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Chapter Text

September 1, 2148

On the way back to UA, Akiko was so happy. The commission had controlled Akiko for his entire life and he was done with it.

Akiko had always found symbolism interesting; he always found it weird that birds and wings were a symbol of freedom – both Akiko and his brother had wings and names of birds (sure, Akiko's didn't actually exist but it was still the name of a bird of mythos), but they were never free, and never would be until they got out of the commission.

But there Akiko was just a little under an hour ago, yelling at Kihara in public about how the commission has bought at least two people, and forced them to be something they didn't (at least Akiko didn't) want to be.

The only bad part about it was how it would affect Keigo. Akiko had no clue how he would react to what Akiko had said, and it's not like Akiko can deny that he was talking about his brother. Akiko said me and my brother and Akiko only has one brother; there's no doubt about it that Keigo is who Akiko was talking about. What would people think when they found out that the #3 hero was bought and forced to be a hero?

Akiko was snapped out of his concentration when his phone rang. Akiko was currently in the dorm common room. When Akiko had arrived, he put his phone onto the counter after turning on some music and trying to calm his flaming fury. Akiko picked up his phone and read the caller ID:

bro✨

Well, time to get yelled at again. Akiko answered the call and said, "Hello?"

"Did you do something?" Keigo asked innocently and abruptly.

"What?"

"I just finished up my patrol, so I went to get some food and people are asking me about my childhood, the commission, that sort of thing. Did you say something?"

"I may have," Akiko replied.

"Akiko, what did you say?"

"After the provisional licensing exam, I may have lost my temper and yelled at Kihara. I kinda just said any frustrations that came to mind."

"What did you say?" Keigo asked cautiously.

"I said that they took away my name, said some things about Dad, said that we were sold and bought and I punched Kihara in the face."

"Akiko! What is wrong with you?!"

"I'm sorry!" Akiko yelled back. "I just– I had to say something."

"There are so many ways you could've gone about this better."

"I wasn't thinking. All the words just came out. I know I shouldn't've but I did."

Akiko could hear Keigo sigh before saying, "What did you say about Dad?"

"All I said was that the last thing he said to me before not seeing me for 11 years was calling me a worthless piece of shit."

"I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that," Keigo said, making Akiko laugh. "Is there anyone else with you right now?"

"No," Akiko said, "After yelling at Kihara, I just flew away because I could tell I was feeling flame-y."

"Did you burn anything down?"

"No," Akiko said. "That's why I'm making cookies right now."

"Ah, your 'fuck you cookies'."

"I told you not to call them that!"

'Akiko's fuck you cookies' was a term that Keigo had said jokingly once and it had stuck. All that meant was they were cookies Akiko made while being mad at someone. Ever since Akiko had moved in with Keigo, Akiko had needed ways to let out his anger, he did this by making things using fire. Whether it was food or fixing something made of glass. With all the times Akiko had gotten mad at someone, he had gotten particularly good at making cookies.

Akiko heard people's footsteps and said, "My classmates are back."

"We will be talking about this," Keigo said before hanging up.

Akiko took his phone and put it in his pocket before turning back to his cookie dough. The door opened, revealing the very confused faces of his classmates.

"What are you doing?" Ochako asked.

"Distracting myself," Akiko replied.

"What's your history with the commission?" Tenya abruptly asked.

"Do you wanna know everything?" Most people nodded, letting Akiko continue. "Well, back when I was a kid I had no family to take care of me when I was taken away from my dad. All of my family was either dead or out of the country, except for my brother, who was 12 at the time. The people who were in charge of me asked the commission if they would want to train me like they did my brother; they said they would. So, I got sent to the commission when I was five to be trained into a hero."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Ochako said, trying to make the mood not so tense.

"What about being locked in a freezing cold room, forced to keep myself from passing out?" Akiko asked. "And what about taking me away from everything I knew? What about ripping out my feathers when I pissed them off? What about isolating children from the world for more than 10 years?!"

The first three things Akiko had been through, the last one though, that one was what Keigo had been through, not Akiko. Keigo lived in the commission's HQ from when he was 6 to 18, barely ever leaving, and when he did, it was only for a few hours.

"Back when I was a kid, I was severely malnourished because of my father," Akiko continued.  "Dad didn't care about me, he wanted me dead and didn't want anyone to know I existed, so he didn't feed me. But I found ways to get food myself. Normally it was going into the forest we lived near or to the city to bribe shop owners to give me food, when that didn't work, I went dumpster diving for food. When I went to the commission, they quickly found out how malnourished I was and started feeding me more. The only problem with that was my body wasn't used to eating that much, causing me to throw up the food I ate. The commission didn't care though; they would ask me if I was done, then force me to continue training until I was done for the day."

Akiko could see all his classmates looking at him in horror.

Akiko sighed before continuing. "The commission's supposed to be the ones making the laws, but here they are, breaking the very laws they create. They say they're all about safety but they've pushed all of us to our breaking points. I've talked to you guys about this program before, some of you have said that you wanted to be in the program. How about now?"

"How does no one know about any of this?" Midoriya asked.

"The commission knows how to make people shut up," Akiko replied bitterly, going back to his baking. "Normally they pay people to say nothing about what they learned. Like my father and my brother's mother for example; they know what happened to us and know our real names, so the commission paid them to make sure they wouldn't say anything about us.

"You're saying that like we don't know your name," Ashido said.

"Because that's all a lie!" Akiko shouted. "You don't know my name! My name isn't Matsubara, not even close! Matsubara's just a fake name the commission gave me."

"What is your name?" Eijiro asked.

"T– I can't tell you," Akiko sighed.

"Why not?" Katsuki asked.

"I don't want to cause my brother any more trouble," Akiko said somberly. "I know he's got enough to deal with." Akiko cleaned his hands and said, "I'm heading to my room; knock if you need anything."

—

Later that night, Akiko heard a knock on his door. Akiko went to his door and opened it to reveal Eijiro; no wonder it was him, he was next door after all.

"What is it, Eijiro?" Akiko drawled, leaning on the doorframe.

"You're rebelling," Eijiro states.

"So?"

"So, I have an idea," Eijiro says, excited.

"What's your idea?"

"When teens rebel," Eijiro explained. "There are certain things they do. I wanted to see if you wanna do one of those things."

Who cares anymore?

"What'd you have in mind?" Akiko asked, intrigued.

"Have you ever thought about dying your hair?" Eijiro asked.

"Sure I have, I just never went through with it," Akiko said. Back when Akiko was in a bad mental state, he wanted to dye his hair because his hair looked like his father's. He didn't know what colour, he just didn't want blond hair. But he never went through with it because he was scared. But who cares now? Akiko doesn't live at the commission anymore, Akiko lives at UA now and no UA teachers are close with the commission, especially after what Akiko said. Why not try dying his hair? If he doesn't like it, it'll grow out so it'll be fine, no harm done.

"Wanna try it?" Eijiro asked.

"Sure, but I don't know where we'd get hair dye," Akiko said.

"I have some," Eijiro said. "I dye my hair red."

"Why red?" Akiko asked.

"My favourite hero has red hair," Eijiro replied. "Honestly, dying my hair gives me confidence."

"I get that," Akiko said with a smile.

"Now, come on!" Eijiro said and grabbed Akiko's arm, knocking him off his feet.

It might have been Akiko yelling at Kihara, it might've been telling his classmates about the commission, but Akiko was so happy about everything. Akiko knew he couldn't wait for what the future held for him.

Chapter Text

September 2, 2148

The day after the provisional licensing exam, Akiko stays in his room most of the day. At around noon, Eijiro came around and Akiko couldn't complain about that. Akiko didn't know Eijiro very well yet, but he was quickly able to figure out that he was a good person.

"Is your dad the reason why you always use people's given names?" Eijiro asked not long after he arrived.

"Yeah," Akiko replied. "Even when I was younger and not fully able to realize that what my dad did was wrong, I didn't like my name; I thought it felt demeaning most of the time."

"Why would your name be demeaning?"

"The commission uses it to put me in my place," Akiko said. "You don't mind if I call you 'Eijiro', right?"

"Not at all," Eijiro said smiling, "My friends back in middle school called me Ei."

"That's a pretty cool nickname," Akiko said.

"Not really," Eijiro said. "It's just the first syllable of my name. What nicknames have you had?"

"Um... Aki, Nix, Little Bird, Iko," Akiko listed. "I really liked Iko."

"Who called you those?"

"Iko and Little Bird were Nobu, my dad's friend," Akiko said, "Nix was Haruko, or Moon as you know her, then Aki was one my brother came up with."

"Could I call you Iko?" Eijiro asked.

"As long as you let me call you Ei."

"'Course."

Later that day when Akiko left his room, everyone looked at Akiko weirdly and pointed out his hair, which made sense. Last night, Akiko had let Eijiro dye his hair. Akiko had red hair now, a similar colour to his eyes, very different from his usual dirty blond.

"What happened to your hair, Aki?" Tsu asked.

"Ei convinced me to dye it," Akiko said. It didn't even take much convincing. Akiko had alway associated his hair with his father, so to make the colour nothing like his was something Akiko had wanted to do for a while. Akiko's father was even part of the reason why Akiko had longer hair. His father's hair was always short, not Akiko's though.

It felt nice to be himself now. Akiko couldn't help but think that, like how he looked now, he didn't look like his family members and he liked that.

Something Akiko had learned was that, the night before, while Eijiro was helping Akiko dye his hair, Midoriya and Katsuki had fought and were put on lockdown, making them unable to leave the dorm building. Akiko had tried to talk to Katsuki about it, as a thank you for what he did after Akiko's mission, but he just waved Akiko off and said it was nothing and therefore didn't matter.

—

September 3, 2148

"Everyone, listen up!" Tenya shouted once they were all in the school heading to the second semester's starting assembly. "Everyone will need to get in line quickly and not screw things up! Time to head for the grounds!"

"Hello! It's everyone's favourite small mammalian principal," Nezu said from the stage into the microphone. "Lately, the fur I pride myself on has been looking rather shabby, so I've made great efforts to improve myself in that regard. This can apply to you humans as well. Don't forget to eat balanced meals with plenty of zinc and other vitamins, but remember the most important thing above all else to a healthy lifestyle is a good night's sleep."

What is he talking about?

"The biggest recent disruption to our lifestyles, as you all know, was the incident that took place this past summer," Nezu continued. "The loss of our pillar. We're seeing the effects of that emerging at a rate beyond expectations. Our society needs to prepare for unparalleled hardship in the near future. This applies especially to those of you in the hero course. Including the second and third years on work studies. Going forward, you must be more aware than ever of the threats out there.

"Such gloomy talk makes us all heavy hearted, I know," Nezu went on. "Which is why we adults are doing our best to keep things from getting too dreary. We hope to inspire an industrious ethic in you all so that you may go and become capable members of society. The business course, the general studies course, the support course and the hero course, do not forget that it's all of you who will inherit this society. Finally, here are a few reminders from our school life supervisor, Hound Dog."

Hound Dog went on stage and started... barking?

"What he meant to say was," Vlad King started after calming Hound Dog down, "'We had a fight last night. We understand that some of you are still unaccustomed to dorm life, but we ask you to control yourselves and make this easy for everyone'. Everyone, back to class, starting with the third years."

—

"All right, we're back to normal classes," Aizawa said once they all (minus Katsuki and Midoriya) got back to class. "A lot's happened. Too much, really, but it's business as usual. Today in class, we'll just have a lecture, but look forward to some even harsher training throughout the second semester."

"May I ask a question?" Tsu asked. "We just heard about work studies at the opening ceremony. Could you explain that a bit more?"

"I was planning to go over all that at a later date," Aizawa replied. "But, well, fine, I'll go over it now. Put it simply, it's hero work outside of school. A more immersive version of the internships you already did with pro heroes. You'll be using your networking connections from the sports festival to secure your hero work studies. It's all at your discretion to start with and unrelated to classes here. Those of you who didn't get scouted at the sports festival will have a hard time finding positions anyway. It used to be that every agency in the country would seek out applicants, but the competition to win over UA students caused a lot of issues. So that's why things are how they are now.

"Earning those provisional licenses will give you extended, in-depth experience when it comes to this stuff. But keep in mind that there's virtually no precedent for licensed first years. We'll revisit this later, at which point you'll get a more complete explanation and some actual testimonials – when circumstances allow."

—

September 5, 2148

"Let's talk about work studies for real," Aizawa said at the start of class. "Here to tell you how work studies differ from internships are some people who've actually gone out there and experienced it all. They're taking time out of their busy schedules to be here so give them your full attention. Out of all the students at UA, these are the top three reigning third years. We call them the big three."

Then, three students walked in, two boys and a girl; Akiko remembered them from two years ago, back when Akiko first got his license. When Akiko was 14, he came to UA to get his license along with a class of first years, just like Haruko did.

"Let's get to it," Aizawa said. "How about some introductions? Starting with you, Amajiki."

After some muttering from Amajiki, he said, "I wanna go home!"

"Isn't it funny that people call that having the heart of a flea!" The girl said. "So weird! He's Tamaki Amajiki, and I'm Nejire Hado. We came here today to talk to you about work studies."

Then, Hado started darting across the class, asking questions. "But hey, hey, hey. What's with the mask? You got a cold? Or is it fashion? Oh, is that Todoroki I see back there? How'd you get that burn anyway? Phoenix! What's with the gloves? I've always wondered ever since I met you! Hey, Ashido, if you broke those horns, would they grow back? Can they move? Tell me! Are you like a tree frog, Asui or more of a toad? So many curious things about all of you!"

"The outlook's looking..." The last third year, Togata, trailed off, only getting silence back. "Grim! The answer's 'grim'! Well, that didn't go over so well!" Then he got more serious. "I'm seeing a lot of faces that seem to say, 'who cares?' You've got three third years showing up out of nowhere here to talk about work studies that you don't even need to do. Doesn't make sense does it? You all got your licenses as first years, I guess this year's batch of first years are real go-getters. You know, my class was the first first-years to ever do work studies, though that was probably because we were also the first class to get our provisional licenses as first-years. And since our talk here isn't going so well, how about you all take me on! Seems rational to have them feel the full weight of our experiences first hand!"

Chapter Text

September 5, 2148

"Is this for real?"

"Sure is!" Togata said. "Whenever you're ready, come at me."

The first to go at Togata was Midoriya, going in with no hesitation. He was then followed by the ranged combat fighters. To combat these attacks, Togata's clothes fell off? Togata quickly tried to grab his pants and put them back on while trying to get away.

Akiko started by observing, trying to figure out Togata's fighting style. The only problem with that was that he was mainly an offensive fighter – he mainly just got out of the way, then hit all of his opponents at once. After a minute or so, Akiko ran in and tried to hit Togata with some of his feathers – which didn't go as well as he hoped. Togata dodged Akiko's attack, grabbing his feather and hitting Akiko with it. Akiko often forgot how sharp they actually were and it was times like this when he got reminded of that.

After Akiko's failed attempt, the close-quarters combat fighters went in; they didn't do too well either.

"And, well, you get the idea!" Togata said once they all gathered after they all failed to beat him. "Think my quirk is strong?"

"Do you have some sort of hybrid quirk like Todoroki and Matsubara?" Ashido asked.

"Nope, I've just got the one," Togata replied. "It's permeation. Like you guessed, what you called warping is another function of it. When I activate my quirk across my whole body, I pass through anything and everything! And that includes the ground itself."

"You were just falling?" Akiko asked, still trying to understand his quirk.

"Yep! Falling straight through the Earth!" Togata replied, "But when I deactivate my quirk underground, something amazing happens. Multiple objects can't occupy the same space at once, so one of them gets repelled. That means I get launched out of the ground instantaneously! That's the secret behind my warping. I can control the angle via my orientation and pose, so I basically choose where I get shot out!"

"That sounds like a video game glitch to me," Ashido admitted.

"Attacks pass right through you," Tsu said, "And you can change positions instantly. Guess it's a strong quirk after all."

"Not quite," Togata corrected. "More like I made it into a strong quirk. When it's active, my lungs can't take in oxygen, because, even when I breathe, the air just passes through. Similarly, my eardrums can't pick up vibrations, and my eyes can't absorb light. It all just passes through me and I can't feel anything at all. That said, my body still has mass, so all I have is this sensation of falling endlessly.

"See what I'm saying!" Togata went on. "Think about trying to pass through a wall. I have to activate it all over my whole body except for one leg. Then, release it on the other leg and touch down, and then finally, activate it on the first leg to pass all the way through. So even a simple act like that is quite the involved process. I used to take my sweet time, just to be safe! I'd hold back until the last second and end up falling anyway, then my clothes would fall off. But time was the one thing I didn't have if I wanted to make it to the top with my quirk! I had to predict faster than my surroundings could change! Foresight was essential if I wanted to trick time itself! And experience was the only way to get good at predicting! Experience fosters that sort of mental ability!

"I've taken up a lot of your time, but this is why we had to fight!" Togata shouted. "Because experience teaches more than words ever could! During our work studies, we weren't just guests, but genuine sidekicks! We were treated like pros! And let me tell you, it was terrifying! We dealt with life or death situations. But scary or not, painful or not, it was the sort of top-notch experience you can't get from school alone. I turned my work study experience into power that's allowing me to reach for the stars! Which is why, even if you're scared, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you first years!"

—

September 6, 2148

"So, we had a conference about potential work studies for first years yesterday," Aizawa started. "Plenty of teachers, even the principal, said 'don't even think about it', but some were of the opinion that the overprotective direction we're going in won't foster strong heroes. As such, we will allow agencies with proven track records that offer work studies to take on first years. That's our decision."

—

September 7, 2148

"Are you gonna do a work study, Iko?" Eijiro asked when it was lunch that day.

"I want to, but I don't know where I'd do it," Akiko replied."I did my internship at my brother's agency, but I can't do my work study there because he's never taken on a work study student before. His 'track record' doesn't even exist. What about you?"

"Same here," Eijiro laughed. "I did my internship with Fourth Kind and he doesn't have a good record either, though it's because he hasn't taken on many students."

"Hey, you two!" someone shouted, running to where Akiko and Eijiro were sitting. It was Hado with Amajiki trailing behind.

"Hi!" Akiko said back once they got to the table.

"Amajiki has something he wants to ask you two!" Hado said.

Akiko turned to Amajiki behind Hado and waited for what he had to say. Amajiki stayed silent, having what looked like fear in his eyes.

"Fine, I'll say it!" Hado said. "The hero he does his work study with wants you two as well!"

"Really?" Akiko asked in disbelief. "I'll for sure go! What about you, Ei?"

"Yeah!" Eijiro replied.

"Well, there you go, Amajiki!" Hado said.

—

When Akiko got back to the dorms that day, he went to his room. Ever since Akiko yelled at Kihara at the provisional licensing exam, Akiko had seen people online talking about it and what Akiko mentioned. Everyone was speculating because, other than Akiko's words at the exam, they had nothing concrete since Keigo was staying silent on everything. Akiko thought it would be good to address it. Akiko set up his phone on his desk, leaning against a pile of books he put there, and hit record.

"Hi," Akiko started, not entirely knowing what he would say. "So, if you're watching this, you may have seen what I said at me and my classmates' provisional licensing exam. I just want to address what I said.

"First of all, yes, what I said is true, not a made-up story, as much as I wish it was. So, I said that I felt like a machine that only exists to serve the commission. Yep, that's true. Ever since I was a kid, I've done and been what the commission wanted me to be, so yeah, I do feel like I only exist to serve them.

"The next thing I said was that the commission took away my home," Akiko went on. "That is the only thing that didn't happen. I was taken away from my home, but not because of the commission – it was because of the police actually. The commission did take away my name, however. My name is Akiko, that's not a lie. My surname, though, is not Matsubara.

"Next was about my father," Akiko said. "My father did in fact call me a worthless piece of shit when I was five. That's why I haven't seen my dad in 11 years, and why me and my brother don't talk about him."

Akiko didn't want to think about how that was technically a lie. He saw his father just a few months ago – but that was hardly a fun visit.

"Lastly," Akiko said in a happier tone. "Me and my brother were bought and forced to be heroes. Another truth. How it all happened for me directly follows my last point. So, after my dad could no longer take care of me, I was left alone with no family to live with, well, except for my brother who was 12 at the time. He was in a training program at the commission called 'The Child Heroics Program'. This program took children from low-income families and turned them into heroes if they had potential based on their quirks – not hard to tell why me and my brother were picked for it.

"When I got there, my brother was 12 and had been at the program since he was six. Fun fact about that program, when new trainees joined, they were given hero names on the first couple of days they were there. So, my brother has had the name 'Hawks' since he was six and my hero name, Phoenix, is one I've had since I was five. Honestly, I didn't even want to be a hero back then," Akiko said. In truth, Akiko wasn't even sure if he wanted to be a hero now.

"My father had raised me to hate heroes. So the idea of becoming a hero was really unappealing to me, but I did it anyway! My brother on the other hand, I can't remember if he wanted to be a hero before the commission; I'd have to ask him about that. Well!" Akiko said, clapping his hands together, "This got gloomy, sorry 'bout that! Just remember that all I said is true. I just hope this cleared up some of what I said. Hope everyone has a good rest of your day, bye!"

With that, Akiko stopped the recording and posted it online.

Chapter Text

September 14, 2148

It was a week after that small conversation with Amajiki and Hado that Akiko and Eijiro had their first day on their work study. Akiko had learned that the hero he agreed to do a work study with was the BMI Hero: Fat Gum. Akiko had met him before, but didn't know him too well. Akiko had learned however that Fat Gum was a pretty laid back person and Akiko wouldn't need to worry about impressing him too much.

Akiko, Eijiro and Amajiki were currently on the train to the agency. Opposed to his internship, this time Akiko understood why he needed to take the train; Akiko really had no clue where Fat Gum's agency was, other than the city it was in – Osaka.

"What do you think it's gonna be like?" Eijiro asked.

"I'm not sure," Akiko replied.

Right after Akiko said that, the automated voice came over the intercom, saying that they had arrived.

"Let's see how it is," Akiko said, standing up and grabbing his things which consisted of just his costume case and messenger bag.

Akiko, Eijiro and Amajiki left the station, with Amajiki leading them to the agency. Akiko wouldn't say he was nervous, more worried. The only problem was he barely knew Fat Gum. For his internship, he went to his brother's agency – he knew his brother, better than anyone probably. But this time? Akiko doesn't know much about Fat Gum. Sure, Akiko had met him before, but he didn't know the hero very well. So Akiko was worried for that reason. The good part about doing the work study with someone else was that the other person could tell Akiko what to expect.

The walk to the agency is about 10 minutes. Akiko had never been to Osaka before, so Akiko was happy about getting to wander around the city. Because of Amajiki's quietness, Akiko and Eijiro had almost no clue as to what they were getting into.

When they all arrived at the agency, Akiko got to know just how energetic Fat Gum is. Fat Gum was in the lobby waiting for them when they all arrived. When he saw them all, Fat Gum went over to them.

"There you all are!" Fat Gum said. "I was scared you three got lost!"

Looking at the clock, Akiko realized they were supposed to be here about 10 minutes ago.

"I'm sorry for being late," Akiko said. "Nice to see you."

"You shouldn't worry about it," Fat Gum said, "It's nice to see you again too, Akiko. And you're Eijiro Kirishima," Fat Gum had turned his attention to Eijiro.

"Hi," Eijiro said, "Nice to meet you."

"There's one thing I want to do before we get started," Fat Gum said, "It's something I always do for new students here."

There that worry was again. It wouldn't be bad, would it? It wouldn't. Fat Gum said it's something he always does, that means it won't be bad.

"I know I have access to records," Fat Gum started. "But I want to hear you two explain your own quirks."

"How about you start?" Akiko asked Eijiro. "You know, 'cause yours is a lot less complicated."

"Uh, sure," Eijiro stammered. "My quirk is called 'hardening', and I can make my body hard as a rock. That's pretty much it."

Fat Gum nodded in understanding and looked at Akiko.

"Okay, my quirk's called 'blazing wings' and there's two parts to it," Akiko said. "The first part is the 'blazing' part. I can create fire and control other fires, though I'm not very good at controlling other fires yet. The second part is my wings. Each feather I can control them telekinetically and I can feel sound vibrations through them. I can also sharpen them to be as sharp as a knife and easily cut through things."

As always, Akiko left out the 'heat = energy' part. That's just a weakness for Akiko. Akiko doesn't need to be saying that around a bunch of heroes (a lot of them are actually sidekicks, but still, Akiko doesn't need to be telling everyone a weakness of his).

"You guys can go ahead and change into your costumes; Tamaki can lead you to the bathrooms," Fat Gum said. "The first thing we're going to be doing is patrol."

Akiko and Eijiro followed Amajiki to where the bathrooms were. The entire walk there, Eijiro was excited.

"We're gonna be like actual pros!" Eijiro said excitedly.

"I think it'll be fun," Akiko said.

Hero work had left a bad taste in Akiko's mouth ever since he was 14, going on that first mission. Akiko was excited for this, just not as much as Eijiro. Ever since the two of them had gotten closer, Eijiro had sometimes said things that made Akiko think Eijiro forgot what Akiko had been through – or just didn't know. This felt like one of those times, but Akiko didn't know why. Eijiro wasn't making a comment Akiko didn't like, he was just saying he was excited; why did Akiko feel like he would regret saying that?

Each of them went into a different stall to change. Akiko grabbed his costume and put it on. In a training exercise not too long ago, the jacket had been a bit damaged, meaning Akiko had to get a new one. This time, the jacket was different. The sleeves were shorter, only reaching his elbows and the tail of the jacket no longer had the flame design on it. Instead, the tail was straight and had a flame pattern added to it in blue, the same shade of blue that the design on the shirt was. Akiko actually liked it.

Akiko realized his gloves were a little different too. The gloves were still white, the palms were now brown. The gloves were a little longer too, instead of stopping at Akiko's wrists, they now stopped about 2 centimetres after Akiko's wrist.

Akiko finished up by putting on the pants (unchanged at least). Before putting the boots back on, Akiko noticed that the hole in the soles was becoming a bit melted by the repeated use of fire around there; maybe Akiko should put in a request for boots that could withstand fire. Akiko finished off by putting the visor and headphones on (both unchanged from Akiko's internship, if repaired). Once Akiko left the stall, he found it weird to just wait in the bathroom, so, he went and waited right outside of the bathroom. Eijiro was the first one to come out only about a minute or two after Akiko. Amajiki came out about two minutes later.

"I– I'm sorry for taking so long," Amajiki apologized.

"No worries, man!" Eijiro said, catching Amajiki off guard with his enthusiasm.

The three of them went back to the lobby and found Fat Gum quite quickly (it helps that he's so recognizable with his bright yellow costume).

"Alright!" Fat Gum said once he saw the trio. "Let's get going!"

Fat Gum led them all outside and they started patrol. The main difference to Keigo's patrolling style that Akiko noticed was how Fat Gum was the one to start up conversations. With Fat Gum being one of the only pros in the area, he was well-known with the locals. This meant that Fat Gum had built up friendships with some of the shop owners. Akiko thought that was good, building up relationships with the people you're supposed to protect – a good kind of trust.

The kind of patrolling Fat Gum did was different in another way, a more obvious way. He did it all on the ground; which, of course, made sense, but Akiko still found it a bit off.

It seemed like Fat Gum's patrols weren't too bad either. With many people knowing Akiko (or at least hearing of him), people tried to strike conversation with him as well. Akiko wasn't too confident in his ability to strike conversation with strangers, but he tried his best.

During the patrol, Akiko got to know about Amajiki. Fat Gum had known Amajiki since he was a first year, with Fat Gum interning him that year and then giving him a work study later that year, so the two knew each other well. Apparently, Amajiki had struggled with self confidence ever since he was a first year, and probably longer. Fat Gum's whole goal with Amajiki was to build up his confidence. According to Fat Gum, he's made a bit of progress since.

Akiko wondered if Fat Gum wanted him and Eijiro for similar reasons. Did he see something in the two of them that needed fixing? Did he think that Akiko's outspokenness he showed off at the licensing exam was bad and needed to be fixed? Akiko hoped not. Even if this was the reason Fat Gum chose Akiko, what was wrong with Eijiro? Akiko hadn't been his friend for very long (only about a month), but Akiko couldn't see a single bad quality in him. All Akiko could see was positivity in Eijiro. Was Eijiro just a really good actor and Akiko couldn't see it? Maybe Akiko needs to get better at reading people.

—

September 20, 2148

It was nearing the end of the first week of Akiko's work study. Work studies lasted for a few months, meaning Akiko was nowhere near the end; Akiko was happy about that. He was really enjoying the work study.

It was nearing the end of the patrol. They had about half an hour left and then Akiko would get to go back to the dorms, which he was happy about. Akiko had been walking around all day and was getting tired. Akiko started to wonder – what was more exhausting? Flying around all day, or walking around all day. He thought it was walking, but that was probably because he was better at flying and had done plenty of it in his life.

"There's no shortage of trouble from gangsters and punks lately!" Fat Gum said as they were all walking down the street. "Which's why the hero agencies around these parts are in need of good fighters. You were perfect for the job, Red Riot."

"Happy to be here!" Eijiro said. "Fourth Kind couldn't take me on, so I'm sure glad you were able to!"

"You're also a pretty skilled fighter, Phoenix," Fat Gum said. "You're so versatile!"

Akiko smiled in response.

"If only Mirio was around," Amajiki muttered. "You scared me with how aggressive you are."

"You'll make a fine team member too, Tamaki," Fat Gum said. "Once we do something about that fragile psyche of yours!"

"It's always like this!" Amajiki whined, "I swear he scouted me just to have someone to torment!"

"It's a fight! Someone help!"

Following the cry for help, Fat Gum stepped into action, blocking the villains from getting away. One of the villains was able to escape though. Amajiki was able to stop him with his quirk. Amajiki's quirk allows him to manifest whatever he eats, which Akiko finds pretty cool.

"Get down!"

Akiko wasn't able to get out of the way and got shot. Akiko was confused at first because he couldn't feel his feathers anymore and saw them drop into a pile on the ground behind him. He tried to control them back onto his back but couldn't. Akiko was able to see who it was that shot him fairly quickly and started chasing him.

"Wait! What are you doing?!"

"What's wrong with you?!" Akiko yelled, chasing the villain. The villain went around a corner to get away from Akiko but the villain failed to realize something. If anything, he helped Akiko. The villain had gotten rid of Akiko's wings, making him lighter. Akiko tried to get some fire to give himself a boost but couldn't. What happened? At least Akiko's a pretty fast runner.

"Get back here!" Akiko shouted, not letting the villain out of his sight. 

"Stay back! Stop following me!"

"You shot me! Of course I'm chasing you!" Akiko yelled, turning a corner.

The villain went around a corner only to find a dead end. Akiko couldn't be happier about this. The villain tried to get into one of the buildings but Akiko got to him first and tackled him. Akiko bit the villain's arm, drawing blood.

"What is wrong with you?!" The villain shouted in fear.

"Iko!" Eijiro yelled from the entrance to the spot he was in.

Akiko wiped his mouth of the blood and looked at Eijiro. That was his mistake. The villain took this time to get away.

"Bastard!" Akiko shouted to himself. Thankfully, the area was small, giving the villain barely anywhere to go.

By this time Eijiro had run over. "Get people out of here," he told Akiko.

Akiko obeyed and did as Eijiro asked. The next thing that happened really confused Akiko; blades sprouted from behind him. Akiko got out of the way of the blades, hoping to avoid them, only partially succeeding. Akiko got hit by three blades, only leaving small cuts however. Akiko got away from the area and got all civilians out.

Soon enough, Akiko was able to see Fat Gum and he was able to capture the villain.

"Thank you!" A civilian said to Eijiro. "I have no doubts that you'll make a great hero one day!"

—

"A quirk booster," Fat Gum said. "Drugs like that are illegal here in Japan. Must be some cheap asian-made knockoff, judging by how long it lasted. The American variety keeps working for an hour or two. I used to work with the cops and we seized plenty of this stuff back in the day."

"Fat!" An officer shouted as he ran towards the group of four, "About the perp's gun! His quirk shredded it to scraps. And there are no bullets. We can tell it's no ordinary piece though. We'll get back to you with a report on it."

"Interesting," Fat Gum said. "Thanks for looking into it." Fat Gum paused and turned to Akiko. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah!" Akiko shouted, a bit startled. Akiko was so used to having his feathers around to sense people that Fat Gum talking to them like that surprised him. "Sorry, you just surprised me."

"I think that was pretty impressive, Akiko," Eijiro said. "You going after the villain like that even when you couldn't use your quirk."

"Will there be a way to fix this?" Akiko asked Fat Gum, ignoring Eijiro.

"I've never heard of anything like it," Fat Gum said. "We'd better get you checked out at a hospital."

Akiko didn't reply verbally, only nodded.

Before going to the hospital, they stopped by the agency (since what happened wasn't a life or death situation). At the hospital, the doctor mainly asked Akiko questions, mainly about what he could do with his quirk, that being nothing. The doctor ended up telling Akiko that he shouldn't be too worried about his quirk, since Akiko still had the kind of bone structure that could support Akiko's wings. Apparently, his bone structure would go to a normal one if he wasn't going to get them back.

—

September 21, 2148

The next day, Akiko was able to feel his feathers growing in. As usual it felt scratchy, but Akiko was at least happy he could feel them coming back. Akiko was able to be excused from his work study for the next few days while he waited for his wings to grow back to a good size – just like what had happened to Keigo in the past when his feathers had been destroyed.

Akiko was also able to feel his flames that day. He couldn't help but think how weird it was to not have them at all. It felt weirdly nice to not be burning from the inside out.

—

September 24, 2148

A few days after Akiko temporarily lost his quirk, Akiko had to go into his work study earlier than usual. When Akiko and Eijiro went outside they saw the other work study students leaving as well. For that day, they didn't need their costumes so Akiko and Eijiro (as well as the other three) were in their school uniforms. The weirdest part about all of it was they all went the exact same way, even if someone went a different way, they would meet up again.

The destination was the Nighteye Agency. Akiko thought he heard Midoriya saying that's where he was doing his work study, but why would Akiko need to go there? Sir Nighteye's agency isn't anywhere near Fat Gum's agency. 

When they arrived, there were plenty of heroes there. What was going on?

"Thanks to the intel provided by all of you," Sir Nighteye announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "We're making great strides with this investigation. The small organization known as the Shie Hassaikai is plotting something. I've called you all to this discussion to share with you exactly what we know."

So, Akiko would be part of some kind of investigation? What's so critical about the Shie Hassaikai? Akiko's never heard of them before. Sir Nighteye did say a small organization, maybe they just haven't made bigger moves yet.

"Feeling kinda out of the loop here," Eijiro said to Fat Gum.

"They're probably planning to do something rough," Fat Gum replied. "Which is why we're here to talk about it. And it's got plenty to do with you three."

Chapter Text

September 24, 2148

They all gathered in one of the meeting rooms in Sir Nighteye's agency. Akiko sat next to Eijiro and Fat Gum, with Amajiki on Fat Gum's other side.

"Now then, let's get started," Sir Nighteye's sidekick, Bubble Girl, said. "For the past two weeks or so, here at the Nighteye agency, we have been conducting an independent investigation of the designated villain group known as the Shie Hassaikai."

"What started all this?" A hero asked.

"An incident involving a band of thieves called the Reservoir Dogs," Bubble Girl answered. "The police wrote it off as a mere incident, but there were a few inconsistencies that prompted our investigation."

"Under Nighteye's orders, I've been following some leads," Centipeder, another one of Sir Nighteye's sidekicks, said. "According to my findings, the organization has been making extensive contact with outsiders and underworld dealers throughout the past year. Their goals seem to be the expansion and accumulation of funds. Shortly after we began investigating, they made contact with a member of the League of Villains – Jin Bubaigawara, who goes by the villain name of Twice. They were all very wary of being tailed, so we couldn't pursue them then but the police have provided further assistance."

"So, given these developments," Bubble Girl went on, "We reached out for help via HN."

"HN?" Ochako asked.

"Hero Network," Akiko responded. "It's a website for licensed heroes and it gives them access to helpful information – villains, crimes in their area, that sorta thing. Civilians can even give info through it."

"UA students or not," A hero on the opposite side of the table that Akiko recognized as Rock Lock said. "What are these kids even doing here? They're just slowing us down. The sun's gonna set before we even get to talking about the bad guys' grand plan."

"Baloney!" Fat Gum shouted, standing up. "These three are super important participants!"

"Hassaikai was once suspected of dealing in illegal substances," Sir Nigheye said.

"Back in the day," Fat Gum started, "I squashed loads of dealers like that! And then, during Red Riot's debut battle the other day, the perp went and shot Phoenix here with a type of drug I've never seen before! A drug that destroys quirks."

"So? He recovered," Rock Lock pointed out Akiko's wings (still not fully grown back, but big enough to be seen, even if Akiko's has them folded). "This stuff must not be fatal."

"No, on that point, I turn to Eraser Head," Sir Nighteye said, gesturing to Aizawa.

"It seems a bit different from my erasure," Aizawa said. "Because I'm not actually attacking a person's quirk itself. What we call quirks are special additions to an ordinary body, or the plus alpha elements. Everything included within the plus alpha elements are what we call the quirk factors, like Matsubara's wings for example. What I do is temporarily stop those quirk factors from activating. I can't actually cause any damage."

"In the past," Akiko started, adding onto Aizawa's point, "If Mr. Aizawa has used his quirk on me, I still had my wings, I just can't control them, and I can't use my fire, but I can still feel that it's there. When I got hit with the bullet, my feathers fell into a pile on the ground and I couldn't feel any fire in me. The bullet and Mr. Aizawa's quirk are different in that aspect."

"We got Phoenix checked out at the hospital after the attack," Fat Gum said. "They said his quirk factors were damaged. Luckily, his body's natural healing was enough to fix the problem."

"Did they analyze what he got shot with?" Sir Nighteye asked.

"Since it bounced right off of Red's body, we got our hands on a vial of the stuff that's still intact," Fat Gum said. "Analysis of the substance inside revealed something pretty disgusting. They found human cells and blood."

That revelation made Akiko pause. Someone was being used to make the bullets? Who? Was it willingly or were they forced? If they were forced, why? Who would do something like this?

"So, the effect comes from a person's quirk?" Ryukyu asked.

"How does any of this connect to the Shie Hassaikai?" A hero asked.

"Although Red caught the guy who had the illegal substance," Fat Gum said, "Figuring out the network for drugs like that is pretty tricky. It's all shrunk down since the old days, but these drugs pass through multiple levels of groups and organisations down the supply chain, until they finally arrive at that lowest level. There's no proof that the Shie Hassaikai is the supplier in question, but the Hassaikai definitely had business with one of those middlemen."

"The other day," Sir Nighteye started, "Ryukyu and her people stopped a feud between two villain groups. The boss of one of those groups is the middleman dealer just mentioned."

"One of those giant villains shot himself up with a booster to extend his short activation time," Ryukyu added.

"Linking all this recent organized crime to Hassaikai," A hero started. "Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see? I'm still not convinced; it seems like you want Hassaikai to be the root of all evil, so you're painting just the right picture. I'm gonna need something more concrete to go on."

"The young leader of the Hassaikai is Kai Chisaki," Sir Nighteye said. "And his quirk is 'Overhaul'. The ability to both dismantle and restore. A dismantle quirk that can easily destroy and then heal. Then we have bullets that can destroy quirks. Chisaki has a daughter, Eri – one with no birth record, so the exact details are unclear. When these two encountered her," he gestured to Midoriya and Togata, "She was covered in an excessive amount of bandages."

Akiko knew what Sir Nighteye was implying; he was saying that Chisaki was using his own daughter to make the bullets. Akiko didn't want to think that was what was happening. Akiko knew what that was like, both his father and the commission had used Akiko for his quirk, but at least Akiko had some sort of autonomy in that. Akiko had a choice to obey or not (Akiko would be punished if he disobeyed, but there was at least the illusion of choice). Akiko thought that this was another reason why he was there; Akiko has a history with this sort of thing and he'd just come out about it. Akiko hoped that Chisaki's daughter was older than he was back then.

"It's too repulsive to imagine..."

"That's a superpowered society for you. Anything you can imagine, there's someone out there who can make it happen."

"You think Chisaki's using his own daughter to make the  bullets?" Akiko asked in a small, cracked voice. "And then he sells them?"

"It's uncertain whether or not he's selling them just yet," Sir Nighteye said. "Given that the drug's current effects are somewhat underwhelming. But if we imagine that it's simply in the testing phase, if he's simply distributing samples in order to attract followers. We're still lacking proof but he's bringing in people from across the country. What if the final version of these bullets is capable of destroying a person's quirk permanently?"

"We'll make sure to save her!" Midoriya shouted, standing up.

"If she's even still alive," Rock Lock scoffed. "If all your guesses are correct, this leader of theirs probably sees the girl as the core of his plan and someone worth hiding. But there must've been some sorta trouble, because she got out! Not to mention our junior heroes here got a glimpse of her! If you were him, would you bring her back to the main hideout? I know I wouldn't. We can charge in, guns blazing and all, but it's all for nothing if she ain't there. Any way to be sure where he's keeping her?"

"He raises some good questions, Nighteye," Ryukyu said after a moment of silence.

"Indeed," Sir Nighteye said. "Beyond the unclear nature and scope of their plan, should we fail to end this decisively in one strike, they won't give us another chance. Which brings us to the organizations Hassaikai has contacted as well as the Hassaikai's verified properties. Through our investigation, we've compiled an extensive list. I'll be asking each of you to check out certain groups and locations on your own. We need to narrow the list down. Take a look." Nighteye gestured to the screen behind him, showing a map of Japan with a couple locations pointed out. "There's a connection between each hero's territory and the list of locations."

"You're mighty cautious for a former sidekick of All Might!" Fat Gum shouted, clearly frustrated. "While we're twiddling our thumbs, little Eri's probably out there crying somewhere!"

"We can't do the things All Might would!" Sir Nighteye shouted back. "We must rely on analysis and precaution to raise our odds of saving her as much as possible."

"Can I say something?" Aizawa asked. "I'm not exactly sure how your ability works, Sir Nighteye, but why not use your foresight to see what sort of fate awaits us? Going forward without that knowledge seems irrational."

"I can't do that," Sir Nighteye hesitated. "My ability has limitations. Once activated, it has a 24 hour cool down period. In other words, I can only view one hour of a single person's life per day. The images appear in my mind panel by panel, like a flashback. After using it, it's like I can watch recorded footage of that person's entire life, think of it that way. But the entirety of the film plays from a perspective close to the person in question. What I end up seeing is their actions and faint glimpse of the surrounding environment."

"That sounds like more than enough," Aizawa said. "We could still learn plenty. So why can't you use it?"

"Well, for one thing," Sir Nighteye responded. "What if, in the near future, what awaited the person was... death. A cruel and merciless death. What then?" Nighteye paused before continuing. "I've trained to maximize the success rate of every action I take. I use it to all but ensure victory in a battle."

"Seeing if we're gonna die sounds pretty darn useful!" Rock Lock shouted. "Then we could come up with a plan to stay alive!"

"I'm not a fortune teller," Sir Nighteye said; Akiko was able to pick up on sad tones in his voice. "There's no guarantee that the fate I see can be avoided."

"I don't get it, Nighteye!" Rock Lock continued. "C'mon, why don't you take a look at me? I'll avoid whatever life's got in store for me!"

"I CAN'T!" Sir Nighteye shouted, even louder than before.

After a moment of silence, Ryukyu said, "Why don't we get started. There's a child in need out there. That's what matters most."

Sir Nighteye stood up and ordered, "Confirm the girl's location and take measures to save her. Once we're as sure as we can be, let's bring this matter to a swift resolution. I thank you all for your help."

Chapter Text

September 24, 2148

Akiko, Eijiro, Amajiki, Ochako, Tsu, Midoriya, Hado and Togata sat at a table outside of the meeting room in Sir Nighteye's agency. They were all sitting in silence, not knowing what to say.

"If it helps," Akiko started. "You gave Eri hope."

"How do you know that?" Midoriya asked him.

"I was in a similar situation as a kid," Akiko replied honestly. "When I was a kid, my dad used me for my quirk. One day, I snuck out of the house and went to the city – a more main part of the place I grew up; me and Dad lived on the outskirts. There I saw a hero; I can't exactly remember what she was doing, but I remember she was fighting a villain. When I saw that, I thought she might've been able to save me from my terrible father – fight my villain, you know? Because of her, I had hope. That's what you gave Eri – hope."

"You think so?" Midoriya asked.

"Of course I do," Akiko said.

—

"Matsubara," Aizawa said once they all got back to UA and were heading inside the dorms.

"Yes?" Akiko stopped and walked towards Aizawa.

"You're not doing this to get back on the commission's good side, right?" He asked.

"Of course not!" Akiko said with an alarmed expression. "I don't care what they think of me," he said quieter. "And I don't care if I'm on their good side or not. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do and I know how scared Eri is. I want the commission to stay away from Eri." Akiko knew that if the commission got their hands on Eri, they'd force her to do something she might not even want to do. Akiko wouldn't want Eri to be taken out of one bad situation just to be put into another – just like he was.

Aizawa nodded in understanding. "Good." Then we walked away.

—

Over the next few days, the work study students were on standby while waiting for the pros to get enough information to successfully save Eri and start a raid. Akiko couldn't explain why, but he was nervous. The only explanation Akiko could think of was that this was different from missions he'd gone on in the past. Those missions had Akiko taking a terrible person's life, now Akiko would be saving someone who was innocent. True, that's what heroes do, but Akiko had never really done that before.

Akiko could tell that his classmates were doing worse. Sure, they threw themselves into training, but other than that, they were all wrecks, especially Midoriya. Akiko remembered feeling like that when he was sent on his first mission, feeling horrible, but that was because he had just killed someone. Akiko tried his best to help cheer his classmates up by saying they would be able to save Eri soon, but he knew his words didn't do much. Akiko just wished he knew what to say, he never was very good with words.

—

September 27, 2148

A few days later, Akiko and the other work study students get word that they can go ahead with saving Eri since they have enough info now. There would be two groups for this, the first group would be outside, the second on the inside, going through the building trying to find Eri. Akiko would be part of the second group along with Eijiro, Fat Gum, Amajiki, Nighteye, Aizawa, Midoriya, Togata, and Sir Nighteye's sidekicks plus a few police officers.

"Don't give them time to take her away!" A police officer ordered. "We're hoping to capture every lowlife there as quickly as possible."

"All the pros are so calm!" Eijiro commented when he was near Akiko and Midoriya. "I guess they're all used to it. Hey, maybe the Hassaikai and the League will both go down hard today."

"That'd be nice," Akiko said with a smile.

"Heroes!" A police  officer got everyone's attention. "They're probably going to put up a fight. So if you spot any one of them resisting or trying anything funny, I'm counting on you guys to deal with it. We're up against a mafia group that's somehow survived until now, so don't let your guards down for a second. Get in there and do what you have to do!"

Not long after that, the two groups went into action. The villains seemed prepared and attacked right away. Akiko did whatever he could there, but mainly focused on getting inside. The group Akiko was part of made their way to the entrance of the building and ran inside. Akiko stayed  towards the front of the group, next to Nighteye and his sidekicks, because of his speed and ability to hear if anyone was coming their way.

Akiko knew the rest of the group was talking – and that what they were talking about was probably important – but Akiko wasn't listening very well, instead he focused on if any villains were headed his way.

Pretty quickly, Nighteye stopped everyone at a display case of a pink flower.

"There should be a mechanism that opens the way down," Nighteye said, crouching down and pressing down on a floorboard. "We just have to press these planks in the right order."

Right when Nighteye started to do that, Akiko heard loud footsteps from inside the hidden door.

"Watch out!" Akiko shouted, getting as close to Nighteye as possible so he could attack the villains. Bubble Girl and Centipeder stayed behind for a minute or two to make sure the villains wouldn't follow.

The rest of the group went ahead, down the stairs to a hallway with light gray walls and covered in pipes. The only bad part was it quickly became clear that there was a dead end.

"I'll take a look!" Togata said. Togata then went into the wall blocking the way. When he got out, he said, "This wall's the only thing in our way; it's a thick one though."

The wall looked like it was made of metal. Akiko hoped he could heat up the metal and simply move it out of the way, but Midoriya and Eijiro beat him to it by kicking and punching the wall respectively.

Right when they all made it through the wall, the walls started moving like they were made of slime. Akiko lifted up into the air and threw some feathers around trying to find who was doing it. Soon enough, Akiko was able to find them.

"Eraser Head!" Akiko shouted and showed Aizawa where the villain was. Akiko felt weird barking an order at his teacher – someone more than 10 years older than him – but then he realized that Keigo did it all the time, so maybe it wasn't too weird? Quickly, the walls stopped moving and Akiko landed next to everyone. 

Once Aizawa's quirk was off, a cliff was made and everyone fell, Akiko tried to soften some people's landings with his feathers but was mainly unsuccessful – their landings were softened, just not as much as Akiko had hoped. Akiko was able to soften his own landing at least. They were all dropped in a pretty plain room with pale yellow walls.

When Akiko looked up after reorienting himself, he saw three villains.

"So they wanna fight?" Amajiki said with unexpected confidence, however Akiko did hear a bit of shakiness in his voice. "How about we show 'em what us pros can do. You pros and your powers are essential to the mission! As for these guys trying to slow us down? I can deal with them myself!"

Eijiro tried to stop him, but Amajiki was adamant he was going to be the one to stop those three. They all left Amajiki alone, much to Eijiro's dismay.

"What's the deal with leaving him alone back there?" Eijiro shouted as they ran.

"He's more capable than anyone here," Fat Gum responded. "He's just lacking the spirit. The pressure he puts on himself to be perfect crushes him. But, despite that, he still rose up to be one of UA's big three."

"I just hope he's okay," Eijiro said.

"What kind of hero will you be if you don't believe in the other heroes, Ei?" Akiko asked.

Eijiro went silent so Akiko kept on running. Soon enough, they found another set of stairs. Right as they stopped, part of the wall came out and hit Aizawa. Eijiro and Fat Gum followed, saving Aizawa, leaving Akiko being the last one from that agency still in the group. Right after that, the walls compressed around them, trapping them. Akiko didn't know what to do, so he thought back.

The man's quirk makes him control the walls and earlier he saw the man in the walls. Maybe if Akiko put some fire on the walls, the man would feel it and would feel the fire – feeling the fire as if he would be burned, but wasn't. Akiko put his hands on the floor and created fire. Not as hot as he could, but still pretty hot. Doing that, Akiko made a hole in the metal (probably with some help from the villain in the walls) and fell through. Akiko did have a habit of making his flames too hot.

Akiko opened his wings to soften his landing. He came out into another metal-walled hallway with pipes. Akiko had no clue where he was, but maybe, this far into the base, he would have a better chance at finding Eri. Akiko walked through the halls with his wings slightly unfurled, trying to listen for either villains, Eri, heroes or police.

The hallway that Akiko was in had a lot of doors, it was almost confusing how many there were. Akiko opened up a few of them (feeling for heartbeats in the ones he didn't open), seeing what was inside. Some of them made sense, others were on the more confusing side of things. Akiko was able to find what looked like decrepit hospital rooms. Akiko got reminded of when he was a kid and was forced to get rid of his more animalistic features, like when he was forced to have surgery to remove his tail feathers, then having to relearn how to fly. Akiko hoped the room was a general hospital room, in case a member of the Shie Hassaikai got injured and not a room where those bullets were made. 

Akiko kept walking down the hall and ended up finding what looked like a child's bedroom. At least they were trying to make Eri's life not miserable, if you ignored the bullets. The room looked way better than Akiko home from before the commission – if you could even call it a home.

Chapter Text

September 27, 2148

Akiko keeps wandering the halls of the base, having no clue where he's going. Soon enough, Akiko hears metallic groaning and knows that must be where some people are. Akiko runs towards that direction, wanting to see what or who was there.

Akiko, thankfully, doesn't run into any villains on the way there, but once he gets there, he sees Chisaki fighting Togata. Off to the side, Akiko sees just what he was looking for, Eri. She's sitting there, looking terrified in a dirty dress with her arms and legs covered in bandages, Akiko saw a small horn just below her hairline as well. Akiko knows exactly what she's feeling, especially after Chisaki says she causes terrible things to happen just by existing. Akiko, as quietly as possible, goes over to Eri. Akiko crouches in front of her and looks at her, getting his first good look at the girl. Eri looks at Akiko with wide, terrified eyes.

"Everything will be okay," Akiko says. The only good part about this situation Akiko could think of was he knew the scenario himself. He knew what Eri was feeling. He knew what the fear felt like. He knew. Eri only whimpered in response.

Akiko goes to grab Eri's hand, only to have her flinch.

"I'm sorry," Akiko says. "Can I pick you up? I just want to help you."

After a second of contemplation, Eri nods and Akiko takes his jacket off and puts it around her, then picks her up and bolts out of that room, not wanting Chisaki seeing that Eri was gone. Once outside, Akiko keeps holding onto Eri, remembering how scared he was 11 years ago and feeling comfortable in the arms of the hero who helped arrest his father.

"This is Phoenix," Akiko says into his headphones. "I have Eri and I'm going to bring her outside. Currently, Mirio Togata is fighting Chisaki and I'm pretty sure that's going well."

"Amazing." That sounds like Ryukyu's voice. "We'll be waiting for you two."

Now the only problem is figuring out how to get out of here. Akiko had fallen through the floor and if Eri was scared of Akiko just picking her up, he didn't even want to try to fly with her. If only Akiko had actually paid attention to the way he went after falling. Akiko sent out a few of his feathers, trying to map out a way to get to the surface.

"Phoenix?" Akiko heard a small voice say after a few minutes of silence.

Akiko looked down at Eri. "My name's Akiko. Phoenix is just my hero name or, if you want, you can call me Nix."

"Why..?" Eri asked. "Why.. do you save... me?"

"It's what you deserve," Akiko replied. "I heard what Chisaki was saying to you, and I know from personal experiences that it's not true."

Eri tilted her head to the side in confusion. Just like I do, Akiko thought.

"When I was a kid," Akiko started. "I was in a similar situation. My dad forced me to do things I didn't want to with my quirk; they were bad things that hurt people. If I didn't do what Dad wanted, he would hurt me. My dad would constantly say bad things to me just because I didn't do what he wanted. When I was 5, a hero saved me, just like I'm doing with you."

By this time, Akiko and Eri had made their way to the main building on the surface. Akiko walked through the building quickly, just in case any villains stayed behind. When they stepped outside the building, Akiko set Eri down. Eri looked frozen in fear. Eri must've been scared of all the people around her and grabbed onto Akiko, his arm to be precise.

Akiko looked down at Eri and saw that the little horn on her head was glowing yellow. What does that mean?

"Akiko!" He heard Ochako yell.

"Get away!" Akiko yelled back. Eri was clearly scared of all the people, Akiko didn't want to make it worse.

Ochako thankfully backed away; at the same time, Akiko's arm felt weird. Akiko looked down at his arm and saw his scars... shrinking? They were getting smaller on both of his arms, getting closer to his wrists and disappearing into his gloves. Akiko felt a splitting pain in his face, it felt like the world's worst headache, but it felt different than a headache; it was physically painful and he felt something dripping.

"Everything's okay," Akiko said as he hugged Eri. Akiko touched his face, seeing what was dripping. When he pulled his hand away it was red. Akiko was bleeding.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"What's the point of you, you brat?!"

"What else should I expect from a worthless child like you?"

"Everything would be better if you didn't even exist."

"You're a failure, Phoenix."

"Who would even expect to find something good in a person like you? The child of a villain, a mutant at that."

"You're horrible."

"You worthless piece of shit! This is all your fault!"

Akiko felt his breathing picking up, getting faster and faster, yet it was never enough air. What was happening? Akiko was able to feel his feathers getting destroyed. By what? He wasn't sure. Eri was pulled away from Akiko. Akiko wanted to focus on her, focus on if she was okay, focus on how she was feeling, but he couldn't. Everything was too much. The sounds, the people, the lights– everything; it was too much. Akiko wanted to focus on one thing, the concrete, the clouds, one person, his hands, but he couldn't.

"Are you okay?" Someone asked.

Akiko whipped his head up and saw Ryukyu standing in front of him, walking closer.

"Get away!" Akiko yelled. Akiko took a few steps back to stay as far away as possible from the hero until he had backed up into a fence.

"I just want–"

"Get away!" Akiko yelled again, letting out a blast of fire Ryukyu's way. Akiko was more mentally unstable than he thought, judging by the fire's blue colour.

"Please. Let me help you."

"Like you would help me!" Akiko kept on shouting. Akiko grabbed one of his feathers and pointed it at Ryukyu.

"You're severely injured, Phoenix," Ryukyu said, still getting closer, seeming cautious, like she was scared of Akiko. "All I want to do is help."

Akiko tried to step back and could feel his breathing picking up even more. Why am I so scared? Akiko realized he was already backed up into the fence and looked forward again with wide eyes, terrified.

"You don't want to help me!" Akiko shouted. He wasn't being logical, he knew that, but there were so many things around. It was mainly the city getting to Akiko, making it hard to breathe. Why was it so hard to breathe? Akiko saw the blood dripping down his face, getting on his clothes and the concrete. What was happening to him?

Akiko heard laughter in the back of his mind, followed by "Look at the little freak!" followed by more laughter. Whose voice was that? There were so many voices in his head, most of them his father's, all saying horrible things. Why?

The next thing Akiko feels is someone's hand in his wings. Akiko grabs the person's hand and yanks it away from him, grabbing his own wing and bringing it closer to him. His wings felt hard to control too.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Akiko growls. Ochako looks at Akiko with fear in her eyes.

"You're hurt," Ochako said. "I just want to help you!"

"I don't need your help!" Akiko snapped through tears; when had he started crying?

Ochako got closer to Akiko and grabbed his hand in a comforting gesture. Akiko didn't see it as comforting, though. Akiko saw it as Ochako grabbing him to take him away. He wanted to do something to get her away from him, but didn't know what – he was blanking.

"Just try to breathe," she said. Ochako held up a closed fist, making Akiko worried she would hurt him, and let out each of her fingers with exaggerated breaths. "1... 2... 3... 4," Ochako said through her exaggerated breaths. "Just follow my breaths, Aki."

Akiko tried his best to slow down his breaths, following Ochako's words. Ochako and Akiko sat there for a few minutes, just trying to slow down his breathing.

"There you go," Ochako said smiling. She still had a little bit of fear in her eyes but she still smiled at Akiko, trying to comfort him.

When Akiko calmed down, he realized how loopy he was.

"Why don't we get you fixed up?" Ochako asked.

Akiko nodded in response.

Chapter Text

February 24, 2137

Iko felt it the moment it happened. He felt the feather being ripped from his wings, then felt it being harshly dragged across his face; next he knew, his face was wet. He could see the red clouding his vision, making his eyes sting.

Iko almost never knew what he did to deserve it.  Sometimes there was a reason, sometimes Dad was just mad and needed to take his anger out. This time was one of the times where he might've known the reason.

Iko had gotten hungry, so he went to the forest behind the house. Iko wandered and wandered until he found a squirrel climbing down a tree. Iko bolted forward, grabbing the squirrel and eating it while it squirmed in his grip. It didn't taste the best, but it was better than the food he could've gotten from an alley in the city.

When Iko had gotten back, so had Dad. He got angry at Iko and hurt him. Iko always knew what to do following that. He went to the corner of the one room house and sat down on the crumpled fabric. Some of it was Iko's clothes Nobu had gotten for him, some of it was Nobu's old clothes, some of it was Dad's old clothes, mostly filled with holes. It wasn't comfortable, but it was something at least. Better than the hardwood floor with the floorboards peeling up.

—

September 27, 2148

Once he got to the hospital, Akiko got checked in and had his face cleaned up. Because of the nature of healing quirks, Akiko wouldn't be able to have a healing quirk used because Eri's quirk and the healing quirk would interfere with one another, only making it worse. This meant Akiko would be stuck having the massive facial scar until it healed naturally. Which wasn't bad, it was just inconvenient. Akiko would have to have that part of his face wrapped up for a week, then after that, always be careful. Akiko was told he would most likely have the scar for the rest of his life.

Akiko was able to get information about how the rest of the raid went from the news. There was footage of Akiko saving Eri, then seeing Akiko getting the massive gash on his face. The reporters thought Eri's quirk caused that because Eri was touching Akiko and her horn was glowing. Later on they interviewed Sir Nighteye, getting the information on Eri's quirk; Eri's quirk allowed her to rewind living organisms. So that led the reporters to speculate on Akiko's life. The reporters' speculations went from abuse to self harm to thinking it was Keigo taking his anger out (Akiko would be sure to get that last one shot down and the truth would get out; the truth being that it was Akiko's dad, not brother). But with Akiko not present at that time, they were left with no concrete answers.

Akiko was confused as to how they got to that last one. Had they not listened to what Akiko said about his father? He thought he made it abundantly clear that if he were ever to show signs of being abused, his father would be the first suspect, not his brother.

During the fight with Chisaki, Togata lost his quirk from one of the bullets; this bullet was a more complete version, completely getting rid of his quirk, leaving no possibility of it naturally coming back like it was with Akiko. After the fight, Chisaki was arrested. While Chisaki was being transported to a prison, the League attacked the truck that was transporting him. Shigaraki ended up getting rid of Chisaki's arms and a hero was killed by Dabi.

Out of the whole raid, seven people got injured, those people being Akiko, Eijiro, Amajiki, Fat Gum, Rock Lock and Aizawa, with Togata staying in the hospital to be monitored after losing his quirk. They were all in the same hospital Akiko was in. Since the only injury Akiko had was to his face, he was allowed to walk around. The first person Akiko went to visit was Eijiro.

Akiko knocked on the door before entering. Eijiro was covered in bandages. Akiko didn't have much knowledge on what happened to everyone but he did know that Eijiro took a beating.

"Hey," Akiko said, walking closer to his bed. "How are you feeling?"

When Eijiro saw Akiko, he saw Eijiro's eyes go wide. "What happened to you?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry, plus, you seem worse," Akiko replied, waving him off.

"Thanks," Eijiro said sarcastically. "But I'll be fine; they're gonna use a healing quirk to fix me up. What about you? You ever gonna get healed?"

"Nope," Akiko replied. "Something about interfering quirks. If a healing quirk was used, it would just get worse so it's better to not."

"I'm sorry," Eijiro said.

"I don't mind it," Akiko said. "Sure the pain is annoying, but it'll go away with time. And plus, when I was a kid, my brother told me that scars were nothing to be ashamed of since they're a reminder of what you've survived."

Right when Akiko said that, Aizawa walked in.

"Hi, Mr. Aizawa," Akiko said with a cheerful smile.

"How are you two feeling?" Aizawa asks in lieu of a greeting.

"My face hurts and that's pretty much it, plus my arms feel weird, but that's just because I'm not used to having so much feeling in them," Akiko laughed.

"My everything hurts," Eijiro laughed. "But they said they'll be healing me using a quirk."

"That's nice to know," Aizawa said.

"How's everyone else doing?" Akiko asked.

"Everyone else is doing fine," Aizawa said. "No one's injuries were too bad, Kirishima's are the worst. Everyone will make a good recovery. Because of that, everyone is heading back to school tomorrow."

"All right," Akiko said. At that moment, Akiko's phone rang from his pocket. Akiko looked at who was calling; it was Keigo. "Sorry, I have to answer this."

Akiko left the room and answered while walking down the hall, back to his room. "Hello?"

"Akiko?" Keigo sounded worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course I am," Akiko said.

"What happened?" Keigo asked. "I saw you with a massive gash in your face."

"It was the girl, Eri's, quirk," Akiko said. "She can rewind living organisms, that's what she did, she rewound all of my scars."

"You haven't had that scar in a decade, Aki," Keigo said. By this time Akiko had arrived at his room and sat on the bed. "What was going on? Besides the blood?" Keigo asked.

"I'm pretty sure that was a panic attack," Akiko said calmly.

"Why are you so calm about this?" 

"It's not like I've never had a panic attack before," Akiko brushed it off.

"Just because it's happened before doesn't mean it's normal or that it should be happening," Keigo said. "I'm just worried about you, kid."

"Well, there's nothing to worry about," Akiko said nonchalantly.

"Akiko," Keigo said in his authoritative voice. "I know you're used to brushing off injuries, but this is not the sort of injury you ignore. This is bad, you can't ignore it."

A part of Akiko couldn't help but feel annoyed. Akiko knew it was bad. He was told so by a doctor. Akiko was there, Keigo wasn't. What does he know?

"That's not the problem about what happened," Akiko said.

"Then what is?" Keigo asked in a serious voice.

Akiko waited for a second before responding. "Flashback."

"You had a flashback?" Keigo asked.

Back when Akiko first got diagnosed with PTSD three years ago, he told Keigo about some of the ways it affects Akiko. One of those things were flashbacks. Akiko never got them often, once every few months was normal, but ever since the summer camp, they'd gotten more frequent. They were confusing to Akiko. Sometimes something triggered them, sometimes they came out of nowhere; there was no rhyme or reason to them, they just happened. Akiko had been trying to find a reason behind them recently, but he was coming up empty handed. Sometimes they never even happened – warped memories are what they were. Akiko wanted to tell people, but he didn't know what he would say. None of his friends knew about his PTSD, only Keigo knew and Akiko had no clue how to bring it up with him.

"Yeah, it was weird though," Akiko said. "They've all been weird recently."

"Weird how?"

"There's never any reason to it," Akiko said. "I just wish I could find a reason."

"I think you should ask a doctor about it," Keigo said.

"Yeah, I plan to," Akiko replied.

"I have to go," Keigo said, rather abruptly. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Alright," Akiko said. "Talk to you soon–" Akiko said the last part quickly, hoping for Keigo to hear it, but Akiko was cut off by Keigo hanging up.

Chapter Text

September 28, 2148

The next day, the students (except for Togata because the doctors wanted to do some tests on him) would be heading back to UA. Akiko was mainly worried about what his classmates would say when they found their classmate with bandages wrapping around Akiko's face.

Akiko was putting on his uniform when he noticed something – or two things. He had tail feathers and feathers in his hair. He had them when he was a kid, the tail feathers removed through surgery and the hair feathers had stopped growing after being ripped out so many times. The feathers were small but there. Akiko's blazer would be able to hide the tail feathers and Akiko's newly red hair could hide the red feathers well enough. Akiko did have something to consider though. Did he want to rip out the feathers or let them be? He knew the commission would want him to get rid of them, but Akiko didn't want to do anything for the commission anymore. What did Akiko want to do? He wanted to keep them, so that's exactly what he did.

Once Akiko had finished getting dressed, he headed down to the lobby to find Aizawa waiting for the other students.

The previous day, Akiko had asked a doctor if she knew much about PTSD, mainly the flashbacks. She said that it was normal that the flashbacks didn't make much sense. Flashbacks can either be one for one to the original memory or they can be warped versions of it, so Akiko didn't need to worry. That didn't stop Akiko from worrying though. Some of the ones that Akiko didn't see much sense in had Akiko's loved ones just standing there while Akiko got hurt. The person could have done something, but they didn't. Was this showing Akiko a fear he didn't know he had? A fear of betrayal? Abandonment? Akiko wasn't sure.

It was pretty late when they got back to the dorms. Akiko, Eijiro and Amajiki had to go back to Fat Gum's agency to fill out some paperwork (Keigo's lesson from the internship came in handy there). The paperwork was about the villains captured and about what happened from their perspective. Akiko didn't like having to go through what happened, but he was told that talking about things that correlated to his trauma was good to help him overcome it.

After doing the paperwork, they were all free to head to the dorms. Tsu and Ochako finished up at the agency they'd done their work studies with before them (about half an hour) so when Akiko and Eijiro got back it was just the two of them walking in the door.

"Are you okay?" They were asked when the two of them walked through the door. It was Tenya asking.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Akiko replied.

"Are you sure?" Ashido asked, walking towards Akiko holding a white bunny. A bunny? Where'd she get that?

"Yes," Akiko said, a little annoyed. "What's with the bunny, by the way?"

"Oh, it's Koda's," Ashido said. "Just, are you sure you're okay? We saw the news coverage of the raid and it looked pretty painful."

"This wasn't why I was acting like that," Akiko said, pointing to the bandage wrapped around his head to cover the reopened scar. "I was having a panic attack."

That caused the others around to look at Akiko with a shocked look.

"You– What?!"

"It's nothing much, don't worry," Akiko said as calmly as possible. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, I'm heading to my room."

"Wait, Mats– Akiko!" Midoriya tried.

"Just leave me be," Akiko said, still walking away.

As much as Akiko thought it would be nice to tell people but Akiko didn't like thinking of his childhood. There was nothing good about it, every part of it was bad, and when Akiko thought of it, it brought him down. He didn't want to think about it. And now, because of Eri, Akiko would carry a permanent reminder of his dad. Akiko didn't fault Eri for it, but Akiko hated it already, he's only had it for a day, and he already hates it. Akiko felt like he was asking for pity by showing the bandages.

Akiko tried his best to get some sleep that night, but he didn't get much. Akiko couldn't help but remember his father. This led Akiko to feel scared in his own home. Akiko knew his dad wasn't even close to him, his dad was locked away in a prison over three hours away, he knew that, but he still felt scared. Akiko was on edge the whole night.

Following the raid, the work studies were put on hold for a little while. After Eri was pulled off of Akiko, she was brought to the same hospital Akiko was at. Eri stayed at the hospital for a little while after that.

The following days Akiko felt like people were walking on eggshells around him, too scared to say something that might tip him off. He was starting to get annoyed by it.

During training the next few days, Akiko was careful. He was still getting used to having so much feeling in his arms and he didn't want to lose it. For his attacks, he decided to let out a blast of fire, then quickly take his hand away to avoid getting burned. He wasn't sure if it entirely worked, but it was better than leaving his hand in the crossfire.

—

October 5, 2148

A week after the raid, Akiko was able to take the bandages off. Since Recovery Girl is a nurse, she was the one to take them off.

She started by telling Akiko some basic things like how to take care of the scar for the next little while. Akiko was thankful he wasn't too stuck in his head and able to listen and understand. After telling Akiko a few things, she started unwrapping the bandages. It felt weird, he realized. He'd probably just gotten used to the bandages so, having them taken off feels weird.

When Akiko gets back to his dorm, he looks at himself in the mirror. There's a scar on his face now, he expected that, but it's bigger than he thought it would be. The scar starts under his hair when it falls on his face – pulling his hair up, he notices it's about one centimetre from his hairline – and goes diagonally across his face, going barely any further than his mouth.

Later that night when Akiko leaves his room to grab some food, Akiko could see 10 of his classmates gathering in the common room.

"Akiko!" Midoriya shouted and got up and walked towards Akiko. "Wanna join us?"

"What are you doing?" Akiko asked, tilting his head to the side.

"We're playing some video games Kaminari has," Midoriya responded.

"Uh, sure," Akiko said, "I doubt I'll know what to do. I've never played many video games."

"Don't worry!" Ashido said when she walked over, "We can teach you!"

"Just let me get something to eat first," Akiko said with a smile; Akiko could feel the scar pulling with his smile, but it was thankfully not painful. Akiko went over to the kitchen and made something simple. He ended up making a sandwich, not wanting to take up too much time.

Akiko went to stand behind the couch, watching the TV.  It looked like they were playing some sort of racing game. Currently it was Kaminari versus Aoyama. It looked like Kaminari was winning, but not by much since he kept getting caught on the guard rails.

After a minute, Aoyama had won.

"Come on!" Kaminari shouted, clearly frustrated. "Your turn, Matsubara," he said while handing Akiko the controller. Akiko grabbed the controller, still a bit confused as to what he was meant to do.

"What do I do?" Akiko asked.

"I can show you, don't worry!" Ashido said, patting a spot on the couch, "Come sit down." Akiko listened and took the spot. Ashido pointed out the controls and once Akiko felt he knew what to do, Ashido got up and left Akiko to it.

Since Aoyama knew what he was doing, he chose the map and anything else you needed to choose, except for the vehicles, which Akiko didn't know what to choose. Akiko ended up going with a light blue (similar to the colour on his hero costume) motorcycle.

The map wasn't very complex, being an oval with bumps all over it. There were three bridges you either had to go over or under. In order to win, you had to do three laps.

Akiko was off to a slow start since he had to get used to the controls, but he got the hang of it by the second lap. For the first lap, Akiko was pretty far behind, making Aoyama feel cocky (he ended up doing a few tricks just to waste time). By the third lap, Akiko was pretty close to Aoyama, making the race neck-in-neck towards the end. Aoyama ended up winning, if only by a hair.

"That was fun!" Akiko said. "Who's going next?"

"It's Midoriya next!" Tenya informed.

Akiko gave his controller to Midoriya (the rules were the loser has to give away their controller) and got up for Midoriya to take his place.

Akiko stayed in the common room until about 9, when he went to sleep. Akiko was able to play three more rounds after his first one, and he ended up winning the third round he played. That night really made Akiko feel like a real teenager; he couldn't be happier.

Chapter Text

October 7, 2148

Akiko had woken up later than normal, and, as a result, was running late to class. When Akiko finally arrives, he sees Ashido showing off her dance moves. There was a group of students watching her. Kaminari was quickly able to figure out that the reason why Ashido was so good at dancing was because it helped her when fighting, more specifically, her agility.

Akiko has something similar – his dart playing. Akiko nowadays plays darts alone, trying to get better accuracy, seeing how long it takes him to get three 15s, 16s, 17s, 18s, 19s, 20s and bulls – or win a game of killer – his latest record is just over 10 minutes.

"It's school festival time," Aizawa said when he entered the class.

"Really?" Eijiro asked, "We're doing this despite what's going on?"

"He's right!" Someone said, "Even though all these villains out there are rampaging?"

"A prudent viewpoint," Aizawa said. "But remember that UA consists of more than just the hero course. The sports festival is where the hero course has the chance to shine; so the school festival highlights everyone else. This doesn't get the same level of attention, but it's meant to be a fun event for the rest of the school. Not to mention, the new dorm system that started because of the hero course is a source of stress for many."

"When you put it like that," Eijiro said. "Yeah, it wouldn't be fair."

"Right. Which is why we can't just cancel the event," Aizawa said. "This won't be like in the past, in that the festival will be open to only students, staff and a small group of outsiders. We aren't competing for the spotlight this time around, but each class will still have an exhibition of some kind. Today you'll be deciding what that is."

After that, Tenya and Yaoyorozu went to the front of the class.

"I, Tenya Iida, class president of class 1-A, will be leading this discussion! Let's work together to make this as smooth as possible. First, suggestions! Those with ideas, raise your hands!"

Some of the things the class came up with were, a maid café, a mochi stand, arm-wrestling competition, haunted house, a crêpe stall, a dance, open mic comedy, among many others. Akiko didn't give a suggestion, just because he didn't know what to say. Akiko had never had the chance to do anything fun. The only thing that came to mind was darts, and that can be dangerous if you're not careful, so he found it best to not say anything.

"Let's eliminate some of the unreasonable, unfeasible, and non-specific ones," Yaoyorozu said and erased a few. After that, they got rid of some of the ones that seemed boring, like a history presentation and study party.

After that, some people got in an argument and, before they knew it, the bell had rang and they hadn't come to a conclusion on what to do for the festival.

—

Later that night, Akiko was sitting in the common room with some of his classmates, still trying to figure out what to do for the festival. All the other work study students were at extra classes to make up for what they missed; Akiko wasn't there because he already knew the things they were learning – a perk of the commission teaching him things long before he would know them if he went to a normal school (Akiko had gone to one of those extra classes, then afterwards told Aizawa that he had already learned the things he taught, and, after proving he knew enough, Akiko wouldn't have to go to anymore of them).

"Hey, here's something," Akiko said, grabbing everyone's attention. "Mr. Aizawa said the reason why they can't cancel the festival is because of stress, right? Why don't we do something that could put people at rest. Not stress them out too much, you know? That just makes the most sense to me. I don't have any suggestions, but maybe that can rule out some that could be stressful."

"I agree," Yaoyorozu said. "If we ever hope to become heroes, we can't very well ignore a problem we had a hand in causing."

"Personally, I like the idea of providing others with a service," Tenya said.

"That makes sense, but we can't be the only ones having fun here," Shoji added.

"In that case," Hagakure said. "Some kind of interactive thing?"

"Maid café, petting zoo or haunted house would be the options then," Tenya said looking at the list they had all made during class earlier.

"The petting zoo would have to adhere to strict hygiene standards," Jiro pointed out.

"The open mic comedy seems pretty stressful," Kaminari said.

"We could all just dance, that'd be fun," Ashido whined.

"Why not dancing then?" Shoto echoed Ashido, surprising people. "Can I see this?" he asked, referring to the computer Tenya had been using. "I'm looking for this one thing – forgot what it's called. People going crazy on stage."

"A concert?" Akiko asked.

"Yes, exactly that," Shoto said, then started typing something into the search bar and pulling up a video of a concert. "I think Shoji is right. We should put together something that everyone can enjoy."

"But we're basically asking amateurs to perform in front of a huge group of people," Sero said. "Won't that be stressful for us?"

"I can teach!" Ashido said happily.

"Wait!" Kaminari shouted. "Dance means music!"

"And when it comes to music, Jiro's the best!" Hagakure said. "A live performance with your instruments, Jiro!"

"Hang on!" Jiro said, alarmed.

"Why not?" Hagakure asked. "You're amazing at teaching people how to play, Jiro. And you've always got a smile on your face when it comes to making music!"

"But like Ashido and the rest of you, all your hobbies are rooted in your hero abilities," Jiro said. "Mine's just a hobby. It's not really something I can be proud of."

"But it's so cool how musical you are!" Kaminari said.

"Your talent can make people smile!" Koda said, "That's definitely tied to being a hero in my book."

After a moment of thought, Jiro said, "Turning down all these requests wouldn't make me much of a rock star," with a cocky smile.

—

October 9, 2148

Aizawa came to tell Akiko that Eri wanted to see him. Eri had been at the hospital for checks, making sure she was okay and looking into her quirk after seeing its effects on Akiko.

Aizawa went with Akiko and stayed by the door, just in case her quirk acted up and it needed to be erased. When Akiko walks into the room, Eri looks different than before. She no longer has her arms covered in bandages and now wears cleaner clothes, no longer wearing the dirty dress she had before. When Eri sees Akiko, she immediately looks away from him; like she's scared of him.

There's a chair next to her bed that Akiko sits down on. "Hi, Eri," Akiko says as calmly as possible.

Eri looks at Akiko and says, "I'm sorry," referring to Akiko's scar.

"Don't apologize, Eri," Akiko says. "It's okay."

"But, it's my fault," Eri said.

"No, it's not," Akiko refuted. "My scar is my dad's fault, not yours."

"But–"

"My dad did this, Eri, not you," Akiko said more firmly. Just like when he saved Eri, Akiko was easily able to see himself in Eri. Akiko figured it was because Overhaul said that Eri caused bad things to happen just by existing. All Akiko wanted to do was make her happier. Akiko remembered how terrible things were after his dad had been arrested. He felt horrible, what his dad had said to Akiko as he was taken away being stuck in his head. Akiko didn't know what he could do, but he wanted to do something to help her.

What if Akiko could use the festival to cheer her up? He had never been to a festival before (other than the sports festival, but he wasn't sure that counted) but the whole idea his class had was to cheer everyone up and reduce stress; maybe that could help Eri.

"Mr. Aizawa?" Akiko said and turned to face him. "Do you think we could invite Eri to the festival?"

Aizawa thought for a second before saying, "I'll see what I can do."

"What's a festival?" Eri hesitated to ask.

"A festival is where a bunch of people come together to make a fun time for everyone attending," Akiko answered. He wasn't sure it was the best answer but it was good enough. "All the students at UA are putting on a festival to cheer us all up."

Following that explanation, Eri's eyes lit up. "And I'll get to go?"

"If Mr. Aizawa can convince everyone, then yep!" Akiko said smiling. "We might even be able to spend time together there. I think it'll be fun!"

Eri put on a wobbly smile that told Akiko she agreed.

"You know," Akiko said. "My other classmates who also helped save you really want to see you."

"Why?" Eri asked.

"They're all worried about you," Akiko replied. "I was too. People care about you, Eri."

"Why would they?" Eri hesitated.

"It might be hard for you to believe, but people care," Akiko said. "Back when I was younger, I thought no one cared about me, but I learned that they did and I'm happy they do." Akiko only learned that Keigo really cared about him when Keigo started to keep foods that were easier on the stomach in their shared room at the commission.

"Matsubara," Aizawa said from the door. "Time to go."

"Alright," Akiko said. "I hope I get to see you soon, Eri." After that, Akiko walked out of the room and headed outside so they could head back to UA.

Chapter Text

October 9, 2148

"I have to ask you something, Matsubara," Aizawa said on the way back to UA. Akiko looked at him as a sign for him to continue. "The commission. What's your deal with them? I don't stand by everything they do, but what happened for you to yell about how much you hate the commission?"

"It's sort of a combination of many things," Akiko replied. "The commission has done horrible things to me and many others, and forced me to do horrible things. If you know anything about mutant quirks, then you know about the animalistic instincts a lot of mutants have. I have them, and I've been forced to repress them because they're 'unsavoury', as they would call it."

"So your anger is all a sort of revenge?" Aizawa asked.

"In a way, I guess it is," Akiko said. "Back before Eri was saved, you asked me if I wanted to get back on the commission's good side. I don't want to do that. After that meeting, I sort of promised myself I'd do anything to make sure the commission wouldn't get her. I know they would want to do that; if they did, they'd probably do the same thing that they did to me to her."

—

When Akiko got back to the dorms, he went to his room; he wanted to call Keigo to tell him how things had been going. They hadn't really talked since Keigo called Akiko at the hospital after the raid of the Shie Hassaikai base, and that was a week and a half ago.

Ring, ring, ring...

"Hey! This is Hawks, sorry I can't–"

Akiko just hung up. Akiko wondered why he didn't pick up. He figured Keigo was busy, he was one of the country's top heroes, it would make sense (Akiko remembered having to practically force Keigo to not take as many shifts when he started living with him), but he still didn't like that reasoning. All Akiko wanted to do was talk to his brother. Akiko wasn't worried about him (Keigo's 24 in December, Akiko has no doubts he can take care of himself), he just wanted to talk to him. In the end, Akiko decided to just leave a voicemail.

"Hi, this is Akiko." Akiko didn't entirely know what he wanted to say, but he was able to come up with something at least. "I just wanted to, uh, give you an update on how things are going. I got my bandages taken off a few days ago; I have a big scar on my face now. It feels weird, but I'm slowly getting used to it. I honestly think the girl's quirk did something to me mentally. I've been getting more flashbacks than normal and it's freaking me out. But I think I'm coping well enough at least." Akiko paused.

"We're gonna have a festival at school on November 14th. Me and my classmates are gonna put on a musical performance. The little girl we saved from the yakuza, Eri – I invited her and Mr. Aizawa will see if she can go 'cause the security is gonna be higher this year than in the past 'cause of all the villain attacks. I just hope nothing goes wrong. I'm getting closer with my classmates, that's nice, I think." Once again, Akiko paused. He said all he wanted to, what to say now?

"What about you? Has everything been going okay? I hope it has. What do you think of the Hero Charts coming up? You'll probably be the #2 hero with All Might's retirement, what do you think of that?" Akiko let out a breathy laugh. "I feel like I'm interviewing you. Just call me when you can, I just wanna talk to you since it's been a while and I just miss talking to you. Bye, love you." With that, Akiko ended the voicemail message, just hoping that Keigo would call back soon.

—

October 14, 2148

"The festival is exactly one month away!" Tenya told the group in the dorms after school that day. "With so little time, a number of decisions must be made today."

"For music," Jiro started. "EDM is ideal if we're talking about music you can dance to, but you guys wanna play instruments right? Has anyone ever played bass or drums? First we need drums to give this band some bones. I'm more of a guitarist myself though. I'm still working on my drumming skills. If I've gotta teach a complete beginner while still practicing myself, pulling this off in one month is gonna be tough."

"I've played drums before," Akiko said.

"Wouldn't expect that kind of thing from you," Sero muttered.

"A hero's daughter taught me," Akiko clarified. "I don't really remember her very well, but I remember her teaching me how to play drums. If I do play them, I'd definitely need a quick refresher though."

"What about guitar?" Jiro asked.

"Hey, Bakugo, you mentioned that you took guitar lessons at some point, right?" Kaminari asked.

"Try it, Bakugo!" Sero said.

Katsuki went over, picked up the guitar (that they had grabbed from Jiro's room), and played a quick riff.

"So it's settled, Bakugo's on guitar!" Kaminari shouted enthusiastically.

"No way am I doing that crap," Katsuki muttered as he walked away.

"Come on, Bakugo, please," Jiro pleaded.

"Do you really think this'll make people change their minds about us?" Katsuki asked. "It's our fault the dorms exist."

"We know that," Akiko said, walking closer. "At least I know that. You're right, it is our fault, that's why we're doing this. I know it won't change their minds, but it could cheer them up at least. People might still hate us by the end, but maybe, for a few minutes while we're performing, they'll feel happy and won't hate us as much."

"Do you really think that?" Katsuki asked judgmentally.

"Yeah, I do," Akiko said.

After that, they kept settling on roles, with Yaoyorozu being on keyboard (she had taken piano lessons as a kid and thought it could be useful), Jiro on vocals (she was reluctant at first, but she agreed) and Kaminari playing guitar with Katsuki. They all decided that anyone not playing an instrument would be on the dance team, taught by Ashido. They also decided that, since they had the gym, they could make Aoyama into a disco ball, with ice (created by Shoto and cut up by Eijiro) to make the setting even cooler.

—

October 19, 2148

With the school festival fast approaching, Akiko and his classmates worked as hard as they could to set up their performance. Thankfully, Akiko didn't need much of a refresher on the drums and could play them quite easily.

The song they would be playing was an original song that Jiro had written and Akiko thought it was a good song. Jiro was a good bass player and singer as well, Kaminari was a good guitar player as well as Katsuki. The only problem with Katsuki was that he liked yelling at people when they did something wrong.

There was one thing that bothered Akiko however. It had nothing to do with the performance, it had to do with Keigo. Akiko couldn't contact him. Akiko tried calling him, but he wouldn't answer, which meant Akiko left a voicemail. Keigo hadn't even responded to Akiko's original voicemail message either. Akiko didn't think he was asking for much, just his brother to talk to him. Akiko kept reminding himself that Keigo was probably busy, but it felt more unlikely as an answer by the day.

Maybe it had to do with the charts coming up? A lot of heroes do more near the time of the charts, hoping it increases their approval rating. Keigo didn't care about his ranking; it was the commission who cared. Maybe Keigo was doing more to make sure he kept his spot. Akiko kept thinking about it, causing him to space out more often.

Another thing that kept Akiko thinking was the flashbacks. They were getting more frequent. Akiko had always had flashbacks – he's had them for years now – but they only happened every once in a while, about once a month. But now, if Akiko was in his head for too long, he could hear his dad yelling at him and he saw his childhood home as well as Nobu.

The flashbacks were mainly of Akiko's childhood before the commission, but sometimes they were of the commission itself along with the people there. It was unsettling. Akiko just wanted to find a reason behind the nightmares and more frequent flashbacks.

—

October 23, 2148

In the middle of practice, Eijiro came inside to tell them all it was break time. When Akiko went outside (because everyone was outside), he saw Eri and Togata.

"Hi, Eri!" Akiko yelled from the door and ran down the steps to her.

Turns out, with the absence of his quirk, Togata is on a break from school and is serving as Eri's caretaker.

"Nix, do you want to walk with us?" Eri asked.

"I'm gonna give her a tour of the school and she wanted to know if you wanted to come along," Togata added.

"Of course, I would," Akiko replied. "I just have to put my uniform on, so once I do that, I'll go with you two." Akiko quickly went inside to put on his uniform. Akiko was thankful that he always kept it on the back of the chair at his desk and never untied his tie, just loosened it when he needed to take it off. When Akiko went outside again, Eri was happily talking with Akiko's classmates.

"Ready to go?" Togata asked Eri when he saw Akiko approaching them.

"Yes," Eri said.

—

"Saturday's usually a day off, but since we're in the dorms, there should be plenty of people around working on projects," Togata said as he, Akiko and Eri walked down the halls of UA.

"There's still a month until the festival, but people are really giving it their all, eh?" Akiko said.

Then, they ran into some class B students carrying a paper maché dragon.

"Hey, look, it's Matsubara from class A!" A student said; Akiko thought he remembered the student as Tetsutetsu.

"What's this? Can you really spare the time?" Monoma mockingly asked.

Eri was spooked by the dragon almost hitting her on the face, so Akiko went in front of her.

"I've already gotten my part pretty good, it's just more practice for me," Akiko replied.

"Could I ask you a question?" Tetsutetsu asked.

"Yeah, go for it," Akiko replied.

"You don't mind us calling you 'Matsubara', right?" Tetsutetsu asked. "We heard about all the stuff with the commission and wanted to make sure."

"I'd prefer if you called me Akiko, but I won't get mad if you call me Matsubara," Akiko said. "What're you guys doing for the festival?"

"Romeo and Juliet and the Return of the Prisoner King of Azkaban!" Monoma replied enthusiastically. "We're gonna blow you out of the water with ours, you might wanna get back to your own practice to even–"

Monoma was cut off by being hit in the head by a student with short black hair.

"Sorry," the black haired student said. "Kendo usually makes sure he's not acting too weird, but she's at the beauty pageant."

"Really?" Akiko asked. "I'm sure she can do well in it."

"You know, Hado's doing the beauty pageant too," Togata said.

After talking to class B a bit more, Akiko, Eri and Togata went to talk to Hado and Amajiki in the beauty pageant room. Akiko learned that Hado was very determined to win this year since it's her last chance, with her graduating in a few months. Her biggest opponent had been a student in the support course.

Before Akiko went back to class to continue practice, the three of them went to the cafeteria to grab some food. They only spent a few minutes there before Akiko headed back to the dorms. Once Akiko got back, they went right into rehearsal again.

Chapter Text

November 2, 2148

Aizawa told Akiko that the request to let Eri go to the festival had been accepted. Akiko then told the other former work study students this information and they were all excited that they would get to show Eri what they had all been doing.

Aizawa also said that Kihara was trying to contact Akiko, clearly still unhappy about what happened at the licensing exam. Akiko simply said that he didn't want to talk to Kihara and that he shouldn't be welcomed to UA – at least if he wants to talk to Akiko. Akiko was surprised it had taken Kihara this long to try to talk to him. The licensing exam was two months ago now; why did it take him so long? It didn't matter though, Akiko didn't want to talk to him.

—

"Hey, Aki, it's nice to hear from you. Sorry it took me so long to respond; I've just been busy." Keigo chuckled following that, Akiko thought it almost sounded like he was nervous. "I'm happy your recovery is going well, I know it'll be weird seeing you with your scar in the future. Did you ever ask the doctor about the flashbacks? I hope you did. How's the festival going? I bet your performance'll be cool, I wish I could watch. I bet that girl will love it." Akiko could hear the smile in his voice.

"I think I've been doing well. Like I said, I've been pretty busy; I think villains have gotten more bold since All Might's retirement. A day off from this would be nice," he laughed then continued. "And with the charts?" He sighed, "It's the same every year, you know? But you guessed right, I'm gonna be #2 when it comes around next month. I honestly don't know if I'm happy about it or not." Keigo paused again, thinking of what to say. "I hope you have a good rest of the day and good luck with the festival. Bye, Aki." And he hung up.

Keigo sent that voicemail in the middle of the day, during band practice (which Katsuki had scolded Akiko for not having his phone on silent). Akiko was happy Keigo was doing well. Akiko figured he was busy when it took him so long to respond. Akiko felt he knew exactly what Keigo's opinion on the charts were this time; the commission would be happy about his rise in rank, with Keigo not really caring about it. He never did, Keigo never really cared about what the public's opinion on him was, as long as he could help people he was happy.

—

November 13, 2148

The days passed until the next day would be the festival. The whole class was in the gym, going through it all. It was only a few days ago when they had put the music and the dance together, so they had to make sure it was going to go well for the next day. They went through the whole thing a few times (minus one part of it since it was messy and would take a lot of cleaning up) before being told they needed to head back to the dorms by Hound Dog.

"Everyone excited?" Akiko asked in the common room while sitting on the couch.

"Oh my goodness, yes!" Kaminari shouted into Akiko's ear from his walking around. "Have you ever been on a stage before?"

"No, but I've been in the spotlight before," Akiko said. "Plus we were the centre of attention at the sports festival so, don't worry about messing up. I'm sure we'll all do just fine."

"That's easy for you to say," Kaminari complained, leaning over the back of the couch, leaning his head over the back of the couch to look Akiko in the eyes while being upside down.

"How about we all just try to get a good night's sleep?" Akiko said as he got up, heading back to his room. It was still pretty early, but Akiko wanted to preen his wings to make sure they looked good on the stage and that process normally took a while because of how big Akiko's wings were. That's why Akiko liked it when his brother helped him with it, especially because Keigo was the one who taught him how to preen his wings when they were younger.

Once Akiko finished his preening (after over an hour), he had to make sure the shirt he would wear would be comfortable. There were costumes everyone would wear; the dance team and band had different costumes, with the band's costumes being pretty simple – an orange shirt with a white 'A' on the front and pants of their choice (after thinking about it, Akiko decided to wear some simple baggy jeans). All Akiko had to do to his shirt was make slits in the back for his wings, which was a pretty simple process that would only take 20 minutes at most as he had gotten good at doing that.

After Akiko made sure his shirt would be comfy to wear, he went to sleep, sure that he would need it to not mess up at the festival the next day.

—

November 14, 2148

After waiting for so long, the day of the festival had arrived. The whole morning, people were running around with final preparations. Last night, people had realized that the rope they planned on using was fraying and was, therefore, too dangerous to use, meaning Midoriya had to run out to buy some more rope before the performance at 10. Akiko thought that was cutting it close, but as long as they had rope that wasn't dangerous to use.

Waiting for Midoriya to come back made everyone a little stressed out because of how long he was taking, but he arrived half an hour before the performance, giving them enough time to go through it once before they opened the doors to the gym to start their performance. Akiko wanted to film the performance so he had asked one of the students from his class who had helped plan the special effects to film it (the special effects were important, but they didn't need everyone backstage for the actual performance).

Akiko was nervous about the performance. They had spent over a month planning it; all of the things that could go wrong were running through Akiko's mind. But before Akiko knew it, the gym was filled with people waiting to watch their class's performance.

With Akiko being on drums, once the lights turned on, he cued everyone to start and they went ahead and started. The performance was a little under four minutes, meaning it was over pretty quickly, but it felt like forever to Akiko. Akiko, thankfully, hit all his notes (minus a few that he was silently beating himself up for missing) and finished strong, getting a strong applause from the crowd once it was over.

Akiko even saw Eri with a huge smile on her face in the crowd during the performance. Akiko had done what he wanted – he helped Eri smile and be happy. Akiko felt proud of himself once it was done; he'd never performed in front of an audience before. True, he'd been in front of an audience before but that was for interviews, he was just talking, not doing anything close to what he did today.

Once they were done and everyone had left, it was time to clean up. Akiko had flown up to the ceiling to get some of the ice up top. He was grabbing it, then putting it on a platform made of 5 - 10 feathers (depending on how big the piece of ice was) and floated the ice down to a big bin on the ground where they all were putting the ice, then having either Katsuki or Shoto melt it. Once Akiko grabbed all the ice from the ceiling, he flew back down to keep grabbing ice and even started melting some.

"That was so cool!" Akiko heard Eri shout to him.

Akiko turned to look at Eri (with Togata standing right next to her) and said, "Thank you, Eri," with a smile. "Once I'm done here, do you want to walk around the festival together?"

Eri nodded, "Yes!"

Once they had finished up with the ice and had it in the bin and turned to water, Akiko picked up the bin (with a little help from a few of his feathers since the bin was very heavy ) and carried it outside and dumped out the water.

"Alright, you wanna go?" Akiko asked Eri.

"Mm-hm!" Eri nodded.

"There are a couple things we could do," Akiko said. "We could watch class B's performance since that's gonna start in a few minutes or we could just walk around. What do you want to do, or do you want me or Mirio to choose?"

Eri thought it over for a second before saying, "The other performance."

Akiko, Eri and Togata then went over to where class B was about to do their performance – another one of UA's gymnasiums. It only took a few minutes before the performance started. Akiko found it a bit hard to follow the plot, but if he ignored that, he thought it was pretty good. It also gave him a good laugh at parts. But overall, it wasn't too bad.

Akiko and Eri spent the rest of the day together. Akiko didn't exactly know what he was doing, but he thinks both he and Eri had a good time. It was easy to see how happy Eri was with the whole festival.

Eri's happiness made Akiko happy too. Akiko had wished he had something like this as a kid; the only happiness he really got when he was Eri's age was having fun with Keigo in the commission, which was normally training together or goofing around in their room.

While Akiko wasn't complaining back then, now he found it frustrating that it took until he was 14 to start acting like a normal kid – or rather, allowed to act like a normal kid. It wasn't until Akiko met Shoto that he realized growing up being trained by the government after being taken away from your parents was not a normal, universal experience.

Chapter Text

November 22, 2148  

*Knock, knock*  

“Who is it?” Ochako asked.  

“I'll get it,” Akiko said, getting up and heading to the door. When he opened it, he saw the Wild, Wild Pussycats from the training camp all those months ago.  

“It's so good to see you!” Ashido shouted, running towards them.  

“Why are you here?” Tsu asked.  

“We're just here to announce that we're back as heroes,” Pixie-Bob said.  

"You too, Ragdoll?" Midoriya asked quietly. "With your quirk stolen, I thought you had quit."  

"Not back in action per se," Ragdoll answered, "But I'll be in the agency, supporting the other three. Just call me the office cat!"  

"We did hear from him in Tartarus," Pixie-Bob said in a sombre tone. "They're still pressing him to find out what kinds of quirks he's stolen and how many. So, in the meantime, keeping him completely immobilized is the safest option."  

"Then why return now?" Yaoyorozu asked.  

"It probably has to do with the charts..." Akiko muttered to himself.  

"You'd be right!" Pixie-Bob shouted right next to Akiko, making him jump.  

"We're in 411th place this year," Mandalay said.  

"But your team was 32nd last time!" Midoriya shouted.  

"Oh! So, you're doing this to stop your sharp decline!" Eijiro figured.  

"Wrong!" Ragdoll shouted. "Why do you think we're still in the triple digits despite zero action?"  

"Our approval rating, at least, was as high as ever," Tiger said.  

"Which means people are counting on us," Pixie-Bob said.  

"I hear you!" Eijiro said enthusiastically.  

"Oh, yeah; they haven't announced the rankings yet," Ashido muttered.  

"I can't wait to find out!"  

—  

November 27, 2148  

Akiko and a few of his classmates gathered in the common room. It was the last Saturday of November which meant it was the Japanese Hero Billboard Chart.  

"I'm so excited!" Midoriya shouted. Akiko almost thought his excitement was amusing; to Akiko, it seemed like a sort of childlike wonder.  

"Me too," Akiko said.  

"Why are you even watching it?" Katsuki asked from the kitchen. "You could just ask your brother for the rankings."  

"First of all, we could all just ask someone. Plus, I watched it when I was a kid," Akiko answered honestly. "Back when we were kids, me and my brother would watch it together instead of doing whatever we were supposed to be doing. He liked to see if his favourite hero ever rose in the ranks; he never did, but it was still fun."  

"Who's Hawks' favourite hero?" Midoriya asked.  

"Endeavor," Akiko answered. "He even has a really old Endeavor plushie back home. He's had it longer than I've known him, so that plush is really dirty, but he never washes it. I have no clue why, it looks disgusting," Akiko laughed.  

"I've heard some people say that plushies can hold memories," Midoriya said. "And that washing them washes away the memories."  

"Yeah, that makes sense."  

"It's the first Billboard Chart since the Kamino incident!" The announcer announced.  

"Oh! It's starting!"  

"Number ten! She used to be ninth, but she fell a spot; Dragon Hero: Ryukyu!” As her name was called, Ryukyu walked onto the stage, same with everyone else once their name was called.  

“Number nine! Another one who fell; that's unprecedented for him! Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha!” Unlike Ryukyu, Yoroi Musha didn’t wave, instead he stood there stoically.  

“Number eight! You know him from those 'Clean 'N' Shiny' commercials, Laundry Hero: Wash!  

“Number seven! It's a great leap forward for this up-and-comer! Kamui Woods!  

“Number six! Rock steady as ever, this orthodox hero has kept his rank! Shield Hero: Crust!  

“Number five! This unyielding bunny was bumped up in the rankings! Rabbit Hero: Mirko!  

"Number four! The mysterious shinobi whose incident resolution rate and support are skyrocketing, Ninja Hero: Edgeshot! It seems any hero involved with what happened in Kamino has seen their fortunes rise! Which brings us to the next man!  

"Still at number three, even though he's taken time off! With a higher public support rate than anyone, it's the Fiber Hero: Best Jeanist! Everyone's anxiously awaiting his swift return!  

"Number two! He does things his way, but always fiercely! With unstoppable momentum, he's made it to second place; Winged Hero: Hawks!  

"And finally, this guy's been on top for a little while now, but today it's official! He's waited a long time to claim his throne and become number one! Flame Hero: Endeavor!"  

Following the announcement of Endeavor as the #1 hero, the president of the HPSC came onto the stage to give a small speech like she always did.  

"We decided to put on such an elaborate ceremony because this is a critical juncture for our society," The President said. "It's been about four months since All Might's retirement, and word on the street is that our society is still missing an icon. But the heroes standing in front of you are ready to take on that mantle. So let us join them in their quest for a peaceful society."  

On the stage, Akiko could see how bored Keigo was. Akiko could see him fidgeting, he whispered something to Endeavor, then zipped his mouth shut? Akiko was confused as to what was going through his head.  

"And now, a word from our heroes!" The announcer shouted, then walked over to Ryukyu.  

"Thank you for this honour," Ryukyu said, sombrely. "However, in truth, I would have withdrawn my name if that were allowed. There have been lives I couldn't save; so, going forward, I'll strive to really earn my ranking."  

"I feel you, Ryukyu!" Crust shouted to her, "That pain in your heart! Like you're just not good enough! We need to stand tall and fight on! We can do it, Ryukyu; I believe in us!"  

"Wait your turn, Crust," the announcer muttered, still audible because she said it close to the microphone.  

"The mission is the same as ever," Yoroi Musha said when the announcer moved onto him.  

"Edgeshot was kind enough to let me join his team," Kamui Woods said. "So, I'd like to make him and all my superiors proud."  

"Why wasn't I in Kamino that day?!" Crust shouted (Akiko was able to see that, even though it had been almost a year since he last saw the hero, Crust still had his good soul; it felt good to see even after all the terrible things that have happened). "It still hurts deep down every time I think about it!"  

"To all the plotters and schemers out there," Mirko addressed. "Hope you're ready for me to kick your butts!"  

The announcer moved over to Edgeshot and said, "If public approval were the only factor, you'd be in third place!"  

"Numbers don't concern me," Edgeshot replied bluntly. "I'm grateful to all my supporters, of course, but I don't do this job for fame or reputation. The ability to preserve law and order is the true measure of a hero."  

"Who wants to hear this crap? Stain maybe?" Keigo shouted, finally getting tired of what everyone was saying. At least he waited until it was his turn, Akiko thought.  

All Keigo got in response was silence before Mirko said, "Sassy, I like it! You always did enjoy rocking the boat."  

"I just hate holding back how I feel," Keigo said before taking the microphone from the announcer and then flapping his wings, flying up into the air, above everyone. Akiko could see that he was making some feathers fall. "You wanna talk about public support? Best Jeanist would be number one if that was all that mattered, thanks to the boost he's gotten from his leave of absence. I'd be second, Edgeshot'd be third, Endeavor, fourth and so on. Public approval? Sure, it matters more than anything else now but come on!  

"This isn't the time to dwell on the past, and you're saying that staying the course is the answer? Our symbol's gone. Today's a turning point, so what I don't wanna hear is a bunch of PR friendly sound bites from the heroes below me! Try coming up with something actually heroic to say!"  

"What's he trying to do?" Midoriya asked.  

"Trying to make it more exciting," Akiko replied amusedly. "My brother finds the whole thing boring so he's just trying to make it not so boring for him."  

"That's all from me," Keigo said before going back down to the stage – but still flying – and putting the microphone in front of Endeavor. "Let's hear it from the #1 – who has a lower approval rating than I do."  

After a moment of thought, Endeavor said, "After my junior colleague fanned the flames like that, I don't have much to say. Except, just watch me!"  

Chapter Text

November 27, 2148

Akiko hung out with his classmates a little longer after the charts ended before heading to his room. Akiko was still a little confused as to what Keigo was trying to achieve with his speech, but Akiko assumed that was just him trying to make the ceremony more exciting like Akiko had told Midoriya, and not as boring as previous years. Akiko couldn't even blame him for thinking the billboard chart was boring most years either. 

Normally each hero gave their thanks individually (usually through social media posts), saying similar things to what was said on stage. This year was different. The reason behind that was to help reduce fear now that All Might was gone. Bringing all the top heroes together was to help people feel safe ( like the festival, Akiko thought). Akiko was a little confused how getting the top 10 together and making them say things was comforting, but Akiko wasn't in charge and wasn't even at the event, so what did he know? 

Akiko was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on the door. When Akiko opened the door, he saw Shoto standing in the hallway. 

"Hi," Akiko said. 

"I want to talk," Shoto said, ignoring Akiko's greeting. 

"Okay," Akiko replied, letting Shoto inside. "Is everything okay?" Akiko asked as Shoto sat on Akiko's bed, leaving Akiko to sit on the chair at his desk. 

"I'm frustrated," Shoto said. 

"Is it because of the charts?" Akiko asked, almost positive that was the reason behind Shoto's frustration. It had only been about an hour since the charts happened; it was clear Shoto wasn't taking his father's rank of the #1 hero too well. 

Shoto nodded. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" 

"He doesn't deserve it," Shoto said. "The reason he's there is because he's hurt people; he doesn't deserve to be #1 while the people he's hurt are treated like the bad guys." 

Akiko never knew much about Shoto's past (the two of them always stayed away from that topic), but Akiko did remember Shoto talking about his mother. His mother had been in a mental hospital for the past 10 years because of how Endeavor treated her. Akiko knew there was more to the story than that, but he never asked, assuming it was a sensitive topic. 

"I think you're right," Akiko said. "From what you've told me, your dad doesn't seem like he deserves to be #1. I don't know who should be, but it's certainly not your dad." 

"Especially after what happened to my brother," Shoto said. 

"Natsuo?" Akiko asked, confused. 

"No, I have– or had another one," Shoto said sadly. "Fuyumi's been thinking about him recently." 

— 

February 19, 2147

"Who's that?" Akiko asked after finding what looked like a shrine to a young boy with white hair and blue eyes. Today, Akiko had met Shoto's siblings, Natsuo and Fuyumi, and Shoto was showing Akiko around his home. Akiko thought it was big, way bigger and nicer than any home Akiko had ever had, but that wasn't hard to have.  

"That's my older brother," Shoto said, then quickly added, "Not Natsuo, I used to have another one, Toya; he passed away 10 years ago."  

"I think I remember hearing about him," Akiko said. "It was a training accident, right?"  

"Yeah, but I don't know much about it," Shoto said. "If you want to know more, just search it up online, I know Natsuo, Fuyumi and my dad don't like talking about it."  

"Okay," Akiko said, not sure if he wanted to know more. Akiko remembered Keigo telling him about what happened to Toya Todoroki, he had accidentally killed himself using his quirk during training. The story scared Akiko because he had a fire quirk too; what if he had the same ending as Toya Todoroki? Akiko was scared to think about it.  

"Why don't I show you upstairs?"  

"Alright."  

— 

November 27, 2148

"What about you?" Shoto asked, changing the topic. "Do you think your brother deserves his ranking?" 

Akiko was a little surprised at how fast Shoto changed the topic, but answered his question, nonetheless. "I think he deserves it. Are you okay?" 

"I don't wanna fully get into it," Shoto said. 

"Are you sure?" Akiko asked. "I'm here for you if you want to talk about it." 

"Thank you, but I'm fine," Shoto said. 

Akiko thought for a second before saying, "I know I always feel better once I have some food; do you want me to grab you some?" 

Shoto thought for a second before replying, "Yeah, okay." 

"Anything specific?" 

Shoto shook his head and Akiko left. Akiko went down the stairs to the common room where there were a lot of people. 

"Burn it to bits!" Akiko heard someone on the TV shout; Akiko thought it sounded like Endeavor. Out of curiosity, Akiko looked at the screen and saw Endeavor fighting someone. The thing that was interesting was that Akiko recognized the place he was fighting; it was near a place Keigo liked going to and had brought Akiko to a couple times before. What was Endeavor doing in Kyoto?

"Haven't you ever cooked anything, Endeavor?" Someone else on the TV shouted. Akiko knew that voice; it was Keigo's. Akiko looked at the TV again and saw Keigo. He was running backwards across a rooftop with barely any feathers on his back, though they were slowly flying towards him and rejoining his wings. 

Then, the camera cut to the villain; it was a nomu, but the nomu looked different to any Akiko had ever seen before, and it seemed to be able to make more nomu – the nomu it made looked different to it, but they still had their own abilities – that were quickly taken down by Keigo. 

"Akiko!" Midoriya said from the couch, immediately getting up and blocking the TV. "You should leave." 

"Why?" Akiko asked firmly. "Why should I leave?" 

"It's– um..." 

"I saw enough, I'm not leaving," Akiko said assertively. Akiko kept watching the TV from behind the couch, scared of what would happen. The camera was mainly focusing on Endeavor – which made sense, he was the one fighting the nomu as well as being the new #1 hero – but Akiko was still frustrated that it was barely ever cutting to Keigo. This was the reason Akiko didn't watch his brother's hero work. He was always worried about Keigo getting hurt, even though he knew it was inevitable. 

Shoto came into the room just in time to see his father get a major facial injury, blood going everywhere. The nomu was quickly able to defeat Endeavor – he was lying on the ground, covered in his own blood. 

"That's right folks, this single villain appeared out of nowhere and is now destroying the city! And while this is unconfirmed, we're hearing about a horde of engineered nomu as well. Heroes on the scene are either engaged in combat or aiding with the evacuation. But Endeavor was the first to act, and now he's– The scene here is sadly reminiscent of the nightmare just four months ago–"  

The reporter cut off their own words when they saw Endeavor getting back up. He was using his flames to repel himself towards the nomu, punching it in the face – or at least trying to. The nomu dodged the attack and slammed Endeavor into a nearby wall. 

"This is a society without a symbol of peace."  

"That's bullshit!" Akiko shouted, slamming his fist into the back of the couch, flaring his wings in frustration. "Just because All Might's retired, it doesn't mean society is going to shit! There're hundreds of heroes to stand up to the role, why doesn't the damn reporter see that! Doesn't anyone see how hard Endeavor is working there?!" 

On the TV, Endeavor got up again and repelled his body into the air using his flames, going after the nomu. Behind the nomu, Keigo flew up and hit the nomu with one of his primary feathers, then sent a few after it. Keigo sent almost all of his remaining feathers into Endeavor's flames to send him after the nomu even faster; Akiko could only think of how painful that was. Akiko knew very well how painful flaming feathers were. 

Akiko's classmates went towards Shoto, who had crouched on the ground praying. Akiko couldn't tear his eyes away from the TV – he was too scared to. He knew he should, but he couldn't. He needed to know that everything would be okay. 

Akiko watched the screen as Endeavor flew higher and higher, setting the nomu on fire with his flames. Endeavor fell to the ground, being caught by two heroes. When Endeavor gets back up, he puts his right fist in the air – a symbol of his victory. 

Keigo ran over to him and helped him stay standing. Akiko noticed that Keigo's wings were barely there, only the base feathers left. Akiko knew that, if he could, Keigo would have sent those feathers to help Endeavor too. 

Just as everyone thought it was over, a familiar figure appeared from the shadows; it was Dabi .

Chapter Text

November 27, 2148  

Dabi surrounded himself, Keigo and Endeavor in a wall of blue flames. Dabi almost started a fight, but Mirko came in and Dabi retreated using sludge that swallowed him up and he disappeared; like in Kamino, Akiko thought. 

“The crisis has passed; they can’t hear me down there, but let me say this – Endeavor and Hawks, you two risked your lives to protect us all and you won! Our new top hero is there and what I’d like to say to him now is thank you!”  

The moment the camera turned off, Akiko left the common room to head to his room. He needed to know if Keigo would be okay. If that was live (which Akiko had no doubts it was), Keigo would be most likely headed to a hospital for Endeavor’s injuries since they seemed quite severe. 

When the call went to voicemail, Akiko wasn’t surprised – the fight did end just minutes ago. 

“Hey, this is Akiko – please give me a call when you get this; I just want to know you’re okay.” It was a simple and short message, but Akiko knew his worry seeped into his words. 

The time Akiko spent waiting for Keigo to respond felt like agony. Keigo didn’t look like he had too many injuries and the ones he did have seemed minor, but Akiko knew how painful flaming feathers were, even when it was only a few, not all of them like it was for Keigo.

Akiko remembered when he was a kid in the middle of training – his flames went out of control and he burnt his wings; he remembered the pain, the punishment he got for letting his wings burn until there was almost nothing left. It felt horrible, even just remembering it. 

Akiko tried his best to focus on schoolwork while he waited, but he was too stressed to really get anywhere; he got some stuff done, but it was all the easiest questions (like when a certain war happened). 

Akiko felt his flames heating up; to (hopefully) not start a fire in his room, he stepped out onto the balcony and flew up in the air, far above the dorm building. Akiko let out his flames and made sure they went out before they could hit the roof of the dorm building. 

When Akiko got back to his room, he checked his phone, hoping for a missed call notification, but got nothing – all he had was a notification from a game and a few from social media. Akiko sat on his bed and played a quick game of darts alone. He stopped only 5 minutes in because he realized something; he was just training. He was training his accuracy when shooting his feathers. It’s not like training was a bad thing; he was just disappointed in himself for training when he was stressed. He should have been doing something to reduce his stress, not give him more. 

Akiko groaned in frustration after realizing that he didn’t know anything he could do to reduce his stress. Meditate? Draw? Akiko grabbed a book from his bookshelf to try and read it. The book wasn’t too bad, but he kept seeing himself in the main character. The main character was 16, was a red (and therefore had a lot of red in his look, like his hair and eyes), had a person who was important to him that he was forced to kill by the government. Even the cover reminded Akiko of himself; it was a red wing with the book's title going down the book. 

Thankfully, Akiko was pulled from his frustration by his phone ringing; Akiko put the book down and grabbed it to read the caller ID: 

bro✨  

Akiko answers with no hesitation, “Hello?” 

“Hey,” Keigo says nonchalantly. 

“Kei– are you okay?” Akiko asked, a little calmer. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry, kid,” Keigo said. “ Doesn’t feel nice to be on the other side of this sort of conversation, does it?”  

“Oh, shut up,” Akiko said, cheered up by Keigo’s joking; Akiko wondered if that was Keigo’s goal. “I’ve just never seen you get hurt so badly before.” 

“I’ve gotten hurt like this before, you were there to help me when I got home,” Keigo said, hints of sadness in his voice. 

“I never watched what happened,” Akiko said, hoping not to offend Keigo. Akiko never watched his brother’s hero work as he was doing it for the sole reason of not wanting to watch him being hurt without knowing if he would be okay or not. “I walked into the common room and found my classmates watching the fight, and once I saw you, I just kept watching.” 

“When did you start watching?” Keigo asked. 

“You were running across a rooftop,” Akiko replied. 

“If it helps ease your mind, I’m not injured enough to need treatment. Really only my wings got damaged,” Keigo said. “’ M just at the hospital ‘cause Endeavor got pretty hurt.”  

“I saw,” Akiko said. “It seemed really bad.” 

“How’d the festival go?” Keigo asked, changing the topic. “ I know that was almost two weeks ago, but I never got anything on how it went.”  

“There weren’t any problems, at least,” Akiko said. “Izuku had to run out to get some rope in the morning, so that was pretty stressful. After our performance, me and Eri went around the festival together; she seemed to really enjoy it.” 

“Eri’s the girl you helped save from the yakuza, right?” Keigo asked. 

“Yeah,” Akiko said. “You know, at first, Mr. Aizawa didn’t want me to even help.” 

“Why not?” Keigo asked, clear confusion in his voice. 

“He thought I wanted to help to get back into the commission’s good graces,” Akiko replied. “I had to tell him it was the opposite for him to let me help.” 

“Why would doing that even get you back to the commission’s good graces?” Keigo asked. “ Sure, it would do good seeing you help save a little girl, but it’s gotta be more than that, right?”  

“She has a pretty powerful quirk, so he thought I wanted to send her to the commission,” Akiko said. “Plus, it makes sense, I mean her quirk was used to make quirk-erasing bullets that even were able to make a permanent version of it; I’m just lucky I got shot with the version that–” 

“You got what?” Keigo interrupted. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?!” 

“I kinda forgot that I didn’t...” Akiko said meekly. “And I thought you would’ve seen videos of it!” 

“Well, I didn't!” Keigo scolded. It was clear to tell that he was mad but trying his best to stay quiet. 

“I got it back!” Akiko shouted back. “It came back while I was sleeping that night, so don’t worry, it’s not like I’m quirkless. If that happened, they probably would’ve told you.” 

“I’m just happy you’re okay now,” Keigo said, then paused and Akiko could hear someone talking to him. “ I have to go, I’ll try my best to call you soon, okay?”  

“Alright, bye.” 

— 

November 30, 2148  

Akiko had always been told to not let his fears control him. The only problem with that is he doesn’t know what he’s afraid of. How would he not let something he doesn’t even know control him? The flashbacks and nightmares he had been getting more often had told that he might have had a fear of abandonment or betrayal, but Akiko wasn’t sure. 

The answer to the question of what are my fears? would come to Akiko in the form of a nightmare. 

It started weirdly. Akiko was hanging out in the common room with a few of his classmates. They were all playing a board game. Suddenly, someone came barging in, yelling at Akiko. When he turned around, he saw Eijiro yelling. He was getting mad at Akiko over a paper? Eijiro threw the paper onto the coffee table, giving everyone at the table a good look at what was making Eijiro upset. When Akiko got a closer look, he was able to understand. The piece of paper Eijiro held was the first page of Akiko’s file. 

“Who even are you?!” Eijiro yelled. 

“I can explain!” Akiko said as he got up, he started walking closer to Eijiro. “I didn’t want to lie! I was forced to! Just– let me tell you!” 

Eijiro walked back, away from Akiko; Eijiro had a look of fear in his eyes. “How do I know you’re not gonna lie to me?!” Eijiro yelled. 

“I–” Akiko didn’t have a good response to that. How did Eijiro know Akiko wasn’t going to lie? 

“Exactly!” Eijiro yelled back. “You’re a liar, Takami !” He added venom to Akiko’s name, his real name. 

Next thing Akiko knew, he was being arrested. He was surrounded by police officers, and one was telling Akiko to not say anything because it could be used against him. Akiko wasn’t listening though; he was yelling back, saying it wasn’t his fault, that he didn’t want to do it, he said nothing was his fault. The officer rebutted it by saying everything was Akiko’s fault, saying that Akiko causes bad things just by existing. When Akiko looked at the officer, he realized the officer looked like his father. 

Akiko woke up after that, panting. Akiko suddenly felt his wrists and noticed the lack of handcuffs, letting out a sigh of relief. Akiko got up and went to his desk to where he had put his file all those months ago. He stuffed it in his closet, covering the file with the things in there. He didn’t want anyone to ever see it. 

Akiko knew the nightmare wasn’t real, but he realized something; that’s what he’s afraid of – he’s afraid of people finding out the truth. Will anyone react like that when they find out– if they find out? Will someone come to arrest Akiko when they find out the truth? Will Akiko be labeled a villain like his dad, a murderer? 

Akiko knew he didn’t want anyone to know the truth, but the reason had always been the commission. What would the public think if they found out a top hero was the son of a villain? But now Akiko didn’t want people to know just in case they all turned on him. He was scared for if any of his classmates found out about Akiko’s past – about him murdering three people in the past three years. 

Chapter Text

December 3, 2148  

“Is this really how you thank the person who saved you?”  

“You took me from one hell and sent me to another," Akiko said to Kihara bitterly. They were both outside of the dorm building on the path that leads up to it. Kihara had come to talk to Akiko; unsurprisingly, he wanted to talk about the provisional licensing exam. The only reason it took so long was because UA was doing what they could to keep the commission away from Akiko. But now Kihara was finally able to talk to Akiko.  

“You would be dead if it weren’t for the commission,” Kihara said, clearly losing his patience.  

“I think that would’ve been for the best at this point,” Akiko said.  

“What will you do in order to earn forgiveness?” Kihara asked.  

“Nothing; I don’t want to be forgiven because I’m not sorry,” Akiko replied firmly.  

“Madam President isn’t happy with you,” Kihara said to try to get Akiko to at least apologize.  

“She hasn’t been happy with me since I was 14,” Akiko said. Akiko was 14 when he first started disobeying – he attacked one of the handlers then. “I’ve done what she’s asked of me for years and I hated it. I’m done with doing what she wants.”  

“You said you would look forward to your punishment,” Kihara recalled. “You never got your punishment, did you?”  

“What kind of punishment could you give me?” Akiko asked. “I live at UA now and no one at UA likes how the commission treats me; why would I even be allowed to go with you anywhere?”  

“I talked to your teacher, and he agreed with me,” Kihara said, smiling at Akiko. Of course the only kind of commission-style punishment UA would allow is if it could be taken as training. Would Akiko be trapped in a cold room during quirk training? Akiko hoped not, he hated the freezer.  

“Keep your word, Phoenix,” Kihara said as he walked away.  

—  

December 5, 2148  

It only took two days for Akiko to understand what Kihara was talking about. Kihara must have told Aizawa about Akiko’s motion sickness and how bad it was during training because Aizawa told Akiko that he wanted Akiko to try and work on his flying without his headphones on. Akiko chose to try flying slow and gradually work his way up in speed.  

At first, it wasn't too bad, but then the nausea hit Akiko like a truck, making Akiko land. Akiko braced himself on a nearby wall to gather his breath for a minute or so. Akiko didn’t think his stomach was fully settled, but he still got up in the air again.  

The entire day was like that, and Akiko hated it. As much as he hated it, it was nowhere near any of his other punishments. Akiko knew that, if he weren't being protected by UA, he would have gotten locked in the freezer-like room again and forced to stay awake. Akiko thinks he still would prefer this punishment over the freezer.  

Akiko wanted to disobey and put on his headphones just to remove the nausea, but he couldn’t shake the worry. Back in the commission, if Akiko disobeyed, the punishment would get worse. Akiko knew he didn’t want to deal with a worse punishment, mainly because he didn’t know what a worse punishment would be like at UA.  

—  

December 6, 2148  

Akiko walked with his classmates to one of UA’s training grounds. It was almost winter, meaning many of Akiko’s classmates were in winter versions of their costumes. Akiko’s winter costume didn’t look different at all because all it had that was different was on the inside; all that changed was to make the costume warmer.  

Then class B walked in, and Monoma immediately started making fun of them.  

“We’ve got a special guest today,” Vlad King, class B’s homeroom teacher, announced.  

“So, try not to make any fools of yourselves,” Aizawa added. “He’s hoping to transfer to the hero course. It’s Hitoshi Shinso from general studies.”  

Some of Akiko’s classmates seemed to recognize Shinso, not Akiko though. He couldn’t remember who he was.  

“Go on, introduce yourself,” Aizawa said to Shinso quietly.  

“I had encounters with several of you at the sports festival,” Shinso said. “But don’t think we’re friends just because we fought. I’m not the type for displays of good sportsmanship like that. I’m already so far behind you all; I’m doing everything I can to catch up. I’ll be a great hero someday and I strive to use my quirk to help people. So, to me, all of you here are just obstacles to overcome. I’m not here to make friends.”  

“Let’s get right to it.”  

“Battle training time!” Vlad Kind announced. “It’s a series of matches pitting class A against class B. The battlefield is one section of athletic field Gamma. Both classes will be split into teams of four and square off against another team. Shinso will be taking part in two matches, joining class A for one and class B for the other. Meaning two of the five matches will be five against four.”  

“That’s not fair for the four-person teams!” Hagakure shouted.  

“The students who have to incorporate the inexperienced Shinso are actually at a disadvantage,” Aizawa said. “Having five members will give you the edge numbers-wise, but it’s also a handicap.”  

“The scenario this time is ‘heroes trying to capture a team of villains’,” Vlad Kind said. “So, think of the opposing team as villains. Capture four of your opponents to win. Each team’s home base has a prison. The instant someone’s thrown in the cage, they count as captured.”  

“The efficient strategy would be to disable the enemy near our own base,” one of the class B students said. “Easier said than done, probably.”  

“’Capture four opponents to win’? Is that what you meant by handicap?” Katsuki asked.  

“Yes,” Aizawa confirmed. “Not only is Shinso inexperienced, but the five-person team he’s on still loses if four members are caught. Now, it’s time to draw lots.”  

After drawing lots, Akiko would be on a team with Yaoyorozu, Hagakure and Aoyama against Fukidashi, Kuroiro, Kendo and Komori. Akiko wouldn’t have to worry about Shinso though because he would be in rounds 1 and 5, with Akiko’s round being round 2.  

“Teams start at their home bases,” Aizawa explained. “The time limit is 20 minutes per match. If the time runs out, the team with more remaining members wins.”  

Akiko and his team watched the first match, seeing what people would do. Akiko thought that because they all had the same teacher, maybe there would be some similarities in their fighting styles. It might have been a stretch, but it was worth watching anyway.  

Akiko also had to think about what their quirks were. Fukidashi could make words physical; Akiko remembered taking notes on Fukidashi back at the summer camp, he wished he could go and see what he wrote. Kuroiro – Akiko couldn't remember what his quirk was. Kendo could make her fists big when she attacked. Komori – another one Akiko couldn’t remember, but based on her costume, it had something to do with mushrooms.  

The first round was over within 10 minutes, so Akiko and his team as well as their opponents went onto the field. As they walked onto the field, Akiko dropped some of his smaller feathers, controlling them to follow the other team to be able to hear them.  

“What should our plan be?” Hagakure asked.  

“I’m scouting them out,” Akiko said before focusing his attention back to his feathers.  

“What are you gathering?” Yaoyorozu asked.  

“It sounds like they’re saying what they expect us to do,” Akiko replied.  

“And what’s that?” Yaoyorozu asked.  

Akiko listened closely, making sure he knew what he was hearing – which was harder than he thought it would be based on their distance. Akiko was surprised when he felt something weird in one of his feathers. It was difficult to explain what it was, but it felt like he wasn’t in control, like someone else had somehow taken control. Akiko closed his wings and eyes to limit the stimuli around him in hopes to regain control.  

“Do you guys know if any of them have some sort of control quirk?” Akiko asked.  

“Yes, Kuroiro can move in the shadows,” Yaoyorozu informed.  

“Even tiny ones?” Akiko asked, trying to recall his feathers.  

“I’m not sure, but I think it would be a fair assumption that he can,” Yaoyorozu said.  

By that time, Akiko had gotten his feathers back to him, which was a mistake. Taking the feathers back meant that he had taken back whatever was inside of them; Akiko had brought Kuroiro right to them. Before they could do anything, Kuroiro went inside of Aoyama’s cape, grabbing him and taking him away.  

Akiko lifted himself up in the air and goes to grab Aoyama. Once Akiko got a hold of him, it wasn’t too hard to get him back under control and get Kuroiro away. From the ground, Akiko heard Yaoyorozu tells Aoyama to use his move, Navel Buffet and tells Akiko to keep flying around. Akiko does as she asked, figuring she had a plan. Akiko is quickly able to figure out what her plan is; using Aoyama’s lasers, he’s making sure there are no shadows around, giving Hagakure an opening to run around and find Kuroiro to capture him.  

Chapter Text

December 6, 2148  

Something unexpected happened when Akiko landed, putting Aoyama down right next to him. Mushrooms. There were mushrooms everywhere. Akiko didn’t even know what to do about them since they were everywhere. There wasn’t a single place he could see without any mushrooms. The mushrooms even appeared on people; Akiko could feel some growing on his skin, giving him an uncomfortable feeling.  

Akiko tried to brush off the mushrooms, but they just kept growing. Akiko could see them growing on his jacket as well, sticking out against the bright red colour of the jacket. While Akiko was trying (and failing) to get the mushrooms off him, he heard loud crashing sounds. The sounds were coming from Fukidashi, who had been creating gigantic, physical onomatopoeia.  

Aoyama – still close to Akiko – tried to break through the words using his laser but couldn’t. Akiko wanted to try breaking through it, but it looked like it was made of concrete, meaning his feathers would be useless. He remembered hearing that concrete had a melting point, but it was way higher than Akiko’s average for flames; Akiko would pass out before he made any meaningful dent into the concrete.  

Akiko was surprised when he heard Aoyama let out a yelp, telling Akiko that his classmate had been grabbed again. Akiko saw something in the distance, about to land near him; Akiko sent out a few feathers to grab Aoyama (which he succeeded in) and caught the bag with his hands.  

“What’s in the bag, mon ami?” Aoyama asked.  

Akiko opened the bag. “Thermal goggles and an ethanol anti-fungal spray,” Akiko said as he took out the bag’s contents. Akiko took off his visor, put it in his pocket, hoping it wouldn’t fall out, and put on the thermal goggles. “With this, I could easily go after them.” Akiko sprayed himself in the anti-fungal spray and ran off and lifted himself into the air, thankful that finding his opponents wouldn’t be too hard with the thermal goggles.  

In a fight where Akiko didn’t know where his opponent was, his feathers were helpful in finding them. The only problem with that is that his environment he fought in normally didn’t have much red around – or any colour really – meaning, if the opponent knew what they were looking for, they would easily see the red feathers trying to find them. With the thermal goggles, he wouldn’t need his feathers to find someone.  

It barely took any searching before Akiko spotted two people; getting closer and hearing their voices, Akiko realized they were Kuroiro and Komori – the two causing the most trouble. Luckily for Akiko, he was able to pin Komori to the wall easily, thanks to her costume not being too close to her body. To get Kuroiro, Akiko took off one of his gloves and was able to trap Kuroiro inside of it.  

Just as Akiko had trapped Kuroiro, he was hit with a coughing fit. That was weird... He wasn’t sick, he wasn’t molting (which normally made him sick), it wasn’t dusty around him.  

“Sorry, but I had no other option,” Komori said from her spot on the wall. “Split gill mushrooms attack the lungs!”  

Akiko almost doubled over in his coughing, making him drop Kuroiro, letting him get free. Both Komori and Kuroiro worked together to get Akiko to the jail. It seemed like both were scared to even touch Akiko – probably because he could have sharpened his feathers at any time (which he unconsciously did).  

Before Akiko knew it, he and the rest of his team are in the jail, and it’s announced that class B won 4-0. At least Komori was nice enough to escort Akiko to Recovery Girl to get him some medicine.  

Akiko and Komori made it back right when the second match started. Akiko didn’t really pay attention though, he was thinking of how he could have done better. He came up with two things he could have done better; one, knowing his opponent better. Going into the fight, he only knew two of the quirks of the other team, and it wasn’t even a very good idea of them. He should have gotten more info. Two, don’t go in without a plan. When he had the thermal goggles and went after Komori and Kuroiro, he didn’t really have a plan. His only ‘plan’ was to trap them and put them in the jail. He should have come up with an exact plan instead of just winging it.  

The only interesting thing that happened was in the last match. Midoriya’s quirk acted up and created some sort of rope from his hands. Midoriya seemed as shocked as everyone else. It looked like he wanted everyone to get away, but Ochako grabbed onto him and, with the help of Shinso, was able to get him to calm down and control whatever was happening. After the match, Aizawa decided that Shinso would be joining the hero course in his second year, which Shinso seemed surprised by.  

—  

December 9, 2148 (June 7, 2146)  

Akiko hated this; he hated every part of it. The man had decided that Akiko would be his next victim. He pinned the boy to the wall and started trying to do something to Akiko. Akiko was scared. He was scared of what would happen. He tried his best to control one of his feathers to get him out of this situation, but he wasn’t having any luck in that. This was his first time doing actual hero work – not training. No wonder he wasn’t doing very well. At least Akiko was able to push the man off him.  

“Come on!” The man yelled before getting Akiko against the wall again. Why, why, why? Akiko pleaded to himself. The man put his hand under Akiko’s shirt and that’s when Akiko had enough. Akiko created a fire in his hand to get the man off him again. The man stepped back in shock, looking at Akiko like he was the crazy one here.  

“You crazy mutant!” The man shouted, looking at Akiko, then running away. Akiko couldn’t let that happen. Akiko ran after the man, thankfully able to stop him at the entrance of the alley. Akiko pins the man to the wall with his feathers and takes another to stab him. The spot Akiko hit wasn't a good one, meaning he had to stab him more and more and more...  

There was so much blood on him. So, so much blood. Akiko hated it; it felt horrible. Akiko had just killed someone; that’s when it hit him. The man’s body slumped forward, only kept up by the feathers.  

“Make sure there’s no evidence, Phoenix.” Those words repeated in the hero’s (a hero, that’s what I am. A hero, I’m a hero, I’m supposed to help people. I’m not a villain, I’m not like Dad, I’m not a villain, I’m a hero, like my brother) mind. Akiko did what he could to get rid of the evidence of the murder. He created the hottest fire he could, and set the body ablaze, turning it to ash.  

Akiko looked down at himself and saw all the blood again. Why was there so much blood? He felt like crying, but he didn’t because heroes aren't weak.  

Akiko shot up in his bed. He looked down at himself and noticed the significant lack of blood. All he had done was ripped the sheets. Akiko looked at his phone and saw the time: 12:37 AM.  

He knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep after that nightmare – at least not for a while. Akiko sat up and got up from his bed, stepping on some of the feathers on the floor. He forgot about when he had nightmares, he lost control of his feathers, and they tended to shoot out wherever they wanted; Akiko looked and saw that he had stabbed a photo on the wall.  

Akiko left his room and went to the common room. Having something to eat always made him feel better. Akiko looked in the cupboards, trying to find something. He could just make something simple. He could make a grilled cheese sandwich in his hands, yes, that’s what he would make. Akiko grabbed the bread and cheese from the fridge. He added some cheese onto one slice of bread, put it in his hand, and heated up his hand, melting the cheese. That’s when Akiko heard someone’s footsteps down the hall.  

Chapter Text

December 9, 2148  

Akiko looked up and saw Ochako rubbing sleep from her eyes.  

“Akiko?”  

“Hey, Ochako,” Akiko said, putting the second slice of bread on top of the cheese and heating his hand up once again.  

“What are you doing up?” Ochako asks.  

“It doesn’t matter,” Akiko said. “What about you? Why are you up?”  

“Couldn’t stop thinking about something,” Ochako said. “Are you sure? If something’s keeping you up, it has to matter.”  

“Trust me, everything’s fine,” Akiko reassured, even if he wasn’t too sure himself. He really hoped he was hiding his fear well enough.  

“If you say so,” Ochako said before moving over into the kitchen to grab something to eat. Ochako brushed against Akiko’s wing, causing him to be surprised and sharpening them on instinct. “Ow!” Ochako had been wearing a tank top, leaving her with blood on her arm.  

“I’m so sorry!” Akiko quickly said before moving closer to her. Akiko looked closely at Ochako’s arm and tried to remember his first aid training on what to do. This was one of the times where Akiko was happy that he had such good control over his feathers since getting the first aid kit from the bathroom wasn’t hard.  

“Come here,” Akiko said while guiding Ochako towards the kitchen table so he could do the best he could for her cuts (that I caused) . “I’m sorry,” he said again as he started to clean her wounds.  

“Your feathers are really sharp,” Ochako said as he cleaned the cuts.  

“I know,” Akiko said back.  

Ochako looked into Akiko’s eyes and asked, “Have you ever cut yourself?”  

“Yes,” Akiko replied. “The cuts aren’t too deep.”  

“How often do you hurt yourself with your quirk?” Ochako asked.  

“Not very often anymore,” Akiko replied. “It used to be more often when I was a kid. I hurt others too.”  

“I’m sorry.”  

“Don’t be; it’s not your fault, Ochako. It’s all mine.” Akiko got quieter as he talked.  

Ochako paused before asking a new question, “Is your scar from your feathers?” Referring to the one that went across his face.  

Akiko was surprised by the question. “Yeah, my dad ripped out one of my feathers and cut me with it.”  

“I’m so sorry,” Ochako said; she looked sad.  

“Don’t be sorry, it's not your fault. My dad was a terrible person who should’ve never been around any kids, let alone have two of them.” Akiko put everything back inside the first aid kit and put it back in the bathroom. Akiko walked it over because he needed time to think.  

Thinking about his dad was always a bad thing to do, no matter what. He always thought about the terrible times there, thought about helping him commit his crimes. He always thought about those last words Dad had said to him – You worthless piece of shit! This is all your fault! Akiko always had to remind himself, I’m not worthless, I’m doing something good, I’m helping people, I’m not a villain or a horrible person like Dad.  

When Akiko got back, Ochako was still there.  

“Can I ask you a hypothetical question?” Akiko asked.  

“Of course,” Ochako said as she looked at her friend.  

“Let’s say you have this friend,” Akiko started. “You’ve known them for a while now and you trust them. Then, one day, this friend tells you that they’ve been lying to you about who they are. This friend is actually really different, and they’ve done bad things. What do you do about your friend?”  

Ochako thinks for a few seconds before saying, “I would feel betrayed. I’m not sure if I would forgive them, and if I did, it would take a while before I did.”  

“What if they had a reason?” Akiko proposed. “What if they didn’t want to lie and were forced to?”  

“If they had a reason?” Ochako asks, thinks, then answers, “I would still feel betrayed, but I would think about forgiving them. But no matter if they wanted to or not, it would take a while before I would forgive them.”  

Akiko nods. “Okay, thank you.”  

“Are you sure everything’s okay?” Ochako asked with concern in her eyes as she watches Akiko start to leave.  

“I’m sure.”  

Thanks to Ochako’s answer, Akiko knew what she would think. Akiko needed to make sure she never found out. Akiko doesn’t want people to feel betrayed because of him. Ochako was one of the first people he really got close to – he doesn’t want her to feel like he betrayed her.  

The longer Akiko’s been at UA, the closer he’s gotten with people. The more they’ve gotten to know Akiko Matsubara. They don’t really know the real Akiko and he’s not sure if they ever would. Who would want to find out their friend is a murderer and has been lying to them about who they really are?  

—  

December 13, 2148  

It had snowed the day before, meaning almost everyone had stayed inside. Shoto and Katsuki were at a course they had been taking for the past few months to get their provisional licenses since they failed their exams. Akiko hoped they would pass. Akiko had felt bad when they originally failed their exams, especially after he had bragged to everyone about passing the exam as a 14-year-old.  

“They must be in the middle of their test right now,” Tenya said. “Hope they’re doing alright.”  

“Getting my license was the only time I ever beat those two in anything,” Kaminari commented, changing the channel on the TV.  

“No matter what any of us do, no one can beat Matsubara in the hero license area,” Ashido commented.  

“Not my fault they forced me to get it,” Akiko countered.  

Later that night, they found out that both Shoto and Katsuki succeeded in getting their licenses. Akiko was happy for them.  

—  

December 15, 2148  

A few days ago, Aizawa had told the whole class that, if they wanted, they could go home for the holidays. The days they would be gone would be in the last week of the year. Akiko heard a few of his classmates complain that the slot of days wouldn’t be on Christmas, but Akiko wasn’t complaining about it, he never even celebrated Christmas before, and those days fell right on Keigo’s birthday.  

Later that day, Akiko texted Keigo to ask if he would be able to go home for the holidays, to which Keigo said that he couldn’t because he was busy. Akiko was disappointed but understood; he supposed that Keigo was busier as the #2 hero than he was as the #3 hero, it would make sense.  

—  

December 18, 2148  

A few days ago, Deika City was attacked. News coverage says it was terrorists, but Akiko heard people say they saw the League of Villains there. It’s been a while since the League attacked anyone; Akiko thought there must’ve been a reason if it was the League since attacking a whole city is far from their normal attacks. Sure, they sent a nomu to Hosu a few months ago, but this was different than that.  

The main difference was the casualties. The League had never had any casualties before (the closest thing would be Stain passing away in the Hosu attack, but that had nothing to do with the League themselves). In the aftermath of Deika’s attack, 20 civilians lost their lives, with many others being injured. Akiko didn’t know what to think of the situation. Akiko was no stranger to any injuries or casualties in battle, but this was more than he’d ever known of.  

—  

December 20, 2148  

After getting their licenses, Shoto and Katsuki had fought a villain. Following that, they were interviewed; in the interview, Katsuki showed everyone his rather horrible attitude towards the interviewer.  

“It might seem like the winds of good fortune are blowing our way! But if you stop and think about the other side of all this,” Mt. Lady said as she and Midnight entered the classroom. “It’s actually coming from a sense of urgency! It’s a response to danger! The cheers for the conquering heroes are really prayers – a plea that we emerge victorious! They’ve had enough of the showbiz side of heroism and want us to prove our worth for real now!”  

“She’s your guest lecturer since you’ll have more media exposure going forward,” Aizawa informed.  

“Today we’re talking about the media!” Mt. Lady said, holding out a card that said MEDIA. “As a rising star myself, I’m the perfect hero to teach you how to work it!”  

When they all got outside in their costumes (Akiko didn’t understand why they needed to be in their costumes), Mt. Lady informed them today would be hero interview training. Akiko was sure this would be just like the media training Akiko’s done in the commission. How the training would work is Mt. Lady will pretend to be an interviewer interviewing each student, pretending like the student had just completed a big mission.  

“Amazing work out there, Phoenix!” Mt. Lady said then pointed the microphone in Akiko’s direction.  

“Thank you!” Akiko said.  

“My question for you is what kind of hero do you want to become?” Mt. Lady asked.  

“I want to help people,” Akiko said simply. “I want to save people like I was saved as a child. Maybe I can even try to help villains; I don’t think they’re all bad, some–”  

“What ultimate moves do you have?”  

Akiko was annoyed by being cut off, but he answered anyway. It doesn’t matter what you’re feeling inside, hide it and be polite. “I’ve got one I call ‘Flame Focus’,” Akiko said. “It’s a simple one where I distract my opponent with my fire, then attack them with my feathers.”  

Overall, there were a few students who struggled with the interview training, but Akiko was told that he did exceptionally well. He wasn’t surprised by that; he’d gone through interview training at the commission and had been on a few interviews since Japan found out he existed two years ago when he was 14.  

Akiko was still annoyed that he got cut off though. He wanted to say that he wanted to help villains as well. Akiko didn’t think all villains were bad, only some of them. There were villains like his father who were villains because they found it fun, then there were villains like Nobu who were forced into villainy by society – those kinds of villains Akiko wants to save.  

Chapter Text

December 25, 2148

Christmas was an important holiday for Akiko’s classmates. Akiko didn’t celebrate growing up and, therefore, didn’t understand the appeal; he tried to though. Akiko dressed up in red, wore the Santa hat made for him (instead of having a pom-pom on the end, it had a fake feather), and sat down with everyone in the common room on Christmas Day.

Akiko was surprised when he was given a gift. The box wasn’t too big; it was pretty small actually. Akiko looked at the tag and saw who it was from:

To: Akiko

From: Shoto & Eijiro

It was from his two closest friends. Akiko opened the box and found two small plastic bags and one small fabric bag. Inside one plastic bag had three darts (they were the bigger ones, long and sleek, with a nice grip; they seemed a good weight too), the other plastic bag had flights; the design on the flights was simple, it looked like a feather on a black background on each one. The fabric bag was easily the heaviest one. Inside it had a dark, sparkly, grey, almost black, cylinder.

“We noticed your darts were sorta worn out,” Eijiro said.

“I hope you like what we picked out,” Shoto added.

“I do,” Akiko said back. “I’m sorry; I didn’t get you guys anything.”

“I didn’t expect you to get me anything, Akiko,” Shoto said. “I know you’ve never celebrated Christmas before.”

“What?!” Midoriya was shocked. “You’ve never celebrated Christmas before?”

Akiko shook his head. Because my dad hated me, why would he get me anything? Then the commission only saw me as a tool. “We didn’t have much growing up. Once we did, we never did even then because me and my brother didn’t celebrate growing up, so it didn’t make sense to start then.” Akiko let out a soft chuckle. “We didn’t even celebrate our birthdays until Shoto pretty much pressured me to and even then, we do things pretty small.”

—

“We have to do work studies again?” Akiko asked. Akiko was afraid something bad would happen like his last work study with Fat Gum. He was also worried about where to go. Apparently, Fat Gum felt bad about what happened during the Shie Hassaikai raid and didn’t want Akiko to return to his agency, fearing that something similar would happen to him.

“Yeah,” Ochako said. “I’m probably just gonna go back to Ryukyu’s agency; what about you, Akiko? Going back to Fat Gum’s?”

Akiko shook his head. “He doesn’t want me back after what happened last time.”

“So, you don’t have anywhere to go?” Shoto asked.

Akiko shook his head. “Nope.”

“Maybe you could come with me,” Shoto proposed. “Maybe I could convince my dad to let me bring you along with me.”

“That’d be helpful,” Akiko said. “Thank you, Shoto.”

—

December 28, 2148

With it being one of the days where people could go home for the holidays, there weren’t many people at the dorms. It was only Akiko and a few other people. Akiko sat at the table in the common room – he had just eaten his breakfast and was looking through his phone. Akiko had just sent his brother a message saying, ‘happy birthday hope youre not stuck doing work all day:)'.

He was stuck in his head; that was his current problem. Akiko liked winter, the snow was nice, and, while he was sensitive to the cold as a result of his quirk, he still enjoyed playing in it. The cold though, that was something he knew very well what it felt like. Not because of his freezer punishment back at the commission, no, it was because of his home back with his dad.

The cabin they lived in was nowhere near a place that was fit for anyone to live in the winter. The place was falling apart and the cold got in easily. Plus, in winter, the part of Kyoto he grew up in was freezing cold.

Akiko looked out the window, at the snow falling to the ground. During his time at UA, Akiko had learned many things about his classmates. He always wondered how some of them could be so carefree. How could they live without fear? Maybe it was the way Akiko grew up, the way he grew up fearing punishment, but he didn’t think he’d ever be able to be as carefree as some of his classmates were. He wished he could be though. Akiko wished he could be carefree like them. He wished he could do things without fearing what would happen to him. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to though. Akiko would always live in fear.

Looking at so many people online posting about how they were celebrating made Akiko mad. Why can’t he live like that? Why did Akiko have to grow up with a villain father, then grow up in the government being trained to fight and kill, being 15 when he celebrated his birthday for the first time? Even though the commission saved him, Akiko couldn’t help but hate them. Sure, they saved him from a life of villainy like his dad lived, but they also took away any chance at a normal life. How different would Akiko be if he were sent to foster care instead of the commission? Akiko can’t help but wonder.

“Hey, there you are,” Shoto said from the hallway, entering the common room. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry,” Akiko said. “Why were you looking for me?”

“My dad said he would take you as a work study student,” Shoto said.

“That’s good,” Akiko replied with a smile, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t just thinking about the worst time of his life.

“Everything okay?” Shoto asked.

“I’m jus’ thinkin’,” Akiko replied, letting his accent slip into his words. Being from the slums of Kyoto, Akiko had a slight accent that the people from there had. The commission made Akiko go through speech therapy to get rid of it, but that didn’t work. Akiko just learned to hide it.

“Are you thinking about anything specific?” Shoto asked, having not picked up on Akiko’s accent.

“My childhood,” Akiko replied sharply. “About how it shaped me today.” He then said, making sure his accent didn’t slip through again, “Thinking about the commission too.” (Words that ended in ‘ing’ were one that made his accent slip out the most. His accent also made it hard to pronounce.)

“Do you want to talk about it?” Shoto asked.

“Did I ever tell you exactly where I grew up?” Akiko asked.

“I don’t think you did.”

“I grew up in the slums of Kyoto, that’s where,” Akiko replied. “Growing up, it was common to see villains just walking on the streets, like they weren’t wanted by the police. What I wonder is how carefree some people can be.”

“What do you mean ‘carefree’?” Shoto asked.

Akiko specified, “How can some people do whatever they want without worrying about what’ll happen to them?” Shoto stayed silent. “That’s what I was thinking about.”

“Everyone grew up differently,” Shoto said.

“I know,” Akiko replied bitterly. “I can tell you grew up in a nice, fancy place just by the way you talk. I naturally have an accent that I have to hide.” Akiko sighed. “I’m hiding it right now because it’s ‘improper’, or at least that’s what the commission always told me...”

“Could I hear your accent?” Shoto asked.

“Why would you want to hear it?” Akiko asked back.

“I want to hear the way you naturally talk,” Shoto said, as if it was a no-brainer.

“Like I said,” Akiko said. “There’s a reason I don’t use it in public.”

“Is this public?” Shoto asked. “Am I not just your friend you’re talking to?”

Even the way he phrases his sentences is fancy, stuck-up talk. “You’ll see me differently,” Akiko said quieter. “I’ve always been told that the reason I can’t use it is because it shows that I’m improper, and dirty and–” villainous.

“We’re friends, Akiko,” Shoto said.

Right, he’s my friend I’m lying to. “Fine,” Akiko said, trying to not hide his accent.

“You don’t sound very different,” Shoto said.

“Certain words bring it out more,” Akiko said. “’Fine’ jus’ doesn’ bring it out very much.” Akiko could tell by Shoto’s expression that Akiko’s two sentences did bring it out. “Don’t like it?” Akiko asked without his accent.

“No, I was just surprised,” Shoto said. “You just sound different with it.”

“So, you do like it?” Akiko asked.

“Yes,” Shoto said.

“Tha’s nice to know,” Akiko said, smiling, then paused. “You know, if you’re gonna let me use my accent, you don’ have to talk so proper all the time.”

“It’s just how I talk,” Shoto said.

“I’m jus’ sayin’,” Akiko said, moving to go to his room. “You don’ have to make sure you’re getting every single word out without slurring it, like I nat’rally do,” Akiko said, mimicking Shoto’s speech patterns for some of the words.

—

That night, Akiko looked at himself in the mirror. It had been a while since he realized it first, but his roots were very much growing out. The only reason it caught Akiko’s attention today specifically is because of the feathers in his hair. The dyed red helped hide the feathers, with the dyed colour and the colour of his feathers being almost the same, but now it’s reached a point where it no longer does that. The bases of the feathers were at his roots, making them more visible.

Akiko needed to figure out if he wanted to re-dye it or not. Eijiro said he could if he wanted, but Akiko wasn’t sure. If he did, he’d be able to hide the feathers in his hair, but he doesn’t want to hide them anymore. Akiko doesn’t want to hide what he really looks like. Sure, the feathers (other than the ones in his wings) are small details, but they’re still ones Akiko has been forced to hide for years, and he doesn’t want to do that anymore.

In the end, Akiko decided that he wouldn’t re-dye his hair, he’d keep his hair his natural dirty blond to make sure you could see the wine-red feathers in his hair clearly.

Chapter Text

January 4, 2149

Unlike Akiko’s first work study, the agency he was going to was closer. Endeavour’s agency was in the same city UA was in; all they have to do is take a barely half an hour train ride – closer to 20 minutes. This out-of-school hero work was closer than any other he had done, the other two forcing Akiko to take an at least two-hour train ride.

Turns out, with Best Jeanist missing, Katsuki had nowhere to go for a work study, so Shoto had also invited Katsuki to his dad’s agency.

Akiko wasn’t sure what to expect from this work study. At least Akiko knew Endeavour a little, opposed to not knowing Fat Gum before his work study there. But Endeavour and Fat Gum were vastly different people, so Akiko was at a loss of what he should expect.

“Welcome, I’m Endeavour,” he greeted once they arrived at the station, Endeavour meeting them there. “Is that the warm reception you were hoping for?” he asked bitterly. “I’m not thrilled about taking you two on! This is only because Shoto asked!”

“You already accepted them, so stop complaining,” Shoto said to his father.

“Thank you for taking us on, Endeavour,” Akiko said.

“Ever since our training course, I’ve been thinking,” Katsuki said. “You’re a jerk.”

“Are you really friends with this kid, Shoto?” Endeavour asked, completely ignoring Akiko. “I told you to choose your friends wisely.”

“Whatever,” Katsuki said. “I’ll put up with whatever if it means I get to see how the number one hero operates.”

The three of them followed Endeavour in silence as he walked. Akiko wasn’t sure where they were going exactly, but he figured that it would make sense if they were going to Endeavour’s agency. They walked until Endeavour started running forward.

“Sorry, but I don’t care about anyone other than Shoto,” Endeavour said. At least he’s sorry, Akiko thought. “You want to learn? Stand back and watch!”

Akiko, Shoto and Katsuki ran after him. Shoto and Katsuki had to grab their support items from their costume cases though. Akiko found himself lucky that he only needed his headphones, and he had those already on because of all the noises there were in the city (and for the motion sickness he got on the train). His visor was helpful for him, and he had put that on the top of his head; all he had to do was slide it down over his eyes.

They were quickly able to figure out why Endeavour ran forward; there was a villain. The villain was flying on bubbles in the air. The villain was saying things, but they all seemed like nonsense to Akiko. Revelations from the universe? It didn’t make any sense. Then the villain was saying ‘The end is nigh!’ Akiko couldn’t tell if the villain was being serious or not.

Then the villain grabbed all the glass around and made a gigantic bubble. The longer Akiko waited, the more confused he got. When the villain tried to run into the alley, Akiko was able to stop him for a few seconds using his feathers. But those few seconds was just enough time to grab him.

“You got him!” Akiko heard a familiar voice say. Akiko made sure he had the villain in a good grip before looking up to see Keigo.

“Seemed like you were in trouble,” Keigo said.

“Not a chance,” Endeavour snapped while grabbing the villain from Akiko. “I told you to stand back,” he said to Akiko.

“I was the closest to him,” Akiko countered. “And I don’t think it matters now; he’s been caught, that’s what does matter.”

“You’re supposed to contact me when you’re in town,” Endeavour said to Keigo.

“I’m not,” Keigo replied. “I mean, I was just passing by.”

It was when he said that when Akiko realized something. There was something wrong with Keigo’s wings. They were missing feathers, which in itself isn’t too weird (he probably got into a bad fight; it wasn’t too uncommon for Keigo to lose his feathers on the job). What was weird was that some of the feathers had black dots on them. They were easy to see too, with his wings being such a bright red. Akiko wanted to ask him about it, but he wasn’t sure how to and if even should ask him about it.

“What do you want, Hawks?” Endeavour asked.

“Want? Oh, nothing really,” Keigo replied, searching his pocket for something. He pulled out a red book and asked, “Have you read this book, Endeavour?” The book said Meta Liberation War on the front and had a black ink splotch on the bottom of the cover, slightly covered by Keigo’s hand. “I mean, you must have heard of it,” Keigo went on. “This thing’s been flying off the shelves lately. Especially after those townspeople in Deika fought for their lives, the book’s been getting even more attention. It was written way back when, when quirks first appeared, but it feels really relevant today.”

Akiko could tell he was rambling. Keigo didn’t do that often, only when he was panicked or stressed. There must be something going on then. Akiko would be sure to ask him about it.

“Like this quote, ‘When freedom is only granted to a select few, the burden necessarily shifts to everyone else’,” Keigo recited. “If you don’t have time for heavy reading, I highlighted the must-read parts.” Keigo handed the book to Endeavour. “It outlines Destro’s ultimate ideal – a society held together by personal responsibility! It’s perfect for this day and age!”

The entire time he explained, Akiko was confused. Keigo doesn’t do much reading – he says he’s too busy to do that – but when he does, it’s not something like that.

“What are you talking about?” Endeavour asked, seemingly just as confused as Akiko was.

“Imagine it, Endeavour,” Keigo said. “A world where we’ve got time to kill.”

“It must be a good book,” Shoto muttered.

“Here, I’ve got copies for everyone,” Keigo said and passed a copy of the book to Akiko, Shoto and Katsuki. Akiko barely caught it in his confusion.

“It’s almost like he’s spreading the gospel,” Katsuki grumbled.

“I’m recommending it to all my friends and heroes across the country,” Keigo said. “Because if nothing else, that liberation ideology will be pretty fundamental going forward. All four of you, good luck with the rest of the work study!”

Right before Keigo flew away, he looked at Akiko and Akiko noticed that he had a look in his eyes; Akiko couldn’t explain what it meant. As Akiko watched him fly away, he knew something was off, he just couldn’t figure out what. The fact that Keigo didn’t even mention it made Akiko think he couldn’t talk about it. Was he being spied on? What was going on with him? Why didn’t Keigo mention it? Keigo always said something to Akiko if something was bothering him, why didn’t he?

—

“Welcome to Endeavour’s agency!” One of Endeavour’s sidekicks, Burnin’, said. “We’re the flaming side kickers! You three will get right down to business doing what we do here. But as you can see, with over 30 sidekicks here, we aren’t exactly short-staffed. What I’m saying is, you won’t get a chance to shine!”

“So, we gotta beat the pros at their own game,” Katsuki figured.

“Bingo!” Another sidekick said. “That goes for you too, Shoto! Don’t assume anything just because you’re the boss’s kid!”

“Most of the time,” Another sidekick, Kido, started. “We’re either on patrol or on standby. But we also handle over 100 requests per day, from emergencies to escort missions, to special events.”

“Great. Let’s get to work then,” Katsuki said, putting his fists together. “I’ve been pretty ticked off ever since that spoonbill stole my glory.”

“Are you calling my brother a spoonbill?” Akiko asked, amused.

—

“The boss requested Shoto only so the two of you will be working with us,” Burnin’ said to Akiko and Katsuki.

“As if!” Katsuki shouted. “They told me I’d get to watch #1 in action!”

Before anyone could say anything else, Endeavour burst through the door.

“You three, with me,” he said. “I’ll be supervising you boys myself. But before we start, you two have to tell me about yourselves. What are you working on right now? Tell me what you want to achieve.”

“I came here to figure out what I can’t do,” Katsuki answered quickly. “My explosion can pull off anything I want it to. I’ve only got that one quirk, but it’s totally the strongest. But then I learned that a strong quirk’s not enough to make me the strongest guy around. To surpass #1, I came to find out what I’m missing.”

“And you?” Endeavour asked Akiko.

“I want to get better control,” Akiko replied. “Both parts of my quirk can do a lot of things, but for my fire, I don’t know very much about it, I had my brother teach me thoroughly about my wings, but I never had anyone be able to do something like that for the fire part of my quirk. I know I can create and control fire, but I don’t know the specifics of it. I want to get more specific with what I can do. As well as figuring out how to utilize my fire better. If I don’t have enough fire in me, I can pass out. I need to know how to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

—

[akiko: is everything okay?
i might be imagining things but something seemed off about you today
i just want to make sure everythings okay. ]

[bro✨: Don’t worry kid, everythings fine with me
If something was wrong, I’d tell you ]

[akiko: okay
it was just that i noticed you were acting off today and you seemed to have things on your feathers
i must have been imagining things. ]

[bro✨: Like i said everythings fine
Don’t worry about me
Just focus on your training, okay? ]

[akiko: alright ]

Chapter Text

January 5, 2149

Even though Keigo said everything was okay, Akiko couldn't shake the feeling of something off with him. Like, what was on his wings? That was sticking out to Akiko. Akiko had many memories of Keigo saying how he hated having things in or on his feathers, but this time he seemed unbothered by it. What was going on with him?

—

Throughout the work study, Akiko was determined to work hard. With Akiko's mind stuck on the past lately, there was one thing Akiko was wondering. How did Endeavour catch his dad all those years ago? Akiko didn't like that his mind was stuck on his father, but it was.

It seemed like, with Endeavour, whenever he was after a villain, you could always hear him. Whether it was the sound of a crackling fire, or him barking orders at someone, you knew Endeavour was there. The reason Akiko's dad was able to be a villain for so long and why he could be on the run for six years was because he always knew when someone was coming. Using his feathers, Akiko's father could hear every sound, no matter how loud or quiet it was. He could always hear when anyone was going to catch him.

How did Endeavour catch Akiko's father if he could hear Endeavour coming? Did he want to get caught for some reason? Akiko couldn't understand it.

"Endeavour, can I ask a question?" Akiko asked at the end of the day.

"Does it have to do with hero work?" Endeavour asked.

"Yes, it does," Akiko said. Endeavour nodded, telling Akiko to ask. "I know the element of surprise is a common thing for heroes like you to use, what do you do if the villain you're fighting knows you're there?"

"I fight them like I would any other villain," Endeavour replied.

"Have you ever come across a villain like that?" Akiko asked even though he already knew the answer. "Have you ever fought a villain who knew you were there, but you were able to catch them anyway?"

"Yes," Endeavour answered. "He was a pain in the ass to catch for that exact reason."

"Who was it?" Shoto (who had been nearby) asked. "Have I ever heard you talk about them?"

"No," Endeavour replied. "It was almost 20 years ago; you weren't even born. A villain known as 'The Takami Thief' is who it was. I went after him for a few months, and I finally caught him. About a year later, he escaped and was on the run for six years before he was caught by some nobody hero."

Akiko wanted to counter that statement and say that Kairos wasn't 'some nobody hero', but he didn't because he knew he wasn't supposed to know anything about this. To everyone else, Katashi Takami was some random villain, nobody of note, so Akiko should have no idea who he is.

—

January 7, 2149

"You’re part way there with both your tasks, Shoto," Endeavour said when they were all on a break one day. "First, work on focusing your fire since you can already control the shape of your ice. It's the same idea. Phoenix," he said, causing Akiko to change his attention from the street below to Endeavour. "With your energy, think about storing it," he said. "Separate it into groups. A certain amount for fighting and a certain amount for energy. You know how much is enough for you to function, always make sure you have more of that than you need."

"Yes, Sir," Akiko replied.

—

April 26, 2137

"Stay here," he said to his son. Iko listened, then he watched his dad enter the building. Iko didn't know what the building was, but his dad seemed cautious entering. His dad had brought two of his friends along, none of them Nobu though.

Iko didn't know how long he silently waited in front of the building. He sat down on the concrete, cold from the dark of night, and waited for his dad to get back.

Iko didn't know how long he waited. At some point, he got bored and stood up. He didn't walk far, just to the street, but someone found him. A woman with red hair and yellow eyes. The moment Iko saw her, he ran back to the door of the building and hid in his wings, hoping she wouldn't find him.

"Hello?"

She found him. She found Iko. Dad didn't want anyone knowing about him, but this woman found him. Iko scooted back as far as he could, which wasn't far.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said. "My name is Kairos, I'm a hero. What's your name?”

A hero? That's even worse! A hero of all people found him!

"I– Iko," he said. Why did I answer her?

"Everything will be okay, Iko," Kairos reassured. "Where are your parents?"

"D– Dad in," Iko answered.

"Your dad's in the store?" she asked.

Iko nodded. "He sa– said to wait."

"What do people call your dad?" she asked.

"Ta– Takami," Iko replied. Dad was going to be mad, he just knew it. Dad was going to yell, he was going to hurt him. Iko was scared. He was so, so scared.

"Everything's okay, Iko," Kairos said. "I'm gonna go get your dad, okay?"

"No!" Iko shouted. "No, please."

"Everything will be okay," she said, then walked inside the building.

Why was she so confident that everything would be okay? Iko was going to get hurt again because of her.

A few minutes later, Iko saw flashing lights. Then there were a few people coming towards Iko. Then the hero came out of the building with Dad. He was yelling. He was yelling at the hero, then once he saw Iko, he started yelling at him.

"What'd I tell you to do?!" he shouted to Iko. "Can't you listen to me?!"

Then someone said something to Dad that he really didn't like.

"You worthless piece of shit! This is all your fault!"

—

January 10, 2149

Akiko should have known. Asking Endeavour about Akiko's dad was a mistake. Of course it triggered a flashback. At least this one wasn't so bad. Not as bad as the flashbacks to missions.

Akiko, Shoto and Katsuki were all at their work study. School had started up again a few days ago, but the three of them were staying at Endeavour's agency in the built-in accommodations. It was early in the morning, earlier than when Akiko normally got up, but still late enough that it would make no sense trying to get more sleep.

Akiko got dressed and ready for the day. He put on the shirt and pants of his hero costume. He tied the jacket around his waist since he was feeling too warm (a normal thing to feel after a nightmare or flashback for him). He put the headphones around his neck and the visor on his head and left the room he slept in.

Shoto was in the hallway talking to one of his dad's sidekicks.

"I've never seen you up so early," Shoto said amusedly to Akiko once he was done with his previous conversation.

"I had a nightmare," Akiko replied bluntly.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Shoto asked.

Akiko wished he could, but the nightmare was all about his dad getting arrested and Shoto couldn’t know that. "No," Akiko replied instead.

"Remember, I'm always here if you want to talk," Shoto said.

"Thank you," Akiko said genuinely. Akiko wanted to tell him. Akiko wanted to tell him everything about who he really was. But he couldn't, and Akiko hated that fact. Akiko didn't want to tell him about the murders, but everything else he did. Everything else Akiko wanted to explain. Akiko was tired of lying to Shoto. Shoto was Akiko's first friend outside of the commission; Shoto means so much to Akiko, he just wants to tell him, but he knows he can't. Shoto will see him differently if he did, and Akiko doesn't want that.

If Akiko has to lie just so Shoto and the rest of his friends don't see him differently, then so be it.

Chapter Text

January 11, 2149

Akiko didn’t know the reason, but he, Shoto and Katsuki were all told to get into their uniforms that night. So that’s exactly what Akiko did. When they returned to Endeavour’s agency around 6:30 that night, he took off his hero costume and changed into his school uniform.

Then they were driven somewhere by Endeavour’s chauffeur (Akiko was a little uncomfortable in the car because of his wings, but he dealt with it). It wasn’t a long drive, about 20 minutes until they pulled up in front of Endeavour’s house. No matter how many times Akiko saw it, he always thought about how big the building was.

“My sister told us to come for dinner,” Shoto informed them when they all arrived. “She wanted to have my friends over.”

“Go tell her that we’re not actually friends!” Katsuki shouted.

“That’s nice,” Akiko said, ignoring Katsuki. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Fuyumi; like, over a year, I think.”

“I know you’re all super busy, so thanks for coming!” Fuyumi said. “I’m Shoto’s older sister, Fuyumi, it’s nice to meet you. It’s nice seeing you again, Akiko.”

“It’s nice to see you, too,” Akiko said to Fuyumi as he put on his guest house slippers. Another one of the things Akiko found interesting about Shoto’s home and life; you had to wear slippers inside his house, in Akiko’s home with Keigo, it was pretty common to see one of them walking around barefoot.

“Sorry for inviting everyone on such short notice,” Fuyumi apologized. “I really appreciate all of you coming anyway! Oh! And happy birthday, Shoto.”

“Thank you, Fuyumi.”

It wasn’t long until Akiko, Shoto, Katsuki, Fuyumi, Natsuo (Shoto’s older brother) and Endeavour sat down at the table and were eating dinner. Akiko had been over for dinner at the Todorokis a few times before, but he was always surprised. He was surprised by how much food they always had. Growing up, Akiko was lucky if he had anything to eat, but there were people like Shoto who, if anything, had too much to eat. It was jarring to Akiko and even made him jealous.

“If there’s anything you can’t eat, don’t worry,” Fuyumi said as she sat down.

“This is amazing,” Akiko said after he had finished a few bites. “Thank you.”

“It makes sense,” Natsuo chimed in. “Fuyumi’s been doing the cooking ever since our cook retired due to back problems.”

Another surprising thing about the Todorokis to Akiko; they had a cook. Akiko had no clue how anyone could grow up with things like that and think it was normal.

“Natsuo used to cook, too,” Fuyumi commented.

Shoto was taken aback by that. “I used to eat your cooking?” he asked.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Natsuo answered. “But my stuff’s probably too rich. Endeavour probably didn’t let you eat it.”

Akiko always found that interesting. Natsuo never called Endeavour anything close to ‘Dad’. Akiko knew what it was like to not like your own father, but he still called his own dad ‘Dad’. Natsuo didn't though. Endeavour was never ‘Dad’ or even ‘Father’ to him, just Endeavour – Akiko had even heard Natsuo call his father his real name, Enji.

“So, what food do you eat at school, Shoto?” Fuyumi asked, hoping to change the subject.

“School food,” Shoto quietly replied.

“The food was good. Thanks,” Natsuo said as he stood up with his dishes.

“Natsu!”

“I sat at the table. That’s enough, right?” Natsuo asked as he walked away. “Sorry, sis. This is just too much.”

After they all finished eating, Akiko and Katsuki helped Endeavour with the dishes. Akiko and Katsuki were walking back to the dining room to grab more dishes.

“—dured and endured until she couldn’t anymore," Akiko heard through his feathers. It sounded like Shoto talking. “So, I can’t just decide to forgive the guy who wore her down. But Mom is trying to get past all that now. Honestly, I don’t know how I should feel about him, Fuyumi. I still haven’t seen anything.”

“You’re not supposed to expose your dirty laundry to guests!” Katsuki shouted when they entered the dining room where Shoto and Fuyumi had been.

“I’m so sorry!” Fuyumi said, covering her mouth with her hands.

“Katsuki!” Akiko scolded. “It’s not anyone’s fault over what their parents are like.”

—

“It has to do with... Toya?” Akiko cautiously asked. He remembered what Shoto said to him so long ago; the topic of their oldest brother, Toya, is a sensitive one.

“Yeah,” Fuyumi said. “Natsu and Toya were so close growing up. They were always playing together. It was shortly after Mom went away; her condition somehow got even worse to the point that Shoto couldn’t visit her anymore. But she’s overcome all that. Shoto’s visiting her now and our family’s looking towards the future. Only Natsuo can’t seem to let go. He believes that Father... killed Toya.”

“That explains the look on his face,” Katsuki muttered.

“I can’t blame Natsuo though,” Akiko said quietly. “I don’t know the full story, but I know some. And I think I can understand where Natsuo is comin’ from. And if I thought someone I know killed someone else I really cared about, I know I’d be pissed at them.”

Akiko knew that feeling. Akiko hated himself after he killed Nobu. He didn’t think he deserved anything good, that’s why he pushed everyone away back then. He remembers how he would snap at people; he remembers snapping at Keigo on many occasions and mistreating Shoto so much that it ended their friendship for a bit – until during the sports festival last year when Akiko tried to rekindle it.

Akiko found it hard to understand why Natsuo would think Endeavour killed Toya though. Part of Akiko wanted to look more into Toya Todoroki, find out what happened to him.

“Fuyumi,” Endeavour addressed from the doorway. “I have to bring the boys back to school.”

—

March 7, 2140

“Listen, kid,” the woman was getting tired of this. “You’ll be a better hero without them, alright?”

‘Them’ were Akiko’s tail feathers. Over the past three years at the commission, Akiko had come to realize that the commission didn’t like Akiko’s and Keigo’s more bird-like features and tendencies. Keigo always told Akiko to pretend to think the same as the commission employees in conversations like this, but Akiko didn’t want to.

“But my tail feathers help me fly,” Akiko said, and it was the truth. That was the whole reason Akiko had them. If he didn’t need them, then he wouldn’t even have them, evolution and all.

“I’m sure that’s not the truth,” the woman said. “But if it is, you’ll relearn. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“But it will be,” Akiko said. It had taken ages for Akiko to learn to fly. Akiko knew he didn’t have the time to relearn how to fly – he needed to keep his tail feathers.

The woman looked at Akiko with a dangerous look. “Listen, no one will like you as a hero if you’re too animalistic or childish. It’s for your own good, Phoenix.”

Akiko scowled back. Akiko had asked Keigo why he didn’t have tail feathers a while ago. Keigo said his handler thought they were ‘undesirable’, and they got removed. Akiko didn’t want to lose his tail feathers too.

“They help me,” Akiko shot back, putting his hand against his seat, touching his tail feathers.

“You don’t want people to think you’re different, do you?”

“But I’m not different.”

“Whether you like it or not, you are different,” she snapped. “Just do this and you’ll be rewarded, okay?”

Akiko didn’t know if he should say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Being rewarded was nice, but a temporary thing – removing his tail feathers would be permanent. Plus, it would be way too much work to relearn.

In the end, Akiko was forced to get his tail feathers removed. He had to relearn how to fly, but he did it. Akiko learned what they meant by him being ‘animalistic’ – they just didn’t like mutant quirks. Not a weird thing in society, but it was still something Akiko hated. All he wanted was to live as himself, no changes. Live as Akiko Takami, not Phoenix. Live as someone who doesn’t have to hide things about himself. But he knew it was just a dream, not a reality.

Chapter Text

February 17, 2149

It was happening again. Akiko didn’t know what he expected to happen at his work study, but he should have known he would be doing similar things to what he did in his first work study.

Just like this work study at Fat Gum’s agency, Akiko was going to be part of a raid. This one, however, was on a much bigger scale. This one had many more people on it. What must have been hundreds of heroes, plus hero students from multiple schools; the entirety of UA’s hero course was here.

The point of the raid was to take down the Paranormal Liberation Front, who had joined forces with the League of Villains – according to the intel Akiko was told. The PLF was a danger mainly because of their numbers – over 100,000 people. Akiko was one of the unlucky people to be on the front lines, the only other person from Akiko’s class who was also there was Kaminari. The PLF had bases all across the country, with the main ones being Jaku Hospital and the Gunga Mountain Villa, with the latter being where Akiko was. The heroes had someone on the inside to get the intel. According to that intel, the entirety of the PLF was having a meeting. The heroes were going to crash that meeting and arrest as many villains as possible.

Akiko could tell that Kaminari was worried; he was clearly panicking.

“Hey, Denki!” Akiko shouted to him; Kaminari looked at Akiko and he could easily see the worry. “Everything will be okay! I’m sure of it.”

“How do you know that?!”

“They wouldn’t send students if it wasn’t,” Akiko replied. “How about this? When this is all done, we can have a nice party in the dorms. Intel said that the League was part of the PLF, they were the whole reason the dorms existed. Maybe once we defeat them, we'll be able to go back home.”

“You think so?” Kaminari looked hopeful.

“Of course, I do, Denki.” Akiko paused as he kept going forward. “You know what to do!”

Akiko got out of the way of Kaminari’s electricity as he made a long-range attack. Akiko sent a blast of fire at the villains coming towards him. A goal he was given was to injure villains enough to make it hard for them to attack, but not enough for them to be severely injured. Akiko gave each one big cut using a few feathers. Akiko kept on attacking as he saw fit for the next few minutes.

“Hey, Phoenix!” Akiko heard someone shout. Akiko looked to see who it was, and it was Fat Gum. “Come over here!”

Akiko ran over to him and Amajiki to see what they wanted.

“There’s a whole bunch of villains gathered in the giant sanctuary underneath this base!” Fat Gum informed him as they ran.

“Several passages lead outside,” Amajiki added. “But our allies blocked them in advance.”

“The only ones left are the five in the mansion!” Fat Gum shouted.

“We have to block it, don’t we?” Akiko asked.

“Exactly!”

Akiko wasn’t sure how to block it (he’s not the one you should ask for that sort of thing), but he did know how he could always know if a villain was trying to escape. He put some of his smallest feathers down the stairway so he could listen for footsteps.

“There are still hundreds of villains down there!” Akiko shouted as he realized (thanks to being able to feel sound vibrations through his feathers). “Anything specific I should worry about?”

“Not that I can think of,” Fat Gum said. “There’s only one big danger and they say that he won’t make a move! Not without direct orders from the big boss anyway. But the big boss is sitting this one out. Anyway, it’s back to the rear guard for us!”

“How do we know that?” Akiko asked as he followed Fat Gum who ran.

“It’s all thanks to Hawks and his investigation!” Fat Gum replied. “I dunno much about it, but odds are he’s here somewhere.”

That’s when Akiko realized; that’s why Keigo was so busy these past couple months. It’s not because of his rise in rank (though that probably had something to do with it), it’s because he was running an investigation. It was most likely a mission too. The two of them never talked about their missions, but they did talk about the training they got for those missions. Akiko always knew what the two of them were trained for was different; Keigo must have been trained for spy work and not assassinations like Akiko was.

“Should we really be joining the rear guard?” Akiko asked. Akiko couldn't help but think that they shouldn’t. Akiko thought they could still help.

“You kids struck first with your wide-ranged attacks,” Fat Gum explained as they ran. “Now it’s time for the net to close in so we can crush them little by little. At this point, your attacks would only hit our allies and trip them up.”

Akiko disagreed with that. The good part about Akiko’s quirk is that he could be both a close and far ranged attacker. He could take down some villains and not get anyone else stuck in the crossfire fine. He knew he shouldn’t go back, but he had to. He knew he could do more. If he ran away now, what would be the point of almost 12 years of training? Akiko stopped running and turned around to start flying back to the villa. He could still hear through his feathers on the stairway and could still hear hundreds of panicked voices. He could take down at least a few.

From the outside, Akiko could see a fire on the upper floor. The majority of the villa was made of wood; if the fire didn’t get under control, the whole thing could burn down. The fire Akiko saw was blue, telling him that he was almost guaranteed to run into Dabi, with him being one of the most dangerous out of the whole League, he thought it was good to try to fight him – he could fight him as long as he could while he waited for a hero to arrive and help. Akiko flew up to the top to get to the fire quicker and saw something he didn’t expect.

He expected the fire and Dabi, but he didn’t expect to see Keigo fighting him and Keigo didn’t seem to be doing too well. As Akiko had seen outside, there was fire everywhere. As Akiko crouched down to Keigo on the ground, he tried collecting the fire to use as energy later. Akiko didn’t know if he had a limit or not for the amount of heat energy he could have, but he knew all this fire was too much for him.

“I’ve got both the Takamis now,” Dabi drawled once he noticed Akiko.

“What did you do?!” Akiko shouted, still trying to collect the fire, more discretely now that he’d been noticed.

“Your half-brother here killed my friend,” Dabi said, pointing to a body on the ground.

Keigo killed someone? Akiko didn’t think that was the kind of thing he would do, but then again, Akiko’s killed three people, so maybe it is the kind of thing he would do? Akiko’s not sure, his mind is racing with so many different thoughts. Akiko looked at the body Dabi pointed to, barely realizing it was a member of the League – Twice. While Akiko was running here, he heard two heartbeats and one faint one; Twice was barely hanging on just a minute ago, but now, he had no heartbeat. He was dead.

While stuck in Akiko’s thoughts, Dabi sent a blast of fire towards Akiko. Akiko barely had enough time to get out of the way, his jacket catching on fire. Akiko quickly discarded his jacket and let it fall into the flames.

“But you probably don’t care, do you? After all, you’ve killed more than he has.”

Akiko watched as Dabi walked closer and tried to attack Akiko. Akiko was able to absorb Dabi’s flames for energy later. Akiko could feel himself getting too much heat inside of him. Akiko could feel his breathing picking up, but it wasn’t because of all the smoke he was inhaling.

Akiko knew a good thing to do would be to take Dabi down, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that alone. The best Akiko could do was distract Dabi while he thought of a way to get Keigo out of there.

“How’d you even know that, huh?” Akiko demanded. “Sure, you were there for Kuroki’s murder, but what about the others?” All the fire both in and out of his body was getting to him. Akiko had to get out of there.

Dabi tried to attack Akiko with his fire. Akiko was able to dodge and take the fire. Using all the heat he had stored, Akiko sent his own blast of fire towards Dabi; the flames he sent out were blue thanks to Dabi’s fire being used as fuel.

“Careful,” Dabi warned. “Wouldn’t want you to pass out mid-fight.”

How much did he know? “Thanks to you, I’ve got plenty!” Akiko proved his point by grabbing more and more fire, feeling the heat even more as he did so.

“You really don’t care, do you?” Dabi asked mockingly. “You don’t care that Keigo killed a perfectly good man?!”

“You’ve gotta know some shit, eh?” Akiko asked, not fully realizing what Dabi had said. “How do you know about my energy?”

“Your half-brother makes a good spy, Takami, but sometimes he said things he shouldn’t’ve,” Dabi said.

Akiko absorbed as much fire as he could, sent a blast towards Dabi, grabbed Keigo and flew away.

Chapter Text

February 17, 2149

Akiko remembered that there was a first aid area; it was mainly for civilians who accidentally got hurt in the crossfire, but it was also for heroes who got injured. Akiko didn’t get a good chance to look at Keigo’s injuries until he was in the air, too focused on the man who was actively trying to hurt him, opposed to his brother, who was injured on the floor. But now that Akiko got his brother away from all the fire, he was able to get a good look; all of Keigo’s feathers were gone, and his back was covered in burns. The burns on his back and went up his neck as well as his arms. Akiko couldn’t help but think about how painful they were.

“A– Aki…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Akiko replied. The burns on Keigo’s neck seemed pretty bad, meaning his throat must’ve been messed up. “I’m gonna get you help. Everything will be okay.” Akiko wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or Keigo. He was just so panicked.

Akiko could remember the first aid area being fairly far away. Akiko wished he was faster. The only good thing about this situation was that Akiko was flying; that always calmed him down when he was stressed, but if he looked down at Keigo, Akiko’s stress came back.

Despite all his worrying, Akiko made it to the first aid area.

“I need help!” Akiko shouted, still panting from how fast he was flying, softly putting Keigo down, but still helping him stay standing – Keigo seemed just barely conscious. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people injured and in need of help, meaning someone came over to help right away. Immediately after an older woman with red hair ran over to help, Akiko frantically said, “He’s got a lot of burns. I think they’re either second or third degree, he’s also just barely conscious.”

“Alright, sweetie, he’ll be okay,” the red-haired woman said. “There’s not much to be done, but I can do my best to make sure his burns heal well.”

“Alright.” That made Akiko feel a bit better.

“Help me get his shirt off so I can see how bad they are,” she asked.

The woman led Akiko to one of the first aid tents and Akiko set Keigo on the ground on his stomach. Akiko fumbled with the clasp at the back of his neck, slipping the shirt down so that the nurse could get to all the burns. Having many burns of his own, Akiko knew what they looked and felt like; the ones Keigo had seemed close to the worst of what Akiko had ever had. Which, if you thought about it, made sense since the flames surrounding Keigo were blue and the one-time Akiko had been burned with blue flames, he completely lost feeling there. Keigo’s bandages ended up covering the majority of his back and even went up to his face, covering the left side of his face.

When she was done with Keigo, doing the best she could, she pointed out that Akiko got some burns as well. Akiko didn’t have nearly as many burns as Keigo had, but they were in a similar severity. Akiko’s bandages were on his right arm and went up the right side of his face. Once the nurse finished putting bandages on Akiko’s face, Akiko put his headphones back on, just in case.

The nurse had walked away to help someone else while Akiko sat on the ground right next to Keigo.

“You’ll be okay,” Akiko said to him, even though he knew that Keigo most likely couldn’t hear him. “I know you will. You have to.”

Akiko was calming down from all the adrenaline, making him able to think about everything. He had lost feeling in his arm again, as well as part of his face. He should have cherished having feeling in his arm and face more than he did. Keigo probably wouldn’t have feeling where his burns are either. Akiko knew that would be weird for him. For Akiko, it was a gradual loss of feeling, but if Keigo lost feeling where his burns are, it would be all at once. Akiko thinks he’d be lucky if Keigo still had a lot of feeling.

Akiko yelped in surprise when he heard Endeavour’s voice shouting through his headphones.

“Attention all, this is Endeavour! I’ve engaged with Shigaraki at the hospital ruins! Anyone who can move without touching the ground needs to form a perimeter!”

That’s exactly what Akiko can do. This shouldn’t be something he has to think about. He shouldn’t have to think if he wants to do what a hero should do. He should just do it without thinking. Akiko must’ve sat there on the ground for a minute or two before deciding he would go and try to help.

His main worry was if something happened to Keigo while he was away, but the nurse said she did all she could at that moment. He’ll be okay. Akiko put a few feathers close to him anyway. If something happened, Akiko would know.

Akiko reluctantly ran off, lifting into the air to fly to the ruins of the hospital. Akiko was listening to any other information that came through his headphones and picking up information. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Akiko to arrive where Shigaraki and Endeavour were.

When Akiko got there, Shigaraki was standing on top of Endeavour. Akiko sent out a blast of fire (still blue, how much of Dabi’s fire did he actually get?) towards Shigaraki without thinking – that had become a theme for him now.

“What are you doing?!” Endeavour shouted to Akiko.

He didn’t know what he was doing, just trying to do something. He kept sending fire Shigaraki’s way, not caring about losing energy.

“Matsubara! Move!” Midoriya shouted before starting to attack Shigaraki. Akiko got out of the way, just before Midoriya gave Shigaraki a good kick in the chest.

While fighting, Akiko found himself distracted and unable to do the most of what he knows he can do. Everything passes in a blur for him; he barely registers what’s happened.

“You cold-blooded killer,” Shigaraki said to Akiko. That statement made him pause and hesitate. Akiko knew that Dabi knew about that, but how many people did he tell? How fast did it get out? Akiko knew that it was no longer a matter of if his friends found out, but when and he had a feeling it would be soon .

Before Akiko knew it, Shigaraki was severely weakened.

“You heroes pretend to be society’s guardians,” Shigaraki said as Akiko, Endeavour, Midoriya, Katsuki and a few other heroes watched. “For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn’t protect and swept their pain under the rug. It’s tainted everything you’ve built. That means your system’s all rotten from the inside and crawling with maggots. It all adds up little by little over time. You’ve got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that needs coddling. It’s a corrupt, vicious cycle. Everything I’ve witnessed, this whole system you’ve built has always rejected me,” Shigaraki went on. “Now, I’m ready to reject it. That’s why I destroy. That’s why I took this power for myself. Simple enough, yeah? This whole society is messed up, don’t you agree, Matsubara?”

Akiko hesitated before saying, “I was helped. I was saved from my shitty situation and now I help people who are in similar ones.”

“But you were put in another one, weren’t you?” Shigaraki asked. “You became a cold-blooded serial killer because you were ‘saved’.”

Akiko didn’t even have to think of a response thanks to Endeavour attacking Shigaraki again. Akiko watched as everyone fought, feeling locked in place. One mention of his missions and he was as still as a statue.

“Akiko!” Shoto shouted. He wasn’t here before, was he? “What are you doing?!”

Akiko looked at him, seeing that he was immediately stepping in, starting to fight. Akiko’s standing still. Why can’t I fight? What’s wrong with me? Akiko was shocked out of his thoughts when he was lifted up into the air by Midoriya’s whips. Akiko’s wings started flapping on instinct; when Akiko looked at them, he saw small sparks coming off them. The fire I took in is affecting me more than I thought it would. Why don’t I feel it?

Chapter Text

February 17, 2149

Midoriya must have noticed that Akiko was flapping his wings and let go of him, leaving Akiko to fly on his own. Do something! What are you good for if you don’t, Takami?!

Akiko tried to fight by sending out a few blasts of fire – still blue – towards Shigaraki, making sure to not get Midoriya in the crossfire. Akiko tried his best to fight, but felt that he wasn’t doing much; instead, he left Midoriya to it, only stepping in if it looked like Midoriya struggled.

At some point, Midoriya came up with a plan. Akiko wasn’t needed for it, so he stayed on the ground. He looked on as Shigaraki attacked Midoriya, but Katsuki got in the way, saving Midoriya. Katsuki’s body was stabbed with five spikes from Shigaraki.

I shouldn’t’ve stayed on the ground, Akiko thought. He flew up to grab Katsuki’s body and carefully set him down on the ground. Everyone else had come down to the ground as well. Akiko didn’t know why, but he flew back up and hit Shigaraki with the hottest flames he could make. Akiko looked at the extent of the burns but was confused when Shigaraki healed himself.

“You’re interesting, aren’t you, Takami?” Shigaraki said.

“I’m not a killer,” is all Akiko said back, talking about Shigaraki’s earlier comment of Akiko being a ‘cold-blooded serial killer’.

“Are you sure about that?” Shigaraki asked, then immediately attacked Akiko with the same spikes he stabbed Katsuki with.

Akiko dodged them and went back down to the ground where everyone else was. Did anyone hear? He wondered. Everyone but Shoto was injured.

“Akiko, help me help them,” Shoto said.

“Alright,” Akiko said. Other than Katsuki, their injuries weren’t too bad. Backup had arrived (a few heroes as well as a few students) while Akiko and Shoto were trying to help them. Akiko didn’t have much time to do anything before a giant came crashing in. The giant grabbed Shigaraki in its hand and held him close.

“Oh! There you are!” Akiko heard a familiar voice shout. Akiko looked to where it was (it was coming from the giant) and saw Dabi. Him again? He had already hurt Keigo a lot, now he was going to attack them even more?

“You all look like ants from up here!” Dabi shouted as he shook something in his hand. “Do I spy Shoto too? That’s perfect!”

“Dabi!” Endeavour growled, clearly angry about him and the rest of the League being there; Akiko shared his sentiment.

Akiko wanted to attack Dabi and was just barely containing himself; he wanted to hurt him; he wanted to drive a feather through his– Akiko wanted to kill him. That’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to willingly kill a person.

“Ouch. Is that any way to address me?” Dabi opened whatever he had been shaking and poured it on his head. Slowly, as the liquid ran down his black hair, it turned white. “I have a great name. Call me Toya. I know my face isn’t exactly what it was, but I was sure my own family would’ve figured it out.”

Toya? Akiko had heard that name before, where was it?

“Who’s that?”

“That’s my older brother, not Natsuo, I used to have another one, Toya; he passed away a little under 10 years ago.”

That’s Shoto’s brother. Dabi is Toya Todoroki.

“But I never forgot a thing,” Toya spat. “And I had plenty of reasons to keep watching you,” he directed that comment towards Endeavour. “I’m not saying everyone has to be pure and selfless – just you, Endeavour. And guess what? Right now, my pre-recorded life story is broadcasting nationwide and on the net! Man, I’m having a blast!” He laughed.

“Sorry, where was I? How could I hurt you? How could I stomp all over your life?” Toya asked rhetorically. “I’ve been pondering all this ever since that day! I couldn’t figure out why I even existed, and every day I’d crawl to Natsu, crying my eyes out, not that you ever knew, right?! When you finally achieved success with your little puppet, Shoto, I thought killing him might do the trick! But then, who would’ve guessed, you’d get bumped up to #1! Suddenly, I was rooting for your success!

“My blood ran cold when I thought you might bite the dust back in Kyoto!” Toya looked a bit manic. “Then, I led Star Servant and Ending straight to you, one after the other! You were finally #1! It’s all you’ve ever wanted, but it must’ve weighed on you, right? Or was the praise and admiration like chicken and soup for your soul? When at long last, you could stare your kids in the eye, did you finally start to feel the warm and fuzzy bonds of family?! You must’ve thought, ‘As long as I face the future, I can be better’ ! I can tell you’re at a loss for words, so here’s the answer!

“The past never dies!” Toya shouted. “Get it yet!? You reap what you sow! So, let’s tango, you and me – Enji Todoroki! A dance with your son in Hell!”

After a moment of silence, processing what Toya said, Akiko was the first one to speak. “You’re wrong!”

“How am I wrong?” Toya asked him.

“The past does die!” Akiko shouted, cutting the villain off, flaring his blood red wings in anger. “You can’t hang on to the past forever, Toya! You have to move on!”

“That’s interesting for you to say,” Toya shouted. “You seem to want to keep your past, Takami. You froze when I called you your real name last year!”

“No one was supposed to know that, so of course I was surprised when a villain called me my real name! And the past does die! It's not my fault it keeps coming back to me!”

“Just like Nobuko did?” Toya asked, causing Akiko to go wide-eyed. “You took her life. You left her to bleed, and she died because of you! Same with the other two people you killed. You could have saved them, but you didn’t, did you? I thought you cared about Nobuko? That’s what people I talked to said. I even watched you kill someone with my own eyes last summer; you didn’t even feel too bad about it! Just went on with your night! You’re a villain, just like me. You really are your father’s son!”

Everything. He told them everything. They all knew. They knew who he was, they knew about the murders. How could he tell them so carelessly? Akiko knew there was never an ounce of trust between the two of them, but was it too much to hope that he would be able to reveal his own secret?

“No,” Endeavour finally muttered in shock. “Toya is dead. Take back that despicable lie.”

Toya turned his attention to Endeavour and shouted, “Nope, I’m clearly alive! And that’s the despicable truth, Dad! Because you put a whole agency together of fire and heat-type quirks, you didn’t even suspect me! Don’t believe me? I’m happy to donate some blood or a hunk of skin. Go ahead – get a DNA test. Not that it matters since the test I ran has already gone public. This is my present to you, Endeavour.

“Thanks for going strong up until now, Endeavour!” Toya shouted before jumping down towards Endeavour with a blue flame in his hand. Endeavour was still frozen in shock. Akiko flew towards Toya and stole his fire, fueling Akiko even more than Toya already had.

“You knew so much abou’ my quirk earlier, didn’ ya?” Akiko asked, letting out a manic grin, no longer hiding who he really is. “Then you gotta know that I don’ have a limit for how much I can take in!”

Toya clearly didn’t understand the point Akiko was trying to make when he just kept making more and more flames, fueling the young boy. It must’ve been almost 30 seconds before Toya stopped fueling Akiko because the villain became restrained.

“Apologies for the delay!” Someone shouted from above. “As of today, Best Jeanist is back on duty!”

Best Jeanist restrained, not only Toya, but also the giant that carried Toya and the rest of the League to the ruins of the hospital.

“You! You’re supposed to be dead!” Toya shouted. “That corpse was real!”

What corpse? Akiko wondered.

“You’ve overreached!” Best Jeanist replied. “And now you’re coming apart at the seams like cheap, inferior denim!”

While no one was paying attention to him, Toya sent a blast of fire towards Hado. As soon as Akiko realized that, he flew over grabbing all the fire he could; he said he didn’t have a limit for how much he could take in, but he didn’t know – he had no clue if he had a limit or not, he had never had the chance to find out.

“Check it out, Endeavour!” Toya shouted, burning the fibres that had kept him restrained. “History’s repeating itself! Another kid with a bright future all burned up by your flames!”

The giant had snapped its binds by now and started trying to attack. Thankfully, Best Jeanist was able to re-restrain the giant quickly.

“You really sent those villains our way?!” Shoto asked his brother. “One of them almost killed Natsu! Remember him? The brother you cried to every day!”

“Almost killed?” Toya sounded surprised, but also happy. “What a shame. That would’ve really hurt Endeavour.”

“Are you insane?!” Shoto yelled.

“Sure am, Shoto,” Toya replied nonchalantly. “See, your brother’s not too big on feelings anymore.” He sent a blast of fire towards Shoto; Akiko ran over to get the fire, saving his friend – his friend who he hoped didn’t see him any differently now that his secret was out. “You’re pretty heroic , aren’t you? Trying to make up for what your family has done?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Akiko yelled as he consumed the fire. He could feel the fire licking his limbs as well as his wings, confused as to why they weren’t burning – he could feel the heat, but not the feeling of burning. Why am I not on fire? I should be; what’s happening to me?

Chapter Text

February 17, 2149

To Akiko’s surprise, some nomu appeared and started attacking, but were quickly attacked by… Togata? Akiko had heard about Eri trying to get good enough with her quirk so that she could get Togata’s quirk back to him, but he didn’t know she had succeeded.

Akiko had been taking fire from Toya to make sure Hado didn’t get burned. Akiko didn’t entirely know what he was doing, just trying to make sure everyone was safe.

Best Jeanist and Togata were successfully fighting the nomu, not needing any help. Akiko was trying to think of anything he could do to help but was blanking. Akiko turned around and saw that Toya was trying to burn Shoto.

“Get away from him!” Akiko shouted while flying towards the two of them and started to take more of Toya’s fire. Akiko went behind Toya with a sharpened feather and cut him. Akiko knew it wouldn’t do much, but it might weaken him a tiny bit. Akiko knew he didn’t need to do much, just enough to weaken the villains.

To Akiko’s surprise, the giant that had been held down by Best Jeanist broke the wires keeping him down. But quickly fell back down.

“That reminds me!” Togata shouted. “The message I got from the gang at the villa – they said their strategy had no effect but look! The sedative must’ve worked!”

Akiko had forgotten about his other classmates that weren’t in the same area he was. He hoped they were okay.

Even with the giant down, there were still more villains to fight – which Akiko did his best against. Akiko watched as one of the League members, Mr. Compress, gave himself a fatal wound using his own quirk. Best Jeanist quickly restrained him. Mr. Compress got free and stood atop the giant’s back again. He was talking, but Akiko wasn’t listening. That’s when Akiko struck. Before he knew it, Akiko was moving. He grabbed it from someone and–

BANG

Mr. Compress’s chest dripped blood from the bullet that had pierced it, his body falling back, the last drops of life just barely hanging on. Everyone looked to where the bullet had come from – the gun in Akiko’s still raised arm. Shoto looked at Akiko.

“Akiko?” Shoto asked shakily. “Why would you do that? What’s wrong with you?!”

“My name is Akiko Takami,” he said, “and I am my father’s son, just like Toya said.”

Why do I feel happy? I just killed a man.

Akiko threw the gun to the ground. Akiko just watched as everything around him happened. The fact that he just willingly killed Mr. Compress was a weird thought. He always told himself that he would never willingly kill someone, but he just did. No one told him to kill anyone – he made the decision to kill that man on his own.

Akiko watched as a group of nomu ran towards him (or more accurately, the giant). Akiko felt more ready to fight them than before. But it didn’t matter. The villains retreated. Akiko tried to follow, but his mind was hazy. Was it all the fire he had in him? Maybe, he wasn’t sure.

—

After the raid, or rather the war, things felt surreal to Akiko. The giant, Gigantomachia, was arrested. Mr. Compress was pronounced dead because of the bullet that Akiko had shot at him. Almost all of the MLA members were arrested, making the number of arrests that day close to 17,000 people in just that one spot. Some MLA members had escaped, but there were just over 100 of them – in the grand scheme of things, that was nothing. The MLA’s bases around the country were hit and all the sympathizers were arrested as well.

After losing track of where the League went, Akiko went to help in rescue. To get to the hospital ruins, Gigantomachia had rampaged numerous cities, leaving only rubble in his wake. Akiko did what he could to get people out from under the rubble. Akiko used his feathers to feel around for people’s heartbeats, prioritizing the weaker sounding ones. He saved numerous people, but he wasn’t always fast enough. As he worked, the number of heartbeats he could hear got smaller and smaller – not because people were getting them out from under the rubble, but because they were dying.

In the aftermath, almost every hero and hero-in-training who fought weren’t able to get out of it without injuries. There were also a few heroes who didn’t get out at all, like Midnight and Sir Nighteye. Akiko wished he could have done more to make sure they got out.

One of the most shocking things to Akiko that happened that day was the attack on the Hero Public Safety Commission’s HQ. During a meeting with the higher-ups that happened at the same time as the raid, the meeting was crashed by a double (made by Twice prior to his death at the hands of Keigo) of the MLA’s leader. He ended up killing all but two of them. When the report of everything that happened came out, Akiko took notice of two names: the president and Kihara. They were both dead. It was hard to believe. Akiko wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

The night after the raid, a number of prison breaks happened at almost every single prison across the country – including the most secure prison in the country, Tartarus.

So much had happened during and after the raid – it was hard to believe.

—

February 19, 2149

Akiko was currently sitting in a chair at a hospital. Akiko wasn’t too badly injured – just the burns he got while fighting Toya. Akiko had been so on edge since the battle. He hadn’t been hurt too much, but his secret was out now. Everyone knew. He hadn’t talked to anyone yet, but they were all recovering. Akiko felt lucky about everything. He hadn’t been too injured – the worst thing that happened was a secret getting out, sure it was a big secret, but it was still just a secret.

Keigo hadn’t been as lucky as Akiko was; the room Akiko was sitting in was Keigo’s at the hospital. He had been severely injured by Toya. After getting Keigo properly checked out at the hospital, Akiko (because Keigo was still unconscious) had learned the full extent of his injuries. The burns were thankfully all there was, but they were severe. All of them were either second or third-degree (mostly the latter); they spanned over his arms and torso as well as his face – Akiko knew that Keigo would be lucky if he had feeling where the burns were.

Akiko didn’t know what to do. All Akiko wanted to do was know that his brother was okay. Akiko wanted to tell him everything that happened – tell him their secret was out mainly.

Akiko needed to distract himself. He walked through the busy halls of the hospital until he found the room he was looking for. The sign next to the door read: Todoroki, Shoto.

Akiko wasn’t sure what Shoto’s injuries were (probably just a lot of burns) but he still wanted to check on him, see if he was okay. Akiko also wanted to know if Shoto’s opinion on him changed after finding out the truth.

Akiko knocked on the door before opening it.

“Hello,” Akiko said nervously. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you. I didn’t want to, I just–” he sighed, gathering his thoughts.

“Is it true?” Shoto asked, his voice sounding strained.

“Yes,” Akiko said. He hesitated, “I’m sorry for lying to you. How are you feeling?”

“Burnt,” Shoto replied.

Akiko smiled in response. “What do you think about your brother being alive?”

“I’m happy,” Shoto said. “I just wish he hadn’t become who he is now.”

“I think I’d feel the same,” Akiko said, trying to sound light-hearted, but knew he didn’t do too well; it was hard to find a positive spin on ‘your brother who you thought was dead is alive and is one of the country’s most wanted villains’.

“Do you think you’ll be okay?”

“The doctor said I will,” Shoto said.

“That’s good,” Akiko said. He didn’t know what to add after that. “I wish you a quick recovery.”

Chapter Text

February 19, 2149

After talking with Shouto, Akiko went back to Keigo’s room in the hospital, wanting to be there when he woke up – which he still hadn’t.

Akiko knew it was a bad idea, but he wanted to know exactly what Touya had said. Akiko was there when he revealed his secret in front of Endeavour, but Touya said it was being broadcast. That meant there was a video. Akiko wanted to watch it to know if there was anything he left out.

It didn’t take much to find it online. Akiko put on his headphones (just barely damaged) and hit play.

The video opened with Touya (or rather Dabi at this point in time judging by the black hair) sitting on a couch with his head down, his hands in front of his face – a similar position to the position someone would put their hands in if they were praying. One thing that caught Akiko’s eyes was the fact that he didn't have his shirt on, putting his scars on full display. They covered both of his arms, his neck and went across his torso.

“I am Touya Todoroki, the eldest son of Endeavour,” he said. “To date, I’ve killed over 30 innocent people in cold blood and today, I’d like everyone to know exactly what drove me to such despicable acts.

“Once upon a time, Endeavour yearned for nothing but power. But when he found himself unable to surpass All Might, he despaired. To concoct even stronger quirks, my father forced the woman who would become my mother to marry him. That’s when my father created me in pursuit of his selfish, egotistical dreams. But alas, I was a failed creation. It didn’t take long for him to reject me. I was tossed aside and forgotten.

“These murderous flames of mine are Endeavour’s flames. Based on my DNA and a sample of Endeavour’s blood from the battle in Kyoto, there’s a 99.9% paternity match. Still, I’m sure many of you believe this to be an elaborate hoax, so I’ll just have to convince you otherwise.

“After all that, Endeavour made sure Mom kept having kids. The fourth was someone you are all familiar with, I think. Yes, at long last, little Shouto was the successful creation. And yet, my father even abused that successful creation. I saw him do it many times. Endeavour doesn’t have a single empathetic bone in his body. At his core, he’s addicted to the limelight. He’s a man who wallows in his own small-mindedness and self-importance. Is that the sort of person who should call himself a hero?

“Those who keep Endeavour company are now different. Take Hawks, the #2 hero.”

The screen changed to a picture that was undeniably Keigo stabbing Twice in the back with a feather. Akiko noticed that not only was Keigo missing his jacket, but his shirt was also on fire. The place he was in too – that was the place Akiko found him fighting Dabi. This photo must’ve been taken only minutes before Akiko found them.

“The others are waiting for you,” an off-screen voice (Akiko thought it was Keigo’s) said.

“Yeah. Okay!” Twice shouted back, clearly scared.

“In order to curry favour with us, Hawks even killed a hero – the #3 hero, in fact, who was recuperating. He killed Best Jeanist. Carrying out that murder didn’t ruffle his feathers in the slightest, since violence is already so ingrained in his lifestyle. And it’s really no wonder since his own father was a serial robber and murderer – a villain. Which is exactly why Hawks’ background and real name were kept secret. It was Endeavour who captured his father actually. Maybe it was that connection and some twist of fate that brought those men together.

“Not even that little brother of his is clean,” Touya went on. “That 16-year-old has killed three different people. I watched him kill one of them just a few months ago; he didn’t even seem to care.”

As Touya talked, the video switched to footage of a warehouse with a man standing in the middle of. Then, Akiko dropped down from the ceiling and stabbed him – killing the man. Akiko remembered that – how could he forget it? That was the night when Akiko killed Kuroki and had a conversation with Dabi. That’s when Akiko remembered something; this was broadcast. Everyone saw Akiko kill someone; everyone heard that Akiko has not one, but three murders under his belt.

“—all themselves ‘heroes’ and keep fooling everyone! I just want everyone to stop and think! The only ones these ‘heroes’ protect are themselves! With all that ugliness inside, they use you people to give them protection! Approval! Admiration! That’s why I kill. That’s why I became a villain.”

This was all worse than Akiko thought. He thought – hoped – that he was lucky enough that only the people that were there when Touya revealed himself to Endeavour knew about the murders; but no, everyone knew. Anyone who watched that broadcast knew that Akiko was a killer. Not only that – but the secret of Akiko’s family was also out; it was only that his family name wasn’t out, Akiko found that interesting – Touya could have revealed his name as Takami and everyone would know, but he didn’t. Touya only told people that Akiko and Keigo’s father was a villain, but didn’t say which one. But Akiko knew it was only a matter of time before his real name got out.

Akiko just sat there, not entirely processing everything. The only thing he could focus on was how bad this whole scenario was.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a groan. He looked over and saw Keigo blinking his eyes open.

“You’re awake,” Akiko said gratefully. Before Keigo could say anything, Akiko stopped him. “Your throat was pretty messed up by the flames, so you shouldn’t talk until it’s properly healed, which the doctor said wouldn’t be too long.”

Keigo opened his mouth to speak but then shut it again; he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“You can use your phone to say things,” Akiko said, answering what he assumed Keigo wanted to ask. As Keigo found his phone to do what Akiko suggested, he kept talking. “You missed a lot after I got you away from the villa,” he said. “First of all, everyone knows now – about Dad being a villain. Dabi told everyone about it. He also showed everyone that you killed Twice… Dabi’s also kind of Endeavour’s son, Touya. The commission’s gone too; it was attacked the morning of the raid – so two days ago now – and barely anyone survived.”

Akiko hated how careless he sounded while saying all of that. He just didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say. He was still trying to process what had happened. How was he supposed to explain it?

The first thing Keigo asked through text-to-speech was, “Are you okay?”

Akiko was a bit surprised. Keigo was the one in a hospital bed, but he was asking Akiko if he was okay? “Yeah, I’m okay. What about you? How are you feeling?”

“It feels weird,” was Keigo’s reply. “Is this what your burns feel like?”

“Pretty much,” Akiko said through a small laugh. “At least you’ll be healed soon.” He paused, then went on about what had happened. “Another thing that happened, I’ve kinda killed people. Three people were missions and during the fight, I shot and killed one of the villains. Dab– Touya kinda told everyone about that, so I thought I should tell you.”

“Did anyone else get injured?” Keigo asked, completely ignoring Akiko’s admission to murdering four people.

“Barely anyone made it out uninjured,” Akiko replied. “I got out with a few burns and cuts, but I was very lucky in the grand scheme of things.”

“I didn’t even want you to be there,” Keigo said. “You shouldn’t have been on the front lines of all things.”

“I’m sorry,” Akiko said.

“It’s not your fault you were there,” Keigo said with a sad look on his face. “I should have done more to make sure you wouldn’t have been there.”

“Maybe look on the bright side,” Akiko said. “If I wasn’t there, you would have been more injured than you are. No one was going to the upper levels of the villa because the meeting we raided was on the lowest level. Though you knew that already ‘cause they said that you were the one who got the information…”

“I’m sorry for not telling you about that,” Keigo said.

“Do you want to tell me about it now?” Akiko asked.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me about your missions,” Keigo replied. Akiko could tell that he tried to smile, but his face must have still hurt from the burns.

Chapter Text

February 19, 2149

“Alright,” Akiko smiled. Akiko decided to go first with explaining what the commission had made him do. “I’ve been on three missions. One every year since I got my provisional license – so one at 14, one at 15 and one at 16. All my missions have been assassinations. The people I’ve killed weren’t important ones, not the kind of people you would think. They were really just people who were causing too many problems.

“I can’t remember the name of the first person I killed.” Akiko started to curl into himself as he talked. “I barely remember anything about him, really, just that he ended up dead that night. That mission was only a few days after I got my license. The next person was named Nobuko Hayashi, but I always called her Nobu.” Akiko noticed that Keigo recognized that name, judging by how his expression changed. Akiko had told him about Nobu when he was younger; it had been years since Akiko talked about Nobu, mainly because of the way he saw her differently ever since he killed her.

“I tricked her into letting me into her house and I killed her.” Akiko didn’t want to linger on Nobu for too long. “The last person I killed for a mission was just a few months ago,” Akiko said. “He was gonna meet with someone in an old warehouse and I went there before the person he was gonna meet with could get there and I killed him. That’s all my missions. How about your mission?”

It took Keigo a few seconds before he played what he had been typing out.

“The commission wanted the ability to take down the League from both the inside and the outside. I guess putting together my skill set, my ranking and the fact that they thought I could ignore violence made me the best candidate. I spent almost two months trying to gain trust, then I was able to get to know more members of the League other than my contact, Dabi. The further I went into my mission, the harder it got to see them as just villains. My mission is also part of the reason I was so busy these past few months. I kept having to do things to prove myself to them. I tried to keep my mouth shut about a lot of things about us, but Dabi always knew. I must have said something to him that was damning about who I really was.”

“I don’t think it was your fault he found out,” Akiko said.

Keigo tilted his head to the side, silently asking for an explanation.

Akiko sighed before saying, “I don’t know how, but all the way back to that summer camp, he knew. Right before the League all left, Touya shouted ‘Hey, Takami!’ at me. I think it was my fault you got your mission actually.” Akiko paused before continuing, “During that last mission I went on, right after I killed the guy, Touya walked in. He saw me standing right over the body and we talked about things. For someone like him, it was a bit surprising how he reacted to some of the things I said. When I gave Kihara a debriefing of my mission, I told him about that, and I remember Kihara asking me if I thought Touya would trust someone with a similar background to the one I have; Kihara must have been thinking about giving you your mission.”

“You were just doing what you were supposed to,” Keigo said.

“I guess so,” Akiko replied. “It’s just hard to think about now that so many terrible things have happened.”

“You said that everyone knew about us now,” Keigo said to which Akiko nodded. “Do they really know everything?”

“Touya told everyone that our dad is a villain, but he didn’t say which one,” Akiko said. “But both he and Shigaraki called me ‘Takami’, plus our wings aren’t exactly common, so it’ll only be a matter of time before people figure it out.”

Keigo thought before asking, “Have you talked to anyone?”

“I talked with Shouto a few minutes ago,” Akiko said. “We mainly just talked about what was revealed about his family, not me or my family.”

“We’re gonna have to tell people eventually.”

“The problem is that they already know, Keigo,” Akiko said.

“We’ll figure it out.”

—

February 20, 2149

Akiko stayed close to his brother following the raid. There was a voice in the back of his mind telling him that if he didn’t know where Keigo was, something bad would happen. Akiko knew that was irrational thinking, but he was still worried.

Akiko hadn’t talked to any of his classmates since talking to Shouto. Akiko was worried about what they would think of him. Would they see him differently? He was sure they would, but how differently would they see him?

Since Keigo got discharged the day before, Akiko and Keigo had been going around trying to get information about the villains in hopes of finally capturing them. A few minutes ago, Best Jeanist had found them wandering and had decided to join them.

“Who are we talking to next?” Akiko asked. Akiko had found a bag the day before and was currently using it to put his feathers into, mainly to not draw so much attention to himself.

“I want to talk to Endeavour next.” Keigo was still waiting for his throat to heal, meaning he was still using text-to-speech to talk. Akiko had noticed that Keigo had quickly gotten used to using text-to-speech to talk and had even gotten faster at typing because of it.

They quickly found Endeavour’s room and heard someone talking.

“—ould do it. But I was wrong. Once you’re done grieving, stand up, because we all have to go stop Touya.”

Akiko felt bad interrupting that. Akiko knocked on the door, then opened it. Inside was the Todoroki family and Akiko was able to finally see who Mrs. Todoroki was. Akiko had heard the entire family talk of her, but he’d never met her before. She seemed like a sweet lady. She had long white hair and gray eyes – all Akiko could think of was how similar she and Fuyumi looked, even Shouto to some extent.

“Pardon us,” Keigo said. “We couldn’t help but overhear. May we accompany you on your proposed family outing? Since I was discharged yesterday, Akiko and I have been running around gathering intel.”

Before Keigo could continue, Mrs. Todoroki bowed down and apologized for what Touya had done.

Akiko went over to her and helped her get up while saying, “We’re not here to talk about that, so don’t worry about it, Mrs. Todoroki,” while smiling at her.

“We are only here to inquire about Dabi,” Best Jeanist added. “The root cause of your son’s grudge could provide a lead in this investigation. We can ask him directly about how he survived the blaze and transformed completely into Dabi.”

“I used to watch old videos of you, Endeavour,” Keigo said, walking closer, up behind Shouto. “So, to hear how that obsession from your younger days grew into this was all a bit shocking. Now, this didn’t come up in your discussion about Touya, but Shouto’s burn here. Was that you, Endeavour?”

“That was me,” Mrs. Todoroki corrected.

Keigo nodded in response. Akiko was able to notice some sadness in his eyes.

“Shouto, you’re a class act,” Keigo went on. “Endeavour, it’s hell out there. Shigaraki, Dabi, Himiko Toga, Spinner, Skeptic, plus 132 of the liberation front members who escaped and seven near high-end nomu – they’re all on the loose. Furthermore, Shigaraki and the nomu smashed up Tartarus and six other prisons, freeing over 10,000 convicts. With the core members of the HPSC dead or in the hospital, they’ve lost the power to organize heroes. And many heroes have chosen to retire, given the criticism aimed at heroes right now.

“Villains are more daring than ever and the citizens who’ve lost faith in heroes are taking up arms. But by fighting back themselves, they’re only wreaking more damage and destruction. Our government has put in requests for relief workers and heroes from around the world, but with the commission essentially shut down, the paperwork needed to dispatch heroes isn’t getting done.”

“All of that is just in the past two days,” Akiko added. “I just know worse things are going to happen the longer it takes for heroes to act. Even if civilians think they’re helping, they really aren’t and are only causing more problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if hero students end up having to act as if they were licensed heroes. It’s expected, I think.”

“Just as your wife said,” Keigo said. “Your only choice is to fight on. But we will, too. The responsibility isn’t yours alone. And we can’t have your family shouldering the entire burden.”

“Why… would you…?” Endeavour asked.

“On that note, I’m proposing a team up of the top three heroes,” Keigo said. Even though his mouth was covered, Akiko could tell he was smiling by the way his eyes scrunched up.

“I’ve put my life in Hawks’ hands from the start,” Best Jeanist said. “And I’m accustomed to walking down hellish catwalks such as this.”

“Now that we and your family have lightened your load,” Keigo said. “Do you think you can stand up and move forward?”

“Yes,” Endeavour replied, determined.

“Sorry if I seem pushy,” Keigo apologized. “But first, it’s your duty to provide people with an explanation. Now that Touya’s accusation is public, there’s no avoiding it. I’ve already thought up a statement more or less, but there’s one point I’m still fuzzy on; one for all, what is it?”

That was something Akiko had heard people talking about during the fight; one for all. Whatever it was, it was important because Shigaraki wanted it. They needed to learn what it was and keep it away from Shigaraki however they could.

Chapter Text

February 20, 2149

Endeavour had said that one for all was tied to Midoriya, so that’s where Akiko, Keigo and Best Jeanist headed next.

“I don’t think he’s been cleared yet, so Midoriya’s probably still in his room,” Akiko said to Keigo’s question of where Midoriya was. Normally, Akiko used his classmates’ given names, but after what was revealed about him, he wasn’t sure if they would like that anymore. Akiko used their first names to say, ‘I want to be your friend’, but now? He still wants to be their friend, but do they want to be his? He wasn’t sure.

When they walked down the hall that held Midoriya’s room, they saw Bakugo being carried away by Sato and Asui.

“We want to talk to I– Midoriya,” Akiko said to Iida.

Iida looked at Akiko with an off look in his eyes before saying, “Actually, All Might asked to be with him alone for now.” Iida then turned to Akiko. “Why are you acting like nothing’s different?”

“I know that what everyone knows about me is… unsavoury,” Akiko winced as he talked. “But I’m still the same person, I just don’t have to hide anything anymore.”

While Akiko talked, Keigo went over to the door of Midoriya’s room and knocked on the door. He and Best Jeanist went inside, leaving Akiko outside with his classmate.

“I’m sorry,” Akiko said.

“You’re calling murder… unsavoury?” Iida asked judgingly.

“What else do I call it?” Akiko asked.

“A crime,” Iida said blankly. “That’s what it is. You’ve murdered four people, and on top of that, you’ve lied to everyone about who you are. You’ve maybe even done identity theft; who is Akiko Matsubara?”

“I’m not going to lie anymore,” Akiko said.

“Do you think that’s going to make everything okay?” Iida asked.

“No,” Akiko said. “I just want you to know that.”

“You’re crazy,” Iida said, starting to walk away.

“I’m sorry!” Akiko said back. “Please; I’m so sorry for lying– for everything I did. Please think about forgiving me.”

Iida just looked at Akiko standing there in the middle of the hallway. After a few seconds, he said, “I’ll think about it.” He walked away.

Akiko didn’t expect everything to be the same after everyone found out the truth, but he hoped for them to hear him out on why he did what he did. He just wanted to be able to explain how he was pressured into doing what he did; he did it, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. He just wanted to be able to tell them that.

“I’m sorry.”

—

February 21, 2149

Akiko didn’t know where they were going. There was somewhere Keigo wanted to go, so Akiko went along, always wanting to be by his side. Keigo was currently having a conversation with Best Jeanist, but Akiko zoned it out. Or that was until they came across a villain that Best Jeanist took care of.

“Is everything okay?” Keigo asked. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“I’m just worried,” Akiko said. “Iida didn’t take the truth about me lightly, so I’m worried about what everyone else will think. I just feel stressed.”

After Best Jeanist got back in the car and started driving again, it wasn’t long until they got to a nice-looking neighbourhood. Akiko wanted to ask what they were doing, but felt like he should have been listening earlier.

“Which is it?” Best Jeanist asked.

“The big one in the back,” Keigo replied. “There’s something I need to check.”

The three of them walked to a house towards the back, like Keigo had said. When they walked inside, it was large and empty, it was almost surprising how empty it was.

The first thing that Akiko noticed was a piece of paper on a table next to a staircase. Akiko walked over to it and picked it up and unfolded it, reading the first words: ‘Dear, Keigo,’

“Hey, Kei, I found a letter to you,” Akiko said. Keigo walked over and Akiko gave the letter to him. Akiko could still see the letter while Keigo read it.

‘Dear, Keigo,

I’m so sorry. Some horrible men barged into the house and threatened me about our family. So, I had to tell them about you and your father. I’m really sorry. I don’t want to cause you any more trouble, so I’m leaving. Please be well. I’m so proud of you.

— Mom’

“It wasn’t your fault, Aki,” Keigo said. “Before you said you thought it was your fault, I figured the leak came from my mom.”

“How painful,” Best Jeanist said quietly. “Like a pair of too–”

“No,” Keigo cut him off. “Erasing the Takami name like the commission wanted already severed any ties between us. And I was fine with that – not saving her and turning my back on her. I’m a guy who wants to help people. All this just came back to me, it’s actually a relief. The commission is effectively shut down now, so there’s no one left to issue orders. Like Akiko said, we’re free,” he said that last part using his voice, not text to speech. His words were scratchy, which made sense based on lack of use.

Keigo saying that was when it really sunk in for Akiko. Akiko knew that, without the commission, they didn’t have to lie or do anything the commission wanted, but he still was, wasn’t he? He may have not been lying in the traditional sense, but whenever someone asked, he would brush past all the worst of it. He would only really talk about the lying, not the murders; but that’s what people wanted to know about. Sure, the lying was bad, but the murders were the worst of it, and he wouldn’t talk about it.

If Akiko would be punished for telling the truth, he’ll deal with it. Even if he didn’t want to kill people, he still did and he deserves to face the consequences of his actions.

—

The day before, all of Akiko’s classmates had gone back to UA. Akiko didn’t. Why? He was scared. He hated to admit it, but he was, he was scared of what they would all think. Iida had proved to him that they wouldn’t take what he had done and lied about lightly.

Akiko was being taken back to UA by Keigo and Best Jeanist. He wanted to go back, to see all his friends, but what would they think of him? Would they still want to be his friend? Would they treat him like a villain? He couldn’t help but worry.

When they arrived, there were many people waiting outside; Akiko could see a lot of his classmates, as well as some heroes there.

Akiko got out of Best Jeanist’s car and walked up to everyone, knowing he’d have to say something.

“Akiko Takami, you’re under arrest.”

Akiko’s eyes snapped up to the detective in front of him who held handcuffs. Akiko didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t be arrested. He turned around and ran the other way. He only took a few steps before he was stuck. He almost landed on his face but kept himself up. At his feet was ice. Right in front of him was Shouto; he had an unhappy look on his face as he grabbed Akiko’s arm.

“Let me go!” Akiko shouted at him. Akiko’s arm felt very cold. He felt the heat being taken from him; he was losing energy because Shouto was adding ice into his system. Akiko felt his eyes get heavy and they slipped shut.