Somewhere, in an underground bar.
Thud!
Kurogiri dropped the unconscious Shigaraki Tomura. From the TV across the room, a raspy voice asked, "You failed, Kurogiri?"
"Sorry. I didn't even have time to grab Nomu."
Kurogiri sounded respectful.
"I see. Shame, after all the work we put into making a Nomu that could match All Might physically. But this failure wasn't a total loss. You brought back plenty of intel, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Kurogiri got serious. "Just like you predicted, Master. That student Giran has ties to- his Quirk is insane."
"Oh?"
All For One sounded intrigued. "Tell me."
"How do I put this?"
Kurogiri spread his hands, hesitating. "One second Nomu was clearly attacking him. The next, Nomu's attack had shifted toward me and Shigaraki."
"Nomu wasn't being controlled. This isn't something simple like hypnosis or super speed. Forgive me for saying this, but aside from you and All Might, I've never felt that much power from anyone."
All For One thought for a moment. "A Quirk I've never seen before?"
Crack!
The door to All For One's dark, gross-smelling room opened.
An old man in a white coat, looked like a doctor, but with a nasty expression, walked in from behind. He smirked. "Looks like we need to run an experiment."
---
On the other side, at U.A. High School.
The school had already contacted Naomasa Tsukauchi and the rest of the police to investigate. All the thugs and goons who came with Shigaraki and Kurogiri to cause trouble were arrested.
The reporters outside the school gate were going crazy.
They completely ignored how their chaos a few days ago had given the League of Villains a chance to steal U.A.'s intel.
A villain attack at U.A. High School?
That news made the reporters act like jackals smelling blood, swarming toward U.A.
Luckily, Naomasa Tsukauchi and the police were prepared. They set up a line at the gate and barely held them back.
Officer Tsukauchi was tallying casualties and confirmed that no one was seriously hurt except for Shota Aizawa and Thirteen.
Arthur was pretty banged up, but after Recovery Girl treated him, he'd probably be fully healed in less than a week. He had been sent to the infirmary.
"Thank God no one died this time. Otherwise, U.A.... hell, the entire hero society would be in full panic mode," Tsukauchi told the gathered Class A students.
"It's all thanks to All Might."
"That huge crater in the ceiling? All Might made that, right? So strong."
"Did you guys see Arthur's Quirk?"
"His Quirk? Isn't it kind of like Tokoyami's?"
"No, not at all. It's weirder... I don't even know how to describe it."
Class A kept talking intensely about what just happened.
After a few reminders, Tsukauchi had everyone get on the bus to head back to the main building.
"Hey, Yaoyorozu."
Just as she was about to step onto the bus, Tsukauchi called out to her.
"Hmm? Something wrong, Officer Tsukauchi?"
Momo Yaoyorozu paused. A bad feeling crept up on her.
"Please... don't do that again."
Tsukauchi's voice was low, barely above a whisper.
Momo's expression shifted. She started to say something, but Tsukauchi had already turned and walked toward Principal Nezu, Midnight and the other teachers.
The sun was setting.
Arthur sat in a chair across from Recovery Girl, looking at the back of his right hand. The skin that had been bitten off was now about 70% healed.
Momo Yaoyorozu stood behind him, her brows furrowed.
"Thanks."
After the last bandage was put on, Arthur stood up to leave with Momo.
"Biting off a chunk of flesh with your mouth? You've got guts, kid."
Recovery Girl's voice was sharp. "That reckless attitude reminds me of someone."
Arthur smiled. "Then he must be pretty strong, right?"
"He's strong, but he's also missing a few screws."
Recovery Girl said it vaguely.
After Arthur and Momo left, Recovery Girl walked into the back room.
Lying on the bed was All Might in his skinny form.
"Seriously. What a reckless idiot."
Recovery Girl sounded fed up.
"Haha, something like this was bound to happen eventually. I just hope my daily time limit doesn't get cut too short... cough cough!"
All Might barely finished speaking when Naomasa Tsukauchi walked in through the door. Seeing All Might's state, he smiled and said, "You worked hard out there."
"Ah, yeah... Sorry for troubling the police again, Tsukauchi."
All Might struggled to sit up.
"I hate to say this while you're still recovering, but I need you at an important meeting tomorrow with the police and U.A. staff."
Tsukauchi's smile faded into a serious look.
Hearing that, All Might frowned too. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Got it."
To help the students ease off, after the fight and let them talk to their parents,
U.A. gave everyone a day off following the USJ incident.
That evening, they got back to the Yaoyorozu family mansion.
Her parents, who she hadn't seen in two weeks, rushed over.
Especially her mom, who immediately grabbed her daughter.
"Waaah, waaah~ My Momo, are you okay? Mommy was so worried..."
"I'm fine, Mom. It's Arthur who..."
Momo barely escaped her tearful mom's hug. After calming her down for a bit, she looked toward Arthur.
Compared to Momo, who was basically unharmed, Arthur still had visible wounds on his hand and face even after Recovery Girl's 70% heal. He stood out more.
"Arthur, are you okay?"
Her dad walked over and asked.
Do I look okay like this?
Arthur thought that, but obviously couldn't say it. "Just minor injuries. Don't worry. They'll heal in a few days even if I do nothing."
"Mom, did you already know?"
Momo asked.
"Yeah. The school called, and it was on the news. Your dad and I rushed back from the company."
Her mom said, tears still on her face.
"Alright, alright. You're back safe. Let's eat."
Her dad pushed down his own worry and tried to comfort them in his own way.
After dinner, under the stars in the Yaoyorozu mansion's courtyard.
Arthur lay on a lounge chair, staring up at the sky.
He loved looking at natural beauty. In his past life and this one.
"Arthur..."
A soft voice came from behind him.
Arthur pulled his gaze away from the sky and looked sideways. "Momo Yaoyorozu, what's up? This isn't about what that cop said again, is it?"
On the way back, Momo had already told Arthur what Naomasa Tsukauchi said to her outside the USJ facility.
According to Momo's guess, the only reason Tsukauchi could say something like that was because the police had already gathered evidence
The fact that Arthur and she had illegally used their Quirks to cause serious injury to villans.
"When those losers showed up, I already figured this would happen."
Arthur grabbed Momo's hand and pulled her soft, curvy body down on top of him.
"Scared?"
Momo's face turned bright red. Feeling his large hand move under her nightgown, she squirmed. "N-no, it's not that. It's just... I don't want my mom and dad to..."
The Yaoyorozu family had been nobles for generations. Committing a crime made Momo feel awful for her parents.
She didn't regret it. She wasn't even that scared of getting caught. She just worried about her parents and friends.
"The fact that he told you this proves he'll never go public with it. Trust me? Right now he's discussing my situation with All Might. Then All Might will ask him to drop my 'crimes.'"
Arthur stopped moving his hand and smirked.
"This..."
Momo was skeptical. No way he could be that accurate, right?
"Let's make a bet. If I'm right..."
At the end of his sentence, Arthur leaned close to Momo's ear and whispered something.
Momo's face went from red to deep crimson.
If Arthur hadn't been holding her, she probably would have bolted on the spot.
Arthur took out his phone and dialed All Might's number.
Beep beep beep
About ten seconds later, the call connected. All Might's voice came through. "Hello? Is this young Arthur?"
Arthur put it on speaker. "All Might, I bet you're with Naomasa Tsukauchi right now, aren't you?"
"Uh!?"
All Might was shocked. A few seconds later, his voice sounded genuinely surprised. "How... how did you know?"
He was literally discussing Arthur's situation with Tsukauchi at that moment.
Through the arrests after the USJ incident, Tsukauchi had fully confirmed that
the person behind that series of mysterious street fights was Arthur.
And Momo Yaoyorozu was very likely an accomplice.
When All Might found out, his first reaction was to beg Tsukauchi to let it slide.
Right at that moment, Arthur's call made All Might suspicious.
Did Arthur bug him or something?
"Relax, I didn't put any bugs on you. Now put me on speaker. I have something to tell both of you."
Inside the U.A. infirmary, All Might glanced at Tsukauchi across from him and hit the speaker button.
Arthur's voice filled the whole room:
"Officer Tsukauchi, you already know what I did, don't you? Not surprised. More than a third of the the villains brought today were people I recognized and had already dealt with before."
Tsukauchi frowned, but Arthur kept going. "I don't want to say too much. From now on, I don't need opponents at that level to get stronger. So please, or I guess the police should forget about this."
"Of course, I'm not asking for a freebie. I'll do one thing for All Might, no questions asked, no matter how dangerous. That's the trade. What do you two think?"
Tsukauchi's brows tightened. "Are you negotiating with a police officer?"
"I prefer action. I don't like threatening people with words. You wouldn't force me to say stuff like 'watch your back or I'll kill you,' would you?"
Arthur said with a frown, still holding Momo.
This was his absolute limit. If it weren't for Momo, he wouldn't care how the police handled him.
That's just how strong people operate.
...
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GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.