Location: Kawasaki – Underground Evacuation Dome
Time: Morning (Ten Days Later)
BZZZT.
The massive stadium speakers popped loudly.
"Attention all civilians," a tired government official announced over the PA system. "The Hero Public Safety Commission has officially issued the national all-clear. The main highways have been secured. Detnerat construction crews and disaster heroes have cleared the debris. You may now return to your homes."
"YEEESS!"
"Nice, I can take a shower."
"Goodbye dome, I'll never going back here again."
A huge, echoing cheer ripped through the massive room.
People instantly started grabbing their bags and folding up thin, dirty blankets.
The air in the dome was thick and smelled heavily of sweat and stale instant noodles.
Ten straight days of sleeping on cots had everyone completely exhausted. Now, they just wanted a real shower.
"Finally!"
Tetsutetsu grabbed two incredibly heavy suitcases and lifted them easily over his shoulders. His silver hair was a mess.
"I thought I was going to die of boredom in here," Tetsutetsu yelled, grinning widely at his dad. "Did you see the broadcast replay they showed last night? Hero X literally slapped the ground! He slapped an earthquake! I want to punch a tsunami now!"
"You are going to punch a wall if you don't shut up and start walking," his dad grunted, stretching his stiff back. "And keep your voice down, Tetsu. You're giving me a headache."
"I'm just saying, it was manly!" Tetsutetsu cheered, marching toward the massive steel blast doors.
*-*-*-*
Location: Yokohama Commercial Ward – Evacuation Dome
A few cities over, the same announcement played.
The wealthy residents of Yokohama were practically pushing each other to get out of the underground shelter first.
Neito Monoma dragged his expensive rolling suitcase across the concrete floor. He plugged his nose with his free hand, looking absolutely disgusted.
"This place smells terrible," Monoma complained loudly. "I can't believe they made us sleep next to all these people for ten whole days. My clothes are completely ruined."
"Neito, please," his mother sighed, rubbing her temples as she walked beside him. "Don't cause a scene. We are leaving right now."
"I'm just saying, the heroes took way too long to fix the roads," Monoma bragged smugly, tossing his blonde hair back. "And that Hero X guy everyone is crying over? He wasn't even doing anything complicated. If I was standing next to him, I would have just copied his power. I could have flattened that wave myself before he even snapped his fingers."
"Stop bragging and carry your luggage," his mother scolded him sharply. "You complain when you carry the groceries. You are not fighting a tsunami."
Monoma pouted and muttered under his breath, dragging his bag toward the exit.
A few dozen yards behind them, walking through a different exit tunnel, Itsuka Kendo held onto her father's arm.
She wasn't complaining. She was looking quietly at the local sidekicks leaning against the tunnel walls.
The heroes looked dead on their feet. Their costumes were dirty, and they had dark bags under their eyes.
They had spent the last ten days breaking up fights, handing out water bottles, and keeping thousands of panicked people calm.
"Dad, look at them," Kendo whispered.
Her father, a broad-shouldered martial arts master, nodded slowly.
"They stood guard for ten days straight without sleeping in a real bed," her dad said, his voice full of respect. "That takes real discipline, Itsuka. Don't forget what that looks like."
Kendo nodded silently, keeping her eyes on the exhausted sidekicks as they walked out into the sunlight.
*-*-*-*
Location: Okuto Island – Gang Orca's Hero Agency
The maritime agency, located right next to the massive Okuto Island Aquarium, was usually filled with the sound of tourists and splashing water.
But today, inside the director's main office, it was completely dead quiet.
"Fix your posture!"
Gang Orca barked the order from behind his desk. He looked absolutely furious.
His two sidekicks, Shira and Iruka, jumped.
They instantly straightened their backs and adjusted the ties on their black suits.
THUD.
Gang Orca violently slammed a thin manila folder down onto the wood.
"It has been ten days," Gang Orca growled, pointing a webbed finger at the folder. "Ten days since we were recalled to the mainland for the global raid. The police just finally sent over the official intake logs for our assigned zone. Read the total, Iruka."
Iruka stepped forward. He opened the folder and looked at the single sheet of paper. He swallowed hard.
"Boss... it says zero," Iruka said, looking confused. "But you personally secured five of the heaviest Tartarus escapees that night."
"Exactly," Gang Orca snapped. "Do you remember how frustrating the start of that raid was? Every time a hero managed to corner one of those Tartarus animals, the League's tattoo on their shoulder activated. They just turned to ash right in front of us."
"I remember, sir," Shira nodded. "We couldn't apprehend anyone until the HPSC patched Hawks' report through the comms. We just had to cleanly slice off the shoulder containing the mark to stop them from turning to ash."
Gang Orca leaned over the desk.
"I fought five of them," Gang Orca said, his voice dropping to a terrifying rumble. "I sliced their shoulders, broke the marks, and left them tied up in the alleyway. Then I radioed you two to bring the medical kits and load them into the transport vans. Am I right?"
"Yes, Boss," Iruka said nervously. "But when we got to the alleyway, the villains were already gone. We thought another hero agency picked them up."
Gang Orca grabbed a stack of glossy crime scene photos and threw them directly at Iruka's chest.
"Then look at the photos the mainland police just forwarded to me," Gang Orca ordered.
Iruka caught the photos. Shira leaned over to look at them. Both of their faces instantly turned pale.
The photos didn't show villains sitting in handcuffs. They showed all five massive Tartarus escapees lying dead in an abandoned alleyway.
Their heads were cleanly severed from their bodies.
"This isn't ash," Gang Orca said coldly. "The tattoo didn't kill them. And there are no blast marks on the walls from a flashy quirk. Someone just walked up to the tied-up prisoners and executed them with a blade."
Shira pulled out his own tablet, rapidly scrolling through the police network updates.
"Boss, it's not just our sector," Shira said, looking up in shock. "The vanguard team in Shinjuku and the night patrols in Sector Two just filed identical reports. Ten other escapees were found dead with the exact same clean cuts. That's fifteen in total."
Iruka brought the photos closer to his face, staring at the angled blade marks on the bodies.
"Wait..." Iruka whispered, his eyes going wide. "These blade marks. It must be that guy who jumped me in the alley three weeks ago. He asked me about the information about what we were doing and I really can't stop him because he threatened to cut off my arm. You should know that boss. I reported it to you."
"The vigilante," Shira realized. "The guy with the red scarf."
Gang Orca's eyes narrowed dangerously. The pieces finally clicked together in his head.
"He followed my unit all night from the rooftops," Gang Orca growled, his fists clenching tight. "He knew if he attacked the escapees himself, they would just turn to ash. So he waited."
CRACK.
Gang Orca slammed his fist down, splintering his desk.
"He waited for me to slice the marks," Gang Orca said, absolutely disgusted. "And the second I turned my back to move to the next block, he walked in and slaughtered them. Why? Personal grudge? Is he just a fanatic taking advantage of the chaos?"
Iruka and Shira flinched.
They didn't know the answer, and they knew better than to guess when their boss was this angry.
Gang Orca stood up to his full, towering height. He glared out the large office window toward the open ocean.
"I don't care what his motives are," Gang Orca snarled. "He treated the Rank Ten hero like a hunting dog just to flush out his prey. Keep your eyes open on patrols back in cities. If that masked fanatic ever crosses my path again, I will crush him. And also connect to the other heroes whose apprehended criminals were killed."
*-*-*-*
Location: Naruhata Ward – Commercial District
Time: Afternoon
The midday sun beat down hard on a cracked, empty parking lot.
FLAP.
Kaito spread a massive set of architectural blueprints right across the hood of his black car.
Standing around him were five rough, blue-collar contractors wearing heavy work boots and dirt-covered vests.
The foreman, an older guy named Kurogane, rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at the sprawling plans.
"Alright," Kaito said, pointing a pen at the map. "I bought five more commercial buildings this week. That puts my total at twenty-six properties on this specific block, including the main supermarket and the residential apartments. I want to tear down the ruined alleyways and merge the foundation for the commercial side."
Kurogane scratched his beard, looking skeptical.
"Merging foundations right now is a headache, boss," Kurogane said. "That magnitude nine earthquake really messed up the subgrade. The underground pipes burst, so everything down there is basically soup. We gotta dig really deep before we can pour anything solid."
"No, digging isn't enough," Kaito shook his head. He leaned closer to the blueprints. "The seismic shear forces compromised the bearing capacity of the soil. If you just dig and pour, the supermarket foundation will sink in a year. We have a massive soil liquefaction risk."
"....."
Kurogane blinked. The other contractors looked at each other in surprise.
"Wait," Kurogane asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know about shear forces and liquefaction? I thought you were just the money guy buying the block."
"I don't just sign checks," Kaito said simply. "I know what I'm buying. Kurogane, I need you to use your Earth-Compaction quirk directly on the dirt. I want you to hit exactly ninety-five percent compaction density on the entire subgrade before we even think about pouring the Detnerat quick-dry mix."
Kurogane grinned, clearly impressed.
"You really know your stuff, man," Kurogane laughed. "Alright, I can pack the dirt down that tight. My quirk is perfect for it."
Kaito pointed his pen straight at Kurogane.
"Good. But before anyone starts swinging a hammer, listen to me," Kaito said, his voice turning dead serious. "We do this right. No cutting corners just because we are in a rush to rebuild. Hard hats stay on. You tie off the scaffolding properly. I see one guy working without safety gear, I will shut the entire site down. Got it?"
"We hear you loud and clear," Kurogane nodded, respecting the strict rules. "But what about the city permits? City Hall is totally swamped right now. Getting a commercial upgrade approved usually takes months."
SLAP.
Kaito tossed a thick, fully stamped folder onto the hood of the car.
"I went to City Hall this morning," Kaito said casually. "I showed them the exact tax revenue estimates this block will generate once the supermarket and shops are running again. Money talks way faster than bureaucrats. Start the demolition at sundown."
Kurogane let out a loud, booming laugh.
"Haha... Man, you don't mess around!" Kurogane cheered, grabbing the folder. "Alright boys, grab your gear! Let's get to work!"
The contractors rolled up the blueprints and hurried toward their heavy trucks, completely hyped up for the massive job.
Kaito closed the trunk of his car. He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar local number.
Ring.
Click.
"Kaito! Good to hear your voice, my friend," David Shield answered. He sounded busy, but in a great mood.
"Hey David," Kaito said, leaning back against his car. "How is the company holding up after the disaster?"
"We are totally swamped with reconstruction orders, but Melissa and I are doing fine," David chuckled warmly over the line. "How are you holding up? All this crazy disaster stress reminds me of the days you were putting Toshi through hell in those secret training camps."
"Don't remind me," Kaito sighed. "All Might broke more training equipment then. But speaking of buying things... I need a personal favor. Off the books."
"Oh?" David sounded intrigued. "What do you need?"
"I need those experimental shock-absorbing nano-polymers," Kaito said. "And the high-tensile structural resins your R&D labs are currently testing. The stuff you haven't even released to the public yet."
"That is some heavy-duty, cutting-edge material, Kaito," David said, clearly surprised. "What exactly are you building?"
"I bought properties here in Naruhata," Kaito explained. "The commercial blocks and the supermarket are the main priority for the contractors. But I want to personally handle the apartment building I'm currently staying at."
David paused for a second.
"Wait," David asked. "The regular residential apartment your'e staying? You bought it? And you even managed to secure other buildings in Naruhata."
"Yeah," Kaito answered flatly. "The earthquake rattled the walls pretty hard last week. I want to secretly install those polymers and resins directly into the structural frame. Just to be sure the walls hold up next time."
A warm, knowing laugh came through the phone speaker.
"You are going to turn a cheap residential apartment into an indestructible military bunker?" David teased.
"I don't like my properties taking damage, David," Kaito answered.
"Right, right. Of course," David laughed again, seeing right through him. "You are just a very strict landlord. I'll get a private truck loaded with the resins and polymers tonight."
"Thanks, David," Kaito said, looking up at the sky. "Send the bill to my personal account."
*-*-*-*
Location: Deika City – Secret Subterranean MLA Facility
BZZZT.
The heavy steel doors to the underground lab slid open.
Kaito walked in carrying a cardboard tray holding three cups of hot artisan coffee and a bag of fresh pastries.
"Hey Tomoyasu," Kaito said warmly, walking over and setting the tray down on a cluttered desk. "You look like you haven't slept in a week. Drink this."
Tomoyasu grabbed a coffee cup with shaking hands.
His long black hair was a total mess, and he had dark, heavy bags under his eyes. He looked completely stressed out.
"I haven't slept, Kaito!" Tomoyasu snapped in his usual paranoid tone, taking a massive gulp of the hot coffee. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to code this hard-light VR room? You told me to feed the leaked WHA satellite data from the global raid into the projectors!"
"Yeah," Kaito nodded, leaning back against the desk. "The fight between All Might and All For One."
"The sheer kinetic data of their punches keeps crashing my servers!" Tomoyasu complained loudly, aggressively typing on two keyboards at once. "It is way too much pressure! I had to reroute power from three different city blocks just to keep the holograms from breaking!"
Kaito just smiled and looked through the massive reinforced glass window into the training room.
Inside, it looked like a literal warzone. Hyper-realistic hard-light holograms of All Might and All For One were clashing in the center of the room.
Right in the middle of it, standing inside the simulated hundred-meter deadzone, Rikiya was getting thrown around.
WHOOSH.
The simulated wind pressure from the hologram punches knocked Rikiya back a few feet.
"He's doing the Targeted Malice," Kaito noted, watching closely.
"Yes," Tomoyasu muttered, adjusting his glasses. "He is forcing his brain to feel absolute, evolutionary terror just by looking at All For One. It spikes his Stress meta-ability instantly and completely drains his reserves."
BEEP.
The simulation powered down. The bright holograms vanished into thin air.
The heavy metal doors of the training room slid open. Rikiya stepped out into the lab.
HUFF-PUFF.
He looked incredibly battered. He was covered in sweat, his chest and arms were heavily bruised, and he was panting hard. He could barely keep his eyes open.
Kaito grabbed a clean white towel from a rack and a cold bottle of water.
He walked right over to Rikiya and handed them over, his face full of genuine concern.
"Pace yourself, Rikiya," Kaito said kindly. "You are going to break your own heart if you push too hard too fast. Even All Might took months of broken bones to adapt to his new limits."
Rikiya took the water and wiped his face with the towel.
He looked down at his shaking hands. Then, in true fashion, a single, thick tear streamed down his bruised cheek.
"It hurts," Rikiya whispered. Then, he suddenly threw his head back and let out a massive, booming laugh. "It hurts so much! But Kaito, it is entirely worth it!"
Rikiya clenched his fist, his eyes burning with absolute passion.
"When I saw Hero X fold that tsunami like a bedsheet, I knew," Rikiya declared dramatically, his voice echoing in the lab. "I want to be strong enough to stand beside him! I want to be worthy of the new world he is building!"
"You will be," Kaito replied. "How is the Rage Refinement holding up?"
"Watch," Rikiya grinned through the pain.
Rikiya gritted his teeth and activated his quirk.
Crackle-crickle.
The black energy violently erupted from his skin.
But instead of growing into a massive, hulking giant, he forced the energy inward.
ZIIING.
The pitch-black energy condensed tightly around his normal-sized body like dense, solid armor. The air around him actually warped from the sheer pressure.
He held it.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four seconds. Five seconds.
GASP.
Rikiya violently lost his breath. The black energy shattered into nothing.
THUD.
He fell hard onto one knee, completely drained to absolute zero. He was gasping for air, staring at the floor.
Kaito quickly stepped forward. He grabbed Rikiya's arm and hoisted the large man back to his feet
"Five seconds," Kaito said. "You held a hyper-dense form for five seconds after only ten days of practice. That is huge."
"I'm completely empty," Rikiya panted heavily, leaning his shoulder against the wall. "My meta-ability is totally drained."
"That is exactly what we want," Kaito explained calmly. "This is how you forcefully trigger a Quirk Awakening. You drain your power to absolute zero. You tear your physical body down to the absolute limit. Then we throw you into Tomoyasu's top-tier medical tanks to heal. Over and over again."
Kaito patted Rikiya firmly on the shoulder.
"It is a hellish cycle," Kaito told him directly. "But that brutal back-and-forth between exhaustion and healing is exactly how All Might awakened his own power under my training. If you stay the course, your body will have no choice but to adapt and evolve. You will Awaken."
Rikiya smiled tiredly, wiping sweat from his forehead.
He gave Kaito a firm nod, completely trusting his partner to guide him to the top.
*-*-*-*
Location: U.A. High School – Staff Conference Room
Time: Next Day
The staff room was loud. The teachers were completely split.
"We have to cancel it," Vlad King said, crossing his thick arms. "Half the country just spent ten days sleeping on cots. Forcing first-year kids to fight on television right now is cruel."
ZIP.
Aizawa unzipped the top of his yellow sleeping bag on the floor.
"He's right," Aizawa mumbled, looking exhausted. "The kids are distracted. Throwing them into a stadium right now just means sloppy mistakes and broken bones."
"No way, man!" Present Mic yelled, waving his hands. "Canceling it makes us look weak! The public needs to see the next generation stepping up!"
"Mic is right," Midnight agreed. "The festival is a massive morale boost."
"The stadiums are fine," Cementoss added slowly from the corner. "But the local trains are still a mess."
Snipe leaned against the back wall, tipping his hat.
"If we do this, we need triple the guards," Snipe pointed out. "I only joined the teaching staff a few months ago, but I still run an active Top Thirteen agency on the outside. The streets are unpredictable right now. Security has to be absolutely airtight."
CLINK.
Principal Nezu set his tiny teacup down. The room went quiet.
"You all make good points," Nezu smiled. "So, we compromise. The Sports Festival will happen. But we are officially delaying it by exactly one month. That gives the city time to fix the trains, and it gives our students time to properly train."
The teachers nodded, agreeing to the middle ground.
*-*-*-*
Location: U.A. High School – First-Year Corridors
Time: Afternoon
The noise in the Class 1-A room was deafening.
The kids hadn't seen each other in ten days, and everyone was talking at once.
Near the back row, Nejire, Mirio, Tamaki, and Yuyu Haya were grouped around a desk.
"I am telling you, I saw it!" Nejire insisted, bouncing on her toes. "I watched the live feed during the disaster ten days ago! Right before someone changed the whole broadcast from the internet."
Yuyu leaned back in her chair and laughed.
"Nejire, you stayed up for three days straight watching the news," Yuyu said. "You probably just imagined it."
"I didn't imagine it!" Nejire argued quickly. "All Might had this black around his arms when he fought! It looked like a dark tendrils and he also emitted a smoke. Do you think he has two or three quirks? I wish I saved the video before they scrubbed it clean!"
"You're overthinking it," Mirio agreed loudly. "All Might doesn't have multiple quirks. He was just punching so fast he created a dark vacuum of air! It's just physics!"
Nejire pouted, clearly annoyed that she didn't have the proof for her conspiracy theory, but she finally dropped the subject.
Mirio got so hyped up talking about All Might that he threw a dramatic fake punch.
"He just went BAM!" Mirio cheered.
SWISH.
Mirio completely lost his focus. His quirk activated by accident, and his entire arm phased right through Yuyu's wooden desk.
CLATTER.
He knocked her pencil case and textbooks straight onto the floor.
"Oops!" Mirio laughed, pulling his arm out of the desk and rubbing his head. "Sorry, Yuyu! Permeation is still so tricky. I lost my grip."
Sigh.
Yuyu just sighed and picked up her pens, totally used to Mirio dropping things.
Right next to them, Tamaki wasn't laughing at all.
Tamaki had his chair spun around. He was pressing his forehead flat against the cold plaster wall.
"I'm going to throw up," Tamaki whispered miserably.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Mirio asked, leaning over and patting his back. "You're doing the wall thing."
"I heard the teachers in the hall," Tamaki groaned, keeping his face buried in the wall. "The Sports Festival isn't canceled. It's delayed by a month."
"Really?!" Nejire gasped, floating a few inches into the air. "We have a whole month to practice!"
"A month is nothing," Tamaki muttered, shaking his head. "Thousands of people staring at me. Live television. I'm going to trip. Everyone is going to see me fail."
Mirio grabbed Tamaki's shoulders and spun his chair around.
"No giving up!" Mirio smiled brightly. "We have an entire month! We will train every single day after school until you feel ready! I promise we'll figure it out together!"
Sigh.
Tamaki looked at Mirio's massive smile and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"You're going to make me run ten miles a day, aren't you?" Tamaki asked.
"Maybe twenty!" Mirio laughed, giving him a huge thumbs-up.
.....
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(9 Advanced Chapters)