Walking through the layered stone path as a cool morning breeze moved lazily across the courtyard, Itami moved with the stiffness of someone stitched back together with barely enough rest. His muscles ached in places he didn't know could ache. The sun climbed slow behind the ridgeline, bleeding amber over the mountainside.
Usually, the courtyard had a rhythm. Sauske stretching. Kael tossing around half-ton weights like basketballs. Riven pretending to meditate. But today they were grouped.
Together.
Unmoving.
Itami dragged himself toward them, squinting as he heard a voice.
Not conversation. A speech. Rough. Focused. Like gravel scraping against bone.
"Only those who act with selfless conviction... deserve to be called heroes."
Projected through Sauske's tablet, the feed hovered above the screen like a hardlight ghost. The video was raw, pulled from one of those outlaw net streams. The Hero Killer stood center-frame—ragged, blood-soaked, but not broken.
Itami's steps slowed.
He watched.
What the hell...
"This society is diseased. Corrupt. Infested with cowards in capes pretending to care."
The image glitched slightly, then refocused. His eyes burned. His words cut. Not because they were violent.
Because they sounded like truth.
Kael didn't glance over but let out a old grunt. "Heh got that right."
Sauske squinted. "So what, we're quoting murderers now? I'm surprised this is still up on the web."
"It's not. It's already wiped from every major feed. I pulled it before the purge." Riven said. "But people are always posting it."
Hero Killer stain... nothing but a lunatic and murder
"He's not like the League," Itami said quietly. "They want chaos. He wants something else."
"That's not what the public is saying, all the news outlets are connecting him with said League." Riven added.
Kael folded his arms. "Doesn't matter. You spill enough blood, and can't make the statement yourself, someone will make it for you."
Sauske broke the silence with a stretch. "Alright, enough hero politics. Lets get this started, what did you say yesterday? Something about wasting training time. "
Kael grinned. "Ah shove it, want me to kick your ass too?"
Itami shook the thoughts from his head and stepped onto the grass. But in the moment of silence.
Somewhere, buried beneath bruised muscle and splintered memory, the words still echoed. Her words returned like a blade sliding back into the wound—
"I see a man who gets to make it home alive—but it's no longer you..."
The hallway lights buzzed softly overhead, washed in that familiar sterile white. For a second, it almost felt like nothing had changed.
Itami walked through the doors of Class 1-A without a word. The familiar hum of voices, chairs scraping, and laughter spilled into his ears. But his body moved on autopilot—past Kaminari cracking a joke, past Jirou swatting him for it.
Same desks. Same windows. Same classmates.
But Itami wasn't the same.
He dropped into his seat like a weight hitting the floor, his backpack sliding off his shoulder with a thud. The chair felt smaller than he remembered.
"Yo Bakugo, what the hell happened to your hair?!"
Kirishima's laugh rang across the room as Sero leaned over to get a better look.
"Did someone cut your hair in the dark?"
"I dare you to say that again!" Bakugo growled, sparks flickering off his palm.
"Okay pretty boy! We don't want to mess up that hair of yours!" Sero and Kirishima laughed.
Itami didn't even glance. He just rested his arms on the desk and let the background noise wash over him. His eyes drifted to the window. The sky looked the same.
Then—
"Now if you want to talk about the ones who really changed, it was those three"
The class turn to look at Lida, Midorya and Todoroki as Sero blurted " Oh yeah the hero killer!"
Itami perked up at hearing about Stain, he looked over at Lida, Midorya and Todoroki.
Is that the reason why he sent a pin drop? I heard on the news that they encountered him but were saved by the number two hero.
The class chatter blurred for a moment—half-baked theories, exaggerated stories. Nothing new. Nothing Itami hadn't already heard.
Before his thoughts could wander deeper, a quiet voice pulled him back.
"You alright?"
Momo.
She'd slipped into her seat beside him, posture straight, expression mild—but her eyes searched his face with quiet intention.
"Just tired," he said, brushing it off.
She nodded, but didn't look away.
"How was your internship? A lot of patrol work?"
"Something like that," he said flatly. "Yours went the same I'm guessing?"
A flicker of embarrassment passed across her face.
"Not exactly," she admitted. "More commercials than hero work, honestly."
"Let me guess," Itami said, tone deadpan, "They made you read from cue cards and pose with products?"
Momo laughed softly, caught off guard. "Exactly that."
Itami almost smiled. Momo then tilted her head slightly. "And yours? What did they have you doing?"
A beat passed. All the events from Hosu flickered through his mind in a flash. Itami looked away responding "Just patrols and catching villains."
Momo didn't add or question it right away. Her brows pulled together just slightly, like she caught something in his voice.
Before she can say anything else, Present Mic walked in as the class quieted down and returned to their seats.
The sun was high, signaling the start of the afternoon Hero Basic Training. The air had that humid stillness right before it gets loud.
Itami stood near the gate of the industrial zone—Field Gamma, a maze of rusted pipes, metal walkways, and looming factory structures stacked like a junkyard puzzle. The heat shimmered off the steel in waves.
All Might stood in front of them, teeth flashing like stage lights as he struck a classic pose. His voice carried with that usual larger-than-life charisma
"As an immediate follow-up to your internships, today's activity is a playful one! A Rescue Training Race!"
"Yo, shouldn't rescue training be at USJ?" Kaminari called from the back.
All Might pointed dramatically skyward. "That place is for disaster rescues! But what did I say?" He paused, theatrically. "That's right...a race!!!"
Itami blinked. He didn't remember the last time All Might's energy didn't feel slightly exhausting. Still, he listened.
"This," All Might gestured behind him, "is Field Gamma! A dense spread of factories, alleyways, steel scaffolds—you name it! You'll be split into 3 groups of five, each going one at a time. With a one group having 6 "
"You'll start at the perimeter. I'll send up a distress signal somewhere deep inside—and it's a race to see who can reach and rescue me first!"
The class stirred with excitement. Bakugo looked like he was already planning his route like a battlefield. Midoriya's eyes sparkled, scanning every corner of the setup.
Itami crossed his arms. His shoulder still pulsed from training, but he kept his face flat.
All Might turned to address the entire class. "Keep destruction to a minimum, heroes! This is still a school, not a warzone!" Pointing at Bakugo
A few laughs erupted how as Bakugo scowled. A screen popped up showing the groups as Itami was in group one.
"Now group one make our way inside while the rest of the class follow me!" All Might said as everyone went through the gate.
Itami stretched at his mark, legs moving out of habit more than focus.
They fought the Hero Killer... and lived...while barely crawled out of my own hell.
He glanced up at the sky—clear, perfect, untouched. His thoughts were anything but.
That Nomu almost killed me. If Drex hadn't done anything... I'd be ash. I can't even summon that lightning blade again. I can't control anything. Why?
His breath caught for a second—tight, short.
"Draw your final breath..."
Aika's voice again. Sharp. Inevitable.
He shook it off, jaw tight, as All Might's voice boomed behind him.
"START!"
Itami narrowed his eyes.
I don't care what's waiting down the line—fate, visions, monsters. I'm not dying on someone else's terms.
Itami's boots flared as flames burst behind him, launching him forward through the twisted alleyways of Field Gamma. Wind screamed past his ears. His eyes locked ahead—focused, burning.
Then—
Darkness.
No warning. No sound.
Just a sudden, crushing nothing.
His body stopped moving. Floating. Suspended in a black abyss where time didn't breathe. Limbs slack. Heart hammering.
He tried to speak. Nothing came out.
He tried to run. No ground beneath him.
A sharp chill slithered down his spine as his body slowly rotated—weightless, helpless—until he saw them.
Eyes.
Two massive red slits glowed in the dark like dying stars. They hovered in the void, watching. Ancient. Eternal.
"Poor boy, you still think you can outrun our destiny?"
The voice seeped in from every direction, thick as smoke. It coiled around Itami's skull, wormed through his ribs. Familiar. Wrong.
He floated—weightless, breathless. "Why now?!" he spat. "Get out of my head."
A roaring laugh echoed through out the void as the eyes disappeared into the abys. The glowing red fading into the black depths.
"You think the vision won't come to pass? That womens words were a mere dream? You should know better" it cackled. " We will watch everything fall."
The Doppler emerged behind him—skin cracked with pulsing veins, black sludge dripping from its arms like veins torn free. Its voice layered over his own.
"We are the same. Till the day we die."
Itami's heart slammed in his chest. He thrashed in place, but there was no air. No ground. No escape.
The Doppler leaned in, its breath colder than death.
"You still trust them? Even after they let it happen?—
Even if she did cry... she didn't stop. She kept going."
Itami clenched his teeth. "Shut up!"
The Doppler appeared in front of Itami now. "We stay the same. Even if the world burns.We will destroy everything and everyone."
Tendrils of black sludge bled from its hands—writhing, searching. They didn't just wrap around Itami. They pierced him. Threading into his chest like veins tearing through bone as It then put its hands on Itamis chest. The tendrils now wrapping around Itami even more as Itami struggled to resist.
"Get away from me!" Itami shouted but he couldn't move.
"You weren't meant to be happy," it hissed. "You were built to survive. And without me?"
The tendrils surged—piercing deeper.
"You're nothing."
Itami was fully covered except for his right eye as he stared back at his own face. As the Doppler stared back. "I'll give you this for now. To give you a taste of what you can do if you simply let us be together."
Itami was then falling deeper into the void as darkness began to wrap around him as he saw the Doppler hold his hand out. Until—
THUD
A jolt snapped through Itami's spine as he slammed into solid pavement.
"Ah—! S-sorry!"
A voice. Real. Human. Familiar.
Itami blinked hard, breath ragged.
Midoriya had collided into him, both of them tumbling sideways against the edge of the alleyway course.
Itami's back slammed into the concrete. His vision blurred with sunlight and sweat.
Midoriya scrambled back. "I didn't mean to! I lost control of my—"
Itami pushed himself up on one arm, eyes locking onto Midoriya.
Green sparks still flickered faintly from Midoriya's arms. Controlled. Focused. Different than before.
He's learning to manage it. He's not breaking any bones.
Midoriya offered a hand, concerned. "You okay?"
Itami didn't take it.
"I'm Fine," he said flatly, forcing himself up on his own. His hands trembled—not from the fall, but from fear. His right eye still burned faintly, like the void hadn't fully let go.
Midoriya hesitated, unsure, before running off again.
Itami stood there, shoulders tense. The wind passed, but it didn't cool the heat crawling up his back.
That voice still echoed in his head—
"You're nothing without me. You weren't meant to be happy"
He stared down at his palms. The tendrils were gone. The void was gone. But the weight remained.
Midoriya's figure grew smaller in the distance, moving fluidly, adapting. Evolving. And him? Stuck.
"I can't even control my own power..."
The whistle blew in the far distance—All Might cheering, others still racing.
But Itami barely heard it. The race was happening all around him, but he wasn't in it. Not anymore.