Four days later.
One by one, the students of Class 2-A began leaving the dorms for their morning lectures.
Luke, dressed in casual clothes, was in the common hall dusting the ceiling fans, as silent as he had been for the past four days.
Midoriya's house arrest had ended a day before Bakugo's, as the latter had instigated the fight between them.
Not much else had happened at school, either.
The teachers were placing heavy emphasis on the upcoming exams, keeping everyone thoroughly occupied.
The only significant development Luke had missed — which Midoriya had muttered under his breath while describing in detail — concerned the Hero Work-Studies.
Even so, it hardly mattered at the moment, since only students who had earned their Provisional Hero Licenses were eligible to participate.
Meanwhile, most of the class had tried to coax information out of Luke, but none had managed to pry more than a few clipped words from him regarding the brawl that had landed him under house arrest.
Surprisingly, the same held true for Hagakure, Midoriya, and Momo — the three students he was closest to.
With the fifth day looming over them and Luke remaining the sole student still under house arrest, no one expected the tension to dissipate anytime soon.
As the majority of the students walked out quietly, casting troubled glances in Luke's direction, Yuga Aoyama tried to hurry across the common hall, desperate to appear unbothered, unconcerned, and utterly detached from the entire house arrest situation.
"Oi…"
A jolt of electric terror shot through Aoyama.
As a mannequin brought clumsily to life, he pivoted stiffly toward the voice and looked up, only to find Luke's piercing gaze pinning him where he stood.
Aoyama gulped.
No. Why am I acting like this? What do I have to be afraid of anyway? This isn't… outside. This is the Heights Alliance dorm — a sanctuary inside UA, surrounded by Pro Heroes!
Moreover…
Aoyama remembered praying to Mr. Fool right on schedule before bed last night.
He had even repeated the words first thing this morning, as it had already become a part of his daily routine.
So he truly had nothing to fear.
Yes.
Not a thing.
Luke couldn't do anything to him here!
"… Don't make me come down," Luke said flatly.
The floor seemed to drop out from beneath Aoyama's feet. "No…" he stammered, raising trembling hands. "Please… don't hurt—"
Luke stared down at him blankly. "I meant get over here."
"Oh…"
Aoyama's rigid shoulders sagged in relief.
He shuffled forward until he was standing beside the stepladder.
Luke crouched atop it. "Do you dream?"
"…?" Aoyama couldn't make heads or tails of the question. "… Sometimes. Often… Daily."
Luke dragged a hand down his face in quiet frustration. "Have you ever dreamed of a black hole? Not pitch-black, but with… bluish and reddish tones bleeding around the rim? Like a solar eclipse, except instead of white light, you see red or blue encircling the blackness? Do you understand what I'm asking?"
Aoyama found himself lacking all thoughts..
What was he supposed to say?
Was he supposed to be having dreams like that?
If he said no, would Luke assume he hadn't been praying with enough devotion?
And… why on earth hadn't the rest of his classmates come downstairs yet?! Why was he stranded alone in the common hall with this lunatic?!
Wait… did Luke deliberately get himself put under house arrest just to interrogate him like this every single day?!
Aoyama's face drained of all color.
Luke's eyes narrowed instantly. "… You have?"
Aoyama lifted his hands in a noncommittal shrug. "… Maybe?"
Then came a sight just as terrifying as his nightmares of a red-eyed All For One smiling in the dark.
Luke leaned further down from the ladder, his left hand snapping forward to clamp around Aoyama's shoulder.
"'Maybe' doesn't cut it," Luke said coldly. "Have you, or haven't you?"
Aoyama's breath broke.
Luke's grip felt like a predator's jaws clamped over his collarbone with teeth of solid iron.
One wrong move — one false intention — one wrong answer — and those iron jaws would crush everything.
So, going with his gut, Aoyama met Luke's gaze and nodded.
Luke stared back, unimpressed. "… Well? Say it out loud, dammit."
Somebody save me from this psycho… Aoyama wailed internally, parting his lips to speak.
"Luke."
Both boys snapped their heads toward the voice.
It was Momo.
Aoyama watched as their class vice representative approached like an angel.
Sadly, the iron grip on his shoulder didn't slacken in the slightest.
Momo walked up to them, cast a suspicious glance at Aoyama, and retrieved a vial of silvery liquid from her bag before handing it to Luke.
"Thank you," Luke said with a nod.
Momo searched his eyes for a quiet moment. "Sigh… Just let me know if you need anything else. Oh… Aina is waiting outside. Again."
Aoyama nearly squeaked in agony as the fingers dug a fraction deeper into his shoulder.
"Understood," Momo said, taking Luke's silence as acknowledgment before turning to leave, casting one final, lingering frown in Aoyama's direction.
Luke finally loosened his grip.
Aoyama looked back up at him, trembling.
For a moment, the two boys maintained the eerie silence.
"Did anybody from their end contacted you?" Luke asked.
Aoyama practically burst with eagerness to answer. "No!" he blurted out, a frantic smile spreading from ear to ear. "No order from anyone since that incident!"
"Why are you looking so thrilled about that?" Luke asked, his tone deadpan.
Aoyama's cheerful expression instantly collapsed. "I… well…"
Luke released his shoulder completely. "Something is happening," he murmured. "Silence is never a good sign. If they aren't reaching out to you, then… I suppose you'll have to reach out to them and discover what they're plotting."
"… W-What?!" Aoyama stammered, terror seizing him. "Why me?!"
This time, Luke's lips curled into a faint smile.
Aoyama had never seen anything more terrifying in his life.
"Because you are an Apostle," Luke said, straightening up and towering from the top of the stepladder like a god looking down upon him. "This is what we do. Praise be to Mr. Fool."
Almost by pure reflex, the blond boy pressed a trembling hand to his chest, dipped into a bow, and echoed the sacred words.
By the time Aoyama realized he had just accepted the mission by doing that—
—it was already far too late!