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Chapter Text

“So you are leaving next week to begin the new reform?” Tenko asked while Yuki sat obediently by his feet.

The former league of villains was all sitting together with Izuku in Inko’s living room. Inko prepared some tea with Kurogiri before sitting with the group next to her son. She drank some of her herbal tea as the conversation continued.

“Yep, I have to get a head start with the cleaning and decorating. All the rooms are already painted, and now I just have to make sure everything is just right for their arrival,” Izuku commented while he wrote down some items he still needed to get in order to prepare the new house. He kept wondering what certain items could work better with the members based on their profile that he was given. Maybe Soramitsu could have cookbooks in his room? I feel like he could be a good food tester.

Apparently, the yakuza group would be staying in a new house around the same location as the other one. Izuku doesn’t really understand the reason except for the fact that they needed a different structure to house all the members inside.

Magne twirled the promise ring on her finger as she replied, “Damn. When you are describing this, I just can’t help but reminisce that you did the same for us when we didn’t even know.”

“I could kind of guess it was sort of personalized when I noticed how dark my room was compared to Togas’s since she showed me hers. I didn’t know how personalized it was until Kurogiri told us that you did it all,” Touya responded, fiddling with his feather necklace. He was dressed more monotone than others in his black windbreaker, stone grey jeans, and ash black boots. The only color he had was the red feather that looked even more bright against his white shirt.

Himiko’s long blonde hair swished around her shoulder as she turned to Touya. “Oh yeah! I still love what you did with my old room in that house. I even did a replica of the blood drips with some resin to hang in my new room.”

“Oh, Himiko. How is the business going?” Iguchi asked from his seat. He wore his favorite worn down jean jacket with a handmade button that his karate class kids had made for him. So what if it was him dressed like a splinter from the teenage mutant ninja turtles? His purple hair was cut short a while ago and was beginning to grow slowly back to its original length.

“Pretty good. I have been getting commissions mostly from cute horror fans that like plushies I did a while ago. But I gotta say, the furries pay more nicely than any of my other customers,” Himiko answered back honestly. Her red leather jacket worked well with the rest of her cute outfit from the cartoon syringe in her shirt to the reddish link high tops she was wearing in her feet.

“That’s good news!” Izuku congratulated Himiko. Izuku turned his attention back to his notebook to write one more thing down before turning to Sato. “And have you gotten any more news about the theater?”

“Oh well. They are still working on adapting some sets to the script I wrote. The manager is working with me on how to really portray it through the works of the actors. A lot of things need to be finished in order for it to happen. But trust me, the project won’t be ready until after you finish with the reform group you have now,” Sako responded. Sako no longer wore a mask as he used to long ago, and his brown hair was now a bit longer than his normal short style.

Kumogiri hummed after he sipped from his own teacup. “I wish you luck with this new group since they were quite... difficult to deal with.”

“They were fucking dicks,” Jin grumbled in his seat with his arms crossed. The gray sweater that the grandmother that Himiko and Jin were renting from had actually knit him that sweater as a gift.

Kumogiri passed before continuing, “...but I have no doubt that you can handle them, Izuku.”

Tenko nodded from his seat, “I bet it will take less than four months.”

“Bullshit. I say six months at least just because of their attitudes. Izuku might have to take a full-on month with just Over-I-don’t-have-hands-haul.” Touya countered Tenko’s bet.

Magne barked a sharp laugh at that while Sako looked down at his own prosthetic arm. Inko smiled as everyone started to argue about how long Izuku would take to charm the whole yakuza group. Kumogiri sighed at the commotion everyone was causing which led to Jin and

*

It took him a while to find out how exactly to fix up the house for the yakuza reform group. The house looked like the one that the league had occupied during their reform except bigger so it can handle the eleven yakuza members.

Name: Tabe Soramitsu

Quirk: Food allows him to consume or bite through anything with his teeth, no matter how durable. His stomach can digest whatever he eats in seconds, causing him to never become full. But he isn’t immune to poison, he will become ill if he consumes a poisonous substance.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. Mobster. C-rank villain. He has enhanced speed taken from Suneater’s recount of the raid. He is shown to be obsessed with eating because of his quirk that never leaves him feeling satisfied. He is loyal to his boss and thinks of his teammates as his friends. Crimes: Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Setsuno Toya

Quirk: Larceny allows him to steal an object that is in someone else’s possession and move it into his own hands. But he needs to see the object and there is a size limit. He can disarm his opponents or remove their defenses to leave them open to his teammate’s attacks.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. Mobster. C-rank villain. He is skilled in swordsmanship and has a keen intellect. He is shown to be mentally unstable with suicidal tendencies as a result of a tragic event in his past. He is very loyal to Overhaul and the yakuza. Crimes: Theft and Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Hojo Yu

Quirk: Crystallize allows him to generate sharp, durable crystals from his skin. It is a perfect offense and defense because he can protect his body and deliver powerful attacks with his fists.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. Mobster. He is a very tactical fighter and is able to deduce defensive strategies quickly. He is very loyal to the yakuza and Overhaul. C-rank villain. Mobster. Crimes: Assault and Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Sakaki Deidoro

Quirk: Sloshed allows him to cause someone to experience dizziness and lose their sense of balance as if they’ve become drunk. The strength of his quirk depends on the distance between Deidoro and the victim. The effects will still linger even though Deidoro is unconscious.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. C-rank villain. Mobster. He is very skilled with knives. He is an alcoholic. Even in Tartarus, he would always try to find any kind of alcohol. He has a habit of climbing up to the ceiling and crawling around. Crimes: Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Katsukame Rikiya

Quirk: Vitality Stealing allows him to steal vitality of others to increase his strength and size by making physical contact with them and inhaling.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. C-rank villain. Mobster. He possesses great strength even without using his quirk. He is able to punch through a concrete wall without his quirk. He enjoys absorbing energy from others which might be because of his quirk or because he is lazy. Crimes: Assault and Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Rappa Kendo

Quirk: Strongarm lets him rotate his shoulders at incredible speed, allying him to hit targets with a barrage of powerful punches. He can only use it for a few seconds, but it is enough time to overwhelm his opponents.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. B-rank villain. Mobster. He posses great strength thanks to his muscles and quirk. He posses incredible speed and can overwhelm an enemy in mere seconds. He is obsessed with violence. He cares about nothing but having a satisfying fight to the death. He has a strict code of fighting where no weapons are used and both parties fight with natural abilities. If someone can give him this thrill, he respects them. If they don’t, he wants nothing to do with them. He isn’t loyal to Overhaul, Nd instead wants to defeat him one day. He also proclaims that he has a code of honor. Crimes: Assault and Attempted Murder. Dangerous.

Name: Tengai Hekiji

Quirk: Barrier allows him to create a powerful, dome-shaped barrier around himself. The barrier is very durable. He can control the size and radius of his barrier to cover himself and a teammate in combat. It is not indestructible and can be broken by an attack that has immense power and strength.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. C-rank villain. Mobster. He is calm and never loses composure. He despises violence and finds no enjoyment in fighting anyone. He considers fighting to be a selfish desire and wanting to finish battles as quickly as possible. He is very loyal to Overhaul and hates it when his boss is shown disrespect. Crimes: Attempted Murder. Dangerous

Name: Nemoto Shin

Quirk: Confession allows him to force people to answer truthfully upon asking them a question, revealing their true thoughts and intentions. This quirk enables him to gather info, expose psychological weaknesses, and prevent betrayals. Only people with strong determination are able to break free of Confession.

Notes: Part of the Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai. C-rank villain. Mobster. He is smart and calculating due to his knowledge as a con man. He is very loyal to Overhaul because he was very sincere with his intentions. Shin is a very formidable individual. Shin has low combat abilities. While lacking direct combat abilities, Shin does possess some level of marksmanship. Shin is a very keen individual, coupled with an analytical wit. As a former con artist, Shin has knowledge about confidence tricks and uses those abilities in conjunction with his quirk to psychologically dishearten victims. Crimes: Assault and Attempted Murder. Very Dangerous.

Name: Irinaka Joi (Mimic)

Quirk: Mimicry allows him to transfer his body and mind into an object to control and manipulate it. Normally he can only control objects that are no larger than a refrigerator. With the drug Trigger, as seen during the Raid in which the yakuza was arrested, he is able to control entire locations. He can’t perceive his surroundings while inside an object, so he needs to manifest body parts other places to monitor what is going on. But when he manifests his bod6 parts, it gives his opponents the chance to locate and attack him.

Notes: The General Manager of the Shie Hassaikai. B-rank villain. Mobster. He enjoys counting money. He as a short temper and can have intense outbursts when someone disrespects or shows threatening behavior toward Overhaul or the Shie Hassaikai. Crimes: organized crime, drug dealing, assault, and attempted homicide. Very Dangerous.

Name: Kurono Hari (Chronostasis)

Quirk: Chronostasis allows him to slow down the movements of anything he hits with his hair. His hair is shaped like minute hands that slow the target’s movements for one minute. The hair that looks like hour hands will slow movements for an hour. He can only extend hair when he isn’t moving.

Notes: The Aide of the Shie Hassaikai. Mobster. He is very stealthy, he can stay in a room undetected for some time. He is one of the most trusted allies of Overhaul, they have a close relationship. Shown to have no remorse for the harm that Overhaul has put upon others. Very Dangerous.

Name: Chisaki Kai (Overhaul)

Quirk: Overhaul allows him to disassemble and reassemble anyone/anything through physical contact. He can kill people instantly with a touch of his hands. He has control to a certain degree. He can revive people from the dead by reassembling their body back together as proven by Rappa’s statement. He can also use quirk to fuse with other people and actually use their quirk.

Notes: The Boss of the Shie Hassaikai. B-rank villain. Sociopathic Mobster. He is shown to be sociopathic from the way he acts toward things. He would do anything to make things go his way. He is shown to have enhanced speed, enhanced durability, and keen intellect. His big plans were for him to become the next ruler of the underworld after All for One was arrested. He wanted to destroy all quirks to bring society down and restore the yakuza to its former glory by using the Quirk Destroying Bullets made from a little girl. He is a megalomaniac who couldn’t be pulled away from his twisted plan. Sources say that he is a suspect of being the one to place the old Yakuza boss under a coma. He also has mysophobia. He thinks everyone is sick and hates being touched. He wore gloves in order to curb the effects of his quirk which implied he had no control over activation. His arms were destroyed in the way to his imprisonments in Tartarus which resulted in him losing his arms completely. When police arrived at the scene with the heroes, Chisaki was screaming in anger and pain with his arms nowhere to be found. He was treated for his arms before finally going to his Tartarus cell. He has temporary mannequin prosthetic arms to help him while eating, but they are very weak. Crimes: Mass Murder, Mutilation, Child Abuse, Torture, Drug Dealing, and Organized Crime. Extremely Dangerous.

So these are them? The yakuza group is known as Shie Hassaikai.

Izuku thought long and hard about the time he was going to spend with them. He knew that they were going to be different than the last reform group that became his friends. He spotted some different ways to approach them right in their file, and it was up to him now to do this right.

Speaking of them, Izuku heard the old familiar sound of a large vehicle pulling up before driving away. He could almost hear the muffled conversation that they were having at the front of the house much like the League last time.

“I’m going to hope they don’t kill me,” Izuku whispered to himself before smacking himself on the cheeks to pump himself up before going to greet them.

*

They didn’t know how they got there, they only knew that the white house looked clean enough on the outside. It has bulletproof glass windows all about the wide three-story house.

It was over for them a long time ago when the heroes defeated them in a raid. They had managed to make Sir Nighteye go into early retirement from the severity of his chest wound, but they all got arrested in the end.

Now years later and they found out that the League of Villains got reformed before them just last year while they were stuck in prison.

Now it was just the eleven of them standing in front of a large white brick building in the middle of nowhere in a forested area. No people or heroes with any quirks within a hundred-mile radius. Each person wore a heavy-duty quirk erasing wrist, ankle, and neck cuffs that didn’t allow them to use their quirks at all. Each person except Overhaul who was remained quirkless since his arms were taken from him. Nevertheless, he still had cuffs on his ankles and neck that wasn’t quirk restraints.

They really couldn’t imagine what would happen to them, but this kind of solution was nothing they thought. Now had to go through with the same reform program the League went through. Well it as either that or prison, so they would basically take anything at this point.

Tabe mumbled, “Can I just eat it? Wait no, I got fucking quirk cuffs. This sucks. I can’t taste anything except the air”

Sakaki slurred, “I don’t wanna know what’s in there or who’s in there, but they better have some alcohol in there. It has been way too long since I had a sip of sake.”

Setsuno looked around curiously, “So where’s the guy that’s supposed to welcome us into this hell program? Did he quit already?”

“I don’t know where the supposed therapist might be. I didn’t think they would just throw us in the middle of nowhere.” Tengai stated, looking up at the house.

“Maybe this is just a whole disguise. Right? This is just one big joke and they just wasted our time so they can arrest us as soon as we walk inside.” Rappa ranted. “I’ll kill them if that is the case.”

“Hmph. If you could even get close to them.” Hojo added. “But I wouldn’t put it past the heroes to do something like that to us. Just playing with us with the hope of getting out only to throw us back in.”

Rikiya yawned out of boredom while staring at the house.

Nemoto nodded softly, “This is unnecessary. I can just go back to my prison cell, I don’t care. I don’t want to stick around a therapist that will spill lies from their mouths. They will promise us a bright future when we all know that it is a lie.”

Irinaka tilted his head at the sight, “I don’t like this.”

Kurono sighed, “We all don’t enjoy what is going to happen. I just feel pity for whoever has to deal with us.”

Chisaki glared at the house, “It better not be as filthy as the outside world…”

The Yakuza group watched as the large door was opened to reveal a curly green-haired man.

“Hello. I’m Midoriya Izuku. I’m going to be your caretaker for now.” Izuku greeted with a bright smile as he opened the door wide to welcome them in.

Chapter Text

“Welcome to the house! Come on in, everything is ready and cleaned up for your arrival,” Izuku greeted, opening the big doors wide to allow fit Rappa and Rikiya inside as the yakuza group walked in. “The house was modified to fit all of you inside.”

“Great, I hate it here already.”

“Is it really cleaned or did he half-assed it?” Chisaki murmured to Kurono, sticking closest to Kurono side. He kept his distance a bit away from the large group of his members.

Kurono looked around before tilting his head towards Chisaki, “I don’t know. He might have done anything while he was waiting for us to arrive. I can look around to make sure.”

“Tch,” Chisaki clicked his tongue behind his mask.

“I can give everyone a tour if you all wanted. It won’t take too long,” Izuku said. “Is that alright with everyone?”

The members looked back at him in silence while Izuku waited for any sort of answer before Toya shrugged. Rikiya looked the most comfortable with a tour, maybe it was just because he wanted to see where he can sleep.

“Okay then. I’ll start on this floor. Basically, this is the living room as you can already see,” Izuku started, gesturing over to the basic living area. There was a television mounted on the wall. The wall was painted a modest yellow that looked much better than the beige walls that they grew familiar with Tartarus. There were two large blue sofas, a recliner, and two beanbag chairs set aside. And there was a wide bookshelf in the corner of the room near a small hallway. The area looked very welcoming just from the color scheme.

Izuku gestured over to the kitchen area that overlooked the living room. “Over here is the kitchen with a fully stocked pantry. If you are ever hungry, you can find a lot of options to snack on. If the pantry is ever running low, I can always request that more food be brought in.”

“Down this short hallway is two doors,” Izuku continued with a two-fingered point down the small hallway past the living room area. “The left door leads to the room where the therapy session will take place, it’s my office. The right door leads to my bedroom. My door is always unlocked when I’m in my room. If I’m not in my room, the door is locked.”

Izuku leads them over to the stairwell on the opposite side of the kitchen. “The supply closet is over there by the stairwell. That’s where you can find the cleaning supplies if needed. I will clean the house once a week, but if you need any cleaning supplies go ahead and borrow from the closet.”

Chisaki eyed the closet before locking his eyes back in front of him to pay attention to Izuku’s moves. He needed to see if there were any weak points to exploit to get out of here as quickly as he could.

Kurono stood in between Chisaki and the others. Izuku led the large group up the wide staircase. Chisaki didn’t touch the railing of the staircase, paying more attention to where he stepped. Tengai watched patiently from his spot as Izuku started to introduce them to the second floor with the most deadpan face out of everyone.

“And this is the second floor. There are a total of six rooms on this floor and well as the third floor. As you can see, there are three rooms on either side.” Izuku gestured for them to see the green pristine white doors on either side. “This is where Tabe Soramitsu, Hojo Yu, Setsuno Toya, Sakaki Deidoro, Tengai Hekiji, and Rappa Kendou will be staying.

“And next will be the third floor which is our last stop.” Izuku reminded the group while Hojo and Toya gave a glance over to their rooms. Rappa looked the most disinterested as he trudged past the doors while Tengai looked at his door in dismay at seeing he was placed next to Rappa.

Rikiya groaned as he had to climb the stairs, his movements became more sluggish with each step he took. Rappa turned to him only to grab his shoulder to drag him along with the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Sakaki was eyeing up the ceiling to see if he could climb anywhere while he was there.

Izuku introduced, “And this is the top floor! This is where Katsukame Rikiya...”

“I have to climb all the way up here just to sleep? Fucking hell. I hate it here already. I will claim a couch in the living room as my bed, I don’t care,” Rikiya grumbled as he dragged his hands down his face.

“... Nemoto Shin, Irinaka Joui, Kurono Hari, and Chisaki Kai will be staying. There is an extra room across from Chisaki’s down this hall. Right now, it’s just a storage room that is mostly empty. And that’s basically it for the house. Let’s get back down to the living room.” Izuku ended off with while Tengai made enough room for him to scoot past to lead them, back down the stairs.

“Ugh, stairs again. Why couldn’t there by an elevator or something?” Rikiya grumbled, gripping onto the railing as he trailed behind Rappa and Tengai.

“And least you aren’t stuck with Rappa as a neighbor.”

“I’m not happy about being stuck with your stuck ass either,” Rappa grumbled back, passing the two to catch up with Sakaki.

“I doubt that this therapist is genuine. If only I had control over my quirk to question him about his true intentions with this program,” Nemoto complained quietly to Irinaka.

“He better not talk shit about the yakuza. That’s all I’m concerned about. He better not treat us as less than people.”

“As far as we know, this therapist has reformed the League of Villains. We have no idea what exactly he is capable of. Let’s approach this cautiously before going to strike him down in any way,” Kurono responded from behind them.

Chisaki piped up, “We need to further analyze our situation before planning anything. We need to find out the inner workings of this house before striking. Keep your patience.”

Izuku clapped his hands together with a calm smile once they had all made it to the bottom, right back to the first floor “Okay, that’s. That is basically the whole house,” Izuku explained, “Any questions about anything? I can answer to the best of my ability if you needed to know anything.”

Nemoto narrowed his eyes, “What makes you think that we won’t hurt you?”

*

Izuku blinked, “Excuse me?”

“We have over eleven people here and only one of you. What makes you so sure that we won’t be able to overpower you easily?” Nemoto asked with his chin rested in his hand. Kurono facepalmed while Chisaki mentally sighed.

Izuku tapped his chin in thought, “Well, there is a number of safety precautions that this program site has. If you try to run away from the reform, you won’t get far. There are safety precautions all around the property to alarm anyone that you are escaping. We have about a one-mile radius around the house that everyone is allowed to walk if they wanted. You will know if you hit the end of the radius because of the barrier set all around. If you pass the barrier, officials are informed immediately and will send reinforcement straight away if that ever happened. It will lead to possible options as being returned back here with even more restraints put on you, immediate disqualification of the reform chance program, and etc.”

Irinaka grumbled at his explanation while Rikiya just looked bored. Kurono reserved his surprise to look back at Chisaki to see the wheels turning in his head. It was obvious that this precaution would put a large obstacle on their escaping plans.

Izuku spoke up again while the group fell silent once again. “Just to let you all know. There are many reasons I am here for this reform. I’m not just a dummy that had beginner’s luck if that’s what you think of me. There is a reason why they wanted me to take care of this program myself.”

“What is the reason?” Irinaka asked sharply from his spot beside the hunched over Sakaki.

“Well, I wasn’t a full therapist the first time, but I had enough knowledge about being a therapist to do my job. I have actually prepared fully this time and actually finished my course online to gain my official license. But the reason why I was here the first time was the reason I’m still here. And I can take care of myself in this situation.”

“So what? You aren’t a child anymore? Is that the only requirement that they have?” Rappa laughed, looking down at Izuku because Rappa was taller than the young man. “Alright, little man. You do understand that each of us could beat you in a fight?”

Izuku raised a brow while keeping his calm composure, “Do you have full confidence in that? Everyone here is in quirk suppressant cuffs except for me. And Overhaul as well...”

Rappa banged his fists together, “I have enough strength to beat you into the ground.”

“And I have no doubt about that, Rappa-San,” Izuku responded back with a calm smile on his face. “But you do have to understand the severity of my words. Do you really think that the heroes would send some defenseless therapist to the middle of nowhere surrounded by villains? Do you actually think that they would send someone that couldn’t handle themselves?”

Rappa raised an eyebrow under his long red hair that was covering most of his face. Izuku turned to address everyone, “I’m here to help, not hurt. I won't try to brainwash you into following the heroes if that is what you are worried about. I’m not here to demean you. I’m patient and I’m willing to wait no matter how long it takes for any one of you to trust in me enough to open up.”

He waited in the silence for a moment before speaking up again, “Now, what do you guys want for dinner? I know how to make a few dishes and we have the pantry filled with food.”

“You got any sake?” Sakaki asked quietly.

Izuku shook his head, “Nope. I did have some the last time in reform though, but you won’t find any here this time.”

“...Not even in your room?” Sasaki questioned with a slight slur to his words. “Are you keeping that good stuff to yourself?”

Izuku replied back, “No I am not. Now, dinner. Any requests?”

“Hmm,” Kurono hummed.

Tabe spoke out for what seemed like the first time since they got there, “Anything with flavor. Tartarus was basically serving bland dishes for each meal.”

Izuku smiled, “No problem. I’ll make some beef curry for dinner tonight.

*

Setsuno claimed a beanbag chair on the floor with Tabe while Sakai relaxed on the tall bookshelf in the corner. Chisaki leaned against the wall with Kurono near him. Nemoto was flipping absentmindedly through a book that he grabbed randomly from the bookshelf. Hojo was staring up at the ceiling while Tengai looked to be praying by himself off in a corner. Rikiya was already sleeping on the couch with a bored Rappa next to him. Irinaka was busying him with counting the number of tiles on the kitchen floor while Izuku bustled around the kitchen to cook a large dinner.

It seemed to take forever for Izuku to make the dinner. Bit it seemed to be worth it by the looks of the meal in front of them. The beef curry looked so good especially since prison food was... not that delectable...

Everyone sat around the kitchen and living room area. Chisaki ate his food the quickest out of everyone, and he washed his plate thoroughly as everyone continued to eat their dinner. They listened as they listened to the nonstop sounds of scrubbing and the water running. After Chisaki finished cleaning his plate and rinsing off his prosthetics, he thanked Izuku for the meal before heading back upstairs. Kurono finished up his food and cleaned up after himself not long after Chisaki returned to his room.

Everyone continued eating in silence. Rikiya ate the slowest while Rappa started to treat it as a one-sides competition between Tengai since Tengai was almost done as well. Sakaki was nursing his ginger ale like one would treat a glass of wine.

Meanwhile, Tabe remained the most silent of them all as he slowly chewed his food, which didn’t go unnoticed by his concerned teammates. The three were seated a bit away from everyone in the living room, sitting against the couch.

“Hey, are you okay? I have never seen you eat this slowly before,” Setsuno looked over to his friend.

Hojo piped up from next to him, “I second that. Is something wrong with it? Does it taste weird or something?”

Tabe spoke up, “The opposite actually.”

“Huh?” The two replied at the same time.

Tabe swallowed, “Would it be bad to say that I actually like these cuffs?”

“What?” Setsuno questioned with widened eyes, “What exactly do you mean?”

“I just mean... Ugh. My quirk has always made it possible for me to eat anything. But I have never truly tasted any of the stuff I ate. It just felt like nothing could ever satisfy my never-ending stomach. When they first put the cuffs on me in Tartarus, I thought it would be different since I could taste now. But all I got was unsatisfying bland food that I never looked forward too. But now, I can actually enjoy something.” Tabe admitted, the two noticed as a silent tear trailed down Tabe’s cheek. “I can actually taste this. I can taste the spice of the seasoning, the juicy ness of the beef, and the overall savory flavor. I feel satisfied for the first time in a long time. My stomach is finally going to become satisfied and full from dinner.”

“I won't say that I’m looking forward to what this reform program might do this to us. But I am looking forward to the food I get to taste during it,” Tabe commented.

Setsuno smiled, “That’s great for you, Tabe. Ah, I don’t really know what to expect with this whole program, but this Midoriya dude doesn’t seem like a dick.”

Hojo shrugged, “Well, we will get to know him soon enough since we won’t get out of here anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” Setsuno answered.

Izuku glances over his shoulder at the smiling teammates while he started to wash the dishes. He knew that this group will take longer than the first time with the League, but he hopes that he can bring out the best in them.

Chapter Text

The next day, the Yakuza members were headed up to the first floor to meet up. They didn’t want to go downstairs at the risk that their therapist would hear them.

“Why are we all up here again?” Sakaki asked, stumbling over his own feet as he climbed the stairs. He was too sleepy to attend the meeting that Tengai woke them up for.

Rappa looked up from his wrists, drawing attention away from the fact that he kept pulling at them. “No idea. Rikiya doesn’t want to get up from his room though, so I guess he will listen through the door.”

“Are you trying to break out of the cuffs, dude?” Setsuno asked, tilting his head down at Rappa who was leaning against the wall from his position on the floor.

“Noooo. I’m just trying to stretch my wrists,” Rappa rolled his eyes while struggling against the cuffs on his wrists. “Of course I’m trying to get out of them. But apparently, I get the extra strength ones since I’m not even making a dent. I think Rikiya got the same ones like me from the sheer size difference between ours and yours.”

Setsuno looks down at his wrists, “Yeah. Mine is smaller than yours. But I can’t even get my finger under them from how snug they are on me.”

Rikiya opened his door, slumping out of his door. “Is everyone here yet? Can I just go back to sleep?”

“No. No, you may not,” Kurono announced as he opened the door to his own room. “Overhaul is listening form his own quarters as he starts this meeting. Thank you, Tengai, for bringing everyone here.”

“Why are we here so early?”

“We need to form a plan to try and escape without bringing attention to our plan. I can only assume the group before we tried and failed and that is why they got reformed,” Kurono stated. The others glanced over at their boss’ room, wondering why he didn’t want to come out. “But we can't get a good grip on our situation until we see what is actually at stake. From what Midoriya has told us yesterday, we can establish that we have a limited amount of range to roam.”

“Yeah, didn’t he tell us that we only had a one-mile radius or something? And that there is a barrier?” Nemoto questioned out loud to the others.

Irinaka brightened up, “Yeah! We would just need to see what we have with our own eyes.”

Kurono nodded, “Correct. Today, I want to explore where exactly the barrier is and where does it end. We need to find out any possibility we have to escape over or under the barrier. We need to know if we can’t turn off anything or destroy the barrier altogether for us to escape.”

Hojo raised a brow, “How are we going to do that?”

“How about we have Midoriya show us?” Tabe asked with a shrug to his shoulders. “He would know the layout better than us.”

“Oh, come on. That wouldn’t work!”

*

“Sure, I’ll be happy to give you an outside tour!” Midoriya replied happily.

Tabe looked over his shoulder smugly to the muscled man behind him. Setsuno and Hojo his their smirks as well behind their hands from the look on Rappa’s face.

Rappa muttered, “Don’t you say it.”

“That would be great. I wanted to see just how much room we really have on this property,” Kurono said.

“No problem. Is everyone coming? I think we are missing a few people.”

“Ah,” Kurono sighed, “Rikiya wanted to sleep in some more, and Overhaul wanted to stay in his room for right now.”

“Gotcha. Well, if everyone would like to, I can give you a tour now,” Midoriya responded.

Nemoto piped up from his spot, “It would be preferable to do it now.”

Midoriya asked, “Is everyone okay with that?”

When he saw that everyone nodded their approval, he made his way towards the front door of the house. Kurono gave everyone behind him a look as Midoriya led the group outside.

*

“Why did you take a sudden interest in an outside tour?” Midoriya asked while he led the group around the grass area surrounding the house.

“I wanted to see just how far we can roam. I can guess that the boundary is visible so we know where the territory ends.”

“Yeah, the boundary surrounding us now is visible,”

“Can I see it?” Rappa asked loudly from the back, getting a shove from Tengai. He bent down to Tengai so he could whisper harshly back to him. Midoriya could catch a few words by reading his lips. Rappa said something about getting the tour over with before straightening back up.

Midoriya looked back at him with a slight hint of understanding in his eyes, “No problem. The boundary is only about a mile walk from the edge of this area. It shouldn’t take long to reach it. But remember about the consequences of trying to pass it.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Whatever,” Sakai groaned, dragging his feet at the back with Irinaka beside him. Nemoto sighed as they start to make their way into the surrounding trees, avoiding the overgrown foliage hanging all over the place.

About ten minutes in their walk, Sakaki is climbing through the trees while everyone else is still on the ground. Kurono is doing the most to avoid any stains anywhere on his clothes while Nemoto has swatted his hands all around him to get rid of any bugs flying near him.

About twenty minutes in their walk, Midoriya had a bird in his hair at one point that made him pause it his stride for a moment to allow the bird to fly away. Tabe, Hojo, and Setsuno were trying to keep themselves entertained while walking by using the tree roots as stepping stones. It was like they were playing the grass is lava or something because they were bored. Tengai looked like a tried soccer mom at this point while trying to deal with Rappa wanting to punch through trees to make their journey faster.

It took them about half an hour of leisurely walking through the trees to get to the boundary at last.

“This is it?” Hojo asked, craning his head back to look at the tall fence in front of them. The fence was made of stone on the bottom with the rest of it being made of brick. Kurono could spot the hidden camera hidden at the very midpoint of the wall from the way the sunshine reflected back at him from its spot between the bricks.

Izuku clasped his hands together, “Yep! This wall can detect us even right now. It has cameras and sensors that react to the quirk suppressant cuffs. The walls have been smoothed down as well, so it won’t be easy to climb either.”

Irinaka surveyed the boundary, looking for any weak spots. He grunted when he couldn’t see anything. Nemoto asked, “Did the previous group get the same treatment with this wall in place?”

“They did have a tall metal fence around the area with the same cameras and sensors, but it wasn’t this reinforced,” Izuku replied back. “Although it wasn’t really needed since they didn’t really venture too far off the grassy area surrounding the house.”

“Ah, so this is what it looks like. I’m just curious but what would essentially happen if one of us gets across this?”

“What would happen if is a series of events. First, the sensors would send off a signal as soon as it recognizes that you are attempting an escape. It won’t sound off right away until the cameras realize it you are trying to go over. Right away, the pro heroes are notified and are snug straight to the location. If you make it across, they will still use the sensors in your cuffs to locate you in the rest of the forest. Once they do, you are even sent back to the house with even more restrictions put onto you, or you are completely removed from the program and brought back to Tartarus.” Izuku explained.

“Wow,” Setsuno spoke up from his spot leaning on a tree. “Well, I have seen enough today. Can we head back now? I’m getting kind of hungry from all this walking only to see a boring wall.”

Hojo nodded, “I’m not against ending the tour here. Everyone else?”

Tabe patted his stomach. Kurono steadied his gaze on the wall before turning away with a sigh. “Thank you, Midoriya-June for bringing us here.”

“No need to thank me. I’m happy to help,” Midoriya responded with a knowing smile as the others all turned away to start walking back to the house.

Based on the advice from Shigaraki, he has to keep a close eye on what other plans to escape the others came up with. He was growing more curious by the second to see what they would come up with next. For right now, he would still keep up a more clueless facade.

Nemoto looked up, “Sakaki, get down from the trees,”

“Neveeerrr!” A mumbled voice answered back from above them. Rappa grunted before thrusting an arm into the branches to grab Sakaki by the hair. “Owwowwoww. Oww! Pulling hair is not one of my turn-ons!”

Setsuno stifled laughter while Midoriya hid his own soft smile at the sight.

*

When they arrived back, Rikiya was laying down on the couch with the television on. Chisaki was standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand.

“Back so soon?” Chisaki greeted. Kurono made his way towards him, keeping a safe distance because of the dirt that must be on his clothes. Rappa beelined his way to the couch, sitting down next to Rikiya while taking up the rest of the space of the couch.

With everyone back, Izuku made lunch for everyone by making quick sandwiches.

After lunch, Tabe came up to Midoriya. “So... you are supposed to be our therapist and everything. When do the sessions exactly start?”

“It starts anytime someone wants to talk. If you want to, I would start a session now with you in the office.”

Both Setsuno and Hojo looked up from their half-eaten sandwiches. Setsuno has his sandwich halfway to his mouth while Hojo had his sticking out of his own mouth.

Tabe thought for a moment, “Can we start one now?”

Chisaki looked over his shoulder at their interaction while Midoriya nodded back at Tabe. “No problem.”

With a wave at his friends, Tabe followed Izuku back to his office.

Kurono took the opportunity once he saw the door shut. “Alright, everyone who has finished eating, make your way to the third floor if possible. I want to see what exactly we can do from here.”

Rikiya groaned from his spot on the couch while Rappa rose from the couch. “Can’t we just do it here? I don’t want to climb up all those stairs again.”

“Dude, look on the bright side. You would be right outside your bedroom so you could sleep right afterward.”

Rikiya looked up, “You always say the right things.”

Rikiya extended his hand to Rappa who pulled him up from the couch. Hojo and Setsuno exchanged a look with each other.

“We’ll just stay here. You can fill us in later,” Setsuno called out.

Irinaka gave them a nod before following right after Chisaki up the stairs.

*

“So Sora Mitsuo Tabe, correct?” Midoriya clicked his pen with a flourish.

“Yes,” Tabe answered back, looking around the office in wonder. The office was simple with a couch that Tabe was sitting on across from a chair. In the middle of them was a wooden table with rounded edges that had a few thin magazines on them. He could see a desk tucked into the far left corner while a few bookshelves were on the far right.
Midoriya asked gently, “Are you comfortable with me referring to you as Tabe-Kun? Or would you prefer something else?”

Tabe looked back at Midoriya who was sitting across the table with a calm smile, “Tabe-Kun is fine.”

“Alright, let’s begin the session.”

Chapter Text

“How was your life growing up?” Izuku started off.

Tabe breathed in, “It was okay, I guess? I don’t really remember much of my early years. I could remember that I went to the zoo with my parents before everything started to change. I remember being happier.”

Izuku looked at Tabe with a sense of understanding, “...Was it around the time you manifested your quirk?”

“Oh definitely. My parents didn’t really understand my quirk. It wasn’t really similar to theirs in anyway where they could at least begin to relate to it in some way. It was kind of a mutation since they couldn’t really find anywhere in the family with anything similar to it,” Tabe explained, twiddling with his hands. His fingers ran over the smooth sides of the quirk suppressant cuffs that acted like brackets around his wrists.

“I was scared when I first manifested my quirk, it felt like my whole face was stretching out the entire day before my mouth just grew larger. And then I just felt this endless hunger. I couldn’t stop eating,” Tabe continued, choking outa laugh as he remembered that day, “My parents came home to find me in the kitchen with everything eaten, even some of the utensils that I dragged out from the top drawer. After that, I got my quirk diagnosis from the doctor, and everything just slowly started to shift.”

Izuku waited in silence as Tabe recollected himself, “Can you elaborate a bit? Only if you feel comfortable.”

Tabe nodded, “I’m good, man. So everything started to shift from then on. The friends I made in class called me ugly because my face was so scary from my huge mouth apparently. It didn’t help that the hunger I had to deal with was causing me to lose sleep which is why I have these permanent eye bags. I had to start wearing a scarf of face mask to school or out in public because I didn’t want people staring at me.”

“My parents were trying in some way to try and help. They got pills to help me sleep at night, and they started to just buy rice in bulk. But they still didn’t really see me the same. They started approaching me like I was a zoo animal that they had to tame with food. And the worst part is, I never felt satisfied ever. At night, I would sneak out of my window and start eating branches off of trees because it never stopped,” Tabe took a deep breath before continuing, “Life at school was pretty bad. I was always hungry and I couldn’t really stop being hungry. Teachers wouldn’t let me eat any snacks in the classroom so I started to eat paper to calm my stomach down at least a bit. At lunch, I would start going from table to table and eating the leftovers that people left behind. I got nicknamed ‘Racoon’ from the other kids.”

“And then, my father left when I was just starting middle school. They got divorced and from what I heard from over the phone conversations, he left for a younger woman. But my mother always just loved to blame me. She blamed me for a lot of stuff,” Tabe chuckled bitterly, “How it was my fault that he left. How it was my fault that she had to take on two jobs because she had to pay for the amount of food I kept eating. How it was my fault that we had to move to another place to save money. I guess that’s why she left me for her new boyfriend when I was in high school.”

Izuku listened intently, focusing on how Tabe kept rubbing the smooth metal bracelets around his wrists that surprised his quirk. It seemed like he was comforted by them, like they kept him grounded.

Tabe hummed, “I graduated soon after she left since she left a month or two before I completed school. A moth after I graduated, the landlord wanted rent, but since I wasn’t able to pay...you know. So then, I was just homeless. I tried to find work with my diploma and stuff, but I kept getting fired for one reason or another. I was a janitor at first before they caught me eating food from the lounge. Then I was a worker at a fast food place and they kind of used me as a trash disposal. If they messed up an order, they just threw it at me to eat. It lasted for a while before it went out of business because they failed a health code inspection. And after that, I couldn’t really find any work.”

“No one really wanted someone who kept getting fired and could eat their entire pantry in less than a hour,” Tabe joked.

*

Meanwhile, the upstairs had most of the members in a meeting of sorts.

Tengai heavily sighed with two fingers pressed to his temple, “Sakaki, can you get down form there?”

“Nevaaaa,” Sakaki mumbled while he tried to stay in the upper corner of the large room. He uses his long legs to catch onto a windowsill to keep himself there while he tried to balance himself with Rappa’s shoulders since he was one of the tallest ones.

“Let’s get this meeting started, Kurono. I can guess this meeting would be about different plans we can try.”

“That would be correct,” Chisaki states coldly. “I do not wish to be here just to fit into this filthy society.”

“We are here to brainstorm and come up with several plans. Our plans of escape are very limited unless we all work together and somehow get these cuffs off,” Kurono explained. “Rappa?”

“Ughhh, nope. Not working. I have been trying o get out of these cuffs since I got them. But they won’t even budge. I even tried to use a backscratcher I found in my room to try and wiggle free. Nothing.” Rappa replied.

“Did you try butter? I heard that works with slipping off rings off of fingers.”

“That works with fingers, not my big ass hands,” Rappa quipped back before adding in a hushed tone. “I tried lotion and hand sanitizer, both of them didn’t work.”

“Great, option one has been crossed out,” Irinaka groaned. “Is there a key or something we can try and find?”

“Yyeaaahhh... key,” Sakaki muttered from his spot up high. With a stumble, he fell o top of Rappa before slumping to the floor. “Ow... key lime vodka would be amazing right now.”

“Yeah, I did notice that we have like this little holes at the bottom of the cuffs. There might be a way to hack into it with a bobby-pin or something?”

“I tried to use a bobby-pin. The damn thing has some sort of scanning thing inside or something because I saw a red light from the inside,” Kurono added.

Nemoto raised his head, “So we have to find a specific key that the therapist might have. If that is the case, it’s either in his office or his room.”

“And once we get the key, we could knock him out. He can’t take all of us at once,” Rikiya commented.

Rappa cracked his knuckles, “Or I can fight him.”

Kurono exchanged a glance with Chisaki, “Either way, he needs to be unconscious, so he can’t call for backup. We unlock our cuffs and make a run for it. But that can’t be our only plan, we need other options if it doesn’t work out.”

“How about we do something like gain the trust of the therapist?” Sakaki thought out loud dragging his fingers on the floor like he was drawing pictures. His words were less slurred and more slowed like he was trying to keep his voice steady, “We all talk to him... one by one. Make him think that.. um... we are eventually making our way to reforming..., ask more about the program..... All that shit.”

Nemoto spoke up, “That might work. If he thinks that we are reforming, he might get relaxed around us more. The more relaxed he is, the more he is willing to talk to us about stuff like why are there holes in our cuffs. If there are keys for our cuffs...you know.”

Chisaki stared steadily at Nemoto before turning back to Kurono. “That might work in our favor. Make the therapist believe we are trustworthy before turning our back to this whole program entirely.”

“Agreed,” Kurono nodded. “Onwards, let’s brainstorm what we need to do to accomplish this goal. Tabe has already started his session, who would go next?”

“I bet the other two that aren’t here will be next. They will probably trust the therapist enough if he takes care of Tabe. Those three care for each other the most since they are closest,” Tengai said with closed eyes as he remained a few steps away from everyone. “Setsuno will follow first and Hojo will most likely come second. Setsuno will be more willing to talk openly if Tabe trusts him. And the Hojo will follow afterwards. This is only if the therapist makes any connection to Tabe and where the tree are coming from.”

Rappa grunted, “I’m still wondering how the hell that the therapist dude even sealed with the League. I want to see how strong that he thinks he is. How the hell did he even deal with that Shigaraki guy?”

Chisaki tensed at the League’s leader’s name. Kurono noticed Chisaki’s tense form and decided to move on to the next topic faster, “The League relied on their quirks, we have strength and power together. Rappa, I would advise to not start anything with the therapist just yet. We don’t want to raise suspicions to any of our planning. We can’t cause a scene so early just in case.”

Rappa groaned, running his hands down his face.

*

“Tabe-kun? Are you okay to continue?”

“Yeah, I’m still good. Um, haha. I forgot where I left off for a second. So, I didn’t see a point to living. I just saw myself as trash that society threw out because I didn’t fit,” Tabe said, bringing his hands to cover his mouth for a moment, “Then Overhaul came and gave me a place. That’s where I met Setsuno and Hojo. We bonded over that fact that we were all pushed aside like trash. I found a sense of self worth when Overhaul thought I was worthy enough to help him in his goals. I just couldn’t believe that he found my quirk actually useful.”

“You quirk is really interesting.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“It’s fine,” Tabe gave him a curious look, “I was done anyway, but what do you mean my quirk is interesting? My quirk has always been weird to others... I’m actually thankful for these cuffs so I don’t feel the unending emptiness of my stomach.”

“Well, I always like to learn more about quirks. I have been interested in them since I was little. I have a bunch of analysis on different quirks,” Izuku states honestly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I do understand that your quirk however has a lot of drawbacks including the never-ending hunger that leads into you having a lack of sleep. But I do think that it is very interesting how you can eat anything.”

Izuku continued, “And not only your quirk, but you have a lot of more qualities about you. You have an impressive amount of speed that allows you to evade a flurry of attacks completely unscathed. You are very skilled in quick movements and evasion. And I can tell you have a respect for your leader and a strong trust with your friends

“Y-Yeah. I guess,” Tabe stuttered for a moment, bringing his hand up around his mouth once again. “I didn’t realize that you thought of my quirk like that. I just always thought of it as more of a gluttony curse.”

“I think more out if the box like how you can help,” Izuku replied.

“My interests have been peaked. Please continue,” Tabe leaned forward.

It took what seemed like an hour or two before the two figures came out from the office to see Hojo and Setsuno waiting on the couch for their friend. The two couldn’t help but notice how Tabe looked more relaxed when he approached his friends.

*

After a long time of planning out, the other members decided to head down and rejoin the other three if they were done.

The group came down from the upstairs meeting to find Tabe, Setsuno, and Hojo all sitting down on the couch together. They seemed to be talking very closely with Izuku who was relaxing his arms on the kitchen island. Nemoto narrowed his eyes at their interaction especially when whatever Izuku had said sent Setsuno backwards.

The group listened as they approached the four quietly.

Tabe held up his hands, “Wait, wait. You are saying that your literal mom embarrass you in front of one of the infamous villain groups by showing them your baby photos.”

“I’m dying. I’m dying from crying so hard. Oh kami, take me now,” Setsuno called out breathlessly from his place on the floor in front of the couch that Hojo and Tabe were sitting on.

“I don’t even know how you could continue with your lessons after that. Wouldn’t they not take you seriously after that?” Hojo questioned.

“It happened near the end of the program! So I didn’t lose as much ‘cred’ with them,” Izuku paused to put air quotes. Setsuno’s laughter quieted down to silent whimpers as he tried to regain his senses. “I think they all adopted my mom as theirs by the end of it.”

“I can’t with this,” Setsuno mumbled form the floor, crawling back onto the couch.

“She sounds like a lovely woman,” Hojo commented.

Izuku smiled, “She is. She is the bets mom I could have asked for.”

“Wait, did she actually adopt the league of villains? I have to know,” Tabe asked, smiling wide.

“Of course she did. Well, not legally. But she is taking care of them like they were her own children,” Izuku answered back easily.

“That’s so sweet,” Sakaki replied loudly, slumping into the recliner chair, interrupting the conversation.

Izuku calmly turned his head to see the orange group fo Yakuza members that was slowly making their way to the living room area to sit. Overhaul stayed near the wall as always, keeping his distance from the others. Kurono leaned against the wall next to his trusted friend and leader. Rikiya laid down behind the couch since the three friends were already there.

It was a bit peaceful with Izuku thinking over ideas for dinner while still standing in the kitchen.

Rappa decided to disturb the relative peace, “Hey, Therapist dude!”

“Yes?” Izuku answered, looking up from the kitchen counter.

“What exactly is stopping us from leaving?” Rappa asked loudly. A loud slapping noise echoed through the silence. Chisaki looked over to find the sound came from Kurono facepalming.

Izuku blinked back at him, “Well the wall is the first barrier like I explained...”

The larger man waved him off, “Yeah, Yeah. Whatever. I meant with this entire program. What’s stopping us exactly from just saying that we quit?”

“Well, nothing is really stopping you from quitting. I’m not going to try and stop your decision if you want it, but I will try and persuade you to look at your options,” Izuku began.

Izuku continued, “If you take the way out, you never even once have a chance like this again. You will be stuck in Tartarus for basically the rest of your life. With this program, you have the chance to better yourself and return to society with almost nothing holding you back.”

“If you really doubt it, just look at the program before you. The League of Villains fully reformed and returned to society with nothing holding them back. They all have jobs that they absolutely love working at. And they are still meeting up at least once a week in someway to keep contact with another.”

“So what you saying is, if we leave we are basically disrespecting the Yakuza by admitting that we aren’t as strong as the League?” Irinaka asked, forming his own conclusion from Izuku’s words. “Well, fuck that! I’m a proud part of the Shie Hassaikai and I won’t disrespect it! I will not be considered the weaker ones compared to the League of Villains!”

Many other agreed with Irinaka while Rappa looked down with everything. Izuku could see that Rappa really couldn’t care less from the way he didn’t really react to Irinaka’s words

“Hmm, so I guess if I wanted to leave, it would be like throwing a fight,” Rappa said to himself, almost like he was weighing his options.

Rikiya thought about it, “I guess? If you want to take it that way...”

Rappa punched his fists together, “Well, there is no way in hell I’m losing a fight. Give me everything you got Therapist dude!”

....okay, this wasn’t what he expected, but it’s nice to see everyone more willing towards the program. At least a little. Izuku glanced up at some of the members in the room like Tengai and Nemoto. He knew that convincing some of them would be harder than others.

But he was in it for the long run, it didn’t matter to him how long it would take. What mattered is the lives he would change in the process.

And with that last thought, Izuku picked some pepper, salt, garlic powder and onion powder to season the pork. Meanwhile the judging eyes of Chisaki followed his every move in the kitchen, analyzing his boy language as he prepares to start cooking dinner for everyone.

*

After the dinner of seasoned pork and rice, everyone eventually branched off to call it a night. Sakaki crawled up the stairs after Rikiya who looked like he wanted to just sleep on the stairs. Tengai followed after Irinaka who was talking to him about something. Nemoto eventually got up to leave to his room when he noticed that Kurono and Chisaki left earlier.

The night ended with the three friends huddled together after wishing Izuku a goodnight before he retired to his own room.

Hojo started, “So...?”

“He is different from the therapist at Tartarus. Those guys just made me feel bad for using my quirk in such ways, but he came up with so many ways that I could use my quirk. He asked questions like if I was able to bite through metal, he was truly interested in what I could do. I told him how I felt about the cuffs,” Tabe paused. “He said that when, not if, WHEN. When we reform, if I wanted to, he will make sure to get custom quirk suppressants made for me like a thinner pair or something.”

“He said ‘when’?” Setsuno asked.

“And it wasn’t condescending, it was like he actually believes that we aren’t trash. Like we have our own purpose,” Tabe commented, looking back at Izuku’s room and back at his bracelet-like cuffs. “He might have just convinced me to give this program a shot.”

Chapter Text

The next day, Izuku woke up to his alarm right on time, slamming his hand down to stop the loud music that was coming from the alarm radio. He stretched his arms over his head before grabbing his charging phone on his bedside table to check if there were any messages.

And to his surprise, there were a couple of emails that was recently delivered. Rubbing his eyes slightly, Izuku went to his email app on his phone to see what the emails were. He immediately deleted any emails that were just spam and notifications about stores that were having discounts.

He responded to his mother’s email to update her on what was going on and that he was safe. He smiled when he wrote out his response to Himiko that said how she had sold out of her crocheted strawberry themed bees and that she was saving the money for more supplies. Mr. Compress sent out a small outline of his play to ask for some advice, so he made a mental note to check over it later that day and email back when he got the chance to give him some tips on it. After that, he just checked over the rest of his emails and texts before finally getting up from his bed to get ready for the bed and whatever it might bring.

After he got himself ready, Izuku walked out to get some breakfast only to see Hojo, Setsuno, and Tabe altogether standing around the kitchen island. They lazily ate their yogurt before glancing up when they heard him coming closer.

“Mornin’, Midoriya,” Tabe greeted while Hojo nodded at him. Setsuno yawned while he waved halfheartedly towards him. “We got hungry so we came down here. Are you just now getting up?”

Midoriya shrugged, “I was awake for a while, but I just didn’t want to get out of bed.”

Setsuno looked down at his yogurt, “I know the feeling.”

Hojo patted the smaller man’s shoulder. Tabe looked upstairs, wondering what the group will do now. He knows that they weren’t really happy that they were acting close to him until they realized that they could get information about Izuku out of them. Tabe looked back at Setsuno, knowing that the other wasn’t having a good day. Hojo and he took him downstairs to hopefully cheer him up.

The others were planning something that they weren’t telling the other three in detail about yet.

“Hey, therapist man,” Setsuno mumbled over to him. Hojo looked up when Izuku greeted him back. “Look, I don’t want to bother you, but is it okay for me to have the net session or whatever. Not for today, but maybe like tomorrow or something?”

“Sure, no problem. You can come talk whenever you want,” Izuku reassured him. Setsuno nodded before leaning his head on his arms.

Hojo dragged Izuku into a conversation about which animal would be a better pet excluding cats and dogs. Tabe and Hojo were very intense about their argument about what their preferred animal would be like as a pet. Izuku was calmly arguing for his choice of a ferret while Hojo loudly exclaimed how snakes would be awesome. Tabe brought up birds into the conversation which made everyone think of what exact species of animal would be better.

And that’s how the rest of the yakuza arrived later that morning to see Hojo and Tabe in an intense argument about feathers while Setsuno quietly watched from the couch.

The rest of that day flew by without any major happening. Izuku noticed how some yakuza members like Nemoto and Kurono would watch him carefully as he exited out of his bedroom and office. It was like they were waiting for him to mess up with something for them to exploit.

Wow, he hasn’t felt that since he worked with the League. Ah, fond memories.

*

It wasn’t until two days afterward when Midoriya was approached by Setsuno. In the morning, Setsuno was waiting for him by the kitchen counter with a calm expression.

“Hello. Good Morning,” Midoriya greeted.

“Hey, can you do the thing? The session thing?” Setsuno asked patiently.

“Oh, you want to talk?” Izuku said. “Okay, no problem. What time did you want..”

“Can we just start now if it’s not too much to ask?” Setsuno looked towards the room where he knows Tabe went in last time. “I just... I just to rant about stuff right now.”

“Sure. We can get started right away, just follow me,” Izuku responded, gesturing for Setsuno to follow him back to the office. Setsuno hesitated in his steps before he walked away with Izuku back to the office.

He followed the other inside the room and relaxed on the couch opposite of where Izuku was sitting. He adjusted his legs to sit more comfortably while Izuku calmly waited for him to state when he was ready.

“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s get this going.”

“Alright then. You are comfortable with Setsuno-Kun, correct?”

Setsuno nodded. Izuku smiled in return, “Then, let’s get started. Now just start with whatever you want to start. If you don’t know where start from the very beginning.”

“Alright, um, I guess I’ll start with what I can remember. I don’t know my parents, I think they died or some shit when I was young. I grew up in foster homes until I aged out of the system,” Setsuno stared off. “The foster homes were pretty okay. They just did the minimum most of the time. I would get ignored by any foster siblings since they didn’t want me to swipe their stuff. Other than that, nothing really big happened, I wasn’t abused or anything like that. At most just ignored most of the time.”

“In school, they nicknamed me ‘Swiper’ which I wasn’t that mad at since it sounded cool. They didn’t find my quirk that villainous, they just thought it was pretty useless unless I became a villain. But it eventually grew from teasing to actual bullying when they noticed I was a nice target that didn’t fight back. Guys would accuse me of stealing their stuff with my quirk when the teacher wasn’t looking. Girls would do the thing where they write fake love confessions, so when I got there all hopeful, they would make fun of me for believing them. Do you know what that is like? To feel so hopeful that there is someone who likes you only to get there and see their smug face while they admit it was all fake.”

Izuku nodded, “Yes. It happened to me before when I was in middle school. You feel so happy only to have that hope crushed in front of you.”

Setsuno furrowed his brow, “I honestly didn’t think you would know what that felt like.” He paused, looking deep into Izuku’s expression to see if he was lying. “You aren’t just pulling my leg, right?”

Izuku shook his head, “I’m not joking with you. I wouldn’t make something up just to relate to you. I have experienced having fake love letters in my lockers only to show up on the rooftop and discover it was a joke all along. There was a separate time where they locked the rooftop doors and I had to call someone I knew to come to get me.”

“Dang. Well, looks like we are two peas in the pod regarding that, huh?” Setsuno joked. “After high school, I got a little job at a grocery store and a cheap apartment. And then I met a girl.”

Setsuno took a deep breath while rubbing his hands down his face. “When we first started dating, I fell in love too quickly. I acted like a complete idiot with her and she had me wrapped around her finger like an oblivious fool. We were together for what seemed like a long time and I thought nothing was wrong. I thought that I was in love.”

“She felt like someone I could share my life with. I thought she was my everything, that we could make our own family that I never experienced. I was planning on proving to her with a ring I saved up for. But then everything came crashing down around me.”

Setsuno scrunched up his face as he thought about the past. His hands clenching at the memories that started to resurface, his hands shook for a minute before he calmed down. Izuku waited patiently for as long as the other needed to continue with his story.

Setsuno sighed, “She left me for another man with no warning at all. Well, I shouldn’t say ‘no warning’ since I had seen the way she interacted with him when she kept saying that he was just a friend that was reconnecting with. But she left me with no money at all in my account and debt from the apartment we shared. I didn’t know what I did wrong. I was ranging from asking myself what I did wrong from yelling at myself for believed any word that she said to me.”

“I continued to work until I started to slack off because of what happened. I started to fall asleep on the job. Coworkers accused me of stealing since I admitted that I was had nothing. I was fired soon after even though I pleaded that I needed the job. I was at my lowest, so I went to a professional to see what I could do with some money I had to steal from other people on the street. They diagnosed me with depression and anxiety because of what happened in my life leading up to that point. I couldn’t afford the medicine they suggested to me, so I just sat in my apartment eating dollar store ramen until the landlord eventually kicked me out into the streets.”

Izuku wrote a little note on his clipboard. “Okay, let’s review this. Can you tell me a bit more about what you were feeling at these times? Only if feel comfortable with that.”

*

Hojo yawned as he made his way downstairs only to see Tabe looking around the drawers. Tabe kept rummaging around inside the drawers and cabinets, taking out multiple items. Hojo could see small spice containers as well as a bottle of soy sauce. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Oh good morning! I think Toya-Kun is talking with Midoriya in the room,” Tabe replied nonchalantly as he inspected two almost identical looking bottle. He shrugged before adding them to the growing hoard of containers on the kitchen counter, “I heard them talking when I came downstairs to see where Setsuno was since he wasn’t in his bedroom. What are you doing up this early?”

“I was thirsty,” Hojo shrugged as he walked into the kitchen where Tabe was still rummaging through the drawers. “What are you doing in the kitchen?”

“I was looking around to see what I can snack on before lunch. Since I can taste food without feeling like I need to fill an empty void, I want to experience all the flavors this place has,” Tabe responded, grinning wide with his teeth shining bright back at his friend. “Now, I think I’m just going to hit up the spices since I don’t want to eat everything in the fridge. Ooh, and condiments too.”

Hojo raised a questioning eyebrow, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Condiments and spices only taste great when there is food involved. If there is no food, you might be in for one hell of a ride.”

“You want to join me?” Tabe asked, holding a bottle like a pointer right in his taller friend’s face.

Hojo took one look down at the ranch bottle in Tabe’s hand. “Sure, why not.”

*

Setsuno breathed out a giant sigh when he leaned back on his couch. He smirked at Izuku, “Wow, that took a lot out of me and we aren’t even done yet with my tragic backstory.”

Izuku laughed a little at the other’s joke. “I think you stopped the main story when your landlord kicking you out.”

“Yeah, that dude was an old bastard,” Setsuno laughed a bit before quieting down to continue. “Anyway, I got kicked to the curb with only like a backpack of belonging since the ex already took almost everything with her. Anything that she didn’t take I had to sell for extra money, so I didn’t have much left to my name. With everything that happened, I lost hope. I lost hope that I would ever have a normal life. I didn’t have a family that supported me. I didn’t have a love that would be by my side. I didn’t have a job, a home, or any money in my bank account. The only thing I had left was debt.”

Setsuno continued, “I started to live in the streets. I would sometimes sleep in this beaten-up bus in a junkyard or at this beach filled with trash. I would steal food from stores or dig through dumpsters to find something I could use or eat. I would steal cash from people walking by, I wouldn’t take the cards though because I would have been caught easier that way. It was... difficult living on the streets. I was either constantly running or was constantly alert because I didn’t want anyone to steal from me when I went to sleep.”

“It was dark for a long time. I started to think about how it might be my fault that she left. I just felt worthless like I was only just a piece of trans that the trash bags have yet to collect. I just felt like a waste of space,” Setsuno took a deep breath in, “And I thought that the best way to get rid of that feeling is to get rid of myself.”

*

Sakaki moved swiftly down the stairs after resting in his room for longer than he expected. Once he got downstairs, he noticed that not many people were down there except for two in the kitchen. Creeping closer, he saw that Tabe and Hojo were in the kitchen with an array of spices and condiments on the table.

“Bleh, I didn’t realize soy sauce was that salty. So much sodium,” Tabe states before licking at a small pile of spice on his palm. “Why is the pepper so spicy?”

“Why, hello! Whaaat's going oooonn?” Sakaki slurred his words because he still felt a bit sleepy even though he couldn’t go back to sleep like he wanted to. Tabe washed his hands quickly with water before continuing to a condiment bottle. “What’s all this messs?”

“We are tasting some of this stuff,” Tabe explained, tasting a bit of ketchup from a spoon. “Agh, that tastes different than what I expected or exactly like how I expected. I don’t know how to describe it. Just a lot of tomato taste.”

“Why?” Sakaki tilted his head, spotting a bottle of cinnamon. Hojo winced at the taste of garlic powder on his tongue before hearing Tabe cough from the peppercorn he just bit into.

Hojo shrugged, “For fun.”

Sakaki smiled at a sudden thought that appeared in his mind. He pointed at the bottle, “Ah, hey try some cinnamon. I know it tastes so good because I love cinnamon whiskey.”

Hojo looked down at the small container, “Hmm, I never tried it without it being on dessert like cinnamon rolls.”

“Ohhh, it's just lovely! Just take a big dash of it. It tastes amazing. Be warned, there is a bit of a burn although that might have been because of the whiskey,” Sakaki replied with his chin prompted onto his hand. He smiled as he watched Tabe and Hojo tap a slightly bigger amount into their hands. “Go ahead and try it.”

Tabe and Hojo looked at each other and shrugged. They brought their palms up to their mouths and practically threw the big amount of spice into their mouths. In an instant, they could tell that they should not have entrusted Sakaki.

Hojo was the first to fail immensely. He started coughing instantly, a brown cloud of spice coming out of his mouth. His hands brace himself against the counter before he started to make a run for the kitchen sink. He bent his head down to take in the cold water coming from the faucet.

Tabe was more delayed in his reaction. It seemed like he couldn’t tell that it was burning until he started to softly cough which turned into more aggressive coughing. He slowly walked to the sink behind Hojo with his hand covering his mouth. Hojo noticed his friend also needed relief, deciding to move to grab a hold of the sink sprayer.

Sakaki laughed hysterically as Hojo frantically handed the sprayer off to Tabe who was currently drowning the inside of his mouth.

*

“So I wanted to just end it because I didn’t want to be part of it anymore, you know? Life sucks. But before I could, Overhaul found me. And he said that I could be worthy trash if I helped with his idea of making a better world than it is right now. So I agreed. And that’s when I met Tabe and Hojo after Overhaul brought me back to one of the headquarters. After that, we all kind of bonded because Overhaul found us and made us a bit more than trash.”

Setsuno sighed loudly, “I can’t lie. It kind of feels good to let go of all of that. Uh, thanks for listening.”

Izuku smiled, “It’s no problem for me. If you ever want to talk with me about almost anything, you can come to talk to me.”

“So, therapist dude,” Setsuno looked to him seriously, “Midoriya, I am curious about some things.”

“What is it?”

“Well, the first thing is that Tabe said that kind of helped him about how he was feeling about his quirk and stuff. Like you didn’t really judge him and stuff. Why did you do that?” Setsuno asked.

“That’s easy. I like to help out in any way I can. And I kind of know how it was like to be treated by your peers differently. I know how they would be so judgmental about what your quirk was or what you looked like. I can relate to that. Like how I know the feeling of being fake confessed to,” Izuku laughed. “That was actually one of the more lighter side of things my old classmates did to me.”

Setsuno’s eyebrows raised, “Really? Does that mean you are kind of like us? Like trash?”

“Setsuno, you aren’t trash. Neither you, Tabe, Hojo or anyone here is trash. I don’t consider you to be worthless or useless trash. I would never see anyone like that,” ‘Except for Endeavor’ he left unsaid in his inner thoughts. “I will just say that I know a bit more of a personal experience about how you and others were treated because of something that you couldn’t control.”

Setsuno started at him, “Tabe told me something you said about there is no such thing as villainous quirks.”

“Of course. We got into a discussion about how the quirk doesn’t make someone a villain sometime father our official session ended,” Izuku replied back.

Setsuno questioned, “What about my quirk? My quirk literally is stealing things. With that, I could only be a criminal or some low level villain waiting to happen.”

“Not true at all. Your quirk is actually kind of interesting. If you want to look about it in a different light, just think about what you could do with it without any bad intention,” Izuku bit his lip while thinking about ways to use his quirk in different ways. He started to ramble on about some possibilities that he thought off the top of his head, “You could steal a gun out of a robber’s hand, so the person getting mugged has a chance to run. You can steal any kind of weapon out of someone else’s hand to save someone’s life. And you can do some awesome magic tricks to entertain people.”

Setsuno stayed silent for a moment before smiling at the corners of his mouth. “What am I supposed to be when I get out of here?”

“That’s up for you to decide in your new life. It will be a new leaf for you to start along with your friends,” Izuku said.

“You know, Midoriya, you are kind of cooler than I thought you would be.”

*

Izuku opened followed after Setsuno into the living area only to see Sakaki sitting in the kitchen counter with a smug look on his face. Tabe and Hojo were hunched over on the couch which made Setsuno automatically rush over to them to figure out what was wrong. Izuku was concerned as well until he noticed the familiar brown powder spilled on the counter that wasn’t cleaned up yet.

Izuku looked back to the other two on the couch, “You ate cinnamon, didn’t you? That is dangerous for your throat and lungs!”

“Relax... They didn’t eat that much... It wasn’t even a spoooonful,” Sakaki talked slowly with a pen almost Cheshire Cat like grin on his face.

“I hate you,” Hojo glared back at him.

Sakaki looked flattered, “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Hojo watched how the others talked amongst themselves the following nights. He noticed how they seemed to be watching Izuku’s every move especially when the trio of them starting to have a good friendship with him.

They had learned from overhearing that Izuku struggled with depression and anxiety when he was talking to Toya and Tabe. Toya related to him about those issues a lot, each of them sharing a few small stories about dealing with it in their ways. Izuku opened up about how he used to paint to get out his frustrations and depressive thoughts to make it artwork.

Kurono tried to pry more into what Izuku was admitting in Tabe and Toya’s sessions only to receive nothing from them. They had simplified about how they just talked to Izuku about their life and how he made them feel better. The boss just sighed deeply since they didn’t get anything promising from the trio.

Sakaki was still delighted that he had tricked them into doing the old cinnamon challenge. Hojo was still holding a grudge against the other, trying to see how he can enact his revenge. Sakaki was going to get revenge served extra cold, straight from the freezer. He doesn’t exactly know what to do yet, but he will find out a way.

Hojo took notice of how others were feeling when seeing how they interact when eating dinner. Kurono always stayed near Chisaki, never talking with anyone else. He heard Rappa grumbling to Rikiya about how he feels the need to just fight something or someone and how the others were holding him back.

Irinaka was as annoying as ever. Shin wasn’t as annoying as Irinaka, but he was still a kissass to Chisaki. Tengai was just...there. They are mostly just keeping to themselves since they don’t really interact with anyone but the boss.

But the three of them? They were doing just fine.

Tabe talked about the spices he tried with Hojo to Toya while Izuku cleaned up in the kitchen. Hojo just listened mostly to them chatter amongst themselves, offering his thoughts about the spices when Tabe brought them up.

He can tell that Rappa is slowly becoming more and more bored of each day passing by. Hojo has noticed him trying to get the others to fight with him these past few days only for them to decline. Rikiya fought with him, but he always surrenders early since he gets tired easily from it. And he could tell that Rappa was slowly becoming more and more ansty to fight, but he still respected the others’ wishes to not fight against him.

The other thing he started to notice was the fact that his friends are doing better after talking with Izuku. They started to warm up to the idea of reforming, the idea of leaving behind their past to have a better future.

He is like ‘I’ll talk to him since both of my friends are feeling better about themselves. Maybe I, not as trash or maybe my friends are leaving me behind’

*

It was a normal day. And Hojo decided it was a perfect time to strike.

The rest of the members were upstairs for some kind of eating to discuss yet another plan about escaping. Tabe was drinking warmed milk with some cookies that were in the pantry. Setsuno took a little cup of yogurt while Izuku was planning out lunch by looking at ingredients in the fridge.

“Hey, Hojo! Good morning. Do you know where everyone else is?” Izuku asked.

“The rest are upstairs talking about something. They will come down for food eventually.” Hojo replies, “Hey, can I talk to you now?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I have been thinking over it for a while. You have treated my friends with a lot of respect so I can trust you. So I believe I am in good hands with you,” Hojo answered back honestly.

“Okay, you can head inside my little office down the hallway.” Hojo nodded at Izuku’s words.

“We’ll be out here, Hojo!” Tabe loudly stated for his friend to hear. Hojo waved at his two friends as he headed down the hallway while Izuku grabbed a drink from the kitchen.

Setsuna called out before Hojo closed the door, “Don’t worry, we won’t watch that gem documentary without you!”

Hojo wilted in the room for a few moments before Izuku walked inside with a water bottle for both of them.

Tabe and Setsuno looked at each other. “What do we do now?”

“Well, I sure as hell don’t want to attend the meeting. Those always end up being dumb. If there is anything important, Rikiya will tell us if he isn’t napping when it’s over...or during it,” Setsuno tilted his head.

Tabe hummed, “You want to see how many channels this TV has?”

Setsuno shrugged, “Sure. But when Izuku comes out, we have to ask if there is anything else in here we can do.”

*

Izuku nodded, “Okay. Just to be clear, you are alright with me calling you by Hojo or Hojo-Kun?”

“Either is fine by me,” Hojo answered simply.

“Alright. Let’s begin whenever you are ready. If it makes it easier, start when you were young and work your way up to now,” Izuku explained with a soft smile on his face.

“Okay,” Hojo sighed. “Um. My life was okay, I guess before my quirk came in. I had a mother and a father who kept working throughout the day to pay off some debt that they had to pay off. Apparently, they had a lot of gambling issues before I was born that they still hadn’t completely paid off yet. So they didn’t have enough time to take care of me so the older neighbors usually watched over me since they both retired early.”

Izuku paused in his writing, “Were they nice to you? How were they as caretakers?”

“They were cool. They didn’t try and hurt me in any way,” Hojo answered.

“When my quirk came in, we were having some sort of quick fats food dinner that they picked up that was already cold. I ended up having crystals on my finger because I accidentally got a splinter on the old wooden dinner table. I’ll never forget the look of joy on their faces when they realized that they could profit off the crystals I could produce. They immediately started to celebrate that they would finally get rid of their debt,” Hojo paused, pursing his lips together. “I think that was the first time I remember them hugging me.”

Izuku glanced up at him, “What happened after that?”

“After that, they finally started to treat me like their son and not just another mouth to feed,” Hojo replied. “They got me new toys and new clothes that fit me. I started to make crystals for them when they asked as they gathered them up in large trash bags to take to some jewelers or something to sell them. I just remember them taking large bags out the door with huge grins on their faces until they came back with the same bags with the blankest faces.”

“They hit me across the face with one of the smaller bags filled with the crystals I made. They hit me again to push me into the closet while I started to ask why and what happened. My father shouted at me through the door to make some new crystals that were actually worth something.” Hojo looked up at the ceiling for a few moments. Izuku waited patiently, just looking down at his paper and making a few doodles in the margins. It took a few minutes before Hojo restarted the story he was recalling. “I don’t remember how long I was in there, just that I was so hungry. They tried to force me to make a different kind by making it stronger or a different color, but I could ‘t do that at all.”

“They let me go eventually and gave me bread and water before sending me off to my room without a second glance at me. I kept wondering what happened and why would they hit me for something I couldn’t do. They guilt-tripped me into things like stealing money and food away from old people since I was young and they wouldn’t suspect a thing. I gave them anything I could get so they could start paying thins off more. They took away the new toys and clothes they got me, so they could resell them along with their clothes.”

“They made me keep up with that until one day I woke up to an empty apartment. I thought they were just at work, but I found out a few days afterward when I saw no sign of them. When the landlord came to collect rent, all he saw was me eating some ramen while listening to the radio,” Hojo paused to clear his throat. “The neighbors who babysat me just took me in after that. They didn’t really have any children so I became their orphan to take care of.

“They were just an old couple who couldn’t really keep up with what I wanted. They had multiple bills already and I felt like a burden on them because I basically got into their care out of nowhere,” Hojo said. He cracked his knuckles a bit while continuing with his story. “So I started to give the lady my crystals to sell to her old friends at the book club to make into jewelry or something. I didn’t want to feel like worthless burden to them, so I figured I could just repay them with the crystals I made. That helped her pay for groceries because the book club they liked costume jewelry more than the real kind.”

“Did she ever force you to make more?” Izuku questioned, scribbling done on his paper.

“No, she kept saying that she was fine and that I didn’t have to make them for her. But I kept insisting as I grew older because it wasn’t like I was going to do anything with them. But she wouldn’t take them anymore. She said that I should do what I wanted with them. So I started to sell them at school when the teachers weren’t looking,” Hojo chuckled a bit at the memory. “It was a very secret business where you had to meet me on the roof to buy some for 500 yen. I made sure that they knew that the crystals weren’t worth much because I sold them for cheap. I kept it up until like middle school since I wanted to start fresh at high school.”

Hojo frowned harshly, “But I ended up getting involved with some controlling people in high school. One that threatens to hurt my caretakers if I didn’t provide the crystals for free. But they thought they were like really good quality. They wanted to pay back some debt that they had with some gang. I already told them it wasn’t worth that much, but they thought I was lying.

“What happened, Hojo-Kun?” Izuku asked.

Hojo looked up, “When they found out they weren’t, they cornered me in an alleyway and beat me half to death.

*

Kurono cleared his throat to grab the attention of the Yakuza members in front of him. Chisaki stood at the front of the room with Kurono right behind him. Chisaki’s yellow eyes were fixed on the remaining members of his group.

“I personally called this meeting to discuss future tactics with the therapist individual we are currently dealing with,” Chisaki began with his most loyal members waiting on his every word. Kurono listened from his side as Chisaki took the lead for the meeting.

“Our previous plans have failed,” Kurono said. “What we know is the fact that we can’t get out of our cuffs without a special key of some sort that the therapist must have or at least know of. We can’t escape without having heroes coming here because of the fence around the perimeter.”

“What if we just kill the therapist?” Shin asked with a shrug of his shoulders. Rappa sighed loudly from his position near the back, it was loud enough for Rikiya to glance back at him.

Irinaka tsked, “We don’t know much about him still. We don’t know how powerful he is seeing as that the heroes trust that he can take care of villains in this reform program.

Rappa sighed louder, cracking his knuckles. He stood up from his uncomfortable seat on the floor to stare down the two men at the front of the room, “You know what? I’m tired of this shit.”

“Rappa, sit down,” Kurono demanded from the front of the room.

Shin narrowed his eyes at the larger man, “Calm down. Don’t make a fool of yourself,”

“No, I’m done with all of this. What’s the point of this? Any plan you come up with won’t end up going your way,” Rappa said like he was stating the obvious.

“How come you sound so sure about that?” Irinaka huffed.

“Look at us. Look at where we are right now. The last plan that Overbitch over here had was to not freak out at all or plan anything ahead of time since he was sooooo confident that his plans would continue...”

“Don’t you all remember that meeting on where everyone would be set up? Yeah? Okay. Now,” Rappa paused for dramatic effect to gesture around the room at the walls and pointed at the window. He whipped back around to stare at them. “Where are we again?”

Rikiya whispered, “Rappa.”

“Oh, that’s right! We are in a reform program! But where were we before this? Tartarus! Anyone remember that?”

“Rappa, that is enough,” Kurono ordered.

“Were any of us free? Did anyone escape just like Overhaul thought he and Chronostasis would? Just like how the leader thought that he can just leave all of the ‘expendables’ behinds, right?” Rappa clapped his hands on his thighs. He barked out a short laugh, “No! We all got put into Tartarus except now the so-called fearsome leader is down two fucking limbs.”

Chisaki stared at him coldly, “This is no time to deal with your foolishness.”

“What are you going to do? Hit me? With what?” Rappa questioned, tilting his head. Overhaul’s eyebrows furrowed as the annoyance grew within him. Rappa continued, “Come on, let’s see if you can kick high enough to reach me with those bony legs of yours. I don’t want to be pity-slapped by your plastic arms. A claw machine would put up a better fight than you.”

Tengai sighed, “Calm down. I don’t want to see your boorish behavior ”

“What is not like he is going to use his quirk—OH WAIT! You DON’T have one now! Do you?” Rappa questioned loudly with a grin. “Poor little leader doesn’t have a quirk to his name anymore. Boo hoo.”

Chisaki glared at Rappa, his right eye twitching while some other members stared at Rappa. Sakaki held back a giggle begin his hand, knowing that he might get slapped by one of the most loyal members. Rikiya looked like he was about to argue with him before shrugging.

“The whole point of me joining this stupid gang was to fight you to the death. It’s not manly to not keep up your end of the deal. I came here with the sole purpose of getting rematches with you to finally beat you, but I couldn’t because of your quirk. You were a strong opponent, emphasis on ‘was’.” Rappa ranted.

He reached for his unruly red hair with his scarred fists. “All I wanted was to get a good fight. And now I can’t even have that anymore. So what’s the point? What’s the point in staying here in this pathetic Yakuza group or this reform program? If you all want to go so badly, then just shut up and go back to prison. Why do you keep up this charade as you could actually escape and go back to the Yakuza when we all know that it is useless? I’m tired of all this planning shit that won’t even work.”

The members in the room looked between Rappa and their leader. They were waiting for any orders from their leader who was staring at the old fighter like he was planning his death. Kurono looked down to see Chisaki’s prosthetic arm shaking, so he reached down to pinch the fabric of his sleeve near his elbow to calm him. The simple pinch grounded Chisaki enough to stop shaking from the overwhelming anger he felt.

“I’m done,” Rappa stated coldly. “Consider this my official resignation from the Shie Hassaki. We might be in the same house, but I will no longer be part of this Yakuza mess. Final thoughts: Overhaul is a shit leader who never should have been given the position in the first place. Chronostasis is the only one willing to put up with his shit for that long, so respect for that. Shin and Irinaka are just fucking kissasses. Rikiya, you’re cool I have no complaints about you. Tengai, Shut the fuck up just once in your goddamn life and live a little. You have as much personality as a bland cracker without any sort of salt on it. Sakaki, you’re not as annoying to me as the rest of these fuckers, but you are a cool drinking buddy. See ya!”

And with that, Rappa slammed the door on the Shie Hassaikai. Once the door slammed, Sakaki couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer while Rikiya was trying to hold back the guffaws coming out of his mouth.

The other members frowned at the door in distaste.

*

“I was in that alleyway, just clutching at my stomach to stop the bleeding. I felt like my body was on fire. I could just taste the blood in my mouth. They left me behind after saying that was ‘just as worthless as the trash bags’ surrounding me. I just felt like I was dying and that there would be no one who would miss me. I had the caretakers who basically raised me, but I don’t think they would miss me for long.”

Izuku paused his lips, writing in his notebook again.

“And sometime soon, Overhaul found me. He looked down at me like the trash I was and just reformed me using his quirk,” Hojo took a breath. “It hurts like hell though. Like really hurt, but it was over in under ten seconds so it wasn’t that bad.”

“He continued to tell me how he needed someone like me for his group. And I joined because, well, he saved my life already and he was giving me a new life. Then I met the rest of the members including Tabe and Setsuno. We formed a bond being trash. And the rest is history.”

“Hmm,” Izuku hummed. “If you do not mind, can you tell me a bit more about your quirk? You seem to put it down quite a lot, but I find it interesting.”

“Interesting? My quirk grants me the ability to produce crystals from my skin. They are sharp and durable, but they aren’t worth anything.”

“Did you shave your head for you to be able to easily produce the crystals there?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you not like your quirk? You talk about yourself as trash and how your crystals are worthless. But I don’t see either of those qualities.”

“Well, my crystals are useless to sell, but they offered me good protection when I needed it to. I don’t necessarily hate my crystals, I just really hate the people who kept trying to use it for their profit when they couldn’t,” Hojo rubbed his bald head. “If I ever come across them again, they are getting these sharp fuckers shoved up their nose.”

Izuku laughed before covering his mouth to stifle it. “And why do you consider yourself trash? Again, you don’t need to answer if you aren’t ready.”

Hojo shrugged, “I’m expendable. I was a burden all my life to my parents and then to my caretakers. That’s why I bonded with Tabe and Setsuno so well. But they don’t consider themselves as trash anymore because of what you have been helping them with... that’s why I wanted to talk to you in the first place. I wanted to see for myself.”

“Did you get your answer yet?”

“I don’t know yet,” Hojo shook his head to clear his head. “What exactly could I do with my quirk crystals?”

Izuku whistled as he looked down at his notes to list off possible ways, “You can become a very good jeweler. Most teens these days don’t want diamonds, they just settle for glass sculpted like diamonds. Your crystals can be used for weaponry like a blade for self-defense because of their durability. It would provide excellent cover to any vulnerable person walking home at night. They have small businesses who would kill for a material that is as sharp and durable as your crystals have proven to be.”

Izuku continued while Hojo looked a bit stunned at the way he was easily explaining everything. “So you can become a great costume jewelry maker. Artists would love to pay for your crystals for their work.”

“And even if you don’t want anything to do with a quirk like I have seen others do, you have the strength to deal with a lot of stuff. You can be a security guard or a helper that takes in the flour bags for bakeries,” Izuku paused. “Whatever makes you happy.”

“All I was ever worth for was the crystals I produced even though they were useless. That meant I was only worth something if I could give something of some kind of worth.”

“I thought that way too about myself.”

“You?” Hojo asked in shock before remembering the conversations he heard between him and Setsuno.

“Even therapists need their therapist. I have my own therapist, but I don’t see them as often as I used to when I was younger,” Izuku admitted with a nod. He turned a soft expression to Hojo. “Everyone needs some help, it’s just up to that person to seek out help for themselves. That’s why I never want to force anyone into talking with me, I want for them to seek out their own selves. And if they don’t want to talk, I won’t push it any farther than it needs to be.”

*

Hojo and Izuku talked some more in the office until it was a bit after lunch

They come out to see Setsuna and Tabe playing go fish while some music channel plays on the television. Apparently, Tabe had found a deck of cards which resulted in the two playing round after round of card games.

Izuku looked up to see the rest of the reform group come downstairs. He noticed how irritated Rappa looked while Tengai staring holes into his back, aware of any movements he made. He glanced at each of them before turning his attention to making lunch. He started to pan fry the pieces of pork while working on fixing some rice in the rice cooker.

It took some time to get lunch ready, but even with all that time, he still didn’t hear many sounds from the rest of the old Yakuza group. All the sound he could hear was from the lowered volume of the television on the wall and the trio who were talking quietly to each other.

As usual, they each took their dinner plates without much fuss. This time was different than other times since Sakaki took his dinner on a paper plate and went back upstairs to eat in his room. He has never done that before which made Izuku suspicious of what happened upstairs between the group. Maybe he could find the answer to why Kurono and Chisaki were staring at Rappa like he angered and confused them at the same time.

While most of the Yakuza group were thinking about Rappa’s earlier statement, the infamous trio was talking amongst themselves about the reform program itself.

“With this whole reform thing, what would we do if..when we get out?” He asked quietly, mindful to keep his voice down because Irinaka had sharp ears.

Tabe nodded softly, “I was thinking maybe we can start a cafe together or something. Just a nice, calm atmosphere.”

“That would be cool.” Toya explained, “You would be the cook, I would be the waiter, Hojo would be the guy who does the heavy lifting.”

Hojo raised a brow, “Heavy lifting?”

“You know, the bags of flour and stuff? And you can help me with being a waiter,” Toya said, gesturing with his hands. “Doesn’t that sound cool?”

Hojo shrugged, “If they even let us have our own cafe.”

“We can afford to dream especially with this whole thing. Maybe it is possible for us,” Tabe grinned wide.

Rappa raised his hand, approaching the smaller figure of Izuku, “Hey, therapist. I have a request.”

The room fell into sudden silence. The trio turned around to see Rappa walking towards Izuku.

Kurono suddenly started to pay attention even Chisaki stopped what he was conversing about to listen to what Rappa had to say. Izuku looked up to Rappa, “Yes? What is it? Do you need me to adjust anything more to your liking?”

Rappa barked out, “Fight me.”

Chapter Text

“Fight?!” Tabe, Toya, and Hojo said in unison just from the shock of Rappa’s statement.

Izuku looked up at Rappa who was standing right in front of him. Izuku looked down at Rappa’s shoes up to the wild red hair on top of Rappa’s head. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

Irinaka yelled out, “What?!”

Tengai and Shin glanced at each other before looking back at the chaos in front of them. Rikiya blinked several times before wiping at his eyes to see if he wasn’t hallucinating or dreaming.

Sakaki muttered, “Does he have a death wish?”

“Finally!” Rappa yelled out, pumping his fists into the air full of anticipation.

“I hope to be a worthy opponent,” Izuku gave a single nod. “Now, I won’t start the fight without ground rules first.”

“Ugh, come on,” Rappa groaned. “Fine, Whatever. As long as I get to kick your ass.”

“Alright. The first thing is that we are fighting outside because I do not feel comfortable with doing this activity indoors because of how many things can go wrong. We will fight outdoors where there is more space,” Izuku stated. He thought about it for a moment before glancing back at the kitchen. “Do you wish to fight with any weapons?”

“Nah, just my bare fists. It’s the most awesome way to fight,” Rappa clenched his fists, already getting excited. “I get to feel what crunches under my punches.

Izuku blinked, “Okay then. And finally, the limit of the fight. I am not comfortable with the limit of the fight or end of the fight only being called when one of us dies. But I don’t want the fight to not last long. So are you alright with a time limit or a set limit to the fight as if one is too tired to continue?”

Rappa breathed out frustrated. He wanted to keep the limit at what he knows which is the death limit, but he reminded himself that it would be what Chisaki wanted out of him. If he killed the therapist, it would be like he was working with Overhaul again.

He just hopes that this skinny looking therapist can put up a fight.

Izuku rubbed his hand together, “Okay. I will meet you outside in ten minutes. Does that give you time to prepare?”

“More than enough,” Rappa said impatiently. He was already ready to head out the door and start fighting.

Toya whispered low to the other two, “Guys, we can’t let Rappa murder Izuku.”

Tabe nodded back while Hojo looked towards Izuku, more specifically at his arms. “You know, I think Izuku might have a chance.”

Meanwhile, across the room, Kurono leaned closer to his friend’s ear, “Chisaki, What will happen if Rappa wins the fight?”

“Well, if he goes back to his old fighting days, then we won’t have to worry about the little therapist anymore,” Chisaki looked towards Izuku’s back as he disappeared into his bedroom to get ready for the fight. “By then, we would just be worried about where to bury his body.”

*

Rappa was already outside by the time Izuku went inside his room to change. He was stretching out his limbs to be able to give a really good fight for his opponent.

Rikiya was watching from where he sat as he leaned his upper half against the wall of the house. Chisaki and Kurono ate themselves farther away from the others to stand along the wall of the house without touching the outside brick. Sakaki already claimed his spot by somehow climbing to the roof and sitting with his legs dangling down.

Irinaka was impatiently tapping his foot on the grass, crushing the little weeds under his foot. Shin stood up straight with his arms folded across his chest as he waited for the therapist to come out. Tengai started to look at the sky to pass the time, viewing the various shapes that the clouds made.

Tabe kept glancing at the door to check if Izuku was coming out. Toya wasn’t any better, picking at his nails as he kept his ears open. Hojo was sure that Izuku wouldn’t agree to a fight that he wouldn’t survive. But if Rappa did plan on killing him, Hojo would step in and drag the other two with him as a backup.

After what only seemed like five minutes, Izuku walked out with an entirely new outfit to fight in. He was wearing a simple grey shirt with back gym shorts. Izuku’s bright red shoes clashed wildly with the green of the grass and his hair. His hands were wrapped in white bandages that looked like gauze.

“Hehe, he looks like Christmas colors,” Sakaki muttered, giggling to himself.

Izuku pulled a timer from his pocket, squinting while he pressed the buttons on the side of the timer. “Is twenty minutes okay or would you want to go for a little longer?”

Rappa cracked his knuckles, “Twenty is more than enough for me. I’ll have you surrendering halfway in,”

“Are you sure? You seem very confident in your answer.” Izuku tilted his head, looking innocent as he walked over to Shin. “Can you time the fight for us?”

Shin looked questioningly at the timer in Izuku’s hands like it was going to shock him or explode when he touched it. Carefully, he took it from the other’s hand. He looked very confused as to why Izuku is trusting this job to him of all people. Nevertheless, he readied the timer.

“Ready?” Izuku asked.

Rappa cracked his neck, “Hell Yeah.”

“Start!” Izuku yelled out. Shin started the timer right as Rappa rushed towards Izuku.

Izuku started low right as Rappa aimed his fist to be higher. Izuku wrapped his leg around Rappa’s waist to spin himself to face Rappa’s back and start landing punches. He was able to hit near two pressure points before Rappa knocked him off. Izuku rolled onto the grass, flipping back onto his feet to face Rappa head on again.

With a flurry of fists coming his way, Izuku couldn’t help but dodge and also be awed by the amount of speed.

“Wow, you know so many techniques! I have never seen that move before!” Izuku complimented before ducking his head to avoid the fist coming towards his face. He had to keep moving back to avoid the ongoing attack.

“Yeah, I fought in the toughest underground fight clubs. You only came out alive if you won,” Rappa proudly stated as he continued to throw punch after punch towards Izuku. Izuku kept dodging his fists with practice only messing up a little towards the end when Rappa tried to grab him instead.

Izuku used Rappa’s grabbing hand to his advantage by propelling himself onto his giant arm. He jumped towards Rappa’s back to cling to the wild mane of hair he had flowing down his back. Rappa screamed out from having his hair pulled before Izuku sprinted towards the trees surrounding the area.

Rappa ran after him as the others stayed by the house with different expressions on their faces. Sakaki just swung his legs as he swayed side to side. Irinaka took the chance to go back inside without the therapist noticing, but Hojo glanced at him with a suspicious look on his face.

Izuku climbed a tree quickly to get away from Rappa’s long reach. “So you fought quite a lot? Did it start anytime when you were young like middle school or more high school age? Or did you start later than that?”

Rappa whined, reaching towards where he thinks Izuku is. The leaves and branches kept messing with his eyesight. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

“I’m very impressed with your skills especially since you are basically fighting quirkless. I find an appreciation is strong, respectable people who don’t have to rely on their quirks all of the time. It makes things a lot more fun,” Izuku answered, dropping down from the branches to bounce on Rappa’s shoulders which caused the other to jerked forward from the movement. When Izuku landed on the ground, his opponent rubbed the back of his shoulders to pop something back in.

“I don’t like talking that much during a fight,” Rappa mumbled before heading right back to where he sees Izuku. The therapist was waiting for him, stance ready as the other charged at him.

“I have been fighting for a long time, that’s your answer!”

Hojo watched as Izuku and Rappa continued to trade punches and kicks. He thinks that Izuku almost landed a kick near Rappa’s weak spot which made Rappa finally hit Izuku hard in the arm. But instead of the fight ending just like that, Izuku just jerked his arm up and continued to come at him. “Uh, I need to go take a leak. Fill me in when I get back?”

Toya nodded back to him, not taking his eyes off the fight in front of them. Tabe just watched closely, throwing a subtle thumbs up Hojo’s way to let him know that he understood. Hojo gave one last look toward the two sweaty men fighting before going back inside to relieve himself.

*

Irinaka had tried to get into Izuku’s locked bedroom with no success. So he decided to look around the therapist’s office instead. It only felt like a few minutes, but he was finding nothing at all that could be used.

“What do you thin’ you are doing in here?

“What does it look like? Hmm? I’m collecting data on the therapist so we can get out of here quicker.”

“There is nothing in here besides his work. You’re wasting your time,” Hojo paused. “I mean, I think he has a Rubix cube somewhere in his desk, but other than that all I see are papers here.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I talked to him in his office before, dumbass,” Hojo answered as he walked into the room. “There isn’t anyone else’s money for you to count here. Now let’s get a move on, the fight was just getting good.”

Irinaka struggled in Hojo’s grip as he dragged the other man out of Izuku’s office. He started straightening up when they back to the door to make sure he looked okay before stepping out. Hojo followed right after him.

*

Rikiya was almost sure that Rappa and Izuku looked even more tired than he did even though they were trying to hide it. He was watching closely, teaching the number of scrapes and bruises that started showing up on both of their bodies.

Rappa was starting to get nasty scrapes on his knuckles from punching the wall of the house and the hard bark of the trees. It probably wouldn’t have affected him as much if he had his quirk. Izuku was starting to show off bruises along his arms and scrapes on his legs.

But even though they were both tried and injured, both of them were still standing at an even match against each other.

“Time!” Shin shouted out, tapping the timer that Izuku had handed him at the beginning. Tengai looked over his shoulder to see that the twenty-minute time limit has indeed passed. “Time’s up!”

Izuku and Rappa looked back at him with two different expressions. Izuku looked surprised at the time that has passed while Rappa looked mildly disappointed that he had to stop.

“Wow, I haven’t had that kind of fight in a while,” Izuku commented, stretching his arms over his head.

Rappa rolled his neck, tucking back his wild mane of hair, “Where did you learn those kinds of moves?”

“Oh, you know. I picked it up mostly from watching over people fight. And I got some moves taught to me from a few people I respect,” Izuku answered honestly back to him. “I hope that I gave you a good fight.”

“Are you kidding? I haven’t met a match that could deal with me for that long. Well, maybe those two heroes that I fought because they were really cool, but you were cool too,” Rappa walked over to Izuku and clapped him on the back. Izuku’s body moves forward a bit from the slap on his back. “We should do this again because that was awesome.”

Irinaka’s eyes kept glancing over to each of them, wondering how in the hell that both of them were on such good terms now. The therapist wasn’t even that hurt! Irinaka came up close behind Tengai and Shin. “I couldn’t find anything in his office when I checked, and I couldn’t pick the lock to his bedroom either. And Hojo caught me when I went to look into his office, so I couldn’t even explore that deep into the items there.”

Shin scowled, “How are we supposed to report to the boss like this? We basically have nothing.”

Tengai asked, rubbing his chin in thought, “How about we get information out of the therapist himself?”

“What exactly are you implying?” Shin questioned back.

“I’m saying that we ask more about him so we can understand more about our enemy. If we get to know more about him, we get to know more about his weaknesses that he might reveal unknowingly. Plus, we need to know what we are truly up against. We just saw him walk away alive from a fight with Rappa. And even though Rappa is not our brains at all, he is our strongest brawn. Even without his quirk, he should have been able to win that fight easily against him,” Tengai explained calmly. He looked over to the spot where Rappa and Izuku were talking animatedly about the moves they did during the fight. “So what is our therapist’s quirk?”

Shin kept watching how Izuku was talking while gesturing with his hands to Rappa. His frustration seems to grow when he was confronted with the facts. They had knowingly lost three members over to Izuku’s side of reforming. Rappa quit today and is already talking to Izuku like he is genuinely considering reforming as well while the rest of them are looking like idiots.

It all started to form into a bubble of thoughts as Irinaka and Tengai continued to discuss what their next move should be. The therapist is making several of their me, bets go to his side of reforming while making the others look like idiots for not reforming. Therefore, Izuku was making a mockery of the Yakuza because of how easy it seemed to persuade their members onto his team.

The others are seemingly okay with this but not him. Not Shin.

He has worked so hard under Chisaki’s leadership. He would not let some random therapist ruin what the Shie Hassakai has built for many years. He would not allow this to go on any further!

Hojo was just fine talking to the others about Irinaka when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Shin was steadily approaching Izuku. Hojo got his friend’s attention by slowly walking up to see what was Shin about to do.

“Hey,” shin greeted.

Izuku turned his attention to him, “Hello. Is there anything—?”

“Yes,” Shin interrupted. “I want to know something.”

Izuku blinked, “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“How the in hell were you able to put up a fight with him?! The only one who can handle him was-is Overhaul.”

“Not anymore,” Rappa rolled his eyes.

“Quiet,” Shin glared at Rappa before continuing. “Tell me the truth. I might not have my quirk now, but I know when someone is lying. So tell me, how did you win?”

“Well, I didn’t win. It was mostly a tie between the two of us,”

“How did you not end up being hurt more?” Shin questioned, still feeling the frustration growing inside him.

“Through hard work and determination. I went through different training to learn more about self-defense and things like that. I picked up most of those moves from watching others fight though. And I used some of my analysis to break it down further,” Izuku explained honestly.

“What kind of quirk do you have to fight against him? Did you even use it at all?” Shin asked, gritting his teeth. Hojo slowly walked up to get a headstart on diffusing the growing situation.

Izuku matched his stare evenly, “I didn’t use any kind of quirk during our fight. We were on equal ground.”

Shin pursed his lips together, stepping back from Izuku.

“Do you have any more questions? Concerns?” Izuku tilted his head. “I always like to know so I can make this experience more comfortable.”

Shin tsked, turning his gaze away from him. Hojo walked up beside Izuku like he was a bodyguard.

Izuku clasped his hands together calmly, “Alright then, now how about we talk about dinner? Does anyone have any cravings?”

Chapter Text

Sakaki had to jump down from the roof since he had gotten himself stuck, so Rikiya had ‘helped’ him down. When in reality, Sakaki just yelled out ‘head’s up!’. He jumped onto Rikiya’s back and slowly slid off to head inside first before anyone else.

Since it had been such a long day, Izuku prepared a huge dish of Katsudon for everyone. Rappa sat closer to the reform group than he did before with Rikiya right next to him slumping onto the couch.

Shin was still in a bad mood for the rest of dinner despite how well-made the Katsudon dish was. Tengai and Irinaka still looked suspicious over Izuku even as he was hiding his laughter behind his hand while he conversed with the more reformed group of old Yakuza members.

He had tried to make conversation each night with them but only succeeded in getting the reforming members to talk since they trust him. Izuku could still feel Shin and Chisaki’s eyes on him each time he moved. Thankfully, Rappa’s body was like a shield when he sat down to eat with the others.

Tengai ate his food slower than the others as he thought back to the fight. No matter what he remembered from the fight, none of his memories provided any hint as to what Izuku would be hiding. As far as he could tell from the fight, Izuku didn’t look like he was using a quirk the entire time.

He was just fighting quirkless while using his surroundings to dodge the majority of the battle. His attempts to talk with Rappa also somewhat distracted the previous underground fighter.

“Kurono, have you gathered anything from today’s excursion outside?” Chisaki questioned, keeping his voice low.

“Our assigned therapist appeared to not use a quirk the entire battle,” Kurono replied. His shiny white hair swished when he turned his head to Chisaki. The sharp arrows that used to be part of his quirk vanished when the cuffs were placed in him. His hair ended in sharp points, but it didn’t look anything like the minute and hour hands of a clock it used to be. “It could be because he wanted to meet Rappa in an equal match since we are all quirkless with these cuffs on.”

Chisaki looked down at his false arms that the heroes gave him. Kurono awkwardly looked away for a moment while Chisaki gave him an unreadable look. Kurono glanced down at Chisaki’s quirk cuffs around his ankle before looking away again to not draw his attention.

Kurono cleared his throat, “Anyway, let’s just keep silent about this and continue observing. All of our hope to get out of here seems lost already. The only way out that we know is to admit defeat and go back to Tartarus.”

“If everything else fails, we can just pretend to reform and go right back to our ways once we are in the clear. We can get away with no one noticing to a place no one could find us and the reform program is gone for good.”

Kurono glanced back at Izuku who was still talking with the Tabe about what he had used during dinner

“If we are lucky, it would mean that the league of villains would be affected as well since people will question the reform program to test if it reformed the villains or not.” Chisaki’s eyes crinkled from his expression as he continued. “Best case scenario is that I get away while the ones who rid me of my quirk gets to face the consequences.”

*

The next day was just a normal day. As normal as it could get in the reform program. Half of the people there didn’t talk or play around as much as the other half.

When Izuku got up in the morning, he checked his emails on his phone to see that Tenko had sent him pictures. He wrote a short email about how he got a new pet. Below were pictures of his new chinchilla that he named Yuko. Tenko had written in the email that he could provide the ash that the little animal needs to bathe. He had even sent some pictures of the adorable little creature which Izuku promptly saved to his phone.

When hearing about ash, Izuku reminded himself it was time to clean up the first floor. So he got himself ready for the day in his room and then got a broom from the cleaning closet by the stairs to sweep. And that’s how the early birds of the house had found him.

Hojo had offered his help to clean when he came downstairs with Touya helping with the walls to dust them off. Tabe cleaned the kitchen countertops when he noticed everyone cleaning up. So by the time that more people came downstairs closer to lunchtime than breakfast, the first floor was nice and clean.

Tengai had glanced their way before calmly making his way over to a chair to relax. Shin has been acting on edge ever since his small confrontation with Izuku because he knows that Izuku is hiding something.

Izuku washed the dishes before getting started on lunch with Tabe helping him prepare in the kitchen. They settled on making rice with the rest of the pork that Izuku didn’t use in last night’s dinner. Tabe seasoned the pork with the spices in the cabinet while Izuku got the rice ready for the rice cooker by cleaning it thoroughly.

After the food was cooked, plates were served out to everyone so that they could all enjoy the lunch. Tabe was complimented by Toya and Hojo on the food prepared because of how well the seasoning job was done on the meat.

By the time lunch has finished, Irinaka was getting very annoyed since Rikiya had occupied the couch right across from the television where he was just watching mindless children cartoons to pass the time. He crossed his arms, “Things are boring around here. Do you intend on boring us to death so we have no choice but to bend to your will?”

“No?” Izuku blinked in confusion at Irinaka’s suspicion. “Not at all. I have some games I could bring out for everyone.”

“Games?” Chisaki raised an eyebrow at Izuku’s words.

The therapist nodded, “Yeah. I have a few different card decks for everyone to play card games. I have some board games including one that is based on a trapped room premise. And I also got some video games that we could set up, but they require at least two players for each one.”

Kurono narrowed his eyes, “Why haven’t you set out these games beforehand?”

“No one has brought it to my attention, so I thought everyone was okay with the television,” Izuku replied honestly. He gestured over to the bookshelf behind him. “If you’re not satisfied with the games, you could go to the bookshelf to read from there.”

Rikiya glanced over to the bookshelf, “I honestly forgot that was there.”

“I thought it was a hallucination,” Deidoro joked.

“If we must indulge in childish games to escape being led down a different path than the Yakuza, then so be it,” Irinaka declared proudly.

Izuku clapped his hands together, “Okay then. I’ll just go get the games out.”

Rappa called out to him, “You need help?”

“I’m good. There isn’t that much to carry,” Izuku answered. “It will only take a minute to get them out.”

And he was correct because not even a full minute had passed by before he appeared again with a pile of games in his arms. He spread them all out on the living room table for all of them to look at them. He placed the video games near the television.

Irinaka took a step forward while the therapist was busy setting up a console to connect to the television. His hands landed on the game of monopoly. “This. This is the game for us.”

“Count me out of this waste of time,” Chisaki states.

“I’ll join,” Kurono suggested. He knew how much Chisaki would not like the activity. The only games he plays was the more traditional games that the therapist did not seem to have. “Maybe doing something other than planning with taking your mind off stress. It will allow your mind a break, so we could plan more accordingly.”

Chisaki threw a glance down at the board game with a slight dust coating the top. “No thanks. But I will watch to pass the time.”

Tabe took one look at the board games and chose operation. “This was my favorite game when I was little.”

“Even with the buzzer? That thing always scared me,”

Tabe paused, “There’s a buzzer?”

“Yeah,” Toya nodded. He started to gesture with his hands and point things out on the picture on the box while he explained. “It happened when you touched the metal sides of the thing with your little pliers? The thing that made the red light go off?”

“Oh,” Tabe looked back down at the board. He tilted it from side to side. “I think I played it without batteries. But it was really fun! How different could it be with the batteries?”

“I have never played this game,” Hojo stared down at the game in Tabe’s hands.

Tabe looked excited, “I think you will like it.”

“And after this, we could play some video games since he set them up,” Toya suggested, gesturing over to Izuku who finished plugging everything in to set up the console.

“Rappa, wanna join us?”

Rappa looked up from where Rikiya and he were looking down at the table filled with games. Rikiya had a magazine that he swiped from the bookshelf to try and bore him into sleeping again. Rappa shook his head, “Nah, I got something else planned.”

“Hey, Therapy dude,” Rappa greeted casually.

Midoriya whipped his head around to face him, “Hello, Rappa.”

Rappa scratched the back of his neck, “Listen, can you just do the therapy thing now so the next time we fight you don’t talk so much during it?”

“I would be happy to,” Izuku smiled as he started his walk towards his own office. Izuku waved to the others on the way since he passed them since they were sitting on the couch right by the hallway.

“Yeah, sure. It’s cool with me,” Rappa turned around to address his friend, “Yo, Rikiya!”

“What?!” Rikiya yelled out over his shoulder while he was lounging on the couch in front of the television. His sock-clad feet were relaxed on the wooden coffee table with a magazine right underneath them. Irinaka kept complaining about him putting his feet there since he was dirtying the table, so he put a magazine there to act as a foot coaster.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Cool, I’ll be taking a nap here.” Rikiya threw him a thumbs up. Not even a second later, Rikiya was positioning himself to lounge further back into the cushions to lean his head back.

“I wonder why he wants to go,” Toya wondered out loud as he started to set up the game by taking everything out of the box. He checks to see that there were batteries already placed inside. No doubt that Izuku had already prepared everything. “He never talks about his feelings or anything except fighting.”

Tabe shrugged, trying to look on the positive side of things, “Maybe it’s because he sees the good in reforming after his fight with Izuku.”

“Or he just doesn’t want to be around when the others start to play. They were bad with traditional games, so I can just imagine they will be even worse with these,” Hojo looked over to Irinaka was. The man’s eyes were sparkling as he held the fake paper money in his hands.

*

Izuku clicked his pen, “Ready to start?”

“Yeah,”

“First, you don’t have a problem with me calling you Rappa, right?”

Rappa scratched his head, “Nah. Rappa is fine.”

“Uh, where do I start with this? Uh, my parents had a ‘reputation to uphold’ that they never wanted to be tarnished,” Rappa started, raising his hands to apply air quotes to what he said. “So they were strict with every single damn thing I did. Under their watch, I could never really do anything fun.”

“If I wanted to go outside, I had a chaperone to make sure I didn’t do anything that could damage their precious reputation or something. I wasn’t allowed to play in the mud because they didn’t what people to see their only son so dirty. I couldn’t do anything without a pair of eyes on me watching my every move. They tried to get tutors for me so I didn’t have to go to school.”

Izuku asked while his pen scratched against the paper of his book, “Tutors? Did you like them at all?”

“Hell no. They were pretentious as hell or just there to get a paycheck. Either way, I made sure that they never came back. Whether it was to scare them myself or purposely fail so they would get fired,” Rappa recounted. “And that’s how I finally got to go to school with other kids.”

“Was it fun at that school since you didn’t have a chaperone looking after you?”

Rappa shrugged with a click of his tongue, “It was okay because there wasn’t anyone there to stop me from doing things I wanted, but boring because it was school.”

“Understandable.”

“Anyway, my parents got more annoying as I grew up especially when they realized how strong my quirk really was. They were always bragging about how I was so strong with my quirk and how I would do so amazing at my father’s business when I grew up to take it over,” Rappa rolled his eyes as the old memory resurfaced in his mind. “It was bullshit since when I first got it, they didn’t give a single fuck about it. But since my quirk was so much stronger when I grew older, it was finally worth their attention.”

Rappa hit his fist against his palm, “I was pissed off since they were trying to train me into taking over whatever my father was in charge of when I got old enough. Like they tried to entrust me with whatever business that they were in charge of.”

Izuku nodded as Rappa continued.

“See I was younger, I wanted their approval so badly. But when I noticed just how much they actually cared, I stopped caring about what they and how much their reputation meant to them. I wanted to finally let loose without them having a say in my actions. At school, I started to change my look. I let my hair grow out long which made me look like a delinquent that my parents always loved to hate. I just purposely started to break any rule that the academy had in place slowly but surely. But they never said anything since my parents had that much of an impact. I deliberately found needles to give myself homemade piercings just because the rule books said you weren’t allowed anything like that.”

“Piercings?”

“Yeah, but they closed up pretty quick,” Rappa shrugged, rubbing his fingers over his ear lobes. “I smoked too by stealing some of their money to go buy a pack from some guy at school. I made sure to do it in really public places in school and out so that rumors would start to ruin their reputation further.”

Izuku asked with a curious glint in his green eyes, “What else did you do?”

“Started doing something I had always wanted to do. Fight,” Rappa answered back easily. He cracked his knuckles as he continued. “I got into fights at school with anyone. Mostly when they pissed me off. If they wanted to mess with me, I beat them until they were begging to not be left a pulp afterward. I wasn’t very... satisfied with those fights.”

“And your parents didn’t like that. I’m assuming this from what you describe them as.” Izuku said as a statement instead of a question because he could guess what the answer would be.

Rappa laughed, “They hated that shit. Just the fact that it pissed them off made me do it even more to see their faces.”

*

“Hey, Irinaka, I passed go and you still haven’t given me my money.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I handed over your money as soon as you passed go, I even put it right there in your pile,” Irinaka answered back without looking up as he bounced his metal shoe across the cardboard.

“I didn’t see you do it at all. How do I know if you are just lying to save the money for yourself?” Shin fired back at him.

“How dare you insinuate that?! You think I’m making a mockery of my role as the banker?!” Irinaka questioned loudly causing Kurono and Tengai to sigh at the same time.

“Not what we are saying,” Tengai yawned. “Just forget about the money. You probably weren’t looking when he put it down.”

Shin asked, “Did you see him do it?”

“No, but I’m too busy focusing on getting one of these railroads,” Tengai responded. Rikiya yawned in the background as he shifted on the couch. “Did you see anything Kurono-San?”

Kurono sighed. “Irinaka does not lie. You should know this very well, Nemoto. And he plays his role well. So let’s just move on from this.”

“Hah, you think I would not remember you already got your pay?! Fool!” Irinaka taunted them.

Setsuno rolled his eyes as he took in the sight of the other members trying to play monopoly together. And as he looked at Nemoto staring daggers onto the board with something fierce in his eyes, he wondered if the League of Villains played games when they were here.

He was just thankful that he wasn’t involved in monopoly since he and his friends were playing operation.

This was a whole different kind of stress, but it was more manageable stress compared to their game. Mostly.

“Uh, the patient is dying,” Tabe glanced down at the red light that kept blinking when Hojo pressed the tweezers against the metal parts of the board. The buzzing has started to become white noise for all of them at this point. All of them except Hojo who thought each buzz was taunting him.

“Let them fucking die,” Hojo muttered angrily, “I will get this bone out of his leg if it kills me and him doing it.”

“Come on!”

Hojo cursed, “Fuck!”

“Yeah, so, I think the doctor occupation might be off all of our lists when we reform,” Tabe whispered to Toya as Hojo glared down at the cartoon drawing on the game board.

Toya nodded silently.

*

“Anyway, let me skip ahead, I ran away. A bunch of shit happened in between that, I can tell you late since that would take too long,” Rappa waved his hands as he thought about where he could pick up the story.

“I look forward to hearing it,” Izuku fired back at him.

“Yeah, Yeah. So I ran away because I didn’t want to deal with any of their shit anymore. After I did, I just found places to sleep around the town like on rooftops, in the park, on the beach, and just anywhere else where no one can tell me anything. It was a pretty good life. I slept in the forest a lot since that place had nobody, but the downside was bugs crawling almost everywhere.”

“I just continued doing that for a while until I found out about a fighting club one day by chance. I was walking on the streets in the dead of the night and I just hear this noise coming from somewhere. So I go towards it to find out what it was,” Rappa explained, reflecting on his first memory of coming into the club. “There was a crowd cheering with people calling out names and placing bets all around the place. A huge fighting ring stood in the middle of it with two people going full out on each other with their quirks. It was sick!”

“Next thing I know, I register myself into the fight because I could get some money out of it,” Rappa laughed as he recounted his first night in the ring. “I ended the first dude within twenty seconds with my rapid punches. I had the crowd on my side through the night by how many wins I was racking up. And after the first night of wins, I realized that I liked it there at the underground fighting club.”

Izuku asked with a hint of recognition in his eyes, “Is that the one called Underground Masquerade?”

“Yeah! Why? Have you been there?!” Rappa looked excited by the sight of his giant grin.

Izuku dodged the direct question, “It seemed interesting when I heard about it from one of the people I talk with. The whole club apparently switched locations.”

“Shit. Really? Damn,” Rappa steeled himself back on track. “Back to the story, I just kept winning my fights since no one could go against my quirk... until Overhaul came in. He came in and wanted me to join him. I said I would if he could beat me. He used his quirk on me to end the match quickly and then reassembled me after.”

Izuku winced, “That must have hurt.”

“Yeah, it did. But it was so satisfying to get an opponent who could last in the ring instead of failing as soon as I get my hands on them. I joined him after that since I wanted to fight him more,” Rappa continued. “I kept going after him to try and defeat him in a fight. I challenged him like fives times and lost each time because of his quirk.”

Izuku nodded as he wrote down some notes in his book.

Rappa sighed loudly out of frustration, “But he doesn’t have his quirk now, so if I fight him, it won’t satisfy me because he won’t be using his full strength

Izuku bit his lip and furrowed his brow as he kept his gaze on his book, “Because he is quirkless?”

“Not just because of just that It’s because the man has not fought in the way I have before. His quirk did most of the work for him. But if I do fight him, I just know I could win in less then a minute because his fighting techniques aren’t like real hand to hand fighting. The REAL type of fighting,” Rappa replied, knocking his fists together.

“So if someone quirkless could beat you in a real type of fight from what you described...” Izuku trailed off.

“They would earn my respect and I would ask them for a second round,” Rappa answered. “Speaking of, we need to have a second round again.”

*

When Izuku and Rappa reappeared from the office, the whole living room was relatively quiet except from Rikiya snoring on the couch. The operation game had its batteries ripped out and thrown to the floor near the bookshelf. Hojo was sitting between Tabe an dToya in the couch as they played a racing game together.

Tengai had snagged a book to read in a chair. Kurono and Chisaki were gone from the room entirely, Izuku assumed they went back upstairs together. Irinaka and Shin were not facing each other as they continued to hover over the monopoly board. Multiple places on the board had houses while the two remaining players had money next to them in unorganized piles. Deidoro was sipping a glass of fruit juice while watching the trio play video games from his seat on the kitchen counter.

The trio of the reformed group turned their heads a bit to greet both of them back.

“Hojo broke the game just so you know. He apologizes,” Toya says which earns him a shove from his friend.

Izuku waved off the worry. “It’s okay. We have plenty more games to play. Is everyone alright with chicken and pasta for dinner?”

“Yeah, sounds great, therapist dude,” Rappa commented offhandedly while he walked over to the couch that Rikiya was laying on. He slapped his friend’s shoulder to try and wake him up. “Rikiya, dude, wake up!”

“Huh? Whatz happenin’?” Rikiya slurred as he started to wake up from Rappa’s yell.

Tabe volunteered to help out with dinner, so Deidoro quickly took his spot in the racing game since he was bored. Tabe seasoned the chicken while Izuku made sure that the water was boiling for the noodles to start cooking. Meanwhile, Deidoro kept getting pushed off the road by Hojo who was enacting his small revenge for the cinnamon incident.

When dinner was served, Tengai had taken two plates quietly to take upstairs for the two other higher members who had still not come down. Tengai thanked him for the food when he came back down to take his own plate to eat silently to himself. Irinaka and Shin had finally stopped playing monopoly when Shin had finally given in and declared himself bankrupt. Irinaka celebrated while Nemoto took his dinner plate and went upstairs with a scowl on his face. Irinaka ate his chicken dinner by himself near the wall where Kurono and Chisaki often stay.

Deidoro and Rikiya thanked Izuku for the meal before digging right in. Tabe was complimented on the seasoning of the meat by his two friends followed up by Izuku. Rappa ate his dinner the fastest out of everyone on the first floor.

And slowly, people started calling it a night after dinner was finished. Rappa stayed downstairs even when Rikiya when back to the staircase to go back to sleep in his room. Izuku watched as the four of them fought against each other in a racing game.

He wondered to himself if he should tell them about him being quirkless. The trio were the ones who connected the most to him and Rappa had no problem with anyone quirkless. So it was clear that they would not be discriminatory.

But on the other hand, he felt it might be a mixed bag reaction with the other old members of the Shie Hassaikai. He has no idea if Chisaki’s quirkless society ideal wills till hold up when he reveals that he had been quirkless all along. Maybe they would or maybe they wouldn’t be. He has no idea if any of their ideas changed in Tartarus.

So Izuku called the four of them into his office to talk about something after all of them had been playing video games for hours into the night. The four of them looked at him with confusion at first before relenting. Hojo took a soda with him to the room while Rappa thought it was going to be an arm wrestling competition or something similar.

Eventually, all of them get seated in his office with his door cracked open. Hojo starts to drink soda while Setsuno asked what Izuku had brought the four of them in his office for.

“Ohh, right,” Izuku snapped his fingers like he was just remembering. “I don’t have a quirk.”

Hojo was in the middle of pleasantly taking a sip of soda taken from the fridge before he did a mini spittake right back into the soda can and over the top of his hand. Tabe leaned away from the spray as Hojo started to cough. Toya was staring at Izuku while thumping his hand against Hojo’s back to help him out. Rappa froze in his spot where he had been sitting before slowly turning his gaze to Izuku.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Tabe asked gently.

Izuku glanced to the side, “Because you never asked directly?”

Hojo coughed, “Damn, you are badass.”

“Shit. Maybe I can actually get a real fight out of that dick eventually. Especially if you teach me the real way to fight,” Rappa concluded to himself. “When’s the second round again?”

Izuku let out a sigh of relief since everyone took the news well. The four of them said that they wouldn’t tell the others since Izuku had brought up the fact that he will tell them eventually.

And so, they continued talking whether it be from Izuku being quirkless to mindless things like what their memories were like in the Yakuza.

Unnoticed by any of them, Sakaki backed away from the crack of the door silently. He made sure not to make a sound as he walked backwards towards the kitchen to grab the glass of water he came downstairs for in the first place.

He grabbed the cup and took a few sips of the cold water inside. His dark eyes looks back towards the room filling with murmurs from the people inside. For the first time since he had been here, he felt sober.

Cautious of making a sound, Sakaki snuck back upstairs with the glass of water in his hand. He crept past everyone’s bedrooms before slipping back inside his own bedroom. He let the door close shut behind him softly because he didn’t want to alert anyone.

Sakaki rubbed at his temple as he made his way towards his bed, not knowing what to do with the new information he had found by chance.

Chapter Text

Deidoro shot up into a sitting position, taking deep breaths from the bad dream he had just had. He brushed back his long black hair from his sweaty forehead. The back of his neck felt clammy when his cold hands touched his skin. He grumbled, rubbing the back of his hand over his cheek.

He still remembers the sounds of bottles breaking against the wall and children laughing from his bad dream.

Deidoro rubbed his hands down his face as he remembered the night before. Strangely, he feels sober. He slowly gets out of bed and walks over to his bedroom door. He peeks the door open to see all the doors around him, knowing that the others were sleeping inside their rooms. The others apart from Rappa and the others don’t know yet.

He swallowed before he stumbles his way down the stairs. From one look at the windows, the sun hasn’t come up yet. Wow, he hasn’t woken up this early since...

...he doesn’t know how long it has been.

When Izuku found him, Sakaki was hanging off the couch’s arm upside down to get the blood rushing to his head. The moment Izuku walked in, Sakaki slouched down to the ground

“Heeeeyyyyy therapist,” Sakaki twiddled his fingers in a friendly wave from the floor. “I need to talk to you. Can I have my session?”

“Okay..?” Izuku replied, still a bit shocked at the suddenness of his request. He was more worried about how long the other was hanging upside down. Sakaki stumbled to eat to his feet, using the couch to support himself so he could stand up. He walked past him to make it to the office first with Izuku following behind him.

*

Izuku clinked his pen and looked up to Sakaki who was looking around his office curiously. “Are you more comfortable with Sakaki-Kun or Deidoro-Kun? Or would you like a nickname for me to call you?”

“Uh, Sakaki. It sounds like sake,” Deidoro replied with a slight slur to his words. He coughed while Izuku readied his notebook to take down any notes.

“Alright, you can begin anytime you are ready.”

Deidoro sucked in air through his teeth. He steadied himself to focus on his words, “I guess I should start at the beginning or at least how much I can remember.”

“Uh, I had no male presence in my life, if you couldn’t guess,” he joked. “I think he dipped when ma told him she was pregnant. I never saw my grandparents, so I assume that they weren’t part of the picture. Anyway, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the situation of having to deal with a son with a waitress job and no help from anyone.”

Deidoro narrowed his eyes, “From what I remember, she was struggling, but she was a relatively good mother. Until she started struggling with keeping her job and having to take more shifts. She started to drink when I was like four..five? Four or something.”

“What happens when your quirk came in?” Izuku asked, scribbling down in his notebook. The sounds of the pen scratching against the paper filled the short amount of silence before Deidoro continued with his story.

“She didn’t care that much since it was similar to my biological father’s quirk. But then she realized that my quirk meant that I could basically get her drunk without her having to buy any more cheap alcohol to chase a buzz,” Deidoro pointed to him. “You see where I’m going? My quirk was amazing suddenly because according to her since she ‘didn’t have to spend any more money’.”

“But the downside of it is, I felt kind of tipsy since I got it,” Deidoro looked up to the ceiling. He opened and closed his hands, touching his fingertips to the tip of his thumb. “I was stumbling into things sometimes and having to cling onto whatever I could to keep myself from falling on my face. My legs just felt shaky most of the time. It happened most of the time after I used it on her since it would just make me super duper clumsy”

“Even now, I still feel it through the cuffs. Either that or I’m just too used to it at this point that I can’t tell if it’s gone because of the cuffs. At least I can walk better on the floor with the cuffs instead of being forced to crawl on the floor or having to find alternative routes,” Sakaki talked softly. He kept his eyes on his cuffs as he swiveled his hand through the air in front of his face. “Am I free from it or am I just trying to convince myself? You know?”

Izuku furrowed his brows as he took in the somber expression on Sakaki’s face.

Deidoro coughed harshly before clearing his throat again, “After my quirk came in, the house was filled with more food since she wasn’t wasting money on alcohol. And when she wanted to make extra money, she would bring men in from her waitress job back to the house. She advertised that I could get them drunk without them having to drink anything. So, of course, they get to pay half the price of liquor while my mom gets even more money to spend.”

“Sometimes she would just bring random men back o the house and keep me in my room the entire time. Back then I didn’t know what was going on, but I can kind of guess what was happening now. She sometimes let them come into my room to do whatever they wanted,” Sakaki recounted. He waved his hands when Izuku’s eyebrows shot up worried. “Nothing bad. They would just want to get my quirk’s benefits since basically everyone liked the feeling of being drunk. If some of them tried to do anything besides that, the other drunks would beat them up and kick them out.”

Izuku continued to write in his notebook until he stopped since Sakaki went silent. Izuku looked up to see the other in deep thought as he focused on his shoes. He waited a few minutes as Sakaki was recollecting his thoughts.

“I remember this one incident where my mother was still sober from the day. There were like four guys in the house and one of them who was new tried to do something with me while I was in the kitchen. This creep walked into the kitchen for me to use my quirk. I’m used to this since it’s routine at this point, but he was getting so close to me. I told him to back off since I don’t need to touch him for it to work. So he decided to just start touching me out of nowhere,” Deidoro drifted off, weaving his fingers through his long hair. “It didn’t help that my hair was getting long enough for him to have a grip on it.”

“What happened?” Izuku asked.

Sakaki snapped back to reality to answer him, “Oh! I used my quirk on him until he tripped over himself. And then I stabbed him with the rusty kitchen scissors in his leg. Then I backed up quick when he started to scream.”

“My mother rushed in to see what happened after he screamed. But she noticed what kind of state I was in and immediately kicked the guy out of the house along with the other ones.” Sakaki chuckled wetly. “That was the only clear memory I have of my mom being very sober, not even a little tipsy. That entire night, she acted like what a regular mom would be like. She made sure that the creep didn’t touch me anywhere. After that incident, she never brought any more guys home to use my quirk ever again no matter how much money they offered.”

“After that, she, uh, slowly started to stop drinking or using my quirk as an escape. She started to work harder and got me into school with the money she was earning. When she was leaving for work, I was walking myself to the nearby public school.”

“Did things get better?”

“Yeah. Most of the time she was sober, but she sometimes would be drunk since she could quit it all in one go. She mostly slept after she drank. She didn’t hit me or anything. Although she did throw a lamp against the wall once and a few liquor bottles when she depressed,” Sakaki hummed absentmindedly. “It never hit me, but it did scare me sometimes when she did it out of nowhere.”

*

Tabe was relaxing on the couch cushions while Hojo and Toya were busy playing some video games. They woke up at their usual time only to see that Izuku wasn’t up yet. Or at least that’s what they all thought until Toya pointed out that his office door had light peeking out from underneath it. So that must have meant that Izuku was talking with someone.

They then thought it was going to be Rappa until they saw him come downstairs with Rikiya who yawned as he said good morning to them. The three watched as Rappa hopped from one foot to his other while Rikiya stretched out lazily. Then they saw the two of them head outside for a sparring match.

One by one, eventually everyone started to make their way downstairs while Rappa and Rikiya continued to spar outside. Shin looked like he had gotten no sleep while Tengai looked very well rested. Irinaka looked somewhere in between the two of them. Kurono, Chisaki, and Sakaki hadn’t come downstairs yet.

Tabe went back to paying attention to the game that Toya and Hojo were playing while Irinaka and Tengai started to talk about something. Tabe glanced back at the office and guessed that the only possible person that could be in there was Sakaki.

Some time passed when Rikiya and Rappa came back inside with grass stains on the knees of their pants and all-around their clothes from their fighting match. Shin focused his attention on the pair of fierceness as Rappa laughed wholeheartedly with his arm wrapped around Rikiya like he was an old friend.

Irinaka whistled over at them, “Hey, just to make sure, are you sure both of you can’t break through our cuffs since they are smaller than yours?”

Rappa stubbornly turns away from Irinaka while Rikiya sighs. He walked over to Rikiya and halfheartedly tugged at his quirk suppressant cuff. “Yeah...Nah. Can’t do anything with it. The cuff still is as strong as ours, but just smaller to fit on your wrist.”.

“Rappa, what do you know about the therapist? Come on, I’m desperate for information. I need to know something useful,” Shin stared at Rappa with his eyebags looking very prominent. Even his crooked glasses couldn’t hide his eyebags.

Rappa gives him the best ‘are you stupid?’ look that Tabe has ever seen, “Uh, I quit. I don’t HAVE to tell you any shit at all.”

Rappa gestured over to the three of them on the couch, “And they don’t either since they quit,” He paused before looking at them directly. “Wait, did you guys quit yet?”

Hojo stared at them for a few moments before replying with a confused tone, “We had to quit?”

“I thought it was more implied that if we want to reform, we aren’t part of the Shie Hassaikai anymore,” Toya said with furrowed brows. Toya looked back at Tabe with the same confused look, “We were supposed to quit?”

“Well, um, I think I speak for all three of us as I say that we respectfully resign from our positions.” Tabe started. He stood up from the couch to address Kurono more officially “We aren’t becoming doctors when we reform. But we wish to continue our lives reformed. So we bid the Shie Hassaikai goodbye forever.”

“Hey, That was more respectful than what the...other one did,” Tengai replies, giving a judgments stare towards Rappa.

Rappa copied his look with a smug smirk, “Fuck you too.”

*

“Anyway, school kind of sucked but it was okay...mostly. I got made fun of since I was tripping into stuff a lot. It didn’t help when the upperclassman would find out about my quirk and sneak in alcohol into school to see what would happen if I drank some and used my quirk. That’s how I found out that my quirk effects depend on how much I drink. If I drink a lot, my quirk is stronger. So I can get someone from tipsy or buzzed to absolutely sloshed.”

“Was there anything good from school that you can remember? Like your favorite class, teacher, or anything like that?”

“Uh, there was one thing... a classmate.”

Izuku peeked over his notebook, “Oh?”

Deidoro relaxed into the couch cushions, “Yeah. We grew up to be quite close. Uh, she was really cute, I had a crush on her just a little bit. She made me want to grow my hair long again because she talked about she liked me with longer hair. She said that I looked very handsome, so I continued to grow it out. Sometimes during lunch, she would braid it before I went to gym class the next period.”

“When she found out about my quirk, she didn’t assume I was a bad or a weird kid at all. She just said how it sounded a little cool,” Sakaki continued. “She didn’t hang out with me to get something out of me like the feeling my quirk gives over people. They honestly just wanted to hang out with me. We had each other most of the time during school since both of us didn’t have that many friends. We became as close as peeaaasss in a pod. We spent time before school, during school and after school.”

Deidoro sighed, “Unfortunately, she had to move to another school during our last year of high school. We lost contact after that.”

“She sounds very kind.”

“Yeah, she was quirkless,” Sakaki looked up at him. “Like you are.”

Izuku froze for a moment before slowly looking up to see Sakaki’s dark eyes staring back at him with no hint of hostility. “How did you...?”

“I heard all of youuuu talking last night when I went to get some water. Don’t worry, man. I didn’t tell anyone here,” Sakaki slurred his words a bit when he was reassuring the therapist. He coughed a bit to clear his throat. He scratched the back of his neck as Izuku waited for his response. “Anyway, that’s kind of the reason I decided to come and talk since I wanted to give your idea of reform an actual chance.”

Deidoro grinned, “You kind of reminded me of her in some way. I could understand why you aren’t so direct with your answers when Nemoto was grilling you after the fight with Rappa. I know what it was like for my friend when she was more secretive about it especially because of people that she didn’t know if she could trust fully. I had to protect her those times...”

Izuku steered the conversation back to him which made Deidoro pick up after his friend had moved schools. He started to talk about how tipsy he would feel even if he didn’t drink anything.

“Anyway, back then after she moved away, I got attached to drinking after graduating. Like fully attached to the point where I was ransacking what I could to get any drop of liquor. My mom had sobered up already by that point. When she found out, she didn’t want me to end up like her so she dragged me to one of those alcoholic centers to help people to rehab.”

Izuku questioned, “Did it help?”

“NOPE!” Sakaki threw his hands in the air. “It was frustrating to talk to them in the first place. I had to sit in a circle and go through this weird small talk thing and just do exercises and stuff. But that center kicked me out the second session when I got bored and accidentally got everyone sloshed because I came there drunk. After that, I went to a different place, but they just couldn’t understand that it’s part of my quirk. I couldn’t just get over drinking just like that, it a LITERAL part of my quirk.”

Izuku nods with a gentle expression, “You can’t change or get out of it as quickly as everyone since you have been dealing with it all your life.”

“I tried with them. They wouldn’t listen. I went to three different centers by then, but they either didn’t take me seriously or stressed me out to a point where I ruined any progress that I had made to try and fix it.” Sakaki breathes out, ”I’m still almost tipsy because of the after-effects of the quirk. The only bright side is that it depends on how much I drink and since there is nothing alcoholic here, I have been getting a bit soberer each day. These cuffs push that tipsy feeling down, but I can like feel some phantom effects and withdrawals because it has always been on my entire life. There is no turn-off button to this like with Soramitsuo’s quirk.”

“So technically you’re sober, but you still feel it,” Izuku summarizes.

“Yeah, but I still feel something or at least a hint of something. Or maybe I’m just imagining it?” Sakaki shrugged before leaning against the back cushions of the couch. “I don’t know.”

“I eventually got away from my mother’s apartment despite her not wanting me to go so soon since I had no job and I wasn't exactly going to college. So I kind of left when she went to work one day and left with a letter that lied about how I found a job that could also house me,” Deidoro ran a hand through his hair with a somber look on his face as he reflected on that memory. “That was so many years ago.”

“The big guy eventually found me on a fire escape drinking straight out of a bottle of sake. He said something with the etiquette of drinking sake and I told him to fuck off. But then he started to talk about his plans and his organization. He had a roof he could put me under and alcohol that he could get to me for free. So I agreed. And that’s how I joined.”

Izuku relaxed his shoulders as Sakaki continued talking about some of his memories.
Izuku brought up good points on how to possibly counteract his quirk by modifying the quirk suppressants to make it into jewelry or to get him prescribed actual medicine to help suppress the effects of the quirk. He mentioned that he was thinking of these ideas for Tabe specifically, but they could also help him.

*

When the two came out, they weren’t surprised to see everyone downstairs. Kurono and Chisaki looked up from their spot against the wall, narrowing their eyes once they saw Deidoro’s arm wrapped around Izuku’s neck casually as they walked out.

“Okay, Okay. So literally at the end of the party. They just find me outside strung up with all the decorations just laughing my ass off. I’m hanging upside down on this weird pumpkin carriage thing they had on the roof. They called the police, I run out of there like a bat out of hell, and then I wake up in my room with more money in my pockets than what I left home with.”

“Wow. Blackouts are something else,”

“I feel like everyone should experience at least one in their lifetime to truly understand what it feels like,” Deidoro stretched out his arms. “I’m pretty sure I dragged everyone else into having a blackout with me from how much I drank of that spiked punch they had sitting out.”

“That’s it! I have had enough stressing over this thing!” Shin snaps, standing up abruptly.

Deidoro tilted his head back while Nemoto angrily approached them, “What are you talking about?”

“This!” Nemoto gestured around the room before pointing two fingers at Izuku, “You!”

“Who? Me?” Izuku laid his hand against his chest like he was touching imaginary pearls around his neck. Deidoro snorted at Nemoto’s expression.

Shin pointed at him, gesturing furiously, “Yes, you! I had enough time trying to figure you out. I have spent so much time around liars, but you are so damn confusing with your tells! I know you are hiding something!”

“What do you think I’m hiding?” Izuku asked. The trio looked worried over on the couch, their gameplay was paused just so they could interrupt if this goes south.

“Don’t you deflect away from this? I am done with staying awake at night trying to figure out what you had meant. So just tell me. I’m sick of it!”

Izuku swallowed, standing up straighter, “I will tell you whatever you want within reason as long as you ask me directly what you want to hear.”

“I asked you after the fight about what type of quirk you had used during the fight. You are the only one hear without these damn cuffs.”

“And I told you that I used no quirk during the fight at all. I also respected Rappa’s wishes of no weapons at all so we could have an honest hand-to-hand combat.”

“Godammit. What is your quirk?!” Nemoto shouted. Rikiya studied the situation like it was a drama show on television with Rappa right next to him.

“I can’t tell you what’s my quirk.”

“Son of a-,”

Izuku finished off by interrupting Shin, “...if I don’t have a quirk.”

“What kind of cryptic...” Nemoto paused, his eyes widening as the room became even more silent. “What did you say?”

Izuku rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Deidoro stood beside him calmly as the rest of the group was waiting for his answer. “I can’t tell you what is my quirk if I don’t have one.”

Nemoto blinked, looking for any tells to show that Izuku would be lying. There was no dishonest movement at all. The rocking back and forth only lasted for a moment to portray how nervous he was. He couldn’t be lying, could he? “You don’t have a quirk?”

Izuku shook his head silently, “I’m quirkless. Does that answer your question?”

And with those words, everyone reacted.

Nemoto stared at Izuku, darting his gaze at everything e could see to make sure that the therapist wasn’t lying at all. Deidoro stood next to Izuku with a hand on his hip, daring him to say anything with a bored look on his otherwise easygoing face.

Tabe, Hojo, and Toya were had slowly stood up when Izuku confessed, like they were getting ready to block him from any attacks. Rappa was watching with Rikiya in the couch still. He had looked over to see Rikiya’s jaw had dropped and knocked it back up with his elbow.

Tengai had paused in his seat where he was meditating and slowly moved his head like an owl towards Nemoto and Izuku. His face was frozen with his mouth silently open. Irinaka has the most expression out of anyone with an exaggerated gasp at the discovery.

Kurono placed his hand over his mouth in shock, not expecting this kind of outcome at all when he had waken up that day. He looked over to see his trusted friend in a frozen position.

Chisaki was staring with wide golden eyes at Izuku with a bewildered expression on his face. His eyes glanced over at Kurono like he was trying to reassure himself that he did hear correctly when the therapist confirmed he was quirkless. He leaned against the wall, raising his cheaply made prosthetic arms to cover his face with a deep sigh.

Chisaki muttered through his hands, “What in the actual hell is my life?”

Chapter Text

Nemoto stared blankly in front of him at Izuku who was waiting for him to say something.

Nemoto ran his hands through his hair, “I can’t believe this. Am I going crazy?”

“Why don’t you believe it?” Izuku questioned calmly.

Nemoto chuckled bitterly to himself. The lack f sleep could be getting to him right now. “What if you are just saying this to get on our good side? You must know what Overhaul was planning in the first place. Maybe you just stating you are quirkless are you trying to manipulate us to follow you.”

Deidoro sighed, “Are you—,”

Midoriya waved him off, “No, no. I understand why that would be the conclusion that he arrived at.”

“So you honestly don’t know if I am telling the truth about my lack of quirk. So what exactly will make you believe in my words?” Midoriya questioned gently to the Yakuza member.

“If only I had my quirk since my usual techniques are failing me right now,” Nemoto murmured, rubbing his forehead, “God, my head hurts.”

Izuku shrugged, “I can fix that.”

Irinaka’s eyes shot open, “Huh? How? When?”

“I have a key that can work on any of the cuffs, but only once. I used a similar key in the previous program,” Midoriya stated, glancing back to his room and office down the short hallway.

Tengai deadpanned from his chair, “You had a key this entire time? And we are just now hearing about it?”

Irinaka approached Izuku quickly, “Where is it?!”

“Hands off, weasel,” Rappa said, pulling back Irinaka by the back of his shirt. Irinaka struggled in Rappa’s grip as Izuku continued.

“If this matters to you and everyone, I can use it now for you to use your quirk for 2 minutes. This would mean that you can get the truth if I am lying or not.”

“What happens if we used it on all the other keys?” Kurono stepped up with a question* stare.

Izuku stared right back at him, challenging him, “It’s one use only before the key is unusable.”

“What? That makes zero sense,” Rikiya commented from his spot on the couch.

“The key is designed like the last key I used in the reform program. Last time, it only lasted for a minute while this one can last for two,” Izuku explained. “The key is specially designed to fit into any keyhole of your cuffs. But once it is inside the cuff to unlock it temporarily, the key undergoes technical changes inside of the cuffs. It changes to a point where the most crucial parts break off inside of the cuff, making it no longer usable to unlock any other cuff.”

Hojo summarized, “So it’s basically like a one-use skeleton key that loses any sense of skeleton key while inside the cuff.”

Chisaki asked, coming closer to stand beside Kurono. “How is that possible?”

“If you are familiar with support items, a certain name should be clear to who designs these cuffs,” Izuku explained. “These cuffs were made from Hatsume Industries, a company that was established while all of you were still inside Tartarus. Anything is possible there with all of their support technicians coming up with new ideas each day.”

Chisaki looked to Kurono who stared back at him, making to a conclusion on their own. Izuku noticed the look by glancing over at them which made him continue his explanation.

“But before any of you think that this is your key to leaving,” Chisaki and Kurono snapped back to attention to see Izuku staring right back at them with a challenge burning in his eyes. “Just to let you know that the key is not your way out.”

“This key can only be used once for two minutes on one of your cuffs. Let me break it down,” Izuku started to explain, ready to analyze their plan enforce they could even come up with one. “Kurono, Deidoro, and Rikiya’s quirk are capable of basically making me unable to move or harder to move. That alone won’t allow you to make it to the security wall a mile away from the house. Rikiya’s quirk could allow him to steal everyone’s energy in that short amount of time, and he might be able to make it to the wall if he runs fast enough. But again everyone else is wearing active cuffs that the wall will recognize and send out a signal to the heroes.”

Izuku summarized, “Any plan that might have popped into your head of how to escape is useless since there is a time limit to the key itself.”

Kurono observed. “Rappa could take you down with his quirk. An easy kill.”

“Again with this! I ain’t following your orders anymore, dumbass! You think I’m going to kill the only guy I haven’t defeated in a fight yet,” Rappa yelled out towards the other Yakuza members. “I quit. Q-U-I-T.”

“Congratulation you can spell,” Tengai replied calmly with a bored look on his face.

Rappa taunted back at Tengai. “Yeah, I can spell. You know what else I can spell. K-I-S-S M-Y A-S-S.”

Izuku only focused his attention on Nemoto to get a clear answer from him, “Anyway, Nemoto-Kun, do you want to know the full truth?”

“Yes,” Nemoto answered back.

“Alright, I will go retrieve the key.”

“Go ahead,” Hojo said already getting up to guard Izuku against the rest of the Yakuza members. Tabe and Toya flanked the sides with Deidoro standing behind Nemoto in case he did something. Rappa watched the others with a judging stare while Rikiya just chilled on the couch.

Izuku returned with a small, skeleton key in his hand. Nemoto straightened up, extending his hand face-down to show his quirk restraint cuff to Izuku.

Everyone watched carefully as Izuku pushed the key into the cuff and turned it.

Nemoto could feel his quirk returning to him, a wonderful feeling like he was being filled with warmth. Steadying himself, he asked the question he has been dying to hear the answer of again. “Tell me, are you quirkless?”

“Yes.”

‘Oh well, that checks out,’ Nemoto thought to himself. He still has more than a minute to use his quirk, so why not use it to the fullest to understand more.

“Tell me your true thoughts towards the reform program.”

“The reform program gives a chance for villains and vigilantes to have another chance at life. I don’t regret my decision on joining since it allows me to connect to much more people,” Izuku answered back with no difficulty, not holding back at all with his reply.

“Tell me, was life growing up hard for you because of your lack of quirk.”

“Yes,” Izuku swallowed. “It was. I faced discrimination everywhere I go since I had gotten my diagnosis. I was either treated as useless like a waste of space or like I was too fragile to do a single thing right. I was bullied a lot by my peers from elementary up until high school.”

Nemoto was running low on what to ask him since he knew the timer was running out, “Uh, Tell me what’s your least favorite flower?”

“Red spider lilies.”

Nemoto winced at the implication of why those were his least favorite flower.

“You’re wasting time asking those kinds of questions. If you wanted to do something, ask him how we can get these cuffs on without help or, better yet, on how we can just leave this place,” Chisaki said strictly from his spot near the wall besides Kurono. He was still staring down Izuku who was staring at Nemoto, ready for a new question.

Nemoto wasn’t good with time, but he somehow felt that his time was coming close to ending. He wasn’t going to have a chance like this for a long time or ever again. He turned to his boss that he has been devoted to. The boss of the Yakuza he devoted his life to because he had saved him from the streets and alleyways.

Taking in a short breath, he asked a question that he couldn’t dare to ask before all of this had happened. “Tell me if you even care about any of us and the future of the Shie Hassaikai.”

Chisaki’s yellow eyes sharpened once he felt the quirk take effect, “No, I don’t—,”

Nemoto felt his quirk fall back, the cuffs going back to restraining his quirk. Izuku calmly pulled out the remainder of the key, the edges of the bottom looked like it smothered out somehow.

Everyone was silent, not saying anything while Chisaki straightened up where he was standing. Tengai and Irinaka looked mildly shocked but understanding towards his answer since they didn’t hear the rest of it. Nemoto had paused in shock, wondering if his boss even cares about what they have done.

The five reformed Yakuza members just look at the old boss in a mixture of disbelief and understanding. Kurono stepped aside to truly stare at Chisaki with an unreadable look on his face.

Rikiya looks around the entire place. He takes in a breath through his teeth at the awkward tension in the air. “Yeah... I’m good for the night. I’m just going to quit the Shie Hassaikai now and get it over with before I go to bed. Um, good night to everyone here, and yeah... Yikes.”

With that out of the way, Rikiya made his way up the stairs silently with no one making any move or any sound.

Izuku slowly placed the useless key into his pocket. Izuku remarked, “Well, some different feelings have arisen from this encounter.”

Rappa had shifted his position on the couch to get more comfortable, trying to see if a fight would break out.

Kurono looked back at Chisaki who was making a point to ignore Nemoto who was currently trying to make sense of Chisaki’s answer to his question. Deidoro approached Nemoto slowly, trying to see if they were okay.

The original reformed trio looked back and forth between all of the others in the same room, wondering what the next move would be.

But before anything could happen between anyone, there was a sudden noise coming from down the short hallway. Izuku turned his head at the noise, recognizing the familiar tone.

“Who is calling me?”

Chapter Text

Izuku looked back towards the group, “Excuse me. Someone seems to be calling me.”

“Who would be calling you?” Toya asked Izuku, confused on why would he get a phone call in the middle of a reform program.

“No idea!” Izuku called back before closing his bedroom door behind him. Izuku goes to the bedroom to answer the phone quickly. He quickly jumped on his bed to reach his phone on his nightstand, ignoring the work phone. He recognized that ringtone since he personalized each one to a specific person in his contacts. If it was business, it would have an entirely different tone to the upbeat one that was playing through the phone’s speaker.

Izuku slid accept on the touchscreen to answer, “Himi-Chan?”

“Oh, thank goodness you answered!” Himiko said loudly over this speaker in obvious relief. “I didn’t know if you were in the middle of a session or...”

“Well, I wasn’t in the middle of a session...but it was something,” Izuku answered back. “Why did you call? Is everything okay?”

“Okay, you know how everything has been going good with everyone like how Shiggy got a chinchilla and stuff?”

Izuku nodded while he replied, “Yeah, he sent me pictures over email. Did something happen to them?”

”No. But something is happening. And I’m trying to figure out what to do. So I called you because you always calm him down if I can’t,” Himiko rambled. He could hear her voice shaking even over the phone speaker.

“Himiko, what’s going on?” Izuku asked clearly.

“Twice is going through a meltdown, he feels like he is splitting again. So I called you since you know what to do. I tried to give him different masks to help him keep sane, but they aren’t doing anything right now,” Himiko replied. “I’m scared that I can’t do anything to help him.”

“Okay, Okay. Break it down for me. Where are you right now and where is Twice?”

“We are in the same room. I’m on the other side though. He is gripping onto a paper bag over his head,”

“Alright. Do you know how it happened or anything that might have triggered this kind of splitting?”

“Uh, we went outside to go run some errands for grandma. I think some kid said something to him when I was in the craft aisle. He kept mentioning how he wasn’t a ‘stitched up doll’. When I heard that, I wanted to go back and punch whoever said that but we were already halfway home by that point,” Himiko explained. He could hear Jin arguing with himself in the background.

“He hasn’t done this in so long,” Izuku remarked. Jin still had his struggles with his mental health just like everyone else. He would go back basically into ‘Twice’ when he felt himself splitting again. Sometimes it would just be a mild panic that they could calm down but once it got so bad that he made doubles of himself that filled the room. As his friends, they all helped him in some way when stuff like that would happen in the presence of any of the reformed league.

Himiko was usually the main one that could calm him down the easiest. Izuku also helped the most since Izuku was his trustworthy therapist and friend.

“Himiko? Hand him the phone, please. I can talk with him to try and calm him down. Stay near him, your presence always helps whether you know it or not,” Izuku calmly replied through the phone.

He could feel her nod even if he couldn’t see her. “Got it. Hey, Jin-Kun? Izuku’s on the phone to talk to you.”

“Jin? Hey, it’s me,” Izuku greeted warmly.

He heard him take a deep breath before responding, “Iz... Izuku?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Ha.. hi. Bye! No,” Jin groaned over the phone speaker.

“Jin, Jin. It’s okay. Just breathe.”

“I have been breathing,” Jin coughs to cut himself off in a different tone. “Not breathing. Shut up. I’m gonna tear apart.”

“No, you won’t. I’m here and Himiko is right there with you. We’re right here,” Izuku reassured.

“I can’t see you...”

“But you can hear me,” Izuku countered. His eyebrows shot up, “Wait, switch to video call.”

Himiko ended up pressing the button on the phone while Jin worked on his breathing exercise. Izuku continued to talk as he switched over to video call. Jin was wearing a paper bag over his head with two small eye holes aimed at the phone. His hands were gripping the paper causing it to crinkle and tear at the bottom. “Now you can see me. And I can see you too.”

“We just see Jin. Not Twice. Jin, our friend,” Himiko calmly said, patting him on the shoulder as Jin’s breathing started to calm down. His hands stopped gripping the paper bag so harshly.

*

Rappa slurps loudly on his drink while Chisaki leans against the wall with Kurono a few feet away from him. Toya was trading glances with Tabe, trying to guess what might happen next. Hojo was busy fixing a few sandwiches for the more or less ‘reformed’ group of old Yakuza members.

Nemoto was leaning against the back of the couch while sitting on the floor facing the kitchen. He kept glancing all around him to see Hojo in the kitchen and Chisaki against the far wall.

Hojo called out, “Hey, Sakaki? You want some cinnamon in your peanut butter and jelly?”

“Go ahead,” Deidoro smirked. “I love the taste.”

Hojo scoffed at the other’s response.

Irinaka was thumbing through pages of a book about different currencies around the world and what each of them equal to compared to other countries. Tengai was relaxing on the floor in a meditative state or as close to a calming state as he could get in the room.

Chisaki sighed loud enough for Kurono to turn to him. Irinaka and Tengai looked up at the sound.

“I will only say this once since tensions have seemed to rise,” Chisaki informed everyone in the room. He glanced at Nemoto who still looked strange. Everyone looked up even Rappa who looked like he didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter if I care for any of you. But I did get cut off since Nemoto’s quirk cuffs came back online to nullify his quirk. So I must explain what I was in the middle of saying.”

Chisaki glared at Nemoto which caused him to shrink back in himself. “Even though I was forced to answer something with time that could have been used more efficiently.”

“My whole mission was to reignite the Yakuza to become stronger and more powerful. It was the main purpose of starting my plan in the first place. So I do care about the yakuza, I do care about most of the members inside since they didn’t want me to be in charge in the first place since Pops...” Chisaki paused. “So I do not care for most of the Yakuza members back in the Shie Hassaikai. I focused all of my attention to complete my plan with my loyal members to assist me. Is that clear?”

Rappa muttered, staring at the pristine ceiling from his spot laying down on the couch, “But that didn’t end up happening.”

Kurono unknowingly breathes out a thankful sigh of relief when Chisaki got finished with his side. He glanced over to Irinaka and Tengai who still looked loyal to their boss. He risked his gaze towards Nemoto who was standing near Deidoro still. Nemoto’s tired eyes were fixed on Chisaki’s face until he started to stare right back at Kurono.

Kurono narrowed his eyes at him until Nemoto fixed his gaze at his shoes too tired to say anything else. Nemoto bit his lip as soon as Kurono and Chisaki’s attention went somewhere else. He was still unsatisfied.

He doesn’t even know what he is unsatisfied with. Maybe it was Overhaul’s answer? Maybe it was the fact that he took so long to say something like he was rehearsing on what to say in his head. Or maybe it was the fact that he could still tell that Chisaki was hiding information from his answer.

He never said anything about caring about any of the members inside the room with him. ‘It doesn’t matter if I care for any of you’.

It matters to him. He devoted his loyalty to a man that saved his life. A man who saved him from ending up as trash in an alleyway.

He should have known that he was expendable after all. He was part of the eight expendable for a reason, right? That’s all he ever was in the beginning.

And all of his life. Someone that could be replaced easily. Nobody had to worry about someone like him.

“Hey, Shin,” Hojo called. Nemoto looked up to see a plate full of sandwiches. “I made extra sandwiches.”

*

It took a while for Jin to fully calm down from his ‘splitting attack’. And eventually, the three of them just engaged in casual conversation so Izuku could catch up to what was going on. Touya was practicing his art to learn how to do more realistic and western-style tattoos. Iguchi’s mother had gifted everyone some cookies to celebrate him winning a citywide art competition.

“You sound pretty tired,” Jin commented. “Did the Yakuza tire you out more than us?”

“Kind of. I had to admit to some trauma, so that’s not always fun to deal with, to be honest. But I knew what I was getting into and agreed to it,” Izuku responded.

Izuku could practically hear Himiko’s excitement from the way she answered, “Aww, you need us to punch somebody?”

“Himi-Chan!”

“What? We can’t kill them or else reform went to waste. But a punch is fair game as long as we are acting in self-defense,” Himiko replied. “We make them attack us first and then bam! Punching could start to defend your honor.”

Izuku laughed before laying his head against the wall, “I miss you guys.”

“Miss you too,” Jin murmured. “By the way, we are pretty sure that Magne’s boyfriend is going to propose to her sometime soon.

“Really?!” Izuku responded happily. “That’s great.”

“Yeah he has that lovey-dovey look in his eyes, he even asked for her ring size like a week ago,” Himiko sighed dramatically. “I hear wedding bells already. She better make me a bridesmaid, I have wanted to be one for so long.”

“I want to be a bridesmaid too. I’ll wear any kind of dress Big Sis wants,” Jin agreed.

“Oh, did you hear that Tenko got a chinchilla!”

Izuku nodded with a grin on his face, “Yeah, I heard from him over email a while ago. He sent me a picture of them, they are very cute.”

“Yeah, he heard how they need to bathe in ash and he was like ‘I can provide that!’” Jin said.

Himiko giggled, “Thank goodness that Yuki works well with the little fluff ball.”

“Hey, Izuku-Kun?”

“What is it?”

“Thanks,” Jin said. “I know you are busy with the whole program thing so I feel bad that I took you away from that. But thanks for helping calm my head down.”

Izuku retorted, “Jin, there’s no need for you to feel guilty. I will always have time for my friends no matter where they are. So if you need someone to talk to, just call. If it’s a bad time, I can tell you that and call you later.”

“Alright, we’ll let you go back to whatever you were doing,” Himiko said through the phone. Jin agreed with her.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you guys again soon. Love you. Bye,” Izuku said. Himiko and Jin said goodbye as well with an added ‘miss you!’ before the call disconnected.

With the phone call done, Izuku headed back into the living room to check on everyone only to find it in comfortable silences with the Yakuza group split in two.

It became separated since the start of the sessions with the more ‘reformed group’ on one side of the room and the other members who refuse to reform on the opposite side. But something was different now because Rikiya was gone.

And Nemoto was sitting right in the middle between the two groups.

Chapter Text

It had been two days after Izuku had gotten that phone call and Chisaki had caused some tension between everyone. Nemoto has been silent since the interaction of him asking Chisaki that question using his quirk.

Everything hadn’t returned to normal.

Things have slowly started to shift.

Chisaki and Kurono have been nicer to Izuku after dinner, making Irinaka and Tengai nicer to him as well since they were following after their boss. Izuku can feel their eyes on him since he had revealed he was quirkless. It felt like they were watching his every move now more than ever. Like they were looking for something every single time his fingers moved or how he walked.

He is curious to know where he exactly stood with them since they have been nicer, but not in the way people treat him like he was fragile. They were just treating him with a bit more respect.

But it still felt off, like they were waiting for something from him. Like they were waiting for him to say something, anything towards them. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t know how to describe the feeling, he just felt unease especially when Chisaki comes closer to him when he makes dinner.

The Yakuza boss would step away from the wall to stand just outside the kitchen area and begin asking Izuku about his life. Izuku would glance over when Chisaki wasn’t looking at him to see the old boss looking down at his prosthetic arms.

He didn’t expect anything of that to happens afterward.

And Izuku surely wasn’t expecting his office door to be roughly thrown open while he was organizing what was inside his desk drawers. Rikiya stared at him evenly before walking to the couch to fall back into the cushions. He continued to stare mindlessly as Rikiya shifted back onto the cushions, grabbing a pillow from behind him to rest it behind his head.

Midoriya blinked at Rikiya and looked down at the pens he had scattered on his desk. With one arm, he pushed all the scattered pens into the open drawer. He cleared his throat before facing the old Yakuza member. “Hello. What brings you in today?”

“I thought about this after I went to sleep last night,” Rikiya started. “Since I quit yesterday, I want to go ahead with this whole reform thing, you know? Rappa told me that it was pretty cool since I can just rant about my life for as long as I want to. So can I get that reform therapy session started?”

“Uh, Okay? Would you like to start it now?” Midoriya asked, walking over to the seat across from Rikiya.

Rikiya looked down at himself and gestured down where he was sitting. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Alright then,” Izuku plopped down into his chair to face the other man. He collected his notebooks and pen from the table in between them. “Is Rikiya okay?”

“Yeah, whatever works with me.”

“You may start whenever you’re ready. It helps when you start at the beginning as far back as you can recall,” Midoriya explains.

“Uh, I have no idea how this works, but here I go,” Rikiya sighed. He quickly paused before deciding to lay back down on the couch instead of sitting up. “Alright, so, it started when I was born. I don’t know much about it. From what I was told, my birth mom didn’t have much to her name since she was young. So she gave me up because she couldn’t handle having a child. I stayed at an orphanage for a few years.”

“When I got my quirk, the people are the orphanage transferred me to a foster home since I was accidentally sapping energy from the other kids there. I didn’t know that the was happening until they took me to get my quirk checked out. When they found out I was the reason everyone was tired, they moved me somewhere else.” Rikiya recalled.
“So I stayed with this older woman who worked on the phone all the time. She gave me the go-ahead to take her energy whenever I felt like it, so she could just stay at home. She homeschooled me since she used to be a teacher or something.”

“Then I got transferred to another guy when I was six, but he was a douchebag!” Rikiya complained, “Oh my god. He made me do almost everything around the house. He always said ‘if you want the energy, you are going to work it off to repay me’. He would MAKE me take his energy every day since I couldn’t leave the house without him. I did it have anywhere else to take energy from and I still didn’t know my quirk well enough to control it yet. So it was either take from him but work all day or sleep the entire day and risk not getting food since he was upset that I didn’t do my ‘job’.”

“I sincerely hope that man’s license was revoked,” Izuku commented honestly, scribbling down on his notebook. He twirled the pen between his fingers as Rikiya agreed.

“Well luckily, I didn’t have to stay with him since it was just a foster program. He might have got his license provoked by now at least. Anyway, I got transferred over a lot bouncing between people. A lot of them just ignored me and let me do my thing. Not a lot of them stuck out to me in my experience with them. I don’t remember much of any of them, a lot of it blurs together since they were the same,” Rikiya explained.

“I did it end up finally in a better foster home right when I was like a second-year in high school. They worked a lot. When they weren’t at work, they did their best to make sure I was healthy and okay. Which was more than what the other foster homes did I can tell you that for sure,” Rikiya lazily blinked as he remembered some memories. “We had like a movie night once a week on their day off.”

“I’m guessing that they had a lasting impact on you since they weren’t anything like the previous households you have been in?”

“Yeah. I never took energy from them since they needed it a lot more than I did and they never asked me to either. They were some cool people. It was a shame since I aged to a point where they could adopt me. They tried to but their forms were lost or something like that. So I’m not officially theirs, but they were chill about it,” Rikiya recounted. “They said something like I could visit since the room would still be open for me. But after I aged out, I didn’t want to bother them anymore since they were working hard to keep my mouth fed, so I moved onto the streets after a year.”

*

Outside the therapy office, all of the other members were in the room. Rappa was telling stories on the couch with Sakaki who looked very interested. Hojo, Tabe, and Toya were all together like usual with the three of them playing with cards. Tengai and Irinaka were on the other side of the room unusually calm ever since the incident a few days ago.

Nemoto was staring blankly up at the ceiling with his back to the front of the bookshelf. In his hands was a large book that he was reading quietly. His reading was interrupted by steps coming down the stairs.

Without a word, he glanced up to see Chisaki and Kurono walk together with Kurono behind him just by a step. Nemoto snapped his book closed, a sound that Hojo heard even with Toya bragging about his shuffling skills. Nemoto began to rise with the book still in his hands while Rappa cackled at the two of them.

“You’re losing members left and right, man. Rikiya is already in there ready to join the actual winning side.” Rappa laughs, leaning on the backrest of the couch. “Get wrecked.”

Deidoro was slurping on his water loudly, careful to not choke on the liquid when he laughed.

“Nemoto! Get over here,” Irinaka called over to the other. Tengai moved his head in a way that looked like he was also quietly beckoning the man over.

Nemoto didn’t look up when his name was called. He only looked down at the book in his hands, unaware of the other members around him or the growing silence in the room. It seems like Rappa quieted down just to see how Nemoto would react.

He got his answer when Nemoto tucked the book under his arm after taking another book from the bookshelf. He ignored the rest of the people in the room especially the two watching his movements from the far wall. Nemoto stepped into the kitchen to take several fruits from the bowl along with a bottle of water.

Kurono reaches out to the man’s shoulder, “Nemoto.”

“No,” Nemoto states, brushing off the other's hand from his shoulder

Kurono’s eyes widened at his dismissal while Chisaki sighed behind him. After that, the other men watched him climb the stairs back up to his room silently.

Hojo looked at the stairs with a sympathetic look in his eyes’ gaze. He quietly said, “I kind of feel bad for him.”

“Nemoto?” Toya asked.

“Yeah, I think he was one of the most devoted and loyal to him apart from Irinaka,” Tabe replied softly to not draw any attention. Rappa returned to laughing away with Sakaki on the couch, recounting the time he cracked open two watermelons simultaneously with his legs.

*

“After you moved out, did you try to get a job?” Izuku questioned.

Rikiya shrugged, “I didn’t want to work. How would I? I was always too tired to work on homework so I barely passed high school. If I went to work, I would end up sapping the other people working there, so I could do the job.”

“So I lived on the streets for a while,” Rikiya relaxed back onto the throw pillow. “I found this old school bus that I slept in for months, it was a sweet place to sleep. I took energy from the other people when I passed them on the streets, a little from everyone so I wouldn’t get caught that easily.”

“I got money by doing alleyway deals like weakening someone by taking their quirk or just acting as some kind of intimidation. Like someone paid me to beat up some guys for me. So that was easy money. Overhaul found me after a deal that didn’t work out in my favor. So I just joined because I wouldn’t have to live in a bus and keep eating cheap ramen.”

“He was interested in my quirk so I was more of the guard dog. Take energy from intruders and fight them off. Not a big job.”

From then on, the conversation went in multiple directions since Rikiya kept bouncing back when he remembered a specific event happening. Izuku followed with him, asking questions to gather all the information he could get.

Izuku countered with a knowing smile, “I find your quirk quite interesting.”

“Oh really?”

“I do want to ask a few more questions about it. I also have some uses that your quirk could have as well,” Izuku smiled, his eyes sparkling with intense interest. “Would you like to hear them?”

Rikiya scratched the back of his neck, “Sure dude. Knock yourself out.”

Chapter Text

After Rikiya’s session, he joined Rappa fully on the reformed side. That night, Nemoto didn’t join them for dinner. Izuku did not see him come down until it was late at night. Nemoto has sneaked down the stairs to grab a few things from the fridge before going back upstairs without a word.

The next day, Rappa wanted to fight. Rikiya took him on first since he was feeling less tired due to Izuku’s suggestion. After Rikiya finished, Rappa decided to challenge Izuku to a rematch. And the therapist agreed since it was great to get any access energy out. It was another tie again because Izuku had successfully found a pressure point that made Rappa fall into the grass after he hit the spot many times during the spar.

Again, Nemoto has strangely not present during lunch or dinner that day. He only came out when it was late that night with only reformed members downstairs. He took leftovers from dinner that Izuku had saved for him. He looked confused at first until Izuku told him that he was going to bring it up to him later. Nemoto’s expression softened from the blank stare that he had to look down at the container in his hands. Without a word, he nodded back at him before heading back to his room.

It wasn’t until the next day that Nemoto came down right as everyone was finish lunch. The unreformed group kept their gaze on him as he marched straight up to Izuku who was sitting near the reform group.

“After a lot of thinking, I wish to have a therapy session with you if it is not too much trouble,” Nemoto said.

Chisaki looks at him with a blank expression which caused Nemoto to throw up his hand and flip him off as he followed Izuku into the office. Chisaki raised an eyebrow at the gesture while Rappa’s laugh filled the room.

*

Izuku clicked his pen, “Is Shin okay? Or do you prefer Nemoto?”

“Nemoto is fine,” Nemoto replied blankly.

“Okay. Start whenever you are ready.”

“My parents lied. All the time. To each other. To me. To everyone around them,” Nemoto started. “As far back as I can remember, they were always liars no matter how big or small their lie was.”

“My father came home with women when my mother was still at work. He made them escape through the back so no neighbors could see them when they have to leave. My mother would cheat on him as well. They never bothered to hide it from each other but still got upset with each other even though they were doing the same thing to each other all the time.”

“When I got my quirk. They made me use it on each other and got upset with me when I made them tell the truth. If my father made me use my quirk on mom to make him admit he got blackout drunk the night before, she would get upset with me and not him. When she would make me use a quirk on him to see if he was cheating, he would slap me and send me to my room without dinner. I became the scapegoat no matter what,” Nemoto sighed. He had an upset look in his dark eyes, staring past Izuku to the far wall. “If I did it, I got punished in some way that led to them arguing with each other. If I refused, they would continue arguing with each other and they would berate me for not using my quirk.”

Midoriya had a worried expression on his face. He writes down several notes in his notebooks to write small keywords instead of detailing the entirety of what the other was telling him.

“They were miserable together, but they weren’t making enough money separately to leave each other just yet. I think at one point they had given up on one another. They would no longer refer to each other except by their last names. They had become roommates instead of the happily married couple that all the neighbors knew,” Nemoto explained. He shifted in his seat to pull his leg underneath his other leg. “When they went out in public, they put up this front that we were the perfect little family. And once the doors closed, they would go right back to ignoring each other and ignoring me for the most part.”

“So I grew up with them in the same old house. I learned how to lie straight from the best. I slowly started to realize how to convince people, manipulate people by learning from my parent’s expressions. I started to learn from their expressions when they were truthful. They were never truthful when saying something about how they loved me or cared about me. They were only truthful when they were under the influence in some way like drugs that my father brought back. I was always the reason behind the problems and how if I was never born that they would still be that happy couple that everyone loved to hang out with.

“I never felt like I was loved even in the slightest way from them,” Nemoto stated calmly. “Nothing in their actions or expressions gave me any kind of hope that they would care if I suddenly disappeared. When they took me out shopping for food or clothes, it was always because of necessity and to keep up the charade of the happy family that everyone was jealous of.”

Midoriya looked up from his notebook, “Did you have anyone on your side? Did anyone recognize what was going on?”

Nemoto shook his head, “No. Everyone always believed their lies. Plus, why would they believe anything I said since they were always so perfect?”

“Did you ever try to tell anyone?” Izuku asked.

“Why yes. Yes, I did. Tried to at least,” Nemoto admitted with a strained expression. “I tried to reach out to a neighbor who wasn’t that close with my parents. I tried to tell them about how unhappy they were and how it was. But you know what they said?!”

Nemoto pitched his voice up high to imitate his neighbor's voice, “What do you mean? They always look so perfect. Ah, they must have stopped spoiling you for you to complain like that.”

Midoriya furrowed his eyebrows is while Nemoto sighed before he continued. “So I learned that I couldn’t trust any neighbors. And what could I tell the police? They never let the face drop in front of anyone and they never left any marks on me. So if I accused them, it would lead to nothing happening. Most of their damage wasn't physical so I can’t prove anything in my favor.”

“I kept up the charade that they always showed off in public. Even at school, I had to play the part of the ‘perfect son’ example that my neighbors always heard about. I got high grades that my parents never acknowledged but later said that they were so proud of others who came to visit. I was part of the student council and other members always relied on me,” Nemoto explained further. “But I became kind of infamous in school for being the ‘truth seeker’. I could always tell when others were lying and got them in trouble with the teachers. Sometimes I would use my quirk to make them tell on themselves. But when they try to accuse me, I would lie to bring myself into the good light again. Besides, the teachers never really care about quirk usage as long as it didn’t get physical.”

Midoriya nodded to his words. ‘At least his teachers cared when it got physical’,
he thought to himself.

“I tried to keep my quirk usage to a minimum until school council members wanted me to use it to help them out with small things. Small things like learning what type of people their crushes go for or something like that. Small things became bigger and bigger over time. And the members told the students which made me a lot more popular in school as the guy who could get you whatever information you needed,” Nemoto ran his hand down his face as he remembers each incident from middle school into high school. How forced the confessions would seem after he got involved and how fights would start so easily after hearing what friends thought of the other. “Slowly I became a reliable student council member into someone who I didn’t want to be. I was just consistently used my quirk. People that I wanted to consider my friends always brought up using my quirk for something. I just became a usable pawn that anyone could use, a human truth serum for public use.”

*

While the reformed group was talking amongst themselves with Rikiya as their newest member, the other old Yakuza members were close to each other on the other side. They were well aware that Izuku was inside his office with Nemoto. It was only a matter of time before he came out on the therapist’s side.

“Boss, I’m sure we can come out with a plan. It’s too close to the end to just call of our efforts.”

“No. I think we should just pause in our efforts,” Tengai answered simply with his gaze fixed in the book he was reading.

Irinaka let out a very offended gasp, “Tengai-Kun! Whose side are you on?”

“Irinaka, that is enough for now,” Chisaki started calmly to one of his more loyal men. “Kurono and I have been discussing our next move for quite some time. Each one of our plans will not work not only because of our lack of members, but also the measures are taken to secure us to this place. There is no way out of here unless we wish to go back to Tartarus instead.”

“But—,”

“The only thing we can do is either get out of here early by choosing Tartarus or stall this reform program as much as we can. For right now, I want you to follow my order.”

Irinaka grinned, “Of course! What should we do?”

“Attend the sessions that our therapist has,” Chisaki answered. Kurono widened his eyes out of surprise, coughing into his elbow to hide his shocked expression. He didn’t know that was what his friend was going to say.

“But why? That dumb therapist has almost everyone under his thumb now,” Irinaka replied. Tengai turned the page of his book calmly before looking back up to the other two men standing up.

Kurono looked over to stare at Chisaki with an unreadable look on his face. He turned back to Irinaka, “Remember early in the program when you said that if we leave, we are disrespecting the Yakuza by proving we are not strong enough. Go with that mindset. The Yakuza does not give up, Irinaka-Kun.”

“Got it,” Irinaka started to grin again. He already had a growing plan behind the order given. “We can slowly make him see how the Yakuza sees the world and move him onto our side,”

Chisaki nodded back at his men with both of them nodding back. Tengai gave a single nod while Irinaka was nodding excitedly like he was happy to finally fulfill an order. Kurono followed after him as the man sat down on the stairs after thoroughly wiping it down with a cleaning cloth that he had stolen from the cleaning closet under the staircase.

“Chisaki, what happened to your previous plan? The fake reforming ruins the program and brings down everyone involved.

“Kurono. Midoriya, our therapist, is quirkless. He has piqued my interest in a way,” Chisaki said honestly.

Kurono cautiously glanced towards the office door with a steady gaze before looking back towards his oldest friend, “What kind of way exactly?”

“He is pure in the world of quirks. He has faced discrimination just like everyone. I want to hear more from him and learn. And how he lives in this world. How he feels. Does he feel empty in this world?” Chisaki asked quietly, examining the fingers of his prosthetic arm.

“By the looks of it, he has many skills that could have made him be a great ally to us if he was on our side,” Kurono commented with a troubled expression on his face as he realized that Chisaki was no longer looking towards him when he started to talk. Chisaki’s gaze was fixed on his fake arms before looking past Kurono to stare at the closed door of the office.

Kurono didn’t know how to feel about being ignored by his oldest friend. It looked like Chisaki was fixing his gaze on Midoriya Izuku instead of focusing on the Shie Hassaikai. The group that both of them were part of for as long as they have known each other.

*

“It never stopped even after high school,” Nemoto sighed. He pulled his hand through his hair and pushed his glasses back up on his nose. “I slowly started to resent lying since I moved out of my parents' house from the money I saved from some part-time jobs I had during school. I hid the money away and kept the job a secret from my parents for who knows how long.”

Nemoto continued, “I got caught up in more underground activities like betting and gambling since I could tell when people were bluffing. At that point, I gained a reputation in many seedy clubs. But I was still used as an object there as well until the point I just accepted it. I just accepted that I would always be used and that no one would care for me beyond my quirk. Because there was nobody who showed me that they want to spend time with me.”

“And them Overhaul found me and offered me a job. He told me that I would become part of the new Yakuza, looking forward to a new future he had planned. I didn’t want to be used, but he told me about how they needed me not just for my quirk. I agreed to go. And along that way, I honestly convinced myself that it wasn’t the same as being used since Overhaul mostly asked me to use my quirk instead of forcing it out of me. I felt like I was my person under him for a change. I thought it was different. That he was different. That I finally had a place among the rest of the members.”

Nemoto gritted his teeth, “I honestly thought that he cared about us. I wanted to imagine that Chisaki saw something in us that separated us from the rest of the members that were there since the old head was the leader. But I know the truth now. He wanted to sweep this shit under the rug to have his loyal members right back underneath him like before. But I know he tells better than anyone. I know he is still hiding something.

“I guess Shigaraki was a better friend to his group than Overhaul is with us,” Nemoto jokes.

Nemoto stopped talking for a few moments which led to a few minutes. Izuku waited as he calmed himself down.

“When I asked you...with my quirk, you said that you cared about us,” Nemoto said, grabbing Izuku’s attention. “How you wanted to help. And it has been ringing in my head since then. So why?”

Izuku questioned, “Why what?”

“Why do you care? No one ever has,” Nemoto replied. “I know that no one cared about me. But the fact that you have no idea about who I am, but you still want to help. I have been nothing but hateful towards you and what you are doing since I arrived. But you admitted that you cared about all of us even me. So why do you care about me? Why do you want to help?”

“I have always wanted to help others. I wanted to be a hero that could make people smile. But I noticed how I could be there for others who need another kind of help that isn’t physical. I came to care about every person that I have come across in some way,” Izuku answered. “I want to help all of you because I care about your future more than you might realize.”

“I know you are telling the truth,” Nemoto responded.

“I have grown sick of lying just like you. I got tired of lying to myself or others that I was perfectly fine. I worked through my troubles with some support,” Midoriya said. “And I will provide any support you need.”

Nemoto nodded, breathing out of his mouth as he looked down at his lap. Midoriya walked up to him calmly as Nemoto touched his warm face with his cold hands.

“Can I hug you?”

Nemoto looked taken aback for a moment before hesitantly opening his arms. “Okay.”

Izuku nodded before wrapping his arms around the tall male. Nemoto hesitated before hugging the therapist back. He never really remembered the last time he was hugged like this or touched like this.

It felt nice. It felt like he was safe. Before he knew it, Nemoto started to silently cry as the realization hit him all at once.

Nemoto looked down with tears running down his cheeks, “Why are you crying?”

“I can’t help it,” Midoriya replied softly as the tears starting to flow down his face like a small river. “I always have tissues on me for this reason.”

Nemoto sniffed through his tears as he watched the therapist rub away the tears with his shirt sleeve. Even without his quirk, he could tell that Midoriya wasn’t lying.

“Hey, Midoriya?”

“Yes, Nemoto?”

Nemoto softened up a bit, “You can call me Shin if you want.”

Chapter Text

Things have been slightly better since Nemoto had joined the reform group. Well, things have been better for the reform group, not as much for Chisaki’s remaining members.

Tengai was currently trying to meditate while having background noise coming from the loud duo known as Rappa and Rikiya who were currently trying to kick each other’s ass in a fighting game. Hojo was the third player while Toya sat off to the side since he was already eliminated in the first round. His eyebrow twitched several times, trying to refocus his body and mind to fully accept the embrace of calmness.

Breathe in.

“Boom bitch!”

Breathe out.

Rappa gestured towards the screen where his avatar was laying down completely knocked out. “What the hell was that combo move thing?”

“Maybe if you stopped spamming the buttons, you would have landed more damage,” Rikiya teased, poking his elbow into Rappa’s side.

“Yo, teach me. Teach me before you kill me again,” Hojo begged, looking down at the buttons on his controller frantically.

Tengai furrowed his brows, peeking his eyes open to watch the group interact.

“Oooh, better luck next time champ,” Hojo commented since Rappa was the first to die in the next round. Toya focused on the screen to go after Hojo’s avatar on screen.

Rikiya chuckled, “Maybe you are better at fighting in real life.”

“Haha. How funny,” Rappa rolled his eyes, “Let’s fight!”

“Noooo,” Hojo said, dragging out the ‘o’. He moved out of the way quickly by sliding across the floor with his socks on. Rikiya ran outside with Rappa following after him with a laughing Deidoro behind both of them. Deidoro sounded like a hyena out of breath while chasing both of the men out the door to watch the fight. Toya was dragging Hojo back on the couch with Tabe talking about something with the two of them.

“What has to happen first is for both of you to have a session with the therapist to learn more about him since you are getting close to him,” Chisaki explained. “Irinaka, you may go first with Tengai right behind.”

“No,” Tengai muttered with furrowed brows while he tried to maintain his concentration to keep his composure.

Chisaki turned his attention to the man currently trying to clear everything from his mind and failing. “Tengai, why will you not follow the orders given?”

“The last time I followed a demand from you, I ended up becoming a glorified babysitter,” Tengai commented, peeking his eyes open to look at his boss’ yellow eyes that were staring in displeasure. He maintained the displeased stare for a long moment before giving in with a sigh. “Fine. I will reach out to the therapist first, so Irinaka has time to practice to be believable when he says he genuinely wants to talk to Midoriya. We wouldn’t want him to discover that our attempts are underhanded.”

Chisaki nods back to him silently and repeats the order to Irinaka who was ready to follow the plan. Tengai returns the nod and returns to his relaxed position on the clean floor. He went back to calming himself despite the excited talk of the reform group disrupting anytime he tried to slip back into a meditative state.

Kurono stares at Chisaki out of the corner of his eye. He furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about all that has happened so far. Why was Chisaki so uninspired to act now? He had even tried to reach out to his friend to talk about some kind of way to get out of here together even if they had to leave the majority behind.

But Chisaki still wouldn’t budge for him because of his steadily growing curiosity of the therapist. He still doesn’t know what Chisaki wants from him. Some kind of closure because he is quirkless now that his arms are gone?

It doesn’t matter what he guesses it is because Chisaki won’t tell him anything. He doesn’t tell him much of anything anymore except talking about their failed plans and how Midoriya interacts with everyone.

He is getting tired of this.

*

Tengai walked over to the office while Izuku was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch. The other reformed members started to talk with Izuku who had his full attention on them. Rappa and Rikiya were elating against the back of the couch since they were the last ones to get food from all the fighting they did outside.

Right now, Tengai was completely zoned out of their conversation as their talk switched from topic to topic.

Rappa butts in, “Wait, how do I not kill but also feel true victory after fighting?”

“Well, maybe you can run your fighting gym and assess their skills before they go on with the fighting career like being a boxer or wrestler. That way you can get all your fighting cravings out and train others that have a powerful drive just like you. Maybe that can be more filling?”

Rappa nods along with narrowed eyes like he was weighing the option. “Instead of killing them, I make sure that people I train won’t get killed. Sounds kind of boring. Huh...”

“Uh, you have a visitor at the door,” Rikiya stated, peeking his head down the hall.

Izuku looked back to the front door which was still slightly ajar. Rikiya took his shoulders to pin him around to face his office door where Tengai was sitting. Tengai was just sitting there with his eyes closed looking relaxed. When Rappa noticed he was there, he groaned loudly, stomping back to the couch so he would ‘t have to look at the sight any longer.

Izuku waves off Rikiya who goes to sit near Rappa while he walked towards the meditating Yakuza member. “Hello.”

“Midoriya-San, I kindly request your therapy services,” Tengai said while opening his eyes to look at the therapist directly to be respectful.

“I understand,” Izuku nodded. He blinked between Tengai and the door he was blocking. “Do you need a hand getting up so we can head inside the office?”

“No need, but thank you for your gracious offer,” Tengai replied getting up gracefully by using his legs to stand back up on his feet. After that, they both headed inside the office to talk.

*

Tengai calmly sat down on the couch opposite Izuku’s chair. “You may refer to me as Tengai during this session.”

“Alright, good to know,” Izuku said, crossing his legs. “So, Tengai-Kun, you can start whenever you are ready.”

“To be quite forward with you, I don’t know how capable you are but I'm assuming that you can be very trustworthy seeing as you have more members in your corner,” Tengai admitted which made Izuku look taken aback. “Either that or you are a master persuader. And I shall see for myself if you are truly as skilled as you say you are.”

Tengai sighed, “I guess I will start at the beginning like many stories do. I don’t remember any parental figure in my life from my biological parents at least. I think they dumped me at the monastery when I was young, I don’t remember them at all. I was raised by the teacher that guided me through life with his teachings of Buddhism.”

“He taught me the core differences between Buddhism and the many others like Hinduism and Taoism. He guided me through his daily meditations and special routines he went through. He guided me much as a father would. I considered him my father from how close we were to each other. We meditated together every single day, I still do to this time anytime I have free time in my bedroom or the living room.”

“I had adopted all of my teacher’s lessons into my life. I still have never indulged in drugs or drinking since I lack interest in those kinds of activities,” Tengai added in, closing his eyes as he thought back to his teacher.

With his eyes still closed, he continued, “My teacher died when I was nineteen, leaving me by myself at the monastery. They essentially kicked me out so I could find my place in the world a month after my teacher had passed on. They gave me a few tips like what to look out for and advice on where to search for jobs in certain areas.”

“I could only afford a place in a place where a lot of discrimination and fights happened. I got approached many times by people with the intent of robbing me,” Tengai peeked open his eyes to stare directly at him when he answered. “I waited until they threw the first punch, so I could use my shield as self-defense.

“Eventually I ran into one of the Shie Hassaikai locations while the leader of the Shie Hassaikai at the time was enacting some business with another. I didn’t know who he was then, but I did react when someone tried to kill him with a gun. So when I was walking past the leader, I used my shield, so the bullet couldn’t get to him. I believe they got rid of the man when I was conversing with the leader.”

“Overhaul reached out to me since he was there with the former leader. He said that my quirk was very interesting and could be very useful. I said thank you to his comment. But he didn’t exactly stop there,” Tengai gestured around him in a ‘you know where this ended up’ kind of way. “He said that he was personally looking for members to help him. The former leader reached out to stop him, but I told him to continue with what he was offering. I just recently quit my job at that point, so I wasn’t that eager to let an opportunity pass.

Tengai continued, “Overhaul continued by offering me a place to stay at the large headquarters of their Yakuza group with no need to worry about money as long as I could work under him directly. I accepted since I did it need much only food and shelter. I needed a place to meditate and possibly read a book. When I agreed, he arrived the next day with Kurono by his side to pick me up to go back to the headquarters with three other men escorting them.”

“When I was taken in, I was just left to my own decisions most of the time to meditate along with the former leader’s other men who took an interest in it,” Tengai reminisced in earlier times when he was allowed to meditate and do calming work within the headquarters. “But after the former leader went into a coma, Overhaul got several new men and started to call on me more to help. I understood at first why he must want the help since many of the members that followed the former leader’s guidance didn’t appreciate that he took on the seat. I related to him since his father figure was gone just like mine except he was in a coma that he had no chance of waking up from.”

“So I followed after him and Kurono doing whatever they said to relieve him of any grief that he was holding onto from his father figure suddenly being in a coma. He continued to get new members until he finally got to Rappa who, I believe, was one of the last ones he took in. But he couldn’t handle the stubborn fighter because he always wanted to fight either him or the members around him.”

“I stood up to Rappa with my shield to block him from attacking me when I said that he had no right to demand a fight from people who ddI not wish to fight.” Tengai sighed, pinching the skin between his eyebrows. “After that, I was just taken in as a babysitter to Rappa after he finally convinced the fighter to join. From there on, I was only paired with Rappa to keep him in line.”

“I started to use techniques my teacher used with me to possibly calm down the bloodlust he had. But Rappa didn’t like it at all. He never listened and did his own thing. He marched to the beat of his drum by bothering Rikiya and Chisaki to fight against him since he was ‘bored’. He is very stubborn,” Tengai recounted. “And then it all boiled down to where we are now.”

Izuku asked, “Alright, now how do you feel?”

“I’ll reform as long as you don’t order me to continue to babysit Rappa. He is quite annoying to handle and to hold back with my shield. I have made an effort to just give up the impulse to just get revenge on him with a good slap,” Tengai responded honestly with slightly widened eyes. “I have given this a lot of thought in the time I was in prison and even more thought during the weeks we have been in here.”

He looked up from his notebook with a confused look, “I wouldn’t order you to do anything.”

“Well, that is good. And even if you did, I would not listen,” Tengai sighed in relief. “Hmm. Thanks for speaking with me, Midoriya-San.”

“It was no problem,” Izuku started with a grin before he clicked his pen again. Tengai looked up to see Izuku fiddling with his pen and notebook. “Actually, can you tell me a bit more about meditation? I haven’t done it before but I am curious to know a bit more about it. Maybe I can integrate more of it into my kind of lifestyle.”

Tengai’s eyes seemed to spark behind the neutral expression he always wore. “You do? Ah, I believe I can explain more about it.”

Chapter Text

After Tengai’s session, Chisaki began to notice how he started to sit more towards the middle between the two groups.

It was so obvious how he was quickly becoming more acquainted with the others in a more subtle way. He still kept clear of Rappa’s range from the obvious distaste of his brash actions.

“Boss, what do you wish for me to do? What’s the next step?” Irinaka asked, waiting for a confirmation from his boss. Kurono glanced over at him while Chisaki hummed to himself.

Chisaki bristled at the sight of Tengai instructing Izuku how to meditate along with Tabe. It was quite clear that Tengai fell into Izuku’s trap because of the way Tengai now avoided him instead of giving him the intel he was originally supposed to give. Now he only had Kurono and Irinaka on his side, two of the most loyal members that he had left.

He knew that Irinaka out of everyone would never fall so quickly. He might be coerced slowly, but he won’t fall so easily into Izuku’s side from how devoted he was to the Shie Hassaikai. A fact that Chisaki never let go to waste. “Do what you will and what you must to gain his trust. Don’t fall under his false loyalty trap.

Irinaka nodded, his hair flopping up and down from how eager he was to finally do his part from holding back for so long. “Of course, boss! I would never allow someone outside of the Yakuza to influence me in such a way.”

“I will hold you up on that statement. Now go and make sure you report back like the others failed to accomplish,” Chisaki stated quietly, in order for his plan not to be heard despite the lingering look from Deidoro who was tilting his head at the group, wondering what they could be discussing so quietly.

*

Irinaka didn’t want to let his boss down. So he did what he was second best at following orders.

He waited until the therapist was away from the other traitors of the Yakuza to make his move. Irinaka had to agonizingly watch for an hour as Izuku did multiple things with the others like meditating and conversing with them casually. He jumped for his chance when Izuku excused himself to go back in something in his bedroom.

Irinaka gained Izuku’s attention by crawling away from his spot in the kitchen to catch Izuku at his bedroom door. He grabbed onto Izuku’s wrist as he reached for his doorknob. Izuku tensed before looking at the man, “Can I help you, Irinaka-San?”

“You can,” Irinaka grinned which made Midoriya blink back at him. “See, I’ve been wanting to talk with you to see what therapy is bringing to the table.

“You have?” Izuku asked in a tone that he couldn’t place.

“I had sessions before but I can assume that they could never compete with you since you have reformed villains before. I have never seen anyone else do that. It’s very interesting since you were the first therapist able to do so,” Irinaka clapped his hands against Izuku’s back like they were getting along so quickly. But with the tension of Izuku’s shoulders, anyone could see that wasn’t the case. “The guards kept saying that you could finally be the one to set us all straight just like you did to the League. A powerful league brought down by a simple therapist.”

“I wouldn’t say that I ‘brought them down’. I just talked with them to connect to and understand them. That’s all I did,” Izuku answered with honesty, looking up at Irinaka’s eyes with a guarded expression.

Irinaka gulped, reeling back on his approach the try and build up to gaining more of the therapist’s trust. Because from the look on his face, he looked very suspicious. Irinaka wanted to facepalm as he remembered that Tengai would have possibly outed the entire plan to Izuku which would explain why he wasn’t so trusting with him.

“Anyway, I was just wondering if you can allow me to be your new patient. Your next session,” Irinaka clasped his hands together tightly. “Can you talk with me, Therapist-Kun?”

“You can just call me Midoriya. And we could start a session if you are—,”

“Great. Let’s start right away! The faster we talk, the faster we can bond,” Irinaka said, marching straight through Izuku’s office door to sit on the couch’s arm. Izuku followed in after a glance down the hall to wave at Hojo who nodded back to him.

Midoriya finally sat down across from Irinaka who was still doing his best to remain in his ‘more trusting’ phase. Izuku glanced down at his notebook, “Are you okay with-,”

“You may call me Irinaka-Kun, Therapist.”

“...right,” Izuku scratched the pen across his notebook page with a touch of hesitance in its usual elegance. “You can begin whenever you are ready.”

“Are you really this unprepared that you want me to start without any direction?” Irinaka taunted with a voice in his head suddenly reminding him that he was trying to gain his trust.

“It’s my job to make sure you are comfortable. I never force any of my clients to tell me something they are not comfortable with talking about yet,” Midoriya smiled at the aggravated Yakuza member with practiced ease. “If you wish for me to direct you, it is always easier to start at the beginning like many lives begin.”

“Right, right,” Irinaka nodded quickly. He was running through many plans in his head about how to gain his trust while not giving too much away. He couldn’t tell the therapist the whole truth, but could ‘t lie all the way, or else he will catch him more easily.

Or would he? Maybe he could half the truth and make his story more pitiful to get sympathy from the poor therapist. He can just embellish the truth to gain something from the session that Chisaki would like.

“My quirk was not well-liked or hated by other people. They found it cool or useless, it was right in between since I couldn’t possess anything larger than a stove at that point. And even now I could only possess a fridge without the use of a quirk enhancement. I was teased, but not bullied that harshly compared to others,” Irinaka said. “I was mostly ignored at school with no real friends and only like acquaintances. Do you know? Like you interact with them at school but nothing comes from it outside.”

Midoriya nodded while writing small notes in his book. Irinaka took that as a good sign to continue with his plan.

He continued, “My parents weren’t that great. They were very strict with grades and that I would have to get good grades to have a good life. My parents were always yelling at each other. They never hit each other, but they did throw stuff at the walls like food or spilled drinks on the other. They yelled at me a lot when I did something bad like got a low grade on a test or quiz or if someone got into a fight with me at school.”

“You got into fights?” Midoriya asked while studying Irinaka.

“People got into fights with me that escalated quickly if they pushed my buttons too far. My parents' anger rubbed off on me you could say. But they didn’t like that at all. And they hated how I had anger issues so they blamed each other when it came to a point of who to blame for how I had anger issues,” Irinaka told honestly as he recounted his parents and how they would act. He glanced back at the therapist to see him continuing to hum while writing in his notebook. Maybe now it was time to start exaggerating a bit more.

“I got punished by not having meals, locked in my room, and other stuff. Did that happen to you?”

“No. Nothing like that. My mother isn’t capable of doing that to me, she is very kind,” Midoriya answered back.

“That’s good to hear,” Irinaka grinned. He paused for a few moments before continuing. “That’s just how things were. They never hit each other, but they hit me indirectly with a few objects lying nearby which were most likely my toys that they were yelling at me to pick up like marbles or something.”

Midoriya listened carefully to what the other man was saying, notching the tapping of his foot or the shifting of his eyes when he was saying small details in his story.

*

“Guys. Guys. I found a dancing game,” Toya said.

“A dancing game? Interesting,” Sakaki started hanging upside down from the kitchen counter to stare at the television screen. The screen had the home screen of the dancing game pulled up.

Tengai sighed as the others looked mildly interested. He relaxed back into the cushions as the others crowded around the television. Tabe and Hojo moved back the couch to place it against the wall to give them more space to move around.

Rikiya questioned when he saw the purple screen with upbeat intro music playing. “Not fighting?”

“Nope. But I think we could make a competition out of it,” Nemoto said with a relaxed expression.

“Wait, competition?” Rappa asked. “I’m listening.”

Tengai watched as the others got into position. With four controllers available for anyone to participate in the dancing game to track their movements.

Rikiya dragged Rappa in a dance that was labeled as hard. They were both tied since they both were very competitive. Rappa and Rikiya kept thrusting their arms into each other’s spaces while they danced. With Rappa whooping loudly when he won all three rounds of songs.

Deidoro went against Nemoto as they both danced to dance with a lot of dropping to the floor. Deidoro was winning against Nemoto who was hesitant to go all the way down. Nemoto needed up losing after three battles while Deidoro threw his hands up in celebration.

Tabe, Toya, and Hojo chose a song that had four players available. The others were still catching their breath after this down battles against each other. Tabe turned his eyes on Tengai who raised an eyebrow once the controller was passed onto him. Tabe waved the controller at him until the calm man accepted the handheld controller.

Tengai stayed on the couch while the other three danced their heart out. Tengai raised his arms as the screen told him to while the others followed the dance moves shown on the screen. Hojo was a bit slower than the others, but Tengai was in the lead surprisingly. Toya was just having a good time with Deidoro jamming out to the music behind him. But Tabe won by fifty points ahead of Tengai.

Chisaki turned to Kurono with a raised eyebrow. Kurono stifled a laugh at his friend’s reaction who softly grinned at his amused expression.

At that moment, there was some peace among them like they weren’t Yakuza members or villains in any sense. A moment where they could just let loose like any normal person would with their friends no matter how different they are from each other.

The fun dancing peace came to a halt when the sound of shattering glass came from the therapist’s office.

*

“School wasn’t eventful at all. It was all just like blah blah blah to me. I had a few jobs that never really worked out since they couldn’t handle me there. But then I met Overhaul and he brought me into the Yakuza. Then my quirk was stronger, and they knew how to care for me. It was great until the whole capture thing happened. And now here we are,” Irinaka summarized quickly, massively getting rid of any points where the therapist might spot weakness in his story.

Midoriya waited with his pen frozen on his paper as his green eyes remained fixed on his figure.

“So yeah, I got a job dealing with the money in the Shie Hassaikai which was right up my alley if you know what I mean,” Irinaka added on. “I feel like you would be pretty useful in a Yakuza group if you ever took an interest in it.”

“Irinaka-San.”

Irinaka didn’t feel the same warm feeling that Izuku would get towards the other members, he looked guarded for some reason.

“When have you last decided for yourself?” Midoriya asked with a calm expression.

Irinaka raised a brow as irritation began to spark inside him, “What are you implying right now?”

“I’m implicating that you are fiercely loyal which is a remarkable trait if I may add. I gathered that from the way you talked about your group,” Midoriya said, tapping his pens against the notebook paper. “And a majority of people are looking for someone that will stand by each other’s side with no question. It’s a good and bad thing.”

“Really?” Irinaka‘s eyebrows pinched together. He didn’t understand where he was going with this.

“It is a good trait to be loyal. But it would seem that you have lost yourself in the loyalty quite easily to a point where that is the only thing you are fixated on,” Midoriya explained. “When have you last made a decision without asking for someone else’s permission?”

“When I came to this session of course!” Irinaka smiled, trying to get back on track.

Midoriya tilted his head to the side like a curious puppy. Irinaka shivered at the chance that Izuku was onto him and his boss's plan. Midoriya’s face didn’t look innocent at all behind those eyes that were staring deep into his, “Did you?”

He looked around, trying to avoid the therapist’s eyes, “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I can tell that you are lying,” Midoriya pointed out. He pointed his pen right at Irinaka, gesturing to his whole body. “I have known you have been sprinkling in lies during this whole session like I would be stupid enough not to see the clear intention you had. Like I would be dumb enough to fall for such an obvious trick.”

“Now show me,” Midoriya leaned forward. “If you are so loyal to the group, then why are you here? Unless you were “t that specific about saying you are loyal to the Yakuza.”

“What?”

“Come on now, it is pretty clear that you are loyal strictly to Overhaul only. It is clear to me that you don’t really care about the true essence of the Yakuza. Or the real Shie Hassaikai that you and everyone else abandoned when you served your true loyalty.”

“Stop it, you don’t know what you are talking about, Therapist,” Irinaka hissed the title back at the man in front of him. His irritation rising from the fact that Midoriya was insinuating that he wasn’t a true follower.

Midoriya’s green eyes flashed, “In fact, you are making a mockery by claiming that you serve the Shie Hassaikai.”

“No,” Irinaka interjected, tensing on the couch,

“When in reality you only serve a ‘temporary boss’ while the real one was in a coma. Did you not?”

“Stop it!” Irinaka yelled back, standing up.

“Hear you are claiming that you are loyal to the Yakuza and the Yakuza alone when you can’t even be loyal to the correct boss,” the therapist continued, remaining calm as the other man turned his attention away from him.

“SHUT UP!” Irinaka shouted, picking up a vase from a nearby counter table to throw against the wall right past Izuku’s face. It broke into hundreds of pieces when it hit the wall, making a tinkling noise when the pieces hit the floor. “Overhaul will rule the underworld again as soon as we get out of here! And I will be by his side like I was before!”

Irinaka breathes in and out deeply before he froze in place once he realized what he did and what he just said out loud. Midoriya raised an eyebrow like he expected this to happen sooner than later.

Midoriya stands up from his chair with a resigned look on his face, “Irinaka, I don’t appreciate being used for some petty attempt to gain intel to break out of a highly enforced area. Or trying to be coerced into Overhaul’s side when it is clear on where I stand. And I especially don’t like when others try to take advantage of me for their gain.”

Midoriya sighed, “There is a lot of things I don’t like. Just like you don’t like how others disrespect something that you throw all our heart and soul into.”

“You—,” Irinaka tried to say something.

“This session is over, Irinaka-San.” Midoriya turned to him before opening his office door and gesturing with his hand to Irinaka and then at the exit. “Come back to me when you honestly want to talk to me and not just interrogate me.”

*

The others were frozen with the game on pause with one song pulled up on the screen, placing a catchy tune as Irinaka stepped out of the office door. The reformed members peeked down to see the irritation on Irinaka’s face that faded away as soon as he saw Chisaki’s expression

The reformed group paid no attention to him since they all heard the thud from the office room over the music. Although Nemoto glanced over worriedly and Tengai flexed his hand when Irinaka passed behind him.

Kurono had always been able to read the room especially to read Chisaki’s tone to know when to intervene. So when Irinaka came out of the room to the utter silence that followed after the smashing noise from the office, he didn’t know how to read Chisaki’s stance.

Chisaki tilted his head to the front door before walked outside calmly. Kurono followed behind Irinaka who chased after him through the door. He gained back to look at the reform members who were tilting their heads towards the office door where Izuku walked out with a neutral expression on his face.

Chisaki’s expression was mixed with many feelings but anger was the only one Kurono could focus on. And he wasn’t the only one who noticed given the fact that Irinaka stiffened upon his boss’ glare.

“Boss, I—,” Irinaka tried to explain how it all went wrong.

“Save it. I knew that you couldn’t achieve what I told you to,” Chisaki glared at him with venomous yellow eyes.

“What do you want me to do now?” Irinaka pleaded to try and get another order. He tried to get a second chance to make everything better.

Chisaki sneered, “Nothing.”

“No, please. I can be better! I can try and deplete the resources so they have no choice but to restock and we can escape that way. Or I can stage an incident of some kind. Or I can do something to myself, anything that will allow you to escape boss. Anything at all, just tell me what I need to do.”

Chisaki still said nothing. He only stared disappointingly back at him, reminding him of the time before he was found by him. Before he was useful to the Yakuza.

“Boss, please—,” Irinaka was interrupted by the stinging pain of Chisaki’s palm striking against his cheek.

“You’ve done enough,” Chisaki glared, pulling back his prosthetic arm while Irinaka looked off to the side dejectedly. Kurono could see Irinaka’s shoulders tensing as he kept his gaze away from his boss. “You’ve disappointed me and the fallen Shie Hassaikai. You couldn’t even get the therapist to put trust into you, so why should I?”

“It wasn't like that,” Irinaka tried to defend himself.

Chisaki snapped at him, “Then what was it then?!”

Irinaka stayed silent, gulping at the sight of his infuriated boss knowing how it was his fault. His gaze dropped from his yellow eyes to his shoes.

“That’s what I thought. Kurono, it’s up to you. I’m going to bed,” Chisaki said, rubbing his temple with his hand. He striped to the door, ignoring everything else as he headed straight for the stairwell.

Kurono hesitated so he could take a look at Irinaka who was avoiding his gaze. “Are you alright, Irinaka-Kun?”

“I suppose so,” Irinaka shrugged, not knowing how else to respond. Kurono nodded to him and revived a nod back from the other male. Irinaka watched as Kurono walked back inside with another glance back at him.

“Well, Rappa was right about one thing. His prosthetic palm didn’t pack that much of a hit,” Irinaka jokes to himself, ignoring the wetness that slid down his reddening cheek. He slowly slid down the wall.

“I did everything that was asked of me. I guess it just won’t be enough,” Irinaka commented, craning his head back to bump against the hard exterior wall of the house. “It’s never enough.”

*

Kurono avoided people’s gazes especially the therapist’s eyes when he went up the stairs to the third floor. His footsteps creaked against the floor as he walked right up to his boss’ door.

“Chisaki. Chisaki?” Kurono knocked on his old friend’s bedroom door. “Are you feeling alright?”

There was a pause before there was a muffled answer from the other side. “No.”

“Come on, Chisaki,”

“What am I supposed to do? With the Yakuza? With this idiotic reform program?” Chisaki mumbled out loud through the door,

“Remember that night on the balcony?” Kurono started. “How I told you that making the Yakuza the leaders of the underground again like it was before was more of a dream than a reality? And you said that you would do anything and everything in your power to make it become a new reality. The new future for everyone.”

“I remember. I haven’t lost any of my memories,” Chisaki replied sharply. “And look at how well that fell apart.”

“Kai, don’t...,” Kurono bit his lip from his nerves. “...don’t you think it might be time for us to just move on?”

“...What?” Chisaki’s voice was unreadable, but he could sense a slight bit of hesitance.

“Look at where we are right now, Chisaki. It’s either we reform to be civilians or we go back to jail and are left to rot in our cells,” Kurono pressed his forehead against the door, hoping that Chisaki could feel him on the other side. Hoping his friend would find some sort of comfort in his presence. “Even if you try to go through with the plan of pretending to reform, all that will do is mess with our chances of ever getting out of Tartarus. It might ruin the therapist’s reputation for a half-second before they realize that the majority has fully accepted their new lives as civilians. The plan doesn’t have any grip to it and it will fail.”

Chisaki shifted against the door on the other side. Kurono could feel the thumps through the wood of the door. “How can you be so sure?”

“The last plan you had was counting on the heroes not reaching us in time to head to a new safehouse.” Kurono chuckled without humor in his tone. “But we both know how well that fell apart, do we?”

“So that’s it? You’re leaving my side just like the others?” Chisaki asked as his volume increased slightly.

“I’m not leaving your side, Kai. I want to stay by your side. That’s all I want,” Kurono confessed to the door. “I don’t care where we end up as long as I can be at your side through it all. I won’t mind the reforming if we don’t end up imprisoned for the rest of our lives.”

Chisaki stayed silent on the other side.

“I don’t care if we have to relocate somewhere else other than Japan. Maybe go somewhere in Europe or America. We both know enough English to get us by,” Kurono places his hands against the door. “Or we could just stay in Japan, but find somewhere away from the city, a place that has been thoroughly disinfected to your wants and needs. Somewhere with limited neighbors, so they don’t bother you at all. Somewhere like we talked about when we were little.”

Chisaki didn’t say anything for a long time, making Kurono wait in silence on the other side of the door. “Just leave me here, Hari.”

Kurono pursed his lips in frustration. He stared down at the crack of the door to see the shadow of his best friend’s body on the other side. He stiffly turned around to head to his own room. He paused to turn his head towards the bedroom door, “Goodnight, Chisaki-Kun.”

*

Chisaki let his head fall on his arms. His fake arms could never replace the one she had before. Ones that couldn’t utilize his quirk.

If he goes back to jail, he can’t help the one person he came to love as a father figure. It’s not like he could do anything for him either way. The heroes probably got rid of the Yakuza leader since it was a loose end.

But he can’t just give up the dream plan of rebuilding the Yakuza to reform. He can’t just do that to his boss. He needed to see it through to show everyone that the Yakuza his father figure had led was the strongest one of them all.

He doesn’t know what to do to move forward.

Chapter Text

Kurono still remembers the first time he met Chisaki back at the Shie Hassaikai headquarters.

Kurono Hari was taken in by a member when they saw him on the streets after causing his parents to die by accidentally using his quirk on them in a temper tantrum. He paralyzed them with his hair strand that didn’t allow them to escape a villain fight heading their way which cost them their lives.

He first saw the boy when he noticed the old boss leading a brown-haired boy with a blank stare covered in blood into the headquarters. He didn’t get introduced until hours later after the boy was cleaned and given a new set of clothes to wear.

The fact that Chisaki was slightly taller than him was the first thing he noticed. When they got introduced to each other, Kurono was appointed as Chisaki’s tour guide around the headquarters to tell him all about the Yakuza’s home. After he was done showing him around, Chisaki told him that he wasn’t as annoying as other boys his age were.

Kurono took that as a genuine compliment from the other boy since he didn’t say much.

Over time, he grew to be a loyal friend to the other boy that the boss had taken in. He remembers moments when Chisaki grew curious over new flower species in the garden that was freshly planted or how he grew disgusted when he saw bugs infesting the produce garden.

He learned how to tell when Chisaki was at peace when he was irritated, when he was bored and when he needed someone at his side. And Kurono did his best to be everything that Chisaki needed him to be. A brother. A friend. An ally.

Kurono closed his eyes from all the memories coming to his mind.

He cared so much about Chisaki that he didn’t care about any of his intentions as long as he could be with him during those plans.

To be truthful, he was against using Eri and only wanted to take her blood the old-fashioned way. She would hate needles, sure, but she wouldn’t have been killed each time. Even if Chisaki’s plan was technically more efficient to get the quirk erasing bullets faster.

He still wanted to believe in the fact that they could escape, maybe just the both of them since most of the others seemed more than happy to reform and move on past the Yakuza. He just wanted his oldest friend to be happy

But...

What was he supposed to do now?

*

It took three days for Kurono to approach Midoriya about a session. He came down when Chisaki was still asleep upstairs. He approached Izuku when he was still conversing with the others

“I would like to request a session from you, Midoriya-Kun if it is not too much to ask.”

“Hey, why should he? Didn’t Irinaka-dipshit go because of what you and plastic arms planned?” Rappa asked, placing his arm in between the two men to push Midoriya away from him.

“It’s okay, Rappa-Kun,” Midoriya patted his arm in an attempt to make him calmer. He looked back at Kurono. “If this is some part of a plan, I won’t stand for it.”

“To be truthful, Chisaki made the plan for me or Irinaka to have a session with you to try and gain trust from you. But right now, I am genuinely coming to you with honest intentions,” Kurono’s eyes looked sincere, much different than Irinaka’s attempt. “I want to talk.”

“Alright,” Izuku said, ducking under Rappa’s arm to stand in front of him. “Don’t worry everyone. No more damage will be done to the office. I’ll be in the office with him.”

“How do we know he isn’t faking?” Sakaki piped up on the other side of Rikiya who was snoring into the couch cushions.

“I can tell,” Midoriya smiled knowingly, “Now, Kurono-Kun, let’s go start your session.”

*

“Alright, is it okay for me to refer to you as Kurono-Kun?”

“That is okay with me,” Kurono responded.

Izuku nodded, clicking his pen to scribble against the notebook page, “You may begin whenever you are ready.”

Kurono took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I don’t remember things at the beginning. I know I am the reason for my parent’s death. I used my quirk in the middle of a temper tantrum and got them killed in an ongoing villain fight. One of the Shie Hassaikai members found me on the street alley and brought me in. And I was being taken care of by the members inside.”

“The Shie Hassaikai is where I grew up. It’s all I know. I don’t remember what my parents did, but I don’t recall them ever hurting me before they died. So I spent my time getting tutored and trained by the Shie Hassaikai members. Chisaki Kai came into the group when the Boss found him a few years later.”

Kurono could remember it like it was yesterday, “I saw him he was still covered in blood, twitching his hands like he wanted to scrub off his skin along with the blood. I had to wait about three hours before I was fully introduced to him along with the rest of the Yakuza. After that, I approached him since he was the only one close to my age there. We became friends, allies to each other. I was almost always by his side from that point on unless he was with the boss.”

Midoriya listened as he talked, “We had the same kind of upbringing. We had tutors that would teach us manners, literature, mathematics, science, and make us learn languages to communicate with future meetings with different Yakuza groups that we would encounter. I became fluent in English and he learned Mandarin with a separate tutor.”

“We learned from different members on how to play mahjong. Other members taught us how to fight with weapons and by hand-to-hand combat. We mastered our quirks to use in future missions and meetings with other Yakuza groups,” Kurono continued with a growing smile on his face as he recounted the memories. “Boss taught us the ways of the flowers growing in our gardens, how to properly take care of the most difficult flowers.”

“We grew up together in the Yakuza. I was there when he needed me, he came to my side when I wanted him,” Kurono pursed his lips, tapping his foot against the floor as recent interactions have made him feel. “He let me mourn for my mentor who was killed during a mission when we were still teens. I was there to support him as he made this huge plan to try and make a better world. I stood by his side as his plan was rejected by his only father figure.”

“I was his main helper when he decided to continue with his plan anyway. I couldn’t be there next to him when it all came crashing to the ground. I wasn’t there when he was screaming out his lungs from his arms getting taken away from him and, by extension, his quirk,” Kurono explained. “Even if we were under the same roof in that prison, I still think he might’ve blamed me for the way it turned out since I wasn’t there to protect him as I had always been before.”

“And now, we are still under the same roof in a different building. But now we can be close again like before, stand by each other and walk at each other’s side. And no matter what I do to show I support him and will be loyal to him like I promised, I feel like I’m being left behind,” Kurono admitted, looking up from Izuku’s bright red shoes to the curious expression on his face.

“How do you feel about that?”

“About what exactly?” Kurono retorted with a slight tilt of his head.

Midoriya looked up calmly, “That you don’t think your loyalty is being matched in intensity. Do you feel any kind of reciprocation from your friend?”

“I want to say that I know him better than anyone. I know he cares for Boss, he still does,” Kurono answered with his brows furrowed. “But I don’t know about most things anymore since coming here or at Tartarus since we were all forced into one room per prisoner. So I don’t know how that affected him.”

“If it’s not too much to ask, can I ask you a question?” Kurono questioned.

“Go ahead,” Midoriya replied, refraining from saying ‘you already did’ because now was not the time for something like that.

Kurono leaned forward in his seat, “What is special about you?”

“Special about me? I’m guessing my freckles,” Midoriya shrugged, slightly confused. “Or that I’m quirkless.“

Kurono nodded, looking at his feet. “I would think it is the second option since that’s when Chisaki-Kun started to push away from me.”

At Midoriya’s expression, Kurono continued, “When you came out with the truth that you are quirkless, he started to see you in a new way. Like you were a perfect example of why his plan might have worked out for the better. Like you were the living proof that he would have succeeded. But then I noticed how he looked frustrated. Every time he would glance up at you, he would look down at his arms.”

“I don’t know what he is thinking anymore. His body language just switches from being calm to tense or relaxed to frustrated. And he won’t just talk to me about it. I keep reminding him over and over again each night that he can still trust in me. That I won’t just leave him behind like how the others have been reforming. But I can’t get through to him and it’s frustrating.”

Midoriya nodded at his words. “I know how that feels.”

“Have you been through something like that?”

“Oh, a lot of times. It took over fifteen years for him to tell me why he acted like that toward me,” Midoriya explained. “In my case, he only opened up during a fight in the middle of the night. He ended up spilling to me which kickstarted a rebuilding of a friendship that we had before.”

Kurono raised an eyebrow, “You fought him?”

“He started the fight and I just helped him finish it,” Izuku replied, tapping at his notebook. “So if you want him to communicate, approach him calmly and start to talk about how you have been feeling.”

Kurono nodded back at him, looking down at his palms as he took the advice to heart. “Thank you, Midoriya-San.”

“Just call me Izuku, Kurono-Kun.”

*

After the session, Kurono comes out of the room with Izuku behind him. He sees Chisaki leaning against the wall with the others on the couches around the television. Irinaka was crouched in a corner against the wall. Kurono takes a deep breath and walks over to him to follow Izuku’s advice.

“Chisaki, I would like to talk to you,” Kurono announced.

Chapter Text

Chisaki only stares at him.

Kurono sighed, “I want to support you, I want to keep supporting you. But I can’t if you keep shutting me out.”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Chisaki said defensively.

“Yes, you do,” Kurono breathed in, his tone was more subdued. “I would do anything for you. I stuck by you since we met because I felt like I could count on you just like you could count on me. But I haven’t felt like you have counted on me for a while now.”

“I stuck by you through any plan you had when we were young like starting a territory war that allowed us to win some property from another group even though the boss was against it at first. I stuck by you when you continued with your plan. When you had to gain DNA to make those bullets even if you had to use,” Kurono glanced down at his prosthetic arms. “Your hands.”

“Wait, you used the quirk on the girl?” Tabe asked with wide eyes. “That must be what he means by using your hands.”

“Ewwwww,” Sakaki commented, hanging upside down over the couch’s armrest.

Chisaki started to berate Kurono for letting that slip while the others talked about their knowledge of the event.

Toya shook his head, “I never knew about that.”

“Oh damn, I guessed it might have been something bad, but it never crossed my mind he used his quirk. I just thought it was really big equipment that looked scary like in the scary movies.”

Tengai raised an eyebrow with a disgusted look on his face. He knew in passing that the child was scared and always running around, but not really to the full extent.

Rappa said, “I knew he was taking blood I thought it was more like huge vacuum needles or something like that. Hell, I was scared shitless of needles at that young of an age, not anymore though.”

Hojo frowned at Nemoto, “I thought out of all people, you would know maybe Irinaka too since you two were closer.”

“The only thing I knew was that they had to take DNA from her to make the bullets,” Nemoto replied. “I knew she was scared of him since she always ran away. I just thought the process was bad, but I did have a really big suspicion that it was happening because of the way she was almost always trembling near him.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about the babysitters that always died,” Rikiya reminisced. “I kept running into people cleaning off the blood splatters.”

“I knew about it,” Irinaka said quietly with his chin resting in his hand. “I was there to scrub any babysitter blood off the wall or try to get on the girl’s good side because I possessed that doll shape.”

Nemoto paused, curiosity taking over despite the knowledge that he knew what was going on fully, “Did it work?”

Irinaka snorted, “What do you think? Even if I possessed any toy she got, he would start screaming. So I think I just scared her more.”

The others were distracted with their conversation where they weren’t listening to that much to the argument. They could hear hushed whispers of Kurono asking it is was his fault and Chisaki asking what was he was talking about in an irritated tone. But their talk quoted down quickly when they heard Chisaki raised his voice.

“Well, you haven’t been that much of a loyal ally to me since we got here. You haven’t done anything besides act like a dog following me around.”

With those words, everyone turned back around to watch what was going down. Midoriya, who had been watching carefully, hissed at the words. He knew that things were only going down from here, but he did it know if he should intervene yet.

Kurono tenses at his words. And if he wasn’t acting in anger, he could see the hint of regret behind Chisaki’s glare or how his body language automatically tensed. But he wasn’t looking that clearly to recognize those small movements. “I’m not helping? You are claiming that I haven’t done anything since we got here? That I have been doing absolutely nothing but behave like a little puppy?”

“Oh kami, here it comes,” Nemoto mumbled, recognizing the fury and hurt behind Kurono’s eyes. Midoriya looked back and forth between them, backing up into behind the couches, letting Toya guide him to sit down to watch the fight unfold.

“I have been at your side since this reform started. I helped you since those pathetic little plastic arms of yours don’t have the fine motor skills to latch onto a doorknob tightly enough. I have been working with you on previous plans to try and escape from here,” Kurono whirled around to face the group. “No offense, Midoriya-Kun.”

“None taken,” Izuku piped up right before Kurono whipped his head back around to face his oldest friend. Rikiya and Rappa were steadily watching the scene, Rikiya looked wide awake to watch.

“Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’t helpful enough for you. Should I start making plans that work out in the end?” Kurono placed his hand on his chest as his voice got louder. “Because I don’t remember any of your big dream plans working. In Rappa’s previous words, look at where it got all of us.”

“Kurono, stop it,” Chisaki said blankly, not letting emotion shine through his face.

“I wasn’t the one who made the plan that you take out the boss so you can gain control of the Shie Hassaikai.”

Tengai straightened up when he heard that, slowly turning his head to hear every word of the argument.

“No! I wasn’t the one who made you do it. I wasn’t the one who suggested it. But you know what?” Kurono asked with a broken expression. “I was still there by your side because I’m your friend. I’m supposed to be your friend. One that you trust. One that you can rely on. One that you can ACTUALLY confide in. But when have you ever EVER done the same for me after you got fixated on that plan.”

Chisaki’s eyes widened as Kurono went on. “What happened to the Kai who tried to comfort me when my mentor died in any way he could? What happened to him? Because I haven’t seen him in a long fucking time. I have it seen him since you decided to rid the world of all quirks.”

“Kurono—,”

“What do you think was even going to happen at the end of that? What was going to happen to you or any of us when everyone else in the world had no quirk left? Come on, tell me. Would you use the bullet on all of us including yourself? Would the Shie Hassaikai be the exception just so we could be the dictators? Are you going to end up giving children the bullet to make sure quirks don’t come back?” Kurono asked, pacing in slow circles as he talked.

“I was at your side throughout all of this time. And,” Kurono breathed in. “For what? For me to be compared to a pet?”

Chisaki’s eyebrows furrowed when he thought he heard a small sniffle come from his friend. “I thought we could get better here. I wanted to believe that you didn’t blame me for us getting captured. I wanted for us to get back to the way it used to. Before all this happened. When we could count on each other and watch each other’s back. I can’t believe I was considering...”

“You know what?” Kurono raised his hands with a tired expression. His blue eyes glistened under the lights of the living room. “I’m tired of this. I’m going to bed”

“Kurono. Kurono!” Chisaki called out, “Hari!”

Kurono paused, slowly turning around which made everyone quiet down to hear what was about to be said. Rappa leaned forward to watch what was about to go down. Even Sakaki sat up from where he was hanging over the armrest to get the entire view like he was watching a tense soap opera.

“You can’t abandon the Shie Hassaikai like this,” Chisaki said. “What about the promise we made when we were younger? Are you going to disgrace it?”

“You were the first one who disgraced the promise. I’m just following your lead,” Kurono answered. “Like I always do apparently.”

Chisaki walked forward. “Like hell I did.”

“Oh no, mommy and daddy are fighting,” Sakaki joked with a bright grin, making Nemoto laugh. Nemoto covered his mouth to muffle it while Sakaki looked smug about his joke.

“You know where my loyalties lie,” Chisaki said.

Kurono hummed, tilting his head lightly, “Do I?”

“My loyalties don’t lie with anyone in this room except for you and boss,”

“That doesn’t mean much since I know what you did to him.”

Chisaki reached out and grabbed onto his wrist with his prosthetic hand.

“Let go of me, Kai. I don’t have time for this,” Kurono retorted.

“No,” Chisaki shook his head.

Kurono’s eyes narrowed, “Now, Chisaki-San.”

Chisaki tensed which allowed Kurono to slip from his plastic arm’s grasp easily. Kurono matched his way to the stairs, taking two at a time while Chisaki stood there.

When Kurono was out of his sight, Chisaki turned back to the stares of the other men in the room.

Irinaka’s eyes widened as he slumps down in his seat, sliding onto the floor. Nemoto pats him on the shoulder in some kind of bland comfort. Midoriya was looking between everyone, wondering how everything was going to unfold.

Tengai had stiffened up once he learned about the father's detail. When everyone was still in their seats, Tengai slowly stood up. Rikiya was holding back Rappa by his shoulder, his grip loosened when he saw Tengai walk past. Rappa even stops struggling to let his gaze remain on Tengai as he strolled right up to Chisaki.

“For many years, I have been practicing some Buddhist principles even though it is ironic how many others in the group represent the exact opposite. Nevertheless, I remained here and meditated just like I was taught by my father figure. So after many years of this practice even though I haven’t been following as strictly as in the beginning, I will allow myself a short break.”

Rappa blinked, “Why?”

Tengai turned his head to the man he babysat for so long and calmly said in return, “So I can do this.”

Tengai’s expression remained the same as he reeled back his hand and punched Chisaki straight across the face. All the other men sucked in a breath as Tengai shook off his hand. “I once thought I could trust in you since I thought you went through the same experience as I did. But now I know that you haven’t.”

Chisaki glared at him. Tengai turned around and looked at Rappa. “He’s all yours.”

Rappa stood up and cracked his knuckles.

Rikiya commented, “He ain’t worth the time, dude.”

“I’m getting something out of this,” Rappa said. He walks right up to Chisaki who was still clutching his jaw from the hard punch that Tengai had thrown. Rappa stared down at him, pulling back his hand to draw Chisaki’s attention to his fist.

Only to kick right in Chisaki’s crotch. Chisaki stumbles back, not allowing him to fall on his knees no matter how much pain he was in so he wouldn’t look vulnerable to the others. He leaned heavily on the wall while Rappa smugly went to sit back down next to Rikiya. On the way, he high-fived Sakaki and Nemoto.

Hojo was looking at Tengai’s thumb since he had tucked it into his fist when he punched. Midoriya mumbled to them, “It doesn’t look broken, thank goodness. If you try to punch again, remember to leave the thumb outside the fist.”

Chisaki ignores everyone, waiting for the residual pain to lessen before making his way to the staircase. Midoriya looked at him right as he made his way up the stairs while most of the others were ignoring him.

Chapter Text

It had only been a day since the fight between the two men had occurred. Chisaki was further away from the others and closer to the stairs. It was still early in the morning when Kurono rushed down the stairs to run over to the kitchen. Chisaki tried to follow Kurono to dodge him and try to run up the stairs again.

“Hari!”

“Don’t. I’m not in the mood for this,” Kurono muttered with a glare that made Chisaki actually back away from the stairs. There were a few moments where the two held a staring contest like wild cats in an alleyway. “If you try to follow, I’ll tell them one of your other secrets.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Chisaki challenged, overcoming Kurono’s death glare to try and come closer to him.

Kurono narrowed his eyes on him. He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled at the reform group members, “CHISAKI CROSSDRESSED FOR A YAKUZA MISSION!”

“YOU—!” Chisaki shouted as his ears turned red from remembering that time.

Kurono ran up the stairs right as the loud booming laughter of Rappa echoed through the room, waking up Rikiya from his nap on the couch.

Irinaka stares as everyone laughed at the secret Kurono told. He glanced back to see Chisaki leaning against the stairwell with a noticeable glare upwards that really made the eye-bags on his face stand out.

He had Chisaki’s words and Midoriya’s advice running through his head for days until it all brought him to the revelation he had yesterday from the fight that went down between Chisaki and Kurono. He found out where Chisaki’s only loyalties lie with.

Irinaka approached Izuku carefully, avoiding the cautious looks of the other reformed group members. They remained silent, except Rappa who was still giggling over the spilled secret, as he said, “I promise that I am honestly coming to you for a real session. I just need to talk out some stuff with you if that’s okay.”

Midoriya asked with a searching look on his face, “Really?”

“I have been doing a lot of thinking about things. And I want to try again,” Irinaka said, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Midoriya looked him up and down, taking note of his body language and how it was very different from the last time he tried. Midoriya answered back with a nod that made Irinaka relax. He guided Irinaka to the office, calling back towards the others that he would be inside his office.

*

“So, Irinaka-Kun, are you sure you are ready?” Midoriya asked.

He nodded, “Yes.”

Midoriya shifted in his seat to get comfortable, “Alright, begin whenever you want,”

Irinaka started, “Well, What I told you at the beginning last time was the truth until it slowly dissolved into lies. People didn’t like my quirk since it was weak and my parents were strict. But there was one thing I held back from telling you about my earlier life.”

“I am a middle child. I had an older sister and a younger brother when I grew up. I was always compared to them since they both did better than me in different ways. My sister excelled in sports while my brother did amazingly in his classes.” Irinaka admitted. “My quirk was disappointing to them because of two factors that they always compared me to. My older sister's quirk was more powerful. And then my younger brother came along shortly after and his quirk wasn’t as weak as mine in comparison.”

“I was the one that was treated more strictly than the other two since I didn't have anything special about me. They tried to put me in sports, but I was always rejected or benched. I tried to study extra hard in my classes, but my grades were nothing compared to the higher scores that my brother always got. I got criticized for everything I did while my siblings could do the same thing and not get punished for it.” Irinaka explained with narrowed eyes. “If my brother did sports and didn’t do well, they forgave him since he was more studious and not as athletic. If my sister wasn’t doing well in classes, they could forget it since she was always working hard during training.”

“There was never a break for me since they always pushed me to be better and always kept comparing me to them. ‘Oh, you got a B? Well, your brother got an A plus so you must not have tried hard enough!’ ‘Oh, you couldn’t run the mile? Well your sister is one the track team and she finished it in the top five of the entire school. So you should have tried harder!’ Always strict with me, when they never seemed to be as strict with them.”

“So my older sister was in track, swimming and volleyball. My younger brother was class representative, part of the speech and debate club and was always on honor roll. And I was the middle child with average grades who was part of the band. I played the recorder.”

“My parents were very adamant that I went down a certain way of living by becoming a doctor or lawyer. So I started college level classes during high school. My sister already had scholarships lined up because of the sports she played and my brother didn’t really need the extra classes yet since he was still young enough to not deal with it.” Irinaka shrugged. “They allowed some free time, but not as much as they gave my other siblings. My siblings got more time since my sister practiced with her friends who did sports and my brother studied with his friends during a hangout. They could have a whole day while I had half a day since I didn’t have many friends that I could spent time with. Again I only had acquaintances not many friends.”

*

“So... crossdressing for a mission?” Rappa asked loudly.

Chisaki remained silent by the wall with his prosthetic arms crossed. He avoided their gazes as he glared up the staircase.

“I’m just curious to know how it worked. Did you get discovered or did the undercover disguise work?” Sakaki commented. “I mean, I have long hair. Do you guys think I would pass by without suspicion?”

“Oh, definitely,” Hojo nodded.

Tabe wondered out loud, “Hmmm. I wonder which one of us would be the most convincing if we were to go undercover as a woman for fun.”

“I feel like I could do it,” Toya commented with a shrug.

“Okay, wait, I think I could do it well,” Nemoto raised his hand.

Rappa paused, thinking that it was a competition. He glanced over to his friend, “Do you think I could pull it off?”

“Yeah, I think we could be really strong and intimidating girls,” Rikiya complimented.

“Do you think so?”

“Oh, I know so. I know we can pull it off,” Rikiya nodded.

*

Irinaka was now laying down on the couch, swaying his feet off the armrest, “But, of course, I didn’t end up doing what they wanted. Instead I went for the business course that the university was offering. In those courses, I learned so much about money. I excelled better than anyone in that course with my own skills. However, I got pulled out of college since my parents found out I wasn’t in the major they set me up for in the beginning. I kept it hidden for so long since I was buying used textbooks and not letting them see much of my progress. I got chewed out by them. Giving an ultimatum that either I return to school with the major of their choice or I get kicked out. I chose to pack up my stuff and get the hell out of there. I stayed with my roommate for a while since he was nice.

“With my experience in business, I found a job easily since I got them to avoid the fact I got pulled out of university not that long into my senior year. But based on my grades, they just put me through a lot of training before I got put into a cubicle.” Irinaka remarked. “

“I worked extra hard to keep my job since I wasn’t as good as the others. I stayed up doing late shifts, taking over shifts from being called in sick. I was the one people could count on to take care of the budget since that was what I was best at,” Irinaka continued. “I did everything I could for that company.”

Midoriya stated, “It sounds like something happened.”

“Something did. Something really big.” Irinaka answered with his gaze fixed on the ceiling. “I was very protective over the company because I had to deal with a lot of customers complaining over the phone. All of them asking for refunds and stuff like that. I thought it was just the run of the mill kind of bullshit that people try when they want something free from the company of something like that. I always ended up losing my temper with them, transferring them to someone else or hanging up on them when they started to yell so I wouldn’t lose my job from yelling back.”

“But it wasn’t just complaining. I learned that the hard way when I went to go to work the next day and found out that the company was under investigation after I worked there for five years. I was so loyal to that company only to find out it was a scamming company. It started as a legit company and slowly became corrupt and scammed people out of their money for the last year I worked there.” Irinaka explained, evading his hands in the air as he talked. “But I didn’t notice anything wrong since my focus was mostly on the money we were earning. I just thought the company was becoming more trusted and that’s how the company was getting so much more money than the average sales. I didn’t think anything like that at the time. Maybe if I had noticed in time I could have been more useful.”

“After that, I was out of a job.” Irinaka sighed, looking down at his fingers as Midoriya wrote points down in his notebook. “I could still stay at my apartment since I had a relatively cheap one that I could easily afford with the money I had saved up after all those years. I rationed effectively with my food and savings since I was good with making a budget for myself. I tried to find other places that would take me, but the company’s reputation travelled with me anywhere I went. If I got hired someplace, my anger issues either got in the way or I became too pushy for their liking.”

“I thought I didn’t have to worry about being of no use anymore since I worked at the Yakuza. I thought I could be of use again. But then, I found out I shouldn’t have put all my loyalty into it when I really thought about what you said to me that day and what Chisaki said.” Irinaka said with a sad expression. “For what’s it worth, I apologize for trying to talk with you under false pretenses to try and get info out of you.”

“I accept your apology,” Midoriya smiled calmly. Irinaka relaxed on the couch as they started talking more about Irinaka’s knack for counting money and budgeting.

*

Irinaka walked out of the office room calmly with Midoriya following behind him. Hojo looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Hi everyone,” Irinaka greeted.

Rikiya chuckled, “Well, you didn’t break anything this time. That’s an improvement.”

“So are you part of the group?” Tabe asked.

Irinaka nodded, “I’m ready to be reformed like the rest of you. I’m very pleased to be part of this group.”

Toya smiled, “And we got another one!”

Midoriya walked past the others with a happy expression, noticing how Irinaka’s tense shoulders relaxed when he sat near Tengai and Nemoto. He strode up to Chisaki who was leaning against the wall near the staircase.

Midoriya approached with a calm expression on his face. “You know. I wanted to be a hero when I grew up so I could help people.”

Chisaki narrowed his eyes. The bruise on his face was very noticeable from the coloring on his cheek. “What does that have to do anything?”

“I have a point that I will make,” Izuku said softly, “I became a therapist to help people in a different way since heroes needed help like civilians. I became someone to talk to many people like ones you have hurt before with your actions. Mirio, Nighteye and Eri.”

“I’m still surprised that that old hero actually survived from a wound that large,” Chisaki commented.

Midoriya was silent for a long pause, giving Chisaki a silent look of hidden irritation. “I have come to learn that to understand a person is to truly learn what they are like and thinks like to know this thought process.”

Chisaki scoffed, “And you accepted to take us in even though you know what I had done to Eri. I have no idea where that thought process is leading you.

“I talked with Muscular and Moonfish before, I’m not afraid of talking to you or listening to your side. As long as you be truthful to what you really want.” Midoriya replied. “And so far, I’m not sure what you really want. You have to find out what means more to you. The Yakuza ideal that you made following your plan or the Yakuza ideal that came before that. Or maybe it isn’t the Shie Hassaikai that really means that much to you.”

Chisaki stared hard at him before turning away as Midoriya turned to the kitchen. He collected all the food onto one plate for the one person who had not come downstairs for dinner.

*

Midoriya knocked on Kurono’s door with a plate piled with food balanced on one of his arms like a waiter and a water bottle tucked into his elbow crease. “Are you doing alright? How are you feeling?”

“I’m not physically hurt. I haven’t done anything to hurt myself if that is what you want to know,” Kurono replied through the door. “I’m managing well.”

“That’s good to hear. I came here to give you dinner, I can’t let you go this long without food.,” Midoriya answered. “I also brought you some water as well.”

Kurono opened the door to see him, Izuku noticed the eyebags under his eyes that matched the ones that Chisaki had tried to hide from him earlier. His eyes looked tired and grateful as he took the plate from Izuku with a grateful smile.

“That’s very kind of you,” Kurono said, placing the plate of food on a nearby flat surface so he could eat later. “Nemoto gave me something light to eat during lunch.”

Midoriya watched as Kurono took a long sip from the water bottle with a pleased sigh. “Are you really okay?”

“I’ll be better sooner or later. I just don’t want to see his face more than necessary right now,” Kurono admitted softly. “Thank you for the food, Midoriya-Kun.”

“No thanks necessary,” Midoriya smiled sadly. “And if you need anyone to talk to, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you again. Good night to you,” Kurono said with another grateful smile before shutting his door.

Chapter Text

Chisaki is still being ignored by Kurono, his most loyal and oldest partner.

No matter how early he woke up or how late he stayed up, Kurono wouldn’t come out of his room. If he did, he waited until he knew that Chisaki wasn’t looking to sneak past him.

He also noticed how isolated he is from the others. How the others are no longer separated into their little groups based on how high they were ranked in his Eight Bullets group. They are all next to each other without a care in the world. The only thing that hasn’t changed is that Tengai still won’t sit that close to Rappa.

It took a whole week for him to come to the conclusion he had been searching for since Midoriya had asked about what he truly cared for.

It wasn’t until far after dinner that Chisaki decided that it was time to make his final move, his final decision that he would ever make.

He would talk to the therapist. He had to wait until after dinner the next night when everyone’s stomach was filled to go forth with his plan. When most of the reforming members had their attention on a movie, he walked past them to the office which did not go unnoticed by Midoriya.

He stood outside the office until he could see Midoriya striding up to him out of the corner of his eye. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Chisaki answered back with a shrug. “I came here to find out. Can we talk?”

Midoriya looked behind him to see Hojo peeking his head out, giving him a questioning look. He raised his hand and waved to him to reassure him that he had everything handled. Chisaki noticed how tense the therapist was and how hesitant he nodded. “Alright. We can talk. I’m sure you need some answers.”

“And I assume you need some questions answered as well,” Chisaki replied as Midoriya opened the door to let him inside. “This talk will hopefully appease both our needs.”

*

“What would you prefer me to refer to you as?”

“Chisaki-San is fine,” Chisaki answered as he finished cleaning dusting off the couch.

“Alright, Chisaki-San,” Midoriya clicked his pen. “Start whenever you want.”

Chisaki leaned back on the couch with a sigh. He shrugged when he began his story, “I killed my parents.”

‘Strong start,’ Midoriya quipped to himself as he started to write down in his notebook.

“When I got my quirk, I was holding their hands. They were taking me somewhere when I first felt an itch crawl up my arm. I didn’t pay much attention to it as I walked with them. I remember when we used an alleyway as a shortcut, my parents just disappeared and all I saw was red. I looked down to see nothing but blood covering the floor, the alley walls, and me. My hands were covered in so much blood I couldn’t see anything else at all.”

Chisaki recited like he was bored, recounting the earliest memories he could, “I shouted for my parents and alerted some officers who were very quick to notice how I was covered in blood. One tried to comfort me, but I stumbled into a dumpster which caused me to use my quirk on the dumpster. And then they were terrified of me and what I could do to them. I was forced into foster care after that.”

“The foster parents never lasted long since they were all scared of me and my quirk because of what it could do. The last foster family I had tried to cut my hands off. So I used my quirk on them. I ran away right afterward and hid in an alleyway where boss found me covered in blood,” Chisaki continued. “And so he took me under his wing and raised me in the Shie Hassaikai. Kurono was my first and only ally there that was the age that wasn’t afraid of me.”

“And you were raised there with tutors? No outside school except the teachers that were brought in?” Midoriya asked.

“Yes. I suppose Kurono told you about the life we grew up in. My life was filled with private teachers and tutors of any subject from etiquette and fighting to math and language. Every subject was covered by a different person who made sure I understood everything even if we had to go over it several times. So I grew up to be well-educated and a member of the Shie Hassaikai. I was very close in ranking with the boss because he is the one who saw something in me. So I wanted to show him that he made no mistake in deciding to bring me in.”

“And I’m guessing I’ll skip past the unneeded parts to get to something that I assume you would like to know. One day, the boss comes to tell me that his daughter disowned his granddaughter because she made her father disappear until nothing was left behind but his clothes. He brought her in and told me to make sure nothing happens to her so we can find out what her quirk did. I found out that her quirk can rewind living and non-living things, changing them beyond what they were before. When the boss found out, he thought since we had similar distinctive quirks that I could relate to her in some way.” Chisaki breathed out, “But when I found out what her quirk could do. Another idea popped into my mind

Izuku asks, “Why did you conclude using Eri to make bullets?”

“It was to rebuild the Yakuza for the boss since the Shie Hassaikai was so great back in the day. But it was just becoming smaller as years went by. That’s why we made those quirk-enhancing bullets to bring us back on the map,” Chisaki responded. “But with quirk erasing bullets, nothing would stop us from growing larger in the underground until we grew strong enough. Strong enough to pose a threat to the entirety of Japan or even bigger than that because of how much control we would have in our hands.”

Midoriya leaned forward, noticing the changes in Chisaki’s expression. “Is that the real reason?”

“It is about as real as I will tell you.” He retorted. Midoriya hummed in response.

“When the boss found out about what I was planning, he was very against it. I couldn’t blame him at first since it was his family, but he needed to see that it was for the good of the Yakuza. The Yakuza group that he helped flourish. But he was so strongly against it and I knew I couldn’t do anything to change his mind. So I used my quirk to put him in a coma.”

“I would guess that you were planning on reviving him from the coma once your plan succeeded.”

“Yes. I was,” Chisaki admitted after a long pause of silence. “But that didn’t happen. The plan fell through, Eri was rescued by the heroes, and I lost both my arms to Shigaraki and his men.”

“The funny thing is that I thought they were there to kill me, just end my life there and then,” Chisaki said with a blank look in his eyes. “But they didn’t, they took my arms. And when they took my arms, they took my quirk with them since it can only be activated through the touch of my hand. When I was laying there with bloody stumps where my arms once were surrounded by fire, I screamed. I screamed because I realized that I lost another parent, a piece of family that I had left. Pops would only be revived through my quirk, but since they took it away. Boss will be in that coma until he dies.”

“All because of me,” Chisaki finished.

“Do you regret it?”

“Of course I do. If I could go back, I would save him from having that kind of suffering at my own hands.”

Midoriya questioned with a determined look in his eyes, “Would you save Eri?”

Chisaki paused, “If it meant saving Pops, then yes.”

Izuku nodded, writing down multiple points in his notebook. “If you had your quirk still, would you rather go back to the Yakuza and your plan or save your boss from his eternal coma?”

With no hesitance, Chisaki answered, “Pops.”

Midoriya leaned back, “Just to let you know. Pops is still under watch by a very respected hospital. I wanted you to know that he is still being taken care of. He even gets visitors.”

Chisaki looked at him for the first time since the session started with an open expression that was closed off a few seconds later. “Good. He deserves it.”

Chisaki paused, “Who visits him?”

Midoriya looked back at his notebook, “Old members of the Shie Hassaikai I’m guessing,”

“Oh.”

“And his granddaughter.”

“Oh.”

*

Kai Chisaki is still reeling from his talk with Izuku, basically having an existential crisis of everything he has ever believed in while everyone else is killing time.

They all notice how he comes out looking different than before in the way he walked.

“So have you joined the light side?”

Chisaki stayed quiet, looking at Tabe’s outstretched hands that were flopping side-to-side in a poor imitation of jazz hands. “I’m not certain yet.”

Chisaki looked up towards the staircase, “But I will find the answer soon enough.”

He climbed up the stairs up to the third floor while the other men looked between his fading figure and the therapist to look for an explanation of why he was acting so calm. He stopped by Kurono’s room and listened to the silence on the other side. He was about to try and open the door when he heard something from above him.

He passed by Kurono’s room and headed towards the storage room that filled up the spare space. He noticed the window opened which made his suspicion rise as to where that sound came from. He walked across the room to poke his head out of the window to look up at the roof. Chisaki could see Kurono’s back facing him as the others gazed up at the stars.

With a deep breath, Chisaki slowly climbed out of the window, placing his feet on the window ledge to jump onto the rooftop ledge. His shoulders collided with the rooftop while his prosthetic arms grabbed at the shingles. He propelled himself forward with his legs to shimmy himself onto the roof.

“What are you doing?”

Chisaki’s face was smashed against the roof as he responded, “What does it look like?”

“It looks like you are a fish that accidentally made his way on land near a fish market and are desperately trying to escape,” Kurono answered with a blank stare.

“Nice description,” Chisaki grumbled. He stood up unsteadily, swiping on his front to wipe off any leaves and dirt from himself. “It is so dirty up here.”

“Yeah, that’s why I picked it,” Kurono turned back around. “I didn’t think you would come up here or even know I was here in the first place.”

“Of course I knew you would be up here or somewhere like it.”

“Why?” Kurono looked back at him.

“The stars,” Chisaki replies. His footsteps were heavy against the tiles of the roof as he made his way closer to Kurono. “You like to look up at them. If you weren’t by your window in your room, you were somewhere outside.”

“And how do you know that?” Kurono questioned with a suspicious gaze.

Chisaki crouched down slightly behind Kurono’s side, looking up at the night sky. “You have always liked them. I noticed it since we were younger when we used to escape to the garden in the middle of the night to talk near that fountain.”

Kurono remained silent as Chisaki settled down onto the tiles behind him. “Hopefully this new plan of mine won’t fail.”

Kurono scoffs, shaking his head, “And what new plan do you have?”

Chisaki turned to look directly at him, “To earn your forgiveness.”

Kurono stared at him surprised as he continued. “I formally apologize for my words during our fight and my actions that led up to it. I should have been more clear about my intentions towards you. You are my friend and I have never considered you less than an ally to me. You have never behaved like a pet, that was a very ill choice of words.”

“I-. Then why have you been treating me differently since this reform program started,” Kurono looked confused. “Was it because of me failing to help during our last fight with the heroes rescuing Eri?”

“What? That’s wasn’t your fault. I thought everything would work out in the end, but things didn’t. My plan failed. It wasn’t because of you,” Chisaki admitted.

“It wasn’t?” Kurono questioned with a hopeful look in his eyes. The expression diminished quickly as he reminded himself why he was angry in the first place. “Then why were you acting so weird?”

“Hmm. Let’s see. We’re in an unfamiliar territory that we tried to escape from. All escape plans were failing. Moving into the new plan, trying to fake being reform. Surprise, surprise. Everyone is reforming. I was trying to come up with new ways and new plans to work to try and get out of here quickly. Then I got distracted with the whole revelation before Nemoto reform where the therapist admitted that he was quirkless. I thought that maybe I could learn something from him like how I learned from the boss.”

“Wait, what’s the connection there?” Kurono questioned, confused on what point Chisaki was trying to make. “You’re saying that you tried to talk with Midoriya about being quirkless because of the boss. That doesn’t make sense.”

“The big plan I made was because of Boss,” Chisaki answered. “I wanted to make the bullets to make the Shie Hassaikai the strongest and the world better. T try and make the organization he helped flourish under his guidance even stronger. And the world would be just like him.”

“Just like him?”

Chisaki sighed, staring at one constellation in the sky as he admitted something that he hasn't told anyone. “Gramps was quirkless. But a quirk didn’t defy him. He was a respected boss to everyone and nothing stopped him from being one of the best leaders the Shie Hassaikai would ever see. I thought if the majority was quirkless again, there would be no need for their hierarchy of quirks of who is at the bottom of who is the strongest anymore. I thought talking with him about things and learning would make more sense at the time.”

“Boss is why I originally made the plan. But when he didn’t approve of it, because it would mean using his granddaughter. I used my quirk on him to be in a coma, so I could continue with the plan without him. It wasn’t until those league guys took my arms that I realized that I had to question everything in Tartarus and regret my actions and decisions.”

“I was quirkless that means I was like pops. But now I can’t fix him to make him come back from a coma because I don’t have my quirk anymore. I made the bullets, but now the Shie Hassaikai is no more and the Yakuza can’t make a comeback.” Chisaki tilted his head back. “I followed the plan, but nothing good came from it.”

“Chisaki...”

“Pops was the only person I considered family after my parents died. And you are the only person I consider my friend, closer than family or an ally could reach,” Chisaki said honestly. “I already lost gramps because of my stupid decisions. I can’t lose you too, Hari.”

Kurono stared at his friend, “Kai, what exactly are you saying?”

“I don’t want to lose you. Simple as that. If I have to reform with you, then so be it,” Chisaki looked over at Kurono. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

Kurono shook his head at his friend with a smile growing on his face. He started to laugh which made Chisaki relax his shoulders more. “I could never get rid of you even if I tried. Just like you can never get rid of me.”

“And I never want to,” Chisaki said with a small smile on his face. “I never wanted to make you feel that way.”

“Apology accepted,” Kurono replied, scooting across the rooftop tiles to get closer. Chisaki dragged himself forward to balance on the very top of the roof with Kurono at his right-hand side. Kurono’s left arm was wrapped around his shoulders so Chisaki could feel his touch.

And together, just like they were children, watched the stars in comfortable silence with their shared heartbeats and breathing making the only sound.

Unnoticed by both of them, Midoriya smiled under the moonlight while he stared ahead at the forest. He accidentally ended up listening to them after he went outside for a breath of fresh air.

Now he knows that the reform program is closer to coming to an end. It will only take a bit more time. He smiled to himself as he thought about the bet that the league mentioned at the very beginning. Midoriya thought to himself. ‘I wonder who will win the bet?’

Chapter Text

When Chisaki was advised to warm up with the old members of his group by Midoriya, he didn’t know it would lead to playing a lot of board games with the others.

Only a day after his own session, Midoriya had suggested to him that he may want to ease into forming more of a friendship between his old members since he was going to be with them for the rest of the reform program.

He sat next to Kurono as the rest were spread out around the living room couches and floor with multiple games stacked up on the floor.

For this round, Midoriya placed black and white cards down on the table and explained the rules to everyone in simple terms. Everyone gets white cards that have random answers on them. One person reads one of the black cards out loud and the other players have to answer the black card with one of their white cards. When the person chooses a white card they like the most, the person gets the black card to keep track of their points. The first one to the required number is the winner.

Chisaki looked down at the small number of cards in his hands with a grimace. The cards in his hands ranged from ‘jobs’ to something really vulgar.

Tabe started the game by asking the first question, “Daddy, why is mommy crying?”

Everyone hurriedly shuffled through their cards to find the perfect answer when Rappa slammed his card down on the table with a laugh.

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? A bitch slap.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? Bees?”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? My relationship status.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? Crumbs all over the god damn carpet.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? My ugly face and personality.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? My ex-wife.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? An unwanted pregnancy.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? Assless chaps.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? Three dicks at the same time.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? Child beauty pageants.”

“Daddy, why is mommy crying? A bag of magic beans.”

“I think I will go with the most vulgar one here,” Tabe answered while Rappa snatched his card like it was a true victory.

He picked up a black card and announced loudly, “What will always get you laid?”

“Extremely tight pants.”

“Doin’ it in the butt.”

“Powerful thighs.” Rappa commented. “Yep. Crush a watermelon, it will get everyone’s attention,”

“Listening to her problems without trying to solve them.”

Rappa bit back a laugh as he continued, “Bubble butt bottom boys.”

“Not wearing pants.”

“Daddy issues,” Rappa laughed the hardest at that answer along with the others in the room. Rikiya looked proud for an obvious reason.

“Man meat.”

“Sideboob.”

“Dead parents. Ha!”

“A fuck-ton of almonds,” Rappa finished reading the suggestion with a blank look on his face. He quickly chose the card that made him laugh the most out of the rest.

Rikiya looked down at the black card he picked, he looked up at everyone with a grim expression, “Okay. What would grandma find disturbing yet oddly charming?”

He gave everyone some time to come up with their responses, glancing at Chisaki as he rummaged through his card slowly with a concentrated look.

“Battlefield amputations.”

“Men.”

“Being able to talk to elephants.”

“Horse meat.”

“Heartwarming orphans.”

“Making a pouty face.”

“Explosions.”

“Drinking alone.”

“The heart of a child.”

“A little boy who won’t shut the fuck up about dinosaurs.”

“My sex life.”

“I’ll go with the annoying little boy card,” Rikiya answered. He looked a bit shocked to see Kurono claim it as his card.

Kurono flipped the card over to read out, “Just once I’d like to hear you say “Thanks, Mom. Thanks for___?””

“Judging everyone.”

“Thanks for teaching a robot to love.”

“Thanks for getting really high.”

“Thanks for a micro pig wearing a tiny raincoat and booties.”

“Thanks for a micropenis.”

“Thanks for foreskin.”

“Thanks for mutually assured destruction.”

“Thanks for fake tits.”

“Thanks for laying an egg.”

Kurono bit down on his lip to keep from laughing, “Thanks for an Oedipus complex.”

“Thanks for a ball of earwax, semen, and toenail clippings.”

“I’m going with the Oedipus complex card for obvious reasons,” Kurono had a small smile on his face.

“I have won!” Sakaki celebrated, swiping the black card with a bright grin on his face.

Irinaka picked up a new card with a grimace in his face, “I don’t have any good ones.”

Sakaki settled back onto the couch’s armrest to read out from another black card, “A romantic candlelight dinner would be incomplete without ___”

“Vehicle manslaughter,” He snorted. “Starting strong, I see.”

“A tiny, gay guitar called a ukulele.” Sakaki smiled. “Ooh, music is romantic.”

“Seven dead and three in critical condition.”

“Heteronormativity.”

“Announcing that I am about to finish.”

“The only gay person in a hundred miles.”

“My soul.”

“Waking up half-naked in a Denny’s parking lot.”

“Soft kissy missionary sex.”

“Penis envy.”

“My balls on your face,” Sakaki laughed cheerfully at the last one.

“Hmmmmmm,” Sakaki hummed loudly as he shuffled through the answers to choose one. “Most of these are really good. But I’ll go with vehicular manslaughter.”

Hojo raised his hand to show off that he was the winner. Sakaki flicked the black card at him before relaxing back with his own white card deck. Hojo picked up a black card from the tall deck, “Why do I hurt all over?”

“Grandma.”

“Magnets.”

“A horde of Vikings.”

“The violation of our most basic human rights.”

“Having sex for the first time.”

“Bitches.”

“Goblins.”

“The miracle of childbirth.”

“Hospice care.”

“Catapults.”

“My collection of erotic toys.”

“Ooh. I’ll choose the childbirth one because I know that one probably hurts more than the other answers.” Hojo answered honestly.

Nemoto nodded as he plucked the card from the other’s fingers with a smug grin. He coughed to get everyone’s attention and read the new card out loud, “During sex, I like to think about ___”

“A sea of troubles.”

“Emerging from the sea and rampaging through Tokyo.”

“Many bats.”

“My inner demons.”

“Being a dick to children.”

“An octopus giving seven handjobs and smoking a cigarette.”

“Drowning the kids in the bathtub.”

“Me time.”

“Wet dreams.”

“Peeing a little bit.”

“Hot people.”

Nemoto waved a white card immediately after reading the last of the answers, “Emerging from the sea and rampaging through Tokyo is the only answer I see fit.”

Toya whooped loudly and snatched the card from Nemoto proudly. He took over for the next turn. Toya questioned, “What made my first kiss so awkward?”

“Unfathomable stupidity.”

“Saying “I love you”” Toya winced. “Aw Yeah. That would make things super awkward.”

“A windmill full of corpses.”

“A really cool hat.”

“Being on fire

“Dying

“Pretending to care

“Dark and mysterious forces beyond our control

“Farting and walking away

“Murder

“Eating the last known bison

“Sorry. But I have to go with saying I love you since that is the most awkward thing.”

“And dying in the middle of it isn’t?” Midoriya asked while in the middle of laughing. Toya shrugged back at him which only sided him and the others laughed harder. Chisaki even cracked a small grin at the sight.

Tengai read from a crisp, black card in between his fingers. He narrowed his eyes at the words on the card “Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is ___”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there are chunks of dead hitchhiker.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there are dead babies.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is the WiFi password.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is my neck, my back, my...” Tengai paused to take in a deep breath like he was a disappointed parent. “...and my crack.”

Rappa fake-coughed into his fist, “You didn’t say the whole thing.”

Tengai narrowed his eyes at Rappa who looked smug. Nevertheless he continued with the rest of the answers without acknowledging Rappa’s request.

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is some punk kid who stole my turkey sandwich.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is a disappointing birthday party.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is a fetus.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is full frontal nudity.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is shapeshifters.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is these hoes.”

“Here is the steeple. Open the doors. And there is the devil himself.”

“Who was responsible for the punk kid stealing the turkey sandwich?” Tengai asked, receiving an answer when Midoriya raised his hand with a grin.

Midoriya picked up a card and snickered at the question. He looked up to the rest of the group surrounding him. “What’s my secret power?”

“The female orgasm.”

“Seething with quiet resentment.”

“Poor life choices.”

“Genuine human connection.”

“Chainsaw for hands.”

“Memes.”

“Exactly what you’d expect.”

“Spectacular abs.”

“Ghosts.”

“Throwing grapes at a man until he loses touch with reality.”

“Spontaneous human combustion.”

“To be honest with myself, if I did have a secret power I would like to think it is a genuine human connection. But seething with quiet resentment is a close second.”

Chisaki perked his head up when he won with his answer. Kurono knocked his shoulder softly before he got up to claim his winning card.

And when Chisaki became Card Czar, Irinaka won with two cards about hot cheese and geese. As the games continued, Chisaki allowed himself to relax more.

*

Midoriya brought out more activities to do the next day after an early lunch that filled everyone’s stomach.

Tengai was just spending his time reading with a nice warm cup of chai tea that Izuku prepared.

Toya had a large 500-piece puzzle scattered across the kitchen counter. He had all the end pieces connected, but there were too many pieces that looked the exact same.

Tabe, Hojo, Nemoto, and Irinaka decided to play a small game of Monopoly which was a bad idea since Irinaka had taken over the bank like always.

Sakaki was laying down on his stomach and swinging his feet up in the air as he drew on a large piece of paper. He was humming along with a small little radio that Midoriya set on a pop music station that played music with no ads interrupting.

Rappa and Rikiya teamed together on a co-op video game. Rikiya was leaning heavily into Rappa who was trying to focus on getting the main objective. Everything was going well except the fact that Rikishi kept dying just to see the irritated look on Rappa’s face.

Kurono and Chisaki were playing card games one after another such as; Crazy Eights, Speed, Go Fish, and Old Maid. Right now, they were playing a long game of Memory.

Toya looked up from the 500-piece puzzle he was doing, “Hey can I get a hand?”

Tabe was about to answer his friend right before he saw something fly across the room to land right into Toya’s chest. The men looked back at Toya to see a disembodied arm on his lap. In almost exact unison, all the men looked back at Chisaki who now only had one prosthetic arm swinging slightly.

Chisaki looked back at the stares with an indifferent expression, “What?”

Sakaki bit down on his lip to keep from laughing before breaking down in giggles. A few others chuckled or shared a smile with each other at the joke. Kurono looked over at Chisaki warmly who returned the look with a proud gleam in his eyes.

*

After dinner, Izuku had everyone gathered in the office for the weekly night session. Rappa and Irinaka sat closer to one another since the last time they had a group session, they bonded over their strict parents. Although Rikiya was still the closest one to Rappa since they worked really well together.

“I feel like I’ll just stick to what I’m best at, counting money and dealing with money in general.

Tabe hummed to himself, “I’m thinking of working as a cook. And Hojo and Toya could work with me.”

Toya nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be working as a support like a waiter or something first. I will try to work on doing another job like Hojo.”

“Yeah, I’m planning on doing something with the crystals I can grow. Maybe selling them to small businesses that do costume jewelry or something like that,” Hojo said.

Nemoto hums to himself, “I was thinking of working as a helper to find liars. Like some small position in the police force.”

“I want to teach others how to fight like wrestlers and boxers,” Rappa proclaimed loudly.

Rikiya raised his head slowly, “I’ll do that too. I’m good at fighting.”

Sakaki shrugged, “I’ll find somewhere that someone as flexible as me. Like rock climbing, gymnastics, or something like it.”

Everyone quieted down from their conversation about where they wanted to do after the program. Kurono and Chisaki glanced at each other instead of responding to the others since they had no particular idea of what they would be doing as soon as the reform was over.

Midoriya relaxes in his seat more as he turns to address everyone in the room. “So does everyone think they are ready for the next step in the program?”

The men looked at each other, looking for any hesitancy in their expressions. Even Chisaki was staring straight ahead with a determined look on his face with Kurono by his side, providing silent support.

Nemoto glanced at everybody again and turned to Izuku, “I think I can honestly say that we are all in agreement.”

Midoriya smiled, “Alright. I will contact the other people in charge of the reform to get everything ready. It shouldn’t take longer than a week or so to get everything scheduled.”

*

After talking with one another for a long time, the members eventually excused themselves to retire to bed. Midoriya said goodnight to everyone in the office before returning to his own bedroom.

The reformed men walk slowly out of the room except Rappa and Hojo who apparently made a competition to see who could race up the stairs the fastest and get to their bedroom the quickest. Rappa and Hojo steadily pushed the other as they ran to the stairwell, practically jumping up the steps to outdo the other.

Rikiya yawned as he followed Tabe behind the entire group. Nemoto was talking animatedly with Irinaka while Sakaki was hanging off of Toya.

Kurono and Chisaki were the last duo to walk out of the office since they wanted to talk more without the others around them.

“I still feel this weird itching on my arms or on my hands sometimes,” Chisaki complained as he looked down at his prosthetics. “And do you know how frustrating it is since I can’t even scratch it since my arm isn’t there anymore?”

Kurono nodded along with what Chisaki said, “I haven’t experienced that before, but I can imagine that it is pretty frustrating.”

Chisaki nodded back at him. Kurono’s eyes darted to the front door before turning back to Chisaki with a smile, “You want to talk more outside?”

“On the roof again?” Chisaki asked with a displeased expression. He ran his fingers through his hair to push the long bangs out of his face. “I don’t think I can jump like that again. I felt like a desperate dolphin.”

“Okay,” Kurono chuckled. “Not the roof then. Let’s just take a walk outside. It won’t be for long.”

Kurono extended his hand towards Chisaki. Chisaki placed his hand in the other’s grasp before being pulled forward strongly. Chisaki followed after Kurono as he marched towards the front door. Kurono opened the door with one hand and led Chisaki through the opening into the night.

Kurono turned to him with a confident look in his eyes, “I want to make another promise.”

“What is the promise?” Chisaki asked as they walked further from the house’s front door so they wouldn’t be heard. They made their way toward the trees to stand underneath the lush leaves.

Kurono’s hair shined with the light of the moon above them. He extended his pinky towards Chisaki reminding him of their younger days back in the Shie Hassaikai. “That no matter what happens, we will still be close.”

“I can guarantee you that I will do anything to make sure you can never leave my side,” Chisaki promised as Kurono linked his pinky with his own mechanical one. “I will do everything I can to make sure we are close no matter where we end up.”

It was quiet all around them. There were no birds or bugs making any noise around them. Kurono could only hear his own heartbeat along with Chisaki’s steady breathing. Kurono brushed his hair back, “When all of this is over, what do you want to do first?”

“I want to rest,” Chisaki admitted. He turned to Kurono with a soft smile creeping on his face. “Maybe we can both rest in the countryside like you suggested.”

Kurono relaxed against the trunk of the tree with Chisaki right by his side. The bark pressed against their backs as the stars shone brightly in the night sky. “That sounds nice, Kai.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya got a response straight away from the higher ups in the reform program. In the email response, they detailed how within four days a bus will come to pick them up and the trial has been scheduled for the beginning of next week. With that official response, Midoriya sent emails to people that he had tracked down with the help of the internet and his friend in the police force.

He informed the others during breakfast that day of the incoming event.

Nemoto swallowed before asking, “So we are going to leave in a few more days?”

“Ah,” Tabe sighed. “I will kind of miss this place.”

“Yeah. Let me just reminisce real quick,” Rappa said while he yawned. He turned around in his seat with his hand over his mouth. He pointed towards the wall, “That’s where Tengai slapped someone for the first time in his life.”

“Indeed,” Tengai nodded in confirmation before eating a chunk of melon.

Rappa pointed towards the front door, “Outside is where I fought the therapist which was great and I want even more rematches after I get out of this program.”

Izuku thought for a moment. He turned to the muscular man with a promise, “That would be doable. I can schedule a fight at least once or twice a month just for you.”

“Perfect,” Rappa commented with his finger pointed right at him.

“I am going to miss some memories we made here,” Toya admitted, twirling his fork in the scrambled eggs to get the perfect bite.

“I will too,” Kurono quietly said with his gaze pointed upwards.

“Well, we have three more days until we get out of here. So let’s milk it for all it’s worth,” Sakaki smiled while sucking down on his orange juice.

And they did.

That night was filled with every single activity that they could possibly do with all the things that Izuku had. At one point, Sakaki was hanging upside down from Rappa’s back and drawing on a whiteboard in a wild game of Pictionary.

The second night was filled with more relaxation since the following day would bring the bus that will take them away. So after a lot of arguing over what to watch, they all decided on watching an action filled movie followed by an animated movie that made Irinaka tear up even though he denied it many times afterwards.

They retired earlier than the previous night so that everyone would be fully rested for the next day. And in each room, every member was thinking about their time in the reform program with the time they had left.

Tabe has his room painted with a nice golden brown color that reminded him of warm cookies. He had a nightstand by his bed with a small bookshelf filled with cookbooks that Izuku thought he might enjoy. Midoriya had even written some of his own favorite recipes down in a folder of paper that was resting on his nightstand.

Setsuno had a few novels that he stole from the bookshelf downstairs that Izuku recommended for him. He had only read two of them, but both of them featured a protagonist who overcomes betrayal in the past to work hard towards a successful future whether it be alone or with a partner that loves them dearly. Midoriya also gave him a notebook to vent his frustrations. That specific notebook sat in the drawer of the nightstand by his bed.

Hojo got a few books and magazines from Midoriya about jewelry making. One magazine featured an interesting article about the declining want of real diamonds among younger people.

Rappa had handheld weights in one corner of his room and a pull up bar against the wall just for him to use. Midoriya gave him some handwritten advice about fighting styles that he learned. Rappa’s bed was big enough to fit his entire body without having him curl up. He could lay down fully in his bed with no worry about his feet coming off the edge of rolling off. Above his bed was a poster that showcased one of the biggest wrestling champions that he kind of admired back when he did underground fighting.

Sakaki had climbing obstacles all over the ceiling that allowed him to have endless fun twisting his body through the openings. He had a nice full bed that he often ignored in favor of the hammock right next to his bed.

Rikiya had a large bed just like Rappa’s that was so comfortable. He had plenty of pillows to just sink into with an even softer mattress that was just perfect for him to fall asleep and never wake up. He also had a large plush beanbag chair with a punching bag in one corner of his bedroom.

Nemoto had a nice tapestry hung up on his wall that depicted several blueprint-like depictions of inventions on a tea stained paper. It was like an old pirate treasure map. He had a half-done wordsearch book laying open on his desk with another bigger notebook open to some sketches that he did when he was bored. He also had a hanging chair that hung freely from the ceiling right near the window. And on the windowsill was a small succulent plant.

Tengai had several books occupying a small bookshelf next to his bed that acted as his nightstand. He had a relaxing corner with a soft yoga mat. He had a deep blue carpet all over his floor that was the same color of the teacup on his nightstand that was now filled with cold tea that has been steeping for too long.

Irinaka’s room consisted of plain wood and cactus. He had three small cactus plants on a hanging shelf right by his bed. Midoriya has given him a few books since his session about becoming your own leader and forging new paths in life. He also had a few business oriented magazines that were there since they came into the program.

Kurono had dark brown walls and mahogany flooring. He had a medium sized bookshelf with some novels stacked together near the ends. The bookshelf wasn’t completely empty from the items placed on the shelves like a brown messenger bag and a globe sitting on the shelf above it. He had read a few novels on the shelf already, following stories about two friends going on adventures together across the world.

On his nightstand was a notebook that he had once made escape plans in at the beginning of the reform program. It was made to catalog any idea or plan formed to try and get out of the house. But it eventually ended up becoming a journal that featured much more than ideas. It had his thoughts and emotions just laid out among the pages. During his fight with Chisaki, he had filled almost twenty pages simply on what he was feeling at the time. And he wanted to filled the journal with much more.

Chisaki’s room was very dark colored with tones of deep purple and green shining through the brown and black hues. The books on his small bookshelf ranged from business to medical and all the way to science. All of the books stayed in the non-fiction territory.

And as Chisaki laid down on his bed, he thought about what tomorrow might bring. Just like the rest of the reformed members who were thinking the same thing in their own bedrooms.

*

The bus came after everyone’s stomach had settled from the big lunch that Izuku and Tabe prepared for everyone.

Everyone walked outside with Midoriya at the front of the group. The heroes at the site escorted them on the bus as they glanced back at the house that they have already gotten so used to.

Aizawa was at the front of the bus right by Kurono and Chisaki. Sugarman and Tentacole was near the back with Tengai, Deidoro, and Irinaka.

Uravity sat next to Midoriya and Nemoto. Suneater was watching over Setsuno, Hojo, and Tabe. And Red Riot was sitting right next to Rappa and Rikiya.

“Hey,” Rappa prompted with his gaze towards Red Riot. He knocked his shoulder against the pro hero. “When is our rematch?”

Red Riot turn Ed towards him with raised eyebrows. He rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing how to answer, “I don’t know. Maybe once you get out?”

Rappa nodded back and leaned against the wall of the bus with satisfaction and anticipation written all over his face. Red Riot looked towards Midoriya who gave him a thumbs-up.

The bus eventually arrived at a tall hotel where they explain that all of them have a whole entire floor to themselves with several heroes there to watch over their movements just in case.

When they got escorted into the biggest main room of the entire floor, the members flooded in only to stop and stare at the occupants inside the room. Midoriya, notching how everyone went silent, nudged his way past the men to see who they were staring at.

He poked his head out to see his mother sitting with his friends who also happened to be the reformed league of villains.

“Hey, Izuku!” Iguchi called out, waving money in his fist. “I won the bet!”

Chisaki tenses up when he sees the light blue hair of Shimura near a green haired woman who looked like she could be Midoriya’s mother from the resemblance. Kurono noticed immediately how uncomfortable he was and stepped in front of him to block his view from the other’s and vice versa.

Midoriya Inko looked up from her seat in the middle of everyone, “Hello everyone. I’m Midoriya Inko. I’m Izuku’s mother and your lawyer will represent you and your case on the trial in a few days.”

Rappa waved awkwardly, “Hello, Miss.” Rikiya, Nemoto and Irinaka followed his example by waving over to her quietly

“Hi!” Sakaki said happily. Tabe, Setsuno and Hojo smiled and waved to her.

“Greetings,” Tengai bowed slightly to show respect.

And so the room was quiet with inevitable tension from the way Magne and Sako were distanced far away from Chisaki and how Tenko was staring hard at them like he was daring any of them to move.

Himiko breaks the silence, “What are you guys gonna do when you get out?

“All three of us plan on opening a cafe eventually,” Tabe stated with a look towards his two friends.

“I want to work somewhere in jewelry off to the side,” Hojo commented. “I make these crystals, so I might as well get some use from them.”

Himiko hums with a happy grin, “I guess we might be future business partners in the future then.”

Aizawa creeps into the room silently and gestures over to Midoriya. Midoriya turned back to him, making Chisaki look over his shoulder to see the underground hero looking straight at him.

“I need you and Midoriya to come with me,” Aizawa demanded with a monotone voice. He looked over to Kumogiri and raised his hand in a silent wave to him before walking through the door. He glanced back to Midoriya who hurriedly followed after him with a confused Chisaki behind him.

Chisaki looked back at Kurono right before the door close with an indescribable feeling in his gut that was starting to grow more as they walked away from the room.

*

The two men follow the underground hero to a separate hotel room that was filled with other heroes inside. The two walked straight through a small kitchen area to sit on a couch facing a large television.

When they sat down, several other pro heroes walked into the living area with Chisaki tensing next to Midoriya. Across from them was Lemillion, Suneater, Present Mic, and Eraserhead. Midoriya recognized Shinso in his casual clothes on a stool right in front of the kitchen counter.

Midoriya cleared his throat, “Why are we here?”

“You’ll find out when she comes in,” Shinso piped up in response.

Midoriya realized who they were talking about as soon as he heard the familiar footsteps of her signature red high top sneakers coming down the hallway of the hotel room.

Chisaki turned his head and saw the familiar young teenager looking back at him with red eyes that no longer showed any weakness or fear in them.

Eri walked in front of the heroes standing on the opposite side of the wall to face the two of them. She was wearing a white button down underneath a black pinafore dress. Chisaki looked down to avoid her eye contact only to see her shoes that matched the same color as Midoriya’s.

Eri swayed side to side on her feet as she looked up and down at the man before her. “This is weird. I have never seen your face before without some plague mask in the way.”

“I didn’t expect to see your face either,” Chisaki replied back. His prosthetic fingers tangled together into one as he stood there awkwardly.

Eri looked up at him with a determined gaze in her strong red eyes. She took a deep breath in and glanced back at the people supporting her. Eri turned back to him and clenched her fists. She said, “I have never forgotten about what you did to me. It has taken me a long time to finally get rid of the majority of nightmares and the fear of you ever coming back to steal me back from my new family. It took a lot of support and love from people that I now consider my family to face you here today.”

“I didn’t think I could look at you, but I’m stronger now than I was back then. I’m not looking for an apology right now. All I want is an explanation to see if you have repented. I need to see if you are actually ready to reform.”

“In summary, Eri decides your fate in the trial since she has been the most affected victim by your past crimes,” Eraserhead explained to the silent Chisaki with narrowed eyes directed at him. Mirio had no smile on his face as he stared at the interaction with crossed arms. Shinso was sitting down next to Mirio with a blank expression plastered on his face, but Midoriya could still see the hatred in his eyes.

Chisaki froze at Eraserhead’s words, breathing softly to himself as Midoriya watched from his side. He swallowed before turning his full attention back to Eri. “You’re right. A simple apology won’t fix any action I have done. Words won’t even begin to cover tech misled plan I had at the beginning. Sorry won’t cover the things I thought using you would help make happen. And it won’t change the fact that I caused it all to happen.”

Midoriya watched quietly by Chisaki’s left side as he recounted the same explanation he told Izuku that day in the therapist’s office. About how he wanted to make the Yakuza strong again just for Pops. He detailed certain things he told Kurono on the roof about how he wanted to do it for his boss in the first place. He told all of them about he truly regretted his actions when it was too late to go back and fix any of them.

Chisaki took a long calming breath after his explanation was finished. He ended it by saying a comment directed at Eri, “Your grandfather would have liked to see you as happy as you are now with a strong family behind you. I know he would be proud.”

Eri looked back at him silently with a slightly warm expression on her face and nodded back at him.

Present Mic took the lead, “Alright! Let’s get you two back to the others.”

“That would be nice, Yamada-San,” Midoriya said respectfully as they walked behind Present Mic to get back to the main room. Chisaki swallowed nervously, their footsteps being the only sound in the hall. Midoriya looked towards him with a worried look in his eyes, knowing that he should get him back to the room as soon as possible to get him close to someone he trusts more than himself. He had to get him to Kurono.

*

When the two came back, they noticed how the other members have already integrated themselves into one group. Tabe was asking Sako about the place he worked at and the kind of food they served. Sakaki was talking a mile-a-minute with Magne who looked excited about something while gesturing towards Sakaki’s long hair. Tenko was talking with Nemoto while allowing the other to play with his friendly dog. Tengai was leaning against the wall with Kumogiri in a steady conversation. Himiko had Toya and Hojo in her wraps as she sketches excitedly onto a notepad about future art ideas. Touya was currently squished between Rappa and Rikiya on a couch, but he didn’t look fazed at all from it.

Kurono noticed how stiff Chisaki’s body language was as soon as they entered. Midoriya let him lead Chisaki away from the loud conversations going on between everyone in the main hotel room, escaping into a connecting room to give them some privacy.

“What’s wrong?” Kurono asked, placing his hand on the small of Chisaki’s back to try and calm him.

“We met with Eri,” Chisaki answered. Kurono frowned at the weight behind his words. “I talked with her with several other heroes in either room as witnesses and poet trial protection.”

Kurono softly patted his back, “What did you talk about?”

“I explained my actions to her,” Chisaki mumbled. He lifted his head to turn his full attention to Kurono. “I have no idea what this could mean since he holds our fate in her hands right now to testify against us or for us to get the full reform.”

“It’s okay,” Kurono tried to reassure him.

“It’s not!” Chisaki interjected loudly, making Kurono pause in his reassurance. Chisaki stood up and escaped the reassuring hands of his friend to run his hands down his face in frustration, “Look, I don’t care if I have to spend more time in jail or anything like that. So if that is what she chooses, then that’s what happens.”

“That is not what will happen.” Kurono stared back at him, gesturing at himself with sweeping hand movements, “I care even if you don’t about what happens to you. Because I want to be there no matter which outcome.”

“But I can’t let you do that. What happens when you get to be reformed fully but I get held back?” Chisaki asked. “I don’t want to ruin that.”

“I wouldn’t let it get in the way. I will continue to be at your side. If I have to get weekly visits or daily visits into anywhere you are held in. If you have community hours, I will work alongside you,” Kurono’s gray eyes gleamed in a determined promise, “If they put you back in Tartarus, then I will do something irrational to be put back in.”

Chisaki argued back “But then you will waste your chance to move on,”

“If moving on includes leaving you behind, then I will refuse to be reformed,” Kurono replied easily. “I promised. You promised. Are you trying to take it back now?”

“No. I would never. I still want that promise,” Chisaki said. He looked towards the sliding window to see a small terrace outside the room. He waved to Kurono to follow him to gain even more privacy between each other.

Chisaki closed the sliding glass door behind him after Kurono stepped onto the terrace. Kurono was leaning against the metal guard rails as Chisaki approached behind him to continue in what he was saying, “I want to stick by you, but I also don’t want you to ruin your chances just because I’m holding you back.”

“Kai, you could never hold me back,” Kurono answered. “So don’t go back on our new promise. We will find a way, I swear we will, so don’t give up prematurely.”

Chisaki sighed heavily, “You’re right.”

“I want to be close to you and stay close to you. And that will remain the same no matter what happens in the trial. I will find a way to stick close to you since I can’t imagine a life without you close to me ” Kurono responded.

Kurono paused to examine the night sky. He debated for a moment before saying, “And I also want to be closer.”

Chisaki furrowed his brows in slight confusion, “Closer?”

“Kai, I have romantic feelings for you,” Kurono confessed.

“Feelings for me...?” Chisaki repeated blankly with widened eyes, his mind trying to catch up to the current situation. He turned to see his childhood friend looking at him instead of the stars.

“Yes,” Kurono answered before looking down at the city lights spread out before them. “You don’t have to accept them if you do not feel the same, but—,”

“Kurono...” Chisaki breathed out, interrupting what he was saying. Kurono paused, biting his lip to keep himself from saying anything else. “Hari. As far as I can remember, I have never felt any type of sexual or romantic attraction towards anyone.”

Kurono continued to stare into the city with an unreadable expression. The horizon was filled with a more purple and blue sky filled with spots of clouds and bright stars.

“But,” Kurono eyes darted back up to him as Chisaki continued. “I started to realize more of those kinds of feelings after we had our first fight back at that house. It felt like something was missing and I would never get it back. Then I realized how long I was feeling that type of way without noticing it. I am so grateful that you accepted my apologies that night for my unthoughtful words towards you,” Chisaki replied, gripping onto the metal ledge. Kurono continued to watch him silently, waiting for what he was about to say. “Hari, I never want you to leave my side, as an ally, as a friend, or as any kind of partner in life or love.”

”In short, I accept your feelings and want to pursue this new type of relationship with you, Hari” Chisaki replied, darting his eyes to look directly into Kurono’s and then trailing over his face. Kurono stepped closer to him with a softer gleam in his gray eyes.

“Truly?”

“I would never ever lie to you about this,” Chisaki raised his prosthetic hand up to grasp his hand. He could see Kurono tightened the grip when he saw how his fingers slotted against his own. He only wished he could feel it.

Kurono smiled at him brightly with stars dancing in his eyes. “I’ve waited years to hear those words from you.”

“And you won’t have to wait any longer,” Chisaki promised with warmth leaking from his brown eyes.

And he took those words to heart. Kurono pulled Chisaki closer to him from the tight grip he had on his fingers to bring the other’s face closer to him. He waited for any hesitancy on Chisaki’s side, raising his eyebrows at him in a silent question for consent. Chisaki leaned to put his forehead against his in a nonverbal answer.

Gray eyes gazed directly into clear brown before Kurono shut his eyes as he kissed the person he had been pining for years for. Chisaki closed his eyes as soon as lips touched his and pressed back against his softly.

Under a moonlit sky, the two kissed like there was no one else in the world that could separate them at that moment. They stayed out there until the soft pink and orange of the sunrise started creeping into the horizon.

Chapter Text

Before anyone knew it, the day of the trial had begun. They were dressed in well-made suits provided for them by the program.

Izuku stepped forward with all eleven reform Yakuza members trailing behind him with Aizawa bringing up the rear end of the line. They walked between the two sets of benches where the jury sat filled with civilians and heroes. The reformed villains from the previous case that Izuku dealt with were in the front row to watch. The judge sat at the front of the room, banging their gavel for order once everyone sat down.

“We now bring the new case of the Villain to the Civilian Reform Program forward. This program has been proven before, but now it is time to test if this new case is worthy as well. Each reformed villain will come up here and answer the lawyer’s questions. Once they are done, they need to explain what they want in their future if they are to be released.” The judge announced, reading from a very formal looking paper. “This act is further supported by several pro heroes who wish to see a change. Now, I present to the court Midoriya Inko. She will be asking the questions needed to see if these reformed villains are welcome to the world of civilians. Now let this case commence with the first reformed villain noted in Midoriya Izuku’s own therapist’s notes.”

“Tabe Soramitsu.”

Tabe took a deep breath in his seat before shuffling over to the podium to answer the questions that they would give him.

“Tabe, please explain to the court who you are,” Midoriya Inko said calmly.

Tabe swallowed down his nerves, “Hello. I used to be a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai. I was part of the Eight Bullets.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“After the reform, I wanted to make plans on starting my own cafe with my two friends. I would be the main cook while they would help out in many other ways.” Tabe answered as calmly as he could. “With the nature of my quirk, I didn’t really taste or experience any flavor of food that I ate. But during the reform program, the quirk suppressants actually showed me what I was missing. I want to show others how good of an experience food can bring them.”

*

“Setsuno Toya.”

Setsuno gulped as soon as his name was announced. He raised from his seat and walked to the podium to begin his own session with the lawyers present.

“Setsuno, please explain to the court who you are.”

“I used to be a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai,” Setsuno replied. “I was part of the Eight Bullets as well.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“Well, I was planning on working with my two friends Tabe and Hojo,” Setsuno said while he started to gesture with his hands. “We had this whole plan of setting up a cafe. I think it would be a lot of fun since we could give back to the community in that way. We could donate food to people struggling on the streets just like how we were at a time in our lives. I think my job will be taking orders and helping out in the kitchen when I can.”

*

“Hojo Yu.”

Hojo nodded, Setsuno clapped him on the back before he got up to get to the podium. He sat down, shifting on the wood underneath him.

“Hojo, please explain to the court who you are.”

Hojo cleared his throat, “I was a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai. I was part of the Eight Bullets.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“The cafe with my close friends that I made during my time in the Yakuza. I would do the heavy lifting that they need me to do. And I was planning on decorating the place as well. Until then, I will find a job where they need someone to help out,” Hojo relaxed back in his chair as Midoriya Inko fixed the paper in her hands that held the questions.

*

“Rappa Kendo.”

Rappa stood straight up and marched proudly to the podium where he sat down quickly which made the wood squeak underneath him from the sheer weight of his muscles.

“Rappa, please explain to the court who you are.”

“Uh, hi,” Rappa waved two fingers in a lazy wave while he greeted the jury. “I used to be a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai and the Eight Bullets.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I’m glad you asked that,” Rappa leaned forward. “I want to train others in how to fight because of my experience. Whether it be self defense or fighting geared towards more legal fighting rings like wrestling or something in that area. I could even work as a personal trainer to teach someone how to fight.”

*

“Deidoro Sakaki.”

Deidoro practically skipped to the podium facing Inko to get to his own turn quickly.

“Deidoro, please explain to the court who you are.”

“Hi there,” Deidoro grinned. “I used to be a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai. I was also part of the Eight Bullets.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“For myself?” Deidoro placed a hand on his chest. “Well, I picture myself working somewhere that involves obstacles or climbing. Maybe somewhere where they need an instructor that can teach them how to rock climb or something with gymnastics. Some occupation in that area interests me a lot.”

*

“Katsukame Rikiya.”

Rikiya breathed out and headed to the seat to get questioned just like the rest of the reformed members.

“Katsukame, please explain to the court who you are.”

Rikiya greeted, “Sup. I used to be a Yakuza member that was part of the Shie Hassaikai. I was part of the Eight Bullets too.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I was planning on helping my friend, Rappa, out with training others who got fight or finding somewhere where they need a bouncer or security guard. That’s what I see for myself in the,” Rikiya yawned. “Future.”

*

“Nemoto Shin.”

Nemoto strolled up to the podium with a polite nod to the jury before turning his attention to Midoriya’s mother.

“Nemoto, please explain to the court who you are.”

“Hi. I was a Yakuza member that was part of the Eight Bullets of Shie Hassaikai.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I was planning on joining the police force,” Nemoto replied. “In short, I do not have any patience for liars. And when I become a police officer or detective, I will weed out any people that fit that kind of criteria. I want to help bring light to the darkness that the public has not seen yet.”

*

“Tengai Hekiji.”

Tengai gracefully got up from his seat and practically glided to the stand.

“Tengai, please explain to the court who you are.”

“Greetings,” Tengai nodded with a blank expression. “I was a Yakuza member that was part of the Eight Bullets of Shie Hassaikai.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I wish to become a teacher, an instructor that brings peace. I want to spread my teachings of meditation to others who need motivation to stop stressing in their everyday life,” Tengai uncrossed his arms to relax against his stomach. “My main goal is to bring more tranquility to citizens who truly need it in their lives.”

*

“Chronostasis. Kurono Hari.”

Kurono sat down behind the podium with a calm expression.

“Kurono, please explain to the court who you are.”

“Hello. I used to be a Yakuza member who was the aide of the leader of the Shie Hassaikai,” Kurono answered.

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I want to aim for a specific kind of lifestyle that is more in a rural area than the busy life in the city,” Kurono took a deep breath, tangling his fingers together. “I want to publish stories that others can enjoy. When I’m not doing that, I can envision myself working in the business field.

*

“Mimic. Irinaka Joi.”

Irinaka sauntered to the podium, trying to keep his nerves down as he sat down.

“Irinaka, please explain to the court who you are.”

“I was a Yakuza member that was the director of the Shie Hassaikai.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“I see myself doing what I do best: being a manager. I would like to manage a business no matter how small it is,” Irinaka answered truthfully. “I am very good at counting money and working with budgets, so I would like a job that deals with that.”

*

“Overhaul. Chisaki Kai.”

Chisaki made his way over to the stand with the gazes of the members focused on his back as he walked.

“Chisaki, please explain to the court who you are.”

“I used to be the boss of the Shie Hassaikai.”

“What do you see in the future for yourself? What do you want to do when you get out?”

“The only place I see myself is with Kurono Hari,” Chisaki answered, glancing over to see the jury whispering amongst each other. “He has always been there since I was young and I would not like to be separated from him. As far as my occupation, I would like to go towards Science oriented jobs such as research.”

*

Midoriya Izuku.”

Izuku smiled gently at the reformed members before making his way to the stand to answer the questions his mother threw at him.

“Izuku, please explain to the court who you are.”

“I am the therapist that was in charge of taking care of their reformation process,” Izuku answered.

“Now, please tells us about what you found out about this group of reforming villains candidates,” his mother demanded with authority.

Izuku took a deep breath before explaining some key elements of their lives. He talked about specific points in their background that explained why they acted in that way or why they chose the life they committed to in the Shie Hassaikai. The jury listened closely to every word he said, their expressions changing with each member’s summarized backstory.

“Now, answer truthfully, do you believe that these candidates are worthy of becoming civilians?” Midoriya Inko asked. “Are they worthy of getting a chance to be freed of all of the charges? Are they ready to enter a whole new lifestyle?”

Midoriya looked towards all of the Shie Hassaikai members. His gaze swept over all of them before turning back to his mother to stare directly in their eyes. “Yes. I give you my word that these men are worthy of this special chance to enjoy a whole new life.

*

The whole trial lasted five days entirely before a verdict could be reached. The jury was really mixed on how to proceed with some of the members involved.

The reformed Yakuza members kept glancing back and forth at each other. Tabe, Setsuno and Hojo held onto each other’s arms. Rappa and Rikiya leaned their shoulders against each other. Kurono grabbed onto Chisaki’s pinky with his own pinky finger as they waited for the final decision.

“The jury has come to a conclusion,” the judge started. “Aizawa-Yamada Eri provided some evidence that finally aided the jury’s decision on how this reform case will end.”

The judge spread out their arms towards the men, “The Yakuza members before me have all been granted full reform.”

“Let it be known that these new civilians are freed of most of their charges. Each one of them will, however, need to complete a substantial amount of community service.” The judge announced, letting the reforms celebrate with each other rather harmoniously. “Except for Chisaki Kai in particular.”

The men quieted down in the celebration to hurriedly look over at their old boss as the judge went through another paper. “Chisaki Kai, you will have to serve a full year of service to provide results for support gear as well as a very high number of community service hours. Thankfully most of the service hours will be included in the year long research process that you will take part in. Are you alright with this decision?”

Chisaki blinked in blatant confusion. He nodded back at the judge, “I am content with that decision.”

“Good. You will be provided with the details of the year long research and informed of what you will do after this trail is over,” the judge slammed down his gavel. “This trial is now over.”

The new civilians celebrated in their row with Kurono lowering his head on Chisaki’s shoulder and Sakaki launching himself on Rappa’s back.

“Wooh!” Himiko shouted out from the stands behind them with clapping from the already reformed league of villains. Shimura’s clapping was more subdued than others, but he did have a calm grin on his face.

“Well, now it is time to celebrate with everyone I invited,” Midoriya clapped with a happy expression growing on his face.

Tabe looked confused, “Who did you invite?”

“Well, it took a long time to track them down—,”

“Hojo-Kun? You’re so tall now!”

Hojo froze at the familiar voice. He turned around to see his old neighbors that used to look after him. Midoriya smiled as the older woman dragged his husband over to the group. Tabe and Setsuno was looking between him and the old couple with anticipation planted over their faces over what was going to happen.

“Oh, look at you! You’ve grown so much,” The older woman commented. Hojo bent down so the elderly woman could embrace him gently. “We came here extra early so we would ‘t miss a thing. Although my dear husband turned off his aid during half of the trial.”

“Don’t worry! I only turned off my hearing aid UNTIL Hojo came onto the stand. That’s all I really cared about,” The elderly man swallowed and smiled with his old dentures. “Nice job, son.”

Hojo smiled brighter than Tabe and Setsuno had ever seen from him before.

Rappa looked over at the reunion with confusion in his eyes. He watched carefully as Hojo introduced Tabe and Setsuno to the people who care about him. He glanced down at Izuku who was watching fondly at the sight, “Please don’t tell me you invited my parents.”

Midoriya whipped his head up, “I would never do that to you.”

“Oh, thank god,” Rappa sighed in relief dramatically. “I would have fought you in front of all these people.”

Rikiya looked up and found two familiar faces of the foster parents that couldn’t adopt him legally, staring right back at him with tears in their eyes and grin on their face. He ran straight towards them to wrap his arms around them, not feeling drained of energy at all when he put all his energy into squeezing them into a tight embrace.

“We’re so happy,” His old foster mom commented while his father continued to squeeze him, gently swaying him in place. “We took a break from our work all this week just for this, for you.”

“And just so you know, your room is still open for you. We haven’t changed anything in it,” his father added. “Although we do have a cat that lives in it now.”

Rikiya smiled, “That sounds great.”

Deidoro was talking softly with his mother. It was no doubt his mother from the straight black hair identical to his own, even the curves of his face was just like hers. Deidoro looked up when he saw a woman walking towards them. He peered at their face with narrowed eyes, wondering why she looked so familiar. Her hair was longer than his, going down her back in loose curls.

Rappa leaned over to Izuku, “Who’s the hot chick?”

Sakaki-Kun!” the woman greeted happily.

“She is Deidoro’s friend from school,” Izuku whispered back.

“Nariko-Chan?!” Deidoro choked on his words.

Tabe and Setsuno were looking between the two with wide eyes.

“God, I am so glad to see you again,” Nariko smiled brightly. “I can’t wait to hear about what you have been doing.”

“You know, becoming part of the Yakuza and then reforming. Just regular stuff. I was more interested in how you have been doing,” Deidoro retorted. His mother stifled a teasing laugh as her son looked a bit flustered.

“Well,” Nariko said with her eyebrows raised. “We have plenty of time now to catch up, don’t we?”

“Uh Huh,” Deidoro nodded.

Tengai walked briskly when he recognized the robes of the peaceful members of the monastery that his father figure was in. They embraced him with calm smiles on their faces.

Irinaka’s parents were nowhere to be found which made him relax a lot more than he thought. But he did recognize the faces of his siblings coming towards them slowly like they were scared of how he would react to them. He met them halfway which made their faces brighten. His older sister and younger brother tugged him forward into a hug while they apologized for not being there to stand up against them for him.

Irinaka talked with them close by his side as they summarized that they no longer had any contact with their parents from the way they treated all of their children. His older sister became an architect and quit doing sports shortly after he left. And his younger brother was an interior designer. He held them close to himself as he started to think about repairing his bond with his siblings that he never got the chance to get close to because of the way they were raised.

*

Chisaki apologized for misgendering Magne in the midst of the others reuniting with their family members. Kurono stood by his side as he apologized for his past misdemeanors and actions toward the league of villains during the first meeting as well as the short lived partnership. The bond between the league and the reformed Yakuza was growing slowly but steadily.

When mostly everyone was talking amongst themselves, Chisaki was pulled away from the ongoing conversations by a serious looking Eraserhead. He excused himself quietly to Kurono before walking over to the underground hero.

Eraserhead guided him into a nearby room where Eri was waiting with the same men he saw before a few days ago when he last talked with her

“I don’t exactly forgive you for what you have done, but I am glad that you have reformed,” Eri said when he first entered the room.

Lemillion came forward with serious looking papers with Suneater at his side to place them on the table.

“I’m sure you would like to know what exactly is the year-long research process you will be taking part in.”

“Yes, I am curious as to what type of research will be done,” Chisaki retorted, wondering if they were going to take him apart and heal him like a horrible repeat of what he did to Eri when she was small.

“The research is basically support based on getting better constructed prosthetics. It will consist of doing tests with new prosthetic arms with surgery. The final goal is to have the arm connect to your nerves, so the person wearing it can move freely. It will also work towards having technology where the user can use the sense of touch again,” Aizawa explained to the stunned reformed Yakuza leader. “The hardest part of it is the painful recovery for each prototype that needs to be used and tested. The details of it all are in the papers before you.”

Chisaki looked down at the papers, trying to gather them with his prosthetic arms. He held it against his chest, not allowing it to slip from his grasp. “So with this research, I can find new arms that are strong, that I can move freely, and that makes me regain the sense of touch?”

“Yes. You do get to keep the prototypes used in the research. So when it is all finished, you will have some new arms,” Present Mic added.

Chisaki stares back at the men in front of him along with a young teenage girl who looked like she was about to start high school soon. “I’ll do it.”

“...I mean you already agreed to it, it’s not like you can back out now,” Lemillion commented with a laugh.

“Mirio,” Suneater softly scolded.

“What? It’s true. You were there,” Lemillion defended himself.

Chapter Text

Two Months After The Official Reform

Tabe Soramtisu

Tabe got a job working as an apprentice for a chef in a bustling family diner. His mentor teaches him more of the basic food that they serve regularly and teaches him how to bake the delicious desserts. When he isn’t learning with his mentor, he teaches himself back at his shared apartment where he tries out new recipes. Setsuno and Hojo are always willing to taste test what he cooks or bakes from the recipes he finds in books or online.

Tabe got a regulated quirk suppressor bracelet that looks like a regular watch about a week after the reform, so he didn’t have to wear the large suppressants. But sometimes he would take it off just to deal with food that customers purposely left behind.

Sako patted the table in front of him, “Table seven wants some jalapeño poppers for an appetizer.”

Sako actually helped him get the job since it was the same place that he worked at. And Tabe even got to start his own food blog where he shares his tastes and opinions on food that he had come across.

Tabe nodded back at him before turning away to get the jalapeños needed for the dish. “Got it!”

*

Setsuno Toya

Setsuno shares an apartment with Tabe and Hojo near a really good area in Musutafu. Each of them worked well together as roommates given the fact that they have spent so much time together previously working for the Yakuza.

Setsuno was doing remarkably better since yeh reform program helped fund his prescribed depression and anxiety medicine that he wasn’t able to afford years ago. He has even started to dabble in poetry even though all of them are haikus that he just makes for fun.

He ends up getting a job working as a waiter in the same place that Tabe works at. He mostly takes orders, gets drinks for the tables, and gives refills for the drinks. And from the amount of tips he gets, he would say that he was great at customer service.

It was a slow day that day when he was giving out drinks to table seven who just wanted some jalapeño poppers. He turned his head when he heard a soft muffled sound coming from another table in the corner.

He rushed over to see what was wrong only to find a girl in an oversized sweatshirt looking miserable.

“Are you okay, Miss?”

The girl sniffed and tried to straighten herself up, “Um, not exactly.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My boyfriend—ex-boyfriend now apparently— just left some girl after we spent two years together. He was just yelling at me for how she was ‘there for him’ when we both know it’s because of the sex. So my cheating boyfriend left and now I’m here picking up pieces of myself and,” The girl rested her face in her hands, pushing out a large breath from her mouth. The girl looked back up, “Sorry. I kind of just ranted at you when you were just trying to do your job.”

Setsuno reflected back to the memory of when he was in that sort of shocked and miserable state after what his own ex did to him.

“It’s no problem,” he reassured the girl. He looked back at the kitchen before turning back to her, “One moment, I’ll be right back.”

The girl watched as he walked quickly into the kitchen. He came out a few minutes later a white mug held in his hands.

Setsuno dramatically set the mug in front of her with a grand sweep of his arm, “One hot chocolate for Mis Sweatshirt.”

“But I didn’t order—,” the girl took the white mug in her hands, paying when she smelt the delectable aroma of hot chocolate.

“It’s on the house,” Setsuno promised. He smiled sadly, “I was in your position years ago. And I wished someone would have shown me some kindness back then.”

The girl pls lips into a smile, “Thank you.”

“No need. Also, just know that it’ll get better, Miss Sweatshirt.”

“That’s not my name, Mister,” The girl laughed a little, glancing down at her hot chocolate to see little marshmallows floating on top. “Marshmallows.”

“Well, that isn’t my name either. So we’re even,”

The girl took a sip of her hot chocolate while Setsuno got back to work.

*

Hojo Yu

Hojo ended up making some business with Himiko since she wasn’t kidding about ordering crystals from him. She also spread word to her online friends about the crystals after setting him up with his own shop online. So now he had a bunch of orders from small jewelry making businesses who would love to get some of his blue crystals to use in their designs.

There were some complaints about people thinking they look fake only for his old customers to stick up for him because they thought his crystals were beautiful.

And the orders didn’t stop at jewelry since other small businesses got word that his crystals were also good to use as defense since they were strong. Long story short, Hojo was making crystals every day and sending them out to a lot of businesses across the website that Himiko sells her own work on.

He is busy most of the time back at the apartment fulfilling orders while his two friends are out working at a diner.

Hojo placed five little candies in a small bag along with his business card for another order of crystals to a resin artist. His hands worked to make the inside of the box nice and protected for the crystals. And when it was all done, he wrapped it up with strong tape.

“One down, another six to go,” Hojo commented as he looked back at the list of orders he had to complete.

*

Rappa Kendo

Rappa convinced a fighting gym to hire him as a trainer.

And he was doing a fantastic job even though his practice is more hands on than any other trainer at the gym. He would give examples by either telling stories of moves he didn't do in the underground fight club or showing off the move on a training dummy or a volunteer.

He never went far in his fighting to kill someone or break their bones in any way, but he did cause some bruises. But the trainees took all of his wisdom since other trainers took things slow while Rappa went in headfirst which was exactly something they needed.

“And then you pull in his head, like this, and use your body weight to pin him to the ground fast,” Rappa shouted to the other trainees as he gave a real-life example with a dummy made out of sand bags. When the dummy landed, a stitch broke open and a small amount of sand poured out onto the ground. “Any questions?!”

The trainees looked in awe and shook their heads.

“Alright. NEXT!”

*

Deidoro Sakaki

“Wweeeeeee,” Deidoro sang while softly swinging on the cords holding him. Nariko laughed behind him.

Deidoro ended up working at the same place that his old friend, Nariko, worked at, which was a rock climbing gym. He became a strong instructor on how to use the obstacles there as an advantage by climbing over them to use them as their own playground.

Him and his mother were working on having some kind of relationship again since she was fully sober and working again. It was a bit rocky at first, but he can tell that things are getting better.

And he was currently working on bettering himself since his alcoholism was connected to his own quirk. He requested to get a bracelet similar to Tabe’s which would suppress his quirk so he wouldn't need to drink alcohol past his limits. He even helps Kumogiri at his bar by telling him to cut certain people off because he can tell that they reached their limit.

*

Katsukame Rikiya

Rikiya found a job working as a bouncer/security guard at a really big nightclub downtown. And it was the perfect job for him since he only worked as long as the nightclub was open, which was from 8 at night until 1 in the morning.

And when he was done, he could go home and sleep for hours at his foster parent’s home. And it really helped because even the cat would take long naps with him all clouded up on the massive amount of pillows. Although he does wake up sometimes when the cat would start biting him or laying on his face.

So during the nights he would work at the nightclub, and he would stop by Rappa’s work to watch him fight or train the other fighters there. And he makes sure to spend time with his loving parents by having the weekly movie night just like old times.

*

Nemoto Shin

Nemoto gained the interest of Detective Tsukauchi when he found out about his quirk, being in the beginning when Nemoto was still in the Yakuza. When he found out that he was reformed and wanted to be in the police force, he jumped at the chance to take him in under his wing.

Of course, he couldn’t start right away since he had to go through training to be a policeman. But while Nemoto went through training, Tsukauchi was his mentor that guided him through the academy. It was only one month and a half months since he started, but Tsukauchi saw potential in making him a detective.

And Nemoto was excited for it as well since he would be able to use his quirk just like Tsukauchi can use his to get the truth out of anyone.

*

Tengai Hekiji

Tengai visited his old monastery to reconnect with his older mentors that he had not seen for years who welcomed him with open arms and gave him a place to stay. Tengai visited his father figure’s grave almost every week to search for guidance from him.

About two weeks into staying at the monastery, one of the men introduced Tengai to an available job that needed someone skilled in order to teach meditation at a health and wellness building. Tengai took the chance and got the job after an interview proved that he was well versed in the act of meditation.

“Breathe in and relax your mind. Don’t think about anything that is currently causing you unneeded stress,” Tengai instructed as he allowed him to relax onto the yoga mat underneath him. The audience of people in front of him followed suit with his example, breathing deeply.

*

Irinaka Joi

Irinaka found a job working as a general manager at a nice cat cafe run by some very sweet people who were so happy to find someone like him to help them. He got to work straight away to make sure the business would run smoothly and he never really had any anger issues since the cats would sense it and calm him down before he even got upset or stressed about something.

He even found a side job with one of the waitresses who wanted to start her own makeup business. The ‘side job’ is giving her business advice on how to market it, the good connections that she needs to get into contact with and to not overwork herself during the process.

And with his managing skill, the cat cafe was running smoother than ever and any irritable customer was dealt with by him so the waitresses and servers wouldn’t have to deal with them.

And he started to rebuild a bond with his siblings. He was surprised to find out he was an uncle, so he did his best to fit the title of uncle graciously by showing affection to all of his nieces and nephews.

*

Kurono Hari

Kurono was happy.

He found a nice traditional Japanese house surrounded by greenery away from the city that had so much charm. He lived there with Chisaki when he wasn’t in the hospital doing the research for finding new arm prosthetics.

He worked with Jin’s publishing company by becoming an editor which allowed him to stay at the house with a good internet connection. All day he was reading and sending comments to the original writers about what to improve on each chapter. He even did translations since he was fluent in English.

And when he wasn’t editing, he was writing his own books. Because of his experience working in the underground, he was well-educated on the genre of crime, mystery, drama, suspense and murder type stories since that was his actual life. He had no problem detailing when writing or editing about the efficient way to kill someone with a crowbar.

Kurono only went into the city to drop off or pick up Chisaki from the research and to pick up groceries.

He had to admit that he never thought he would be living this domestic life. But when he looked up to see a photo of all of the reformed Yakuza members on the wall, he would say that he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

*

Chisaki Kai

Chisaki Kai was happier than he expected he would be.

He was also sore.

The research he was undergoing involved him waking up from surgery and feeling the harsh pain from his nerves. He was currently on the second prototype only two months into research since the first one was too oversensitive on controls. The first one also didn’t connect to his nerves through surgery, but the second one does even if it isn’t doing anything.

He was testing out the second arm by trying to pick up heavy things around the house he shared with Kurono and doing minor technical movements to track how well the fingers moved.

Thankfully, Kurono has been his rock throughout the entire research process by making sure he got his heavy pain medicine and helping him with more finer motor skills. Even some old members sent gifts through the mail to send him good wishes on his ongoing recovery.

In just two months, he was tense with nerve pain and sore from surgery. But even if this research takes forever, he wants it to work. He wants to be able to feel something other than pain and also feel through his fingers again.

“Kai.”

Chisaki looked up to find Kurono walking up to him with his hair pulled back, “Yes?”

“I made lunch,” Kurono said, extending his hand. Chisaki forced his prosthetic forward to take Kurono’s hand. He looked down and remembered the second reason he wants this research to work.

He wants to be able to feel Kurono’s touch.

*

Midoriya clicked his pen in a familiar seat he hadn't sat down in for a long time. He stared through the reinforced glass to stare at All For One.

Once he got out of the reform program with the Yakuza, he went straight back to doing the sessions with All for One just like before. With each new session, All for One had a new story summarizing a year or two of his long extended life of villainy.

But as the sessions kept going, a question popped into Izuku’s head more often than not. So he finally decided to ask the supervillain what has been plaguing his mind.

Izuku looked up from his notebook, “Do you even wish to reform?”

“At one time I truly did,” All for One replied as he glanced up at Midoriya’s green curls. There was a brief pause before he continued, “But no matter how many successes you have with others, there will be no way for me to come out of here scot-free.”

All for One leaned his head back against the chair. He only way he could have gotten out was Shigaraki, but he got captured long before he could ever help. And the doctor was out of the way, so he had no hope of getting out by breaking free or reforming.

“No matter how hard you try. Everyone knows me as a danger to themselves and everything else. It’s better if I just stay here,” All for One added. “But I do wish to continue our talks.”

Midoriya looked down at his notebook in thought since All for One was right.

No matter how many people he reformed, All for One would be the hardest to be accepted back into society with the sheer amount of stuff he has done in the past. I mean, he was over 200 years old, so he had to have done a lot of bad things during those years especially in the earlier ones from the small stories that he had told Izuku about.

“I do enjoy having these sessions with you because of your... interesting retellings,” Izuku admitted, trying to brighten the mood in the quiet cell.

All for One smiled, which would have been terrifying and chilling to the bone for anyone easel, but Izuku got used to it over the years of being his therapist.

Chapter Text

One Year after the Yakuza Reform

Midoriya walked up to the cafe that opened up a few months ago. The Secret Cave. He smiled when he could see the cool blue light reflected from Hojo’s crystals.

He walked inside of Tabe’s personal cafe with a bright smile despite the closed sign on the front. Tabe specifically closed the cafe for two hours just for their special meeting time. Irinaka gave them all advice for starting up the cafe and Sako referred them to someone who got them the small building to use for it. And coincidentally, the cafe was located right near where Iguchi taught his karate class, so they would get a rush of kids in karate uniforms sometime after they practiced in class.

It wasn’t like he was losing that much revenue since the cafe was extremely popular because of the unique underground cave design with Hojo’s crystals used as decoration. It was also known to many people as a cafe that gives back by donating to the homeless shelters and giving meals to any homeless person living in the alley that needs a good meal.

He walked in to see trays of small dishes on the table with everyone sitting at the long table. Tabe smiled brightly as Sakaki slurped up the soup from his bowl enthusiastically.

“Hey! Welcome,” Setsuno greeted with a sweep of his arm, gesturing to the empty seat next to him and Tengai. Setsuno worked at The Secret Cave along with his other two friends as a waiter, but he also helps out in the kitchen sometimes with Tabe to help grab something out of his hand when he was about to use the wrong ingredient.

Setsuno actually made a friend during the past year that he could count on that was separate from Hojo and Tabe. Setsuno and her became close when she kept visiting the diner they had worked at previously before working as a barista for Tabe. His friends refer to her ‘Hot Chocolate Girl’ since Setsuno hadn’t even gotten her name until a month later. And even with the knowledge of her name, they both stick to nicknames from that fateful day they met. She even comes to perform at the Secret Cave sometimes since she was a self-employed singer that did gigs around town. He would be the most supportive fan of hers in any place.

Izuku excitedly sat down in his chair while his ears perked up at the ongoing discussion at the table.

“Magne’s friend was so nice when she did the whole makeover,” Sakaki said with a cheerful grin. “I had so many compliments that night. Nariko was having a blast there too since there were some people that made her a drag king.”

“Remember when we all did it,” Hojo reminded everyone at the table which made Chisaki groan and Kurono laugh at his misery.

Rikiya blinked tiredly, “Okay, I have to admit, I had no idea who won that night. I don’t remember, I think I got blackout drunk.”

“Sorry,” Sakaki apologized with a vocal fry at the end.

Sakaki still works with Nariko as a rock climbing instructor, he has gotten better at safety after months of practice. Nariko and him rebuilt their already strong friendship after years of having no contact. And his relationship with his mother was better than before.

Hojo started working during morning shifts as a host that would guide people to their tables and a waiter who would get people their drinks and refill them when he passed by. During the evening, he would package any orders he had gotten that he needed to fulfill. Toga remained his most loyal customer, but that might just be because of the discount he gives exclusively to her by helping him with his business.

“I think it was a three way tie between Nemoto, Kurono and Chisaki. At least that’s who looked the best from my recollection,” Tabe said.

Sakaki clutched at his nonexistent pearls, “I beg to differ. I think I was the hottest one out of everyone.”

Kurono cleared his throat while Nemoto raised an eyebrow at Sakaki. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

Hojo grinned as he watched the chaos ensue on who was the most attractive as a woman out of everyone. Izuku looked over at Rikiya and Rappa who just shrugged at each other.

Rappa is continuing to work at the gym, pushing people past their limits to get them ready for anything in the ring whether it be wrestling, boxing, or fighting. He even has a little club at the fighting gym filled with trainees who think that Rappa is cooler than any other trainer there.

Rikiya has been getting a lot of rest in between bonding with his family and friends and working at night. His parents were actually relaxing a lot since they cut back on their long work hours to spend more time on themselves.

“The only thing I know is that I was the strongest looking woman out of anyone,” Rappa stated.

Rikiya nodded, “You were very intimidating from glimpses of that night. And wasn’t I the one stuck with that pale blue dress that didn’t fit?”

“Yeah. We had to all put banana clips on you to keep it in place. But look on the bright side, at least you weren’t the one with the two long slits coming up the front,” Nemoto directed his gaze at Kurono who was eating one of the mini sandwiches.

“Okay. No need to point the attention to me,” Kurono raised both his palms up in surrender. “But if we are going for the least modest dress award that would got to Chisaki.”

“Shut up,” Chisaki demanded.

Kurono stared back at him defiantly with a teasing smirk, “What is with you and the color purple? First it was that purple turtleneck thing the first time and then you had that short purple silk dress the second one.”

Kurono had started to publish his own books after nine months of working on a novel of his own in his spare time away from editing. It was a very heavily influenced Yakuza style of crime story that had elements of drama and mystery added in. It was set to publish in a month or two from then and Kurono was already starting on another book.

Chisaki’s year-long research process was successful from the look of his new prosthetic arms that had a realistic skin covering up the metal inside. The ongoing process was very long and somewhat painful because each prosthetic delved more and more into experimenting with his nerves which caused him a lot of pain. But Kurono comforts him with pain medicine and pleasant company. He was going to wait until he went searching for a place that needed someone of his expertise. But for now, Chisaki was helping Kurono with his new suspense-filled book.

Irinaka asked loudly, “Wait, does anyone have any photos of the night?”

Tengai raised his hand, “I remained sober, so I obviously intended to capture the entire night. I had the photos saved and printed for the future.”

Tengai is enjoying every moment of his job even if he had to deal with some rude people, having to babysit Rappa gave him practice to deal with immature and stubborn strangers.

Irinaka had a nice, easygoing relationship with his siblings and their own families. And he was doing great working as a general manager at the cat cafe as well as honorary manager of the small growing makeup business that the waitress started months ago.

Midoriya focused back into the conversation right as the topic was changing. He vaguely heard Rappa talking about he much he would complain if he wore a dress while fighting into Rappa mentioning female trainees at the gym that reminded him of fighters in the old underground fight club

Hojo prompted after sipping from his cup, “You get reminded for the old fights at Underground Masquerade?”

“When do I not? The trainees are so similar in build or personality to some I have seen before. Even when I go to the store, I get reminded because of the names people chose to be known as. Dude, there was this guy who had razor teeth. I wanted to fight him so bad, just to see him lose,” Rappa commented

“Ah, Razor Tongue,” Izuku said, reminded of the name. “His fighting style was a bit unorthodox but very fun to watch.”

“Yeah, his fighting was mostly biting, but—Wait a damn minute,” Rappa paused with a stunned expression before slowly turning his body to face Izuku who was innocently slurping on his iced drink. “... how do you know that?”

The table turned their attention towards their therapist who grinned, “The Underground Masquerade was my favorite place to take notes on unique styles of fighting.”

“So you know—? You’ve been there?!” Rikiya questioned loudly, his eyes widened while Rappa stared at Izuku in a new light.

“I was nobody special among the crowd. No one really paid attention to the kid in the hoodie writing in a notebook near the back.”

Rappa banged his fist on the table and pointed at him, “Yo, I heard fighters talking about hoodie kids and how he shouted at them on how to use their quirk to win the fight. And that kid was you?! God, no wonder you knew how to fight me.”

“I had to really dig in my memories to remember how you moved during those fights,” Izuku replied. Tengai raised both of his eyebrows in surprise as he drank from his lavender chai tea.

“Wait, does anyone remember Izuku crossdressing with us?” Setsuno asked curiously.

“I have the pictures,” Tengai replied. “He was wearing some type of flower dress. The skirt was green and the top was pink fabric cut into petals.”

Sakaki burped into his hand, “Dude, how much do you remember from that night?”

“Too much.”

*

After the meeting with Izuku and the old gang a week before, Chisaki and Kurono’s life returned to the basic domesticated life they got used to over the year back at their house. Since Chisaki’s time as a research test subject stopped, he has been using his new arms to touch almost everything.

He reached out and touched Kurono the most. He would hold his hand or link his fingers while looking for groceries. Chisaki reached out to place his palm right on Kurono’s cheek most of the time just to feel his face. And when they both went to sleep in their shared bed, Chisaki would use his arms to tighten his hold on Kurono while they slept. Small intimate touches that he had felt with some prototypes, but never quite as real as the finished support product.

Chisaki was using his new and improved arms to water the vegetable garden that Kurono decided to plant. Kurono got very into gardening all of the sudden since the idea of fresh food right outside their house was too good to pass up. So now Chisaki watered the fruit, spices and vegetable garden whether the soil was looking a little too dry.

A car pulled up outside their house when he was watering the gourds. He turned his head sharply only to recognize the faces of pro heroes exiting the car.

“What seems to be the problem?” Chisaki questioned loudly. And by the sound of footsteps inside the house, he was loud enough to alert Kurono.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Present Mic reassured as Eri got out of the backseat. Chisaki tensed, not knowing how this situation was going to go. Did the heroes bring Eri to reverse him out of existence?

Eri walked around the car to the order side right as another backseat door opened. Kurono banged open the front door right as a very familiar older man got out from the vehicle.

Chisaki’s eyes widened and Kurono’s hand flew to his mouth in shock.

Pops looked between the two, “Well, you two look older.”

“...Pops? But how?” Kurono asked.

“Quirk,” Eraserhead raised a brow and gestured to Eri. She stood off to the side as Pops approached the house while still keeping his eyes on the two men. Chisaki stilled, waiting for the reprimand of how disappointed Pops was in him. Kurono stepped down the stairs and stood by Chisaki’s side as Pops finally reached them.

The two men both waited in silence before Pops huffed. Pops yanked Chiskai’s new arm and grabbed Kurono by the shoulder to pull the two into an embrace.

“How? You... I did the one thing you told me not to do,” Chisaki interjected, couldn’t make himself push away because he was afraid if he left the embrace that Pops would disappear like he was a hallucination. “I did something terrible that you warned me not to do. Why are you not screaming? Yelling? I deserve it. How can you even face let alone hug me after what I did?”

“To be honest, I was disappointed and a little pissed off at first when I first heard about it. What you did was horrible and there is no excuse to cover it,” Pops answered honestly as Chisaki nodded solemnly. “But I do realize the effort that the two of you have made to do better, to be reformed. All I wanted was for you two to follow where life would take you and not just follow in a path you thought you had to go in. Eri and her family filled me in during all this time about what you two have been up to.”

“Really?” Kurono asked, glancing back at the heroes who leaned against their car as the encounter unfolded.

“Yes,” Pops confirmed. “Now how about you two personally catch me up on what’s been happening all this time during the years.”

Chisaki silently nodded, letting a silent smile grow on his face as Kurono started to lead the elder man up the stairs. Chisaki was about to follow them before he turned around to bow respectfully out of gratitude to the small family outside the car.

He mouthed ‘thank you’ before following his father into the house, excited to tell him about his new life and fresh memories he made. The small family went back into the car, saying goodbye to the house while Chisaki and Kurono gave Pops a tour of their house.

Chapter Text

Six chapters are already posted. And this is for everyone who did not notice yet.

So here is the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38955879/chapters/97428552

And enjoy!