Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tomura had his headphones in as usual. Sitting behind his desk, he blasted aliens on a computer screen. He didn’t notice when the door opened, or when two people entered.

Tapping his protégé on the shoulder, All for One said, “If I’d been a hero, you would be dead.”

Shrieking, Tomura decayed his computer mouse. His character died. With a curse, he whirled around in his wheely chair. “Sensei, don’t sneak up on me when I’m—who’s the brat?”

A green-haired teenager waved. He had freckles and big, cute eyes like a helpless deer. “Hi! My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I’m here to join the League of Villains.”

Tomura stared. “What is this thing? Target practice?”

All for One’s jaw twitched. “Ha-ha, Tomura, don’t tease your little brother.” He winked frantically. “You know exactly what I’m talking about so don’t you dare tell any jokes that might confuse him.”

Tomura frowned. His sensei had an annoying tendency to tell him unimportant matters when Tomura was in the middle of important video games, so it was possible he’d missed an info dump earlier. Also he hadn’t checked his email and text messages since this game had been released. “Could you come back after I finish this level? I was about to hit my tenth achievement.”

“Izuku, I need a moment with your older brother alone.” All for One grabbed Tomura and dragged him away from his current favorite game. The maniac gleam in the villain’s eyes kept Tomura from arguing.

Once they were in the bedroom with the door closed, All for One used a quirk that made the room glow blue—an anti-eavesdropping measure. Then he said, “Izuku Midoriya is my son under my civilian identity.”

“You have a civilian identity!?” Tomura shrieked.

“I thought you’d be more focused on the son part.” All for One rubbed his scarred ears.

“YOU HAVE A SON?!” Tomura screamed.

This time, All for One put his hands over his ears in time. “Don’t be difficult about this, I prefer not to deal with other people’s emotions.”

Up until fairly recently, Tomura would have been spitting with jealousy. But lately he’d met a group of new villain friends online, who he planned to turn into the core of his league. The experience had left him less emotionally dependent on his mentor. He shrugged. “I don’t care if you adopted another brat. But why wouldn’t you raise the kid as a villain?”

“Izuku is my biological son.”

“Huh.” Tomura considered. He could see a little resemblance to pre-potato Sensei in the kid’s facial structure and hair. “Wouldn’t that be even more reason to raise him into a proper villain?”

All for One’s eye twitched. “I’ve come to realize that you’re right.”

Tomura choked at this completely uncharacteristic admission. He even pinched his arm to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

All for One continued, “While I was busy with my work and rarely at home, my foolish son developed the ambition of becoming a hero.”

“That’s rough,” Tomura said, wondering how much sympathy he needed to fake before he could get back to his video game.

“He even planned to take the U.A. entrance exam while quirkless. I was very upset. Distraught, even. You see, my brother also—never mind.” All for One coughed. “I told my son about my little brother. I told him a little too much. Then I had to erase Izuku’s memories with a new quirk.”

“How did he end up going from a hero wannabe to a villain wannabe?”

“Let’s just say I’m making the best of an impulsive decision. I meant to erase the part where I admitted to being a villain to my son—and instead I erased everything except that moment. New quirk problems, ha-ha.” All for One twitched harder. Sweat dripped down his forehead. “If my wife finds out that I gave our son amnesia…it doesn’t bear thinking about. She believes that Izuku is visiting me in America. The quirk should wear off in a few months, before his supposed return date. Just in case, I’m looking for another quirk to restore his mind, because my wife…she has a very strong arm when swinging a frying pan…”

“Good luck, Sensei, but I can’t help you with finding quirks or your marital problems.” Tomura gazed longingly in the direction of his computer.

“While my son has amnesia, I need you to teach him the joys of villainy.” All for One grabbed Tomura’s shoulders. “I told Izuku that he’s already a villain. You’re a cool, older boy. He’ll admire you.” All for One spoke as if trying to convince himself, his skeptical eyes raking Tomura’s stained sweatshirt. “Izuku is smart and knowledgeable about quirks. He’ll be an asset to the League of Villains. And you’ll taint his reputation so that he can never, ever become a hero. Why, he might even come to enjoy villainy and stick with it after he gets back his memories. If not, I can erase his memories again.”

Tomura considered. “If I babysit your brat, then will you buy me a new gaming system?”

“Yes, of course.”

“You caused me to decay my favorite high-end luxury gaming mouse.”

“Here.” All for One handed over his credit card. “Money is no object, as long as Izuku becomes a villain.”

“Deal.” Tomura pocketed the card, then went out to meet his new little brother.

After dumping the kid, All for One departed, muttering something about how Izuku’s current innocence reminded him too much of someone named Yoichi to bear. Tomura didn’t pay attention. He plopped Izuku down in front of the TV and put on a bunch of movies with criminal protagonists: Robin Hood, John Wick, Zorro, and V for Vendetta. Although Tomura had not seen these movies, the main characters on front usually wore black so he assumed they were very evil. Fiction seemed like a great way to slowly dip the brat’s toes into villainy. Izuku listened to anything Tomura said like a small child. His gaze held an uncanny blankness. He was glued to the screen when Tomura left. It would probably be fine to leave him alone.

The League of Villains gathered in front of a hotpot restaurant. This was only the third time they’d all met in-person. They’d originally been part of a fantasy MMORPG team together, but when Tomura had realized all his teammates had criminal origins, naturally he’d recruited them to work for him. They were way better than the cheap criminals his sensei had gathered. (Which, admittedly, didn’t say much. Sensei had found some real bots.)

Tomura flashed a credit card at his friends. “All for One will be paying for our dinners from now on. In return, we just need to help his kid become a villain.” Tomura didn’t explain about Izuku’s amnesia or his hero dreams. He trusted his friends, but they weren’t all the best liars.

Compress’ eyes tracked the card. Tomura pocketed it before it got stolen.

Toga asked, “Is he cute?”

“Like an adorable puppy,” Tomura said. “But if you stab him, you’re dead. That’s my little brother.”

Dabi stuck his hands in his pockets and mumbled about not needing more younger siblings to look after.

Twisting his hands, Spinner said, “I’m inexperienced dealing with kids, but I’ll do my best.”

Twice said, “This will be fun,” then “The boss’ spoiled son? Ugh, I bet he’s insufferable.”

Grinning, Magne slapped Twice on the back. “Cheer up, we’re getting free food.”

The League trooped into the restaurant, ate until their stomachs felt ready to explode, and made their plans to attack U.A. and kill All Might during the U.S.J. training exercise.

Tomura had been fired up about U.S.J. until Izuku tipped him off that All Might wouldn’t be there. (Apparently Izuku had some detailed All Might tracking system on his phone. Tomura could only assume pre-amnesia Izuku had hated All Might too.) Then there had barely been any purpose. Killing a few NPCs wouldn’t make a proper villain debut. Tomura ordered his inner circle to look for All Might, while he sent the lower-level villains whose names he couldn’t remember to attack the hero brats.

Izuku tugged on Tomura’s sleeve. “I saw the news. Shouldn’t we hurry to U.S.J.?” Izuku had clearly modeled his villain costume after the movie Zorro: a black mask over his eyes, a cape, and a black flat-brimmed hat. His dark green jumpsuit had a belt full of weapons.

Tomura looked up from texting. “Kurogiri still hasn’t found All Might.”

“We can’t wait for All Might!” Izuku cried. “The students might be dying.”

Good point. What if everyone died before Tomura got in a single kill? That would be embarrassing. His friends would give him such a hard time. “Fine, I’m calling Kurogiri over.” Tomura stood up. He didn’t see any reason to take the All Might-murdering Nomu, because All Might wouldn’t be there. He could handle a few NPCs on his own.

When Kurogiri sent Izuku and Tomura through the portal, they arrived to a scene of heated battle between hero students and villains.

“We have to save them!” Izuku shouted.

“Eh, our side seems to be doing fine.” Tomura blinked in surprise as Izuku shoved him straight at a villain with needle hair who’d been about to kill a frog girl. He accidentally grabbed her and decayed her. “Oops.”

She hadn’t been one of his real friends, so Tomura didn’t mind too much. However, he minded when Izuku grabbed his hand and pushed him at another villain. Tomura’s deadly touch accidentally decayed this one, too. “Hey! Little brother!”

“No time, we need to rescue everyone.” With surprising strength, Izuku swung Tomura around by his ankles like a club. Tomura wailed as he was used as a living weapon.

By the time Tomura recovered from his dizziness enough to scream for Kurogiri to take him away, the villains had been defeated and the hero students stared at him and his little brother with confused eyes.

When they landed back in Tomura’s room, he screamed, “What the hell were you doing?”

Izuku blinked like a cow gazing at the headlights of a train. “Saving the hero students, like we came to do.”

Awkwardly, Tomura realized he’d never actually explained the quest to his little brother. “We are villains! What do you think villains do?”

“Villains save people and fight unjust governments,” Izuku said. “Just like in the movies.”

Tomura was loathe to admit he hadn’t actually seen any of the movies. “But the guys on the front of the movie covers wore black.”

Izuku patted Tomura’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for using you as a club, big brother. It seemed like an urgent situation, and you froze up.”

Tomura choked. Froze? He’d been enjoying watching a hero student about to die! “Excuse me, I did not freeze.”

“Mmm, I’m sure you didn’t.” Izuku hugged Tomura. “It’s all right. I’m here.”

Tomura froze in shock. He hadn’t gotten a hug since the day his sensei first saved him from the streets. His brain overloaded. His eyes looked in all directions. His fingers twitched, afraid to accidentally touch.

“We’ve gotta get you some gloves,” Izuku said, then kissed Tomura’s cheek.

Tomura’s brain returned a 404 error.

While eating dinner, Tomura watched the news. He was horrified to learn that the media had mistaken him and Izuku for rather violent vigilantes. Although the police had demanded for them to turn themselves in, they had widespread public support. The family of the girl he’d saved had publicly thanked him. Tomura felt ill.

After dinner, All for One called Tomura. “How did Izuku do at U.S.J.?”

“Wonderfully,” Tomura lied. He would rather decay his own computer without backing up any of his save slots than admit he’d been labeled a vigilante during his villain debut. “The news is talking all about the League of Villains and their terrible attack.” That part was true. It was just no one believed Tomura to be the leader of the villains he’d helped destroy.

With uncharacteristic anxiety, All for One asked, “How did Izuku react to his first kill?”

“He doesn’t seem to have the tiniest bit of remorse,” Tomura said. “If anything, he’s proud.”

“Excellent!” All for One cried. “The amnesia left him a blank slate, free of social constraints. Even when he remembers, he’ll never be able to go back to the heroes. You’ve done well, Tomura. I’ll have your new gaming system and mouse shipped tomorrow.”

Clearly lying had been a great decision. Tomura could always build up a villainous reputation later. Then the lie would become true. Sensei would never have to find out.

For the last five minutes, Katsuki Bakugo had been staring at the classroom wall and trying to rewrite his own memories. He’d heard the shorter vigilante speak at U.S.J.—but he could not believe his own ears. The vigilante had just ignored Katsuki, as if he was nothing except a speck of dust. Therefore he could not possibly be someone who Katsuki knew. If he believed that hard enough, it would become true.

In the corner, Tsuyu chattered with a couple other girls. “That kid who saved me was cool! He looked about our age, don’t you think?” A blush appeared on her cheeks. “Is it strange to be interested in a vigilante even though I’m a hero student?”

Mina laughed. “You’ll have plenty of competition! I think half the class has a crush on the short vigilante. Kirishima was talking yesterday about how manly he was.”

In a shy voice, Kirishima said, “I just said that he was my hero…not…anything else…” He couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Then you don’t mind if I shoot my shot?” Toru asked.

Katsuki started banging his head against his desk in an attempt to give himself amnesia. He would rather pretend he hadn’t recognized that voice than admit his childhood friend / bullying target had somehow turned into an insanely competent vigilante, saved his life, and become the target of crushes from half the class.

The inner circle of the League of Villains gathered around the living room, spreading across the couch and three arm chairs. Tomura waved his hand. “This is my younger brother, Izuku Midoriya. He hasn’t picked a villain name yet.”

Toga unleashed a squeal that could shatter glass. “He’s adorable!” She leapt off the sofa and skipped over. “You were my boyfriend before you lost your memories.”

“I was?” Izuku blinked, looking around uncertainly.

“Yup!” Toga glared at everyone else, daring them to contradict her. All smiles, she grabbed Izuku’s arm and dragged him onto the couch next to her. “We’re super lovey-dovey.”

A blush spread down Izuku’s face. He fidgeted. “Um.” His voice rose a pitch. “P-please look after me. A-all of you, I-I mean.”

Spinner inclined his head. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Twice. “Terrible to meet you.”

Magne patted him on the head. “What a cute kid.”

Izuku said, “I’m excited to be included in my first villain planning meeting. How will we distribute our money among the poor? Who will we save next?”

Dabi snorted. “That’s not what we—”

Nodding, Compress interrupted, “You are completely right. Want to help me rob a corrupt government official of stolen tax dollars?”

Izuku beamed. “Whoa, how exciting! Are we also going to take revenge on heroes who have harmed people?”

“Actually, yes.” Dabi started to smile.

Tomura pinched his forehead. “Noobs, shut it. First we need to repair my reputation after that disaster at U.S.J. Also, Sensei wants me to recruit Stain.”

Spinner beamed and fingered his scarf. “What a wonderful idea. Oh, it would be a dream come true to work with Stain.”

Tomura grunted. He didn’t feel the same, but he needed to kill some heroes to make up for the embarrassment of saving a bunch of them. Stain seemed good at killing heroes. “Little brother, put those analytic abilities of yours to work and find Noseless.”

Izuku frowned. “Are you sure? Stain seems too violent for our team. The heroes he’s attacked aren’t all corrupt.”

Tomura stared wearily. “Did your game screen glitch? Because I don’t recall saying I cared.”

Izuku pointed out, “Stain might immediately try to kill us. He’s always worked alone. He does not consider himself a villain.”

That was a more valid point. Tomura shrugged. “Eh, then we’ll destroy him if he’s a problem.” The answer seemed to satisfy Izuku, although it launched a debate among the rest of the League. Entirely too many of them stanned Stain.

Tomura crept out the door while Izuku and Mr. Compress started planning their heist. When given the mission of corrupting his new little brother, Tomura had asked himself, what would Sensei do? And Sensei had shafted the task off on Tomura, then run off. Therefore Tomura should arrange for Izuku to spend the next couple days with other League of Villains members while he finished his latest video game.

Ochaco was grocery shopping when a green-haired boy walked up to her. He said, “Excuse me, I see that you’re looking at the discounted bread shelf. Most of that is expired. Would you like the money to buy fresh food?”

“Well, yes.” Ochaco squinted, wary of a pyramid scheme. “If you’re inviting me to join an MLM, I’m not interested.”

“Here, free money.” The boy handed her a pile of thousand-yen bills, then ran off.

Ochaco gaped. With trembling hands, she flipped through the bills. They were real, not Monopoly money. She stuffed them into her purse. Who had been that handsome, heroic boy? Forget about the vigilante her classmates were all going ga-ga over. Ochaco’s new crush was the first boy who had given her money.

A man in a magician’s top hat pursued the boy down the grocery aisle, screaming, “Stop! We’re not supposed to give all of it away! Even Robin Hood takes a percentage.”

Izuku opened the restaurant door for Toga. “After you.”

“Such a gentleman,” she giggled, skipping inside. “Why did you pick this restaurant? Who do we want to kill here?”

“No one?” Izuku looked confused. “It’s a new Italian place. I looked it up online, it got great reviews.”

“Oh. So I suppose you don’t want to get thrown out before we have time to eat.” Toga stuck her knife back up her sleeve.

After they’d been seated, Toga asked, “Why was Mr. Compress crying in the hallway?”

“I’m not sure. We had a very successful Robin Hood mission. I had trouble finding enough people to give away all the money to, so I started giving it to charities. The local pet shelter and food bank were very grateful.” Izuku smiled. “So I also made some donations using my dad’s credit card. I stole it from Mr. Compress, who stole it from my brother. Dinner is on me.”

“Aw, how sweet.” She perused the menu. “What are your thoughts on blood?”

“That it belongs inside the body?”

“Lame.”

“Would you like to go to an amusement park after this?” Izuku asked.

“Also lame. I prefer my thrills to be real.” Toga’s eyes lit up. “Ooo, they have steak. I like mine rare.”

When the food arrived, Toga made the mistake of asking Izuku about his interests, and got a long rant about hero statistics. Even worse, he seemed to have entirely missed the point of villainy and thought it was about helping people in illegal but ethically justifiable ways. When the waiter arrived with the check, Toga tensed, waiting for the murder to finally begin. Instead, Izuku handed over a credit card.

“Psst, what are you doing?” Toga hissed, watching the waiter’s retreating back. “He’s getting away.”

Izuku blinked. “Paying for our meal? I said that dinner was on me.”

“I thought you mean that stabbing the waiter was on you. Then we dine and dash.”

Izuku recoiled. “That doesn’t sound like a good date.”

“Why are you no fun?” Toga collapsed with her head on the table. “Ugh, I should have gone after one of the hero students, even they would probably break more rules.”

“Hmm. We’re not actually dating, are we?” Izuku assessed her with his gaze. “Oh, well, it was nice of you ask me out, even though this doesn’t seem to be working.”

“I agree about the part where we don’t work,” Toga grumbled into the tablecloth. She made one failed attempt to stab the waiter before Izuku dragged her back home.

Izuku held up a map. “This is why I’m reasonably certain that Stain will attack Native tonight.”

The paper was covered with a lot of numbers Tomura didn’t understand, but he trusted the kid’s analysis. He’d played several strategy games with his new little brother by now and developed a healthy respect. Tomura ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Good job. Let’s head out.”

“Should we gather the rest of the League of Villains?” Izuku asked.

“And watch them fanboy over Stain? Hell no.” Tomura rolled his eyes. “We don’t need more than the two of us for a recruitment mission.”

“Indeed, the others could be a liability if this goes south,” Izuku said. Once again, Tomura got the impression they might not quite be on the same page. However, Izuku left to find Kurogiri and Tomura got distracted by the game he was playing. He’d nearly become the first person to unlock every achievement.

Tomura emerged from Kurogiri’s portal in a very bad mood, because he’d just died three times in a row in his game. Stain’s dark figure loomed in an alleyway. Tomura stepped forward, accidentally kicking some glasses-wearing hero student out of the way.

Stain’s sword thumped harmlessly into the wall above the hero brat’s head. Tomura stuck a pamphlet in his face. “League recruitment materials. Loads of my friends are big fans of you.” LOV was in big red letters on top of the paper. He frowned as he saw Steal from the Rich and Give to the Poor listed as their number one activity. “Hey, this is slander. Who wrote this? Was it you, little brother?”

In Tomura’s distraction, Stain took advantage to nick his neck and paralyze him. As the pamphlet tumbled from his fingers, he growled, “Fine, no more mister nice guy. Little Brother?”

Izuku leapt through the portal, holding a bottle of hairspray and a lighter. His smile as he lit his handmade flamethrower was positively villainous.

Mournfully, Tenya said, “I didn’t even see the face of the vigilante who saved me. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him ever since…”

Mina nudged Tsuyu. “Looks like you have more competition for your crush. The League of Vigilantes are cool.”

Jirou sighed dreamily. “His flamethrower has a musical rhythm.”

Momo admitted, “I love boys who create their own weapons.”

Ochaco gazed at the search results on her phone, smug that her own crush was not being chased by the entire class but annoyed she hadn’t been able to find him.

Loudly, Shouto Todoroki declared, “The vigilante is all mine! He humiliated my father by releasing proof that he defeated Stain. The HPSC had already officially given credit to Endeavor, leaving them utterly humiliated. My father has been stomping around flaming all day. It’s the Todoroki family creed that we must date whoever would annoy our dad the most.”

Aizawa grumbled, “If all of my students must develop a crush on the same criminal, then at least I wish you would stop making me listen to it. Also, Bakugo, stop hitting you head against your desk. If you break school property, you pay for it.”

Once again, everything had gone wrong for Tomura. He’d been completely on-board with defeating Stain—something about that guy just annoyed him. Also, he’d been furious when Endeavor had claimed credit for defeating Stain and agreed with Izuku’s plan to release a video clip showing they had done it.

How could Tomura have known they would get credit for saving Native and some nameless hero student? He hadn’t even been paying attention to who was in the alleyway. Due to some mud on his fallen pamphlet, the word Villain had been obscured, and people had mistaken them for the League of Vigilantes. They’d been praised by the public for heroically saving hero students twice. People were calling them Class 1-A’s guardian angels. Even worse, the media had mistaken Izuku for the leader of the League of Vigilantes! Tomura was considered his own little brother’s sidekick. It was just plain humiliating.

Tomura texted his Sensei: Everything is going great. Izuku loves being a villain. We’ve been getting a lot of media attention. P.S. There is no need for you to check the news. Just take my word for it.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Zero Self-Awareness

All for One: Tomura, where do you learn to dodge responsibility in favor of pleasure?

Kurogiri: Where do you think, master? Think long and hard about this.

All for One: I see. Kurogiri must have been a terrible influence as a former hero student.

#

Omake: A Spark of Interest

Dabi: So your little brother has amnesia? Does it work on other little brothers? Asking for a friend.

Tomura: Dabi, you don’t have friends besides us.

#

Omake: Who is Brainwashing Who?

Dabi: Kid, I’m supposed to teach you to be evil but I don’t really care.

Izuku: What if we take theatre lessons?

Dabi: I’m not sure why…whoa, this is fun.

Izuku: Tomura, would you like a corgi?

#

Omake: Izuku’s Ongoing Attempts to Give the League Therapy

Izuku: Haven’t you noticed the League isn’t too good at this noble revolutionary thing? Or the noble thief thing? Our caper was the first time you stole anything.

Compress: You have a point but I’m too annoyed at you for giving away my money to acknowledge it.

Izuku: I’ve been improving the League’s reputation as legitimate agents of change. We have supporters. I’m starting a discord server. There may even be endorsements.

Compress: Endorsements? As in people giving us money to use their free stuff? Keep talking…

#

Omake: Conspiracies

Shouto: I have theorized that the green vigilante is Tomura Shigaraki’s secret brother. When they called each other “brother,” that kind of gave it away.

Tomura: I wouldn’t put it past my father to cheat on my mother. However, my entire family was dead when Izuku was born, so you’re barking up the wrong tree. Come up with a theory about someone else being a secret brother, like Dabi.

Dabi: Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

#

Omake: The AU Where Izuku Had Already Met All Might Pre-Amnesia

Izuku: Why am I developing green sparks and superstrength?

Tomura: Uhh…would you believe that All Might is our deadbeat dad? That’s why we totally need to kill him!

#

Omake: Dekubowl

Toga: Maybe I’ll pick a hero student to stalk. That girl with the bob looked cute.

Ochaco: Sorry, I already have a crush on Izuku and so does my entire class. Except maybe Bakugo, we’re not sure if he hates Izuku or if he’s a tsundere.

Toga: There’s no one left? How did the AU where my crush became a villain somehow screw me over the most?

#

Omake: The Real Reason

Tomura: Sensei, I still don’t understand why you can’t help me train your son to be evil. You’re better at corrupting people than me.

All for One: Let’s just say it turns out the patricide instinct survives even amnesia.

Izuku: It’s true. I don’t even know why I’m trying to kill All for One—the knife just keeps accidentally ending up in his back.

Chapter Text

Addressing the assembled League of Villains in his living room, Tomura said, “As you know, we’ve had some difficulties establishing our reputation.”

Izuku waved his hand in the air. “I can help! What if we create a social media presence?”

“You’ve helped enough.” Tomura glared.

Spinner patted Tomura on the shoulder. “I know the misunderstanding about Stain must be difficult. I’m sure you did all you could to prevent his arrest.”

“Uhhh.” Tomura changed the subject. “I especially can’t stand being called the guardian angels of Class 1-A. I don’t even know those noobs! We’re going to lay to rest all claims of us saving hero students for once and for all by attacking their training camp.”

“I see.” Izuku stroked his chin. “Are villains attacking the training camp, so we need to save the students?”

“Yeah, villains are attacking. Us.” Tomura looked around. “I need someone to get the kid out of here and watch over him so we can properly plan.”

“Not it,” Compress and Toga said together.

“Not it,” Magne and Spinner said a few seconds late. Dabi dozed in an arm chair.

“Not it,” Twice said, only to say, “It. Dammit!”

Tomura said, “Twice and Dabi, you’re on babysitting duty.”

“Why me?” Dabi protested, his eyes snapping open.

“Because you spoke too late, and if I leave only one of you watching him, you’ll probably end up saving children from a burning orphanage.” Tomura pushed the three of them out of the door. “Here’s my sensei’s credit card. Do whatever you want, I’d just better not see you in the news for good deeds.”

Staring at his hands, Twice said, “Ever since then, I’ve never known if I’m the original or a clone.”

Izuku patted his shoulder. “How terrible. The more I learn about it, the more I realize quirk counseling in this country is a mess. Any halfway competent counselor should have been able to tell you that you’re the original, because if you died, all the clones would disappear. Also doesn’t the scar on your face prove it?”

Twice gazed up with watery eyes. “Huh. I can’t entirely believe it right away…but I’m starting to feel better.” He paused. “I didn’t disagree with myself!”

“I’m happy for you.” Izuku hugged Twice, then turned on Dabi. “Your turn.”

Dabi backed away. “No, no, I’m not interested, you weird broccoli Pollyanna.”

Izuku advanced. “Despite your ability, you harbor a secret fear of fire. I suspect this is connected to your burns. There are several layers of burns, leading me to believe not all of them are self-inflicted. Did someone with a fire quirk ever burn you?”

“I said no! I don’t want to be psychoanalyzed! You’re a menace—whenever you touch villainy, you turn it into heroism!” Dabi ran.

Izuku chased after him, shouting, “Your flames are your own!”

The training camp mission was limited to the League’s inner circle. Tomura didn’t want to take the chance of a mentally unstable villain causing destruction that Izuku would feel compelled to stop. Too much had gone wrong lately. They were just going to get in, kidnap the winner of the Sports Festival, and get out. This stunning crime would surely shock Japan and rid them of the vigilante rumors. If they could turn the kid into a villain, even better. It would be good practice corrupting children. Tomura needed a level one quest before he could build up his experience for the much more difficult task of turning Izuku into a proper villain.

“Are we sure we want to bring along your little brother?” Compress whispered as they donned equipment for the attack. “He has a history of causing problems during missions.”

Tomura insisted, “I know Izuku can be a ruthless villain. Just look at how he crushed us all in Monopoly yesterday!” Also, Tomura had promised All for One to turn his son into a villain. He’d also kinda sorta made it sound like he’d already succeeded. And he’d misplaced the credit card he’d gotten as payment, so he couldn’t give it back. He really, really needed Izuku to be listed as one of the villains involved in their big attack. “Besides, it’s better to have him where we can keep an eye on him.”

“Good point.” Compress nodded.

Five minutes after they arrived in the forest, a massive giant with spiky brown hair and a radio around his neck ran down the mountain bellowing, “LITTLE LORD! I SMELL A LITTLE LORD!”

Somehow, Tomura just knew this was Izuku’s fault.

While his seniors fought the giant villain, Izuku worked on helping the hero students evacuate. He’d been strictly ordered by his big brother not to join in the fighting this time. Therefore, Izuku thought he’d be most useful in a support role.

Although for some reason, all the hero students turned bright red around him. Perhaps there was a flu bug going around the training camp? Also, the students kept handing him their phone numbers. (Including Class 1-B. Some blond loudmouth had shouted about how Class 1-A didn’t get to hog the hot vigilante.) Izuku assumed they wanted to be able to contact him for help in case of another attack, but then wouldn’t it make more sense to ask for his phone number instead? Also why did so many of the notes have hearts in the margins?

When Izuku returned to the fight, the League was in ruins. Magne had somehow ended up buried face-first in the ground. Spinner sprawled above in the tree branches, moaning semi-consciously. Half a dozen Twices lay in a circle around the roaring giant like fallen dolls. Dabi had collapsed on the ground flaming, with Toga dumping her water bottle over him. The giant held up Tomura in his fist, squeezing, as he bellowed, “YOU WILL NOT KEEP ME FROM THE LITTLE LORD.”

“Put my brother down,” Izuku snarled, reaching for his homemade flamethrower.

The giant immediately dropped Tomura. He bowed his forehead to the ground. “I LIVE TO SERVE YOU, LITTLE LORD.”

“I knew this was your fault, little brother,” Tomura muttered, his eyes crossed.

The giant insisted on following the League home, and that traitor Kurogiri let him. (Apparently the two of them knew each other.) While Izuku was arranging quarters for his new pet, Tomura wrapped bandages around his waist in the bathroom. Ugh, he had so many bruises.

Compress knocked on the door. “While you were getting your asses kicked by the giant, I snuck away and captured Bakugo.”

“Excellent work, Mr. Compress.” Tomura was too pleased to be annoyed about being abandoned or the completely untrue implication that he’d been losing the fight with the giant. They’d succeeded in their objective. This kidnapping would finally turn him into a villain known across Japan!

Izuku poked his head into the room. “Hey, I saw that Mr. Compress accidentally brought along the spiky-haired student that he rescued from the giant, so I returned him to U.A.”

“Dammit, Izuku!” Tomura screamed.

With his arms crossed, Katsuki said, “The weirdo with all the hands across his face rescued me. Not the short green one. Definitely not him. The green-haired vigilante did not rescue me.”

Aizawa twirled his pen. “You’ve said that three times.”

Katsuki kicked the table and growled, “Because I’m extremely certain.” That was his story, and he was sticking to it. He would never live down the humiliation of being rescued by freaking Deku. Furthermore, that fool Monoma had already snidely implied that Katsuki hadn’t been kidnapped but rather had followed everyone’s crush home in an attempt to confess his love first. It had taken all of Class 1-A to wrench Katsuki’s hands off Monoma’s throat. Katsuki could not imagine what Monoma would say if he knew Deku had saved him. (Or rather, unfortunately, he could imagine it.) Even if it meant lying to all of Japan, Katsuki had to save his dignity.

Aizawa asked, “Who kidnapped you? The giant was busy fighting the vigilantes.”

“How would I know?” Katsuki sneered. “Maybe it was aliens.”

“Aliens?”

“Obviously only aliens would be strong enough to kidnap me.”

Aizawa sighed. “I suppose this will be another credit to the League of Vigilantes. The HPSC won’t be happy about their incredible popularity.”

In the hallway, U.A. students could be heard arguing about who had gotten rescued first by the handsome vigilante leader at the training camp.

Dropping his game controller, Tomura picked up the phone on the first ring. Normally he wasn’t so eager to answer All for One’s calls that he let his character die, but he had damage control to do. “Sensei, about your visit—”

“I can’t make it,” All for One replied.

“Oh. Thank go—uh, I mean, Izuku will be sorry to have missed you.” Tomura tried to sound casual. “And I’m very disappointed I can’t show you that kidnapped hero student I bragged about. Who is totally joining our side. Yup, I’m great at corrupting hero brats into villains. Two for two.”

All for One’s voice shook as he talked over his student’s babblings. “My wife recognized our son on the news, despite his mask. She realized Izuku is not in America, and I lied to her. She’s not happy. I’m going to have to turn myself in to the police.”

“What?!” Tomura dropped his phone. Picking it up, he asked, “Sensei, is this your idea of a joke?”

All for One chuckled in a way completely devoid of humor. “Tomura, if you’d ever met my lovely wife, then you would know Tartarus is barely secure enough to be safe from her. I can always escape from jail later, after you and Izuku are established and well on the way to taking over Japan.”

Tomura decided being left totally on his own still wasn’t as bad as admitting all his failures to his teacher. “I’ll send you care packages in jail. If I remember.”

Magne knocked on Toga’s door. “Hey, Midoriya is giving everyone tips on how to use our quirks. You should come! He’s great. It turns out I can do a lot more with Magnetism if I think creatively about using it on different body parts.”

Toga sighed. “Thanks, sis, but I’ve been through a lot of quirk counselors. None of them were any good.”

“Come on, give it a try.” Magne dragged Toga out of her room. “Midoriya, I brought your next subject.” Then she left, closing the door behind her.

On the couch, Izuku looked up from his notebook. “Oh, Toga! I’ve been already thinking about your quirk.”

Toga rubbed her arms. “Thinking that it’s gross?”

“Hmm? No, it’s a neat and very versatile ability.” Izuku leapt up and grabbed her hands. “Based on my analysis, I think you might be able to copy other people’s quirks if you duplicate their quirk factor. Oh! And there’s a lot of ways your power could be used to help people. For example, you can become a blood donor for anyone. Have you ever considered working at a blood donation clinic? You said you like blood, and you’d get to take it from people consensually all day long.”

“Ooo, that does sound fun.” Toga’s eyes lit up. She listened to him talk. Even if the date hadn’t gone so well, maybe they could become good friends?

Tomura looked at Gigantomachia, sitting on his haunches. Then he looked at Izuku, holding a little girl with white hair and red eyes. “Little brother, what do you have there?”

“I rescued her,” Izuku said proudly. “Her name is Eri.”

“Hi!” Eri waved.

Tomura pinched the bridge of his nose. “We are villains. We do not rescue people. We’ve talked about this before.”

Izuku wrinkled his nose. “I saved Eri, and I’m a villain, therefore villains do rescue people.”

Eri nodded. “I agree.”

“You shut up, brat.” Tomura glared. She only gazed back as if she’d seen scarier stares. He sighed. “How did this happen?”

Izuku said, “I took Gigantomachia out for a walk—”

“LITTLE LORD TREATS ME MUCH BETTER THAN LORD,” Gigantomachia interjected. “HE IS THE NEW RECIPIENT OF ALL MY LOYALTY.”

“—and we ran into Eri being chased by a scary man in a toucan mask, so Gigantomachia stepped on him.” Izuku beamed. “This attracted some negative attention from the man’s comrades. I burned their building down.”

“I squashed people,” Gigantomachia said proudly.

Tomura perked up. “Ah, so you destroyed a building and killed innocent people? Excellent work.”

Eri coughed. “I’m not sure about innocent…”

Tomura had a bad feeling. He checked the latest news on his phone. All the headlines were screaming about the League of Vigilantes defeating the yakuza. “Dammit, little brother.”

Sir Nighteye hadn’t dialed his former boss in years, but this situation was urgent. His delicate operation to take down Overhaul had been ruined, and the villains responsible had Gigantomachia on their side. He’d been suspicious as soon as All for One had turned himself over to the police. The ancient villain must have a subtle plan, starting with creating fake vigilantes to discredit heroes.

When All Might answered, his tone was warm. “Mirai, I’m glad you called, I wanted to tell you the news personally.”

Nighteye asked, “Is this about the villains who destroyed the yakuza? Did you notice they had Gigantomachia with them?”

“Yes, actually. I’m deeply impressed with the presumed leader of the League of Vigilantes. That green-haired kid is only a teenager, but he’s already done so much good. I’d like to make him One for All’s Ninth successor. Mirai? Mirai, are you still there?”

No response came from the phone. Nighteye had fainted dead away.

The League of Villains/Vigilantes gathered around the coffee table, playing Candy Land. Eri giggled and clapped her hands. “I win!”

“Good game.” Izuku ruffled her hair. The rest of the League chimed in as well with congratulations. They’d all grown very fond of the adorable little girl. Some of them had even considered throwing the game to her, but they hadn’t needed to.

Twice’s phone rang. He ducked into the hallway to take the call, then burst into the room a moment later. “Some weirdo remnant of the Metahuman Liberation Army called. Re-Destro took Giran hostage and is threatening to cut off a finger if we aren’t there within an hour! What should we do?”

Magne slapped her hands over Eri’s ears before Twice could finish speaking the grisly threat.

“Give me the phone.” Izuku took it and said, “We’ll be there. Touch Giran, and we’ll stomp you flatter than we did the yakuza.” He hung up.

Twice looked around. “We have to move fast. We have to save Giran.”

Izuku said, “Actually, I thought we should call the heroes.”

“What?” Tomura yelped.

“Hear me out.” Izuku steepled his fingers. “I know you don’t love it, big brother, but right now we have credibility with the heroes. If we tell them that we’ve found an MLA cell, then they’ll at least investigate. We can’t fight an entire city alone. But All Might can. We can use the distraction to sneak in and save Giran.” He glanced out the window at the giant lurking outside. (Eri had moved his pieces for him when he’d played.) “Well, as much as Gigantomachia can sneak. If all goes according to plan, they’ll be too distracted to pay attention to even a giant.”

Tomura considered. He had to admit that sounded like a solid plan. It would be difficult to enter direct combat without Giran being used as a hostage. Also, he liked the part where they got All Might to do their dirty work and let the heroes and their enemies kill each other. “Any method to clear the game counts as our win. I’ll let you talk to the heroes since I couldn’t manage it without profanity.”

“I’m already on it.” Izuku pulled out his phone.

The next day, the media was full of praises toward the League of Villains for exposing a city full of evil quirk supremacist terrorists, then helping the authorities defeat and arrest them. Tomura wasn’t exactly happy about it. But Giran had been retrieved intact. Re-Destro had been getting creepy about calling Tomura the ideal being before All Might had dragged him off to prison. Tomura was in the rare position of actually feeling a little grateful toward All Might. That MLA weirdo had given him the willies. Also Re-Destro had the never to insult Izuku for being quirkless, so screw him. Tomura didn’t let anyone push his little brother around.

Dabi stormed into the League headquarters, his coat covered in ashes. “Hand Job, this heroic reputation of ours has gone too far.”

Tomura paused his game. “The media has been talking crazy shit about us for ages. What’s the new update?”

Flopping down on the sofa, Dabi moaned, “I finally revealed Endeavor’s crimes on live television, and the reporters praised me for exposing hero corruption! I didn’t even get to finish my dance because people mobbed me asking for my autograph. Also, they thought my attempt to murder Endeavor was a prank!”

“You set yourself on fire again, didn’t you?”

Dabi ignored the question. “People love us so much, they’re lobbying for vigilantism to be legalized. Our evil reputation is in tatters. If I can’t even be considered a villain after trying to murder the number two hero on live television, then what will be enough?”

Tomura scratched at his neck. Although he didn’t like admitting it, Dabi had a point. Heroism was like glitter, impossible to get off. At this rate, no one would ever call them anything except the League of Vigilantes. It felt like a boss fight where every time the boss’ hit points got low, he healed himself. They couldn’t win. “We’ve gotta pull the plug on this game.”

Dabi nodded.

“We need to do something so brazenly villainous that no one will ever mistake us for heroes again.”

Dabi nodded harder. “Like what? Even trying to kill a hero didn’t work for me.”

“Nah, we’ve gotta be even eviler.” Tomura’s brow wrinkled as he considered the issue. “Like, burn down a hospital or an orphanage or something.”

“I know a place that’s both an orphanage and a hospital.” Dabi sat up straighter. “They saved my life after I nearly burned to death as a child.”

“You’d be returning kindness with cruelty.” Tomura snapped his fingers. “A great villain origin story. Perfect. If this doesn’t work, then I’m giving up on villainy and becoming a vigilante.”

The first bad sign was when Izuku eagerly agreed to join the mission to burn down the orphanage. In retrospect, Tomura wished he’d asked more questions about that. But at the time, it had seemed like a stroke of luck not to have to argue with his little brother’s overly active conscience.

They successfully torched the building. Izuku rescued some children, which seemed to keep him distracted. On his way out, Tomura noticed that Izuku had pocketed a flash drive full of information, but did not think much about it. Eri roasted marshmallows over the flames. Then they headed back home to drink and party.

The next morning, Tomura woke up to newspapers proclaiming how the noble League of Vigilantes had successfully exposed and destroyed the wicked operations of Doctor Garaki. The villainous doctor had been running an orphanage to manipulate innocent children into weapons, even killing them to create undead monsters. All Might himself had personally thanked the League.

Tomura stormed into the dining room, greeted by the hung-over stares of the League. Tossing the newspaper on the table, he said, “Screw it, we’re vigilantes now.”

Izuku got his memories back with no fanfare. The quirk wore off when he woke up the morning after having turned over Garaki’s files to the police. Suddenly, Izuku remembered a screaming match with his father, a flash of light, and waking up in a strange place. He remembered his entire life. And he remembered what he’d done while amnesiac.

For a solid five minutes, he screamed into his pillow. Then he called home. “Mom? Yeah, it’s me. I’m so sorry for worrying you. Dad erased my memories, he’s a villain—oh, you already saw him get arrested on the news. Good. No, I don’t think Tartarus will let you smuggle in a knife for a conjugal visit even if you plan to stab him. Please don’t risk it. I’m on my way home. What? WHO is at our house? Why would All Might be at our house? Does he want to arrest me? Or did he find out about Dad? Wait, what? All Might…wants me to become his successor?!”

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Izuku’s Villain Redemption Plan

Izuku: …Dabi, after having witnessed your interpretive dance, I realized some people can’t be helped.

Dabi: Exactly as planned!

#

Omake: Protective Big Brothers

Izuku: Uh, I know you said not to create a League discord, but I did it anyway. I thought it would be a helpful source of intelligence.

Tomura: What did you do this time, get proclaimed a hero for saving discord from a virus?

Izuku: Actually I have nearly fifty messages from different people asking me out on a date…

Tomura: Give me your phone, I have some insects to handle.

Izuku: Big brother, when you get that look in your eyes, I know you’re going to decay my phone.

#

Omake: Cassandra Truth

Shouto: I saw my brother Touya at the training camp. I think he came to save me from the giant.

Denki: That sounds like a patented Todoroki conspiracy theory. Also the green vigilante totally saved my life, I’m leaping on the crush train.

#

Omake: Canon Nighteye Breathes a Sigh of Relief

Nighteye: Nothing could be worse than All Might picking a random boy he found stuck inside a slime villain as his successor.

All Might: I’ve decided to give One for All to this amazing vigilante leader.

Nighteye: …One pick could possibly be even worse.

#

Omake: RIP the MLA

Re-Destro: Become our leader!

Tomura: I’ll think about it.

Re-Destro: First, you must get rid of the quirkless nobody.

Tomura: NO ONE TALKS ABOUT MY LITTLE BROTHER THAT WAY! DIE!

#

Omake: All Smite’s Return

All Might: I need to recruit my future successor, but he runs away from heroes. I know! I’ll dress up as All Smite and join the League!

David: Not that Halloween costume again. Everyone will know it’s you. I’ll help you track down the boy’s civilian identity, just please stop.

#

Omake: Test Passed

Gigantomachia: The little lord manipulated the entire League into becoming vigilantes?

Izuku: Are you angry?

Gigantomachia: I haven’t seen such manipulation skills since the master! You are a worthy successor!

#

Omake: Savaged

Dabi: It’s your fault that I couldn’t kill Endeavor!

Izuku: Oh, I thought that you couldn’t kill Endeavor because he’s weak to overheating, aka fire.

Dabi: …Even being the boss’ little brother won’t save you now.

#

Omake: Phew

Inko: I have a plan to kill my husband that might rip open Tartarus and trigger the collapse of society. But every good chef knows you can’t make omelets without breaking some eggs. In this case, my husband’s brains will get scrambled.

Izuku: Mom, I rescued this little girl named Eri who needs a good home.

Inko: Awwwww! I guess my ex can live a bit longer while I focus on raising and loving this adorable child.

#

Omake: Resolution

Izuku: I’m too happy about becoming All Might’s successor to be angry about the amnesia. But if the League was full of villains, why did you help me save so many people? Were you rebelling against All for One? I see, you secretly turned against him after realizing he’d been brainwashing and manipulating you.

Tomura: That’s less embarrassing than the truth, so let’s go with your story.

Chapter Text

This is the verbal report of Agent Hiro Nakanishi of the Hero Public Safety Commission, concerning the top-priority case of notorious society-disruptor Izuku Midoriya.

At nine in the morning, I arrived at U.A. under orders to gather proof that new student Izuku Midoriya was the former leader of the League of Vigilantes. Initially I assumed I should arrest him, but my superiors informed me that we intended to hold this information in reserve in order to blackmail All Might and possibly Principal Nezu. Whoops, I forgot I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud. I’m not sure how to delete parts of audio recordings. Could someone less important do that for me later?

Technically I was not authorized to be on the U.A. campus, as this was an unofficial mission. I bluffed my way in claiming to be the missing father of Izuku Midoriya. It turns out the boy is perpetually breaking his bones, so I pretended to be visiting him in the nurse’s office. I think that was a great show of initiative. No wonder our beloved president called me expendable before sending me on this mission. Expendable means very smart, right?

As my first order of business, I went looking for Katsuki Bakugo in order to force him to testify that he had actually been kidnapped by the League of Vigilantes, not rescued by them. However, apparently the target had met Hisashi Midoriya before, saw through my clever disguise, and set me on fire. After the misunderstanding was settled with only second degree burns, I attempted to persuade my informant that Izuku Midoriya was a deadly criminal mastermind who might one day take over Japan unless he helped the HPSC stop this budding evil genius. Upon hearing this great argument, Bakugo started banging his head against the wall. I fear Bakugo might have suffered brain damage during his kidnapping. I suggest the HPSC cancel our plans to offer to support his hero career if he will work for us. In addition to being self-destructive, he is uncooperative and highly explosive.

Next, I approached Ochaco Uraraka, since our intelligence suggested her family to be in need of money. She did not respond well to my offer of a bribe. I am certain that she pushed me down the stairs. Even if she did float me safely to the bottom, that was only an excuse to pickpocket me. Since she stole my recorder, I was unable to obtain evidence of my subsequent conversations around U.A. and must rely on memory to produce this recording.

I believed that Shouto Todoroki, the son of the former number two hero, would well-bred enough to cooperate with me. Failing that, I could offer to help restore his father’s reputation in exchange for his information. However, my generous offer made the Todoroki boy laugh. A lot. It got to the point where I checked the room for laughing gas. Then Todoroki rambled for half an hour about how even though Izuku Midoriya was ridiculously adorable, he could not possibly be that amazingly strong and cool vigilante, because Izuku was a cinnamon roll who must be protected and the vigilante was a snack. I got lost on the modern food metaphors. Yet the blushing and nosebleeds led me to reach the dire conclusion that Todoroki might have a crush on both the villain and his civilian identity. I am uncertain if Shouto Todoroki knows the truth or if he is genuinely that dense, but either way, Endeavor has done a poor job raising his son.

His villain fanboying appeared to be contagious. The entire class joining in on the blushing. Even the bird mutant’s strange shadow was blushing while listening to Todoroki’s admiration speech. Someone needs to inform the Iidas that they should get their youngest son’s villain-loving under control. I recommend beating children.

Next Todoroki pivoted his lecture into his theory about Izuku Midoriya being All Might’s love child. At this point the rest of the class lost interest and wandered off. I was not so fortunate—I suffered for an entire hour before I was able to make my escape.

Out of concern, I made a point to approach Momo Yaoyorozu afterward to confirm that she did not have a crush on Midoriya. If Yaoyorozu Industries technology fell into the hands of a villain (or a vigilante, every HPSC agent knows they are the exact same thing) then it would be devastating to Japan. Yaoyorozu assured me that she and Izuku are only good friends. Then a second, identical Yaoyorozu walked by and started shouting at someone named Toga for pretending to be her. It was very confusing. I’m going to assume that the one not in love was the real Yaoyorozu heiress, because I don’t have the energy to deal with more heroes with crushes on villains.

In the break room, I found the notorious vigilante Tomura Shigaraki playing video games. He claimed to be Tenko Shimura, with an ID to match. As a result, I was unable to arrest him. The scarred man next to him claimed to be Touya Todoroki, but did not have any proof. Your brave and intrepid agent saw through this stupid lie—or it might have been a bad joke.

This was not even the worst case of a villain infiltrating a hero school! Outside, the notorious Gigantomachia loudly battled against students in a training exercise. I attempted a citizen’s arrest. Gigantomachia put his finger on my head and held me in place while I recited his rights. I think I deserve a medal for surviving such a dangerous villain.

Eventually my proclamations of justice drew the attention of the principal. Nezu came outside and told me that Gigantomachia was actually the latest robot build by U.A., pointing to the pair of giant screws on either side of Gigantomachia’s head as proof. They looked very convincing. I became no longer certain of my prior conclusion. Especially after the alleged giant villain did a robot dance.

Principal Nezu invited me to his office and challenged me to a drinking competition. If I won, I would delete all HPSC evidence about Izuku Midoriya’s alleged alter ego. If I lost, then Nezu would confess to having covered up Midoriya’s crimes. It seemed like a perfect deal, since I was confident in my ability to out-drink a rodent with significantly less body mass. I was so confident, I even let the principal have my phone.

I lost every single file, however I gained the valuable intel that Nezu’s species appears to be immune to alcohol. I am emailing a reimbursement request for my medical expenses on account of alcohol poisoning.

Despite suffering from a serious hangover the next day, as the top agent of the HPSC, I returned to U.A. This time, I had more difficultly entering. Someone had told the number one hero about Hisashi Midoriya visiting. When I attempted to seek out Izuku Midoriya, All Might caught me and nearly punched my lights out before seeing my face. In my opinion, he did not seem adequately apologetic as he dragged me out of U.A. and threw me over the wall. Note to future agents: we should investigate the possibility that All Might had a bad breakup with Hisashi Midoriya. If they used to be together then it would also explain why Izuku Midoriya appears to have manifested All Might’s quirk. Look, the Todoroki boy made a very convincing case. He had a bulletin board with twenty different colors of string.

The HPSC never gives up in the face of villainy! However, further pursuit of Izuku Midoriya did not seem prudent with the number one hero protecting him. Thus, I decided to switch targets and perhaps obtain something to make up for my past…failure is too strong a word. I prefer to call it a completely understandable mishap which could have happened to anyone.

Other agents had reported that Izuku Midoriya regularly brought his adopted sibling Eri to visit his school. Madame president ordered that if given the opportunity, we should take custody of the girl with Rewind even if we have to use force. (Is that another thing I wasn’t supposed to admit? Please delete that, too.)

While looking for a backdoor into U.A., I found Shouta Aizawa feeding cats behind the school. I inquired if Aizawa had seen Eri that day. I indicated my intentions to give her a life-changing opportunity to serve her country.

Although Aizawa had looked harmless and mostly asleep, his eyes shot open and an expression scarier than any villain appeared on his face. At which point I discovered that, for a man inside a sleeping bag, Shouto Aizawa can move surprisingly fast. I narrowly escaped but lost a chunk of my hair. I have also emailed a reimbursement request for my new wig.

Overall, I believe my prestigious talents are needed somewhere besides U.A. Anywhere at all. Could I perhaps be transferred to the Tartarus investigation instead? I heard that no one can figure out how, despite all our security and cameras, All for One’s kidney ended up outside his body and pinned to the wall with a kitchen knife.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Best and Brightest of the HPSC

All Might: I’m not entirely happy that you risked my student’s future on a drinking contest.

Nezu: Relax, I drank tea the entire time. He never noticed.

#

Omake: Too Broke for a DNA Test

Dabi: I tried again to tell the HPSC that I’m Touya Todoroki, and no one will believe me. If only I’d been able to finish my dance, this wouldn’t have happened. If only we hadn’t burned down the orphanage with all the records I needed to prove my identity. In retrospect that was a dumb move.

Tomura: Uh-huh. Great. I agree.

Dabi: Can you do a better job pretending to listen to me when I complain to you?

Tomura: Only if you stop complaining when I’m playing games.

#

Omake: Investigation Number Two

Inko: Excuse me. I heard the authorities are holding onto my favorite kitchen knife. I’m really very fond of it, may I have it back? I brought chocolate chip cookies.

Agent Nakanishi: Here you go, ma’am. Have a good day. What delicious cookies! The fiend who stabbed All for One must have stolen that nice lady’s kitchen knife. The criminal charges just keep piling up.

#

Omake: The Epilogue’s Epilogue

HPSC President: I’ve yet to receive your report on Izuku Midoriya.

Agent Nakanishi: But I emailed the audio file to you yesterday. Hmm, let me check my emails. It looks like I typed in the letter H and then autofill provided me with the wrong email address. I accidentally sent my report to Hero News. Huh. Fear not, I’m sure if my report is broadcast around the country then it will only prove the greatness of the HPSC. Is that the sound of a massive protest outside our building? People must be insisting I get a medal of valor!