It was obvious that the 3 had to do something about Yaoyorozu, but it was a huge threat to Denki's and Hyacinth's identities. Not only that, but it also put Midoriya in unnecessary danger. "So what do we do?" Denki asked, "We have to take Yaoyorozu - or, er, Aster - out of the equation somehow. "

Hyacinth sighed, "No clue. We can't confront her directly, she'll just have her mind read. No clue if that little trick of yours will work more than once without brain damage, and honestly, don't want to risk it."

"Everything should be fine as long as we stay in UA, right?" Izuku said, "So really, there's no reason to do something about Yaoyorozu."

"Izuku, I don't think you understand-" Denki paused, trying to figure out how to word this, "I think the refugee is in UA."

"It's a valid theory," Hyacinth said, "You said Midnight was Lavender? But UA won't bend the rules for one person, so there has to be multiple."

"That..." Izuku drifted off, "I mean, it makes sense. It works, in theory. But I still don't think we should do anything just yet."

Denki frowned, "Okay - how about we observe a little more, and see what the Garden is trying to get, yeah? They must not only be here for us -"

Hyacinth sighed, "Fine, good with me. A little more information would be useful anyways. I just hope nothing gets leaked."

Denki hadn't thought of the possibility of his past actions being leaked, although truthfully, he wondered if there were even records of it. The Garden had protected them from anything incriminating, seemingly covering things up without a hitch. If they were to release all that information, Denki could kiss his life goodbye and spend the rest in Jail. There was no way someone would defend a killer like him anyways. "I hadn't thought of it like that, but same."

Izuku smiled, "I don't think anything bad will happen."

~~~

Izuku will eat those words because as Murphy's law states, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and Denki was just too slow to realize it. They've just been focusing on UA, they haven't really touched on the fact that unlike them, their classmates do leave the dorms because they're supposed to be completely safe.

There's no criminal organizations after them, or so, that's what Denki thought.

The last people that left the dorm were Yaoyorozu and Ashido.

Yaoyorozu and Ashido.

( "You know you make it sound like everything that can go wrong will go wrong, Marigold. But I don't think that's how life fucking is. So remember this, anything that can go wrong can also go well. Eat your words."

"No need to be so aggressive about it Iris, jeez."

"Remember it, Goldie!")

"Yaomomo, calm down-" Uraraka said, trying to soothe the -currently in tears- girl. "We have to tell Aizawa-sensei."

"I got Aizawa-sensei!" Iida announced.

"What the fuck happened anyway?" Bakugo asked, "You can't just come in here in fucking tears and expect us to know what happened, Ponytail."

"Sssh, Bakubro, she's explaining," Kirishima shushed him.

Yaoyorozu hiccuped, nearly choking on her tears. Denki has to commend her for her acting skills - it was truly astonishing. And as he quickly glanced at Izuku, it was clear that Izuku thought the same thing. "They - they took Ashido."

Aizawa-sensei's face morphed into one of open concern. The whole class knew that Aizawa's first concern was of their safety - and to hear that one of their classmate's safety had been compromised was probably the worst news he could've received today. "Who's they?"

"Tell us the whole story, Ponytail!"

Aizawa turned to the rest of the class, "Get to your rooms. I'll be taking Yaoyorozu to the Principal. Don't leave the dorms until we come back."

The Principal? Denki looked towards the door, about to leave until he remembered something. This is the perfect time to expose me. The Garden asked Yaoyorozu to get someone - anyone and it just so happened to be Ashido. It would not only provide them a perfect chance to slowly take UA down from the inside using Yaoyorozu, but also risk Denki being exposed. Another genius ploy at the hands of the Garden, or so Denki thought. He can't jump to conclusions though, like geometry, he needs proof.

And currently he has none.

Perhaps that's what makes him so nervous after all.

~~~

"Ashido's...gone," Izuku's voice was nearly silent. Denki had to drop nearly everything he was doing to hear Izuku.

"Yeah."

" Ashido's gone," Izuku repeated, louder, hollower, and that's when Denki realized that he had lost 3 people to the same group, The Garden. "They actually took her."

"Yes, they did," Denki replied, "There's nothing we could've done, Izuku. We'll get her back soon." Izuku looked like he didn't believe Denki's statement. "We have to look on the bright side. UA has a bunch of heroes, we'll get Ashido back."

"Yeah but the fact that they got Ashido so easily in the first place..." Izuku shuddered, "What if they take everyone else, one by one?"

Denki hadn't considered the possibility that Ashido was just the beginning. "Well... I don't think they'd do that."

"Because they want to stay in the shadows again?" Izuku asked, "Open your eyes, Denki! I don't think they're going to do that anymore!"

Denki sighed, Izuku does have a point. But there was no motive in his eyes. Was The Garden revealing themselves before someone else revealed them? Was The Garden tying up loose ends? Just what was going on? "Listen, Izuku, I don't know what's happening and I can only assume so much with the information I have. Although that's a possibility, I just can't be sure anymore..."

Izuku frowned, "But you keep assuming the same thing over and over again as if that's going to change the outcome."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Denki asked, "Ashido's gone because I waited, because Hyacinth and I were too late in taking out Yaoyorozu. Now that Ashido's gone, Yaoyorozu was put in a victim stance that can very quickly poise Hyacinth and I as the traitors. Sorry, Izuku, but there's not much I can do right now besides wait. What do you want me to do?"

Izuku stayed silent at that. Like Denki had said, there wasn't much any of them could do. Izuku just puts his apples all into one basket until they rot there. Denki and Hyacinth might be formerly from the Garden, and fully trained assassins, but sometimes it simply slips Izuku's mind that they're kids like him.

They just grew up faster.

Denki added, "They can't take anyone else. You know why? It'd throw Yaoyorozu under the bus."

Now that Izuku thought about it like that, it was true. They led Ashido away using Yaoyorozu, if suddenly everyone goes missing and Yaoyorozu's a key witness, it'd be too suspicious. "That's true. So Ashido's really the only one they could take."

"Ashido will come back to us, don't worry."

Of course, that'll only happen if Ashido isn't permanently gone.

~~~

Yaoyorozu babbled and now Denki found himself in an office - surrounded by The Principal, Aizawa, All Might and Tsukauchi. He has no clue how Yaoyorozu found out that he was a refugee of the Garden again , but this time, he wasn't in time to erase her memory. "Uh, hey?"

"We have a couple of questions," Tsukauchi started, "No need to be nervous. Just answer these to the best of your ability and you'll be fine."

"O-kay?" Denki answered, playing the facade of being confused as to why he was here, "We should start then."

"Now remember, you won't get any punishment for being honest!" The Principal chirped, "So honesty is golden."

"Uh, okay...?"

"Do you have anything to do with Ashido Mina's disappearance?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Nope." Truth.

The other adults in the room watched with rapt attention, it felt as if Denki was being watched by the Overseer again. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. "Do you have any idea as to who took Ashido Mina?"

Time froze around Denki as he debated his answer - one wrong move and everything was over. It was like he was checkmated in chess, nearly nowhere to move but thousands of disaster scenarios. "Uh, I think I might?"

"You do, Kaminari?" Aizawa asked, "Who do you think it might be?"

"Uh, well it's not the League of Villains, I don't think so," He was purposefully being vague. If he slipped anything about the Garden, it'll put him in the spotlight of suspicion, but he doesn't want to mislead the heroes.

"Who do you think it is?" The Principal then added, "Yaoyorozu said that you might know something about that organization. She referred to it as 'The Garden'."

"Ah, The Garden?" Denki replied, "I know a few things..."

Lie.

"Kaminari, we need you to be completely honest, what do you know about The Garden?"

Denki sighed. He knew he couldn't get past this, so he might as well go out with a bang. "The Garden is an underground assassin organization."