Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     School. The hellish place almost every kid deems as the place of suffering, where all you do is jam information into your head, and feel it slip out of the other side. It always feels pointless, and stupid. So the kids then run home, and quickly do whatever they deem fun, like video games.

     However, for some kids, it isn’t the education that is hell. It can be the people around them in their classroom, making them suffer simply because they are different than the others. Nobody is alike, but if you’re too different, you aren’t good enough. That’s just how it is in school.

     Izuku Midoriya has always received the poor end of the stick, and has been shunned from almost everyone in society. His once best friend pushed him a way almost the second the greenette was deemed quirkless, and everyone followed the blonde’s lead. Katsuki was just born a natural leader, blessed with everything a person would want: an amazing quirk, a natural fighting instinct, an ability to lead, and the ability to make everyone in the room do exactly what you do. It was just natural for everyone to follow in Katsuki’s footsteps. So when he shoved a Izuku down, everyone shoved Izuku down. When Katsuki punched Izuku, everyone punched Izuku. And when Katsuki started calling Izuku names, like “worthless”, “nobody”, and “Deku”, everyone called Izuku that.

     Therefore, Izuku lived the best parts of his life in the comforts of his home, staring at his All Might posters, and looking into the latest video games. As the world released a true virtual reality, where you could actually be in the world instead of just wearing some headset, Izuku took heavy interest. One of the first games, which was so interesting that it was all anyone talked about, was called “Sword Art Online”. 

     Izuku started taking all sorts of notes on the new inventions for virtual reality, and actually had sent some emails to the producers to give ideas for how the idea could go farther, and enhance the experience of the game. They happily replied, and thanked him for the ideas, not knowing, or caring that the boy was quirkless. So when they emailed Izuku, the boy was shocked, and practically died when he read the contents of said email. It was an invitation to beta test the game, and recommend some more things they could change within the game.

     The next week, a package arrived at the boy’s door, and his mother looked at him with curiosity as he hauled it into his room, unpacking it, and setting it up. Of course, he had to inform his mom before he plunged into the virtual world that he would be there in the first place. Boy was she happy when she realized the recognition her son was getting.

     Placing the nerve gear over his thick, green curls, the visor hiding his wide, bright green eyes, he tapped the random parts of his body that was needed to be touched, and he quickly started the game.

     Automatically, he knew he wasn’t in his world anymore. The loading screen gave him the sensation of just floating in a void, and boy was he happy when he got to set up his character. He wanted to still look like himself, but not exactly look like himself. He just wanted to change some of the features that most people criticized him for back in school. Said features were his curls, the splatter of freckles adorning his face, the baby-like form of his face, and his height. So first, he decided to change his height from 5’3 to 5’8, the height of Katsuki. His hair was placed into a lighter shade of green, more of a pastel color. The cut was more like the style of Shoto Todoroki, the famous son of the number two pro hero, Endeavor. Next, he made his face a little slimmer, and erased all freckles that were splattered across his cheeks.

     The outfit was plain, but Izuku didn’t mind, knowing that this was just a started outfit, and he could quickly upgrade it later. He smiled at his new appearance, and started the game. 

     He found himself in a city made of stone, markets lining the narrow, lamp-lit streets. Immediately, he took note of the sword that pressed against his back. He pulled it out of it’s sheath, and studied it. A basic sword, meant for first starting the game. He wanted to learn some blacksmithing so he could upgrade sword on his own. He wants to learn how do hunt animals, properly duel with a sword, and everything. He doesn’t want to miss out on anything to do with such an amazing game. Hell, he hasn’t even started, but he knows it’s great.

     He starts to run down the street, smiling as his boots meet the stone ground, assuring him that he wasn’t so happy that he was actually flying off into a completely new world. It told him he was actually here. He was a beta tester, which was a privilege he was sure nobody in his school could accomplish. He wondered who else was here.

     Izuku woke up the next morning, and slipped on his uniform, unhappy to be back in the real world. He had just finished fighting a low-level boar when he had to leave the game to go eat dinner. He hadn’t exactly ran into anyone else in the game, which made him wonder if there were any other beta testers. He was sure there are, they were probably just offline, or doing other things.

     As Izuku ate katsudon, which his mother made in celebration for his notice by popular game creators, Inko was automatically questioning him, asking him about the hame experience, and how intriguing it was. He happily answered her, giving details of a world one would only think was a dream.

     But that was yesterday. Today, he would have to wait until he was done with school before he could go back into the game. Just because he was deemed worthy enough to be a beta tester, didn’t mean he was worthy enough to skip school.

     He quickly finished all his school work, trying to make sure he wouldn’t have anything to do once he got home. Katsuki just watched in annoyance as Izuku muttered the answers to the schoolwork.

     Everyone in class hated Izuku, but they couldn’t lie, and say that they weren’t grateful for Izuku’s mumbling habit. Without it, they’d probably struggle to get their work done on time. When he forgot to mumble an answer out loud, the class would wonder if he was stumped on it, or if he just figured it out that quickly. However, every now and again, the teachers would catch on, hit the top of Izuku’s head, reminding him to silence himself. The boy would then mutter his apologies, and it would only take at a minimum of ten minutes for him to start mumbling again.

     Today, kids were struggling to keep up with Izuku as he sped through the work, all of them wondering how he could even be getting so worked up about that he would hardly even hesitate to question the answer he got. Therefore, the students who could comprehend the words spilling from the boy’s mouth would write it down, and then share it with their seat neighbor. Katsuki never paid attention to this though. He never wanted to rely on the “nerd” for anything. The explosive boy knew he could do anything without the help of some short, insufficient, quirkless kid. Hell, Katsuki knew he could do better.

     However, even Katsuki was curious about what the small boy was excited about. So as the final bell rang, and Izuku didn’t even stay in his seat after class to pull out his phone, and write in his notebook about any pros, Katsuki began his chase, and right outside the school, he grabbed Izuku by his book bag, and threw him against the wall. Izuku’s natural analyst skills were already in gear, trying to figure out the best way out of this. They were looking for any possible ways of exit, the first person who would hit, and thinking of the first words that would be spat at him, all while thinking of what to say in ay of those scenarios. 

     “Oi, nerd, what’re you so worked up about? Thought you could just get away today? I actually didn’t get to take a break because you got out of that classroom so quick. Mind explaining why you thought I needed to rush?” Katsuki questioned, intimidatingly looking at Izuku, who was starting to shake a bit. Just because Izuku had plans on what to do didn’t mean he wasn’t still scared. His plans could go wrong any time, and things could just get worse.

     “I-I... Er...” Izuku stammered.

     “Well?” Katsuki pried.

     “M-mom was j-j-just... g-going t-t-to take me o-out to e-eat today. It’s been a-awh-awhile, s-s-so...” Immediately after Izuku finishes speaking, Katsuki’s shoe meets Izuku’s shoulder, pressing the greenette closer to the brick walls of the school.

     “Is that so? Well you still have plenty of time. You wouldn’t mind if we helped you waste it, right?” Katsuki asks, holding his hand up as he makes some small explosions from the palm of his hand. Katsuki and his “friends” got bored after maybe ten minutes, and Izuku struggled to get up, his legs sore, his stomach in pain, and his nose bleeding. He wiped the blood off onto his sleeve, not knowing that some of it was still there, only smeared from the wipe. He then grabbed his bright yellow backpack, and tightly gripped onto the straps, not wanting to lose the bag again. It held his notebooks, some of his biggest prides and joys. They used to certainly be his prides and joy, but now, they were having a tough competition with his status as a “Sword Art Online” beta tester.

     Izuku trudged home, trying to work past the pain. He snuck into his home, quietly slipping off his shoes as he silently walked into his room, shutting the door. He slid a box out from under his bed, and pulled out some of the contents of said box. He ended up grabbing some ointment and bandages. He applied the ointment to his wounds, and wrapped up his injuries. Next, he changed into much more comfortable clothes.

     As he slipped on the nerve gear, he smiled, knowing he was going to be in a world where he wouldn’t be judged just because Katsuki was there, and told them to hate him. Nobody would know right off the bat that he was quirkless. Hell, the game even took his recommendation to make sure that people couldn’t sneak their quirks into the game. They didn’t want people to cheat, and use that as a weapon. The game probably wouldn’t know how to process quirks since the game producers couldn’t list every quirk in the world for the enemies to register. Since quirk attacks wouldn’t be registered, if quirks were to get in the game, it could cause the game to crash.

     Without quirks, Izuku could feel more at peace, knowing that people couldn’t attack him with their quirks, and start being all flashy with them, as if a way for the world to rub into Izuku’s face that he could never get away from quirks, and would never have one himself.

     When Izuku’s boots met the stone pathway in the city, he immediately started running, his sword already at the ready as he ran into the grassy plains, and quickly started taking care of the small enemies, his level gradually building up.

     However, these were beginning to not be enough for Izuku. Maybe it was about time he tried to find this floor’s boss so he could move on to the next. After all, he never got an announcement saying that any of the other beta testers beat this floor’s boss. It was all for him.

Chapter Text

     Izuku ran through the cobbled streets, his feet rapidly making contact with the stone as he ran. The amazing smell of freshly baked bread, meat being cooked, and markets filled with countless fruits and vegetables filled his lungs. Adding the quiet into it all, this city was extremely peaceful, a wonderful place to be when first joining the game. The players were going to love it.

     But if this was just the first city, how big and beautiful are the others? If this isn’t one of the most beautiful things he will see in-game, what will the last floor look like?

     Izuku shoved those thoughts aside, paying attention to his sheathed sword softly hitting his back with each step. It was it’s gentle reminder to tell him that it was there, and prepared to strike through the skin of any beast that dare challenge him in this game. The thrill of fighting the first floor boss kept Izuku running, longing to see what it looked like. He wanted to try and see if there were any flaws in it, and see the design that came with it. He wanted to know how it fought, and if it would threaten anyone with words of despair, meaning to scare the wits out of anyone daring to challenge it. Maybe it just roared in anger. Well, he would only know when he gets to it.

     As he pondered the beast’s appearance, a girl turned the corner from one of the small alleyways on the street, and before Izuku could stop, he ran into her on accident, and the two fell to the ground. He quickly got off the girl, and held out a hand to help her up. She was a couple inches shorter than him, had long, black hair, black, yet calming eyes, and like Izuku, wore some simple starter’s clothes.

     While fighting the board and other small animals the first floor provided, Izuku had progressively gotten more and more money, and had gotten some new equipment from loot drops. So he had a higher level sword, a black, knee length coat that provided warmth, an increase in his stealth level, and increased his health ever so slightly. It wasn’t great, but anything helped.

     The girl wore a white button-up, a dark grey skirt that went just a few inches above her knees, and a pair of black boots.

     “Oww.” She complained, rubbing the top of her head. She finally noticed Izuku’s offering hand, and took it. The boy helped the girl up, and quickly started apologizing. “Oh god, I’m so sorry! I was just trying to find the boss fight, and I didn’t even see you until last second, and again, I’m really really sorry! I should have been more caref-“

     “Woah woah woah! Hey, it’s okay! No big deal.” The girl have him a warm smile, and then started brushing herself off, swiping away the dirt that cling to her clothes from when she made contact with the ground. “Y’know, I haven’t seen you around before. Are you just now testing out the game?”

     “I started yesterday. I honestly haven’t seen anyone yet. How many players are in the game?” Izuku asks, looking down at the shorter person.

     “Well, I heard there’s supposed to be one thousand beta testers, but they’re from a whole bunch of different places, so there’s only about one hundred online right now. We all like to meet up at the church because of how big it is. We’ve been in the game for a couple days now, and we apologize for not seeing you.” 

      “Ah, that’s fine. I’ve been wondering where everyone is. I’ve been occupying my time fighting some of the animals roaming around.”

     “Oh really? What level have you reached?” 

     “Four. I’m halfway to five.” 

     “I’m level seven! If you’re headed to look for that boss fight, I can go with you and help. We were actually discussing finding it, and where me might find it. But it’s been kinda bored waiting for them to make a decision already.”

     “Ah, that’ll be great! I’m Midoriya, by the way.”

     “Oh, how stupid of me to have forgotten introductions. I’m Yaoyorozu.” She holds out her hand, and gives Izuku a soft handshake. The greenette recognizes the name, and racks his brain, trying to remember where he heard it from. “You okay?”

     “Ah, yeah! Er, I just recognize your name. I’m trying to remember where I’ve heard it from.”

     “Oh! Yeah, I got to beta test the game because my dad has frequently helped fund some things, and has donated plenty of money to those who have had plenty of home damage and family loss due to villain attacks. He also runs a company that helps people get a better understanding of their quirk, and train that quirk. That’s where he gets all the money for his donations.” Yaoyorozu explains. Izuku smacks his forehead, and says “I can’t believe I forgot! Your name definitely has a good reputation. Do you plan on taking over the company when it’s, Y’know, his time?”

     “Maybe. However, I plan on jumping into heroics when I finish middle school. I’m aiming to try and jump into U.A.. What about you?” The girl looks up at him, eyes full of innocence as she asks one of the questions Izuku had hoped would never be asked.

     “Er, well, I don’t know yet. I still need to figure out what I want to do with my future, but so far, after checking out this game, programming is starting to look pretty cool. Might go into U.A.’s support course.” The boy mumbles.

     “Oh, that’s cool! Well, maybe we’ll get to see each other. It would be great to see you in person.”

     “You too...”

     “Well, let’s go! No time to waste!” And with that, she grabs Izuku’s hand, and they start running through the city, looking for anything ominous enough to be a boss fight. The two ran through plenty of streets, passed by the church, where Izuku actually heard people, the people he’d looking for all day yesterday. But no matter that right now. Him and Momo Yaoyorozu were too busy running towards the boss fight, excited to see just what it held for the duo.

     After what felt like such a short time, but was actually fifteen minutes of running, the two sat on the ground, panting as they leaned against a huge stone wall, which held the large ominous door the two had been looking for.

     “You ready?” The girl asks.

     “In just a second... I need a bit of a break before we challenge whatever is in there.”

     “Alright.” And with that, she leaned over to lay on the ground, regaining her energy so they could run in, swords ready, and lunge at the boss.

Chapter Text

     Izuku and Momo sat in the ground for another few minutes, regaining as much energy as possible. The greenette reached into his pocket, and tossed something at the girl, who clumsily caught it, and started inspecting the small item that was tossed at her.

     “Candy.” The boy says, and watches as Momo takes it out of it’s thin wrapper, and plops it into her mouth. She seems happy with it, and Izuku says “I didn’t exactly plan on buying anything just yet, but I wanted to try some stuff out in the game, and see if it required any adjustments. I’m really impressed with how well the game has managed to put the sense of taste into the game, as well as feeling. This game truly is one of a kind.”

      “This candy is so sweet! I thought that we just had to eat things for stamina. I never thought that we would actually be able to taste everything.”

     “I know, right? They emailed me about that feature, and I was honestly shocked, and was wondering how they were even going to be able to accomplish such a feat. Cause I mean, it’s a game , meant to just simulate a world to play around in, and ignore plenty of the physics that the world has naturally thrown at us. I mean, someone probably has a quirk that is able to simulate the sense of taste into the game. If not, then just how long have they spent figuring out how to do this? I mean-“ Izuku started going into a rant, his curiosity taking over, completely forgetting he was still next to someone, his mumbling no longer focused on a conversation with the girl. He would have continued, but Momo stopped him from mumbling even more.

     “The creators personally email you?” She asks.

     “Mhm. I’ve given a lot of suggestions for the game that they’ve ended up liking. I’m nobody special, so it really surprised me to be permitted to be a beta tester.” Izuku had been nervous to ask about the girl’s quirk, wondering if she was going to ask him about his nonexistent one. But he knew there was a question he had to ask, and she seemed like an understanding person. If he has to tell her, he’s almost positive she’ll be nice about it, and won’t act like Katsuki. “Hey, Yaoyorozu, can you try using your quirk. I need to make sure the game is covering up any quirk usage in the game.”

     “Oh, yeah, of course!” She exclaims, rolling up her sleeve, her face focused as she tries to activate her quirk. “Ah, it’s not working.”

     “Okay, thank you!” The boy says with a smile, happy that the coding was enough to block out any quirks.

     “You’re not going to ask more about my quirk?” She asks.

     “No. I don’t want to pry, and I don’t find it particularly important to talk about quirks a lot. Maybe one day when my interest is piqued enough that I can’t help but to want to write about it in my notebook, but in the meantime, you can keep it to yourself.” 

     “Okay. I’m just so used to people always asking about my quirk in school, and whenever mom and dad invite people over. It just feels kinda weird for people to badger me until I tell them about it.” She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, likely not used to someone going “I don’t want to know about your quirk”.

     “Would it make you feel better if I asked?”

     “No no, it’s fine. It’s kinda nice.” She suddenly stands up, and holds her hand out to Izuku, saying “Are you ready to take down this boss?”

     “Hell yeah.” He grabs the girl’s hand, and she quickly pulls him up. They open the large door, and enter the boss fight.

<<Illfang the Kobold Lord>>

Health 100/100

     The beast was over two meters tall, red, muscular, and had a dog-like structure for its face. It’s eyes were a gleaming, bloodthirsty red, and in its hands, and held a shield in one, and an axe in the other. It was surrounded by plenty of minions, all wielding swords, ready to protect the boss.

     “He’s huge…” Momo mutters. Izuku nods in agreement, unsheathing his sword. Momo does the same, and both lunge forward at the same time, trying to use the battle tactics they had learned from the manual, and form their fights with the animals. That’s practically all these guys were: just big animals.

     The minions were pretty easy for the most part, on dealing a bit of damage. It was the boss the two had to look out for as it swung its axe, and blocked our attacks with a shield. He was definitely a boss meant to be taken down by a bigger team of players.

     Izuku and Momo took down the last minion, and then turned to face the boss.

     “Momo, try to circle around the boss. Let’s try to confuse it, or make it dizzy. Just in case, we’ll be in opposite directions so one of us will always be able to hit a vulnerable spot, and should be able to dodge that shield.” Izuku mutters, getting a nod in agreement from the girl. They lunge towards the boss, and Izuku let’s Momo start running to the opposite side first. The boss starts to turn towards her, and Izuku takes this as an opportunity to attack it. He deals some damage, but not a lot, and is quickly knocked back from the shield. Momo does the same as him, and uses the opportunity to attack.

     This goes on for a while before the boss finally starts to catch on, and throws Momo back with the sword, and Izuku back with its shield. Both teens hit the ground with a thud, and quickly get back up again, not going to waste any time checking their health bar.

     The boss put its sword in the air, and quickly started to bring it down to Izuku. That was when the door slammed open, and more players flooded in, staring in shock at the two teens. The boss stopped it’s sword right in front of Izuku, turning its attention to the hoard of new players here to challenge it. The duo lunges at the boss again, dealing some more damage. The boss screams out in fury, turning in a circle to knock everyone back with its tail.

     “Fighting style?” Someone asks Izuku. The greenette looks up at the other player, who was already standing again.

     “More offensive, and it seems to rely on its minions for support. But they’re all gone, so it seems to be trying to tucker us out, and deal a fatal blow here and there.”

     “Got it. Here kid, take this.” The man hands Izuku some fruit, and says “Your health is getting dangerously low. I know this is a game, and you can just revive, but I don’t want any of your progress to go back, kid.”

     “Thank you, uh…” Izuku recognizes this guy, and is trying to put a finger on it. That was when it hit him right before the man was going to give his name, and Izuku says “Ingenium, right?”

     “Yeah! Go ahead and call me Iida, kid.” The man holds out a hand, helping Izuku up before calling out to everyone else, warning them about the boss’s fighting style. Izuku was just about ready to go into full out fanboy mode as he stood in front of one of his idols, a famous hero who has taken down so many people, and is ridiculously fast. Not to mention, the pro just gave Izuku part of the man’s name. Oh, the greenette felt so honored, but he couldn’t waste much of his time on that. He made sure to quickly eat the apple he was given, and then lunged back into the fight.

     As Ingenium dealt the final blow, a chest appeared in the middle. Iida walked up to it, and began to open it. From the chest appeared a message.

<<The true prize for the final blow will appear to the player who dealt the final blow, but until the beta testing phase is over, the prize here won’t be too special. So everyone gets restored health, and the player who dealt the final blow gets their own mini prize.>>

     “Oh, nice.” Iida says as he held a new sword. All the players watched their health bars go up again with a sigh of relief, and gawked at the sword the player held.

     “Now, Momo, what did we say about running off and starting the boss fight on your own?” Someone says.

     “Not to… but I ran into him-“ Momo points at Izuku before continuing “-and he was already headed there. So while I waited for you guys to make your decision, I started the mission with him.”

     “It was dangerous, and you know it.” The player who was scolding Momo says.

     “I know… but I was just getting bored.” The girl complains before muttering an apology.

     “Now you, who are you boy? How come I haven’t seen you in the church yet?” The person turns to Izuku, storming over.

     “I-I, er, we-well, I’m j-j-just n-no-nobody imp-important!” Izuku exclaims, his hands waving through the air as if to plead for mercy. “I di-didn’t see any o-other players! S-so I was just fi-fighting the a-animals…”

     “Rock Lock, buddy, calm down! Can’t you tell he’s just a kid, and you’re scaring the poor guy.” Ingenium tells the man, who grumbles in frustration. Izuku’s face goes red from embarrassment, and he quickly curls up on the ground. God , he hated being called out and being the center of everyone’s attention. “Sorry about him, kid. Rock Lock is frequently just a frustrated guy when it comes to teenagers.”

     Izuku looks up from the little ball of safety he curled himself into, and stands up. “Yeah, it’s fine. Nothing I’m not used to.”

     Momo then skips over, and wraps her arms around Izuku to give him a friendly hug.

     “We did iiiit!” Momo exclaims. Izuku smiles, and replies. “We really did, didn’t we?”

     “I thought that was going to be much harder, but I guess that since this is the first floor, it is going to seem easy.”

     “We also got a whole bunch more people in here to help out in just the nick of time.”

     “Yeah, you can thank us later.” Iida says, a smug grin plastered on his face. After that, everyone started heading out of the boss fight, and towards the new door that the fight had permitted the players access to. As Ingenium opened it, in honors of him being the final blow, the party was welcomed to the second floor.

     “Whew, I’m gonna log out. I should be having dinner soon.” Momo says as she stretches, her arms high over her head.

     “Me too. Can I assume I’ll see you tomorrow?” Izuku asks, pulling up his logout button.

     “Definitely.” She gives Izuku a bright smile before she logs out, and Izuku does the same. His eyes flutter open to reveal his room, an orange light filtered through the windows, giving everything an orange glow.

      Izuku sits up, slipping off the nerve gear, and starting to head towards his bedroom door. He walks towards the kitchen, where he watches his mom serve come curry into bowls.

     “Hey, mama.” Izuku greets as he walks over to give his mom a hug. She turns to hug him too, planting a soft kiss into his forehead. Izuku loves the affection his mother gives him, simply because she is one of the only people who ever gives a warm smile. However, now, she isn’t the only one. The pro hero, Ingenium gave him a bright smile, and so did Momo. Izuku hopes to get to consider them as friends, and he hopes that they’ll never care that he’s quirkless. Maybe, just maybe, Izuku can meet them in person, and they’ll look past his short stature, and ignore his lack of a quirk, and just spend time with him as they would anyone else. That’s Izuku’s dream for his future. That’s what he wants.

Chapter Text

     “Have you heard that the beta testers finally beat the first floor yesterday?” Someone said in Izuku’s classroom. 

     “Took them long enough. I’m ready to play the game, man.” Another person says with a sigh.

     “Well they’ve still got ninety-nine other floors dumbasses.” Katsuki adds in, scoffing at the stupidity of the others. “But they did take too fucking long. They better get all the other damn floors done much quicker.”

     “Are you suggesting that they never take a break, and they just keep on fighting?”

     “Pretty much. They should be able to do that, especially since, from what I’ve heard, there are pros in Sword Art Online. They aren’t giving out the damn pro’s names, but we know they’re some in there.” Katsuki replies. Izuku buries his head into his arms, not willing to look up as everyone discussed the updates the game had provided to the people anxiously waiting for the game’s release. “Pros are meant for combat, and they should be perfectly fine going up against some digital boss levels.”

     “Well, I heard a rumor that the game isn’t allowing quirks. I think that puts them at a major disadvantage.”

     “Pro heroes are meant to adapt. Clearly, I’m the only one that understands that shit, and so I’ll be the only person here with the capabilities to be a pro hero. The fact you’re all third years and don’t understand that shit is pitiful.” Katsuki finally turns his attention away from his classmates as the bell rings, signaling all teachers to walk in and start class. Izuku stayed quiet, letting Katsuki answer all of the class’ questions, while Izuku silently filled in his assignments' questions.

     Once class ended, Izuku hurriedly packed all his stuff together, and then ran towards the door. Katsuki glanced over to the greenette, wondering why the small male was in such a hurry. Sure, he usually rushes out so he can try to dodge Katsuki, but today, Izuku just seemed more excited than usual. In fact, that’s how it’s been the past few days.

      Katsuki wanted answers, so he chased after.

     After being cornered by Katsuki, Izuku laid on the ground for a second, then slowly sat up, looking left and right for the blonde. Katsuki had insisted that Izuku tell him what he was so excited about, and Izuku knew he couldn’t use the same excuse as he did earlier, where he said he was having dinner with his mom. So instead, he said that he was getting some more All Might merch in the mail, which resulted in a lot of laughing from the people surrounding Izuku.

     Said boy slung his backpack back onto his shoulder, and brushed the dirt off his uniform, straightening it up a bit. He then ran home, not wanting to be late, and end up missing Momo. So when he got home, he quickly took off his shoes, greeted his mother, and jumped into the game without changing into some more comfortable clothes.

     As soon as his game loaded, Momo was already there, and gave him a hug.

     “There you are! I was wondering if you were going to end up skipping!” She exclaims, a wide smile covering her face. Izuku grinned back, nervously scratching the back of his head as he replied with “Sorry. I got caught up with some schoolwork.”

     “We should exchange numbers so we can update each other in case anything happens.” She says, quickly pulling up her menu to go to the chat button. She types in the numbers on the hovering keypad, and with a final tap, Izuku gets the notification, quickly clicking on it. He repeats those numbers constantly in his head so that he can have it memorized, and then types in his own. After he sends it, he chants the number in his head some more.

      I just got a girl’s number! Izuku internally screams.

     “Thank you!” Momo says, closing her menu. Izuku does the same, and then asks “So is there anything that has been discussed, or anything interesting that has happemed since I’ve been gone?”

     “Well, more people found the second floor boss, and from what I’ve heard, they’re still up fighting it. They’re going to tire out soon though, and need to rest up. So, our team that fought the first floor boss should be running in soon to take care of it if they don’t get that boss completed soon.”

     “Ohh, okay. I’m surprised the fight has been going on that long in the first place.”

     “Maybe they just need you and me to use our smarts and beat it.” Momo says with a grin. Izuku smiles, and says “Heh, maybe they do.”

     “Ah well, I’m getting some food. I heard that there’s a good market nearby that sells some amazing sweets!”

     “Really, what kind?”

     “Cupcakes, cakes, pastries, and come cinnamon rolls. But from what I know about you, eating those cinnamon rolls would be cannibalism.” She says with a smug grin, turning to walk off, leaving a red-faced Izuku standing there, rummaging through his brain for words. Not finding any, he runs after the girl, following her to the small market.

     As they got their deserts, they walked around the cobbled streets, every once in awhile greeting another beta player. As they were finishing up, Izuku licking the frosting off of his fingers, they passed Tensei, who ran up, excitedly waving towards the two.

     “Hey! I was wondering where you two were!” Tensei says as he stands in front of the two.

     “What’s up?” Momo asks.

     “Well, nothing much. Although, we are ready to take over in the boss raid in about ten minutes. Those other guys still haven’t walked out. You two kids sure you wanna run in there though?” Tensei replies.

     “Mhm. We’re players, just like everyone else here. We don’t plan on being underestimated because of our age.” Izuku replies, Momo nodding in agreement. Someone else then runs up, out of breath. They sit on the ground for a second, the trio waiting for the person to be able to speak.

    “I-Ingenium s-s-ir.” The person begins, only for Tensei to hold up his hand, and then saying “Iida. Now continue, cause we have a boss raid soon.”

    “Rig-right. About that… god it took so long to find you… whew… they beat the boss. Everyone is headed up to the third floor to celebrate.” The person says as they slowly start to stand up again.

     “Really? Nice! Well, what are we waiting for!? Let’s go!” Tensei starts to run, making the person who just ran all this way groan in despair. While Momo ran ahead, Izuku helped the person up the rest of the way, and said “I can carry you if you want.”

     “No no, I need to work on my stamina anyway. C’mon, kid. Don’t want to let those two get ahead.” The guy jerks his head to the direction the two were in, signaling for Izuku to go ahead. Izuku gives a small nod, and then runs towards Tensei and Momo, listening for the sound of feet meeting cobblestone to make sure the person was following. When he finally heard it, he grinned, and then ran faster.

     Once everyone reached the third floor, they were all meeting at the tallest trees, made into multiple floors to house players in the woodland area. There was a large table everyone was gathered around, either sitting down, standing near it, or just randomly scattered around the room. There were so many players in here, making Izuku anxious.

     “I swear it was horrifying! That boss was some insane Minotaur, swinging around its hammer at everyone!” Someone who clearly fought in the boss fight said.

     “Heheh, yeah right. I bet you guys were just too scared after looking it in the eyes. Must’ve just stood there so it could kill you multiple times.” Someone else said.

     “We did not! That thing was tough! You try fighting against it! Besides, we were up against the second floor boss. You lot were up against the first floor boss, which must’ve been a lot easier.” The person who was describing the boss protested.

     “Actually, most of us weren’t even in that fight. For you guys to have a whole team there the whole time, that fight should have been done much quicker. Two teenagers actually did most of the damage on that first floor boss, and we came in at the last second, stopping those kids from getting killed.” Tensei adds in, placing himself into the conversation now.

     “Oh really? How many times did they die?” A woman asks, sipping what looked to Izuku like wine from her glass.

     “None at all!” Momo says, skipping up. “And by the way, I’m one of those teenagers. It’s nice to meet you!”

     Momo held out her hand to the shocked woman, who seemed like she was about to ask “Then where are these kids anyway”, and then hesitantly took the young girl’s hand. 

     “Nice to meet you. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders if you were able to beat that boss with only one other player. Is your friend online?” The woman asks, setting down her glass. Momo gives a bright smile, nodding as she skips over to Izuku, grabbing his arm and bringing him over.

     “This is Midoriya! The two of us took down that boss.” Momo says, trying to remain generous as she talks about it, but steadily very excited. Her cheeks turn a bit pink before she mumbles “With more help in the end of course. I’m sure we wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone else’s help.”

     Izuku’s cheeks were a bright red yet again today, nervous to be in front of so many people, interested about how he and Momo did a lot of damage against the first floor boss. “I-I mean, it-it was k-k-kinda easy if y-yo-you studied its a-attack pattern enough.”

     Izuku was looking at the ground, trying to avoid all eye contact so he didn’t have to suddenly panic and run off. That was when Tensei put his gloved hand on the top of Izuku’s head, ruffling the boy’s straight hair, making it a mess. Izuku jumped from the sudden contact, and when Tensei moved his hand, Izuku quickly neatened his hair, still staring at his boots.

     “You remind me of my little brother sometimes, Midoriya. He can get nervous in front of people too. Although, he tries to hide it a lot, and puffs out his chest to look all big. Maybe you should try that sometime.” Tensei says, trying to help Izuku, who just shakes his head, and says “I could never.”

      “Well, I’m gonna log out and go to bed. My dog is bound to be waiting for me.” The woman says, pulling up her menu screen.

     “Goodnight.” Momo and Izuku say, waving to the woman. She returns a small wave, and then logs out, disappearing into some sparkles. Others seem to take that as their cue, and start logging out as well. Soon, it was just the people who had beaten the first boss left in the room, which means there were about one-hundred players left.

     “Alright guys, what are we waiting for!? We’ve got a third floor boss to find, and side quests to complete on this floor!” Tensei shouts with a bright smile. A chorus of “Yeah!” and “Let’s do it!”s were echoed around the room before everyone ran out into the large forest, headed to level up and find more equipment and goods.

Chapter Text

     The day to release the game to everyone else was getting extremely close, and all beta testers had finally reached the last boss, only to find out that the last fifty bosses were just to fill in for the later bosses as a way to surprise the beta testers. The zone for the bosses was also moved to make it a bit more of a challenge. Izuku wanted to test out these changes, but the programmers insisted they had it, and were going to fix the recent issue that popped up. 

     The last day the beta testers were permitted to play until the release, the logout button was lagging. Everything else was loading perfectly fine, but the logout button took a second to pop up and let the beta testers out of the game. So, Izuku emailed the programmers about it, and they said they were going to fix the issue.

     As Izuku walked to school, the streets were full of excited and happy people, excitedly waiting for the release of the game tomorrow. Izuku could hear people talking about how they were ready to go to bed, or were going to just stand outside of the gaming store to wait for the doors to unlock and let customers pour in. Luckily for all the students, the release of the game was on a weekend, a day where all students could relax at home and play their game.

     During the time Izuku and Momo were beta testing, they had texted and called frequently, but never met up. Their schedules were always too busy, and their free time was usually spent in the game. So, they basically considered playing the game together as their meetups. However, no matter how long they spent playing, Izuku made sure nobody ever found out about his quirklessness. He didn’t want to risk the only friends he got turning their backs on him because they had quirks, and he didn’t. That was usually how it went in the real world, so who wouldn’t do the same in the game if they found out?

     As the greenette walked down the streets, dodging people as often as he could since they weren’t paying much attention, or just didn’t see him because of his height, he received a call. His ringtone was down most of the way, but that didn’t stop him from getting embarrassed as he heard the soft All Might ringtone from his backpack.

     Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he checked the caller ID, and smiled when he saw it was Momo calling him. He answered, and said “Hello?”

     “Hey! Just wanted to call you before I got to school, and wish you luck!”

     “Aw, thanks! Good luck to you too with school. Wait- why am I getting good luck today? It’s just another day of school…” Izuku questioned.

     “You told me you had a math test today. I wanted to wish you luck on that.” Izuku’s face blanked at her words, completely forgetting about the test. “You forgot about it, didn’t you? And now you didn’t get any study time?”

     “Yeah…” After a moment of silence, Izuku quickly said “But I’m sure I can still pass!”

     “You better! I know if I failed something because I forgot to study, my mom and dad wouldn’t let me play the game until my grade was fixed, and I don’t know what your mom would do.”

     “She’d probably wonder what’s wrong since I usually pass my stuff, but eh, I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure I remember everything, and I’ll study in my homeroom for a bit.”

     “Alright. Well, I’ve got to go since I’m close to school. Bye, Midoriya.”

     “Bye bye.” Izuku then hangs up after wishing her farewell. He spots his school, and tucks his phone back into his backpack, speeding onto the school’s property. He notices Katsuki, so he tries to dart out of the blonde’s view, accidentally running into someone else. He quickly mutters an apology, running off without making sure the person is alright just in case if they were someone ready to beat him up at the sight of him.

     Being quirkless with practically the whole school knowing, and the quirkless people generally treated as someone barely human these days, Izuku has to be careful, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble he could get into? Kids would quickly blame him for everything, or say something he did on accident was intentional. Therefore, he has to try and get away before someone could completely register who he was.

     He made sure to be more careful after that, carefully stepping past everyone as he darted into his classroom, relaxing as soon as he sat down and had his head placed on his arms. After a few moments of calming down, he quietly pulled out his notes, going over all the methods in the math problem. Algebra was not a favorite of his, but he knew how to do it. That was all that really mattered.

     All of his classmates slowly poured into the room, all of them ready for the weekend. Their homeroom teacher droned on about what events were occurring soon, about how everyone needed to start really thinking about what high school to go to, which led to Katsuki dissing the whole class, and cornering Izuku later to shoot down the greenette’s dreams.

     Naturally, Katsuki just couldn’t leave Izuku alone, and so as Izuku scrolled through his phone to look at the day’s hero fights, pulling out his notebook to take notes on the quirks of some of the new pros, like Mt.Lady, Katsuki walked up. The blonde snatched the notebook from the younger boy’s hands, presenting it to Katsuki’s “friends” behind him. They snickered as they read the title out loud, and Izuku mumbled “Hey, give it back.”

     Katsuki took the notebook out of the other’s view, exploding the notebook right in front of Izuku’s face before the blonde tossed the notebook out the window. The permanently angry teenager then placed his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, making small little explosions out of the palm of his hand to burn the boy’s shoulder, a trail of smoke rising as Katsuki warns the younger boy about even trying to get into the U.A. exams or the upcoming game.

     “Deku, don’t even try to get into U.A., or else. And also, make sure you don’t join the game. I don’t want some quirkless trash dragging everyone down as I kick that game’s ass tomorrow. I’ll do better than those ducking betaa testers, and I’ll be the highest ranked person there. Not that you would get to know though, since you’ll be sitting at home whining about being a quirkless little shit.” Katsuki said, letting go of Izuku’s shoulder before he began to walk out, stopping at the doorway to give one last remark. “You know, if you really want a quirk so badly, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof, and hope for a quirk in your next life?”

     Izuku quickly turned to face the blonde in an attempt to protest against those words, but quickly cowered away as the blonde made small explosions in his hand as a warning. After watching the blonde head out, Izuku grabbed his belongings, beginning to walk down to the small pond that he heard his notebook get dropped into. 

     Wiping the tears from his eyes, he said “You can’t just tell people to kill themselves, Kacchan.”

     Retrieving the notebook, his phone buzzed, and he slowly pulled it out from his backpack.

______

     Yaoyorozu: Hey! Just wanted to check on you and see how school was for you today. Do you know if you passed that math test or not? 😄

______

     With a smile, Izuku began to reply to the message.

______

No. Not yet. I’m sure I’ll figure it out after the weekend.

      Yaoyorozu: Alrighty. You ready to play the game tomorrow?

Mhm!

      Yaoyorozu: Good. I’m excited to see all the new players. I think Ingenium said he was going to have his brother try out the game, so Ingenium’s character is gonna be his little brother for the day.

Really? How did you hear about that?

      Yaoyorozu: My dad told me. He talks to the Iida family frequently, and I already told him I’ve played the game with Ingenium. Heads up though, Tensei’s brother is suuuuper serious about rules and stuff.

Okay. Thanks for letting me know 🙂

      Yaoyorozu: Anytime!

______

     Izuku put his phone away, a smile on his face as he remembered he always had Momo to talk to. That could be the good part of his day today. While yes today had been a disaster after being told to off himself, he had Momo text him almost immediately after as if she knew something was wrong.

     Momo stepped past the gate to her home, excitedly skipping up to her room. She greeted the servants on her way there, and even asked them where her parents were. Naturally, they left on another business trip without telling her first. 

     She walked into her large room, pulling her hair out of its ponytail, letting her long black hair fall over her shoulders. She walked over to her bed, sitting there as she took out her phone, beginning to scroll through her notifications. There were plenty of emails from school, her friends, and the game creators for Sword Art Online, updating her about things the game was doing in preparation for the release of the game.

     Someone then suddenly called her, and she answered, prepared to direct someone to her father’s phone instead of hers like usual. However, when she heard a Tensei, she smiled from ear to ear.

     “Hey, Yaoyorozu. Are you ready for the game release tomorrow?” He asked.

     “Definitely! I already messaged Midoriya about it, and he should be in the game tomorrow. Are you still having your brother play?” She asks, wanting to make sure she was going to address Tensei’s avatar as Tenya instead.

     “Yep! I actually called so you two could get to know each other. I have him sitting right here next to me. I would get him to meet Midoriya too, but I don’t have the kid’s number.”

     “Ohhh, then let me make a group chat with the two of you real quick so we can call there. I’ll hang up real quick, and then call back.”

     “Alright then.” The girl then hangs up, rushing to make the group chat. As soon as it’s done, she taps the call button, smiling as the Iidas quickly pick up, shortly followed by Izuku.

     “Hello?” Izuku says, not sure what was going on, or who the other caller was.

     “Hey, Midoriya! Yaoyorozu got a call set up for all of us so you could get to know my little brother a bit before you play the game with him!” Tensei informs.

     “Mhm!” Momo confirms.

     “Ohhh, okay!” Momo could practically hear Izuku’s wide smile after hearing what Tensei said, but she didn’t linger on it for too long before saying “So, Tenya, how are you?”

     “I’m doing alright.” The boy replies, his tone unintentionally bringing on a sense that he liked to be in charge, and already thought of the game to be a waste of time.

     “Not much of a talker, are you?” Momo asks.

     “Not really. What do you find so entertaining about the game that you play it every day, nonstop?” Tenya asks.

     “Tenya! Be nice about it!” Tensei scolds.

     “Well, it’s unique, and provides a new world to people that they can feel like they truly are in. There are so many unique features, and everyone is generally treated as equals. It’s really sweet.” Izuku replies, trying to avoid the harshness in Tenya’s voice.

     “So are you saying you prefer the digital world?” Tenya asks.

     “Sometimes, yes.” Izuku replies. Momo never asked Izuku about his life outside of the digital world, other than the occasional questions about him having homework or not. So, his reply made her want to question him later, just not when they were trying to get to know someone else instead. “Iida-kun, I think you’ll really like the game. It truly is amazing.”

     “Well, I’ll try it out, and will attempt to enjoy myself.” Tenya replies.

     “Yay!” Izuku and Momo cheer, excited to play with someone new right off the bat tomorrow.

     “Oh, so you can complain about it to me, but you’ll just go ‘Oh yeah, you think the world is amazing, so I’ll just smile and agree’ with them!? That is so unfair!” Tensei fusses at his brother, making Izuku and Momo grin, never having heard sibling rivalry, but having heard of it from their classmates who do have siblings.

     “Well, you just wanted me to play. Besides, I will not be rude to people I have never met.” Tenya replies to his brother.

     “So you admit you’re being rude!” 

     “Wait- no no! I did not intend to be rude to you, brother! I deeply apologize!” Izuku and Momo both started laughing, continuing the rest of the conversation in peace, getting to know the youngest of the Iida family.

Chapter Text

     Izuku stayed at home the day of the game’s release, patiently waiting in his computer until lunch, the time Momo, Tenya, and himself had agreed to meet up and play the game. He impatiently spun around in the chair while rewatching All Might’s big debut for the tenth time today. He wondered if his mom was getting annoyed by the constant background chatter of the video, and All Might’s notorious “I am here!”

      Will All Might end up playing today? That would be really cool… but now that I think about it, his schedule will probably be too busy . Izuku thinks as his head slowly turns to face the ceiling. He once more looked at the watch on his wrist, sighing as he took a mental note that he still had to wait another half hour.

     “Izuku?” His mom calls as she softly knocks on his door. The boy quickly hops out of the seat, and runs to his door. 

     “Yeah, mom?” He asks, watching his mom’s face shift into a gentle smile.

     “Do you want to eat before you’re busy playing all day? I don’t want you to have to wait until dinner to eat while you stress yourself out about being around so many people in the game.” The woman gently says. Izuku nods, and follows his mother down the small hallway to the kitchen, where she handed him a bowl filled with food.

     “Don’t you think this is a bit much for lunch?” Izuku asks as he hesitantly picks up the bowl.

     “Well I planned on letting you play a bit longer, and making dinner an hour later. I want to make sure you’re not too hungry.” She replies as Izuku sits down, starting to eat the meal. The mother sits across from her boy, eating her own smaller portion of said meal. 

     The time slowly ticked by, and every couple minutes as Izuku ate his meal, he would glance at his watch. The second his food was done, he jumped up, and quickly rinsed, then washed his bowl. With a few minutes left, he decided to try and get there a bit early, running to his room to get all the nerve gear on. He tapped all required parts of his body, and then jumped into the game. He was greeted by a city filled to the brim with people, all excitedly bustling around as most of them were seeing the world for the first time.

     “Kinda sucks that I can’t show my quirk off in here.” A girl mumbles as she walks by.

     “I agree. There’s so many people I would love to show it off to here, and I’m sure it would help me level up faster. I don’t even know how to hold a sword properly.” The other girl says with a sigh. Izuku just rolled his eyes before darting into a nearby restaurant, the one Tensei and Momo has frequently met up with him at multiple times before.

     Izuku hated the fact he was bad to square one in the game, but at least he could say that he’s had experience, and can probably get a lot done much faster. His clothes were back to the plain garments every player had to wear. While yes, there were a variety of options, they were all the same in stats and the amount of protection the wearer would receive. Therefore, Izuku called them all the same.

     “There you are!” A familiar voice calls as the door opens, the bell above giving it’s little chime. Momo had her arm wrapped around a familiar figure, but Izuku immediately noticed the change in the posture and attitude of Tensei’s avatar. Tenya Iida sure is something different compared to his brother. “You got impatient and came into the game earlier, didn’t you?”

     “Mhm. I swear I did everything I could think of to pass the time.” Izuku replies, watching Tenya look around the world with interest. “Have you seen anything interesting here, Iida-kun?”

     “Now that I’m here, it all seems interesting. It feels as though I am actually in this world, which is quite fascinating. What does this place sell?” Tenya asks.

     “Well, nothing we can buy right now. It’s a sweets place, but none of us have any of the money we earned from the beta testing. Our saves were cleared before the game was officially released.” Momo explains as she walks Tenya over to the table Izuku was sitting at.

     “Ah, I see.” Tenya replies, seeming slightly disappointed. “How do you get money in here then?”

     “By finishing some side-missions, helping out NPCs, and killing monsters. The boss levels are always the jackpot though.” Izuku quickly replies as he lays his head onto his hand.

     “Speaking of.” Momo turns to look at Izuku with a wide smile, and then says “Do you want to go ahead and teach Tenya a bit about fighting those small monsters? I’m sure it’ll be nice for him to have mentors.”

     “Please do teach me how to play this game!” Tenya asks as he gets up and bows. Momo lightly hits his head, and says “No need to be so formal! Get up, and go ahead and relax. You’re so tensed up.” 

     “I apologize.” He says as he goes into another bow, resulting in the other two teenagers rolling their eyes. “Also, Yaoyorozu, I’ve been wondering.”

     “What is it?” She asks.

     “Why is it you’ve changed your appearance so much from how you actually look?” Tenya asks, and Izuku watches the girl flush into a bright red, quickly bringing her hands to her cheeks as she tries to hide it.

     “W-well, I-I just… NO REASON!” She quickly stutters out. Izuku didn’t want to pry because he had changed his appearance too to feel more confident in himself. He didn’t exactly want to talk about himself either, yet he felt bad for his friend since she had someone call her out on it to someone she’s never actually met face-to-face. They haven’t even video called before! But here Tenya was, asking her a question that clearly made her uncomfortable, so Izuku said “I changed my appearance too. It just gives me more confidence when playing. We know this game isn’t all about fashion and looks, it just helps to be able to change yourself more to your or other’s preference when playing with hundreds of other people you don’t even know.”

     “Yeah, and sometimes, it’s just nice to get rid of some insecurities.” Momo adds, and Tenya nods as he understands where the duo is coming from.

     “I suppose I cannot say much either since I am using my brother’s avatar, and he had made a few changes to his appearance as well. Not too many, but yes, he has made changes.” Tenya says as he looks down at the avatar his elder brother had used so many times before. “I apologize if I embarrassed you, Yaoyorozu.”

     “That line took fucking forever! I swear, I was ready to blow all those extras away after how long that shit took.” A familiar voice says from just outside the restaurant. Izuku’s eyes widen before he quickly mumbles to the other two “Please please please don’t address me if that kid comes in.”

     “Why?” The two ask together. As the door opens, letting in Katsuki Bakugo and his goons that had gotten into the game too, Izuku lowers his head a bit, before making it seem like he had been in a conversation for a while. “Heheh, yeah! I suppose it would be really cool if certain quirks were permitted if they couldn’t do any damage! We should really meet in person sometime!”

     Izuku lowered his usually squeaky voice to make it even harder for Katsuki to recognize the greenette. Momo was the first to start playing along as well.

     “I agree. I can DM you guys someplace to meet up later if you don’t mind, and then we can- EEP!” She squeals as Katsuki slams his hands on the trio’s table, all three teenagers jumping in shock. “C-can we h-he-help you?”

     “Yeah. Can you guys shut the fuck up? You’re getting on my last nerve. Now do you guys have any money I can borrow to buy some shit from here?” Katsuki asks.

     “No, not right now.” Momo replies, looking at the blonde nervously. Katsuki hadn’t changed anything about himself, his character still remained the same as his real life self. Katsuki’s confidence was always something Izuku looked up to, yet never could summon himself. So here Izuku was cowering behind the looks that he was able to give himself in the game.

     “Besides, shouldn’t you earn the money yourself? You should be able to earn the money yourself by defeating monsters and doing tasks.” Tenya adds, clearly more built for situations like this, especially compared to the other two.

     “Tch, fine.” Katsuki then turns to the two following him, and says “Let’s go, extras. I need to make sure Deku isn’t trailing around.” The trio walked out, and Izuku let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

     “Midoriya-kun, who was that, and what was that all about?” Momo quickly asks once Katsuki and his group were out of sight.

     “He’s just someone I need to avoid right now. We go to school together and aren’t… on the best of terms.” Izuku quickly explains.

     “Are you okay, Midoriya?” Tenya asks. Izuku just nods as he slowly gets up, and says “Let’s go beat some of those monsters, yeah?”

     “Yeah.” The other two quietly say together, watching as Izuku walks by. They get up and follow, but not before giving each other a concerned glance for their friend.

     Momo and Izuku walked over to the area they were so familiar with, and helped teach Tenya a bit on how to hold the sword, and the best tactics for fighting the monsters on this floor. Momo and Izuku were getting plenty of money, making sure to be careful to not get attacked. While the duo always had the privilege of just resurrecting and running off to do whatever, they never liked to die in the game, and made sure to do everything they could to avoid such a fate. Meanwhile, they had to continuously help Tenya with his posture.

     “You don’t want to be too stiff. You want to be able to easily just swipe at it with your sword, and it shouldn’t be too jerky. You won’t be able to improve the swing like that just in case there is a scenario where you need to do that.” Izuku says before giving Tenya another example as another beast was quickly taken down. Momo then gracefully took down another, leaving Tenya gawking as he tried to take another swing at his opponent. It backed up, but not before the tip of Tenya’s sword grazed its nose. It squeaked in pain before preparing itself to charge. “You’re doing better, just loosen up more.”

     Tenya nods, and then swings once more at the beast, happily getting a killing blow on the beast. The trio cheered before Momo clapped her hands together and said “We should have plenty of money to get a few snacks now! Let’s go!” With that, they walked back into the city where hundreds of people were chattering about the game.

     “He hasn’t come back since he died. It’s been almost an hour, and he isn’t even popping up on my friends list.” Someone said. Izuku heard a similar comment from someone else, and then another. He was getting worried, wondering if the game was just glitching out, or if the bad feeling in his gut actually meant something bad was happening.

     “Momo…” Izuku starts, worriedly looking around at the people walking around the city.

     “Yeah, I hear. Just stick close. These people may have just had to log out unexpectedly, or the game is glitching with all the new players.” She says as they slip into the restaurant they were in when they first logged in.

     “I just have a bad feeling about this.” He says as he walks over to the counter, getting some hot chocolate. As he finished, he was suddenly teleported into the town’s square, and watched as everyone else was gradually teleported there too. He spotted Momo and Tenya elsewhere in the crowd, and he watched as a large, red, hooded figure summoned itself over the crowd, and started to speak. All Izuku could do was watch as the news articles were pulled up to discuss the deaths of hundreds of Sword Art Online players, and how it was the definite truth that they would all literally die if they were to die in the game. And as the figure warped away with his warning, his final present was to take away all changes everyone had made to their characters, reverting everyone to their original appearance.

     Izuku ran. He ran out of that crowd faster than anyone as he pulled up his menu screen, surprised, yet not surprised at the same time to see the logout button not there. Would his mother be waiting expectantly for Izuku to come downstairs for dinner, or did she already hear the news? How was she taking this? Was dinner almost done, or was it already sitting on the table getting cold?

     His feet were getting sore from all the running, so he just found himself slipping into an alleyway, hiding there and crying,

Chapter Text

     Momo knew one thing for sure, and that was that Izuku Midoriya was no coward. So naturally, she got scared when she lost sight of him. She nervously fiddled with her clothes as she walked through the crowd alongside Tenya. Everyone was panicking so much, and through the nervousness, Momo could tell that there were other people amongst herself, who were worried about people judging them for how they actually look.

     "BULLSHIT! THAT'S WHAT THIS IS!" A familiar voice shouts. Momo turns into that direction, noticing how even the appearance was familiar. It was the angry blonde from the restaurant, and he was clearly pissed about being trapped into the game alongside thousands of other players. One of his friends tried to reach out, but was quickly pushed away by the angry boy.

     "Midoriya seemed familiar with that boy. Maybe we can ask him to help us find Midoriya. After all, if those two know each other in real life, then that boy can help us find Midoriya." Tenya suggests.

     "No. Midoriya isn't on good terms with that kid. You saw how he shrunk down and changed his voice's pitch to go unrecognized. It would be best to keep Midoriya off that boy's radar." Momo reasons. Tenya just nods, and they look around, trying to see if there was anyone who would look at the two with the slightest hint of recognition, and the duo also kept their ears open for the familiar voice of their friend.

     There was sobbing, shouting, words of consolation, and muttering amongst the large crowd. They were slowly breaking apart, leaving the teleportation gate plaza to either hide deeper into the city, or to go and train by fighting the beasts lurking outside the city walls.

     Very few went on the path to train themselves. The whole concept of actually dying in this game kept people extra wary of the grassy field outside their safety. The duo decided to check out there later for their friend, knowing how much he enjoyed the excitement of leveling up as he defeated the monsters. However, based on the situation, it was wisest to check in the city first.

     They creeped through the streets, checking through the windows of all the buildings, and peeking into alleyways to find a familiar voice, or somewhat familiar face. Friends were all walking side-by-side, either trying to console each other, or crying together. 

     “To help narrow it down, even though we are all in the standard clothing, we have a general idea of what his clothes look like. And since we were able to choose the color for the clothes, that is why I am saying we can narrow it down a bit more.” Tenya says.

     “That’s true. And I hate to say it, but he’s probably going to be one of the few people alone. He only really talked to us, and everyone else is teaming up with their friends to stay safe.” Momo adds.

     “There are very few people who decided they wanted to be alone. So these little hints are definitely a lot of help.”

     “Agreed.” More walking. The streets slowly started to empty as people tried to find their own little sanctuary to hide in as the city darkened. Izuku probably bought himself a place to stay in for the night as well, or was probably asleep, so searching this late would definitely be difficult. “Iida.”

     “Yes, Yaoyorozu?” Tenya turns to face the girl, who had stopped in her tracks, so he did too.

     “I hate to say it, but we should turn in for the night. We can try to find him tomorrow. After all, he may be in bed himself. If not, and if he is just hiding in an alleyway, those will be too dark to find anything in.”

     “So we will find somewhere to stay for the night, and continue our search tomorrow, correct?”

     “Yes.” With that, they slowly walked to find somewhere to stay, and it took awhile because of how full each place was. Eventually, they finally found somewhere to stay. It was a small room, with two small beds. The walls were cobbled, and there was a wooden planked floor that creaked with each step. It was quite cramped, but enough for the two. “I’m glad we didn’t waste all our money on food earlier, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford this.”

     “I mean, we still have plenty, and that is because we did a lot of fighting against the monsters outside the city earlier.” Tenya replies.

     “True. Well, good night, Iida.” Momo says, giving her friend a soft smile as she steps over to the bed near the small window. She shuts the curtains, and lies down, as does Tenya. Shortly after, the two are asleep. Meanwhile, outside the city gates, the little greenette is occupying his time, refusing to rest. A couple hours ago, he finally crawled out of that alleyway, reasoning with himself that he wouldn’t get anywhere if he continued to cry about it. With another swing of his sword, the boar let out a screech as it became sparkles, and faded away. Izuku locked eyes with another one, and charged at it. He got two swings in before it caught on, and tried to attack him as well. The boy backed up, and sidestepped to get out of the way of the attack. 

     He was getting out of breath, but he already started the fight, so he had to finish it. He refused to die here, and he had already gotten so far. He had already leveled up a few times, and figured out how so many of the monsters fought. He planned to work on fighting more wolves later on, and then moving on to some of those walking plants. 

     The boar charged at him again, so he quickly stepped out of the way. When he swung his sword, he accidentally hit another boar, and his eyes widened when he realized he did so. Just him against two angry boars. Dammit . He already wasn’t fond of this sword because he didn’t like the way it felt that much. It just felt too light, and like it could fly out of his hands any second. He would need to build up money and resources to get a better one later. But until then, he had to face against these monsters with this crappy sword.

     Another swing, barely grazing one of them while getting a deeper cut on the other. They squeaked in pain and anger, both charging at Izuku this time. He was too close, and before he could step out of the way, one of them got a good hit on his leg as he tried to leap away. With a yelp of pain, he hit the ground, and watched some of his health go down. He cringed at the sight of it, and rolled out of the way of another attack. Getting up again, he attacked once more, and smiled in satisfaction as the one he had been fighting the longest disappeared in a brief moment of light and sparkles.

     Someone then came out of nowhere, getting the other boar away from Izuku as the mystery person gave one big, final blow. Izuku’s eyes widened at the familiarity of the man, and he quickly stuttered out “R-Rock Lock?”

     “Yep.” The man says, glancing at Izuku. “Hey, you’re one of those kids that took down the boss on the first floor in the beta tests. I still recognize your name, kid. Ya look pretty different from your avatar, but I’ll recognize that name anywhere.”

     Izuku nervously pulled at his fingers, big eyes never leaving the grass as he tried to avoid eye contact with the pro.

     “Not to try to be invasive, but where’s your friend? Yaoyorozu?” Rock Lock asks.

     “I don’t know.” Izuku mumbles.

     “Is she in the game?” Izuku nods. “Couldn’t sleep? Tell ya what, we defeat a few more monsters, and then I buy you something as my treat.”

     “I don’t want you to waste any time or money on me, so no thank you.” The aura around Rock Lock suddenly became frustrated, and Izuku tensed up. Glancing away from the glass and to his hands, he saw them shaking, and he quickly put those shaking hands behind him, going back to focusing on a certain blade of grass. There was nothing special about it. It’s just a blade of grass.

     “You’re acting like nobody has ever offered you something small. I literally just want to get you a snack, kid. And besides, it’s only after we defeat a few of these guys.” The pro points to the boars behind him, and then says “Besides, I’m a pro. What kind of pro would I be if I didn’t help someone who needed it? You need a break, kid. You’re just a kid.”

     “And I can do just as well as everyone else here. After all, it’s still just a game, just actually killing people.” Izuku mumbles.

     “And that’s my exact point. This game is actually killing people. Nobody here but the pros signed a document willing to put their lives on the line. I understand you’ve always been wanting to beat this game, but you have to remember you can’t freely die here. You, as a child, never said you were ready to sacrifice your life for everyone here. Us pros promised to protect people, and if we can’t do that in the real world, then let us do it here.” Rock Lock says. Izuku’s eyes had been long adjusted to the dark, but suddenly, it was hard for him to see. There was a moment where he could clearly see as his teardrops fell, but that vision was suddenly taken away again as his eyes flooded with more tears. “Hey, don’t cry. We can go and get that snack now if you want?”

     “N-no. M’fine.” Izuku replies as he wipes his tears onto his sleeve. He then gets a firmer grip on his sword, and then says “So about those monsters? Are you ready to fight them?”

     “Hell yeah.” The pro replies, grinning as he grabs his own sword. They said it would only be a few monsters, but it ended up relieving so much stress, that they pushed away their tiredness, and pushed past their limits as they fought. Izuku easily fought next to the man, both having no training with a sword beforehand, even though it wasn’t really needed to be able to play the game. There were game specific movements that most likely wouldn’t work in the real world, but worked flawlessly for the game. “A,right, kid. That’s enough for now. Let’s go buy something, and then we can go ahead and part ways.”

     “A-alright.” Izuku replies, putting his sword away, as does Rock Lock. The two walk through the quiet streets, and step into the bakery nearest them. Rock Lock insisted that he was going to pay, and even though Izuku protested against it, the man wouldn’t hear it. Izuku eventually ended up with a nice cupcake, which is honestly one of the biggest delicacies on this floor. The things everyone could afford is the crab bread if you had such a little amount of money. 

    Once the two had stepped into the city, their health was quickly brought up again. So the health they had lost against the boars was quickly turned back, and there was nothing to worry about again. 

     The two ate in silence, eventually being broken by the pro hero, who said “You know, I have more reasons to want to get out of this place other than to just get out and continue my work. I have a little kid that I want to see. I’m afraid of missing out on him growing up, and I don’t want my wife to have to raise our baby on her own while she waits for me to beat this damn game. I’ve heard about how hard it is for someone to single handedly raise a child, especially when they’re so young.”

     Izuku has a somewhat understanding of that too. He’s seen for years how much pressure his mom is under. This game was sure to do nothing to help with that pressure. Izuku was always so stressful for the sweet woman, and Izuku knew it. After all, he always came home with some sort of injury, his father was never in the picture other than to send some money. That money wasn’t enough, and Inko had to get a job of her own. Hisashi still had to take care of himself after all, so there naturally had to be money set aside for him. It would be so much less difficult if he could come home.

     But now… now things were extremely difficult. Thousands of people were tossed into a game, and Izuku was amongst them. Inko would be so stressed, even more than she ever was, and she would have to hope that Izuku could make it out of this game. Izuku had to get out of here for her.

     “So what about you, kid? What do you want to get out of this game for?” Rock Lock asks, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts.

     “O-oh, um… I want to get out for my mom. Y’see, she already worries so much for me, and I already stress her out enough. If I can get out of here, I want to make it all up to her for even making her stress out.”

     “So you’re a mama’s boy?”

     “I-I guess.”

     “Kid, you gotta stop that stuttering.”

     “Sorry…”

     “Don’t apologize about it. I just don’t want you to be nervous around me. I get I’m a pro hero and all, but I’m not out to get you. I just want to help.” A moment of silence. Rock Lock sighed, and then said “I know a guy. He’s a pro and teacher, and someone he knows dragged him along. I think you two would get along really well, and he can help you a bit. He’s a really good guy, I promise. Meet me here tomorrow, and I can take you to meet him.”

     “...Okay.”

     “Alright, see ya’. Go ahead and get some rest.” Rock Lock says as he gets up, ruffling Izuku’s curls. The brief moment of affection made Izuku go red a bit, not accustomed to anyone but his mom or Momo truly showing how much they cared. So when Rock Lock walked out of the bakery, Izuku sat there for a second, processing what just happened.

     He gets to meet someone… and for some reason, he agreed to meet this person. Wait- how many pros are in this game anyway?

Chapter Text

     Inko Midoriya sat in the hospital, immediately knowing that her son would not make it out of the game that quickly. She saw how long it took for the game to be completed, and while yes, there were more players, she just knew they were scared with the life or death scenario thrown at them. So Inko went to Mitsuki, not shocked to find out Katsuki was in the game too. She recommended they get their boy to the hospital too so he doesn’t die from a lack of water or food.

     So here she was, next to her only child, who was hooked up to machines with the treacherous thing on his head that prevented him from waking up and living his life. She saw his notebooks, and how much work he still wanted to do in them. She watched as he would run to his room, and write away in his cherished items. As she walked by his room at night to check on him, the news would always be on his computer, and if you listened close enough, you could hear the scratching of pencil against paper. Eventually, the mother just let him be, and lost track of what time he finally went to bed.

     Izuku was still out cold, and it hurt her to not get to see his beautiful eyes in the morning when she woke up, and his frustration when she would have to remind him to grab some breakfast as he rushed to put his shoes on. He should be in school this morning, eagerly waiting for class to finish so he could run home and put on the nerve gear to play with his friends. But instead, it was just a morning on a hospital bed, with plenty of other people stuck in the game as well surrounding him.

     The lack of heroes in the outside world was taking its toll on the cities. While the game was primarily teenagers and citizens, a lot of heroes were in the game as well, especially from the beta testing. However, villains were still being held back by the symbol of peace, who never had time for anything but heroics. Besides, the man doesn’t seem like the type to engage his time with video games.

     U.A. had unfortunately become short staffed, so even more pros had to spend some of the time they could be using to patrol teaching students instead. People who were nowhere near ready to teach were suddenly thrown into the teaching career, but it was said that Nezu was doing his best to help make sure these teachers would still do a good job. And there were still other teachers to help teach those teachers.

     There was a sudden loud beeping from the next room, and Inko rushed up, poking her head out of the room to see what was going on. Within a few minutes, a married couple walked out of that room, sobbing as they were escorted out.

     “Another player died in the game.” A doctor says as he walks out with a clipboard in hand. Inko spares a glance to her baby, giving a sigh of relief to see him still breathing. She shut the room door before walking over to the chair she was sitting in earlier, seating herself once more. She gently grabbed his hand, massaging it with her thumb as she teared up.

     “You’ll be okay, Izuku. It’ll be okay. Please, please just be okay.” Inko says. She chants those words a bit as if to reassure herself that her son will safely wake up, and smile his beautiful smile, and will end up wrapping his arms around her to tell her that he’s okay. While she was never certain about Izuku’s and Katsuki’s friendship anymore, as she never saw the boy come over anymore, she was at least grateful there was a familiar face in the game with her son.

     The morning greeted Katsuki, and he angrily tossed his pillows at one of the extras sleeping on the floor. They jolted up, and said “Oh, you’re awake Bakugo! Can’t we sleep just a bit longer? I mean, it’s not like we’re already getting out of here, right? It’s only the second day, and I’m sure nobody will be doing anything.”

     “Sure, they won’t be doing anything if they play the coward’s way out. So get your dumbass up, and get ready to go out and fight some shits.” Katsuki demands. The three people he had from the real world by his side quickly got up, and ran out of the room they had got in the small place they had collectively bought. Katsuki sighed as he watched them frantically run out, and he opened the curtains, letting light pour into the room. He scanned the streets, taking note of how they were still pretty empty.

     He stepped out of the room, walking ahead of the extras, shoving them aside in the process. They all started to follow him, and got nervous as they watched where he was headed. 

     “We’re already heading to the plains!” The one who is supposed to have a quirk that makes his fingers grow asks.

     “Hell yeah! I told you we’re not going to be babies!” Katsuki replies, grinning from ear to ear as they get closer to the gate. They try to run off, but Katsuki grabs two of them, and they yelp as they are dragged off. The third one gets away, and Katsuki mutters “Tsk, they were weak anyways.” 

     “P-please, we could actually die out there! We’re not r-ready to g-go out there yet!” One of them protested. Katsuki sighs before suddenly releasing them. They fall to the ground, and the blonde turns onto his heel, leaving them in the dust as he passes through the city gate, and into the grassy plains that were covered in points he could win to level up and get stronger. He happily charged at one of the boars, swinging his sword at it with a powerful force. It squeaked at the sudden attack before preparing itself for an attack of its own. Katsuki just attacked again, and stepped out of the way before it could hit him. It quickly ended in the blonde’s victory, and he turned to fight another one. After a few, he found himself bored, and walked deeper, finding himself in Quest Plains, which was covered in wolves and an annoying little Kobold Henchman. He switched his sword out for a spear, and charged at a wolf.

     It’s always easy to level up in the beginning, so the blonde had already leveled up a few times as he fought in the fields. Eventually, when he was proud of his work, he laid down in the grass, watching as some of the little beasts walked around as if he wasn’t there. He closed his eyes, soaking in the fake sunlight. That was when the light attempting to pass through his eyelids was shadowed, and he quickly opened his eyes, meeting another pair of red ones.

     “Hey, isn’t it dangerous to just sit around in here?” The boy asks. Katsuki just rolls his eyes, and says “Not if you’re me. I’m doing better than any of those damn beta testers, whoever they are, and the people I came with are pitiful as fuck.”

     “Ohhhh, I see. Wanna team up?” The boy asks, giving the blonde a bright smile. Katsuki noticed how the boy had a full set of sharp teeth, so he asked “So the game doesn’t take away appearances that your quirk gives you, but just takes away your quirk?”

     “Uh, I guess so. Someone I know from school still has the appearance from her quirk, so, I suppose it’s like that for everyone as long as their appearance isn’t directly connected to their quirk. So about my offer?”

     “Hell no. Nobody has been able to meet up with my level, so I’d rather people not try to think they can keep up.” Katsuki says.

     “You haven’t even seen me fight yet! I’m Ejiro Kirishima, and I would like to fight alongside you to get through this game! Please accept my offer!” Ejiro goes into a bow as he makes his request, and Katsuki rolls his eyes. He pushes the read head back upright, and he says “I’ll think about it. We fight against some of these guys, and then I’ll decide if I like how you fight enough. Those extras I was with didn’t even want to fight in the first place. Too much of fucking cowards. So you’re already an upgrade.”

     “Glad to be an improvement then!” Ejiro beams, giving the angry Pomeranian a thumbs up.

     “Yeah yeah, c’mon.” Katsuki grabs Ejiro’s arm, and leads the boy to where a lot of the wolves were gathered. The two actually did pretty well, and ended up working pretty well together. Katsuki would refuse to admit it, but fighting with this boy was rather fun for him, especially when he didn’t go into a stuttering mess every time he shouted. Ejiro would just nod, and listen to whatever Katsuki had shouted. Definitely an improvement. 

     Meanwhile, deep into the city, the little greenette woke up, hiding under the covers as he regretted forgetting to shut the curtains last night. There was a soft knock at the door, and the familiar voice of Rock Lock saying “Hey, kid, c’mon. Wake up. If you’re not downstairs in ten minutes, I’m going to head out without you to go meet up with the person.”

     “I’m comin’.” Izuku replied, shifting around on the bed, and sliding off with a thud. His stomach growled, and he groaned as he got up, lazily walking to the door. He rubbed his tired eyes, and slipped on his boots. He couldn’t even try to fool himself that yesterday was a dream because here he was, in a completely unfamiliar room, the voice of a pro hero waking him up in the morning to tell him he was meeting another pro. The thought of his mother made tears prick at his eyes, but he refused to waste any time mourning about not being in the real world. He hardly wiped the tears away before opening the door, and walking towards the small entrance the Rock Lock waited in.

     This man was known for being a bit cold, and yet here he was, helping some kid he met in the beta tests meet one of his accomplices. Izuku honestly wonders what the hell is going on. He’s not used to people just willingly talking to Izuku. Even the teachers at school seemed hesitant to speak to him, cringing as they called him out to answer a question.

     “Alright, kid. You ready to go?” Rock Lock asks, standing up straight as he was formerly leaning against the wall. Izuku nodded, and began to follow the man out of the building. They passed multiple markets, and as the greenette spotted one, he said “Rock Lock, I need to buy something real quick. It’ll only take a minute.”

     “So you already know what you need?” The man asks, turning to face the teen. Izuku nods once more before darting towards the small stand set up that sells some more beginner clothes. He found a nice, black cloak, and quickly purchased it. He opened his menu, and put it on. It wasn’t really long, and only went about to his elbows, but the hood did it’s service well, hiding his hair, and shadowing his bright eyes. He ran back up to the pro hero, who said “What’d you need that for?”

     “There’s just someone I’d rather not see me for particular reasons.”

     “Are you hiding from your friends?”

     “Wha- no no no! I actually don’t know where they are right now, and I know Yaoyorozu already looks pretty different from her avatar, and I don’t know how Iida looks at all… there’s just someone else I know that knows how I really look, and it’ll be trouble for me if he sees me.”

     “Whatever you say. You sure they aren’t just too scared right now to do anything?”

     “Kacchan’s not like that. He’s not scared of anything.” The rest of the walk was kept silent other than their footsteps and the voices of other players, talking about how they were going to get out, how frustrated they were about this, how they were too nervous to do anything, or just recalling sweet memories with their friends. Izuku liked to listen to bits and pieces of those stories, and tried to recall some of his own happy memories. They mainly consisted of the different times his mom came home with All Might merch, and watching All Might’s debut on repeat for at least an hour. Eventually, they came across the teleportation gate plaza, which was pretty empty other than a few people here and there. 

     “Hey, Eraser!” Rock Lock says towards a group of three people. Two of them quickly turn to face Rock Lock, while the other groggily turns to face the pro hero and teen. “Oh, and hello, Midnight and Mic. I see you two tagged along.”

     The blonde eagerly waves them over, telling the duo to hurry up and join their little trio. Rock Lock picked up his pace again, and Izuku nervously looked at the pro heroes before catching up to Rock Lock, and joining the group of pro heroes. The greenette swallowed down the series of questions he had for each and every pro, and mustered up a small “Hi”. God, it was hard to not start spewing out every question he had in his head about their quirks. His hands longed for a pencil and his notebooks, wanting to write every new bit of information he got, and draw down better details of what they looked like.

     “Hey there, Little Listener! Rock Lock here told us we were meeting up with you, but he didn’t specify why. You wanna tell me?” Present Mic asked. Even though he couldn’t even use his quirk in the game, his voice was just naturally so loud and enthusiastic. 

     “Kid is just really nervous around people. I figured you guys could help. You are teachers after all, and I know how good each of you are with kids, even if you refuse to admit how much you cherish them.” Izuku barely noticed Rock Lock’s glance towards the dark haired male, but when the greenette turned to face the man, he watched as his dark eyes rolled, clearly agitated.

     “I’m focused on trying to get my ass out of this game, and you give me a babysitting job for some kid?” The man asks.

     “Pretty much.” Rock Lock replies.

     “H-hey! I don’t ne-need to be babysat!” Izuku protests. Midnight giggles before patting his head, and saying “We can take care of him. You said he was a beta tester too, right?” 

     “Yeah. We met during those beta tests. He’s reckless as hell, and since I don’t teach, I can’t teach him better than to not do that. And besides, I have this meeting later on with some other players trying to get through this game instead of sitting around. So you get info from the kid, and I go off and discuss some stuff with other players. Also, be careful about mentioning the beta tester thing. I’ve heard people sounding really frustrated with beta testers.” The other three pros nod before Rock Lock walks off, leaving Izuku with three people he’s only seen on the news and social media.

     “God, I could really use a coffee.” Eraserhead says with a sigh as he rubs his tired eyes.

     “Coffee is on floor thirty-five.” Izuku replies. Present Mic snorts as Eraserhead says “Dammit.”

Chapter Text

     “Iida, any sign of him yet?” Momo asks as she peeks into an alleyway. Tenya looks over people on the street, trying to look for someone with a similar appearance, posture, or voice of their friend. Both tall individuals were trying their best to spot Izuku in the town, but seemed to have no luck.

     “No. Maybe we should go check the plains now.” Tenya suggests. Momo nods, and the duo starts walking off. The streets were much quieter, and a lot of people looked nervous as they walked the streets. Momo and Tenya began walking towards the gate, and they passed by Rock Lock, who didn’t seem to notice them as he ran off. When they got into the teleportation gate plaza, they passed by a group of four, where it seemed like a couple of them were happily chatting away. One of them just looked straight up tired, even though a lot of his hair was in his face, obscuring the view of his tired expression from everyone for the most part. One of the other people seemed to nervously fiddle around with their cloak while the other two talked.

     Momo and Tenya were too far to hear what the players were saying, but they didn’t really care, not wanting to eavesdrop on other people as they walked along. They were dead set on finding their friend. 

     As the duo continued to walk, they finally stepped into the plains. 

     “The plains are so big. Do you really think we’ll find him here easily?” Tenya asks.

     “It definitely won’t be easy, but we’ve got this.” Momo assures, giving the tall boy a confident smile. He just nods, giving a soft smile in return while they look around. After a long time of searching, Tenya says “Yaoyorozu, do you think he’s hiding from us? Don’t you think that if he wanted to find us, he would?”

     “I… he may be… but that’s probably because he’s worried about us judging him. You saw how he reacted around that blonde boy yesterday. He probably thinks we’ll judge them for his actual appearance, and that’s why he’s hiding. And he could also be trying to hide from that boy, and if he tried to find us, maybe he could get caught. We don’t know how much that guy knows.” The girl replies, trying to keep confidence that her friend wants to find her as well. While Tenya didn’t seem all that positive about it, he just mumbled a soft agreement. Meanwhile, there was another conversation going on as a group of four discussed their plans to get out of the game.

     “I still absolutely hate that the liquid made by the gods is up on floor thirty-five.” Shota mumbles.

     “Aw, c’mon, Sho. I’m sure with the little listener, we can try to get places faster and get these floors beaten.” Hizashi replies with a soft smile. The man had his long blonde hair tied into a half ponytail instead of the usual style Izuku was used to seeing the pro hero in. But of course, the man can’t style his hair like that because there isn’t any hair spray or gel in this dungeon everyone was trapped in.

     “I have an idea where we might need to go to find the bosses, but it would require activating some stuff and talking to some NPCs. I would also highly recommend leveling up yourself and your gear. The monsters tell you whether or not they’re above your level by how red their names are. If the name is white, then they’re at or beneath your level. So I would recommend sticking with those monsters to level up and get Col, the currency here, to pay the blacksmith NPC to upgrade your equipment.” Izuku explains.

      “This is the first I’ve heard about this… are the other beta testers not sharing this information?” Nemuri asks.

     “I think I saw some people who seemed to have a familiar grip with the game handing out these little handbooks to the monsters and crap around here.” Shota replied before turning to Izuku and saying “So show us where to go, kid.”

     Izuku nods before saying “There’s another town around in the plains, and it’s kinda hidden around a waterfall. Some other beta testers may be there. If current players are too scared to even step into the plains, that would completely explain the crowding issue we have around here. The first floor has two kites with their own apartments, but it was late last night, so I stayed here too. But I definitely think I’ll be staying in Central Tolbana this time.”

     “Little listener.” Hizashi starts, snapping Izuku’s attention to the blonde with a small hum of acknowledgement. “You were starting to mumble a lot. Mind just telling us where we need to go?”

     “R-right! We have to go into Origin Plains, then head into the Rivalry Plains, get off the bridge, take an immediate left, and there’s going to be a dirt pathway that’ll lead us to the entryway of Central Tolbana, getting us out of the crowded City of Beginnings.”

    “Do you just have this whole map memorized?” Nemuri asks with a small chuckle.

     “M-maybe-“ Izuku sheepishly replies with a nervous laugh. “We should alert others though, about the city, since Rock Lock said something about a meeting. There’s an arena there with a lot of seating and a stage.”

     “Well I know who’s leading this whole get together, and they’re trying to only get pro heroes. We can alert him, so every time somebody goes back to him, he can just tell them about the location.” Shota suggests.

     “And the guy is a natural at navigation, so he should easily be able to remember where to go.” Hizashi adds. Izuku suddenly felt so left in the dark, not knowing who the trio were talking about. They obviously had to be a hero, since they were organizing heroes into this whole raid. Izuku just wanted to know which hero ?

     “Kid.” Izuku looks at Shota, waiting for the man to continue. “Go ahead and run off. We know you can take care of yourself, and we don’t need a kid to hear about the meeting plans. This is for us pros to deal with, not kids who need protecting. Besides, Rock Lock told us about that reckless behavior. It can hold us back on the battlefield, and we’d rather not lose a kid to a video game.”

    “H-Huh!? No fair!” Izuku protests, ready to argue against the man’s words, only for the man to give a glare that tells Izuku to not speak any further as the dark haired man continues to speak.

     “You are still a qualified citizen. Yes, you are a beta tester, but that doesn’t mean you’re great. You’ve got friends from the beta tests, right? Go find them, and don’t try to sneak into the meeting. Mind your business and fight some of the minor monsters hanging around.” And with that, Izuku watched as both the other heroes gave a sympathetic look as the trio walked off, leaving Izuku in the middle of the teleportation plaza by himself. He nervously fiddled with the bottom of his cloak as he mumbled to himself, frustrated with the man.

     “They didn’t even give me a chance to tell them it would be so much easier if they activated the teleport monuments, starting in Central Tolbana. They just walked off, and wouldn’t even let me tell them which NPC they wanted to talk to. I’m sure there are other pro hero beta testers though instead of just Rock Lock, but it still hurts that they only talked for a bit, got some extra information, and then just left.” Izuku nervously looks around, eyes widening when he sees someone he knows, and someone unfamiliar walking into the teleportation plaza from the Origin Plains. Izuku nervously hides behind the large stone in the center of the teleportation plaza, and watches the blonde male walk off, a red haired male walking alongside. He only caught a little bit of their conversation, but it was only really Katsuki telling the other boy that he was just compatible in a fight unlike everyone else, but they weren’t friends.

     Wide green eyes nervously watched as the duo walked into the marketplace where the important stuff for weapons and clothing was. Once they disappeared into the street, Izuku ran back into the Origin Plains, quickly trying to put an end to a whole bunch of monsters as he made his way to Rivalry Plains, not noticing Tenya and Momo venturing into the other place on the left, Quest Plains, searching for him. And therefore, as Izuku took a right to Rivalry Plains, he still walked alone, and ventured into the very welcoming city of Central Tolbana.

     All For One nervously paced around, watching as his personal doctor fiddled around with equipment in the small room.

     “You’re lucky I was here and that he isn’t a registered villain yet, sir. It was difficult getting him in though with the fake name you’ve given him, and the fact his real name is a registered missing child’s name, who I may remind, has been missing for years.” Ujiko said as he made sure the unconscious blue haired male was being attached to all needed equipment to keep him alive.

     “Why couldn’t we just have him set up at base? It’s already dangerous enough to let me warp into here.” All For One says with a frustrated tone.

     “I’ve realized, but we’ve had enough power outages this past year. If we have one while he’s trapped in the game, then he’s dead . The Nomus can function without power for a bit, but it’s too dangerous to play these risks with your successor to the dark throne. I assure you he’ll be having the time of his life wreaking havoc in the game for you, while you gain more health back so you can finally steal One For All.” Ujiko replies. All For One sits in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs with a sigh, sparing a glance at his successor, who just had to have the newest game. Tomura had practically begged for the game, and how could the man say no? It was supposed to be just another harmless video game, but look where this supposed harmless had him. Their plans of world destruction and domination would have to wait, and it felt like there was nothing he could do. That was when something clicked in his mind.

     “Ujiko.” He suddenly says, making the small old man jump.

     “Y-yes?” The small man asks.

     “Where is the SAO base located? I need to have a talk with some of the creators, and see if I can still work on wreaking havoc alongside Tomura.”

     “Kurogiri should know.” The mention of said man made the wispy head look up, clear tiredness in the yellow eyes of the man. 

     “Yes?” The bartender asks.

     “Warp me to the Sword Art Online base.” All For One quickly says, sitting up from the chair.

     “Yes sir?” Kurogiri was obviously confused, having been totally zoned out during his boss’ and the doctor’s conversation. But he complied, and the portal quickly opened up to let the large man into a dark room in a three story building, and the only man in the room other than the intruders looked up, his dark curls bouncing as he flinched at the sight of the men.

      “W-who are you?! We can’t free the SAO players, I swear! Not without killing them!” The man quickly says, sweat already starting to drip down the side of his face as he sits on the ground, starting to back under the table as the villain walks closer, an intimidating aura spreading around him. All For One grabs the man by the tag pinned to his shirt, pulling him closer. After reading the tag, All For One grins, and says “Hisashi Midoriya, I don’t want you to get anyone out of that damn game. I want you to get me in.”

     Hisashi nervously glances at the last email written from Izuku Midoriya a few days ago, and he says “Then I’m getting in too.”

     “Deal, little man.”

Chapter Text

     Hisashi Midoriya’s feet could be heard nervously shuffling around the dark room, retrieving all necessary equipment. It had already been his plan to try and get into the game, but now, he was actually doing it. This game kills people, yet here he is, putting himself there.

     However, there’s another person he has to take account of though. This is a man who is clearly dangerous, but instead of staying safe in the real world, he is willing to become vulnerable to throw himself into the game where he will have just about no power at all. The emails from Izuku suggesting that they try to block out quirks was phenomenal. Yet now, nobody was sure if it was that great of an idea.

     Any modifications to the game was risky, which is something the entire team that helped make the game knew. So if quirks would have been able to get people out without risking their lives to run towards the hundredth floor, nobody would ever know. And nobody would ever know if the quirks would kill them after possibly triggering a glitch in the game, and leaving only those who hadn’t attempted to use their quirks or killing them all. Therefore, the quirk cancellation could be viewed as a pro in some situations, a con in others.

     In the game, everyone was on equal grounds power wise. Your own personal physics strength meant nothing in the game, and was reliant on the stats you built up. Having helped build the game, Hisashi knew some tricks to upgrading these stats and leveling up faster. 

     The man stepped over to a shelf in this storage room, glancing at the man creator of the game, who was hooked up to all the necessary equipment to keep him alive. Hisashi couldn’t help but wonder why the creator would put himself into the game. Could it be because he wanted to experience the world he had built, he wanted to experience the fear of knowing he could die any time, or maybe because he wanted a thrill from that possibility. The creator’s reasoning may be one Hisashi never figures out, but it was relatively unimportant at the moment.

     Hisashi reached onto the shelf for two of the nerve gear helmets, nervously biting his lip as he walked over to all the other equipment he had gathered.

     “So uh… why is it you really want to get into the game?” Hisashi asked, sparing a glance to the guy with the mask on his face, and then one to the guy with a wispy face and hands.

     “Irrelevant. However, I have a much better question.” All For One states, leaning forward in his chair, his fingers crossing each other as his arms rest on his lap. Hisashi feels as though the man is grinning under the mask, possibly thinking about the fact that he knows that he can easily brush off any question Hisashi tries to ask.

     “W-what is your question?” Hisashi asks as he starts getting all the equipment set up. All For One stands up, striding over to Hisashi.

     “What were those emails about when I first arrived?” The tall man asked, and Hisashi nervously looked away. “Was it important information about the game? I would like to know before I risk my life and power jumping headfirst into the game.”

     “Oh… um… it wasn’t anything important.” Hisashi replied, trying to evade the question, afraid of embarrassing himself. However, evading the question seemed to annoy All For One more than anything else was, so the large villain quickly wrapped his fingers around the smaller man’s neck, pulling him off the ground. Hisashi’s eyes widened in fear, his hands flying towards his neck in an attempt to pry off the villain’s fingers.

     “Tell. Me. I need to know whether or not I can trust you to get me into this damn game without the interference of your poor security.” All For One’s fingers tightened around the man’s throat, and Hisashi tried to speak through the limited air he had. “J-just put… put me… d-down.”

     All For One’s fingers loosened their grip, and let the man fall to the ground. Hisashi desperately sucked in more air, coughing as he collapsed to the ground. As the coughing fit died down, Hisashi rightened his glasses on his face, and through his raspy voice, he said “I was just looking at old emails from my son.”

     “Why would you do that? Shouldn’t you be able to go and see him anytime?” All For One asked, agitation still strong in his voice.

     “No… I had to leave for work reasons years ago. He barely even knows me, and doesn’t even know where I work.”

     “Then how did he send you emails?”

     “He started emailing suggestions here for possible improvements in the game. We eventually end him some nerve gear to beta test the game, and-“

     “And now he’s in the game, so you’re hoping you can try and make up leaving him for years without any form of contact by going in and helping him? Yet you hardly know him yourself too. Am I right?”

     “Yes…” Hisashi was definitely disappointed in himself. He had wanted to contact his family, but he was always so busy, and the time difference wasn’t any help. He would leave a message every now and again for Inko, waiting for her to see it at some point, and there would see her reply.

     “He may not even want anything to do with you, Midoriya. He may think you just left him because he wasn’t good enough. He may think his quirk just wasn’t good enough for you, or that he was a disappointment of a child. He may be thinking ‘my dad just didn’t want me, so he gave up on me and mom. Who needs a dad anyways’? Do you even remember what he looks like? Did you ever receive any birthday photos, or photos of his accomplishments?” The villain continued to question, each remark making the programmer cringe and want to curl up and hide.

     “Inko and I… haven’t been able to talk much. My family lives in Japan, and our time differences and work schedules hardly work out. We never see each other’s messages until hours later, which leaves almost no room to talk about much. I’ve tried to ask about Izuku, but all she says is that he’s doing fine.” Hisashi replies, finishing it off with a long sigh.

     “Then stop taking so long to get into the game. You have a chance to redeem yourself to your child without too much travel, and you’ll be on the same time schedule. Sure, you’ll have a life or death risk over your head, but it’s worth it for your child, correct?” All For One asks as he picks up a nerve gear helmet in one hand, the other hand gliding across its surface as if he’s inspecting it. “I will have to take off my mask for this, won’t I?”

     “Yes.” Hisashi replies as he gets back to plugging everything up and getting them in the right places. Through the current silence, Hisashi finished getting everything done, turning to the two villains with a grin, completely ready to jump in the game. “We’ll already know someone will come in and see us since the boss is put in here, and people will need to check on him. So we should be fine once we get into the game. Are you ready?”

     “Yes yes. But I will need you to connect some of my own personal equipment. I had gotten into a big fight five years ago, and now, while I wait for my personal doctor to finish healing me up, I have to live off of this life support equipment. And I would rather my safety be guaranteed.” All For One explains.

     “Well that explains the mask. But yeah, it’ll be easy. Just a second for me to do all that.” And then that task was completed. Hisashi was excited to get to jump into the game, and be able to try and see his son again. While there was always the possibility of getting kicked in the balls for being gone for so long, he would just be happy to know his son was alive, and to see how much the boy had grown. After all, the last time he saw his son was when he was a little four year old, scampering around with an All a Might figurine in hand as he played hero with someone who lived just down the street.

     Hisashi gave a quick run down of some of the basic instructions, and how he wasn’t absolutely positive if it would work to get them in the game now, especially since nobody had ever tried to get into the game ever since it was confirmed that people were locked in. But there was the possibility it could work like any other game and let them in, and that was the possibility they were hoping for.

     He first helped connect the large villain to all the equipment, making sure he was lying down, nerve gear already ready.

     “Kurogiri, make sure this man doesn’t try anything funny. He could have easily made up that story about his son.” All For One tells the wispy man in the corner before slipping into the game. Hisashi waited a few moments before saying “Hello? Are you in the game?”

     No reply.

     A success. 

     He can get into the game.

     “Do you need any assistance to get yourself hooked up to everything?” Kurogiri asks, walking over to the programmer.

     “Oh, uh, yes please.” It felt weird to Hisashi to hear this man speak. He didn’t do it much at all, and instead stood by as All For One and Hisashi talked. The programmer hopped onto the bed, slipping the nerve gear helmet onto his head before touching everything he needed for the game to register his appearance and function properly. 

     Kurogiri did what he needed to carefully, quickly, and efficiently. He silently walked around, listening to any instruction Hisashi gave to ensure his safety. Soon enough, Hisashi found himself slipping into the game, the real world becoming nothing of any importance or something he could register anymore as the start screen popped up.

     This is my chance. The only one I’ll probably ever get for a long time to be able to see my child again. Hisashi thought to himself before saying the two words every player ever needed to say to throw themselves into the hellish game. “Link, start!”

     There was a moment of a bright flash of light, and Hisashi squinted at it, upset by the brightness of it. It eventually faded to something still rather bright, but enough to let him properly see without completely binding him. Hisashi looked around, noticing someone who looked like they were All For One with their large stature, and the smile that looked like it could be planning anything. It was pretty weird to look at without the suit though, instead in the standard startup clothes for the game.

     Hisashi then took in his own appearance, already missing the coat he ran around his office with, and the pen he almost always had tucked behind his ear. He too, was dressed in standard clothing, and had a sword on his back, the soft pressure from the strap to keep it there on his shoulder and the light press of it on his back signifying it was there.

     “So this is the game, huh?” All For One asks. “It really is stunning.”

     “I agree.” Hisashi replies.

     “However, I’m afraid we must part ways. You and I have completely different goals. I would recommend you find your son quickly however. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill the son of the man who brought me into this game so I could meet my successor once more.” All For One warned.

     “K-kill!?” Hisashi suddenly exclaims, backing away a bit.

     “You’re a silly man. You know I’m a villain, yet you’re surprised by my remark. Yes, kill. I want my successor to have plenty of experience and guidance before getting a chance to release hell upon the real world. Goodbye, Midoriya.” All For One says with a grin before beginning to walk off, before turning and saying one last thing. “And also, you should add it to your notes that once you join the game after everyone’s appearance has been changed to look like themselves, anyone can join with their own avatar and appearance.”

     All For One was definitely much more menacing without those scars. His curly, white, and neatly trimmed hair swayed with the wind as the bright red eyes scanned the surroundings once more before he disappeared into the city, leaving Hisashi there to wonder if he really made the right choice, and if he would have just been better off dying than letting all these innocent lives become at risk from a force they weren’t prepared to deal with. 

     At least people are safe in safe-zones… as far as Hisashi knows.

Chapter Text

     The sun beat down on the two teenagers, their eyes anxiously glancing around as they looked for their friend. The duo was almost completely silent, other than the sound of their boots shuffling through the grass. With an impatient huff, Momo pulled her sword out of its sheath, and then ran at one of the boars, quickly swinging the sword a few times, putting the sword through the movements she knew she needed to successfully get an attack through. Some random swing doesn’t work after all.

     The boar gave one final oink of anger and annoyance before disappearing into a burst of sparkles, fading away. Honestly, all that annoyance and anger from the boar, that’s what was bubbling up inside Momo with each passing hour that she had dedicated to finding Izuku. She wanted to find him, and she wondered if he was even trying to spend any time finding her and Tenya. 

     Putting her sword away, she turned to Tenya, and said “We have one more place to check. If we don’t see him there, we can give up. If he really wants to find us, we’ll know.”

     Momo is usually the type of girl to be patient with everyone, willing to completely understand, even if it hurt her for awhile. She never liked being snappy, and she hated giving up, especially on the people she cared about. However, being stuck in this game and walking around in the sun for hours as her throat went dry with every time she called Izuku’s name, her wide abundance of patience was running thin. 

     “What other place is there?” Tenya asks, squinting as he took his glasses off to clean them real quick. He slid them back onto his face, turning around to look for any signs of Izuku.

     “There’s one other town, and it’s kinda hidden in one of the plains. I found it when I was doing the beta tests, and so that should pretty much be beta tester central. If Izuku is hiding from that blonde kid, then he’s probably in that other city. If he’s not there, we might as well give up and see if he’ll find us later. We have more important things to do, like getting out of this game.”

     “Are you sure we should do it on our own? We could literally die here.” Tenya says, worry and fear making itself visible on the blue haired boy’s face.

     “Well some risks are worth it if it means getting out of here faster. Now follow me please.” She tried to keep her last sentence sweet and cheery as she walked, giving her head a small jerk towards the direction she was headed to. Tenya began to follow along, calling out Izuku’s name every now and again as they headed towards the town. 

     The gateway to the city was rather beautiful, and the city itself was too. It was small, and most of the buildings had formed a large square, a few alleys here and there. There were plenty of potted plants, and a large square of grass in the middle of the city, a tree placed in the center. Small markets for things like the blacksmith, trader, and others were around that square of grass, their shop placed on the stone pathway. On the opposing side of the entryway was a fountain, and what Momo recognized as a teleportation monument. Walking up and turning right from their provided an entryway to an arena. 

     Momo sighed before starting to look around the city, this time paying attention to the people, having to remind herself to really look for someone with a sense of familiarity, and that isn’t an NPC walking around the plaza.

     “Midoriya!” She calls, and notices someone a little small, but clearly a teenager jumps from the sudden call. They glanced towards Momo and Tenya’s direction, and Momo excitedly walked over. “Midoriya!”

     The boy stood where he was, a cloak hood covering his head, shadowing most of his face. The cloak wasn’t long, and only stopped at about his elbows. But Momo knew that nervous posture anywhere, and if they stopped at the call of Izuku, then this had to be him. As the two walked up, the boy looked around, and then said “Yaoyorozu? Iida?” 

     “Of course! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Tenya replies, and then asks “And what’s up with the cloak?”

     “O-oh… I’m… I’m just hiding from Kacchan.” He replies.

     “Well he’s not here if that’s what you were wondering.” Momo tells him, and Izuku seems to relax a bit. So he takes off the hood for now, still not really looking up at the two. “Hey, there’s no need to be all nervous. But we were really worried about you! We were looking all over for you, and I don’t really think you were looking for us. For all we knew, you could have been dead.”

     “I’m sorry.” He mumbles. He looked so short in comparison to the other two, and it had honestly surprised Momo, and even more when she saw his difference. Compared to his avatar, he had a much more cute, and childlike appearance. He no longer had the thinner face, and he had freckles scattered across his cheeks, four of them on each side making a diamond shape. His hair was a mess of curls, and his wide green eyes watched his fingers as he nervously messed with them, lightly tugging at his fingers.

     “Well I guess I’m no longer the short one of the group.” Momo says with a grin, ruffling Izuku’s hair. His eyes widen at the contact, and his face goes red, making Momo giggle.

     “Yaoyorozu! Don’t mess with him! It is very unprofessional of you!” Tenya says, trying to back Izuku up. 

     “I-it’s fine.” Izuku nervously replies.

     “Hey, Midoriya.” Momo starts, and Izuku looks at her with a hum. “Just because our appearance is different doesn’t mean anything needs to change. We’re still friends, and there’s no need to be so nervous! Just remember, we’re still the same people no matter what, and a simple change of appearance won’t change anything for our little group, alright?”

     “Alright.” Izuku replies, relaxing a little bit.

     “Now what were you up to?” Momo asks, and Izuku quickly starts his reply.

     “Oh! I was working on activating the teleportation monuments before seeing if I can beat the heroes to the boss fight. A lot of pros that haven’t even been in the beta tests plan on meeting up soon to think of a plan to challenge the boss fight, but they’re probably going to need to level up first. So I’ve been doing a lot of that and getting some other tasks done. I’ve been getting the teleportation monuments activated so we can go between floors once we unlock more. I just find it dumb that they don’t want me to help at all, just because I’m a teenager without a hero license. They’re saying that they can and will do it because they’re pros, and their job is to protect me and everyone else here, not the other way around. But Yaoyorozu, it was you and I who beat the floor monster, so without me and you, it can be more difficult, and so many could actually die in there. Sure, pros came in later to help finish it off, but we got most of it done, and understood its moves best. And Ingenium isn’t here this time to help.” Izuku says, finally finishing his muttering tangent.

     “Yeah… but we’re a group of three now, so if we want to challenge it once more, then we need to train Iida first. If one of us are going to do something dangerous, we’ll all do it.” Momo says, and Izuku nods in agreement.

     “I apologize that my training will require us to waste some time in beating the pros, and while I do think it’s best we listen to the pros and let them do what they do best, I can agree that most of them probably won’t have a clue about what they’re doing.” Tenya says.

     “Exactly. So let’s go see if we can find somewhere more private just in case there's a pro around. We can’t let them overhear the fact that I’m going against what they directly told me. I mean, not like they could arrest me or anything, but I just… I really don’t want to be scolded by a pro.” Izuku replies.

     “That’s understandable. It would be rather… disheartening. Especially since I would like to be a hero myself, and I know Yaoyorozu wishes to do the same as well. I will do my best to learn as quickly as possible!” Tenya declares, and soon, the three of them start heading over to one of the larger alleyways in the city, and hid behind one of the plants placed right beside a door.

     “Alright, so the boss on this floor isn’t too hard, but it does get a little more aggressive the closer we get to winning. We need to really watch out for its attacks at that moment. Yaoyorozu, would you like to explain its moves? My thoughts are just… uh… kinda jumbled. I kinda figured you would explain it better.” And so she does. Momo gives as detailed of an explanation as possible, Tenya nodding along, listening to every word she spoke. As she explained the moves, Izuku would recall the move, and would randomly do a slow, small replica of the move, which Tenya caught every once in a while. 

     “And that’s about it! Do you want to go get some quests from the NPCs around here, and then see how much we can level up?” Momo asks, and Tenya gives a firm nod, standing up from where the trio were sitting. 

     “Of course! Anything to help my friends improve and conquer this boss!” Tenya declares, helping the other two up with a smile. With a look of determination, they start to head on their way to the plains to train.

     Tensei sat next to the hospital bed, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt as his parents and Yaoyorozu’s parents talked right outside the room. Both of the teenagers were stuck in their sleep, stuck in the game. Tensei knew it took all the beta testers a long while to beat the game, and with the risk of actually dying now in place, it would be harder, and would take even longer to get everything done. However, that’s just plain obvious.

     The players being trapped in the game was already difficult news, leaving everyone frustrated, scared, and in pain to know that the life of their loved one could literally slip away any second just by the helmet thousands had willingly slipped onto their heads. Tensei cupped his hands, placing his head there as he got lost in his train of thought.

     Not only had he willingly put his little brother into the game, the brother he was supposed to protect with everything he could, but he had also put his little brother in the game with a monster. The news had very quickly spread that a villain had gotten into the game with the aid of one of the coworkers, the names of both not having been released yet. All Tensei knew was that having a villain in the game was trouble.

     It was suggested by Japan that America hand them over, or just take off the Nerve Gear, but they refused, saying that “This game is enough of a challenge. If they die in the game, they die in the game. If not, they will quickly be arrested on American grounds”. Tensei knew both of those people were from Japan, which made it frustrating that they were within American grounds instead, but Y’know what, that’s fine. As said, if they die, they die.

     There were multiple people in the hospital room, and not just Tenya and Momo. There was only so much room all these hospitals could spare. If somebody could get a room to themselves, either they were that rich, or that hospital just wasn’t used much. 

     “Hey Tenya… Yaoyorozu… be safe in there. And if Midoriya’s there, remind him not to be too reckless, because you three always seem to need that reminder.” And with a sigh, Tensei gets up, and walks out of the room, planning his next visit tomorrow after work.

Chapter Text

     Izuku sighed as he laid down on the ground, soaking in the light of the fake sun that they’d be stuck under for an unknown amount of time. A breeze found its way over to the greenette, his curls softly swaying in the wind, giving a sense of peacefulness. But peacefulness wasn’t an option, and the serene moment wouldn’t last long.

     The sun was setting, and a soft orange glow was giving everything it touched a soft lighting, making everything easier in the tired teenagers’ eyes. Izuku laid in the fake grass, wishing that it didn’t feel as real as it did as it tickled some of his exposed skin, but despite the soft tickles, it was soft and comforting, something comfier than just laying on the pathways in Central Tolbana, where beta testers were nervously walking around, trying to figure out if they had enough courage to step forwards and do something. 

     Hearing movement in the distance, the boy looked to see what it was, and shrunk in on himself as he tried to hide himself within the grass, watching as the pros passed in the distance to head to the city that a lot of regular players hadn’t yet found out of fear of leaving the Town of Beginnings, and headed to meet up and discuss their plan of action. Once they had passed, Izuku quickly sat up, and was surprised to watch as Momo and Tenya did the same.

     “So what’s the plan?” Tenya asked, and Momo’s quick response was “Eat first, and then get going. We’ve had plenty of training today, and I think we can do it.”

     “And we have to remember to also focus on the fact that there are more enemies in those dungeons than just the boss himself. We’ll have to be careful as it gives us some higher strength monsters than we’re used to fighting, and when it throws the boss and some more monsters at us at the same time.” Izuku adds.

    “Maybe it would be better if we formed a better party? Because based on what all you’re saying about these dungeons, it sounds like a task for much more than three people.” Tenya says, a solemn look on his face as he processes it all.

    “Iida, we’ve talked about this for awhile now, and have explained what’s at stake here. The pros won’t let us join in with them otherwise, and will get mad at us later.” Momo says, a sigh escaping her lips as she knows how many hours they spent training so that they could do this. Her shoulders slump a little as Tenya shuts his eyes in thought, placing his head on one of his hands. Izuku starts looking around some more in the mean time, green eyes looking here and there as he takes in his surroundings even better than before, and quickly finds himself sees widening as he spots someone in the distance. His hands quickly dart up to the hood of his cloak, pulling it over his head as the screaming from one person of the duo gets closer and closer.

     “Guys, come on.” Izuku mumbles, already starting to walk off. Tenya and Momo look at him in confusion, hesitantly starting to get up.

     “OI!” Katsuki shouts as he storms over, someone Izuku didn’t know was trailing the blonde as well, jogging to try and keep up with the walking fury Izuku had always referred to as Kacchan. “I saw a whole bunch of fuckin’ pros, and I’m trying to figure out where they went so I can find the damn floor boss. Where’d they go?”

     “I don’t think it is wise of you to follow after them. They could be talking about information only meant for the pro’s ears.” Tenya retaliates, his hands chopping in the air as he begins to argue with the angry blonde. Red eyes glare into the blue pair as a firm hand pulls the taller make down to eye level, and he says “Where’d the bastards go? They won’t be discussing anything private in a game where anyone could be watching them, whether in this game or from screens outside of it. If you saw them, point me in the direction so I can find that floor boss.”

     “Woah woah woah, Bakubro, no need to be mean! The guy here was just trying to be manly and let the pros mind their business! Maybe we can continue trying to do some side quests and figure it out by morning!” The haired male says, holding out his hand to Tenya as his other arm wraps around Katsuki’s shoulder, lightly pulling the arm off of Tenya’s shirt. Tenya shakes the offered hand as he straightens up his shirt with his other hand, saying “May I ask who you two even are? As the brother of a pro hero, I understand the privacy some pros must want and how they are doing things to protect us, and are attempting to keep us out of harm’s way.”

     “I’m Eijiro Kirishima, and thus here is my friend Bakugo! Nice to meet you! Which pro is your brother?” Eijiro asks, flashing a brilliant, spiky smile.

     “My brother is Ingenium, and I am Tenya Iida! It is a pleasure to meet you, Kirishima.” Tenya replies.

     “Yeah yeah yeah, enough chit-chat. Where’d the pros go?” Katsuki questions, giving up on looking at Tenya for the answers, and instead turning his ruby gaze to Momo and Izuku. The greenette kept quiet, avoiding the gaze of the brash blonde as he hoped the cloak did its job well enough to hide his face.

     “I think we were starting to plan on heading down to where they are anyway, so how about we guide you?” Momo suggests, trying to keep her voice calm with a pinch of happiness to it. Katsuki rolled his eyes before jerking his hand to tell her to start walking, and letting out a huff with the quick comment of “About time someone was actually useful here.”

     “I do think the quests were a good suggestion though. They’d help you be more prepared and could help you level up more, getting you more items to level up your weapons and armor as well.” Momo says as she links arms with Tenya and Izuku, pulling the two along as Tenya sputters out protests, claiming that they were “being delinquents” and that “it is absolutely atrocious to even think about invading the privacy of a hero meeting”.

     “I don’t need to do a whole bunch of that extra shit. I’ll already have this in the bag, and that boss will be nothing once I get to it.” Katsuki replied, not afraid to just let the cockiness pour into his voice.

     “Oh, who are you other two?” Eijiro suddenly asks, hav8ng remembered he was still missing two of the names from the trio escorting him and Katsuki.

     “I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, and this is-“ she glances down at Izuku “-Daniel Litholiumson. He’s from America, and since Iida and I know English, we’ve been able to speak with him quite well. So, please excuse his silence."

     "Ah, that's cool! I don't think I've ever met anyone from America before!" Eijiro exclaims, his eyes shining with pure excitement as he looks at Izuku. Katsuki just scoffs, and the group of five continue their walk, eventually slipping back into the streets of Central Tolbana. "Ohhhh, this looks so cooool!"

     “It’s just another city here with more quests, and starts giving you access to the teleportation monuments, despite there already being one in the Town of Beginnings.” Momo explains, pointing to a teleportation monument at the other side of the city.

     “Now where’s the damn heroes at? I don’t see them in here.” Katsuki asks, and the trio sigh before Momo starts walking again, pulling Tenya and Izuku along with her. They begin walking down the stone pathway, making a turn, and then Izuku points to the opening in the corner of the town, one that led to a large, open area with a stage and rows of seats that you would see in a gymnasium arching around the stage. The teenagers stayed just outside it, using the deep shadows from the setting sun to their advantage. They got lucky that none of the pros were standing just outside the meeting area, and were unable to call them out for being there, and halting the meeting.

     “It’s wisest that we all rest up today. If none of you can sleep, go ahead and train a bit, but we have to remember how dangerous that boss is. At least, this is only from the information we have gathered from the beta testers.” A pro says, and Izuku automatically connects the voice to Present Mic, or, Hizashi. 

     “Tsk, beta testers and their stupid advantage.” Katsuki grumbles under his breath, glaring through the pathway at the pro hero on the stage as they discussed their plan of action.

     “We need to make sure that everyone can start to get through, and can move on to challenge more obstacles, and have access to better materials. Remember, we’re doing this to protect the citizens who are stuck here with us, and to get ourselves out of here as soon as possible. We have a whole world, the real one, waiting for us to return. I mean, guys, I have a radio show to run! It’s really important to get out of here!”

     “Enough about the real world already. Let’s just get to the boss information.” Rock Lock demands, his voice snappy from a day clearly full of agitation.

     “Yeah yeah! Okay, so the boss is obviously strong, but it shouldn’t be too strong! If we can work together, and keep a look out for obvious signs of an attack, we could probably go without any casualties! We can think of this like any other normal team up, except instead of using our quirks, we’re using swords, or spears, or whatever it is you’re fighting with! This team up lasts until everyone is free! Any objections?” Silence washed over the crowd, and Hizashi nodded in satisfaction. “Well let’s go ahead and go for the night, meet up here tomorrow morning at ten, and then move on to go beat that dungeon monster! Can I get some cheers in the crowd!?”

     A couple clapped, one whistled, and maybe three cheered at the thought of getting one floor out of the one hundred completed.

     “Thank you, thank you, Listeners! My show will continue tomorrow! Just remember ten AM sharp!” The voice hero shouts into the crowd, and the five teenagers quickly retreat away from the pathway right before heroes start spilling out, either silently walking off to where they would stay for the night, or walking off with some others as they softly spoke about anything really, mentally preparing themselves for the fight tomorrow.

     “Thanks for the help, guys!” Eijiro thanks the trio, bowing before standing upright, and tossing one of his arms onto Katsuki’s shoulders. The blonde grumbles a little at the contact before the two start walking in a different direction. Katsuki looks at Izuku for a moment, red eyes seeming to narrow a but as if he was trying to figure something out.

     “Of course! Just do be careful out there!” Tenya says to them. Momo softly waves her farewells to the duo, and Izuku gives a shy wave as they disappear into the plains, probably heading back to the Town of Beginnings to go back to where they were staying there. 

     “So what time are we headed out tomorrow? Before, during, or after the pros leave?” Momo asks as they start walking again.

     “Well I was thinking-“ Izuku starts before something catches his gaze out of the corner of his eyes. He wheels around, and a gruff voice says “Should have known you’d be spying.”

Chapter Text

     When you think of a teenager spying on someone, usually an older figure who’s in charge of things, you usually think of them watching right out of their parent’s doorway to see what presents they’re getting for their birthday or Christmas. They’re joyous occasions, and usually harmless towards everyone, sometimes resulting in a little scolding when the child is found to be spying. However, you don’t exactly think of a group of teenagers watching right outside a group of plenty of pro heroes so they could march right into danger, and risk their lives to help hundreds to thousands of other people get through a death game.

     Shota Aizawa should have expected to see the three, especially after he had left the child from earlier just standing there when he decided that there was enough information gathered from the young beta tester. The teens looked frightened as they slowly turned to face him.

     “Why were you spying?” He asks, dark eyes narrowing as the teenagers remain silent, avoiding eye contact with him.

     “Hey, Sho. What’s going on?” Yamada asks as he walks up, Nemuri trailing right behind him. “Oh, it’s the little Iida, and his friend Yaoyorozu! Let me guess, you’re the Little Listener from earlier?”

      “Um... yeah.” The problem child replies, still avoiding eye contact.

     “You kids look like you just committed a crime... what did you do?” Nemuri asks, placing her arm onto Hizashi’s shoulder, leaning to the side as she presses the side of her head onto the palm of her hand, her other hand placing itself on her hip as she looks at the kids with a curious expression.

     “They were spying on the meeting, Kayama.” Shota tells the woman, and she sighs, saying “Hey, you aren’t supposed to do that, kiddos. Why’re you even spying anyway? Us pros are keeping you out of the danger so you can just go from floor to floor peacefully if ya want to.”

     “Because we don’t want to feel useless throughout this entire thing. Just because you’re pro heroes doesn’t mean you can fight against this floor boss. None of you have your quirks, which completely changes your fighting style. Present Mic, you’re a long range fighter, which means you aren’t really prepared for all of these close range fights, and same for you other two. Eraserhead, you have shown skill in close combat, but not really with a weapon. You specialize in kicks and punches, but what works in this game is a sword.  None of you are prepared for that, and I sure didn’t see any of you in the beta tests. Yaoyorozu and I went through the beta tests, and while the difficulty may have been toned down a few notches, we’re still some of the most experienced people here. We’re not going to just sit by and hope none of you will die.” Izuku says, his eyes gleaming with a confidence and a passion to help, determination etched all over his face as he tells the pros that these three specifically are lacking the skill in close range.

     “I- well you didn’t really have to go for our throats like that.” Hizashi says with a huff crossing his arms like a child as he mutters to himself about how he’s plenty talented with a sword and can fight close range if he wanted to.

     “I’d still have plenty more to say about it, but I suppose it won’t feel good enough coming from a child. I mean, I haven’t studied plenty of different fighting styles for years, recording them down into a notebook and studying all sorts of fights. If anything, I’m one of the best here meant to take care of that floor boss... other than Yaoyorozu... she’s the best here.” Problem Child says, the confidence he had earlier fading as he finished.

     “Midoriya, I’m honestly no-“ Momo starts, only for Izuku to cover her mouth, and say “Shhhh, don’t argue with it.” and then mumbling a “sorry” as he moves his hands back to his sides, sliding his hands behind his back.

     “This still won’t change the fact that you are children, unlicensed for that matter. It honestly doesn’t matter if you bought the game with hopes of playing it like any other. This has now become a game filled with villains, whether they be real or not. Since there are pro heroes in the game, it has become our responsibilities as licensed heroes to keep you safe.” Shota tells them before pointing his focus directly towards Izuku and saying “Pro heroes can adapt to the situation. If they can’t, they clearly weren’t cut out for the job.”

     The shyness that had been creeping up on the greenette’s face again after his moment of courage to tell the pros they were unfit was quickly shoved away again, the determined glint in his eyes returning once more, his eyes starting to narrow into a glare of his own as he says “We’ll see how many pros die in there because they can’t adjust, and when you’ve eventually lost enough pros that you don’t have the firepower to get us civilians out of the game, guess who’ll be relying on who? Shoving people away to ‘protect’ them in a situation that hardly anyone is prepared for is practically asking for a loss, because this is a situation where we all must work together to get us all out. To be honest, this might as well be a test to see how much power the pros will put into themselves when not led by the Hero Commission, and how much the citizens are willing to do. If more and more pros die, then the citizens will lose hope, and turn in each other. Your best choice is to just let us help too, and not keep the information to yourselves.”

     “Ladies, ladies, both valid arguments, but I’m hungry and tired.” Nemuri says, stepping between Shota and Izuku, who both seemed to be trying to glare each other’s arguments into the other’s skull. Hizashi began to pull Shota away from the trio of teenagers, and as soon as the pro’s backs were facing them, they heard Izuku say “See you in the dungeons tomorrow, Eraserhead!” with a quick “Midoriya, please, this is extremely out of character for you! You don’t just challenge a pro!” from Tenya. Shota sighed, saying “This game is going to be the biggest pain in my ass ever, especially if I’m stuck with that problem child the entire time.”

     “Well he’s definitely got a determined spirit, and we’ll definitely be seeing him around if he’s as good at this game as he says.” Nemuri says, a fond smile forming on her lips as she says “Besides, he looks like he might be perfect for the hero course. He’s got the spirit for it, and if he aims for U.A. once we get out, he could be your kid to teach.”

     “Oh god, I won’t be able to handle it. He’d be the type of kid to run into danger just because his heroic spirit gets ahead of him, and won’t stop until he’s won, saying ‘fuck you’ to any injuries, even after he’s finished the fight.” Shota groans, rubbing his hands down his face with a long sigh. Nemuri and Hizashi laugh at the tired man’s words, and they slip into a restaurant to grab some food before heading off to bed.

     Meanwhile, back with the teen trio, they were in the place where Izuku was staying, sitting in the floor as Izuku just keyed in his side, mumbling about how he didn’t understand why he started talking back to Eraserhead and how he didn’t think he would ever have the courage to do that, and where did that courage even come from?

     “Sometimes your mind just let’s the words flow out before you can think, especially when you’re passionate about something. You’ve had your mind set for a long while now that you’ve planned on challenging the first floor boss, and so your mind spoke all the words out for you, letting the words come out before the panic and the instinct to shy away from a superior’s glare.” Momo said as she ate some of the bread she had saved in her inventory. 

     “But stilllll.” Izuku groaned, hiding his face in his hands before letting out a muffled scream.

     “Well, at least we were able to be honest with the pros!” Tenya said, clapping hands together as if to say that there was still good news, and nobody were to change his mind that the pros knowing that they were going to bust into the raid too were some,of the best ways to make them all feel better and clear their conscience.

     Toshinori Yagi sat in the dimly lit room, his muscle form actually not smiling for once as he looked out at the quiet streets through the window. It had been so long since he’s been here, especially since his huge fallout with the man he had considered a close friend and ally. Ever since Toshinori refused to back down from throwing himself into danger to save others, despite the major injuries he had suffered, and still tried to be the same person he had always been.

     The door clicked open, and Toshinori listened as the footsteps neared him, stopping just behind him to the right. 

     “Togata has agreed to wait outside for a little while while I talk to you. He still needs the basic rundown of One For All, which I can assist with, and then we can share all the other information.” Mirai Sasaki tells the tall, blonde man.

    “Thank you. I was honestly hoping that I could stop needing to pass down the quirk, and only pass it down in hopes of them living in a peaceful world for the most part, and just help the quirk live on so I don’t end up dying with it in the next couple years. However, it pains me to know that I will have to explain the dangers of All For One to the boy.” Toshinori replies.

     “I understand. Although, the game has provided us an opportune moment to train Togata so he himself can be prepared to take the man on. He has already proven himself to be very strong, and I’m glad you trusted my decision. I did think it through very thoroughly after all.”

     “I know... do you think his peers will notice the change?”

     “We’ve already come up with an excuse for him; since his quirk will naturally power up with One For All, he will excuse it as training and finally accessing something within his quirk that he has tried for so long to reach out for. And the strength factor can simply be accounted for as a stronger muscle mass from training, as long as he sustains it by using a little of the percentage, only going all out in the big fight against All For One.”

     “I still can’t believe he survived that attack. I literally smashed his face in, yet he somehow survived.”

     “And he tore out your stomach. I’m sure he thought you’d be dead too.” Silence once more consumed the room, both pairs of eyes reflecting the orange light pouring through the windows. Dark eyes turned to face the taller man, wishing that having a new successor will finally let his idol rest, and try to ease into retirement so that he won’t die the gruesome death he had so often seen. Meanwhile, blue eyes scanned the streets, watching as pros walked around who were patrol, starting their shift, or heading to their agency to end their shift. He watched as cars passed by, and civilians walked along the streets, enjoying the last rays of sunlight in the day. Finally, they took note of how much quieter it felt, and how much more tension was in the air with the “Sword Art Online” game still being somewhat new to the public, and especially the fact that there was a major villain in there, everyone in the game left in the dark about there being a mass murderer.

     “Bring in Young Togata please, Sasaki.” Toshinori says, finally turning to watch as his friend opened the door.

Chapter Text

     The teenagers woke up early, buying some breakfast and quickly eating it as they waited to be able to help the pros with the floor boss. Not willing to just let up the beautiful morning that quickly though, they sat outside, laying in the grass in silence, not having too much to talk about. That was when Izuku realized something, sitting up and saying “There was supposed to be someone else running that meeting for the pros yesterday... but yet Present Mic was leading it.”

     “The pro may have had something suddenly happen, and needed to get that done before they could run a meeting, or maybe just thought Present Mic was better suited for it.” Tenya tells the greenette. Izuku just gives a small nod before continue to just look around the town some more. After a couple minutes, Tenya asks “Do you know what the second floor is like?”

     “There’s not much to it. It’s mainly just a battleground without anywhere to stay on it. It just levels you up a bit faster and provides a better challenge for your level. It’s just a big desert plain with new monsters.” Momo explains, finishing up eating her breakfast. Izuku nods when Tenya looks at him as if to confirm it.

     “So everyone is still just going to be living on the first floor?” Tenya asks, clearly not looking amused by the idea.

     “Yeah. But with both towns now becoming known to more and more people, it’ll be easier to find somewhere to stay.” Izuku replies. They fall into silence once more, frequently checking the time as they waited to watch the pros pass by to head to the dungeon. Eventually, someone tapped on Tenya’s shoulder, and all three teens quickly turned to see Shota, Nemuri, and Hizashi standing there, Shota being the one to have tapped on Tenya’s shoulder.

     “Figured if we really can’t stop you, we might as well tell you that we’re heading over to the dungeons now. If you’re ready, then get up and let’s go.” Shota tells them. Without another moment of hesitation, the teens scrambled off the grass, Izuku and Momo bubbling with excitement while Tenya seemed to just be relieved that the pros were now allowing them to help. “Just know that if you get hurt badly out there, we warned you.”

     “We know. Besides, as soon as we enter, there’s no getting out as soon as we enter the boss room. That’s the ‘no turning back now’ point.” Momo tells them.

     “Well, let’s go, Little Listeners!” Hizashi says, clearly much more excited to get the first floor completed then Shota. Soon, they all started heading off to the place that would get then to the dungeons, Izuku pulling his hood over his head once more, almost positive that Katsuki and his new friend would be there.

     A friend of Katsuki’s. Izuku wanted to give himself that same title, but the blonde didn’t seem to want them to be friends once more, insisting on keeping Izuku as the good for nothing quirkless child, while he was the all powerful of the class, destined to be a hero that would climb the ranks quicker than even Hawks himself, showing the world that he was the best. So honestly, it surprised Izuku that Eijirou and Katsuki seemed to be friends at all, thinking that Katsuki would just continue to keep some people around from school that he would boss around, keeping them under his control. However, there didn’t seem to be anyone like that around Katsuki. Just Eijirou, the boy who was willing to her through Katsuki’s attitude and lack of idea on how to be a good friend.

     Once all of the pros and the three teenagers reached the door, Rock Lock turned to everyone, saying “Are we ready to beat this boss, and show it who’s the actual boss here!?”

    “Yeah!” Almost everyone shouted together.

     “Hey, you three!” Eijirou exclaimed as he pulled Katsuki along with him, running over to Momo, Tenya, and Izuku. “Litholiumson, still wearing the hood I see!”

     “Oi, Shitty-Hair, he probably doesn’t understand a single damn word you’re saying.” Katsuki snaps, giving the black haired male a quick hit to the back of the head. Tenya quickly began to scold the blonde, only for Katsuki to scoff, and roll his eyes at the taller male’s words. Not too much longer, everyone started to head into the dungeon, their swords ready as they entered the room. Monsters only usually attacked once you attacked them, but the dungeon was different, the monsters running towards all of the players. Immediately, everyone started fighting against them, the sound of the monsters disappearing only moments after another filling the room, each monster disappearing into a burst of light.

     At some point, Izuku was pushed out of the way by someone else in a cloak, a monster having been running at Izuku from behind. However, the person seemed to just have wanted the monster for themselves, pushing Izuku out of the way so that it could be their fight and not the greenette’s. The greenette got up again, helping Momo and Tenya with another monster.

     As soon as the room was cleared, the group started to make their way to the largest door, looming over everyone, the old doors containing just what everyone was after to finally beat the game. The other person in a cloak walked forwards, pushing past everyone, slamming the large doors open, their sword still held tightly in their hand. Everyone else ran in as well, and watched as the boss made its appearance, other monsters spilling in as well.

<<<Illfang the Kobold Lord>>>

Health: 100/100

     Izuku had the fighting pattern memorized, so unless there was some change in how it fought, Izuku knew that this would be relatively easy. However, knowing how this game was working, it was pretty unlikely that everything was going to be that easy. Momo and Tenya ran next to Izuku, letting the pros fight the big boss for now while they fought against the smaller monsters, keeping a lot of pros from dealing with distractions. Illfang swung his axe at the players, who all had to quickly get out of the way as the weapon made it down to them, trying to deal a lot of damage. From the sudden panic and the pros getting out of the way, Izuku winced as one of the monsters hit him, a sharp pain in his arm from where the monster swung its blade at the greenette. 

     Katsuki then took the monster, swinging his blade at it a few times, a confident grin on his face as he took it out, disappearing in a burst of light. Momo rushed over, saying “Are you alright?” Izuku nodded, and Katsuki glanced back, his ruby eyes narrowing into a glare before he turns back to the monsters, defeating one after the other.

     A couple more minutes passed as the pros finally got Illfang’s health into the red zone, the beast letting out a roar as it’s weapon changed, the pros backing up as it swung its talwar... wait a minute... that’s not the weapon that it had in the beta tests to swap out with. The blade was much longer now, and Izuku’s eyes widened as it swung at the pros once more, the tip grazing against a few pros, including Rock Lock. The cloaked person that always was pushing his way through everything ran up, taking his focus off from the smaller monsters and back to Illfang, using his attacks against the boss, which then tried to swing at the cloaked figure. While the attack didn’t do too much to the person, it did make them fly into the air, crashing into Izuku, making the two collide and hit the ground.

     Katsuki took this as his chance to attack, running forward, weapon ready. Izuku turned to the person that was thrown at him, noticing how the older male’s hood had fallen off, revealing a mess of light blue hair, a couple scars on his face, and a face definitely in need of moisturizing. Their bright red eyes glared at Izuku for a second before saying “Brat, stay out of the way. This fight is mine, and so is the end prize.”

     “Wha-“ Izuku started, but the man was already gone, pushing Katsuki out of the way as he used one of his Sword Skills to land a much more powerful attack. Frustrated and hating to be commanded around by someone he didn’t know, Izuku ran to the boss too, with Momo’s quick shout of “Izuku!” as he attacked the boss, determined to be better help in getting the boss’ health down to nothing.

     “I told you to stay out of it!” The light blue haired male shouted. Illfang backed up a bit, more of the minor monsters running in, their weapons ready to protect the boss. Izuku gave the man a glare before running back at the boss, activating his strongest Sword Skill that he had bought on the first floor, and landing a direct hit onto Illfang, who roared as his health finally went down, the red bar disappearing, and only moments later, the boss disappearing in a burst of light. There was just a little bit of silence before the players went into an uproar, some absolutely infuriated with Izuku.

     “So you just sat back and waited for the final attack so you could get the goods!?” 

     “You’re still just a kid! What are you even doing here!?”

     “You’re a cheater!”

     “How the hell did you manage to get that last hit!?”

    “Weren’t you just taking care of those other little monsters? Decided to shove the responsibility onto us, eh?”

     “Deku!” That shout grabbed Izuku’s attention, and he nervously started to back away, finally taking note of the fact his hood mist have fallen off earlier as well, now letting Katsuki know exactly who he was. The blonde was storming over, and Izuku immediately started to scramble away, trying to get away from the angry male. Others stormed closer to, and Katsuki shouted “How the hell did you get into the game, you quirkless loser?! And you want to lie to me about who you are, eh!? You little shit, you were just waiting to take that final hit, huh?”

     Izuku saw Momo and Tenya’s eyes widen in the crowd that they were trying to push their way through as the blonde called the greenette quirkless, but had to quickly force his attention back to Katsuki, who was still holding a sword and getting closer and closer.

     “How can a quirkless loser do anything in this game!? You’d think you would be dead by now! Unless... you got the beta tests, didn’t you, Shitty Deku!?” Katsuki asked, suddenly stopping, his grip tightening on the sword. As Izuku didn’t reply, and only started to back up further, Katsuki chuckled, and said “You really did, didn’t you?” The sword was pointed straight at Izuku as he said “How’d you do it? How’d you get the beta tests? You’re a worthless nobody, and got his hands on the biggest game of the year’s beta tests.”

     “I-“ Izuku was too nervous. He couldn’t speak. He hated it here.

     “TELL ME!” Katsuki shouted, storming closer again, the sword still within his tight grip.

     “I SENT SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GAME, AND THEY OFFERED TO LET ME TEST SO THAT I COULD GIVE THEM FURTHER ADVICE!” Izuku quickly shouted.

     “Deku, what kind of advice did you give?” Pros were starting to glare at Izuku, and the light blue haired male was glaring harsher than the heroes. However, the hardest glare out of them all was Katsuki’s, who kept his sword pointed at Izuku. “What? Advice? Deku.”

     “Just ways they could improve the game...”

     “There’s something your not telling me. What are you hiding, nerd.” Izuku continued to try to back up, only for the heels of his feet to meet the chest, which them gave him a notification about accepting the gift inside after he got the final hit. “Don’t make me kill you.”

     “One of them was to use something to cancel quirks in the game.” The greenette nervously answered, his bright green eyes widening as Katsuki raised his sword, and swung.

Chapter Text

     A crowd of people watched as the blade rose into the air, light catching it and gleaming off as it positioned itself above the blonde’s hand, the silver reflecting in the smaller boy’s eyes. The bright green eyes were wide with terror, every noise going on in that moment falling onto ears that would not here them, too terrified to focus on anything but the sword.

     The crimson pair of eyes wore a hard glare, brows furrowed in anger, gleaming with vengeance. 

     Izuku’s health already wasn’t at its best point, and that meant that Izuku would be lucky if he could survive, especially with how low of armor-

     Armor.

     As the world felt like it moved in slow motion, the green eyes finally tore their attention away from the blade as his finger moved the fastest it had ever as he tapped a button on the screen that had been displayed to him ever since he bumped into the chest containing the award for the person to achieve the final hit upon the boss.

     One tap.

     One tap can help him more than he needs.

     It needs to be fast.

     The blade is making its way down to cut Izuku, moving quickly do deliver a harsh blow. 

     One small burst of light.

     The reward changed out his cloak for something new. Something that could protect him much better. 

     He couldn’t move any further, knowing the blade would find him no matter what. A grin formed on the blonde’s face as he swung that blade down upon Izuku, a grin that was manic, filled with excitement and a sense of victory as the silver swiped through the air.

     The red slash formed across Izuku, going from his waist to his cheek, leaving the temporary sign of a hit and just where it hit on the small boy, and he let out a short scream of pain before the pain slowly started to dull down, and the greenette hit the ground with a loud thud.

     What he hadn’t realized in that short moment were the people running over: Eijirou, Momo, Tenya, and Shota. They ran over as Katsuki raised his sword again, realizing the job wasn’t done, Shota making it in just enough time to jump onto Katsuki, making the blonde hit the ground himself, his sword clattering to the ground. Momo was the first to Izuku, who laid on the ground, eyes watching in terror as his health dropped, the points going down and down, Izuku waiting for it to stop and just determine how much health Katsuki had taken already.

     Two.

     That’s how much health was left when it finally stopped moving. A sharp pain still lingered from where the sword had cut across his body, and tears formed in the corners of his eyes as his fingers reached to pinch the sides of the fabric between his fingers, clinging onto the fabric that had saved his life.

     Momo fell to her knees, quickly pulling Izuku up to a sitting position as she looked at him, eyes filled with panic and slight relief, knowing that he was still alive.

     “How much health do you have left?” She asks as Tenya quickly falls onto his knees too, sitting next to the girl. Izuku was about to assume that they should already know, but remembered that they still needed to make a party with each other, or at least send out the friend request. Since they had just already been friends, they had completely forgotten that that was a thing to do, especially to make trade easier and to always be able to make sure their friends or party members were alright.

     Still shaking, Izuku pulled up his menu, sending the two a party and friend request. They both got the notification, accepting it immediately. The speed in which they did honestly surprised Izuku, especially since they finally got to hear what all he had been hiding from them throughout the entire time they had been friends.

     Now that they had each other’s friend requests completed, they could see their health, and Momo’s and Tenya’s eyes widened in panic as they both exclaimed “Two!?”

     “Please tell me you have some potions to fix that. I refuse to let you go anywhere right now if you don’t.” Momo says, her hands placing themselves on Izuku’s shoulders. Izuku lets one exhale of air to resemble a short laugh out before saying “I don’t think I could go much of anywhere anyway. My stamina is going to be really bad, and I’ll be too slow with this low of health.”

     “But do you have any, Midoriya?” Tenya asks. Izuku glances up at Eijirou, who nervously stold there, eyebrows furrowed in an emotion Izuku struggled to read as the bit nervously fiddled with his fingers, lightly tugging them, but seeming to be relieved in a way as Shota held down the screaming and defiant blonde.

     “I may have a couple, and they should bring my health back up to halfway.” Izuku tells them, pulling up his inventory and tapping on what he needed, using it, and watching as his health points went back up again. He felt like he could breathe much more freely, and his panic slowly went down.

     “Thank goodness for this new outfit.” Momo says, delicately grabbing the new jacket before pulling Izuku into a hug that he only took a moment to return.

     “HE INTENTIONALLY MADE EVERYONE HERE QUIRKLESS SO WE COULd ALL BE AT THE SAME SHITTY LEVEL AS HIM, AND I GET PUNISHED FOR DEALING WITH THE ISSUE!? WHAT MAKES YOU SAY HE ISN’T STILL EMAILING THEM OR SUGGESTED WE GET TRAPPED IN THIS GAME!? TAKING AWAY THE QUIRKS WAS PROBABLY THE MOST MINOR THING HE EMAILED ABOUT!” Katsuki shouted, trying to pull himself out of the pro hero’s firm grip. That was when Nemuri walked over, sitting in between both groups and saying “Then how about I start the questioning?”

     “Go on, Kayama. They maybe these ‘pros’ can have some common sense beaten into their skulls and stop calling him a cheat and pushing a teenager into a corner.” Shota said, his voice laced in venom as he glared at Katsuki and the other pro heroes. Hizashi walked over as well, helping Shota deal with the writhing blonde beneath the underground hero.

     Nemuri turned to face Izuku, giving him a soft smile before kindly requesting Momo and Tenya move to the side a bit so she could easily question Izuku. The other two teens moved a little bit, but remained next to the greenette. Eijirou sat next to the trio as well, trying to keep his gaze from Katsuki as the blonde’s crimson eyes flared daggers towards the smaller teen.

     “Midoriya, can you tell us what all it was you were emailing about to get you into the game?” Nemuri asks, her voice calming as she keeps that small smile on her face, providing a sense of calm after the fright Izuku had just gone through.

     “Well, I sent in some different weapon ideas and techniques to put in with them at first. It was when I suggested taking quirks out that they sent me the invite to the beta tests.” Izuku starts.

     “And why did you recommend making everyone quirkless?”

     “It would take the fun out of the game, and all it would be about is people still getting more power because they’re the ones with the stronger quirks. It would ruin the fun for the others, and I also tried to take into consideration about how the system would react to it. It’s most likely not prepared to register quirk attacks, and it could break the system, possibly forcing it to shut down.”

     “So in a way, not having quirks may have saved our lives? Because I’m sure the system shutting down could actually kill us all in here.” Nemuri suggested, and Izuku nodded in response. “Now what all did you send after you got the beta tests?”

     “Just areas that could use some improvement, and double checking to see if the new implements worked properly.”

     “Alright. Now why did you take the last attack for the boss fight here?”

     “I didn’t realize using my sword skill would make it the final move, and I just wanted to feel of better use with the boss, especially when someone told me to just sit back and let them take care of it. I dunno... it just kinda frustrated me, and I wanted to prove I could help better than just taking down the small guys.”

     “And that is understandable.” Nemuri says, patting Izuku on the shoulder as Hizashi stands up, turns to the crowd of pros, and says “Now instead of shouting at a kid, why don’t you grow up and try to ask him reasonable questions before sitting back and watching as the kid is about to get killed by a fellow player! If it wasn’t for getting that last hit, he’d actually be dead! That jacket saved his life, and you’re still calling yourselves pro heroes!? You all disgust me.”

     “He’s still just a quirkless loser.” Katsuki mumbles, only for Shota to shoot a glare at the back of the blonde’s head, the glare looking like it had the strongest urge to just shoot laser beams right where it was looking. Nemuri gets up, holding out her hand to help Izuku up. The pain had dulled down a lot, and so he helped Nemuri pull up Momo, Tenya, and Eijirou from the ground.

     Nemuri turns to Izuku, and whispers “You know, despite not having a quirk, you’re really badass if you ask me, especially when you get all mad and start shouting facts at Shota. Now before this turns into a fight between us and the others, you four go ahead and run along to the second floor.”

     With a small nod, the four teenagers sprint over to the exit door, slipping through as a new light greeted them, much brighter than the dungeons that they had been fighting in for the past while. With a small smile, Izuku walked over to the teleportation monument, activating it. He turned to face his friends again, and said “Hey, since everyone else should be here soon, and I need to fully join my health before we challenge the monsters on this floor, how about we warp over to Talbana? Safe zones automatically restore health... and uh... this place doesn’t have a safe zone.”

     “Of course! Let’s go!” Momo strides over to the monument, and Tenya follows after her. Eijirou hesitated, seeming nervous to walk up to the trio, giving them an expression that seemed to be full of regret, and a fear of being judged. Izuku could recognize that last one so easily since he had donned it plenty of times himself, always worried that no matter what he did, he would be judged. So Izuku holds out his hand to the black haired male, and Eijirou gives a soft smile before walking over to the monument with the others, warping with them to Central Tolbana.

     With a sigh of relief, Izuku just let himself fall to the grass, resulting in a couple nervous shouts from his friends. Izuku waved them off, saying he was fine, and was just tired. Bright green eyes watched as his health shot up, all of his health points regained. After a minute of silence, Eijirou said “I’m sorry for not realizing sooner... Er....”

     “Midoriya.”

     “Yeah, uh, Midoriya. I wish I had realized. Bakubr- Bakugo was like that, and that he was willing to kill you. I mean, you seem like a pretty chill and manly man.”

     “Kirishima, you have nothing to apologize for. Katsuki made his choices, and he’s probably not going to be punished anyways. This is normal behavior.. other than the killing. Kirishima, never feel obligated to apologize for something you can’t control. Promise me?” Izuku ssks.

     “Promise.” Eijirou says with a smile. “But hey, man, did Bakugo really mean it when he said you were quirkless?”

     “Um... yeah...”

     “I think that’s really cool and manly. It’s really cool that you’re still so awesome in this game, even though Bakugo tried to make the lack of a quirk into a disability.”

     “I-“ Izuku’s eyes widened a little at the dark haired male’s words, and tears blurred the bright green eye’s vision before he had a shaky smile and said “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

     As soon as Hisashi heard about the attempt to beat the first floor boss from the pros, he ran. He knew where to go, but if there were going to be monsters respawned in the dungeons, then he needed to quickly buy some things. The man had been doing a lot of training before hand, working himself to his limits ever since he had gotten into the game. Well, after he spent two hours looking for his son at least, but finding zero luck, and deciding to train.

     From the emails that Hisashi had received, he knew that his son was the type of person to try and get something done as soon as possible when he was tasked with it, always determined to get whatever need be done done, which meant Izuku had definitely been spending his time training for the first floor by fighting the monsters scattered across the first floor.

     Hisashi didn’t realize just how long he had spent training until a notification popped up in the corner of his eyesight, and he quickly pulled up his menu, clicking on the announcements to see what it was about.

     “The first floor of SAO has been beaten! The second floor is now available! You will find it more challenging, and will encounter new monsters with new fighting styles! Good luck!” The announcement read, making Hisashi realize he has just wasted his entire day training instead of catching up with his son to try and meet him in the raid, almost positive that Izuku would be there.

     The father ran, running as fast as he could to the dungeon doors, practically slamming them open, and trying to run past as many monsters as possible, only to end up needing to fight them as they ran after him, making their moves and slowly reducing Hisashi’s health. Having helped make this entire hell hole of a game, Hisashi knew the best tactics to beat the monsters and level up, getting through the monsters as quickly as possible before finally being able to run through the large doors, finding himself in the back of a crowd of pros, all standing around and listening as one man yelled to the other.

     Hisashi didn’t listen in to the yelling too much, more looking over the crowd of people, trying to find a slightly familiar head of green, curly hair. Not seeing any in the large crowd, he pushed his way through, trying to see if maybe his son was just a little too short to be seen in the back of the crowd, especially when a lot of the pro heroes were pretty tall.

     “You almost killed him! And now I see just who he was hiding from, you pathetic brat! You made some damn assumptions, and did you ever hear how much health they said he had after your attack!?” Someone was shouting, holding a teenager up by the collar of their shirt, the man’s eyes brimming with rage, voice raised as they tried to get a lesson that Hisashi missed towards her teen.

     That was when Hisashi finally took note of the complete appearance of the teen, familiar with the spiky blonde hair of the Bakugo household. Still not sure, but knowing he needed to check despite how embarrassing it would be if he was wrong, he said “Katsuki?”

     The head full of light blonde hair quickly turned to face Hisashi, the man’s suspicions confirmed when he saw the narrow crimson eyes, and when the teen said “U-uncle Hisashi? What are you doing here?”

     The man who was holding Katsuki let go of the blonde, letting go of the blonde and storming over to Hisashi, still absolutely pissed.

     “So you’re an uncle, huh? Are his parents in this game by any chance?” The man asks.

     “Um... not that I know of... who are you?” Hisashi asks, stepping back a bit, not enjoying being this close to someone so full of anger.

     “Shota Aizawa, the Japanese underground hero Eraserhead. Are you aware of what your nephew did? I just want to know so I can ask you to pass the message on to his parents, because they clearly haven’t taught him morals.” Shota says. 

     “No... I don’t know what Katsuki did.” Hisashi replies.

     “It’s nothing. The nerd is fine anyway!” Katsuki shouts. “He got up and left a minute ago!”

     “This nerd is another child who was simply helping the pros, and Katsuki overreacted because the kid admitted to sending emails to help with the game. The two seemed to know each other. The kid’s name was Izuku Midoriya, and this brat-“ he gestures to Katsuki “-just tried to kill the kid!”

     Hisashi’s eyes widened before turning into a glare. The man had never gotten mad at Katsuki or his antics when he was little, always trying to teach Katsuki better whenever he was around, so the blonde had never seen the man get angry. But Hisashi wasn’t just angry. No. He was filled with a rage, one that he couldn’t just contain behind a forced smile because the son that Hisashi had been trying to get to almost died minutes before Hisashi could see him.

     “You tried to kill my son!?” Hisashi shouted, and Katsuki eyes that were just filled with an anger of his own dissipated into fear as Hisashi stormed over, pulling the blonde up to stand up straight before slapping the boy, the slap echoing across the room. “Mine and Inko’s only child, and you tried to kill him! Inko must already be worried enough about him dying from the monsters in this game, and I came in here to look after him! Never would we think that you would be the monster! You were supposed to be his friend! Hell, you two have known each other since you were babies, and now you think you need kill him!? Your parents raised you better than this, and you decide to act like a criminal!”

     “Well he’s fine! Got his health back up and everything before running off with a bunch of idiots! Can everyone just stop overreacting!? Deku is still alive!” Katsuki shouts, trying to defend himself.

     “You better hope Inko and your parents don’t hear about this.” Hisashi says before walking off, walking towards the doors to leave Katsuki behind.

     “You’re walking off as if you were actually there for Deku, but you weren’t there for anything you old fart. You just left to do your job, and hardly called you own wife and child, so you’re no better than me!”

      “Do you really not understand the difference between work and attempted murder? I thought you were smarter than this.”

     “I am smart! Geez, I try to show it every day! You’re probably not stressed at all in this game, but the rest of us are! Your job was designing games, right!? You must know the functions pretty damn well in this game!”

     “Katsuki, I helped make this game. Of course I know how it works. None of us were able to predict that the head of the creation of this stupid game were going to trap us all in here. If we had known, we’d have shut it down much sooner.”

     “Why didn’t you just stop the game before jumping in?” The pro that Hisashi recognized as Present Mic asked.

     “Because stopping the game would kill everyone here. None of us wanted that to happen, so we’re all doing the best we can to make sure nothing gets too bad. I just came here to see my son.” Hisashi replies before finally walking out the doors, and getting onto the second floor. He only turned back once more to turn to Katsuki, ignoring the pro heroes who were just standing there in shock at the confrontation, and said “Katsuki, do us both a favor and leave my son alone. I never want to see you near him again.”

     Hisashi looked around, trying to see if he could spot his son nearby. With the floor only being a desert plain, it was easier to look for any signs of people. Without any sign of his son, or the sounds of the minsters being fought, Hisashi pulled up his menu, standing over to the side as pros started to flood onto the second floor, Katsuki not entering the floor just yet, standing by. It was as Hisashi was about to search for the players that a large shadow looked over him, and a familiar voice said “You know, when we met, I never thought I’d see you get mad. You always seem to be the type to just be calm in the moment and plan a murder later only to satisfy your rage.”

     “A-All For One, how are you?” Hisashi asks with a nervous laugh.

     “Oh, quite well. I got to reunite with my protege after he helped those hero scum beat the first floor. He did quite well.” The villains boss said, patting the back of the cloaked figure next to him, the cloaked figure keeping the hood pulled over his face. When he realized just who his senses was talking to, he looked up, bright red eyes staring at the man as he said “So you’re the father of the brat who took the final hit.”

     “Uh... yes?” Hisashi replies.

     “You should teach him some fighting etiquette in video games. He wasn’t even fighting the boss at first, and was taking care of the small monsters, and then took the last hit from me.” The blue haired male says, his voice hoarse as he spoke.

     “I’m sorry? I can talk to him about it later, er...”

     “Tomura Shigaraki.” All For One answers.

     “Ah, of course. Well, I hope you two enjoy yourselves in the game.” Hisashi tells the two.

     “We will. Thank you for your help with reuniting me and my protege, Midoriya. I wish you luck with your son, and guarantee to leave you two untouched. I’m fact, if you want me to kill that brat from earlier for you, it is guaranteed.” All For One says, smiling as he places his hand on the man’s shoulder.

     “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, but thank you. I’m just going to try to reunite with my son for now.” Hisashi says, giving the two a smile before the villain boss nods, and begins to walk off, Tomura walking alongside him.

     Once the two are out of sight, off to fight the monsters on this floor, Hisashi searches for Izuku, smiling fondly when the name pops up, assuring the father that his son was still alive. Seeing that he kept his name "Hisashi", he hoped that Izuku would immediately understand and know who he was, and sent a friend request to the boy.

     Hisashi began to wander around the desert, looking at the monsters, and analyzing the attacks they made in accordance to the player attacks. The first couple floors were simple, the attacks the monsters made not changing up too much, leaving them predictable. Such simple, easy to beat monsters. However, still providing enough of a challenge that those who severely fear for their lives and haven’t tried to practice would fail miserably against.

     A notification popped up on Hisashi’s screen, and he saw that Izuku had accepted the friend request, sending a message saying “Dad?”

     Taking note of the fact Izuku wan’t located anywhere on the second floor map, he went to the teleportation monument, deciding to try Central Tolbana first, and he quickly felt proud of himself when he spawned into the little bit of grass surrounding the monument, right behind a group of four teenagers, one of them having those familiar dark green curls that Hisashi had been looking for.

     “Like, it’s kinds weird that a Hisashi messaged me, and that’s my dad’s name, but he hasn’t replied yet. Should I have accepted that friend request?” Izuku mutters, his friends seeming to be ready to respond, but Hisashi spoke first, saying “I dunno, but I mean, I’m rather happy you accepted my friend request, son.”

     Izuku quickly turned to face Hisashi, his eyes widening, and his mouth falling open. Izuku’s friends turn around too, and the male with the shoulder length black hair says “Midobro, your day sure has been full of surprises.”

     “No shit.” Izuku replies.

Chapter Text

     Hisashi stood there, just opposite of the group of teenagers, an awkward silence washing over them after Izuku’s comment. Father and son quickly looked away from each other, unsure what more to say. However, Hisashi knew he needed to be the bigger person here, and not act like a child, and said “So ‘no shit’, huh? Wasn’t expecting those to be the first words I hear from you in years.”

     The two looked at each other again, only a couple moments passing before Izuku starts to smile, clearly trying to fight past it, but giving up as a short huff of laughter slips past his lips. The other teenagers smile too, the black haired male starting to laugh, his hand flying to his mouth to deafen the steadily building laughter. The tall boy tries to suppress his smile, one stuff hand reaching up to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose while the other begins to chop the air, the teen saying “I don’t believe most kids swear in front of their parents, Midoriya.”

     “I know, but I mean, Iida, I haven’t seen or heard from him in years.” Izuku says, breaking his attention from Hisashi to turn to his friend.

     “I understand that, but still, it was an unwise decision, and I believe you should have had more self restraint than that.” Tenya says, his hand still chopping the air as he scolds Izuku.

     “Well how else would you suppose I react to seeing my father for the first time in years, almost dying, getting confronted by my school bully, and getting shouted at from pros, all in one day?” Izuku asks with a huff, placing his hands on his hips.

     “I... currently do not have a response to your question, but your father is still just standing here.” Tenya says, his hands quickly darting to his sides as his entered body foes stiff as he faces Hisashi, giving a firm nod in the man’s direction. Hisashi gives the boy a small smile before turning back to Izuku, and saying “I’m sorry if this was a bad time for you. I just figured that getting to you right after you completed a floor boss was the best time to find you, especially since I’ve been looking for you for awhile now. But, how are you? Geez, you’ve grown so much.”

     “Ah, I suppose I have, haven’t I?” Izuku asks, nervously laughing as he scratches the back of his neck before continuing. “Although, I’m alright. Can’ exactly say I’m good or great since Kacchan just tried to kill me, but alright seems good enough. Still alive, and the pros ended up leaving me alone after a few stepped forwards and scolded them for being huge jerks.”

     “I’m going to guess one of them was Eraserhead? I’m just taking a guess since he seemed pretty mad at Katsuki, and told me about the attempted murder part... which I’m still not happy about in any way, shape, or form.” Hisashi huffs, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

     “Yeah, he was one of them. We seem to be on and off good terms, which is weird. Might be best if I try to stay out of his path for awhile.”

     “Well, he definitely seems like the type of pro to not want to be left out of any of these floor boss fights, so what do you propose we do?” Momo asks, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, and her head slightly tilting to the side.

     “You see, I was thinking that since I’m sure the heroes will only be able to last for so long before they need a break, we can work on encouraging all of the other citizens on the floor. We can work on getting a group, and can then come as prepared as ever into the fights, and probably have a little more gear and fighting experience than the pros, who only seem to be fighting a few monsters for money, spend that money for armor, and then run at the boss.” Izuku starts to explain.

     “So you’re suggesting that we just offer to help guide people, and hopefully will have a large enough group who want to fight as well, and are willing to stay just out of the pro’s radar to back the pros up when needed, and that way, there can be two teams running up at at time?” Hisashi asks.

     “Yep!” Izuku replies, smiling from ear to ear.

     “Aw, dude, this plan sounds so manly! It would be so cool to get to train a whole bunch of people, and give them some tips!” Eijirou exclaims.

     “Oh, and then the citizens won’t feel as though they are just always cowering behind and depending on the pros! Knowing how reckless a lot of pro heroes can be, or just people in general when faced with a threat that they feel obligated to fight against, the pros won’t want to take a break, which will steadily lead to a decline in pro heroes, which means a decline in backup for the others, which leads to more death, we can bring to the light that they have a shoulder to lean on so that they can take a break! This can lead to a faster efficiency in getting floors done.” Momo says, clapping her hands together in excitement at the sound of the plan.

     “And we can’t forget that we need to spend at least a few days on the floor so we don’t just rush in without having leveled up much, and to guarantee at least a couple days to relax.” Tenya says.

    “Of course. This game definitely requires us to take some time, especially to calm down after each boss fight. Right now, the pro heroes could be planning to go to the second floor tomorrow, or the day after, but that can be their disadvantage, especially since they will spend too much time fighting the monsters, and will lead to them forgetting to take care of themselves first. This group needs to be set up as soon as possible.” Izuku says, placing his left fist in the palm of his right hand as he finishes speaking, a determined look on his face.

     “Izuku, how about you make the guild since you were the one with the idea?” Hisashi suggests, shrugging when Izuku suddenly turned his attention towards Hisashi.

     “Wait- we’re calling it a guild?” Izuku asks, his green eyes wide, his expression confused as he stares at his father, who gives a small nod and smile before holding his hand up, pointing one finger towards the sky as he says “Well, a guild is a big group of players working together, and that is the plan of this, no?”

    “Well, it is-“

     “Then it’s a guild. Now, let’s get this started.” Hisashi says, crossing his arms with a small nod, and then deciding to walk over and ruffle Izuku’s hair. Everyone gave each other one quick look, before all giving their own nod of agreement together, and Izuku pulled up his menu.

     One month later, the heroes were gathering back into Central Tolbana, joining back onto this floor for the first time in a long time, each and every one of them exhausted as hell, none able to stand straight as they trudged into the arena. Each pro hero looked so grim, and watched as Hizashi Yamaha walked back onto the stage, eye bags of his own forming underneath his eyes, seeming as though he was making an attempt to rival Shota.

     Each pro, so tired and beaten, that they didn’t notice four cloaked figures quickly and quietly run over to the columns, hiding behind them as they listened in to the conversation.

     “So, as we all know, twenty pros were lost in the boss battle an hour ago, which leaves our total count of deaths at thirty-four. There are still quite a few of us left... but I’m not sure how much longer we can last like this. We need more training. All citizens have sat back, other than a few, and have let us do the work for them, and if we keep dying out here, then who will be there for them? Nobody knew is stepping forwards to help us, which shows just how dependent they are on our fighting abilities.” Two if the four cloaked figures quickly cover3d their mouths to try and hold back the sudden urge of laughter threatening to spill past their lips. However, they were determined to keep hidden in the dark of the night, behind the tall arena columns.

     “I’m afraid we need a break.” Hizashi continues, signing as he says “We’ve only completed up to floor nine, and now we’re on floor ten, with all new challenges. We’re just barely a tenth done with the work we need to do, and thirty-four deaths is more than what we should have... if we lost twenty tonight, how many will we lose tomorrow? By floor twenty, there probably win’ be any of us left, so I propose we sit back, and take a long break to build up our hp, weapons, armor, and regain some mental health. We’ve lost good friends out there, and our mind will need a break too. My friends, Eraserhead and Midnight, know for sure that a break is needed, especially ever since we lost a close friend. The school gave us time off so we could clear our minds, and that’s what we need right now.”

     “The citizens will get curious on why a new floor won’t be completed yet.” Rock Lock says, his head laying in the palm of his hand. “I think they’ve gotten used to the quick completion announcements, and will wonder what’s up.”

    “I’m sure they’ll understand, and if not, there will definitely be some who will know and can explain.” Shota replies, yawning as he finishes speaking.

     “How long of a break do you propose?” Keigo Takami, or, Hawks, the number three hero as far as the people in SAO know, asks.

     “Two weeks. One week for our mental health, and then another for our training. Please keep it in that order, and take as much of a break as you need. Nobody is to be pressured to join back in the floor ten fight.” Hizashi replies, and the crowd begins to murmur in agreement. The cloaked figure farthest from their exit jerked their head to the others to signify that they head out, and they kept low to the ground as they darted out of the area of the arena, running back towards the Town of Beginnings, footsteps silent, their stealth high, something they had been working in for the past few weeks.

     They ran through the cobbled streets, all staying side by side, heads held a little low as to prevent their cloak from falling off. Once they reached the church, one of them stepped forwards, knuckles knocking against the wooden door, which was opened by a blue haired teen in all silver armor, smiling at the sight of them.

     “Come in, come in.” Tenya says, waving his hand to usher them all in, the four letting their hoods fall as the doors shuts, revealing a girl with orange hair pulled into a side ponytail and narrow green eyes, a boy with blonde hair smoothed down in his head, eyes a piercing blue, another boy with a more yellow blonde, a black streak on the left side of his hair, and electrifyingly yellow eyes, and then a girl with short purple hair, eyes a dark color. The young male at the back of the church, talking to a girl in a more feminine armor, similar to Tenya’s. Momo gave Izuku a nod to respond to the unheard conversation, before turning and walking off into one of the rooms in the church.

     “Midoriya, sir, we have good news.” The girl with orange hair says, stepping a little bit closer than the others to the boy who definitely seemed to be in charge, wearing armor of his own, but not too heavy like Tenya’s, and a little less so than Momo’s, more going for something more comfortable and slightly ominous with a long jacket he kept on, his main armor being his shoes, the metal over his chest, and the metal gloves that went over the sleeves, neatly tucked in between the metal. Izuku gave them a soft smile before saying “Kendo, Monoma, Jiro, and Kaminari, I’m happy you’ve returned, but we really do have to drop the ‘sir’ thing. Now, what news do you have today?”

Chapter Text

     "So, they're finally taking a break? The tenth floor boss is all ours." Izuku says, grinning to himself as he leans against the podium in the front of the stage in the church. "It feels like forever since we've gotten a good challenge."

     "Can agree. These small monsters are getting on my last nerve, and I'm getting a little bored only trying to get the quests done for all of those stupid NPCs. We need the challenge." Neito says, crossing his arms as Itsuka sends him a glare, the orange haired girl saying "Well, you already know what this group is here for anyway. We're not here to one up the pros. All we really are is back up so we can get everything moving at a steady pace."

     "And then, when we show just how good taking a break and taking time to get to know the floor is, they'll start to get into the swing of our schedule too! Cause, I mean, we've got this game's floors down pretty well." Denki says, smiling with confidence as he places his hands behind his head, leaning back slightly. Kyoka proceeds to roll her eyes as she crosses her own arms, saying "Well, we also don't know just how well we'll do against these bosses. Most of us here haven't ever fought one, and some of the best experienced people in boss fighting are Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Iida."

     "Well, they're all beta testers, and they know a lot. Besides, we've also got a game developer on our side. I'm sure he knows all the bosses." Denki replies.

     "No, my dad only helped give a few ideas for each boss after floor ten once all the changes were made. The game creator chose his favorite ideas to continue each floor, but dad said the creator completely made the hundredth floor boss on their own. Besides, we're taking on the last easy boss." Izuku replies.

     "Wait, easy? If this many pros are already dead, and we're still on the easy bosses..."Neito starts, blue eyes widening in a panic as the confident grin on his face begins to fall.

     "Yeah. Floor ten is also the end of the knowledge all beta testers will have. There's already been some obvious changes, like how the floor four I knew in the beta tests weren't at all like the one we know now... much more serene and easier to walk around on... but that boss made up for it, at least, from what I've heard. After floor ten, everything just gets harder. Floors one to ten are basically just getting you adjusted to the basic mechanics of the game." Izuku tells the four.

     A door on the side of the church opens, Hisashi walking out, pushing his glasses up his nose just a little bit as he walks over to his son, ruffling the green curls before letting his hands fall back to his sides.

     "So, what's up? We got anything good?" Hisashi asks, looking between his son and the four people they sent out to spy on the meeting.

     "Yep. The floor ten boss is all ours, but we definitely need to adjust to the monsters on that floor, and the basic layout. We need to get some quests done, and then we can move on to the boss... but we do need to get it done before the pro heroes. They're taking a break for a couple weeks, but we need to work a little fast on this floor." Izuku says.

    "But not too fast, otherwise, we'll find ourselves in the same place as them." Tenya says as he walks up from the corner of the room, fingers loosely wrapped around his sword. Izuku gave a small nod in the taller male's direction before his head slightly tilted to the side, starting to mumble to himself as he softly pinched his lower lip.

     "Well, our whole thing has been about using a couple weeks to adjust to the floor, and with the pros only taking couple weeks off, we can spend maybe a week and a half adjusting to floor ten, gathering as many materials as possible so we'll be ready in case of heavy damage. I don't want to risk heavy damage to be honest, but there's practically no way out of it, unless all of us are suddenly extremely skilled, and can avoid any attack thrown at us, or only take minimal damage in every attack. But who knows how hard this boss is going to hit? We definitely need a good deal of us to run at the boss, and to prevent death, we need as many health potions in our inventory as possible. The higher skilled play-" Izuku starts, only for Tenya to suddenly wave his hand in front of Izuku's face, snapping the boy out of his mumbling, but fingers still pressed against his lip.

     "Care to share?" Tenya asked, giving his freckled friend a smile as he chuckles to himself. Izuku's face goes red as he says "Oh, I'm sorry!"

     "Don't worry about it. Just, try to give a good amount of details while minimizing the speech as much as possible." Hisashi says, giving his son yet another hair ruffle.

     "Why do people enjoy doing that so much?" Izuku mumbles to himself as he lays his hands on top of his curls, keeping them there as he turns to the four that had provided the information, and said "You four go ahead and gather everyone here so I can give the plan. Please be quick."

     "Alright!" They all say together, and as they turn, Neito looks at the green haired leader, and says "Alright, sir."

     Izuku's face suddenly goes more red as he opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to protest against it, but the four already having ran out. The freckled boy then turned to walk into the room his father came out of, crossing his arms as he walks across the room.

     Himiko sat on the rooftop on the first floor, idly just tossing her dagger in the air as she rested her chin on her left knee, which was pulled close to her chest. She drifted off into her daydreams, wondering just how much fun she could be having if she was in the real world, finding the satisfaction of her victim's blood splattering onto her as she plunged her knife into them. The amount of disappointment she felt when she first killed someone in this game, and they didn't have blood oozing out was just purely disappointing to her. 

     And let's not mention the fact that because she's still alive in this game, some people found her hideout, and she was now caught, and in some hospital, police probably waiting for her to wake up so that they could arrest her. She wouldn't ever be able to see real blood ever again now that she was trapped here of all places.

     As she tossed the dagger into the air once more, she turned to her hand in confusion when the dagger didn't return at the time it usually did, and that was when she realized the tall shadow formed right in front of her, her dagger held between strong fingers just a few inches over the palm of her hand.

     "Care to speak?" The man asked, giving her a warm smile, his red eyes practically glowing with the villainous grin he held. Himiko liked him already.

     "I'm All For One. You know, that legend villain who should have been dead a couple hundred years ago, and ended up, and still does, rule the underground?" The man says, his white curls softly swaying in the breeze. Himiko's face lit up, yellow eyes widening with her smile as she suddenly felt her day get better.

     "Ohhh, I've heard all about you! My school used to talk about you like a myth all the tiiime!" The blonde girl says, snatching her dagger from the man, sheathing it as she stands up, excitedly rocking on the heels of her feet.

      "She seems like she's going to give me headaches, sensei." A blue haired boy says, his hands stuffed into his pocket as his own pair of red eyes glare at Himiko. "Are you sure you want to recruit her just because she's got that red over her head?"

     "Well Tomura, she clearly seems eager." All For One says, laying one of his large hands onto the blue haired man's head. The white haired man turns back to the blonde girl, saying "You see, my protégé and I are making a group of killers like yourself. Now, there are two specific people I swore to keep my hands off of since one of them got me into the game, and I extended his son into the offer. However, the goal is to cause as much chaos in this game as possible, hopefully taking over as new leaders, and then keeping everyone in this game. I mean, us murderers don't want to just run out and get ourselves arrested, now do we?"

     "Of course not! I want to keep running around and cutting the people I love! And the people who get in my way... but that's beside the point! Where can I sign up!?" She asks, her smile growing more and more by the minute.

    "Well you already have. Care to tell me your name?" He asks, holding out a hand for a handshake.

     "Himiko Toga!" She says, eagerly taking the man's hand, vigorously shaking it. Despite how hard she was shaking the man's hand, his arm didn't budge much... could this man be a little less strong... just for Himiko's satisfaction... please?

     "Pleasure to meet you, Toga." The white haired man says before gesturing to Tomura and saying "This is my protégé, Tomura Shigaraki. He doesn't usually get along with people well, but I do hope we can change that with some new recruits, and maybe yourself."

     "Well I look forwards to it! So what do we do now?" She asks, still rocking on the heels of her feet, her voice just spilling out her excitement with every word.

     "Look for more recruits. So I can be sure to evaluate and recruit them myself, just make sure to run alongside me, and then we can find some people together." All For One says, suddenly leaping onto another rooftop. Himiko gave the blue haired man a smile before turning to chase after her new boss, prepared to strike anyone as her left hand hovered over her sheathed dagger. The wind felt amazing as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop, the loose hair that she kept out of her buns, and the strands that stuck out in every direction from her buns flowing with the wind as she rushed forwards.

     The game didn't let her run at her usual pace, the stat needing to be upgraded as she plays along with the game so she could get as close to her normal pace as possible, but it would work for now. She got to run at a... normal for the "normal" people pace.

    Is this how quickly all of her victims ran? Geez, she was starting to wonder why they looked so shocked anytime she caught them if they were this slow. She wasn't even running with a quirk boost... slow. Everyone is just so slow. They really need to workout sometime.

Chapter Text

     Kagachi the Samurai Lord is what the citizens had found the name of the floor ten boss to be, and the NPCs continued to give more and more help with each mission, giving small tips about what attack patterns the boss generally had. The way they spoke of the boss was definitely different from the other floors, more fear in their voice, not wanting to let the players even step closer to this boss. It gave fear to the group of players, making each thing they did be worth their while, improving their weapons and their gear as best as possible.

     "This is it for the easy bosses... After this... The gane really starts." Izuku says under his breath, sighing and then running his fingers through his curls, slowly going to sit down on the ground.

     "You can take a break if you need it, you know? I can take over with giving commands, and Kirishima can back me up." Momo says, squatting down in the ground next to Izuku, gently placing her hand on his back. "You're clearly stressed, and the point of our group is to try and relieve the stress from these fights. We still have the rest if this day to prepare for the fight tomorrow."

     The freckled boy lets his fingers slip out of his hair as he turns his head to face his friend, letting his fingers overlap one another as he lets his hands fall to the ground. He gives his friend a soft smile, saying "I haven't even taken on a floor yet, so I'm sure it's fine. Just a little nervous about really getting started, but after the first fight, the stress should be dying down."

     "Well, my point is that you're stressed... You should take some time for yourself today." Momo says, watching as Izuku stands up, reaching to grab his sword and fight more of the enemies around on the bridges and small fields. But Momo wasn't having it, her own hand lunging forward to grab her friend's, her grip firm, but not too tight.

     "Yaoyorozu, it's fine, I promise. Anyone could be nervous about this boss fight." Izuku says, trying to pull his hand from Momo's grip, only for it to tighten. "If I don't fight now, what do I look like to everyone else? I won't have trained like everyone else, and I could look like a poor choice as leader. I have to do this."

      "You've already done so much training, so it wouldn't hurt to take a break for a few hours. Besides, you're already one of the highest qualified people to take on this job. Taking a break for a few hours won't make you look bad to anyone, and they'll understand." Momo says, standing up and placing her hands on her friend's shoulders. They lock eyes for a few moments, and the girl lets her left hand grab Izuku's right, and she then beging to pull him back to the teleportation monument, teleporting the both of them back to Central Tolbana. 

     They stayed silent as they walked through the streets, slowly walking back to the home they had bought for their group of five: Hisashi, Eijirou, Tenya, Momo, and Izuku.

     "Oh, hey, haven't seen you two in awhile." A familiar voice says from behind the duo, and they quickly turn to see Hizashi and Nemuri walking towards them, the blonde waving excitedly while Nemuri give a soft wave, both heroes holding a genuine smile on their faces as they stepped closer to the teens. 

     "Nice new gear! You look like you've been busy." Nemuri says, her smile growing wider as she looks the teens over.

     "Well, what else should we expect from these two?" Hizashi asks, stopping beside Nemuri, placing his hands on his hips. "Where's the little Iida?"

     "He's uh... Talking with some of our other friends elsewhere." Momo says, letting go of Izuku's hand to let it find her other, her fingers lacing together behind her back, out of view of the pros. "He and Kirishima have become good friends, and have enjoyed training together. Midoriya and I were just headed back hime to grab some things, and so Midoriya could take a break."

     "Ohh, alright." Nemuri says, suddenly tossing her hair over her shoulder as she turns to Izuku, saying "Has your dad gotten to talk to you yet?"

    "Hm? Oh, yes. We've been getting to talk since... The uh, the first floor." Izuku replies, giving the female pro a smile. "He's been watching over all of us and has taken an interest in becoming a blacksmith for our group. He's considered making things for the pros as well."

     "Really? Might have to take him up on that then." Nemuri says, placing her right hand on her hip as she presses her thumb on her left hand against the nail of her index finger. She looks up at the teens once more, saying "Well you two go ahead and run off and get that break you need. Us pros will get back to work on that floor soon."

     "Okay. Enjoy your break!" Momo says, grabbing Izuku's arm and waving as she walks off, pulling Izuku along with her. Soon enough, they reached the home, Momo slamming the door shut. Hisashi turned a corner to greet the teens, saying "You two are home early. What's going on?"

     "I'm giving your son a mandatory break since he was stressed earlier. He still plans on participating in the boss fight tomorrow, but can you please make sure he doesn't go train, or that he gets himself all worked up?" Momo asks.

     "Of course." Hisashi replies, giving Momo a soft smile before pulling his son into a warm hug. Momo returns the smile before walking out of the small home, closing the door behind her. The father ruffles his son's hair before leading his son to the small spare room that they were using as a storage area for all of the minerals and things they found, and also for any spare weapons that they may be able to use later, or sell if anyone needed them.

     "So, what's wrong?" Hisashi asks, pulling out some of the materials from a chest, quickly placing them in his inventory so he won't drop anything when he goes to use the items in his workshop.

     Izuky shrugs as he sits in a chair placed against the wall next to the door, pulling his legs towards his chest as he curls up in the chair. He places his head on his knees, watching to see what items his father pulled out.

     "Well, I know you're stressed out, which is completely understandable. I may be someone who helped build this game, but those bosses even stress me out, so you see where I'm sitting throughout this game; making weapons to suit the players. A lot of people seem to forget that the fights aren't everything in this game, and that they can spend their time making other things and upgrading other stats, making things that the merchants wouldn't be able to." Hisashi tells the green haired boy, reaching into the chest to grab two items: a small dagger, and a sword. "These stats take awhile to go up, and take a lot of practice. I went from this tiny dagger-" he holds up the dagger "-to this sword over the course of these weeks that we've been trapped here." He holds up the sword, smiling with pride at his work before handing it to Izuku, letting the boy admire the sword as well.

     It practically shined as the light hit it, and let the details within the sword become more pronounced, the work within the sword leaving Izuku starstruck, surprised that it was his father making these weapons. He handed it back to Hisashi, and the older male slipped the weapons back into the chest, shutting it before getting up, gesturing to Izuku that he wanted the boy to follow. 

     The freckled boy slid off of the chair, staying just behind his father as they walked into the kitchen. Hisashi turned to Izuku, saying "So, stats aren't all in stealth, strength, stamina, speed, and health! They also carry over to other things, like blacksmithing, your handiwork in making clothing, and cooking! None of it is too hard, and is very heavily simplified from real world tasks, meaning I wouldn't exactly trust this game to give you accurate information on cooking and other things, but it is a handy skill to hold."

     "So you want me to pick up a skill like you?" Izuku asks.

     "Yep! That way you have something else to focus on, and don't put all your attention into boss fights. Now what do you have in mind?" Hisashi asks.

     "Cooking." Izuku replies. "It could mean less spending, and we could all just have something nice prepared if I can successfully pick up the skill. Not only that, but it could work in getting pros to calm down if needed."

     "Son, we're not focusing on the pro heroes right now. Right now, this is about making sure you can calm down with something new. There's also fishing that we can start in floor four if you're interested."

     "No, I want to try cooking." 

     "Then how about we go to a shop and grab you a cookbook so you can know what ingredients are needed for specific meals, and what each recipe needs your cooking level to be at." Hisashi says, giving his son a smile. 

     Soon enough, the two headed out, going to grab the cookbook they needed to start getting Izuku's cooking stat leveled up. After using a teleportation monument to get to the Town of Beginnings, avoiding all of the plains on the first floor,  they began to walk through the steadily quieting streets.

     Now that more and more floor were being unlocked, and some new towns had been discovered, people were braving heading to the other floors, making their homes there. However, some people still preferred to reside in the first floor, finding it more peaceful than the other floors, or not wanting to spend more money on a higher floor home after already spending money in their current one.

     Eventually, Hisashi and Izuku managed to make it to the library, slipping into there to look for the cookbook. Izuku's fingers gently trailed against the spines of each book, lightly tapping them when he finished reading what the book said it was, and then moving in to the next one.

     Finally finding the book, Izuku took it off of the shelf, prepared to open it to skim through it, only for the book to give Izuku a notification saying "You must purchase this item before looking at its contents".

     "Well you better be a good cookbook." Izuku says under his breath, walking over to his father to tell him that he got the book. They bought it, and watched as a new copy made itself on the shelf with a soft glow as soon as the one in Izuku's hand was bought.

     Heading home, Izuku excitedly got to work on something simple, spending time trying to perfect it before the others got back after training. It took a few tries for the green haired boy to get it right, accidentally slipping up on a few steps while making the soup, but a couple messes and one undercooked attempt later, Izuku finally had it ready, and just in time for everyone to get back.

     "Ohhh, who was cooking?" Eijirou asks as he turns the corner, excitedly running into the kitchen to grab his bowl of food while Hisashi and Izuku finished picking up the last mess. "Ah, this smells great!"

     "Thank you." Izuku replies, handing Tenya and Momo their own bowl before grabbing the final two, handing one to Hisashi as they headed to sit down at the table, happily eating dinner while they discussed how their day went.

Chapter Text

      The guild finally met up, everyone ready to beat the floor ten boss, each member leveled up the best they could within the amount of time they had to get ready. All gear had been upgraded since their last big meet, as had their shiny weapons that were sheathed for the time being. They stood on a grassy platform that was connected to many others through the wooden bridges.

     Izuku looked over at all the people he would be working with for this boss fight, and smiled at each and every one of them, a few who noticed returning the smile. With that, the freckled boy turned to Momo, giving her a small nod to tell her that it was time, and she returned the nod, taking in a deep breath before speaking.

     "Thank you to all of you for coming. For a long while, we've pressured it onto you that these floors are much harder than all others, and have insisted that you upgrade all gear and equipment as quickly as possible. You all have done this, and have come prepared to fight, despite the well known danger that hides just within this doorway. I thank you all for your bravery, and I wish all of you luck in the oncoming battle." With that, everyone began cheering, and Momo turned around, opening the large door to the floor ten boss. Izuku stayed right behind her, and everyone began following the leaders of their little group.

     As soon as they all stepped in, they began fighting, taking care of the monsters that were supposed to keep the boss protected for as long as possible, and try to take care of the players. However, they were all just monsters that the players had already been fighting on the floor, and so they already knew the attack patterns of each monster, and dealt with them accordingly, jumping out of the way of the attack range, and then attacking from behind to give them more time to move, especially since the monsters had to process where they were first before turning.

      Izuku stayed near Eijirou, both of them watching each other's backs as they fought monster after monster, complimenting the other when they tried out something new, and that the other hadn't really seen too often. 

     "Watch my back real quick, please. I need to get a health potion real quick." Eijirou request. Izuku nods, saying "Already on it" as Ejirou goes into his inventory, tapping on the health. Izuku had to jump in front of the black haired male, using one of his sword skills against the monster that was running to both of the teen players' direction. With his health back up, Eijirou turned to face the other monster running at them from behind, using his own sword skill against the monster, effectively taking away half of its health with all of the leveling up he had done on the skill, throwing a lot of money into it. 

      "Alright, that's the last one!" Itsuka calls, and everyone then walks over to the other large door, finally unlocked and allowing the players to walk in to the danger hiding just behind the thick wood. Tenya took in a deep breath of air before stepping forward, and pushing the doors open. Once each player had walked past the doorway, the boss stormed in, adorned in Samurai armor, and towering over everyone. Kagachi was red, and wielded a katana in one hand.

     "Remember some of the information we got: He has the ability to summon a viper that he can use like a whip or rope, and the end of the blade isn't the end of his attack. Damage can still be dealt just a little ways away from the sword." Tenya reminds everyone, and the boss starts moving, raising its katana to attack. Everyone ran out of the way, spreading out, and successfully getting out of the way of the attack. 

      Monsters ran in from small doorways only accessible to the monsters, running over to the players to start attacking, all knowing that they needed to protect Kagachi. Izuku paid no mind to them this time, knowing everyone else had his back while he went for attacking the boss, a few others joining him, all using their sword skills as soon as it made itself available again, and then just using basic attacks when their sword skills were still resetting for use.

     When Izuku had to back up, and get out of the boss' range as it summoned the viper once more, the reptile snaking down the armored arm, hissing to intimidate and threaten the players challenging Kagachi, Izuku ran in to one of the monsters, which immediately attacked Izuku, making Izuku wince in pain before running out of the range of the monster's attacks, activating one of his long range sword skills to take care of it. Not having backed up enough, the viper managed to deal some damage on Izuku, but not as much as it could have if he was even closer, the attack barely grazing the freckled boy, but still taking a good amount of health from Izuku.

      "Are you alright?" Eijirou asked as he pulled Izuku out of the way, getting him out of the way of the monsters for a little while.

     "Yeah, I'm fine. Not as bad as it could have been, so I'll be alright." The green haired teen replied. Eijirou's face turned to one of concern instead of the previous panic he felt. 

     "You go ahead and take care of the small monsters for a little while, and I'll take over for you and take care of Kagachi." Eijirou says, giving his friend a smile before running towards the boss, sword ready to attack, charging up Eijirou's most powerful sword skill. Izuku didn't watch for too long, turning to face the monster running at him. Sure, he has lost a quarter of his health so far, but he didn't think it required him to sit out of the main fight and battle the smaller guys.

     "Oh, and look who we have to help us now! One of your own subordinates kick you out of the main fight to help us?" Neito said, giving Izuku a grin before turning to help Itsuka finish the monster they were battling.

     "Kirishima was just looking out for me, Monoma. I can't blame him." Izuku replied before swinging his sword at another monster, grabbing its attention, and then activating one of his skills, smiling in satisfaction as it shattered, disappearing seconds later.

    Hardly even moments later, Kagachi roared in anger, most players covering their ears, Izuku included, as they winced in pain from just how loud it was. The ginormous samurai pulled out another katana now that its health was getting dangerously low, and before all players could move out of the way, the boss attacked, swinging both swords. Heavy damage was dealt to most of the players fighting the boss, and Izuku shouted "Everyone, trade out, now!"

     Now with a majority of the people in the room fighting the boss, it should overall make it easier for them to finish off the boss. Izuku was reaching the boss first, which means he was the first player the boss decided to focus on, once more raising his katanas to try and finish off at least one player. However, he knew that running just a little more ahead, and he would be able to get out of the attack, which is why he was confused when he suddenly felt someone heavily armored crash into him, pushing him out of the way as the other person took the hit. Did they really think Izuku was going to get hit? He just had to move forward a little bit more, and then they wouldn't have been hit.

     It was as Izuku looked up to see who took the hit that nobody should have been taking that his eyes widened in shock, his hand flying to his mouth as he saw Tenya there, watching his health go down. Tenya had been there fighting the boss earlier, so his health was already dangerously low from the two katana attack, and now he had taken another. The freckled boy was up, and began running to one of his first friends, but was quickly scooped up by Denki, getting Izuku away from another attack as he began screaming in protest, wanting to go to his friend and make sure he had at least a little bit of health back.

     Until the health bar stopped going down, Tenya couldn't take any health potions to bring it up, and was just stuck watching.

     Izuku continued to scream, some words, but mainly just screaming from shock, anger, and sadness. He wanted to be put down to be there for Tenya if these really were his last moments, but Denki put Izuku down far away, an area that was currently safe while all other monsters and the boss were busy. The green haired boy was sobbing at this point, especially as he watched Tenya burst into the crystals of light, and fade away, no more words slipping past his lips, but he still continued to try and get away from Denki, who tried to keep Izuku sitting down so that he could calm down.

     It wasn't every day that Izuku made friends, most people not wanting to interact with the weak quirkless kid. But for the past nine floors, Tenya and everyone else had known, and yet his first three friends still stuck with him, being his first true best friends, and making sure that he was always taken care of. He did the same for them, and Hisashi just kind of became the dad for all of them while all of their parents were stuck in the real world, hoping their child would stay safe. But now Tenya wasn't safe, and Izuku felt like he failed Tensei. He had told the older brother that he and Momo would teach Tenya everything he needs to know, and that they'd always stick alongside him in the game while he played for a little while, and yet now Tenya wasn't here.

      Izuku felt like such a failure, and he didn't even get to comfort Tenya in his final moments.  He definitely had his heroic spirit through and through, but he had misjudged the moment, thinking Izuku was in danger, and hadn't noticed the swords.

     Looking around, Izuku noticed Momo and Eijirou had been pulled over to corners of the rooms as well, Momo crying while Eijirou just sat there in shock, one person in front of each to try and keep them there to calm down.

     "Midoriya, I know it hurts, but you need to sit down for now. The boss fight is almost over, and then we can mourn over it later. Please, I need you to calm down so we can finish this guy off." Denki says, stepping in front of Izuku once more as he tries to escape the corner of the room he was placed in. "Dude, you're shaking bad, and you're not in a fighting shape right now. Please, I need you to breath."

     Izuku shook his head, getting up and managing to run underneath Denki's arm, only for Denki to wrap his arms around Izuku's waist, pulling the smaller teen back to the corner to sit down while he tried to flail around, not wanting to sit down and feel useless, wanting to see if he saw wrong, and maybe Tenya was still there fighting. Plenty of people had armor, and he could have just seen wrong, right?

     One final roar erupted from the beast before it burst into light, fading away as it was defeated. Those who had continued fighting cheered in victory, the person who took the final hit walking over to the chest available for them at the end of the room, right in front of the door that formed, letting the players onto the next floor.

     "Hey, c'mon, man. Let's get you out of here." Denki said, picking up Izuku, and taking him to the next floor alongside everyone else.

Chapter Text

     As Denki started walking Izuku out of the large room, the freckled teen spotted Momo, and quickly ran over to her, checking on her and asking if she was okay. She looked so sad, and only placed her hand on Izuku's shoulder before walking over to the close teleportation monument, activating it and saying in a very quiet voice "Let's just go home."

    Izuku nodded, pressing the long, glowing blue monument himself to go to the first floor again. Everyone around them excitedly started talking about how pretty the floor was, but Izuku took a preference in ignoring it as he pressed the needed button, Eijirou calling out to Momo and Izuku as they went home. The duo didn't mean to ignore him, but words simply felt too difficult. 

     As soon as they arrived back to the first floor, they walked hand in hand, heads held low, faces towards the ground as they slowly walked home. It didn't take too long to get home, but when they did, Hisashi was already there in the doorway, seemingly ready to ask how the raid went, but his smile immediately fell once once he saw both of the teenagers. So he let them walk by, and retreat to their room, where they walked up to the wall, and sat there, right next to one of the beds in the room. They didn't speak, they just sat there, and Hisashi wearily watched them, debating walking over. 

     Eijirou ran in soon after, panic on his face as he stood int he doorway, and then walking into the bedroom, looking at his two friends to make sure they were alright.

    "Where's Iida?" Hisashi asks, resulting in Momo breaking down into sobs, burying her face in her hands while her body shook. Izuku tried to comfort her, wrapping his arms around his first real friend in the longest time, trying to help comfort her the best he could, but only ended up crying himself. Eijirou looked away from his two friends, and then led Hisashi away, shutting the bedroom door. From the bedroom, Momo and Izuku could hear the quiet murmurs from the other two in the household, but they had decided to ignore it, not wanting to hear the recap of events. It hurt too much to think about, and while it was already all they could think about, they still wanted to avoid any additional reminders.

     Izuku and Momo never stepped foot out of the room for actual weeks, going between their beds and the floor, hardly even accepting meals from Eijirou and Hisashi. Both Hisashi and Eijirou were lucky if they even managed to get the two to eat more than one meal a day. 

    Eijirou mourned too, but not as long as the other two teens seemed to. He hadn't known Tenya as long, so he found it easier to recover. He was still very upset about it, but he was back to trying to run their group, trying to get them to take over with the floor bosses for as long as they could before the heroes forced them to stop. However, after two floors, it seemed as thought they were going to lose boss access very soon, and would be right back to trying to catch up and get as much knowledge as they needed to beat the floor boss before the pros could get to it. But with the quick rate the pros ran to the floors at, it was probably going to be this floor or the next that the pros finally took over on.

     Izuku and Momo were never informed of the death count from their group. Hisashi, who told them most things going on in the outside world as a way to try and motivate them to go out, had decided that it was best they never learned about that sort of thing in a time of grieving.

     The guild was doing it's best to run without three fifths of their original founders, and were stuck with the people who hadn't exactly been the best at making intricate plans, especially for large groups, targeting specific talents and trying to hone in on it. You see, Izuku had been the guide with that, as had Momo, helping direct the others in way they could improve their sword skills and more. However, despite the fact that the guild still had prior ways of improvement to look back on, they were still struggling. Eijirou and Hisashi weren't going to be able to run it on their own for forever.

     After two and a half weeks, Izuku stepped out of the room, heading to the kitchen to try and cook again, try to focus on something other than the regret he felt after losing Tenya. He felt bad taking as long as he was to push himself off the ground, and back to normal, because Momo had known Tenya so much longer, and Izuku felt like he was bothering her by staying in the same room, and felt like he didn't truly deserve to stay in there as long as her. He had only known Tenya a few months, but he still felt so special to the freckled teen, his second true friend ever since he was pronounced quirkless. 

     When Hisashi finally saw Izuku up, he started to tell his son a little more, like how Nemuri, Hizashi, and Shota were always trying to talk to Eijirou and Hisashi every time the trio saw the two, and would follow them, asking questions about what happened and wondering why the citizens were just failing to trust the pro heroes. Their questions almost always seemed to be about Tenya though, and if, in the end, it was truly worth it. Hisashi and Izuku had finally figured that the trio had also personally known Tenya. Izuku couldn't blame them for wanting answers, and he'd probably give them, but not for awhile. He still wasn't ready to step outside again. Not yet.

     As Izuku suspected, within the next week of him finally moving around the home again, the heroes had once more taken over with the floors. At least the guild had managed to get three floors done. However, this also meant the pros were once more lacking what to suspect from the boss fight, and didn't know just how much stronger the bosses had gotten. They'd figure it out soon enough, but just how many would they lose in that time?

    Since the pros hadn't raided the floor yet, simply demanded that the guild lie back while they took on the floor, demanding that they, the pros, had taken enough time off, and heard enough that they were going to take over again, Izuku decided to wait patiently for Hisashi and EIjirou to get home. Once they did, Izuku handed them their dinner, his cooking level already increased that day, which meant it was going to be better than usual, and said "I need you two to gather the guild together real quick, and tell them to give the pros as much information on the boss levels as possible. They want to take over, they're at least going to need some knowledge."

     "Why don't you send out a mass message to the guild?" Eijirou asks, taking a bite of his dinner.

     "Because they'll think I'm ready to go out again and 'rebel' against the pros, get back to making them sit back. So if you guys tell them, they won't expect too much from me just yet. Sure, I helped get them prepared for the tenth floor boss... but what kind of leader of a guild am I if I can only stick around for one fight? At least they managed to stick around for a few more." Izuku replies, tears starting to well in his eyes, the feeling of failure weighing heavily on his shoulders.

     "Well, you're just a teenager-" Hisashi starts, only to quickly be cut off by Izuku saying "So are a lot of them."

     "If you would let me finish, you're only a teenager who was trying to lead a whole group, and you've already met the pro heroes, and know what they're like in these situations. For weeks upon weeks, you were trying to train them, hope the pros wouldn't notice, kept watch. And then you lost... him. Izuku, I've received a basic understanding on what your life was like before this game, so don't think I don't understand how important he was to you." Hisashi explains.

     "It still doesn't feel right to mourn over someone right next to someone who has known them so much longer though."

     "The amount of time you've known someone doesn't mean that they were any less important to you. Besides, I'm sure Yaoyorozu enjoyed having you near her, keeping her company instead of letting her feel lonely whenever Kirishima and I were out trying to run the guild." Hisashi got up from the table, walking over to his son, and pulling him into a tight hug. "You're just a kid, and you have to remember you can't keep blaming yourself for things like this. If you want to blame someone, blame the dumbass who trapped everyone here."

     "Yeah, man. Iida, when he jumped in, he only wanted to protect you, make sure you'd be alright. So many people on near full health lost most of it, and had to back out from those big attacks. They were hella dangerous, and he didn't know if you'd be out of the way in time, or if you'd even have enough health to keep you alive. We already had one near neath experience with you in a boss fight, and he wanted to make sure you were alright." Eijirou explained, placing his hand on Izuku's shoulder.

     "I never said I was blaming myself for it though." Izuku says, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

     "We know, but we can tell that you are." Hisashi says, running his fingers through Izuku's hair. That was when Momo walked out of the room, tears already in her eyes, only hesitating in the doorway for a moment before running up, and quickly finding herself pulled into the hug as well. They stayed like that for who knows how long, but after awhile, they finally started eating their food again, Momo joining in at the table, enjoying her own food. The rest of the meal was kept in silence, and afterwards, they retreated off to their room, all cuddling together on one of the beds, trying to make sure they could be there for each other as long as they could, in case if anything were to happen to them again.

     Another month later, and a few more floors beaten, Izuku finally stepped outside, dressed back in his gear once more, sword on his back, and no longer in the pajamas he had practically been living in. Momo wasn't ready to leave the home herself just yet, but she was leaving the bedroom much more often now, spending more and more time with everyone. Everyone was proud of her, and made sure she knew it.

     But here Izuku was, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun, working on adjusting to it real quick. He couldn't help but smile as he looked around, happy to see the world again, despite the fact that it was literally a game he was trapped in for who knows how long? But he walked forwards, walking towards the town's teleportation monument, and onto one of the newer floors, the eleventh floor. He wanted to adjust to the monsters again, and held no intention of jumping ahead to the newest of the new floors, because that was signing a death warrant, one he never wanted to ever find himself signing. Not when everyone is finally recovering.

     "I've got this. Time to just keep going." Izuku says to himself, clenching his fist in determination, smiling to himself as he begins to walk forward, only to stop in his tracks as he hears someone behind him say "Ah, there you are."

Chapter Text

    Izuku quickly turns around, looking to see who the person was behind him. Their voice didn't sound familiar at all, and it made Izuku nervous, wondering why this person would be looking for him. Now facing the person, Izuku took in their appearance. They were a pink haired girl, about his age. Her hair was pulled into two ponytails on the side of her head, her eyes wide and pink. Her outfit seemed a little... inappropriate for her age, and Izuku was honestly wondering how she got her hands on it, never recognizing it in his first run through the game.

     "Kazuho Haneyama! Pleasure to meet you! I've heard a lot about you from the other players!" She exclaims, her voice bubbly and energetic, her movements equal to it as she grabs his hand and begins to shake it. As Izuku takes in her appearance a little more, he notices something awfully familiar about her, his head tilting to the side a little in thought as he tries to figure out what it is. "Uhh, you a little lost there?"

     "Are you that one girl who's kinda a stand alone pop star and runs around the street making concerts while illegally using her quirk, and somehow isn't caught?" Izuku asks, making the girl blink in surprise.

     "That was... awfully specific... AND UNNECESSARY TO SAY SO LOUUUUD!" She shouts, taking her hand away from Izuku, and hitting him over the head. He lets out a quick, quiet "ow" as he starts to rub the sore part of his head as he says "Well you're the one being really loud."

     Izuku quickly steps back, expecting another hit, because it seemed to just really go with the girl's personality, but as he looked up, he noticed someone else, clearly an adult, but also not exactly old enough to be considered a full fledged adult. He held the girl's arm, and gave Izuku a nervous smile and wave, saying "I'm sorry about her. She's just got this really short fuse."

     "I can... kinda see that." Izuku replies, his voice quiet as he nervously looks at the girl, who was trying to fight her way out of the new guy's grip.

    "Oh, I'm Koichi Haimawari by the way. Pleasure to meet you, Midoriya." The man says, holding out his hand for a much gentler handshake than the one that Kazuho provided. Izuku gives a small nod as he says "Pleasure to meet you," and then turns to the girl, saying "Why did you run up though?"

    "She's just admired you kinda not listening to the pros at all, and got too excited. Sorry if she's bothered you." Koichi replies.

     "Who said I was being a bother!? Usually everyone wants to talk to me, and he knows me, Mr.Nice Guy." Kazuho says with a huff, finally snatching her arm away, and crossing her arms tight.

    "Oh, I've heard of you too. I hear you help people around a lot, and they all really appreciate it." Izuku says, giving the older male a soft smile. Koichi returns the small gesture as he turns around, heading back to some of the alleyways, where a tall, bulky man stood waiting. Kazuho and Koichi continued to bicker on their way over there, the large man stopping their arguing as they neared him, and then disappearing in the dark alley.

     Izuku honestly hadn't expected to have been greeted so quickly, especially because of how long he had been hiding away, but it felt a little... nice? Nice to know that there weren't people out to kill him just yet.

     But he should have known he spoke too soon, because that was when someone nearby cleared their throat, and as Izuku turned around, his eyes widening in surprise as he backs up a step.

     "Problem child, it's been awhile." Shota says as he leans against a nearby tree, his arms crossed as he stares at Izuku, almost completely not blinking as he looks over Izuku, but not in some weird way. No, it was a little more concerned, a bit worried. It wasn't enough to stop Izuku's heart from racing in worry though, to make aur harder to bring into his lungs. Why was he so scared? All the man had done was clear his throat and say a few words. Should he really have stepped outside? "Hey, you okay?"

     Izuku just nods a little, a part of him wanting to run back inside, longing for some comfort from his family. The other part of him told him that he didn't want to continue to be babied- he was fifteen after all -and that Shota hadn't done anything wrong. Sure, he had scared Izuku a bit with how stern he was, and how he had been quite insistent to get to talk to him, but that didn't mean he should feel stuck in place right now, the option of running to the door feeling almost impossible.

     "Hey, I'm sorry if I startled you. We just... we need you to breathe." Shota says, a little closer by the sound of his voice, but not too much closer. Enough to give Izuku some space as the freckled teen started reaching to the ground, slowly sitting himself down on the cobblestone path, trying not to fall to the ground. Izuku tries to breathe, he really does, and it's hard at first to try and calm down, but finally, it starts to even out, air easier to come by. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Do you want me to get your dad, maybe get you something from one of the shops? I heard you haven't visited any of the new floors yet ever since..."

    "It's... it's alright. I don't.... get why or what happened. Sorry if I scared you." Izuku says, burying his face in his knees, avoiding eye contact with the pro hero. That was when he heard someone else walk up, heels clacking against the ground as they slowly walked up, coming to a halt when they were close enough, and then gently placing their hand on Izuku's back, slowly rubbing it before slowly, carefully pulling the boy into a hug. 

     Nemuri had always been nice, and such a kind figure to be around, despite what she was mainly known for as a hero. She almost always knew what to say, and sometimes made it take a dirtier turn through a joke to try and change the mood a little. She generally only did that to teenagers close to adulthood and other adults, that way it wouldn't be awkward for her, and wouldn't result in a lot of mad people. She was careful, kind, and comforting, and Izuku honestly didn't mind hugging her back, despite the fact he was worried about coming across her just as much as he was Shota.

     Maybe he just wasn't exactly ready to be bombarded by so many people, especially when they were people he was worried to see, worried about what they'd say, worried about how they'd treat him. But they still seemed so kind, no matter what.

      "Hey, it's okay, kiddo. Aizawa probably should have waited awhile before coming up to you, given you more time to adjust to the world again. We just wanted to check on you." Nemuri says. Through his peripheral vision, he can see Hizashi and Shota there, sitting on the ground nearby. Shota still seemed to be backed up a little bit though, trying not to get too close. Izuku hated that he made the man feel like he needed to keep his distance, made it look like to everyone around him that he was just a fragile teenager who could only take so many hits before he shattered.

     "It's okay, really." Izuku says, and almost as soon as he says it, the door behind him slams open, and his father's footsteps can be heard getting closer and closer, saying "Izuku, son, are you alright!?"

     Hisashi was still new to the entire parenting thing, so Izuku can't exactly blame him when he pulls Izuku away from Nemuri, away from the hug, and says to the three pro heroes "What the hell are you doing here again? Can you not give Izuku time to recover before you get all pushy and annoying again!?"

     "Mr.Midoriya, we do sincerely apologize for constantly trying to push our way through to see your son in the time he was recovering. We thought too much of ourselves for awhile, only considered our hurt, and wanted to demand answers, make sure it was wrong, and that we didn't lose one of our closest friends' younger brothers. We justified it by saying we had already gone through a loss before, and we apologize for how long it took us to stop that way of thinking. We just wanted to apologize to your son and make sure he was alright." Nemuri explains, getting up only to bring herself into a deep bow as she apologizes, her hair falling off her back and over her shoulders, shielding her face from the father and son. 

     "I suppose it's alright... but you did cause a lot of worry and stress in my home. I think that that definitely slowed Yaoyorozu's and Izuku's progress with their healing, and it hurt me so bad to see my child, and someone I can practically consider another child hurt as much as they did." Hisashi explains as he tightens his hug on Izuku just a bit. Izuku slid down, trying to bury his strawberry red face. He never exactly liked people talking about him, and it always made him so embarrassed... especially since he's in front of pro heroes right now... what a day, huh?

     "We do apologize." Shota and Hizashi say, getting up to bow as well. Only a couple moments later, they stand straight again, Shota holding out his hands to help pull Hisashi and Izuku off the ground. Hisashi seems to accept the hand, but Izuku just scrambles out of his father's hug, standing up himself, already embarrassed enough as is. However, before he runs off, mentally telling himself to run off to one of the floors to fight monsters and complete some missions to level up, he says "I guess I can tell you a bit about it if you really want sometime, just not really soon."

     And then he runs off, taking the long way to another teleportation plaza, taking out some monsters in the fields on his way to the other teleportation plaza. Yeah, there was one right there to get him to floor eleven, which is exactly what he was about to do, but maybe the more scenic route was better. It might actually let people think that he isn't busy with the upper floors just yet. He still has floors to run ahead to so he can beat the floor bosses. Izuku hasn't given up on the guild just yet.

Chapter Text

   Tensei had been trying to make it as normal of a day as possible as he went about his work day, trying not to be hurt over the fact that yet again, he was not given a farewell by his little brother. Ever since the day Tenya could speak, the boy had been running straight to the door, little face presenting the most serious face someone his age could provide, and would wish his brother farewell. His constant attempts at being formal and serious left the family in a fit of giggles every time, but still made sure to give him his farewell, making sure he still felt good about himself. It had just been their thing.

     And then Tenya got the air-chopping, which only added to the family's amusement, but they still never said anything, trying to make sure the youngest of the household still felt very appreciated, that he could still be himself, know that the family enjoyed seeing him run to the door every day.

     One day, Tensei started training Tenya with his quirk, trying to prepare him for the UA entrance exams, that he would be able to succeed, and maybe even give Shota those greeting that Tensei had been to busy to give. 

     And then, not too much longer later, the entirety of Tensei's friend group was stuck in the game called Sword Art Online, the game Tensei sent his little brother to just earlier that day. And like that, everything had changed. Mornings felt incomplete, afternoons felt cramped with finishing up hero work, visiting the hospital, and then helping his parents with dinner. With all of that done, and the house as clean as they were willing to make it, Tensei would head to bed, and then start this same schedule all over again, continuing to long for his brother to run down the hall, give a deep bow, and a quick lecture with his hands chopping through the air, and would bid his brother farewell.

    It was horrible, every second of it. Tensei felt so lonely, a void that not even his wide abundance of sidekicks could fix. They tried to help him, encourage him that Tenya was a strong kid, and always tried to keep him and those around him safe. He probably wouldn't do anything too reckless anyways, especially if he had the help of Momo and that Izuku kid in the game. He had friends, and even had Tensei's friends in there. Everything was supposed to be fine.

     However, Tensei never actually knew what was happening in the game, never knew that the heroes and civilians trapped in the game were quickly growing apart, and, before he knew it, as he walked into the hospital room, the sterile smell filling his lungs with a stronger smell, the flowers. Tensei had more flowers in his hand to replace the previous ones with, and was making his way over when the quiet room became the loudest it had ever been in weeks, the loud ringing filling the room, the sound of nurses rushing towards the room, and the soft fall of the batch of flowers hitting the hard ground. Tensei followed right after them as his deep blue eyes slowly turned over to the heart monitor, the worst of his fears coming true as he saw the ones steadily going, spiking line turn into just a smooth, horizontal one, the ringing starting to fade out of his ears, as all he stares at is that line, that damned line.

     The busy sounds of the hospital room fills his ears once more as arms scoop beneath his armpits, pulling him out of the room and out to the hallway.

     Tensei can't say anything, he can hardly move on his own. Nothing wants to work, not even his brain. He can't really register anything that's going on around him. He may be sitting on a bench, but he's in a void, eyes staring into nothingness as he tried to register what all was going on, what happened, what it was that brought to this break in his schedule. It hurt, he hated it, he wanted to hug Tenya again, wanted to reassure his little brother that everything was okay, to be able to giggle and laugh at his little brother's antics once more.

     "Tenya... Tenya?" Tensei softly calls, tears welling up in his eyes as he finally begins to move, turning to the direction of his brother's hospital room where the nurses and doctors are doing everything they currently can, knowing good and well that Tensei is still right there, waiting to see if they can bring Tensei back.

     The helmet comes off with ease, already tossed out of the way while the doctors and nurses do everything they can to bring Tenya back, let the boy show a smile once more.

     It feels like Tensei waits forever, tear filled eyes watching with worry as the people operate on his brother, trying to bring him back to life. And that was then there was a beep, a stop in the ringing, and then another beep. They were picking up again, picking up a little too quickly, the patient underneath all of the nurses and doctors clearly panicking. 

     And then his eyes snap open, and Tenya Iida lurches forward. Tensei can't help but run into the room, and wrap his arms around his little brother, breaking into sobs and fingers digging into the hospital shirt his brother wore. Tenya hugged his little brother back, and that was the very first patient brought back alive from the killing game.

     Research continued on the subject, grabbing a few people who had nothing left for them in life, who had been living all alone, and had nobody around them who would care. Yeah, it was unethical, but these were the nobodies who had grabbed the game, had almost no purpose, hadn't really tried to try, as seen on their records. In the end, they were unable to pull the headgear off patients, and unable to bring those people back from the dead.

     Tenya was still the only person who had died in the game within the past week so far, but Tensei hadn't been able to see him often, told that they still needed to make sure Tenya was completely alright and able to go home without anything critical happening the second he stepped foot out of the hospital.

    Tensei could wait.

    The older brother waited a week and a half before he was able to run into the room once more, his shift just barely even ten minutes over when he wrapped his arms around Tenya again, tears back in his eyes, but not nearly as bad as they were just a week and a half prior. 

     "Tenya, what happened in there?" Tensei asks, pulling his brother at arm's length to stare his brother in the eyes before reaching into one of his compartments in the suit, pulling out the pair of glasses that had been sitting on the teenager's nightstand for far too long, and then delicately placing it on Tenya's face, letting his little brother's vision fully return, smiling as he watched Tenya adjust the glasses slightly, a slightly smaller smile returned to the older brother before Tenya says "I was just trying to keep a friend safe in there."

     "What was going on in there?"

    "Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and I had formed this guild together since the pro heroes in the game insisted they could do it all by themselves, but we all knew they couldn't, and so we stepped in. We had a plan when we took on that floor boss, knew what to do, but I stepped in. I'm at my own fault for stepping in when Midoriya probably would have been fine. I just didn't want to run any risk, or let him get really low on health again."

    "Again? And Tenya, what are the pros even doing in there?" Tensei has a slight panic in his voice, unsure of what was going on, the time Midoriya could have previously almost died, and how many close calls everyone else could have made.

    "Well, Midoriya seems to have this person he's known since he was little, and after the first floor raid, this person walked up to him and tried to kill him, especially when Midoriya said how he managed to get the beta tests. This person, I believe his name was Bakugo, said that Midoriya was quirkless, and by giving suggestions to the creators, Midoriya was the reason we were all quirkless in game. However, Midoriya had good reasoning, not knowing that the game would trap us in it, and wanted as much of an equal opportunity for everyone, and didn't know if quirks were going to crash the game yet."

    "I see... we may have to have a talk with this guy's parents, maybe even go to Midoriya's mother to talk to her to figure out for sure who this guy is, and if they've really know each other that long. Murder definitely isn't alright, whether it's in that damned game or not."

     "It's only because Midoriya got the final hit prize that he managed to live... if it wasn't for him putting on that cloak last second, he would have been dead..." With that, Tensei pulls Tenya into a tight hug, something Tenya happily returned, happy to be within the comfort of his brother's arms once more. They stayed like that for awhile, taking a few minutes to finally be able to get up, and leave the hospital.

     However, they didn't continuously stay out of the hospital, actually paying frequent visits to it, walking down the hallways and to Momo's hospital room for awhile, and then making their way to Izuku's. It too them awhile to get the courage to go to Izuku's room, never actually knowing the guy in person that well, the most outside the game interaction they've had being the phone call that informed the two that Tenya was going to get a shot at the game. 

    While Tenya and Tensei had always wanted to make sure they had the right person who had attempted murder against the person that they've supposedly known since childhood, they just got nervous, but eventually gathered enough bravery to walk into the room, eyes scanning the room.

     "You know, walking into these rooms is really screaming at me about how you guys could be so worried about me. We really do look horrible in the outside world when we're stuck like this, don't we?" Tenya whispers to Tensei, nervously looking at his friend. The older brother nods before continuing to scan the room, finally spotting Inko at the other side of the hospital room, away from where she could be seen in the doorway. She just sat there, blankly staring at her son, continuously scanning him over. Whenever her eyes darted up to the headgear, she'd give it a slight glare, something that probably meant "Get off my son. and get off of him soon".

     "Good morning, Mrs.Midoriya." Tensei says, stepping in and giving the woman a small wave, trying to make sure he seemed safe enough to her by giving her a small smile. However, she still jumped, not prepared to have someone new in the room, not expecting visitors. 

     "Ingenium!?" Inko exclaims, quickly standing up and giving the pro a quick, deep bow before standing up straight again. Tensei hadn't exactly been hiding his citizen persona lately, so it probably made sense that she'd recognize him.

     "Hello. By little brother and I would just like to talk to you real quick, if that'd be alright?"

Chapter Text

     Inko nervously looked to her son, pulling at her fingers, clasping them, unclasping them, even letting her nails dig into the skin for a brief moment. Nobody ever really just came in here to ask her about things, especially not Ingenium. 

     Izuku had always admired the man, went on long discussions about how cool it was that he had so many sidekicks, and still got so much work done himself. Her son always said that he was surprised Tensei wasn't in the top ranks.

     His All Might discussions were always the longest though.

     "What... what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Inko's head tilts to the side in question as she finally starts to let her hands relax a little, fall down in front of her, still clasped together.

     "My little brother here, Tenya, had witnessed some things in the game. He's the only person lately who has been brought back to life, and trust me ma'am, I find it very unfair to the other families as well. However, someone we think you, or possibly just your son, knows. But you seem like the kind of mother that your child would be able to tell almost anything to, so I was wondering if the name Bakugou felt familiar to you?" Tensei begins to explain, his voice gentle.

     "Yes. Yes, that name is very familiar to me. Katsuki is the only one in that game though... oh god, what did Katsuki do?" Inko starts to panic, wondering what could have happened for them to be talking to her instead of Mitsuki or Masaru. 

     "So, we were correct with the last name, right?" Tenya looks at Inko, his expression filled with concern, hands held together in one that almost mirrored Inko's own.

     "Sadly, it seems so. What happened? Why come to me instead of his parents? They're both fine," Inko explains.

     "My brother here told me that Bakugo, in a moment when he was furious on the first floor fight, had tried to kill your son, screaming about how your son's suggestion that everyone in the game becomes quirkless to prevent game malfunctions, saying that Mido- Izuku just wanted everyone to be like him," Tensei explains, making Inko quickly return to looking at her son with worry once more, stepping over to the bed, where she placed one of her hands on his own.

      "He's okay in there, right?" Inko's hand squeezes her son's, tears seeming to form in her eyes, leading to her free hand moving to her face, wiping away the tears. "I just want him to be okay. He's all I've had, and then my husband messaged me not long after the game started, and said he was going into the game too. So... I can't even tell my own husband about how I feel, and just have to talk about how different things feel with Katsuki's parents!"

     In the time during Inko's rant, Tensei had walked over, and placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, his pair of eyes sad, but the smile he gave was supportive, understanding. They stood there like that for a long while, taking in the almost silence of the room, all three of them still appreciating being able to hear the steady beats of the heart monitor. 

     Tensei remembered when that sound comforted him for Tenya, letting him know his little brother was safe. The older brother could only imagine what it must be like to have an only child in the game, and never knowing when or if they would be able to return.

     The pro hero was about to say something, already opening his mouth to do so, but was suddenly pulled out of the room by Inko, who walked with a purpose, not only filled with sadness anymore, but a burning rage. Tensei knew he had to help calm her down, as did Tenya. Both brothers slowed her down, talked to her in an attempt to calm her down in the middle of the hospital halls, especially before she reached her destination.

     If she knew the Bakugos, she certainly knew where Katsuki's hospital room was, and you can almost guarantee that that was her destination. 

      By the time they had talked enough reason with her, she was just still filled with sadness and anger, but at least her grieving was more powerful than the anger right now. She seemed like the kind of woman who'd commit murder for her child in all honesty, whether the person to blame was someone she knew for five seconds or decades.

     Not too much later, they reached the hospital room that Inko was originally heading to, and she softly knocked on the wooden door, waiting to see if there would be any response, if her friend was already in there. Luckily, there was. 

     The door creaked open, revealing Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugo. Tenya looked at the mother in surprise, whispering to Tensei "Bakugo looks a lot like his mother."

     "Inko dear, how can we help you? Oh, come in, come in," Mitsuki says, stepping aside with Masaru, opening the door to let the shorter woman in. Her narrow red eyes finally catch sight of the other two, and she quickly asks "Who are these two?"

     "Mitsuki, this is the pro hero Ingenium, and his little brother. They had... some news for me today, and seem to also want to speak with you," Inko explains to her friend, and Tensei quickly ushers for the three parents to take a seat, both of the older Bakugos staring between their son and the pro hero.

     And so Tensei once more explains the events of the first floor battle, this time with Tenya's help to add in the rest of the details, explaining just how low of health Izuku had been left on, and the one thing that had saved him in that moment. Mitsuki and Masaru listened, horrified with their son's actions, holding Inko's hand for support.

     "But, right now, the key factor is that he's okay. Both of them are. Katsuki actually hasn't been seen around Izuku at all lately, according to Tenya here. He hasn't been seen in awhile, but we at least know that he's alive, maybe even thinking over things," Tenya explains, only for Tenya to cross his arms and mumble "Or plan out the next way to get rid of Midoriya."

     Tensei takes a moment to stare at his brother in shock, never expecting a comment like that from his little brother.

    "Tenya, don't say things like that out loud. Especially not right now." Tensei scolds before he turns back to the parents.

    "We knew something was wrong with the boys, how they always avoided going to meet up with each other, how they came up with excuses to stay home from get togethers we had planned... and we knew Katsuki inherited my anger issues, but we just never assumed that they were as bad as they are," Mitsuki explains, her hands waving in the air as she explains, clearly stressed out with her son's behavior. 

     "Maybe if we had payed a little closer attention to the boys' attitudes with each other, and how drastically their personalities changed after Izuku's diagnosis, maybe we could have better educated him... made him not think that being quirkless was going to be the end of Izuku's worth." Masaru sighed, his hand placed on his wife's knee, giving it a small comforting squeeze while Mitsuki got out some of her anger, the one she had directed at herself. She buried her face in her hands, letting out an annoyed scream while she kicked the floor a few times, seemingly doing the trick for her to feel a little better.

     "I'm sure it's not really both of your faults. Some kids are just stubborn with their opinion... and Izuku sort of just stopped speaking fondly about school in general. Maybe Aldera has some sort of tribute to both of the boys," Inko suggests, giving Mitsuki and Masaru a soft smile, trying to give them some comfort. Both Iidas appreciated seeing her trying to give comfort instead of still storming around in a murderous rage.

     "I suppose it might be... but we both do apologize for our son's behavior... and how close you got to losing yours," Masaru says, trying to return the smile to the short woman. Inko just gives a small nod as she turns away, shrugging as she says "You don't really have much of anything to apologize for. We all should have noticed these things sooner."

    Tensei and Tenya exchange a quick glance before they get up, deciding to leave the small families in the hospital room alone, able to talk things through, figure out what they were going to do in the future for the boys. Sure, legal action was almost certainly going to have to happen for Katsuki's attempt at murder, but things were probably still going to need to be figured out.

     Katsuki Bakugo honestly hated feeling like shit, like he'd really truly fucked things up. All throughout school, he'd been praised, told just how cool he was, how he could, and would, do anything. The pedestal was so high that he could practically see the perfect future ahead of him: the one where Izuku was still on the ground, and Katsuki had made it to be a top hero, being able to shove it in Izuku's face that he was the one that truly had potential, and Izuku didn't.

     But then it all came tumbling down, all when this damn game started. Why did he want this game so bad in the first place? Because it was new, all the talk? Because he wanted praise for being one of the first to get it? Dammit, he should have just stuck to his training routine.

    The blonde teen plucked at the blades of grass beneath him, forcefully pulling out the grass surrounding him, blade by blade. He didn't want to look up anymore, not when he had that orange diamond above his head at all times, indicating just what it was that he had tried to do, and what had made his pedestal come crashing down. 

     Katsuki thought he was genuinely making his was towards getting his first true friend, especially since that Shitty Ha- Eijirou kid had kept insisting on it, and stuck around, helping Katsuki instead of expecting him to do it all on his own, or insisting that Katsuki sit back so he didn't get a single mark on him. Not that it mattered in this damn game anyways. The marks would just fade.

     But then that guy left too, leaving him for Izuku of all people, simply because Katsuki went for the kill. The kill that Katsuki had been thinking about for months, a never ending feeling of... guilt? Ah, whatever, Katsuki was just stuck thinking about it all the time. Probably wasn't even guilt anyway.

    Katsuki had been hiding out here in the second floor woods for a long while, staying here almost every day while trying to get his mind off of this shit, trying to level up without being seen by the pro heroes again. They were already pissed enough, and some of them looked ready to kill him.

     "Don't even know why I let shit get that far," Katsuki mumbles to himself, grabbing a stone off of the ground, tossing it between his hands as he lays his chin on his knees. "Damn Deku tried to get out of my way most of the time, so why the fuck did I even care anyway? Why the fuck did I chase him down those stupid halls just to corner his dumbass and talk shit to him? Heroes already said I wasn't as good as I thought I was anyway, and that my personality was 'probably too horrible to get me logically accepted into a hero school anyway, or at least go without a suspension within the first week'."

     Katsuki raises his right hand into the air, stone held tight within his grip before it's suddenly let into the air, and a mini explosion just a mere moment before it. The blonde's crimson eyes widen as he slowly turns to look at his hand, which started to shake. Katsuki started to shake, quickly looking at his health and everything around him to make sure that he wasn't dying.

     After all, why the hell did his quirk just activate?

Chapter Text

     After he had decided he had fought the floor bosses enough, he started to make his way back to his home, already pretty exhausted. His sword dragged behind him as he walked, a light scraping sound coming from it as the tip dragged against the stone path. Probably not a fun sound for people who were already scared enough to hear, but that honestly was one of the least of Izuku's cares. He honestly wanted to be able to go home and rest, make sure everyone was okay. It had been a long day, so could you really blame him?

     And then a person ran out of the nearby restaurant, passed Izuku, and then knocked harshly on someone else's home, practically bouncing up and down, and seemingly shaking with excitement. The teenager wasn't going to pry though, not wanting to get involved in something that was honestly none of his business right now. It didn't seem like something he'd need to step in for anyways. It was just an excited person.

     Finally reaching his home, he opened the door, and slipped inside, finally sheathing his sword. It felt really heavy to lift into the air, and he felt extremely clumsy as he tried to carefully sheath the sword, but Izuku eventually managed to get it. 

     The small home was quiet, and very suspiciously so at that. There seemed like there were people here, considering the smell of dinner wafted through the air, and there was even a lingering warmth from the oven, meaning the food hadn't been out of the oven for too long. So why was it this quiet?

     Izuku walked into the kitchen, immediately finding everyone standing there, Hisashi and Eijirou leaning against the counter, and Momo standing up straight, her fingers laced together, hands placed in front of her. The pot of food sat on the island right in front of them, steam steadily rising from the hot food.

     The freckled teen double checks the amount of people there, counting to make sure that he was really seeing everyone, and that they were all there. Still three. He hadn't lost any other friends, and his father still stood there. All three solemn faces stared at him in return, and Izuku could practically see the metaphorical zipper they had placed on their mouths momentarily, not ready to tell him something. Did one of his favorite pros die? Did the guild disband? Was it something to do with Katsuki?

     Izuku slowly reached out for the pot of food, continuing to look at everyone, even when he was reaching to grab a bowl of food and his utensils to eat the food with, sparing glances at them as he waited to see who would crack first, and tell him what's wrong. Once he had taken a bite of his food, he carefully set the utensils back down, and said "So... I've taken a bite of the peace offering... what's wrong?"

     Eijirou looks away, and Momo continues to look further towards the ground, now nervously pulling at her fingers instead of just letting them lace together. Hisashi sighs, and Izuku watches as a bit of dark smoke rolls over his cheeks, and up into the air. Izuku's eyes widen, already having it memorized just what his father's quirk was. The green haired teen had tried for a few years to force himself to be able to use it after all.

     "Dad? Was that just.... smoke," Izuku began to question, his hand already starting to shake as he begins to point at his father. Hisashi simply nods as he begins to look away, and Momo even raises her arm, letting Izuku watch as a pen fell from her hand, a soft glow coming from the palm of her hand just a moment before the pen dropped. "How did you guys get your quirks back?"

     "I got an email today, Izuku. We're not the first people to get our quirks back, and this is all completely intentional," Hisashi begins to explain.

      "What do you mean that this was all intentional? Are you telling me that they decided to experiment on someone in the game, and decided it was a good idea to use quirks? That would mean that they're seeing what's going on in the game too," Izuku says, starting to panic a little. Everyone around him was starting to get their quirks, and he didn't know how this was going to effect him... how it was going to effect the guild. If they were getting their quirks back, Izuku was going to go right back to being a minority, and a lot of people were definitely going to start seeing themselves as better than him, his help unnecessary. 

     "They found out about the first floor incident. They didn't tell me how, but they did, and they already started to experiment with Katsuki on the whole quirk issue. They decided to start taking away the coding that hides quirks, and everyone has slowly been getting them back today. It seems like Katsuki has been an experiment with quirks for a couple weeks now, and the quirks are doing damage to the monsters on each floor, and are even functioning just as well as they have before, if not better. A lot of the pain drawbacks are able to be ignored in the game," Hisashi explains.

     "So they are watching... and used Kacchan for an experiment because of what happened on the first floor?"

     "Yeah... they emailed me and said they were going to start watching the game through my eyes for the main citizen side, Katsuki's eyes, and then Hawks'. They want to get as much of an idea on what's going on as possible, and even want to be able to start sending the rest of the players notifications. And don't ask about the emails. I'm not sure either. The tab just popped up out of nowhere."

     "It's a dangerous game to play to start messing with code when one slip up could kill the thousands of us in here."

     "It is, and that's why it was avoided for so long. I'm not sure what it was that made them think it was a good idea to start experimenting like that on a child, whether he tried to kill you or not. Don't get me wrong, I'm still very pissed with Katsuki, but I wouldn't actually use him as a sacrifice."

     "Not to mention that Kacchan probably doesn't even know what's happening right now."

     "True."

      The next day was when things really started to get out of hand and go wild. As soon as Eijirou went to check on the guild numbers, he saw countless people disappearing from the guild, and none of them had been able to figure out if it was because of death, or the pre-knowledge they had on Izuku's quirkless status. They were probably getting confident if they weren't dying, and had decided that it would be a good idea to leave the guild and get to work on doing it on their own. They probably thought they could rule this world if they really wanted to, and left the guild behind.

     No announcements were made to the players or Hisashi in the day, and their quirks were still there, so Izuku could only assume that the people were leaving the guild for some reason. 

     Hisashi did his best to comfort Izuku, tried to keep him inside, getting Momo and Eijirou to go do the things that required them to leave the home, and instead had Izuku help him with making weapons, and kept trying to get Izuku to continue to level up his cooking skills. He was definitely babying Izuku, but honestly, Izuku was still processing things, and didn't exactly mind at the moment. He'd definitely want to get out of the house sometime in the near future, but felt perfectly fine with staying at home, and avoiding the general chaos of the start of quirks showing up. 

      While Momo still wanted a bit more time to stay inside, she didn't mind going out for the tiny things, like buying some new materials and food. When she was done with whatever Hisashi had her do, she'd hand the items to the people who needed them, and would once more retreat to the bedroom, relaxing there for a long while. 

     Eijirou and Hisashi already contacted the remaining members of the guild, and were going to talk to them in about half an hour, figure out what was going on, and how they were managing with their quirks. They weren't exactly going to know that they were being watched from the outside world through the eyes of Hisashi Midoriya.

     Every since the start of the day, Izuku has honestly been a little uncomfortable around his father, especially with the knowledge that only three people were being used to get an idea of the world around them, and that made it plenty easy to watch what was going through the eyes of all three. And the more time Hisashi spent around Izuku, the more they were going to see of the teen, and Izuku wasn't exactly comfortable with that.

     However, Izuku never told that to Hisashi, instead letting his father spend as much time as he wanted to with him. The teen knew he'd feel bad if he told his father, so he just avoided it, spending plenty of time with his father, and trying to enjoy the attention. But he was very relieved when Eijirou and Hisashi left for the guild meeting, and gave Izuku almost complete privacy. Finally, no more fear of who knows how many eyes on him.

     Izuku lazily started going through all the steps to cooking katsudon in the game, already knowing how to make it in the real world, and hating how much simpler the game made it, while also appreciating it at the same time. Izuku was never much of a cook in the real world, but he supposes it wouldn't hurt too much to try if he returns. 

     "Smells good in here," Momo says as she walks into the kitchen, going into the pantry to make herself a sandwich, knowing most of the food Izuku was making today was simply to pass time, and would probably be saved somewhere else for later, and maybe even used as a big feast for dinner.

      "Thank you," Izuku replies as he completes the final step for the katsudon, and begins to walk over to grab one of the sweets he had made earlier. Just in the time he had been cooking today, he had already leveled up a good bit, gained a lot more cooking experience. It was nice, but definitely felt weird to be cooking this much in a day. Even when he had shut himself in after the loss of Tenya, he had mainly just spent time relaxing, and trying to help Momo feel better. But why was it everyone suddenly getting quirks again that was really shutting him down? If things kept going as they were going, he'd probably never leave the comfort of the home, even knowing that he'd probably be able to help a lot... or not. Everyone was getting quirks back after all, and would go right back to relying on them.

     Momo started to walk back into her room, sandwich in hand as she turned into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. With that, Izuku decided that he had people that he needed to contact... especially with the huge amount of food they had stored away, that way it wouldn't disappear after a certain amount of time. He also needed to try and fix things with some people, especially if they were going to be trapped in this game for an unknown amount of time. Best to not let everyone hold grudges, right?

Chapter Text

     Izuku was only going to send one message for now, see if the person would come over or not, or maybe even at least respond to the message. After all, he was sure Katsuki Bakugo of all people could't be that busy, especially since he hadn't exactly been spotted by anyone in the past while. He had simply disappeared for everyone, his name very rarely spoken in all honesty, and it was generally to laugh about the fact that he practically got himself banished from everywhere for his stupidity on the first floor boss, and after acting like how he did in front of almost all those pros, it was practically guaranteed that he didn't have much of a future once everyone was finally freed from this game.

     Sure, call Izuku crazy and idiotic for inviting Katsuki over, but it's not like he could be hurt if he did so. He was inviting Katsuki over into his own home, which was held inside the safe zone. He had at least considered his safety a little, and if there was a sudden argument, the most the blonde could do is toss things around the home.

     And so Izuku waited, trying to eat some sweets to get his energy back up again, try to wake up more. Not once did he see a notification for the reply from Katsuki, which would make itself very known if he were to get a reply. In fact, it'd be a little frustrating to ignore as it sits in the corner of his vision. But it never came, and the only message he got was the one from Hisashi, explaining that he'd be back home shortly.

     Izuku checked the time, glaring at it as he realized it wasn't even Katsuki's bed time, an hour from it. Katsuki honestly didn't have much of an excuse for why he was ignoring Izuku, and it was steadily starting to scratch away his patience, steadily starting to reveal the temper that he had kept at bay for so long. Honestly, he should be surprised he hadn't felt like throwing something so much sooner.

     The door opened, and Izuku could hear the quiet voices of Hisashi and Eijirou, murmuring about what had happened at the guild meeting that they just brought to a close. Izuku listened in as he sat on the floor, staring at his messages, staring at the one he sent Katsuki, and glaring at the four little letters placed underneath his message. Katsuki had seen it, and didn't even bother to say "no". That stubborn asshole.

      "Oh, Midobro, there you are! How are you holding up, man," Eijirou asks as the red haired teenager and Hisashi walk in the kitchen. When Izuku didn't respond, and only continued to stare at the messages, Eijirou said "The guild meeting was okay. A lot of people finally explained where everyone is going, and it's not all that great. To be honest, even safe zones are starting to not look safe for you, man."

     "Izuku, I hate to say it, but the people out there are getting pissed that their quirks are functioning just fine, and more people are starting to see things from Katsuki's point of view. It's honestly not looking pretty out there for you at all, and I honestly don't know just how long you'll need to stay inside, or just in a safe zone. But who knows how many duels people will throw at you," Hisashi explains. And that was when Izuku pushed himself off the ground, closing the screen he had open for his messages, and said "I'll be back soon."

      "Wait, Midoriya, man, where are you going," Eijirou asks as Izuku walks by, unlocking the door, and practically slamming it shut as he walks out. The freckled teen hears his father call out as he runs to the door himself, but Izuku is already running, and running straight to the teleportation monument, deciding to take a lucky guess at where Katsuki could be hiding. 

     It felt relatively easy to find Katsuki, especially with the knowledge that nobody was really seeing him at all. He could be hiding on a floor that not many people would be going to, maybe trying to find a good spot to hide for awhile. It was easy enough to find out he was hiding in the third floor forest. Not many people were going to it anyway because of the lack of structures that they could stay in, and the lack of higher ranked monsters and quests. The first and second floor were still decently in use, and while some of the other floors were still being unused, they didn't have as many places to hide. That's what made the third floor easy to make an assumption on.

     Izuku practically stormed through the forest, sword already drawn as he made his way through the forest, and off of the pain path. If Katsuki was smart, which he was, then he'd be avoiding the pathway at all costs, especially if he was going to keep insisting on avoiding all attention. Izuku had every intention to let him keep hiding, but he wasn't going to let Katsuki hide from him. It was probably only the fact that Izuku never considered going to look for Katsuki much before that kept the blonde in hiding. The green haired teen wasn't going to let the blonde hide from him anymore.

     It was the sounds of a distant explosion that really gave his hiding spot away to Izuku, who was already heading in that general direction, but now knew he was going to the right place for sure. As soon as the younger teenager found the small clearing Katsuki was in, the blonde stopped, his fingers already splayed out to show that he had been using his quirk lately, and slowly turned to face Izuku.

     But then he grinned, a wicked one that showed zero fear, and seemed like something filled with violence, ready to attack at any moment. Izuku didn't waver though, stood there without shaking in fear like he usually did. If he was shaking at all, it was because of how mad he was; how mad he was with the game, with how much everyone felt like they had to baby him, with the constant fingers being pointed at him, and the anger that he meant to have ages ago from the time Katsuki tried to kill him. It wasn't fair with how many people were willing to commit murder for one little thing Izuku had suggested, and how they seemed to be doing alright so far with the development of quirks in game. None of it was fair.

     "What's wrong, nerd? Came to see the quirk again? I mean, you only really ever followed me around when I had a quirk. Did you think you were too good for me when everyone else was quirkless? Come to shine my shoes with your tears of mercy now that you're right back to being a weakling," Katsuki asked, placing his hands on his hips, not even reaching for his sword, and not even bothering to look at the sword Izuku held. 

     "Are you going to keep ignoring me? I dunno, seems like a coward move to just leave me on read like that," Izuku asked, his grip tightening on his sword.

      "You're pissed about that," Katsuki asks before bursting into a fit of laughter, leaning forwards as he clutches his waist, arms overlapping. "Wow, who knew being lonely for so long would make you a baby about messages?"

     "I dunno, figured being lonely out here for so long would have you jump at the idea of having some company. Maybe even just having an excuse to walk back to the safe zones in general," Izuku explains, his eyelids slightly lowered into a glare, his entire expression seeming unamused. 

      "Deku, you're being a little special, don't you think? I mean, you came all the way out here, where you could easily get yourself killed, just to scold me? Sounds a little stupid in all honesty."

     "You know, you're the one who got all cocky when you were put in this game. Did you even know that you're being watched by the outside world right now? Well, more like they're just watching what's going on through your eyes, but they still see it. They even used you as an experiment, Bakugo. You're only the first person they used to figure out if they could get quirks to work or not because of the first floor."

     Katsuki seems to pause, sitting up straight as he stares into the forest, before letting out a quick huff, his right hand returning to his hip as he says "Human experimentation is literally illegal, especially in a life or death situation. You're just slow at getting information."

     "The information my father gets through emails from the SAO company, and tells directly to me?"

     "Oh, don't act all high and mighty just because your father has a whole bunch of information, and will tell you shit."

     "The don't act all high and mighty just because you have a quirk."

     "Well guess who has a better fucking chance with beating this game, and getting out alive? You have a whole bunch of people after your ass, and more and more people are leaving your guild! How do you think I know about it? Easy enough, Deku; they're messaging me, and asking me to make a guild instead. They're apologizing to me for doubting me. Have you even been outside to look at how much happier everyone is to be using their quirks!?"

      "Are you seriously underestimating me right now? I still have a higher sword skill than almost everyone else does here, and I understand the mechanics of the game better than almost anyone. The amount of beta testers that have died is already bad enough, and the fact that I'm still here and doing better than almost anyone really says something, huh? Cause I've already put myself in the mindset that I should avoid death here at all costs, and it's paid off really fucking well. Katsuki Bakugo, I'd like to see you do better than me."

     "Oh, and how do you fucking propose you do that? Want to take your shot at killing me? We are out of a safe zone after all. Go ahead, try it dumbass. You've already put your entire fucking life into trailing after me. Don't think I don't notice those damned notebooks of yours. What are you doing without them right now? Or are you just basking in the glory of the fact that you took the only friend I had left here all those months ago!? Do you really like taking my shit!? You've got a damn obsession with me, just admit it!"

     "THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO OBSESSED OVER YOU WERE THE TEACHERS! I JUST WANTED A DAMN FRIEND, AND HOPED THAT ONE DAY YOU WOULD BE PROUD ENOUGH OF ME TO BE MY FRIEND AGAIN! YOU LEFT ME BEHIND BCAUSE OF YOUR DAMN EGO, AND YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BE SEEN AROUND SOMEONE WHO WAS PUT IN SUCH A ROCK BOTTOM LIFE! I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE BORN WITHOUT A QUIRK, YOU DAMN, ARROGANT, ASSHOLE."

     "What did you just call me? So we're going to lose the whole Kacchan thing, and start calling me an asshole all in the same day? And who do you even think you're yelling at!? I'm stronger than you, even in this damn game! I've got a quirk, and I'm doing really fucking well with my sword skills! What do you think you have that I already don't!? What do you think makes you better!?" And that was when a notification popped up for Katsuki, big, bold letters that stood there in front of him, and two options held beneath him. The crimson eyes slowly turned up to Izuku, watching as Izuku waited for the reply to the duel request he sent. "A duel, huh?"

     "A Half Loss Duel too. Wanna chicken out? I'll be happy to count it as a victory on my part," Izuku says, his voice right back down to the dull tone he held when he first walked into the clearing.

     "You're going to be walking away with more than half your health down after this. Thanks for giving me an excuse to legally have you as a punching bag this time," Katsuki replies, drawing his sword from its sheath for the first time since Izuku got there, and accepting the duel.

     The timer felt slow, and both teenagers watched as the seconds went down, both positioned to charge at each other, both boys ready to get out their own anger and resentment and anger built up towards each other. What were the founders of Sword Art Online thinking as they watched through the eyes of Katsuki? If their mothers were able to see this, what were they thinking as they watched their boys prepare to full out fight each other, both filled with the intent to win the duel with more than half of the other's hit points down?

     And then the seconds left on the timer reached zero.

Chapter Text

     It was Katsuki who ran at Izuku first, sword already held in what he assumed would be a good attack. The sword was way too off angle though, which meant it wouldn't do much damage.

     It would probably be accurate if Katsuki wasn't clearly keeping a loose grip on the hilt, that way he could easily let go to use his quirk.

     Katsuki definitely never expected to ever fight with a sword.

     Izuku quickly went to block the attack though, using one of his favorite blocking moves he had used, which honestly looked a little extra, but still effectively worked. In the real world, it most likely wouldn't work well at all, but this was still a game. Having stuff like this was nice.

     The sword had a quick twirl in the air, starting by going out to Izuku's right, and then going in, successfully hitting Katsuki's sword, knocking it into the air, and providing Izuku the perfect opportunity to get a kick in, making the blonde lurch over in pain for a moment, backing up as he glares up at Izuku. 

     This one moment where Katsuki had to figure out just how serious Izuku was going to be about this, and just how much talent he really had in the game, did not mean the entire fight was going to go in Izuku's favor. The smaller teen honestly wasn't going to be surprised if Katsuki made his comeback in an attack or two. He'd just have to look out for every attack in the meanwhile.

     "What the hell? What kind of move is that," Katsuki asks, not even bothering to run at his sword, a small pop already coming from the palms of his hands, ready to use his quirk against Izuku. Honestly, he could go ahead and try to use it against Izuku. Not only did the freckled boy know Katsuki's quirk and moves that he had been restricted to, but he also wanted to get to see just how powerful these quirks were in the game, what their true potential was. Maybe there was a leveling up system that would be provided to them soon?

     But Izuku couldn't linger over those thoughts for long, already taking his turn to run at Katsuki, already ready to use one of the basic attacks, trying to adjust a little to Katsuki's fighting style. He wasn't like the monsters and other things to battle against on the floors. He was an actual person, someone who could think much clearer, adjust to moves quicker, and wasn't limited to basic attacks. And then there was obviously the whole damn quirk thing.

     "It's a move for the theatrics and to make sure you still know this is a game," Izuku responds, ducking lower to the ground when he notices Katsuki's hands fly into the air, fingers already spread out, curling a little at the tips, ready to use an explosion. It was as Izuku swung his sword at Katsuki's legs, successfully getting an attack in, and said "But you can actually die here. No more respawn option. Sounds fun, huh?"

     "You mother fucker," Katsuki shouts as he backs up, sparing a quick glance at his sword before sparing a longer glance at his leg, watching the red mark slowly fade. "You're going to be the one wishing for the respawn option as soon as this duel is over. You're only doing better right now because you're a dumbass beta player who has more fucking fighting experience!"

     Izuku held no more intention to respond. He had said what he had wanted to earlier, and he was finally going to get out any last of the anger he had built up towards Katsuki. Sure, he may start losing again soon, and this is just some luck he's getting for finally standing up for himself, but he'll definitely be satisfied with the damage he managed to do already.

     The blonde didn't hesitate to lunge forwards this time, a wild grin on his face as he dove through the air, reaching out, seemingly appearing to grab the green haired teen. But to all who knew him and his ability, it was him ready to use his quirk right in Izuku's face. 

     The attack didn't miss.

     Not too much damage, only about a sixteenth of his total health, which meant Katsuki had only knocked off an eighth of what he needed to. 

     The attack still left Izuku a little surprised though, and briefly unable to see with all of the smoke that always followed each explosion, leaving another opening for Katsuki, who grabbed Izuku's free arm, and tossed the smaller male at a tree. 

    Izuku did manage to hold on tight to his sword though, and immediately pushed himself off of the ground, powering up one of his favorite sword skills, the soft glow wrapping around the hilt and a little bit of the blade, Izuku's next step giving him a huge boost, and the blade getting a large hit on Katsuki.

     The blonde couldn't help but stare at the three fifths of health that he had left to spare before it was a loss for him.

     Izuku only had to give it a twenty second cool down period before he could activate the ability again. It didn't mean that he wouldn't have other moves up his sleeve though.

     But Izuku definitely had to keep reminding himself that Katsuki would definitely know a few things too. At least he was pretty damn limited since he had dropped his sword.

     Katsuki seemed to have the same idea as Izuku, and tried to subtly make his way to his sword, tossing a few more explosions at Izuku, who, gratefully missed each one. Neither of them managed to get another hit in at that time, but it didn't take too much longer for Katsuki to think there was enough smoke in the air to let him make his sprint towards the weapon.

     The sounds of the grass crumpling underneath the blonde's feet was a dead giveaway though, and Izuku quickly activated the sword skill once more, getting him out of the smoke quicker, catching up with Katsuki, and, to Izuku's surprise, actually managing to get the hit. It was a little less damage than what the last attack did, especially since Izuku got the other teen right at the end of the attack, but it was still enough to make Katsuki scream in frustration, glaring at his health bar.

     It was Izuku who reached the sword first, and Katsuki who stood there in shock for a moment, finally being the person to back up, eyes widening out of a mixture of fear and surprise.

     "This game is stupid as fuck. Shouldn't let you take someone else's shit," Katsuki says as the fight comes to a brief pause.

     "Maybe you shouldn't have left it there. It can sort of lock in with the gifting method. Just a bit though. Others have picked up other people's weapons, especially since there isn't some sort of shield that comes up every time. You should play a little smarter, not harder," Izuku replies, grinning as he adds "If you wanted to be so stubborn about using the sword, your opening to grab it again was a long while ago. You could have just put it in your inventory, dumbass."

     That was what had Katsuki on the brink of unleashing his largest explosion yet, palms already raised in the air, only for the palms to, quite literally, drop to the ground, a bright red being left in place from where Katsuki's hands were supposed to connect.

     "One." Izuku can't help but grin, quite grateful for the three second wait before a limb grows back when cut off. It was giving Izuku just the time he needed to get in some pretty strong attacks without interference, and the worry of explosions. 

     "Two." Izuku was already powering up his sword to use his favorite sword skill, jumping in the air and towards Katsuki, feet landing on Katsuki's chest, the blonde quickly beginning to stumble to the ground, letting Izuku swing down the other sword with his non-dominant hand, lodging the sword in Katsuki's shoulder.

     "Three." And then the sword skill was ready, and the sword quickly plunged into Katsuki's side, crimson eyes widening while the green pair narrowed into a glare, managing to stand on Katsuki's chest as the blonde hit the ground, Izuku crouched down enough for the sword to still be buried in Katsuki's side.

     With Katsuki's hands back, Izuku quickly went after them again with Katsuki's sword while the older male stared at his health in shock and worry.

     The smaller male quickly leaped off of the other teen, backing up a few yards to let Katsuki be the one to stare at his health in shock for once. Izuku had to go through it before, but at least Izuku wasn't an absolute monster like the other was. At least he engaged in a half duel during a time when Katsuki wasn't in danger, and hadn't just been fighting a floor boss. At least he wasn't waiting for the other's health to hit zero, and watch as they shattered into the crystals that would float into the air, fading away after a couple seconds.

     "I can still fight. I've still got a little bit left before this half point. Now you hand my sword back, you fucking asshole," Katsuku demands, his palm outstretched, once more regrown, and awaiting the weight of the weapon.

     Izuku instead tossed it far, letting Katsuki watch as it spun through the air, landing somewhere far, somewhere Katsuki wouldn't be able to reach before he'd be guaranteed a loss.

     It was Katsuki who stood there in shock once more, still staring in the direction that his sword went, one of his hands rubbing his wrist, right where Izuku had sliced the blonde's hands off. The older male's breathing was getting heavier as he started to back off, saying "Alright, fine, you win. Does that make you happy enough? You finally beat me! Know my quirk well enough that it's hardly doing shit against you, and chopping off my hands for the hell of it. You win. Are you proud of yourself?"

     The younger male only began to walk forward, working on powering up another one of his sword skills, one that went in a semi circle. Not as powerful as the one he had been using, and didn't give him a large boost forward, but it would definitely get what he wanted done done.

     "I did tell you that I was also going to get your health below that half point, right?" And so Izuku swung his sword once more, landing the final attack, and successfully ending the fight. Maybe he was so worried about losing for no reason. 

     Inko and Mitsuki stood at the iPad in front of them in shock. They had been granted access to see what was going on in the game ever since they had successfully began to look into it through Katsuki's eyes. They truly thought the game was beautiful, but were quickly able to tell that Katsuki had deserted himself from everyone. Then, finally, Inko had been granted access to see through Hisashi's eyes and had another option placed on the iPad that the Sword Art Online company gave her. She treasured it in all honesty, happy to finally see Izuku.

     But she could tell that he wasn't doing well, and watched as Hisashi told him about the whole quirk thing. And then she watched as Izuku stormed off after spending some time on the kitchen floor.

     The place was definitely cute, and she could immediately see some things placed around as she would. She immediately knew that it was either Izuku, Hisashi, or both who had done that.

     When Izuku stormed off, Inko had a feeling that she needed to run to Mitsuki, make sure her friend was okay.

     Sure enough, she did, and they both watched as Izuku finally found Katsuki, and the duel started. Masaru honestly couldn't even really watch it, cringing at the sight of his son, and the boy that he practically considers family fighting, screaming curses at one another.

     And Inko watched as she saw rage in her boy's eyes for the first time.

     She knew how this fight was going to go the moment Katsuki lunged forward, and she honestly felt bad about it. So many words looked to be unspoken in her boy's face, but he kept his lips sealed, quickly beginning to drag Katsuki off somewhere now that the fight was over. 

     It hurt Inko and Mitsuki to watch as Izuku never responded to a single insult or protest that fell out of Katsuki's mouth.

     But at least they had a better picture on just how bad things were getting between their boys.

Chapter Text

     Izuku was absolutely fed up with Katsuki's bullshit. Sure, that was well known before, but he just wouldn't stop.

     Katsuki Bakugo had lost to the person he never thought he could ever lose to, but still continued to be an arrogant asshole who was nonstop trying to return to hiding, make it difficult for Izuku to drag him out of the forest, and to be as obnoxious as possible.

     In all honesty, Izuku was ready to just hit the blonde, or tie him up somewhere, and wait for all of those people who supported the blonde to find him, and probably start worshiping him like all of the kids at school had done for so long, and the teachers included.

     But Izuku had gotten out what he wanted to say, didn't he? He had gotten his chance to let out his anger, and won the duel. He was fine... nothing more to say or do out of spite.

     "PUT ME DOWN! Nobody is going to like you any more for this! I hope you know that! What's your plan? To drag me off into a floor dungeon while I'm already below half my health, and leave me to get killed by the floor boss?" Katsuki only continues with questions like that, and nonstop demanding that Izuku let him go. It was with a sigh of relief that he continued to walk forward as he spotted the teleportation monument. While holding Katsuki, he could get them both out of here, and where he wanted them to be.

     He was grateful for that feature, especially so this entire trip of dragging Katsuki wasn't for nothing. 

     Izuku quickly crouched to the ground, pulling Katsuki closer, and somehow managing to hold the blonde with one arm. Katsuki only continued to kick and flail, his arms trapped between Izuku's arm and waist. 

     Katsuki only seemed more pissed and demanding by the sudden change in how he was being dragged places. In all honesty, Izuku wanted to say that he should be grateful, especially since the only thing being dragged now are his toes against the ground instead of his entire lower half.

     Now that one of his hands were free, Izuku went to tap on the monument, which presented a screen to him, providing the options for which floors he could go to. He quickly pressed on the first floor, a bright blue glow following not long after, and transporting both boys to said floor.

    It was quiet now. The streets were still dark, and everyone seemed to be inside. It was pretty late at this point, after all.

     Izuku didn't stay in one spot for long, though. He had somewhere to go, and couldn't let Katsuki manage to get out of his hold.

     The freckled teen walked quick, his mind really starting to go over the dangers of staying out here all alone again. Everyone knew now. Everyone assumed he made the suggestion for zero quirks to put everyone on an equal level as him. Everyone assumed that he just wanted to become the superior one here, especially since he was so used to not having a quirk. 

     It was always crazy assumptions, and Izuku couldn't handle them. He wanted a break more than anything.

     It was nice while it lasted, at least. Even if all that time was spent going behind the pro heroes' backs, and running a guild that would take care of floor bosses for the pros to give them a break.

     Every last thing he had done had been with good intention... but in the end, non of it came across that way. The pros hated that he suddenly went and formed a guild, and had to get some people to spy on them for information. All of the citizens just hated him for suggesting the removal of quirks, that way sudden glitches could be prevented.

     They must all be far too ahead of themselves though. The quirks had only been in the game for one day, and Katsuki's a week. There could honestly be a glitch at any moment.

     Everyone just has to look out for them.

    "I SAID TO PUT ME DOWN," Katsuki continued to shout, trying to put more weight into his feet, that way he could make Izuku's job of dragging the blonde more difficult.

     Izuku only gave him a really sharp pull in response, the red eyed male's feet going slack once more, and his pouting a little quieter.

     "Can you hush? I would like to not wake up the entire town," Izuku whispers to the other boy.

     Finally, they reached the small home.

     Izuku quickly knocked on the door, waiting for someone to come open it. After all, it was a little difficult with his hands as full as they were.

     Loud footsteps could be heard on the other side of the wooden door, quick and heavy. It was a mere moment later that the door swung open, revealing a worried Hisashi, who looked Izuku up and down, trying to make sure his boy was okay. The worried expression faded away quickly when he saw Katsuki though, his face instead turning into something a bit confused, and in general, disgusted to see the boy again.

     "Hello," Izuku says, giving his father a quick smile before walking past the man, and into the home. Momo and Eijirou were already looking out of the bedroom door in curiosity, Momo giving Izuku a confused look as she looked between him and the blonde.

     The freckled teen suddenly tossed Katsuki into a chair, still smiling as he said "Sit. I made plenty of food, and figured it would be nice to share. And with that health of yours as low as it is, I figured you'd want something to fill your stomach and restore that HP."

     Izuku's face screamed "nice and friendly," but the tone in his voice was the complete opposite. It left Katsuki actually remaining in his seat, watching as Izuku goes over to the cabinets, and grabs the many bowls of food Izuku had made in his boredom. He then walks over to the table, placing them there, and saying "Enjoy. I've been cooking all day."

     Hisashi, Momo, and Eijirou all stand in the doorway, watching the two boys, trying to process what had changed, and what was going on. Last thing they knew was that Izuku had stormed out of the home, and then returns with the one person he hadn't been wanting to see for a long time. 

      It was... weird to say the least.

     Izuku didn't mind them much though. He was honestly just trying to get Katsuki's health back up again, especially now that he'd managed to prove his point. Even without a quirk, Izuku was going to do flawlessly in this game, and wasn't going to be underestimated by someone who was praised too much, and had all of the people he considered beneath him build his throne to the clouds.

     The green haired male had never managed to get close to that throne until now, when all of those who built it up were gone, in the real world, or had abandoned Katsuki to fend off the game monsters on his own. But now he had gotten close, and it honestly felt like he managed to give that throne a huge push to the ground, the legs already too fragile to hold him up.

     And here Katsuki sat, the evidence of it far too clear. Izuku had come out victorious, and Katsuki was now just all bark, no bite. The younger teen would rather deal with that any day than watch his health bar almost reach zero again.

     "What the fuck is up with this? You kick my ass, and then drag me to your house, and try to feed me? Was this really the end goal!? I know I didn't reply when you invited me to dinner, but I really think this is pretty extra. You've already got all of your friends here, and even got Shitty-Hair here. Why? To rub it in my face," Katsuki questions, glaring at Izuku, but not making any clear signs that he was going to cause physical harm. He actually looked like he was on the brink of tears, probably from a large amount of built up frustration from the past hour alone.

     "Katsuki, I've already lost someone important to me in this game. You have no clue what that feels like, because all you do is push people away, and either try to kill them, or tell them to kill themselves. Is it really that wrong that I don't want to lose someone I've known all my childhood on a bad note? If either of us die here, I'm sure either of us will feel like shit when we find out, even if you're going to insist that you don't. Do you know why?"

     "...Why?"

     "Because I've always been there to give you honest compliments. Everyone else only drowned you in compliments because they wanted to be on your good side, hope you would drag them to the top with everyone else. You're going to realize just how un-honest all of those people have been to you, and you're going to wish I was there when you drag them into glory, and realize just how much they've taken advantage of you. I know it may seem stupid to you, but I hear this shit in the halls. I hear this shit because they know nobody will believe me, and have said it every time you weren't around, and they beat me to the ground. And it's all because I'm quirkless." Izuku lets out a long sigh before he continues, saying "Sometimes I wish you were born without the quirk, and I got to be. I would have loved to see how you handle it."

     Katsuki just sits there, no longer looking at Izuku, and finally silent. It took both boys a while before either one of them moved. 

     The blonde moved first, grabbing one of the meals, and quickly starting to eat it. Both of them watched as his health bar started to go up again, the food doing its job.

     Izuku decides to walk back over to the cabinets, pulling out some of the sweets, and then deciding to walk over to the three standing in the doorway, holding out the plate of small desserts for them to be able to take. They all give him a soft smile, taking some, and thanking Izuku as they take bites of it.

     It was Eijirou who decided to walk back into the bedroom, probably wanting to get away from the tension that still resided between everyone. Everyone in the home had had something go on that made them dislike at least one person in this room, and most of it was at Katsuki.

     But Izuku had always been one who was desperate to forgive, even if it meant having to get around the fight that Katsuki always put up. He could do this, and he knew he could. He wasn't some weak child anymore, especially one that would sit back and wait for the bad things to come. 

     They've already long arrived, and he was just going to have to make the best of it.

     "Care for some," Izuku asks, holding out the plate of sweets to Katsuki. The blonde simply shrugs, eventually deciding to quickly take one from the plate. He was probably too hungry to not accept them.

     And, not to brag, but Izuku knew for a fact that they looked great. Everyone would have to be insane to ignore them, especially in a game that would let them eat pretty much anything other than the poisonous foods, and things that weren't food items. So, yeah, you can't eat a chair. Don't even think about it.

Chapter Text

     All For One would like to consider himself to be very patient with multiple things. He has sat around for about two hundred years, waiting for the perfect opportunity to get One For All, to find the perfect successor to hold his quirk, to make the perfect group to take down hero society once and for all.

     But he's losing that patience.

     He has made the villain organization he's always wanted, but he's made them in a video game, one that all of them, including him, are trapped in until they reach the end of this game. They are expected to fight for their lives, all for the main creator of this game's amusement. They are expected to be in a complete panic about the constant danger that they will be facing in this game.

     However, All For One will not fear this game as all the other people are. He will not fear it like the citizens and heroes are doing.

    After all, what is this world other than the same this as the one that isn't virtual? They always have to be scared every time they leave their homes, and continue to be scared when they are in an area where they feel they should be safe. They have to fend for themselves a lot, especially if there isn't help nearby, and will continue to feel safer in greater numbers. People are dying still.

     This is just the same damn world that they already live in, but in a different setting. Not to mention the recent addition of quirks.

     All For One despised that feature.

     Everyone was getting their abilities, and some of them worked while the others didn't. For example, people like Himiko Toga, one of the people he had recruited sometime not long after he joined the game, could not use her ability. She relied on drinking people's blood after all, and that was something she could not acquire here. People didn't bleed, and it wasn't something she could consume to be able to transform.

    The girl was practically still quirkless.

     Then there was All For One, unable to get his base quirk to work. He couldn't take abilities, and he couldn't give them away anymore. He had already tried on so many people, and felt as if he'd made an entire fool of himself. He was instead stuck with the abilities that he had already taken prior to joining the game.

     They were good, but he didn't always like having to go with the same things over and over. The man liked to change things up a little, use something new. That's why he's given away so many quirks that he's used before, and put them in the Nomus, no matter how strong. He was simply bored of those quirks.

     At least they were still on his team though, and were stuck in mindless experiments that would do as he asked. It wasn't like he was going to permanently lose those quirks, after all. Nomus are creatures that are quite difficult to kill.

     When he was bored, All For One would think of many things. They would be things he wanted to do, liked to do, ideas on how his plan to take One For All would continue, and how many pros he wanted to permanently get out of his way. For example: Eraserhead. Shota Aizawa was a man that All For One honestly got nervous to fight. While the villain carried a lot of his own strength without a single quirk, he knew that Shota was stronger than he looked, and it would probably take an entire army to stop the man. Shota was a man out on a mission to keep his students safe, even if it meant stopping their path through heroics. He'd rather them be citizens that he'd be a little more sure would be safe.

      Today's thought process was just another thing he wished he could do with his quirk: He wanted to give Hisashi's boy a quirk, that way the boy could be guaranteed a little more safety. It didn't take a genius to know that the boy would quickly be targeted by society's hatred in this game. People always wanted something to complain about instead of appreciating something. They wanted someone to blame for their troubles, and Izuku was going to be having a lot of the blame thrown at him for simply trying to protect people. 

     Although, All For One had also heard a lot of what people were saying from these people in his group, those who had actually ran around outside to go train, or figure out how the rest of the people trapped here were dealing with the addition of quirks.

     All For One couldn't help but be surprised that he and a lot of people here were actually given their quirks. Maybe it was just this one button they pressed to give everyone their unique abilities, considering that the game was already able to register people's entire appearance. Probably wasn't too hard to get a scan of the quirk.

     However, the point of this thought process wasn't to be curious in how people were getting quirks in the first place, and how it was already working as it did in the real world. The end idea for this thought process was how if he couldn't strike a deal with one Midoriya, he'd just do it with another. The brain of both of those Midoriyas was definitely something that shouldn't just be tossed aside. And he wanted his hands on those ideas, to bring them into the light a little more, use them to his advantage.

     And he also had the perfect motives for Izuku to be able to help. These past couple days with the quirk addition were only adding to that, and it wouldn't be long before he'd be able to use Izuku's ideas to his advantage. 

     If the heroes and citizens wouldn't accept the boy, he would, and so would the rest of the villains here. He'd be the perfect piece in his plan to cause chaos in this game.

     "Toga," All For One calls, the blonde haired girl quickly perking up in the corner of the room, eyes wide with interest as she waited for the villain overlord to tell her what he needed, knees held close to her chest as she sat on the floor. "I have someone that I need you to find and bring to me."

     "Ooo, really," Himiko asks, quickly standing up, arms held out to display the childlike excitement she always seemed to be expressing. She was loud and noisy, but it was a nice addition to have instead of the long silence that had a tendency to drag out when she was out of the building. Silence was something All For One had had enough of after the five years he spent recovering, and all the years that he spent hiding, and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike against a One For All holder.

     "Yes. He's a boy a little younger than you, and his name is Izuku Midoriya. He's been quite the talk lately as quirks are rising, especially considering he's quirkless and all, has a dad that helped make this game, and also suggested that quirks be left out of the game to avoid glitches. If I remember right, which I'm sure I do, you'll be looking for a boy with freckles all over his cheeks, these bright green eyes, and a headful of green curls. He's just got a very green theme on him."

     "Ohh, I think I've seen him a few times! He was always fighting those monsters, and doing quests! Seemed really serious about getting it done," Himiko says, giving her boss a small smile. "I think I'll know where to find him, especially if he makes an appearance sometime soon."

     "I wouldn't exactly trust in that statement. After all, he's got quite the amount of people who seem to be out for his head at the moment. The child is quirkless, after all, as I've told you. Just look out for him, and do try to return with him. And finally, I expect you to tone the crazy down a couple notches when talking to him. We don't want to scare the boy off, and to drag his friends along with him, and his father. His father might have a few... words with me if he were to find out that I was talking to his boy."

     "Ah, so he knows who you actually are. I'll do my best to get him here along so that you can talk to him," Himiko tells him before clasping her hands together behind her back, and then skipping off, and heading outside of the large home that they had bought. It was a whole bunch of the villains' savings thrown together for this place, and to furnish it well, that way it would be an enjoyable place for them all to hide out in while waiting to strike.

     But they were all still going through a lot of training, and were working on trying to get their sword skills as strong as some of the top players, so that even those people could be defeated.

     Izuku had trained a lot of people. He could help All For One, who didn't get all of the concepts of this game, and that Hisashi seemed very reluctant to tell him.

     Yet another thing to add to the list of reasons why All For One wanted to have Izuku in his arsenal. 

     The door slammed shut as Himiko ran out, and now All For One would just have to sit here and wait. He was a very patient man, after all. Waiting for Izuku Midoriya to crawl right into his hands was something he could wait for. He had plenty of time. The pros and citizens could only get so much progress when they were fighting both amongst each other, and the other side as well. 

     It was quite funny how this game turned into a hero vs. civilian fight, all trying to prove to one another that they could get through this game, and that they didn't need the other. So much chaos, and All For One couldn't help but wonder where it all started.

     He wouldn't be surprised if Izuku could, in some way, be somewhere quite close to the center of the start of this. He had witnessed the amount of crap thrown at the boy a few times, and he just knew that, under that soft expression, was something quite the opposite, and ready to strike at anyone and anything that pissed him off. Just how much could he hold it back before he had to let it all out? What was going to be his absolute tipping point? Has he gotten any of it out yet, or was it still building up just as much as before?

      All For One could only hope that the anger was still there, and ready to start getting revenge. People could insist all they like that they would never wish harm on anyone, no matter how much that person wronged them or other people, but there's always some part of their brain that will be satisfied if something were to happen to that person, whether it be by their hands or not. The villain just how to figure out which one works best for the boy.

     Although, it would feel quite amusing to watch Izuku be the one to hand out that revenge, especially if it were to be against a hero.

     After all, where all the pro heroes now? Are they going to do anything to prevent the people from putting the boy in even more danger than he was already in?

     The pros are of no use in this game, and it's steadily just being proved more and more with each instance that pops up. It doesn't require a genius to prove it.

Chapter Text

     Katsuki didn't stay for too long. He stayed long enough to eat the food, sit in silence for awhile. But he didn't want to stay too long, everyone easily able to take notice in the difference in the atmosphere with the blonde's presence. Even though Katsuki hadn't ever been here before, he was able to tell perfectly clearly that he was only here because Izuku was fed up.

     Nobody else was exactly eager to have him in the small home.

     So he eventually got up, and started walking over to the door. Izuku kept himself just a couple feet behind as he followed, once more breaking the silence as he skipped ahead to open the door for the other teen.

     "Be safe out there. I don't know what all it's like for you, but I still want to tell you to stay safe."

     "Well, if I find myself in any danger, I'm sure I could just message you. You kinda kicked my ass really hard out there, after all," Katsuki replies, stopping in the doorway, turning his head a little to keep Izuku in his line of sight.

     "I still can't beat everything out there, Bakugo. I did go on a break for a long while, and hid myself in my room for weeks."

     "I don't care if you're not nearly as strong as you could be. I'm just saying that you're already really fucking strong here, even though you don't have a quirk," Katsuki scoffs. "Don't think you can get away with all this weird game shit in the real world though. I'll still be stronger there."

     "And don't think you can get away with attempter murder in the real world," Izuku replies, resulting in the blonde giving the other teen a quick, bewildered look, before shoving his hands into his pockets, and finally taking the last step out of the home.

     Izuku shut the door a little hard, but not exactly hard enough that he could consider himself to be slamming the door. He then turns to walk into the bedroom that all of the teenagers slept in, looking around the dim, candlelit room, trying to debate whether or not he really wanted to propose a huge change to what their small group of four had gotten so used to.

     There were plenty of pros to go with it, but the cons were there too. It left Izuku standing there, weighing out the options, deciding what he liked best.

     The decision came after maybe a minute of awkwardly standing in the doorway, clearly lost in thought.

     "We should move out of this place," Izuku says, Momo and Eijirou immediately looking up from where they sat on their own beds, Momo putting her book into her inventory as she says "Where were you thinking of going?"

     "Wait," Hisashi says from beside Izuku, cheeks stuffed with some of the desserts from earlier, hand just barely moved away from his face. "You want us to just move out of here? We haven't ever lived anywhere different, other than the couple days we spent in the Town of Beginnings, since we didn't have enough money to move in here."

      "Yeah, we've lived here the entire time, but with a huge target on plenty of our backs, and all the attention we receive, we're going to need a change, and fast. We've already heard about the people who suddenly took Katsuki's side after all the quirks started popping up, so who's to say that they won't just be waiting outside the door, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack," Izuku explains. 

     "I can see your point completely, but I'm sure they'll calm down soon enough," Hisashi responds.

     "And if not? Dad, we only have so much food and resources stored in the cabinets and our personal storage. Not to mention all the pro heroes are busy on the front lines, and far from the first floor. If we find a place further away from where a lot of people camp out, because they feel ten times safer, then we can guarantee our safety. We're not safe where they are, and we have the skill set to keep us safe on a higher level floor, and risk higher level monster confrontation." 

     "Well what floor do you suppose we stay on," Eijirou asks.

     "What floor have the pros gotten to?"

     "The fifteenth."

     "Damn. I really wanted to go relax on floor twenty two. It's absolutely lovely there."

     "Language," Hisashi suddenly cuts in, and Izuku doesn't waste a moment to retaliate, saying "I just let the person who tried to kill me in this home and kicked his butt so hard that he managed to shut up for once. I don't want you to tell me to watch my mouth, cause I already know I can fight better than you."

     "Okay, okay, the tiny child can calm down," Eijirou says with a laugh, sliding off the bed, and pulling Izuku into a tight hug, ruffling the boy's hair. The freckled teen lets out a whine of protest, pushing himself away, and mumbling "I'm starting to want that coffee as much as Eraserhead does at this point."

     "Geez, someone's gotten a temper lately. Maybe you spent a little too much time with Katsuki toni-" Hisashi doesn't even bother to finish, backing up a little when he suddenly has a sword in his face, and his son saying "Don't you dare compare me to Bakugo right now. Today is not the day, or night- I don't care what time it is -to be telling me I'm acting like him of all people. I'd rather you compare me to Eraserhead, thank you very much."

     And then the sword was sheathed once more, Hisashi letting out a worried sigh before putting his hands into the air with defeat, saying "Okay, okay, got it. Back to figuring out a plan to getting a new home, and to keep you safe."

     That night, the group of four were already out of the home, everything packed into their storage, and the home sold, getting them even more money to find a good place on another floor. They manage to move around on floors for the next month and a half, never staying in one spot for more than a week, waiting until they could get that perfect, quiet spot Izuku was talking about on floor twenty two. Even Hisashi had agreed that floor twenty two was a great place for people to just disappear, and hide if that was what they wished to do.

     New floors started getting quieter and quieter, which felt both unsettling and relieving at the same time. They were all uncertain of the death rate going on with civilians, and even the pros. The group had pretty much completely secluded themselves from the rest of the world, and vanished without a trace.

     Not even the guild knew where they had vanished off to. It had been disbanded after all, even abandoned by Izuku. 

     There was no way to track them down anymore, and put them in danger. They could relax just a little bit.

     The pro heroes were doing much better dealing with the monsters and floor bosses now that they had their quirks. They weren't spending too much time training their sword skills now, or getting to know the floor monsters, and felt more confident in just running forward and attacking. After all, they had trained so well with their quirks, knew how to attack with them, and had them as the perfect cheat to get through the game.

     They had a tendency to feel invincible against the monsters now. They were just so skilled, and not even the citizens could match their level at this point. The pros were gathering so many points with the floor bosses, and already had so much more quirk practice than anyone else, that it was hard for anyone to catch up. Everyone was just left in the dust, and continued to lurk on the lower floors.

     That's why the upper floors were perfect for Izuku and everyone else to hide in, always staying a floor beneath the pro heroes, and attacking every monster that would ever respawn on said floors. It worked perfectly for them.

     But some people were starting to get tired of constantly moving around.

     "Izuku," Hisashi starts, watching as Izuku closed the curtains to the home they moved into two days ago, saying "we need to take a break with the moving soon. We're getting tired of constantly packing everything up again, and then hunting down a good enough home to fit all of us. I know redecorating is fun, but we need to slow down a little."

     "Not to sound rude, but aren't you my father? Shouldn't you be able to put your foot down and tell me when we should stop? We're only moving this much for my safety. We're also so close to the twenty second floor, so don't stop now! We're literally on floor twenty," Izuku replies, glaring at his father as he turns around.

     To Izuku, Hisashi never exactly seemed to fit the father role all too well. He was more like a friend who severely cared for the people in the group, especially Izuku. He should be able to put his foot down if he wants to actually fulfill the father role instead of pleading with Izuku to stop making a lot of decisions. 

     Even Inko would have been a little more demanding to telling Izuku to stop, and everyone always knew that her kind heart wouldn't let her do much more than a scolding. She would have said something along the lines of "Izuku, we need a break. How about you go lay down, because nobody is coming after you right now. We're safe, so go lay down, and let us handle things."

     "Dad, you can withhold important information about floors from all of the pros and civilians, and then tell us so that we can level up quicker, but can't tell a child that he actually needs to stop? Do you know how weird it feels for a dad to be pleading with his son for him to do something? Geez, it makes me feel like I was raised to be a bratty child... Like I was raised to be like Bakugo. Uncle Masaru has to plead with him to do things, and it always feels so off to see," Izuku says, trying to give his father a good enough example of what he meant. 

     "Izuku, we need a break from moving around. I stead of moving every time they get a new floor, let's just stay here until floor twenty two is available," Hisashi says, clearly fighting off ending the line with "please," knowing it would make it seem like there were other options. His voice still sounded like it was in a requesting tone, however, but with a very slight pinch of demanding.

      Izuku sighs as he says "Good enough."

     "So we're staying on this floor for now," Momo asks as she walks out of the bedroom, her hair finally down from its high ponytail, and falling over her shoulders.

     "Yes, we are," Hisashi replies for Izuku. The man looks back at his boy to see if it made Izuku any more frustrated, but the teenager still seemed to be doing the same as he was before. "We should take a rest for now, and should have about a week and a half max to be able to do so. Then we can move into floor twenty two."

     "Oh, and how about we help with the floor bosses," Eijirou suggests. "After all, we've been practicing a lot with our quirks here, and Midoriya is crazy good with his sword skills and stuff! I think we'd do great to help them."

     "Both upcoming bosses, or just one," Izuku asks.

     "Floor twenty one boss. I'd like to get to see what all the fuss is about it, and fight against other floor monsters while we trail behind the pros," Eijirou explains.

     "And we can pull the same trick we did about ten floors ago: spy on the pro heroes to get the times they plan in doing things, and what their actual plan is overall," Izuku throws out.

     "Then we might want to pull out the cloaks again," Momo says with a small smile.

Chapter Text

     Himiko excitedly ran around the fifteenth floor, jumping over the large canyons, and holding her sword loosely in her right hand as she leaped from place to place. She couldn’t help but smile as her hair flew behind her with each jump, and enjoyed not feeling pain as she landed from each jump. She was jumping higher and farther than she ever had before, and she was so very grateful for putting so many stats into these abilities. 

     It almost felt like it did in the real world.

     Sure, she was already really fast without the upped stats, especially since she had managed to find the perfect way to run without the limits placed on her in the game, but bringing her stats up made it much easier, and she could run just like she did before, without crouching forward at a weird angle that left her fearful of toppling over any moment.

     However, she wasn’t just leaping over the canyons, and quickly battling floor monsters for the fun of it. She was actually still on her hunt for Izuku, that way she could make sure All For One would be happy with her, and wouldn’t send her to her death, like he had with many other people who refused to listen to him, and get the job done.

     She shuddered at the thought of coming back empty handed.

     It would also probably help to give Izuku a little convincing of her own as she tried to bring him to the base, that way the chances of All For One being happy with her would go up. It wouldn’t exactly go poorly for her if he were to decline All For One’s offer, because all he wanted was for Izuku to be brought to him for the offer to be handed out, but it would just be so much better if Izuku accepted.

     As she leaped over another canyon, she heard someone mumbling something, chanting it like it was their only source of sanity, the only way to keep them grounded, and not bursting out in a spectacular rage.

     “I never wanted these quirks in the game. I never wanted these quirks in the game. I never wanted these quirks in the game . They’re ruining the entire reason it was made. That stupid crew. I never wanted these quirks in the game.”

     “Heh, that dude’s going crazy,” Himiko giggles as she skips away, sheathing her sword as she places her hands behind her back, returning to leaping over canyon after canyon. 

     This was the fifth floor today that she had been exploring on, hoping to find Izuku somewhere here. She had originally gone to his home a couple weeks ago, when All For One figured everything may be calming down, but found herself disappointed when he never came to the door, nor did anyone else. 

     She was even more disappointed when she went to check if the house was now open for someone else to move into, and saw the amount of money she could pay to take the house. 

     It was vacant.

     So she went around and questioned some of the people nearby, asking if they knew what had happened to the small group. Each person she went to ask said they just disappeared one day, not too long after the quirks were implemented into the game. Nobody had seen them leave, and they didn’t leave a single trace to their whereabouts. 

     When Himiko reported the sudden change to All For One, he said that she would just have to thoroughly search each floor, and that they all may be hiding to keep on the down low. She would just have to search all of the crazy spots, and see where on the floor they could be hiding, and if there was anywhere to stay at all.

     But she was certain that every floor should be checked, because you never knew if he wanted to go and train a little with some of the other floor’s monsters.

     And she was still a little nervous about the higher floors, so she was taking her time getting there.

     As she reached the end of the map, she turned back around with a sigh, and began to make her way back to the teleportation monument towards the middle of the map. She passed the man who was muttering nonsense, taking a quick peek to see if he was someone she recognized, not surprised when she didn’t, and then jumped over the next couple of canyons to get to the monument. Himiko then made her way to the sixteenth floor, ready to go and search there for Izuku.

      Geez , how is Izuku Midoriya this hard to find?

    She was almost ready to give up searching on the floor when she finally started to see someone pass by on the desolate floor. It was in a little village on the terrain, where each building was built around the trees, leaving them all sorts of shapes and sizes. The rain here seemed like a permanent sort of thing, considering the roofs were built in preparation for constant rain. As were the stone pathways winding through the small village.

     Himiko almost missed him, considering that with all the green he was wearing, and his hair a wild, dark green, he would have easily blended in with his surroundings if Himiko were just running by.

     It was the silver that caught one of the few rays of sunlight shining through the clouds that brought her attention to him. He was just walking by, probably hadn’t noticed her. If he had, he was probably trying to pretend she wasn’t there, that way she wouldn’t run up to him. He knew he was a well known face, and a person who had almost completely vanished into thin air. For anyone to spot him these days, it made the person pinch themselves, or rub their eyes as if they were hallucinating or dreaming.

     Even Himiko took a moment to watch him walk down the street, giving it a moment to see if that was really him or not.

     They were in a safe zone, so Izuku didn’t seem too on edge with her presence, but he definitely didn’t seem to be walking by all that calmly, and seemed a little stiff. How long had it been since he had been spotted, or even since someone had come up to the higher floors. She knew the pro heroes were staying at floor twenty, so there were plenty of people at the very top of the current floors unlocked, but they hadn’t exactly been taking visits to the lower floors. Everyone else was just lurking around the first ten floors.

     “Ah, Izukuuu, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Himiko finally exclaims, falling back into her usual personality as she bursts into a fit of giggles, running up to Izuku, and wrapping her arms around him. His hands quickly fly to her arms, pulling the excited girl off of him as he tries to look to see who she is, and get a little distance between the two of them. He definitely seemed really startled, a little afraid of her sudden interaction. Cute. She’s definitely glad she is the one to be given the job to take care of grabbing him for All For One.

     “W-who,” Izuku questions, backing up a couple yards, still very unsure about how trustable she could be.

     Honest answer: not at all.

     But heeeey, let’s not judge way too quickly. She’d only killed… uh… five people… to get the game. We won’t talk about the ones before.

     But if she hadn’t gotten the game, she wouldn’t have been able to meet Izuku, or any of the other League members that she ran into during her time here. The murders were seeming more and more worth it as time went on.

     And Izuku looks so much like Saito, which is even better.

    “Hello there, Izuku,” Himiko says, rocking back and forth on her heels as she gives Izuku a wide smile, and then holding out her hand as she says “I’m Himiko Toga, and it’s so wonderful to finally meet you. I promise I’m not judging your lack of a quirk, but I actually find it really cool that you’ve gotten this far in the game, and are willing to go to these higher floors at all. Everyone down there are a whole bunch of wimps who won’t even venture to newer safe zones.”

     “Uh… thank you? And uh, can you stop calling me by my first name? I don’t really know you,” Izuku requests.

     “But I really wannaaaa. I’ve been looking for you for so long, and you’re right here , and you seem like such a wonderful person. I feel like I already know you so well.”

     “But the point is that I don’t know you , and it feels a little awkward…”

     “Then you can call me Himiko, and then we’ll be even! Besides, it would make me so happy if you did.”

     “Uhh, okay? Er, Himiko, why exactly were you searching for me?”

     “The leader of my guild really wanted to meet you, and sent me out to find you. Naturally, I was really excited, cause I’ve already heard plenty about how cool you are. But anyway, my guild leader really really wants to talk to you, and I can promise you that he means no harm towards you at all. Just wants a very nice conversation.” Himiko speaks quickly, hardly even taking a single breath the entire time she spoke, making Izuku need to take a moment to register everything she said, and break apart the words that jumbled together. 

     “I’m not sure… I don’t exactly have much trust in strangers anymore. I never really did at first, but you know, it’s kinda gone down much more than it was before,” Izuku replies, turning to walk off. But Himiko quickly runs forward, grabbing his arm, and says “ Please ! He won’t be happy if I return without you, and if you spend only five minutes there, he’ll be happy, and then you can hear a little on what he has to say!”

     “Just five minutes?”

     “Just five. If you’re not interested in what he has to say, just tell him and walk away.”

     “This is in a safe zone, right?”

     “Mhm. First floor.”

     Himiko notices the unease rush back over Izuku, and how he seems to fidget with his fingerless gloves a little, looking away from Himiko as he says “Not too sure about going there. I don’t know what people will be like down there anymore, especially since I’ve only been focusing on the pro heroes’ progress on the floors.”

      “Everything is pretty calm, and going as it normally does. A little bit of people don’t seem to happy when you’re brought up, but hey, nobody is really happy here. We all want out. Or, well, most of us do.”

     “Some people are just a little happier here than in the real world,” Izuku adds, slowly putting his hands in his pockets as he looks around at the woods around him, but making sure to not look up too high, that way he didn’t get a lot of rain water in his eyes. “I was a little excited about the idea of being here, and am a little disappointed that it changed so quickly for me.

     “We’ll come on. You might like what our guild leader has to say.” So Himiko holds out her hand, smiling wide, and still rocking on the heels of her feet as she waits for Izuku’s answer. 

Chapter Text

     Izuku honestly wasn't sure how great of an idea it was to go walk off with someone he hardly knew, and to then go and meet someone else that he hardly even knew the intentions of. The girl was definitely over the top excited... and lacked the idea of what personal space was. She kinda just ran up and hugged him, which he found weird.

     But she had been searching for him, and that was something he really didn't like. The only reason he could have thought that someone would want to search for him was to try and attack him. But they were going to be in a safe zone the entire time, and she said that he could leave when he wanted if he found no interest in what was being said.

     He was just really upset that they were going on the first floor.

     "I want to bring a friend," Izuku tells her, watching as the wide smile she held on her face faltered for a moment, only for it to quickly recover. She shrugged, and then said "Well, not too sure why you need one, considering that the person who sent me here to get you wants to have a private conversation, absolutely nobody else in the room. I won't even be in there."

     "Well, I just think I would be happier walking around the first floor with someone I already know quite well. If I can't have a friend, I suppose you'll be returning back to the guy who sent you empty handed," Izuku replies, shooting her a smile himself. She doesn't seem too happy about it, but she manages to hide it relatively well. If it hadn't been for Izuku always looking for the slightest falters in expression, he probably would have missed it... or not. Maybe it was something pretty easy to pick up on, especially with how the smile suddenly seemed to be quite forced. 

     "I'll be right back. I'm just going to grab my friend, and then I'll come right back here," Izuku tells her, turning to go to the nearby teleportation monument. She just gives him a small nod, and watches as he walks off, and then presses his hand against the long, blue, floating crystal, which shows the options for what floors he can go to. He presses on the option for the floor he and everyone else is currently living on, and then goes to the safe zone located on the floor. 

     When Izuku walks into their home, the three all quickly turn to him, Hisashi saying "We weren't expecting you to be home this early. Did something happen?"

     "Yeah, actually. Kirishima, would you mind coming with me for awhile? I'd just rather have some company, cause I've gotta go on the first floor, and I don't really know the person who's inviting me very well," Izuku explains. Momo and Hisashi exchange a quick glance before turning back to Izuku, their expressions confused and concerned.

     "But why go there? You've been so dead set on ignoring it, especially because you never really feel safe down there... despite the fact you're only really in the safe zones when you go to the lower floors," Momo questions.

     "You even got pretty mad at me when I mentioned staying in one place... said I should act more like a dad and stop asking you to do stuff, and just tell you to... I don't have to be really controlling to be a dad," Hisashi mumbles the last part, giving his son a bored expression as he rests his cheek on the palm of his hand.

     "I was just really stress and frustrated... and I did apologize later," Izuku replies, his voice suddenly much quieter than it was earlier. "I also said I didn't really mean it."

     "And then remember when you drew your sword in a safe zone? In our home... and threatened me... despite knowing we're literally somewhere you can't fight me."

      "I could have called a duel."

     "In our home?"

     "I was upset enough that I would have... yes. But I didn't. It also definitely felt like you were trying to compare me to Bakugo."

     "He does have a point," Eijirou mumbles. Hisashi sighs at the remark, and then says "Just stay safe, kiddo. Message us if you need any of us to go to the first floor to find you and Kirishima, and we'll be down there as quick as we can."

     "I know, I know. I promise I'll stay safe, and won't do anything too stupid," Izuku replies, walking over to one of the kitchen cabinets to grab a small snack, putting it in his inventory before beginning to walk back to the front door, gesturing for Eijirou to go ahead and start following. The other boy excitedly jumped up from where e sat, running after to go and see what all was going on. 

     When they returned to the floor Izuku had left Himiko on, she definitely looked really bored, despite not having waited long at all. However, when she saw that he had returned, her face lit up, and she ran over to them.

      "Himiko Toga," the girl says, waving to Eijirou as she introduces herself. Eijirou, who didn't seem to see any issue with how excited she was at the moment, held out his hand, and then said "Eijirou Kirishima! Pleasure to meet you."

     The two shake hands for a long while, but only because Himiko was shaking Eijirou's hand pretty vigorously, her excitement practically pouring out over to Eijirou as she does so. They both seem pretty happy to meet each other, but Izuku would rather not get too attached before figuring out what the guy who sent Himiko wants. 

      "So, I heard we're going to the first floor," Eijirou asks, resulting in a quick nod from Himiko, who skips over to the monument, saying "I'll go ahead and lead the way! Just make sure to keep a little close, that way you don't get lost in the crowd. It's still pretty busy down there, considering some guilds are trying to get more members, and have been for the past week."

      "Ohh, alright. None of us have been keeping up to date with that," Eijirou replies, a nervous laugh following not too much later. 

     "I figured." Himiko shrugs before placing her hand on the monument, the options popping up in front of her. "I can tell you a little more about it on the way."

     Naomasa Tsukauchi was definitely really tired of having to watch the screens displaying what was going on in Sword Art Online all the time. It was pretty boring at this point, considering there wasn't really anything too big going on, and the villain who was a main priority to watch hadn't been doing anything either. He had just been sitting in this one, large building on the first floor, and waiting. Naomasa knew what he was waiting for, but wasn't too sure if the man would be able to find what he was looking for. Izuku just seemed to be doing really well with hiding so far. 

     Deciding to switch which screen he was watching, he flipped over to Hisashi's, who was just talking to Momo. Yet again, he was worried about Izuku.

     "I just feel like he's such a trouble magnet, and it's going to go really poorly for us one day. None of the other beta testers are really being treated so unwell, and then there's Izuku. Maybe if Katsuki hadn't reacted so badly, and went to attack Izuku, the it would all be fine. I mean, Katsuki has always had such a short temper, but I never thought it would get so bad. He's generally all bark, no bite," Hisahsi rants.

     Momo takes another sip of her tea before saying "There's a lot of factors that just added up. After awhile, it just all went crazy, and we weren't able to stop it. Just like we're not able to stop the fact that he's got to go to the first floor and meet someone... well, I don't think he necessarily has to, but is instead doing it out of curiosity."

     What?

     Naomasa flips to the new screen they had for Izuku, put in place because they had to make sure he'd be alright, and to keep Inko calm. She was quite insistent that if her friend got to have a screen for her son, then she could have one for Izuku. She had to make sure her boy wouldn't get into any more danger than he already has.

     But he was getting himself into trouble, and that was quite easy to tell by who he was following. At least Naomasa could see that Izuku had been smart enough to grab someone he trusted, but Naomasa wasn't too sure if Eijirou would be enough. You see, Naomasa had already seen the large guild that All For One had been putting together, all with the interest of keeping all of these pro heroes trapped, and then get rid of them. He had even been making sure that citizens were convinced that they had no reason to help the heroes.

     "If the heroes are so keen on doing this themselves, then let them. Let hero society suffer with the shame of the choices their people make, while we play it smart." That was the line that the villain overlord was always so keen on using. 

     The girl that Izuku and Eijirou were following behind was one of the people so keen to follow those ideals, and had been quite impatient on when All For One would finally let her go and kill a hero. He had talked about how she couldn't do that, not when she had to go and hunt down Izuku. A red mark above her head wouldn't have Izuku trusting her for even a moment, and he wouldn't dare offer her a chance to guide him to All For One.

     But she was bloodthirsty, quite literally, and it was only a matter of time before she finally went and started hunting down pro heroes.

     By the way Naomasa watched Izuku start lightly tugging at the gloves on his hands, and how he would sometimes pull at his fingers, the detective knew that the teenager was nervous. He held his head low, avoiding looking anyone on the floor in the eye, hoping to keep himself safe from anyone who might recognize him, and quickly try to engage in a duel. After all, it didn't take too much for one person to start a duel, and for someone else to guide that person's hand to accept the offer, as long as they grabbed that person by surprise.

     Sword Art Online was just getting to be too brutal for everyone, especially since they all came into the game with the expectation to be able to fight, only to follow the ideals that they should leave fighting to the pro heroes.

     At least Katsuki seemed to be getting out his urge to fight on floor monsters.

     "Alright, here we are," Himiko exclaims, opening the door to place that All For One had been hiding. Izuku glanced around the room, taking in its appearance for a little while before he finally realized the amount of orange and red diamonds hanging over people's heads. Naomasa couldn't see what expression Izuku gave Eijirou, but he could only assume that it was one that mirrored Eijirou's worried expression. 

     But they continued to follow the girl through the building, following her up a few sets of stairs, and then into a large room where All For One sat, smiling as he saw Izuku.

     "Ah, so you've finally made it. Feel free to get comfortable, Midoriya. I have a lot to talk to you about. Although, Toga, do lead the extra guest out for a moment."

Chapter Text

    "I brought Kirishima here for him to accompany him, and make sure I feel safe. The first floor isn't exactly my favorite place here," Izuku says to the man in front of him, his eyes narrowing a little into a glare. He didn't really care too much about himself right now, not when he had a friend with him. If he were to be by himself, he would care a little more.

    But he'll always prioritize the lives of those he cares about more than his own. That's how he's always been.

    "And also, how can I trust everyone here to make sure he's going to be safe? You can try to reassure me that I'll be safe here, but I'm going to worry about Kirishima the entire time, considering he'll be surrounded by people with red and orange diamonds above their heads, and I won't be there to look out for him," Izuku explains.

    "I do see your point, but I will let you know that if anything is to happen to your friend out there, whoever had harmed him, you can go ahead and do whatever you want. You could even order me to do the job for you, if you don't want to ruin the green mark above your head. And I'm sure there will be some commotion out there if something happens, and we'll be out there in no time," All For One says, giving Izuku some time to think it over. The green haired teenager looks between his friend and All For One, trying to decide what was for the better. 

    "You know what, yeah, I'll make sure to shout if I need help. I don't think you'll be hearing anything anytime soon if I stick around," Eijirou decides, starting to turn to leave the room. But he comes to a halt for a moment, saying "But the same applies to you, Midoriya. Shout for me if you need me. Other than that, enjoy your conversation."

    So Eijirou leaves, and soon enough, it's only All For One and Izuku left in the room. They were both silent for a little while, before the villain finally took in a deep breath, leaving forward in his seat a little as he says "I'm currently... in a horrible condition back in the real world. I never originally thought of joining this game, at least until my successor got trapped here. So I joined, and realized that I've never felt better. I'm quite surprised that I haven't just been killed in my time here from the people in the real world, but I suppose they may just want to arrest me."

    "So you really are a villain," Izuku asks.

     "Yes, I am. I'm actually generally a little ghost story to children, a villain nobody is too sure whether or not they're real. Of course, All Might knows I exist, as do a few people he's close to. But the world thinks of me as a ghost story, because how could someone get such a powerful quirk in the first quirk generation?"

    "And that quirk is?"

    "All For One. I can steal quirks from others, and force them on people as well. However, because everyone here has a quirk based off of code, I can't take it. I can't hand quirks over either... but you may be able to help me with that. You see, I've spoken to your father before, but couldn't get very far. He just wants me to make sure that you're okay."

    "I don't think having me here is really making sure I'm okay... I think it would have been best to kinda just look for me yourself, and then talk to me. Like I said, the first floor isn't exactly my favorite spot."

    "I'm here to tell you about the arrangement, and also offer something. But you'll definitely need to help in the process of it. You see, I want to try and help you get a quirk, but you're going to need to bribe your father into it, so that he'll email those who are in the real world. If they managed to spend the time to code quirks in, they can get something for you. They've seen how people treat you without a quirk. People are cruel, and you need a better way to defend yourself."

    "Sir, I'm already really great with the weapons here. I've practiced a lot, and was even able to beat someone who was using a quirk in a duel. I don't think I need a quirk to do well in this game. I'm going to get us to the final floor, and get us all out of this game. And I'm going to do it without a quirk. I've already been told I can't do anything in the real world to become a hero without a quirk, so I'm going to prove myself here. I'm going to prove myself to Bakugo, and everyone else who has gone after me."

    "Quite the determined one, aren't you? And I can definitely see reasons as to why you wouldn't be too keen on trusting me, trying to get things done. But kid, I don't want to go back. That was why I mentioned how bad of a state I'm in in the real world. I can't live without a lot of medical equipment on me at all times. This world... feels perfect for me. I'm already a criminal in the real world, so who's to say I can't have my fun here?"

    "Everyone here is already worried enough about dying from the floor monsters, and I don't really think anyone needs to deal with a killer in the game who's a player."

    "Midoriya... so many people here are killers. I'm not the only one. I've simply brought them together in a group. If I hadn't, they'd already be running wild, and nobody would ever really dare to leave the safe zones. I'm keeping them in control. And with a brain like yours, I think you'd be able to help me find ways to keep them under control, maybe even bend a little closer to your will."

    "And what would I do with a bunch of villains?"

    "Make sure that you're kept safe. Midoriya, I really want to make sure that the son of the man who brought me here is kept safe. And I feel... I feel like you and I could get along, despite our different stances on how the world should be. Besides, I'm only after those pesky heroes right now. I've only ever gone after civilians for their quirks, because it's so wonderful, and they'll never get the chance to use it. But I can. Still can today."

    "All of these pro heroes here, people still need them. Say there was a bigger threat than you, and the people didn't have enough backup? All because all of these pro heroes are dead. Eraserhead is stuck in this game, and he's one of the handiest pros that the hero commission holds at the moment."

    That was when All For One burst into laughter, clutching at his sides as he wheezed in air, his head softly shaking from side to side. "The world has lived without him, and I'm sure the outside world is adjusting to the lack of heroes. And we mainly hold Japanese heroes here. That also means that there are a great many of us... villains in here. Japan will find a way to adjust, and I'm sure heroes can be sent over from other countries if Japan really is suffering from a loss of pro heroes." All For One looks up at Izuku with a smile as he says "And, child, I don't think there is anyone out there who's stronger than me. There's a reason I'm a legend, and nobody else is."

    Izuku nervously eyed the man, his fingers clenching into a fist, and then starting to loosen a little, only to squeeze back into a tight fist once more. This kept repeating as he started to rock on the heels of his feet, trying to think of what to ask the villain without plain out asking what the man really wanted. 

    Yeah, All For One kept mentioning wanting to talk to Izuku, kept complimenting Izuku's brain... but was he really just here to be flattered, given a quirk opportunity? And the man seemed far too relaxed about Izuku's lack of wanting to help eliminate all of the pro heroes from the game.

     But did the man not realize that if enough trouble was caused, the commission could decide to pull the nerve gear off of All For One at any moment? Or was the villain certain that he had a quirk in his arsenal to prevent his brain from being fried?

    "Well, since I don't plan on helping you get rid of the pro heroes in the game, what am I here for? Or is that it? Did I really just seem like the type of kid who would get rid of hero society just because of a few little in game slip ups? Interactions gone wrong," Izuku questions, trying to relax a little bit once more.

    But it was rather difficult for him to try and calm down. It isn't every day that an extremely powerful villain gets someone to go after you, and then try to have a friendly conversation.

     "I just want a peek into that brain of yours. I want to see what all knowledge it holds... and to give you a friend. There's plenty to do in this game, and you seem to have it figured out pretty well. Maybe you can help me, and I'll let you in on one of the biggest secrets ever held by a hero."

    That had been what had really caught his attention, eyes darting back to where the villain sat instead of always looking around the room, trying to avoid eye contact. 

    All For One seemed quite amused by the sudden interest.

    "Tell me, Midoriya, are you a fan of All Might?"

    Naomasa holds the tablet in a tight grip, the screen record already having been started since the conversation between Izuku and All For One started. The detective knew that every bit of this conversation was going to become important in the end, and that maybe something could go wrong that they'd have to try and contact Izuku about.

    However, he never thought he'd be having to find a way to try and make sure the secret of One For All wasn't revealed to a sixteen year old, and then everyone else who could be watching him right now.

     Pulling out his phone, he quickly went to call his contact in the Sword Art Online team, letting out a long sigh of relief when his phone was picked up almost immediately.

    "Tsukauchi, we've already got the cameras shut down for Midoriya, that way his mother can't see it, and neither does anyone else who has access to his camera," the person quickly says the moment they had answered the phone.

    "Good. The commission doesn't know this secret either, so I'm going to need Midoriya's camera and All For One's turned off on everyone's but mine. I'll let you know when it can be pulled back up," Naomasa directs.

    "Done. Now you better not get me in trouble. But how come the commission can't know"

    "Because it's not All For One's secret to tell. The hero that is about to have some very important information handed over to a child has only told a select few, and I am part of that select few. Sadly, it seems as if we're about to have someone else joining in on the secret. I'm going to need you to try and get me a way to contact the kid as soon as he gets out of that building. A call or message, I don't care. Just get me in contact with Midoriya."

    And with that, Naomasa cringed at the screen as All For One begins his long explanation of One For All, finally standing up, only to walk closer to Izuku, sitting the both of them on the floor so that he could explain the long held secret.

     "This... is going to be an extremely long night," Naomasa mutters.

Chapter Text

     As soon as All For One finished talking about One For All, and told Izuku he can think over the offer later, Naomasa finally let the cameras be turned back on on all of the other devices. He'd probably be contacted about the situation soon, but in the mean time, he had things to do, people to inform.

    So Naomasa grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, and slung it over his shoulders, quickly stuffing his arms into the thick sleeves. However, it did take him a little bit longer than he preferred since his hand had missed the hole a few times. 

     Finally, the detective starts to run out of the building, keys rattling in one hand, while his phone is clutched tightly in the other.

    "Tsukauchi, where are you going," the person at the desk calls, standing up from their chair as they try to get a response from Naomasa.

    "Emergency with Sword Art. I have someone I need to talk to, but I promise I'll be back later," Naomasa replies as he swings the front doors open, and makes a break for the parking lot ahead of him. Once he reaches his car, he jams the keys into the lock, and twists, hearing the satisfying click as the doors unlock. He doesn't even take the time to fully pull the keys out of the door before he's pulling the handle, and climbing into the front seat, starting up the car as he tosses the keys from his left hand to his right, giving the keys a hard twist as the engine starts up.

    With how fast Naomasa was pulling out of his parking lot, he was quite surprised when he didn't at least bump into anything, especially one of the cars in the parking lot across from him, but was quite grateful that he didn't bump into anything. Having to deal with paying to fix something wasn't exactly on his agenda, and he already had plenty to worry about anyway.

    Sometimes being in charge of looking out for Sword Art Online, and then also knowing about One For All, was a huge pain. He never felt like he could get a break, and could hardly spend some time with his sister like he wanted to. He usually took her out to one of her favorite stores every Saturday, but had to cancel it more than once lately.

    At this point, she was willing to call in and report something that she would claim he did, despite the fact he would have done nothing of the sort, and force him to go on break, or get fired. With her, it was always "You work too much," and "Naomasa, you're starting to get eye bags. Before we know it, you'll be getting facial hair, and then everyone will really be able to tell that you're overworking yourself."

    He frequently had to remind her that since he was the older sibling, he should be looking out for her most of the time, and not vice versa. She would then reply with "siblings look out for each other."

     It honestly didn't help that he couldn't lie to her about how well he was doing, because she was always using her quirk, Polygraph, to see if he was lying or not. And if he refused to let her touch him so that she could activate her quirk, she automatically assumed he was lying. 

    So he had frequently began to test just how much he can lie before her quirk went off, and called him out. 

     But Makoto may have to wait another week, and Naomasa will just have to buy her something on the way back from work to make up for it.

    Naomasa quickly spend down the road, going as fast as the speed limit would permit, that way he wouldn't face the possibility of getting pulled over in such an urgent situation. Though eventually, he finally reached Toshinori Yagi's apartment, and loudly knocked on the door.

    It was late, but Toshinori was already up almost all the time anyway. It wouldn't hurt for him to come answer the door. 

    Just a little over a minute later, the door slowly opened, and the bright blue eyes of the Symbol of Peace himself peered through the crack he had in the open door, the confusion fading into something soft as he opened the door the rest of the way for the detective to walk in.

    It only made Naomasa feel bad that he was going to bring the warm welcome into a depressing visit.

    "All Might, something happened in the game today," Naomasa starts, following Toshinori into the living room, where they both take a seat on the couch.

    "Well, things happen in that game all the time. But do tell me. Nobody I know well died, did they? No more pros dying? Citizens are being as safe as they can," Toshinori questions.

    "All For One managed to find that kid I've been talking to you about, Izuku Midoriya. The bastard spilled the whole secret of One For All to the kid, and is trying to get Midoriya to hand him information about the pro heroes, that way he can stay in the game forever, or at least have dealt with some of his biggest issues in the real world. And from what I've seen, the kid is an analyst. If he falls into All For One's hands, who knows how much death we'll see in one day."

    "Dammit. All For One has always had a way with words. And I'm sure he knows about some of the situations Young Midoriya has been through, and will use them to draw him in. We need to find a way to get Midoriya out of that game, and fast."

    "All Might, that's the issue. There is no way to get him out of that game, because the quirk gene is nonexistent in him, and those mutations are the only things that have kept a player alive. Doctors have been trying on some of the other SAO players as they die in the game, but only two seem like a close possibility, and then we only have one who is up and running right now."

    "Iida... Iida. Young Iida knew Young Midoriya. We can find a way for Young Iida to contact Young Midoriya, and persuade the boy himself to not listen to All For One, and just ignore the man."

     "But All For One always finds a way to get his way."

     "Pull the plug?"

    Naomasa laughs before he replies with "Probably the most brilliant idea I've heard. But nah, the Commission is quite set on keeping him alive, so they already have him in a heavy detainment while we wait for him to wake up."

    "That man really knows how to never die, doesn't he?"

    "Yeah... I've also heard that people are worried that by taking off the nerve gear, he may be able to survive it, and will rampage the second it's removed, and lives will then be lost in the process. They would rather him gradually wake up after the game is completed, and then detain him the rest of the way later on."

    "It feels like the All For One nightmare will never end," Toshinori sighs, starting to pick at his nails, picking dirt out of the little space between his skin and nail, all collected from his day's work.

    "I'll find a way to get the younger Iida kid to contact Midoriya, and you get some rest. I'll keep you updated on the situation, but I really felt like I had to be here to tell you about Midoriya knowing about One For All."

    "And I thank you for that, Tsukauchi. But don't forget to rest yourself. I'm sure your sister misses your company, and I'm also sure that your work would be quite glad if you went and took a break, considering you've consistently been working overtime, just to look over a game."

    "A game with people, real people, trapped in it. I just want to get everything back in order, see the world filled with all the people that have gone missing from it, and are instead stuffed in cold hospital rooms. I want to see my friends again instead of visiting their hospital rooms every once in awhile. I just want everything back in order, and I want to destroy that damn game."

     "All of which is understandable... but hey, I want you to go ahead and stay here tonight. I know we're much too old for it, but let's have a sleepover, relax a little, take some of the stress off of our shoulders, even if it's just for tonight. I've got loads of blankets, and plenty of old movies we could watch. Just... take time to relax."

    Naomasa glances at his phone, then looks around the small apartment. With a sigh, he gives Toshinori a nod, and then says "Let me just call in for them to end my shift, and then I'll be back, and we can watch one of those Marvel or DC movies that you really like."

    Toshinori claps his hands together excitedly, and then practically springs up from the couch, saying "I'll go ahead and make you some coffee, and then me some tea. You get the call done, and I'll have the movie ready."

    Naomasa can't help but smile, and then give his friend a small nod before walking towards the entryway once more, scrolling through his phone's contacts as he finds who he needs to call, that way he can get himself clocked out of work without having to drive all the way back.

    Sansa was probably the best officer Naomasa had met, considering how kind the man was, and how willing he was to clock Naomasa out, despite the fact that he was just getting ready to exit the building himself.

    Walking into the living room once more, the detective decides to walk over to the kitchen, grabbing some things to help the older, steadily preparing to retire pro hero. 

     "Have you gotten any updates on those Vigilantes that were always running around in the lesser checked on areas of Tokyo," Toshinori asks as he finished up Naomasa's coffee, putting the last little bit of sugar in it.

    "No. They seem to have gone off the grid... maybe got stuck in the game. I do want to thank them for the help they've given me someday though, and maybe also give each of them a good slap on the back of the head for also making my work harder. Makoto seems pretty down about their disappearances too."

    "I'm a little surprised she didn't get the game."

     "Well, I was supposed to get it for her when it released, but I got caught up with the Trigger drug... and luckily never got her the game. She came home from work that night, and then saw the news about the game. She seemed pretty relieved that I didn't get her the game too. So, I'm glad I've still got her with me."

    "Well, I suppose that's the only good thing Trigger has done... though I do wonder if it could help with the Sword Art Online situation at all though."

    "All Might, we're not going to risk it. And it's pretty much human experimentation at that point, and we're not going to exactly be appreciated for that, especially if it goes wrong."

    "I know. But it's just a suggestion. It'd be really cool of Trigger could help free people from the game though, especially since the quirk mutation seems to be saving some people. Enhance the quirk, and who knows? Maybe that will be enough to free people."

Chapter Text

     Izuku thought that he knew a lot about All Might. He had known that he was a big fan of the hero for so long, and that he was eager to learn any bit of information that he could about the man. 

     He wasn’t ready for the words that the villain spoke so clearly that it seemed like definite truth. A truth that Izuku wasn’t sure he was ready to accept. The origins behind the hero’s quirk, and so many others through the generations. A connection never before picked up on.

     And now Izuku had been given that connection.

     By a legend amongst villains. A child’s horror story for others.

     Said villain spoke to him casually, as if he was someone that had been someone able to be confided in for a long time now. It made Izuku wonder just how long he had been watched by the villain. It was a reminder that he had more eyes on him than he ever wanted.

     But those were things that he had to keep to himself as he stood in the same room as the villain. It wasn’t the time to say anything when he hardly knew the man in front of him at all. Just that this villain was someone with too much power, even when weakened. Someone who could go against All Might, yet was kept alive in this game.

     He was allowed to find his semblance of peace in this game, and seemed to think that he could offer Izuku something similar.

     Izuku just needed to get stronger. He needed to get strong enough that not a single quirk or more could be something that would become a bother for him in this game. A challenge he needed to overcome.

     This game was where Izuku was supposed to be on equal footing, and All For One had tried to offer something that could bring it back. But everyone knew already, and it didn’t feel right to cheat like that. Not only did it just feel wrong in general, but it would just add to the sheer amount of people who already thought he was cheating.

     And that was without them knowing that his father was part of the Sword Art Online team, and was now in the game. Though there wouldn’t be much for his father to do here, the tiniest spark of an idea that this left Izuku open to cheat would ignite a fire so big that Izuku would just rather completely go into hiding. Not interact with anyone and wait in the edges of every floor until the heroes had finally gotten them out of the game.

     Izuku wanted to go home. Whether it was the house that he had been in with Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and his father, or the apartment with his mother, Izuku wasn’t sure. The only thing that he was sure of was that he wanted out of this guild.

     He was surrounded by a whole bunch of registered villains, who seemed to take no shame in letting that be known in the game as well. Any villain who may have been in hiding in here could probably now be seen by the heroes and officers that were still outside of the game, able to actually do things.

     Though, there wasn’t much they could do to save all of them in the game. It took a lot to get away with intentionally killing a villain.

     And if the villain in front of Izuku could get away with it, then there was probably nothing that could be done about the villains around Izuku, all just on the other side of the door and surrounding Kirishima.

     All For One slowly got up, a smile on his face as he walked towards Izuku. Izuku, who was frozen in place, still trying to find some way to process all of the information that the villain had given him.

     “It’s a lot, I know,” All For One said, placing a large hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “I presume that you’re a hero fan? It’s never easy to actually be close to them… to know them deeper. It’s easier to look at heroes from a distance, isn’t it? They’re not always… honest. They’re a personality put on for show most of the time, Midoriya.”

     Izuku slowly looked up at the villain, and then quietly said “I’m… I’m not changing my mind yet. They’ve gotten us this far.” And as a little test of confidence, as if wanting to risk it all and see just how much the villains as willing to tolerate him, Izuku said “And at least they’re out there. They’re using their power to try to get us further.”

     “I bet that we would be further if they weren’t so busy trying to put on a little savior show that they feel obligated to put on. There’s so many cameras on them, boy,” All For One replied, giving Izuku’s shoulder a pat, the smile staying. “You’re young, and impressionable, I’m sure. Just give it some time. You seem good at giving these heroes a run for their money anyway.”

     All For One’s hand slides off of Izuku’s shoulder, a pressure that felt so much heavier than it actually was. 

     But the pressure still lingered, Izuku almost ready to stumble from where he stood.

     “It also takes a lot to keep all of these… villains… under control. They’re all very passionate, and rather honest about their intentions. Sometimes I have to reign back that honesty,” All For One adds. “But I suppose that we’re done here for today. You still want to wait and see where this goes. I’ll allow you that.”

      Allow. He’d be allowed that.

     Izuku still tried to stand strong though, even if it left him frozen on the spot.

     “So, to show my goodwill, and my appreciation that you even listened to me all the way down here, a gift.” With that, the villain summoned a sword, carefully holding it in his hands, giving it a little toss. “I have more quirks than I care to count. These weapons… they hardly mean much to me. Have this one. I believe it will suit you well.”

     His arms extended to hand over the weapon, delicately putting it in Izuku’s own. The weapon was Izuku’s now, and his stats to look at.

     He had yet to figure out if it was something that he would want to trade out his current sword with first.

     That was for later, though. Right now, he still wanted out.

     Letting the sword disappear into his inventory, he gave a small nod in thanks, and then turned to leave the room. He pushed open the heavy doors, where Kirishima stood just outside, his arms crossed as he waited for Izuku.

     He was still okay, even while being surrounded by all of these villains.

     “Let’s go,” Izuku said, to which Kirishima gave him a quick nod, shooting a smile Izuku’s way, trying to feign some kind of confidence. Izuku could get that.

     They walked quickly, reaching a monument as quickly as possible just so that they could teleport to their floor.

     “What did he want,” Kirishima asked as they began their walk down the slick stone pathway, at risk of constantly slipping should they walk too fast. 

     Combat was intentionally made rather difficult on this floor.

     Izuku kept his steps just a little behind Kirishima’s, and quickly came to a stop as Kirishima did too. Red eyes met Izuku’s own green ones, and Izuku quickly looked away, shrugging before he said “He was just offering some support.”

     “The group with all of the orange and red diamonds above their heads… was offering support,” Kirishima questions, an eyebrow raised in concern. Izuku just gave another nod. “Why’d they think you would want their help? I mean, you didn’t accept it, did you?”

     “No, I didn’t.” Not directly. He had just denied the things that All For One was offering to do for him, while also, in a way, waiting to see how things would go. 

     Izuku hadn’t been the happiest with the hero’s decisions, but he always tried to trust them. He had been doing that for all of his childhood, and he didn’t know why he would let that waver now when they were just trying to keep all of them from dying.

     The main issue was that Izuku just hated sitting still and being unable to do anything. And he knew that he could help.

     Even without a quirk.

     This game was supposed to be beaten without quirks, after all. That was what had always been intended.

     They both began walking again, the rain pouring down on them, no longer the soft drizzle that it usually was. Combat would be particularly difficult today, especially in certain areas of the floor.

     “Well it’ll be okay, man,” Kirishima said, speeding up his walk just a bit as they got closer to home. “We’re doing pretty well out here, if you ask me. We’ve been safe, and we don’t really run into anyone.”

     Except now they had been found.

     Izuku wanted to get to another floor, and hide there quickly. He was almost considering moving onto the floor that the heroes were presently on, just to get a little further.

     But that would be obvious if it was already known now.

     Moving lower was also a risk.

     Izuku needed out.

     He needed out of this game, and to just return to a relatively normal life with normal stakes, with issues that he hardly needed to let concern him. He wanted to go back to being nobody right now, because he couldn’t handle being known.

     How the hell had he even managed to get the attention of some legendary villain?

     Their home was closer now, something that they could finally see through the pouring rain.

     “I’m… I’m going to go out and fight some monsters for a bit,” Izuku suddenly said, stopping as he tried to speak over the rain. Kirishima paused as well, but just gave a firm nod before he said “You be safe then. I’ll be home, waiting for you, okay?”
    Izuku didn’t stay to reply, rushing off the moment that Kirishima had finished speaking. 

     The rain seemed to give more privacy, in a way. It shielded him from the things going on around him, and gave him some peace on the floor. He was quickly growing attached to this heavy rain.

     So with the privacy that it provided, Izuku pulled out the sword he had been given. Part of him wanted to ignore the fact that it may have been taken from a dead person… to think that it had been retrieved through fighting the bosses like any other player. Probably in an attempt to show off his quirks that he could now use.

      Especially if these materials were, as he had deemed, useless. Weapons like these were useless to the villain overlord. 

     But something that Izuku would need to cling onto to keep himself safe. Everyone else seemed to have been given some kind of advantage.

     Who was the cheater in the game now? Sure, it had come down to a matter of survival. But at the end of the day, this was never how the game was supposed to be played.

     Izuku needed to get stronger.

     So he looked at the weapon, and what all it could do. He read it carefully.

     Just something to help him boost his speed by a longshot. It had definitely come from a powerful enemy, something that may be difficult to find. Probably even higher floors.

     That would mean that All For One wasn’t only staying on the first floor. He was willing to venture out, should he have actually been the one to go and get the weapon.

     And if it had been from someone else, someone who very well may be dead, then that meant that other people were now more willing to go to higher floors.

     Izuku couldn’t handle that.

     They needed to keep moving, even if his father was against it.

     Stronger. That was what Izuku needed to be.

     He clung onto the sword tighter, making sure that there was no possible way that the weapon would be able to slip from his grip. He held it so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and then went to look for some monsters, listening closely to figure out where they were through the pounding rain.

     Having his own heightened speed somehow seemed to counter the way he could slip around, already in decent control of where he was going as he fought. 

     Quickly, he defeated one monster after the next, getting to them before they even really realized that he was there.

     He could work with this weapon. This sword was something that he very well may need to keep up.

     But he looked at his other sword, the one that he had been particularly attached to as of late.

     That one would still be in use too. This other sword… this one was only for when he needed it.

     Izuku returned late, almost tripling the amount of money he had before. He had continued to mess with the new sword for a while, figuring out just how much he could incorporate it into the style he had gotten used to, as well as trying to venture out from what he had gotten used to. Trying to find something new, which would help guarantee his safety.

     That could keep him unpredictable.

     “You’re home,” Izuku’s father said, relief pouring into Hisashi’s voice as he walked over. “Kirishima told us where you were… are you doing okay? Are you sure that you weren’t followed?”

     “Kinda hard to follow through monuments,” Kirishima reminded from his spot at the table, eating a dessert from a shop a few floors down.

     “Right, right,” Hisashi muttered, shaking his head as if he didn’t help code this game in the first place.

     Izuku pulled some things out of his inventory, and made sure to give them to his father. “I was just out collecting some stuff.”

     Hisashi looked over everything, muttering to himself about what all they would be able to be used for as he turned away, now distracted.

     Yaoyorozu worriedly looked at him from where she sat, her hands around her cup, something she hadn’t taken a sip from in the whole time that Izuku had been here.

     She was still concerned.

     “I collected enough money that I think we can immediately get a good place on the twenty-second floor,” Izuku said with a shrug. He had not only been fighting basic enemies, but had been stumbling through the rain enough, darting from one place to the next, that he had actually managed to find stronger enemies. The basic bosses, that would give him some pretty good materials.

     What he had handed his father was just a bunch of basic drops from the average enemies on the floor. But all useful things around here.

     The sword had been put to good use as it was tested against the stronger enemies. And Izuku was genuinely enjoying the speed he had been given so much. Even more so when he knew that it was something that was genuinely from the game. It wasn’t a cheat, even if it was from someone who would probably cheat his way to the end.

     Yet it was a sign of goodwill, apparently. That Izuku wasn’t going to be killed by that villain.

     He needed to find something that could keep him cheered up, and his hopes high at times like these. If it was looking at the sword positively, then that was what he would do.

     “I found some strong enemies that we could go against for some materials,” Izuku said, looking in the cabinets to see if there was anything that he could grab to eat. “I think it’d be nice to do together.”

     “I thought that we were going to follow the heroes though,” Kirishima questions. Izuku just shrugs again, pulling out some of the food from the floor for his dinner.

     “We usually have a while before they go anywhere anyway,” Izuku quietly counters before taking a bite. Once the food is swallowed, he adds “Even with their quirks in the game now, they’re still trying to be cautious. But they’re also just barely touching these floors.”

     “So we’re picking up the slack around here, and getting more experience,” Yaoyorozu questions. Izuku nods as he takes another bite of food.

     “If we go in with more experience, and with better materials, then they can’t be that mad,” Izuku eventually mentions. “They’ll probably start trying to get us to tell them what we’re doing, but they’re going to need our help.”

     Hisashi’s attention was drawn back up, looking away from the new items in his inventory. 

     “I still think directly interfering with the hero’s work is risky,” Hisashi says.

     “I’m about to become a very rebellious teenager if you don’t let me do this,” Izuku says, giving his father a deadpan look before smiling.

    He was so tired of standing back, and dealing with everyone in the game. He wanted out, and he wanted out fast.

     They just needed to do better than the heroes around here real quick.