welling up in his chest. His hands are shaking and he’s having a hard time thinking past the terror his father used to inspire in him. He can’t stop thinking about him. Dazai was doing such a good job of blocking out the memories of his father, until Endeavor brought him up.

He ends up in a bathroom, somehow, and looks at his reflection in the mirror. Irrational rage fills him at the sight of his face. With a broken cry, Dazai swings a fist toward the mirror, shattering it.

With the soft tinkle of broken glass falling on the tile floor, Dazai feels his rage evaporate, leaving him numb. He falls to the floor, gasping for breath. “Fuck,” he exhales. Dazai hasn’t lost control like this in, he wants to say years.

His knuckles are bleeding, Dazai notices vaguely. He should probably do something about that before he has to fight Kirishima.

Mori’s going to be disappointed, Dazai realizes. This is going to raise some alarm bells about his mental health. But well, he needs tweezers to get the glass out of his skin, and Dazai didn’t plan on having shards of glass in his hand. The only place he could get tweezers at this point in time would be the infirmary.

With a resigned sigh, Dazai heaves himself off the bathroom floor, thanking every higher power known to man that no one came in during his… episode.

—-

Recovery Girl squints at him suspiciously as she picks glass out of his hand. “What did you do, pick a fight with a window?”

Dazai smiles back guilelessly. “Something like that.”

She snorts and moves to collect bandages. Recovery Girl tosses him a granola bar and gives him an unimpressed look. “I somehow doubt you found time to eat lunch in between slaughtering innocent windows, and your round starts soon. Eat up.” She then pulls Dazai’s hand that isn’t holding the granola bar to her and begins to bandage the knuckles.

She ties off the end of the bandage just as Dazai finishes his granola bar. “Off you go,” Recovery Girl says. “You should go watch Sero’s and Todoroki’s fight.”

Dazai snorts despite himself. “It’s not gonna be much of a fight.”

“Be nice,” she chides as he walks out of the door.

—-

Dazai was right. It wasn’t much of a fight. Todoroki froze him and a quarter of the audience.

Unfortunately, this meant Dazai was up against Kirishima.

Kirishima looks at Dazai as they walk down to the floor of the arena together. “Hey, let's go out there and give them all we got, yeah!” He says, pumping his fist.

Dazai yawns. The incident from earlier having exhausted him. “Sure,” Dazai responds, disinterested.

Kirishima visibly deflates and Dazai can’t find it in himself to feel bad.

They line up on opposite sides of the ring and Midnight calls the start.

Kirishima is fast, Dazai will give him that. He’s across the ring and up in Dazai’s face in a matter of seconds. But well, he’s no Chuuya, so Dazai slides easily out of the way of Kirishima’s first punch.

Dazai eyes the sharp edge of Kirishima’s fist. He really doesn’t want to be hit.

Dazai is feeling particularly irritable, though, and realized that he might enjoy winning this one.

Dazai ducks underneath the next punch, then the next, sliding back all the while. Until finally, his heel hits the edge of the circle and he shoots Kirishima a feral grin. Kirishima’s eyes widen as Dazai catches his wrist, white-blue light erupting from the point of contact.

Dazai then shifts his feet and flips Kirishima over his shoulder and out of the circle. The crowd erupts in confused cheers and Midnight declares Dazai the winner.

Kirishima groans from the ground. “Good match, man,” he says as he pulls himself to his feet.

“Yeah, whatever.” Dazai walks away.

—-

Dabi stalked through the shadows in the warehouse. A woman reached out to him about a week ago about a job opportunity, and well, money’s money. He was to meet her here to get the details.

He steps into the light and a woman in a blank ceramic mask and a fancy red and pink kimono jumps down from the rafters. “Dabi, I presume?”

“Yeah,” he squints. The woman looks familiar. Then he sees the sword and it clicks. “You’re the Crimson Swordsman, right?” At her affirmative nod, he whistles. “You’ve got some serious skills.”

“Thank you,” she says, bemused. “Though, I’m actually here about your skills. You see, I’d like you to go undercover in a specific group of people. You will be handsomely compensated, of course.”

Dabi narrows his eyes in contemplation. “All right, I’m intrigued. Who would I be going undercover with?”

“The League of Villains.”

Chapter Text

Chuuya’s round is the last of the first round of matches, so he has to watch seven others before he goes on. Dazai has disappeared somewhere, and Chuuya spares a thought to where he went, but ultimately decides to go to lunch with Monoma and Kendou.

“Some of those mini games look fun,” Kendou begins, shooting a probing look at Monoma, who has been gloomy since the cavalry battle.

Monoma mutters something that Chuuya doesn’t catch. Chuuya pointedly sighs. “I mean, I know a lot of 1-A people are competing, but if you don’t want to get beat again, I’m sure Kendou will understand.” Sure, Chuuya doesn’t like to be manipulative, but well, he definitely knows how to be.

Monoma let’s out an outraged shriek. “I’m not going to get beat by those losers again! Come on Kendou.” He huffs and grabs Kendou’s arm and drags her back to the arena floor. She shoots an exasperated look back at Chuuya over her shoulder. Chuuya gives her a jaunty wave back.

—-

Chuuya has to try way harder than he should to choke back his laughter. The Midoriya-Hatsume fight really shouldn’t even be called that. Midoriya is just standing in the middle of the ring with a bemused expression on his face, while Hatsume, with a microphone and using a jetpack, shows off all of her inventions. The jetpack is actually pretty cool, if Chuuya is being honest with himself.

Hatsume, after she goes through her impressive repertoire, steps out the circle.

“Hatsume has left the circle,” Midnight calls out, seemingly relieved. “Midoriya has won!”

The next two matches go by quickly. Chuuya watches as Iiida runs circles around Ashido, and in a perfect display of overkill, Todoroki ices Sero, as well as a fourth of the audience.

There was a bit of an unscheduled break to thaw out the stadium.

Dazai is up against Kirishima next, and as the close up visual catches Dazai stepping out onto the sand, Chuuya winces. He looks shittier than normal.

What the hell happened in the last hour to make Dazai look worse than he usually does after taking a bullet?

Well, it’s not like Chuuya is going to find out, because if there’s anything Dazai hates more than actually having emotions, it’s that Chuuya knows he does. If he so much as mentions how shaken Dazai looks, he’ll shut down and it will take Mori and a crowbar to get him so much as fake emoting again.

The fight goes how Chuuya expects it to, but by the reactions of the audience, not how most others thought it would go. Chuuya can kind of see it, Dazai is the human embodiment of a noodle and Kirishima is very muscular. But well, appearances aren’t everything.

Dazai’s smart friend, for all he says that they’re not, is up next. Yaoyorozu wins handedly, reflecting Aoyama’s naval beam (and Chuuya definitely laughed at that one, when Dazai told him about it a couple of weeks ago) back at him.

The next match, Chuuya is a little more interested in. He wants to see how all of the training he did with Uraraka has paid off. She’s up against Kaminari, and Chuuya believes that she can beat him. From what Dazai has said, it’s a bad matchup for Kaminari, who has to either make contact or have his opponent actually be on the ground. Uraraka is smart enough to have noticed this.

Uraraka starts the fight by negating her own gravity floating up, dodging Kaminari’s initial attack. She can’t control the direction she rises in though, so she cancels it a moment later. Her feet hit the ground, and while Kaminari is still recovering from his big attack, punches him in the face.

Chuuya winces in sympathy. Judging by angle and force, Uraraka probably just broke Kaminari’s nose.

That leaves him stunned and easy to push out of the ring. Chuuya never thought he’d be proud of one of these hero kids, but well, he did teach Uraraka to throw a punch, and that was a very nice punch.

The next match leaves Chuuya feeling faintly uncomfortable. Already a little bit wary of Bakugou’s temper, Chuuya watches as Tokoyami, who is at a serious disadvantage against a light emitting quirk, gets pummeled.

It wasn’t the violence in which Bakugou took the other kid out though, because Todoroki could rival that, it was the sheer rage on his face as he did it. Chuuya, who is arguably already considered a villain, has never felt rage like that outside of Arahabaki’s influence. The fact that some aspiring hero felt like that in a tournament doesn’t really speak well for his future.

Finally, it’s his turn to fight.

—-

Chuuya is up against Shinsou, so all he really has to do is not respond to his provocation. It should be relatively simple, what with being around Dazai a lot. Shinsou would be hard pressed to make Chuuya react.

Shinsou seems to know this though, and with a defeated gleam in his eye, starts monologuing.

“You probably know how my quirk works by now, huh.” At Chuuya’s impassive silence, he sighs. “You know, people with good quirks basically get a free pass in this society, while people like me, who have so-called villain’s quirks,” Shinsou basically spits those two words, “have to fight to be acknowledged as worth anything.”

Chuuya doesn’t outwardly react, but he grew up in Suribachi. He’s seen what Shinsou is talking about. Despite Yokohama not having the rabid hero culture the rest of Japan has, and a majorly quirkless population, people with undesirable quirks have always been outcasts.

So really, Chuuya does feel bad about pushing Shinsou hard enough that he falls out of the circle.

After Midnight calls the match, Chuuya helps Shinsou up. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d make a great hero,” Chuuya says, before letting go of his hand.

—-

Fukuzawa sits in his new hero agency, Ranpo and Yosano sprawled out next to him, and watches the sports festival. His eyes narrow as he watches two students in particular. What the hell is Mori playing at?

He knows the Port Mafia, and the fact that they have two operatives attending a hero school can’t bode well. Unfortunately, with the creation of the Armed Detective Agency, the first hero agency in Yokohama, he’s on thin enough ice with the Port Mafia as it is. He’ll have to be careful about investigating this one.

Chapter Text

Dazai maybe should have paid attention to the bracket because after Midoriya and Iida fight, he has to fight Todoroki. A fact which definitely blindsided him. Dazai groans, and at Yaoyorozu’s questioning look he explains. “I wasn’t really paying attention earlier, and now I realized I have to fight Todoroki.”

Todoroki, on Yaoyorozu’s other side, looks at Dazai. “Why are you upset about that?” He asks, with a hint of offense.

“Hmm, I wonder,” Dazai drawls, “maybe because out of everyone here, you’re the one most likely to hospitalize me.”

Todoroki blinks, even more offended now. “Bakugo,” He responds.

Dazai shakes his head. “I’m a bad matchup for Bakugo, all of his attacks are short range. You, on the other hand, are mid to long distance, so for my quirk to be effective, I have to close the gap.”

“Can’t you just touch any ice I send your way though?” Todoroki asks, confused.

“I mean yeah, but-“ Dazai stops, and blinks. “Actually, you know what, I’m not explaining my quirk to you.” He shoots a grin at the other boy. “Clever, though.”

Yaoyorozu elbows both of them in the side. “Please be quiet, I want to watch Midoriya and Iida’s match.”

“Of course,” Dazai says brightly, “anything for you!”

Yaoyorozu’s response was cut off by Present Mic announcing the start of the match.

Dazai actually isn’t sure how this one is going to play out. Sure, Midoriya has the more powerful and versatile quirk, but he has little training or control. Iida has been training for most of his life for heroism, but is too set in his ways.

In a fight, sometimes you have to be flexible. Especially against someone with Midoriya’s sheer force of will and creativity.

Now, if Dazai was fighting Iida with Midoriya’s quirk, he would destroy as much of the ground as possible to make Iida’s speed negligible. Only time will tell what Midoriya will do.

The fight begins with Midoriya putting as much distance between Iida and himself as possible, which was smart in Dazai’s opinion. Then he proceeds to break a finger in order to turn the ground into a field of rubble, ruining Iida’s chances of taking Midoriya out of the fight quickly. Dazai winces, someone really needs to teach this kid how to control his quirk.

With Iida slowed, Midoriya throws a non-enhanced punch to his face. It quickly becomes evident that Iida relies too much on his speed, which is useless on unstable ground.

In the end, Midoriya manages to get Iida out of the circle with only breaking another finger.

Dazai shoots a quick look at Todoroki. “Well,” he says with a grimace, “looks like it’s our turn.” Todoroki nods in acknowledgement.

—-

After Cementoss fixes the arena, Dazai and Todoroki are called down. Someone really needs to give Cementoss a raise, Dazai thinks.

Todoroki eyes Dazai warily across the circle, and Dazai really wants to tell him that he has nothing to worry about. This is not Dazai’s strong suit. At all. He wants Chuuya back.

Though, Dazai muses, he could draw this out. Make it hard on Todoroki and make Endeavor look bad. Yeah, Dazai’s feeling petty enough for that.

Midnight brings her whip down, and Dazai immediately rolls out of the way of a giant wall of ice. Dazai cannot express how much he’s going to hate this, but well, anything to piss off the fire asshole. This is so not going to be fun.

Dazai ducks under a flying ice shard and is almost hit by another stream of ice. Luckily, it hasn’t separated from Todoroki’s quirk yet, and Dazai is able to nullify it. He uses the brief respite, to move in closer.

The narrow confines of the circles put Todoroki at a disadvantage. He’d be more effective against Dazai the farther he could get. Luckily, there’s not a large distance for Dazai to cross before he can throw the first punch.

Dazai punches Todoroki across his cheek just as ice was starting to form around his hand again, causing it to disappear with a shower of light blue sparkles.

Needing to keep skin contact for as long as possible, Dazai gets an arm around Todoroki’s neck and falls backwards into a chokehold.

Before Dazai can get Todoroki fully pinned, Dazai takes an elbow to the gut and lets go with a gasp.

Dazai is soon leaping out of the way of another wall of ice. Dazai ducks behind it, using the cover to catch his breath. Damn, Dazai thinks, maybe Mori had a point when he paired me up with Chuuya.

The ice is thick enough, it’s almost opaque, Dazai notices. Then grins and begins scaling the ice.

The end of the ice wall is fairly close to the edge of the ring, and any minute now, Todoroki is going to get impatient. Dazai conceals himself on a small outcropping, ignoring the sharp cold and waits.

Todoroki cautiously peaks around the corner of his mini iceberg and when he doesn’t see Dazai, he does a double take. Dazai grins, a little unhinged. People so rarely look up.

Todoroki rushes forward and stops under Dazai. Silently, Dazai drops down behind Todoroki and grabs his wrist.

Todoroki barely has time to react before Dazai kicks his feet out from under him, sending Todoroki sprawling out toward the line. The momentum tears Todoroki’s wrist out of Dazai’s grip. “Shit,” Dazai curses as two things happen simultaneously. Todoroki catches himself with a sheet of ice, keeping him in the circle, and a block of ice hits Dazai square in the back, and knocks him out of the circle.

Dazai lands on his stomach with a groan. “Todoroki is the winner!” Midnight calls out to the raucous cheers of the audience. Dazai rolls over and just takes a second to contemplate how much he misses guns.

—-

Dabi ducks inside the sketchy looking bar that Giran directed him towards. The bartender, a being formed of black mist, shoots him a narrow eyed glare. “We’re closed.”

Dabi grins back, making sure to pull at the staples and display the bare muscle under his scars. “Is that so? I thought the League of Villains was recruiting.”

The other man in the bar, the one with the creepy hands, jerks his head up. “You want to join?”

“Oh, definitely,” Dabi widens his grin and sets his hands alight with blue flame. “I want to see hero society burn to ashes.”

Chapter Text

Chuuya goes to find Dazai at the end of his match. The whole thing looked… bad. What with Dazai’s uncharacteristic effort displayed and how upset he looked earlier, there has to be some sort of correlation. And Dazai shutting down is a better outcome than the U.A. staff talking to him. He’s a bit disappointed to have to miss Uraraka’s fight, but he’s confident enough that she should do well, even if Yaoyorozu wins.

Luckily Dazai hadn’t made it far from the locker rooms. “Oi, Mackerel!” Chuuya calls out to Dazai across the empty hallway.

Dazai turns, and before he can plaster a grin over it, Chuuya catches a dark look in Dazai’s eye. “Hmm, Chuuya? Miss me so much you just couldn’t stay away?” Dazai steps closer to Chuuya with a distinctly predatory air, and damn. Whatever happened must have been bad. Usually Dazai is better at not appearing dangerous.

Chuuya snorts. Tilting his chin up in a clear challenge, Chuuya responds, “Nah, I was just worried about you doing something stupid. Remember what Mori said? We don’t want to give them reason to look into your mental health.”

Something dark flashes in Dazai’s eyes as his smile grows bigger and he stalks closer. “Oh Chuuya, do you really think I’d need you to keep me from jeopardizing the mission?”

“Well apparently you do,” Chuuya says, distinctly unimpressed. “Your ‘normal highschooler’ mask is cracking today. And well, you always claimed to be better than that.”

Dazai flinched back slightly, and if Chuuya were anyone else, he might have missed it. “Well,” Dazai says sweetly, like he isn’t upset that Chuuya noticed anything wrong, “sometimes people just have bad days.”

“You were fine before lunch.” Chuuya responds.

“It’s really none of your business,” Dazai pats Chuuya’s head. Rage bubbles up in Chuuya’s gut at the condescension.

He scoffs. “Sure, asshole. I’ll be sure to let you blow our cover next time.”

Dazai’s smile shifts more into a snarl. And Chuuya feels a little surge of triumph because if Dazai was acting normal, he never would have let his emotions show on his face. “The fact that you think I need your advice on undercover missions is insulting. You seem to think you’re good for anything other than fighting.” And with that, Dazai stalks past Chuuya, wrath written clear across his face.

Chuuya scoffs again. “Yeah? At least I have an excuse for not being able to control my anger. You’re just out of control.” He hisses at Dazai’s back.

All that Dazai does in response is to flip him off. Chuuya frowns. Dazai must be really off if he isn’t staying to get the last word. He shakes his head. As long as Dazai doesn’t do anything else incriminating today, he’s not Chuuya’s problem.

At least he won’t feel bad about taking out his anger on Bakugou.

—-

By the time Uraraka’s match is finished (apparently she won) Chuuya has stewed on his and Dazai’s argument enough that Arahabaki is screaming to be let out in the back of his mind. Chuuya isn’t about to let loose Corruption on a highschooler of course, but it would be nice to engage in some blatant property destruction. Also punch an asshole in the face.

As he and Bakugou face each other, Bakugou’s lips twist into a malicious grin and he pops his knuckles in a way Chuuya’s sure he means to be threatening. Chuuya raises an eyebrow and shoves his hands into his pockets. Chuuya can see a vein bulge in Bakugou’s forehead.

Midnight cracks her whip and yells “Start!”

Chuuya immediately calls upon For the Tainted Sorrow and shoots forward in Bakugou’s direction. He catches Bakugou in the stomach with a powerful kick before Bakugou even registers Chuuya moving.

Bakugou catches himself before he falls out of the ring, but Chuuya is on him almost immediately and it’s all Bakugou can do to block Chuuya’s kicks. Even augmenting his power with his explosions, Bakugou is being pushed back. Chuuya can see the frown on Bakugou’s face as he’s forced to stay on the defensive. Chuuya not giving him the chance to build up enough power to launch a successful attack. Chuuya bets that this is the first time Bakugou has ever felt weak.

Chuuya grins at him. Everyone is weak compared to Chuuya.

In a last ditch effort, Bakugou sacrifices his defensive capabilities for one large attack on Chuuya. Chuuya grins as he sees the build up, and blasts upward and out of the radius of the explosion.

As Chuuya comes back down, he notices that Bakugou threw himself out of the circle with his own explosion. Chuuya sighs in disappointment. How underwhelming.

—-

Dabi grins as his call is connected.

“Hey, red.” He says.

“Red?” the woman on the other side of the line questions, bemused.

“Well,” Dabi drawls, “you didn’t give me your name and the name the media gave you is a bit conspicuous, don’t you think?”

“Of course,” she responds. “I assume there’s a reason for this call?”

“Yeah,” Dabi sobers up as he moves on to business. Shigaraki’s been talking about a large scale attack on Hosu. I think he wants to get attention off of you and Stain.”

“I see,” she says. “Do you know where he’s going to get the numbers?”

Dabi exhales. “He’s talking about getting a large number of Nomus. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them-“

“I am,” she cuts him off. “Thank you Dabi. That’s very helpful. Anything else?”

“Nah, that’s it.”

She hangs up. Dabi shakes his head and walks out of the convenience store bathroom he used to ensure no eavesdroppers.

Chapter Text

Dazai remains slumped down on a bench outside the arena for all of Chuuya’s match, and into the beginning of Todoroki and Midoriya’s. He huffs out a breath as he scrolls through his phone, bored but not wanting to be around other people.

As heavy footsteps approach, Dazai bites back a groan of frustration and doesn’t look up from his phone. Here we go again…

“Shouldn’t you be watching your son complete,” Dazai says with an air of nonchalance that he definitely does not feel.

“I’m not just going to let a known criminal-“Endeavor starts.

“Hey,” Dazai interrupts, looking up from his phone with a sharp grin, “I thought we established this. You have a vendetta, I’m a completely innocent and law abiding citizen.” He pauses for a minute, as an idea strikes him. “Here. Say cheese.” Dazai turns to get Endeavor in a selfie with him, a look of startled puzzlement written across Endeavor’s face.

Endeavor steps forward angrily, “who are you sending that to?”

“What do you mean?” Dazai says faux casually. “It’s for Pro-Hero Go, don’t you know about it? I know for a fact that Todoroki plays.” With a look of innocent confusion on his face, Dazai continues, “ he’s pretty good at it too. Shouldn’t you know about your kid’s interests? But what do I know,” Dazai shrugs, “you’re not even watching his match in the semi-finals.”

Endeavor stops, and for a moment a look of realization crosses his face. Dazai doesn’t actually know what he realized but it was apparently enough to make him turn around and walk off without saying another word.

Dazai sighs and flops bonelessly back onto the bench. Now maybe he can take the U.A. lair from Midoriya.

—-

Chuuya might not be Dazai, but he’s perfectly aware that there’s some sort of similarity between For The Tainted Sorrow, and by extension Arahabaki, and Midoriya’s quirk. He just hadn’t realized just how similar they were until he saw the Midoriya vs Todoroki fight.

Sure, on surface level there’s nothing even remotely related between their quirks, but Corruption and Midoriya’s uncontrolled strength plus bodily harm share more in common than Chuuya’s entirely comfortable with.

Not to mention Arahabaki’s screams of rage changing pitch as if to call out to something whenever he’s around Midoriya, but Chuuya avoids thinking of Arahabaki’s potential sentience as much as possible.

And then Midoriya triggers Todoroki’s flame quirk, (and Chuuya is not alone when he thinks “what the fuck?”)” and Todoroki reaches a level of panicked brutality that he was missing before (and if that doesn’t reek of fire-related trauma), quickly overwhelming Midoriya. For all that Midoriya is insanely powerful, he really doesn’t have the control to match Todoroki when all he wants is the fight over.

And just like that, it’s Chuuya’s turn to fight Uraraka.

—-

Chuuya stands across the ring from Uraraka and notices that she seems resigned about this whole match. Chuuya sighs. God, these heroes are infecting him with a do-gooder attitude. If Dazai ever finds out, he’s going to be such a bitch about this.

“Hey, Uraraka!” He calls out to her. When she looks up, he flashes a grin at her. “Let’s put on a show, yeah?”

She smiles back at him. “Yeah! Let’s both give it our all!”

Chuuya internally winces. He will not be giving it his all. That would not be good for anyone.

When Midnight cracks her whip, Uraraka floats into the air, Chuuya following not long after, cracking the floor as he takes off. Hah, he can almost hear Cementoss groaning.

Uraraka plays a game of cat and mouse, dropping or rising suddenly as Chuuya nears. It’s a good strategy but ultimately futile, Chuuya thinks as he uses the ground to push off from again, kicking up more rubble. He catches her with a kick this time, sending Uraraka into the ground.

She lands with a gasp. And suddenly she’s grinning up at Chuuya as all the rubble he created shoots up into the air above his head. She must have touched all of it when she was dodging, Chuuya thinks incredulously.

“I call this one,” Uraraka says as she stands up, wiping dirt from her face, “Meteor Storm!”

All of the debris comes falling down upon Chuuya and his face crawls into a wide smile. He lets more of For The Tainted Sorrow out of his careful control and the rocks glow red and stop, before shooting into each other and turning to dust.

“Damn Uraraka,” Chuuya says, not able to keep the pride out of his voice, “I didn’t even notice you were using me to set up an attack!”

Uraraka sighs, dejected. “Yeah, but it didn’t work.”

“I mean, yeah. But against most other people it would have. It was a really good idea.” Chuuya replies.

She smiles again. “Okay, I’m going to fight you head on now!” And immediately tried to punch Chuuya in the face.

He ducks, and hooks a leg around hers and sends her to the destroyed ground. Chuuya gets a face full of gravel for his efforts. He grimaces. “What happened to fighting me head on?”

“Well,” Uraraka shrugs from where she managed to move to in Chuuya’s distraction, “I never said I wouldn’t fight dirty.”

“Well, if that’s how you want to play it,” Chuuya smirks as he sends the piece of gravel she’s on top of flying outside of the ring, with Uraraka on it.

“Winner: Nakahara Chuuya!”

—-

Dabi holds back another sigh as Shigaraki continues his rant about how Stain was stealing his spotlight. If it weren’t for the blatant talk of murder, Dabi would think he was hearing his kid brother throw a tantrum all over again, but no. It’s his twenty something boss, who happens to be the leader of the infamous league of villains. A whole three people, including him.

He should ask Red for a raise.

The sudden static from the TV interrupts Shigaraki’s despair over how the general public doesn’t fear him anymore, which. Blatantly false. The general public is definitely scared of the man covered in severed human hands that can reduce anyone he touches to dust. But, whatever.

“Dabi!” Shigaraki barks. “Out, now.”

Dabi glares at him, gratified somewhat to see the wary look on Shigaraki’s face. “Fine, whatever.” Dabi shrugs as he leaves.

He notes this as something to tell Red. She might find it interesting.

Chapter Text

Chuuya knows that Todoroki is the favorite to win the sports tournament. A hero legacy, trained from birth in both hand-to-hand and quirk usage, Todoroki would have won, if not for one little detail. His opponent is Nakahara Chuuya, King of the Sheep and strongest member of the Port Mafia.

Stepping into the ring, Chuuya cracks his knuckles. Todoroki will hopefully give him a real fight, but Chuuya isn’t holding out for much. He could beat Hirotsu easily, after all.

Todoroki makes eye contact, a determined look in his eye, and Chuuya lets his grin become a little unhinged. This will be a good learning experience, heroes need to know when they’re outmatched, after all. And Chuuya outmatches every single hero except for maybe All Might.

At the crack of the whip, Chuuya is shooting across the field, a kick aimed for Todoroki’s abdomen. The other boy manages to block it, but the force still sends him to the line and he has to use his ice to stop him from going over.

“You know,” Chuuya drawls out, “this isn’t going to be much of a fight if you don’t give it your all.”

“I’m capable of beating you without my father’s quirk, but thank you for your input.” Todoroki’s monotone response is at odds with the fierce glare he shoots Chuuya.

“Hah!” Chuuya laughs. “If you say so, but that business about your father’s quirk? It’s bullshit.” A spear of ice shoots toward Chuuya, but it’s crushed under the weight of gravity. “See, fire would be a touch more effective against me, because it’s a little more unpredictable under the effects of immense gravity, but if you’re not willing to put up a semi-decent fight, I’ll end this now.” Chuuya says with an air of nonchalance, before he kicks off the ground and towards Todoroki at incredible speeds.

Chuuya holds back a little less than he usually would, he has a point to make after all, and kicks Todoroki across the ring, crushing the ice that springs up to catch him almost before it was formed. The red-head winces as Todoroki’s back hits the dirt. He might have ruptured organs with that kick.

But nevertheless, Todoroki gets back up. “Damn,” Chuuya mutters, “what’s with these kids and not knowing when to quit?”

This time, when Chuuya closes in, a burst of flames erupts from his hand, and Chuuya laughs in delight as he’s forced to dodge. There’s a panicked edge to Todoroki’s eyes now, and the side of Chuuya that reminds him a little too much of Arahabaki for comfort screams in joy.

Chuuya pushes his hair out of his eyes and grins wildly. Now it’ll be a fight.

Todoroki makes the first move this time, an uncontrolled burst of flame that Chuuya nimbly flys over. Then, Chuuya increases his own gravity to send him falling down towards Todoroki with incredible force. He dodges, and Chuuya’s impact sends debris flying up.

Stepping out of the crater formed on his impact, Chuuya lifts his hands, pieces of glowing red earth rising with them. He sends them hurtling at Todoroki, who forms a shield of ice.

Using the debris as a distraction, Chuuya slams his leg into the ice, shattering it instantly. Todoroki stumbles back, eyes wide. And Chuuya, who had been smiling the entire fight, feels his smile grow wider. Chuuya kicks Todoroki in the chest again, and feels a give under his foot. He definitely just broke Todoroki’s ribs.

Todoroki stumbles out of the ring, and collapses.

—-

Dazai hears the announcement of Chuuya’s win over the intercoms and sighs. How predictable… He stretches out on the bench he’s laying on like a cat.

Though he does wonder how Todoroki’s loss will affect Endeavor’s slowly crumpling mental state. Dazai winces at the thought. He should probably warn Todoroki to avoid his father more than he usually does. Maybe he should avoid provoking Endeavor for the next couple of months, just in case.

Dazai hums consideringly. It’s out of character for him to be so concerned about a person other than Chuuya, and even that has its roots in self interest. Oh, eww, the heroes are rubbing off on him, disgusting. He shudders. He needs to commit some convoluted scheme that ends with blood on his hands and Chuuya’s hands fisted in his collar immediately to wash away the stink of human decency.

Dazai thinks for a moment, before an idea creeps into his head. Kouyou has been having trouble tracking down the hero killer, and Dazai’s seen his manifesto all over the dark web. And it just so happens that Dazai knows just the hero that meets Stain’s criteria of not being worthy of life. He grins. Shaking up hero society, pissing off Kouyou, which will result in Chuuya’s anger, pissing off the league of villains, and getting rid of a man who abuses his children with a fire quirk: quite a few birds with one stone.

The only hitch in Dazai’s plan is will Stain actually be capable of killing Endeavor, but there are ways to mitigate that factor.

Yes, Dazai grins, he’s got the perfect way to get rid of the taint that hero morals have left on him.

The only downside is that his newest Pro-Hero Go hero is going to be discontinued soon.

—-

Mori groans at Chuuya’s display in his fight against Endeavor’s son. He’s going to need to amp up fire safety for the goons after this.