Chapter Text
“You snapped his stinger in half!” Banjo roared with laughter. “That’s one of the best things I’ve heard in a while!”
Izuku grinned as the members of One for All clicked in approval at his story about his unique work-study. Their support group met in a square room with one glass window overlooking the stars. Izuku sat in a plastic chair with the technology to mold perfectly to fit his body. Next to him, Eri had her own smaller chair.
Nana lounged on a large blue bean bag All Might had brought back from Earth for her. She claimed it felt amazing on her golden fur. She’d stopped dying her fur black since her grandson had been found alive.
Banjo, who looked like a red sandstone rock, did not use chairs. En had flown up and perched on Banjo’s shoulder, with his blue-green wings folded. Hikage as usual had camouflaged himself so only an indentation could be seen in his own bean bag.
Bruce floated in a clear tank with a speaker attached to allow him to communicate. Since Bruce’s name could not be pronounced by any land-dweller, the translator had chosen a name equivalent in meaning. Sometimes Izuku suspected the translators were a bit buggy. He had trouble seeing a blue-skinned aquatic man with kelplike hair, finned ears, and a merman tail as a “Bruce.”
Kudo looked closer to human than any of the others, except for his bright red skin and hard spikes for hair. He had four eyes and sometimes suffered from sensory overload due to his keen vision. For that reason, he currently faced the wall. Izuku understood—his classmate Keeyoka had the same issue except with sounds.
The members formed a semicircle with Yoichi in the middle. Yoichi had a massive green cushioned chair with nozzles to sometimes spray himself with water to make him more comfortable. He sat with his legs crossed like a king on this throne, the starfish-like creature on his head resembling hair, though it squirmed occasionally to prove it was alive. His limited edition All Might shirt made Izuku’s fingers twitch with jealousy. When they’d first met, Izuku had been a little uncomfortable with how much Yoichi resembled All for One, but he’d since gotten used to it.
This time, One for All had gathered for their regular meeting not on Yoichi’s spaceship (as was customary because even after All for One was imprisoned, Yoichi was paranoid that his brother would find him), but instead had met at Yuuei. When questioned, Yoichi claimed it was to visit Yuuei’s famed cultural festival, although Izuku suspected there was more to it, namely a visit with Ne-Dzu to discuss “business.” Hopefully, if that business involved All for One, Izuku would find out more later.
Little had been heard since his orchestrated attack on the Earth camp and attempted kidnapping of Izuku, but that didn’t mean All for One wasn’t planning anything.
Still, it was nice to meet up with One for All and forget for a little bit those lingering worries, and instead joke about single handedly destroying OverHaul.
Nana fixed Izuku with a piercing stare, her face pulled into a frown. “Does your mother know about this by any chance?”
“So anyways–” Izuku said, quickly moving away from the fact that he hadn’t revealed the full details of the work-study to his mom “–that’s how I met Eri, and I thought since she had a similar experience to us, she could join us for one meeting at least.”
Eri had been quietly sitting next to him, coloring on a doodle pad provided by A’zawa, but when her name was mentioned, she perked up, looking around the room questioningly.
“Typically, we don’t allow anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of being one of All for One’s pets,” Yoichi began.
“Toshi is the exception since he’s been a pain in All for One’s side, which is something we all strive to do,” Nana said to the murmured agreement of all. Anyone who aggravated All for One was worthy of respect.
“As I was saying, we don’t normally include outsiders–”
“But she is absolutely adorable,” murmured En.
“And you vouch for her, which for me is good enough.”
Eri touched the small horn at the crown of her head, a nervous habit, Izuku had noticed. “What do you do here?” she asked quietly.
Izuku shrugged. “Sometimes we talk about our feelings. Usually, we complain about All for One and throw things at a picture of his face. We have a shooting gallery set up on our spaceship with his face on every target.”
“We can include one of OverHaul too,” said Kudo, garnering surprised looks from everyone. Usually he was the most uptight about newcomers, grumbling about security risks and All for One, but Eri’s wide, innocent eyes had done what many could not—soften his heart. He even turned away from the wall to look at her and offer a small smile.
“Really!?” Eri asked. “I can shoot him!?”
“Yup.”
Eri giggled and grabbed Izuku’s arm, shaking it in excitement.
“Bloodthirsty thing,” Bruce said fondly. “Are you sure she isn’t a Phix?”
“Positive,” said Yoichi.
“What else do you do?” Eri asked, wiggling forward in her seat. Her hooved feet kicked in excitement.
Banjo said, “Lately we’ve gotten into playing hu-man games like Uno and Monopoly but somebody kept cheating–”
“I wasn’t cheating, it was in the rules,” said Hikage.
“What?! Yes you were! Being the banker in Monopoly doesn’t mean taking money whenever you want.”
“I was paying myself for doing my job,” Hikage replied blandly.
“That’s not how that works!” Banjo roared as he grabbed a pillow and chucked it in the direction of Hikage.
Hikage vanished, using his species’ camouflage to blend in with his surroundings.
“That won’t work this time!” Banjo yelled, grabbing pillow after pillow and throwing them at Hikage’s suspected location.
En sighed. “But we had to stop playing games because this kept happening.”
“Actually, it wasn’t until someone ripped one of Yoichi’s vintage comic books that we had to stop because he about murdered them,” said Kudo.
“It was a reasonable response!” Yoichi protested.
Izuku had to partially agree. If anyone had torn his recently acquired All Might posters, some of his more valuable merch, he too might have considered murder.
However, seeing potential conflict, Nana turned the conversation away from destroyed comic books. “We also tell stories from our time with All for One. Compare escape attempts. Rate them on creativity, chaos, and how much they ticked off All for One.”
“I hid from All for One long enough that he thought I’d escaped. I was then able to actually escape by hiding in the garbage bins, but I almost got thrown in the trash compactor. Still, I escaped,” said Hikage.
“Ah ha! Got you!” Banjo crowed, launching a pillow in the direction of Hikage’s voice. It sailed through the air and completely missed. “What?! How?!”
“Izuku definitely had the hardest time escaping,” En said, ignoring the enraged Banjo. “After each escape attempt, All for One increased the security. When I snuck out by hiding in someone’s hat, he banned his employees from entering the compound.”
“Although knowing my big brother, that might have been because he was jealous and thought you liked the employee better than him.”
Banjo spoke up, not wanting to be outdone. “I once pretended to be a rock and nearly convinced All for One’s employees that I was a real rock and got carried out.”
“Disguises sometimes work,” said Yoichi. “I tried fashioning fake tentacles to pretend to be big brother. It actually went better than I thought it would, mostly because his employees are too terrified to look directly at him. Still got caught, though.”
“I set things on fire,” said Eri.
The whole group, including Izuku, turned to look at her.
She blinked innocently at them, her white hair framing her big eyes.
“Really?” Bruce looked rather impressed.
“That’s why they sold me to OverHaul. They said I kept making messes by setting things on fire, but it only happened three times.”
“Three times,” Kudo said, folding his arms. “Somehow this is reminding me of someone who also likes to set things on fire despite being on a spaceship.”
Yoichi looked innocently at Kudo. “I’m not sure who you could possibly be referring to.”
“Sounds like that blond spiky hu-man friend of yours,” Nana said, looking at Izuku. “Maybe keep those two apart.”
A message chimed on his holo, and Izuku let out a groan after he read it. “Speaking of Kacchan, he says that I have to get back to class to help prepare for the Cultural Festival or else.”
“It’s alright,” said Yoichi. “I have a meeting with Ne-Dzu that I need to get to, and Nana has been wanting to introduce everyone who hasn’t met ToiMura yet. We’ll meet again soon.”
He crossed the room, and took Eri gently by the hand. “It was lovely to meet you,” he said. “Despite what others might say, keep setting things on fire if someone tries to hurt you.”
Eri nodded solemnly. “I will.”
“Then that concludes the meeting of One for All.”
Yuuei’s cultural festival was different from the cultural festivals Izuku remembered back home in Japan. The aim was to promote understanding across species. Each student put on a demonstration of their native culture. They were even given a budget and access to the school’s 3D printer. The festival drew reporters from around the galaxy. Frankly, Izuku felt more than a little nervous about the attention. He knew the human displays would be under close scrutiny.
In the past cultural festivals, there had been some…incidents. Such as the time a Fireballian student held a poetry recital without warning the teachers this interactive traditional poem involved stabbing an audience member. The display on Tshan mating habits had taught the galaxy the exciting new phrase “sexual cannibalism” and been responsible for the creation of H0und D0g’s position as school therapy bot. Two Holy Vine students had gotten into a publicized debate that had caused a church schism spreading across hundreds of planets. Then there had been the regrettable incident two years ago when the lovely Nejjjireé Hhado had discovered that her singing, although considered beautiful by her aquatic species with the lower half of an octopus, unfortunately had the side-effect of rupturing the ear drums of land-dwellers. Only the fast intervention of her best friends had saved the day: M1r1o had shut down the broadcast while Tam Aki used his unique creation abilities to produce earplugs.
After the latest disaster, Yuuei had created a new policy that all students must have their cultural demonstrations carefully reviewed by multiple staff members for possible problems. It was important to have more than one adult clear the presentations because past incidents had shown everyone had their blind spots. For example, Nejjjireé’s teacher had been a robot who did not realize the dangers of her voice to organics.
In the interests of saving time, every student in Yuuei gathered in the school cafeteria. Each one brought an outline of their planned presentation, while the teachers moved around the tables, examining their ideas. Principal Ne-Dzu appeared personally, and he had the final say on every plan.
Izuku arrived in the cafeteria at a run, a little late because he’d been tweaking his idea. This was important. He desperately wanted to make a good impression on the galaxy—and erase the false notion that humanity’s culture revolved around McDonald’s. Katsuki had planned a martial arts demonstration. Izuku wanted his own presentation to show a softer and more welcoming side of humanity. Alas, humanity had too many cultures. It was impossible to pick out one topic to represent all of Earth, and the pressure nearly had Izuku melting down. After brainstorming last evening with his mother and Eri, Izuku had decided to present on Earth’s thousands of languages to represent the unusual diversity of humans. He’d been practicing saying hello in a dozen languages so far.
Panting, Izuku stopped at the cafeteria entrance and looked around for his friends. Class 1-B had picked a table near the door. Several people looked up and waved at him, a human gesture they’d picked up during the field trip. Class 1-B had been notably friendlier to Izuku and Katsuki ever since their visit to Earth.
Monomah had his back turned, currently talking to Itsuka. He said, “My presentation will be about the noble Vernu tradition of bragging. To my people, bragging is extremely important: we brag to make friends, for romantic courtships, to make enemies, to bargain for sales, as an art form, as a ritual before meals, and competitively. I will don the traditional robes and a ceremonial pointed hat containing a replica of my entire hometown spread up the mountain-shaped fabric.”
Itsuka snorted. “You already brag every day.”
“But this time I get to wear a fancy hat,” Monomah said. “What’s your presentation about, if it’s so great?”
Itsuka’s face lit up. “My fan club came up with a marvelous idea. We have members from all over Earth, and they each recorded a greeting in their native language. We’ll ask everyone to turn their translators off to listen, then back on again as each person talks briefly about what makes their language unique and their favorite word. We’re also going to create a massive poster of Earth’s written languages. I’ll show off the many different human cultures. It’s going to be epic.”
Unseen by her, Izuku flinched. Alas, Itsuka had the exact same idea as him, and she was doing it even better. He’d have to change his idea…if he could think up something new in the next couple minutes.
Hanging his head, Izuku walked around the tables, looking for his class. He spotted Hitooshi, a gen-ed student he’d become friends with during a school project. Hitooshi was a purple fungus living inside a robotic body. As usual, he sat alone. It could be difficult to read his robot expressions, but from the way he stared at his holo, he seemed to be also struggling with the assignment.
Izuku stopped. “Hey, are you having trouble thinking up a presentation too? We could brainstorm together.”
“You don’t understand,” Hitooshi said bitterly. “Usually I like that you don’t understand, that you’re the only person in the school who doesn’t understand. But I have to come clean sooner or later. There’s nothing good to share about Dominator culture. Nothing. Our music involves making people scream. Even our art forms are devoted to fish guts. I hate fish guts!”
Izuku said, “Humans are misunderstood too—”
“We’re not misunderstood! We’re genuinely awful. My people enslaved hundreds of planets by taking over people’s bodies. We’re responsible for the extinction of three species. How am I supposed to present on the beauties of Dominator culture when we’re the reason other cultures no longer exist? Even now, after our supposed peace treaty, my homeworld produces genetically modified people to use as bodies and slaves. Maybe I should expose our horrific crimes and the Federation coverup to the galaxy!” Hitooshi threw down his holo and stormed out of the cafeteria.
Izuku hesitated, not sure if he should go after Hitooshi. The words spoken had carried a heavy weight and a lot of pain, and he feared in his ignorance of the situation he might make it even worse.
“Over here,” T3nya called, his head shooting off his shoulders and flying over to Izuku. “You’re late! Come sit down.”
Izuku hastened over to Class 1-A’s table, where his friends had saved him a seat. “What are you presenting on?” he asked, hoping the answers would give him an idea.
T3nya’s head landed back on his shoulders. “I’m presenting on the history of my brother T3nsei’s absolutely brilliant robotics business.”
Izuku blinked. “Shouldn’t it be more about robot culture and less of an advertisement?”
Leaning over, Ochaako hissed, “Shhhh, we barely talked him out of a speech about his brother’s personal greatness.”
“How about you?”
Ochaako smiled. “I’ll be performing a traditional dance of the Flying Children of the Trees.”
Shouto stared down at the blank screen of his holo. His scales had turned dull and brown. “I’ve been researching Yuki culture in hopes of learning more about that half of my heritage. Their ice sculptures sound amazing. Imagine the symbolism of creating beautiful yet impermanent art! But I don’t know how to make one.”
“Humans create ice sculptures too,” Izuku said. “I think All Might knows how—at least based on comic #258. You could ask him to teach you.”
Shouto straightened, his scales returning to pearly white. “That would be great. What are you doing? I’m sure you must have an amazing idea.”
“Well, actually—”
Principal Ne-Dzu said, “Todoroki, we’ve never had a Yuki student at Yuuei before so your presentation will be most welcome.”
The students all jumped. They hadn’t noticed the principal sneaking up on their table.
Ne-Dzu continued, “Besides, the last Fireball presentation resulted in emergency surgery and a large damages payout. Ice sculpture seems like a harmless option. Hmm, a dance should be fine. T3nya 11da, I must insist that you include the history of robotic business in your presentation in order to keep it on topic.”
As the principal’s piercing black eyes turned on him, Izuku swallowed. “Sorry, I need a bit more time.”
“You’ll be presenting on tea.” Ne-Dzu beamed. “Once the galaxy understands the joys of Earthen tea, exports will skyrocket. Then I will have a regular source of tea, and All Might won’t have anything to hold over me to force me to do what he wants…kind of like how I could tell your mother what really happened at your work study.”
Izuku gaped. Did the principal just subtly blackmail him?
Ne-Dzu turned away, heading over to the other students. He chatted with Keeyoka about how to ensure the sound system of her musical performance could reach the entire audience without overwhelming her own sensitive ears.
The more Izuku thought about it, the more he started to like the tea idea. A traditional Japanese tea ceremony would be a delightful way to share his culture. With the budget that Yuuei gave each student, he could even build a small teahouse. He pulled out his notebook and started sketching.
Kiri-Shima felt confident his presentation would get an easy pass from the teachers. He planned to show clips from traditional and modern Sharrr plays. He would show the galaxy that his people had their own legendary heroes, just like the hu-mans.
While waiting for the principal, Kiri-Shima scrolled through videos on his holo. When he saw a video entitled “Daring Hu-man Feats” he naturally clicked on it.
A tiny fluffy creature appeared on the screen: a round rodent with red fur and feathery white wings. She cried, “I’m La Brava. I serve as the faithful biographer of Gentle Criminal, the most daring and dangerous hu-man in the galaxy.”
Kiri-Shima snorted skeptically. The hu-mans he knew made him doubt this claim.
La Brava continued, “Today, we’ll be robbing a game store. See how the security measures are nothing compared to hu-man might!”
The camera turned to reveal a figure wrapped up in black cloth. A scarf covered the face, not even leaving the eyes visible. A cloak trailed behind. The figure broke through the store window with a punch, then shoveled a dozen games into a bag.
La Brava declared, “Gentle Criminal will later eat the games. Hu-mans require a hefty amount of metal in their diet, that’s how they obtain such sharp teeth.”
Kiri-Shima stared at the screen. That didn’t sound right to him. On the other hand, Gentle Criminal had perched on the desk of the store and pulled out a tea kettle. Using a heating pad, he or she made Earthen tea on the spot. That seemed exactly like something a hu-man would do.
Cheerfully, La Brava said, “Now we’ll leave money to pay for the games, because we’re chivalrous criminals. See you next time! We may visit a certain school soon for a festival, since Gentle has relatives there.”
The video ended. Kiri-Shima felt surprised at the number of views and likes given the criminals had barely done anything, but he supposed it reflected the galaxy’s fascination with hu-mans. Most of the comments begged Gentle Criminal to remove his cloak so they could see what a hu-man looked like. La Brave replied claiming his appearance was too terrible for anyone to behold.
Turning around, Kiri-Shima nudged Katsuki. “Psst! Do hu-mans eat metal?”
Katsuki grunted. “Some foods have trace amounts of metal, but we don’t chomp on steel bars if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Do you have any relatives named Gentle Criminal?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be caught dead associating with someone with such a stupid name.”
Kiri-Shima supposed the criminals probably hadn’t been talking about his school.
That evening, Ochaako holo-called her parents and cheerfully told them all about her classmates’ planned presentations.
“It sounds lovely,” her mother said. “We can’t wait to see it.”
Her father laughed. “As your mother just gave away, we have a surprise for you. We’re coming to see Yuuei’s Cultural Festival in-person. We want to see your dance.”
Ochaako clicked her fingers. “Amazing!” She couldn’t wait to be able to hug her parents again.
Her mother fiddled with her tail. “We have one concern. The hu-man martial arts presentation sounded very dangerous.”
“It’s just a presentation, Mom! Katsuki won’t be actually attacking people.” Ochaako’s tail bristled. She’d heard plenty of prejudice against hu-mans since becoming friends with Izuku, but it hit harder coming from her own parents.
“If you say so,” her mother said, then changed the topic.
Late at night, Ochaako’s fears lingered. If her parents mistrusted hu-mans, then how would they react to meeting Izuku? She desperately wanted both parties to make a good impression on each other. Her parents’ approval mattered to her.
On the bright side, the cultural festival had been designed to promote understanding. This might be the perfect opportunity. If Ochaako could show her parents Izuku’s good side, she felt confident they would love him.
In Principal Ne-Dzu’s office, out of sight from even the Yuuei staff, three people held a private meeting. Yoichi and Inko sat in two chairs in front of Ne-Dzu’s desk.
“Thank you for coming, Yoichi,” Ne-Dzu said. “I know you’re taking a risk.”
Yoichi half-inclined his head. “I’ll wear concealing clothing at the cultural festival. Although I would like to show myself openly, it’s better if my brother doesn’t find out that I’m still alive. You did well to call me for assistance with your spy problem. I have a lot of experience with how my brother manipulates people. I looked over the profiles of Class 1-A, and I already have a theory about the spy.”
“It was Ms. Midoriya’s idea to call you.” Ne-Dzu gestured at Inko.
Inko said, “I thought you might be able to help us identify the spy in a subtle way. If that person is being forced, as we suspect, we might be able to turn them against All for One.”
“Then we can use All for One’s spy as a weapon against him.” Ne-Dzu’s malicious laughter filled the room. The sound drifted downstairs, making his staff wonder what the principal might be up to this time.
Typically, creating a tea house from scratch would have been incredibly daunting, but Izuku was at Yuuei with all its funds and resources, including a very excited principal who was throwing around money and supplies all in the name of tea.
Students would be allowed to set up their stands wherever best worked in Yuuei. That way visitors would traverse the whole complex, getting to admire Yuuei’s facilities along with the student presentations.
Izuku had gotten permission to set up in the arboretum, and although the trees and plant life housed there weren’t native to Japan (or Earth for that matter), with some basic gardening and landscaping, it started to come together.
The purple trees weren’t cherry blossoms, but the subtle lavender color was beautiful, especially next to the artificial stream. Planting some additional orange flowers and leafy shrubs began to create the serene environment necessary for a proper tea house.
However, not everyone was convinced.
“I don’t know why you’re doing a tea house,” ToiMura complained. Ne-Dzu had required the former league members to help with student presentations, and ToiMura had been assigned to assist Izuku. “Earth has so many cool video games. Why didn’t you do that? You could have had consoles set up and posters and game related food.”
“That does sound cool,” Izuku admitted.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“One, I didn’t think of it, and two, when the principal of Yuuei blackmails you into making a teahouse, you make a teahouse.”
“Blackmail!”
“I might have disobeyed my work-study supervisor to go save Shouto and beat up the head of the Shie Hassaikai. I didn’t get hurt, and I saved Eri, but if Mom found out…” Izuku shuddered. “So I happily accepted Ne-Dzu’s suggestion.”
ToiMura scratched at his fur. “Huh, yeah, probably the right move. Still, this could have been gaming.” He waved a paw across the plants.
“I’m sure with your help we can finish it quickly enough. The garden will take the most manual labor since M3i promised to 3D print the actual teahouse. And if we’re quick enough, there should be plenty of time to play the newest release of the Earth Defenders series.”
“Fine,” ToiMura grumbled, picking back up his rake. “But I’m player number one!”
Thankfully, with ToiMura’s help, the gardening aspect finished quickly, and the wooden 3D printed tea house was completed and carefully set up. Graced with a red shingle roof, it looked bold and beautiful next to the purple flowering trees.
The inside decorations of the tea house came together nicely. A stone water basin for washing was easy enough to procure. Toshinori Yagi had to use some of his resources to quickly import tatami mats. The calligraphy paintings gracing the walls weren’t the finest but next to an arrangement of orange flowers, it was passable. Izuku had the tea house made larger than usual, so it could easily fit multiple tables.
Looking over the completed work, Izuku grinned. It hadn’t been his original idea, but it had turned out better than he had thought.
“Huh,” said ToiMura, looking at the tea house with his head tilted. “It’s so peaceful. ”
“That’s the idea. Tea houses are supposed to be a place of introspection and beauty, helping the visitors connect with nature. Not everything human related has to be violent.”
“I know that!” ToiMura cried in annoyance. “It’s just nicer than I thought.”
“Glad it passes the ToiMura test. Hopefully it will for everyone else.”
The day of the Cultural Festival had arrived, and despite the crowds pouring through Yuuei’s gates and the excited students ready to present their projects, Yuuga Aoyama felt sick.
If he could, he’d go hide in the bathroom (monsters or not), but someone would notice and he’d be dragged to Recovery B0t. Tentacleless Phix were rare but there was always a chance she’d recognize what he was on closer inspection.
The students crowding around him chatted as they waited for the opening ceremony.
“I can’t wait to see all the displays!”
“Hopefully a couple of them will have food. That’s the best part!”
“What do you think will be the best presentations? I’ve heard the hu-mans are all doing something awesome.”
Awesome was one way of putting it. Distantly, he had heard rumors of the two other hu-mans he didn’t have to spy on doing a martial arts presentation (which the Phix would have approved of), and a language presentation.
However, Yuuga tried to avoid the other hu-mans like the plague. He already had to monitor Izuku thanks to All for One’s obsession.
His holo buzzed, and Yuuga’s stomach lurched. All for One had been demanding additional details on Izuku after the Earth trip fiasco. Why he needed to know that Izuku was putting on a tea house (whatever that was), Yuuga didn’t know.
Details about a cultural presentation wouldn’t be dangerous to pass along, but now even those innocent facts left Yuuga feeling sick. Izuku had been nothing but nice to him, and Yuuga was selling every detail he could scrounge to the devil himself.
Yuuga glanced at where tentacles were supposed to grace his body and felt a surge of rage. All that separated him from the other members of his species was a lack of tentacles. He was still strong and capable of surviving frigid temperatures both on land and water, but it wasn’t enough.
He wasn’t a proper, bloodthirsty Phix so it was his duty to be used and abused however his superiors saw fit.
A sound came from the podium, magnified through the room, and students and visitors quieted. “Welcome, everyone, to the Yuuei Cultural Festival!” Ne-Dzu cheered.
Yuuga shivered. Ne-Dzu looked friendly and sweet with his fluffy exterior, but the principal was terrifying in reality. If he discovered Yuuga was the spy leaking information, those fangs would be buried in his tentacleless neck.
Paranoia made it difficult to listen, so Yuuga tried to distract himself, looking at the others standing on the stage. There were their teachers including A’zawa and All Might, but off to the side someone unfamiliar stood, dressed in long loose white clothing that covered most of their body and face, allowing only their eyes to peek through.
Yuuga’s instincts prickled, although at what, he didn’t know. Yet he struggled to pull his gaze away from the covered figure.
“Who is that?” he murmured.
He hadn’t meant to be heard, but Momo responded, “Probably a special visitor. Ne-Dzu typically invites a couple and personally shows them around the cultural festival. My mother was invited one year—it was one of the reasons she allowed me to attend.”
“Huh,” Yuuga said. An aquatic man in a tank and a red-skinned, spiky-headed man grouped around the visitor, yet neither of them covered their faces, and judging by their clothing, they didn’t appear to be wealthy donors Ne-Dzu was trying to impress.
“With that all said, please enjoy the festival!” Ne-Dzu cried, and Yuuga jolted. He had missed the whole speech. Classmates and visitors jostled towards the exits, carrying him along with them.
Glancing back, he noted that the visitor was standing next to Ne-Dzu, but his gaze was focused on the crowd.
His robes fluttered around him, triggering a memory. Yuuga’s parents used to make him wear something similar when trying to disguise his defect. The long loose clothing had covered everything but his eyes and allowed him to go unnoticed.
Was he like him? The thought came suddenly. A tentacless Phix?
It couldn’t be. Yuuga was the only one he knew of who had survived death. But if the visitor was…then Yuuga wasn’t alone. There was hope for him outside of All for One.
OMAKE TIME!
Ne-Dzu: We must create a complicated ten step plan to find the spy.
Inko: Let’s ask an expert for help.
Ne-Dzu: Weird, that idea never occurred to me.
Dabii: Shouto’s class is having a Cultural Festival? Eh, sounds boring, I’ll pass.
ToiMura: Check out my giant banner rooting for Izuku.
Dabii: Excuse me? My little brother is going to be number one at the cultural festival!
Shouto: It’s not a competition.
Dabii: Shut up and help me make a bigger banner.
Gentle Criminal: I’m here to visit my relatives at Yuuei. Hello, cousin!
Izuku: Do you think all humans are related or something? Earth is a big planet.
Ne-Dzu: The last Cultural Festival was a disaster. We’ll be more careful this year.
A’zawa: Someone in the audience nearly died every time in the last ten years.
Ne-Dzu: That was an amusing bit of fun. I referred to how the increased space traffic to Yuuei led to a delay in my tea shipments.
A’zawa: That doesn’t sound very important.
Ne-Dzu: Have you ever seen me go into tea withdrawal?
Shouto: I still liked my old Sports Festival idea to fight for Izuku’s love.
A’zawa: Kit, I’m training you in espionage, it would be a terrible idea to emblazon your face across the entire galaxy in a massive tournament.
Shouto: In canon, it’s a terrible idea for hero students to expose all their powers to villains, and that never stopped anyone.
