"I don't get what you're trying to say," Denki stared at Hyacinth, "There's no possible way Iris could be involved with them."

"It's a possibility we can't cross off," Hyacinth replied. He tapped on the table, a rhythm Denki had heard before, "Iris can literally be anywhere ."

"We agreed to meet this year," Denki said, "She has to be at UA."

"She can't be," Hyacinth said as he ran a hand through his hair, "She would've approached us already. You mentioned she might be a villain, so our only choice that has a connection to UA is..."

Denki frowned, finishing the sentence, "The League."

"Exactly."

"So we've confirmed that she's a villain, and might be working for the League..." Denki sighed, "How would we help her escape?"

"You realize that she's still going to be charged, right? Hell, we all have the possibility of being charged, Gold. With all the stuff we've done, there'd be no escape," Hyacinth stared straight into Denki's eyes, "If she gets caught, all of us are done for."

Denki took a sharp inhale, "Then-"

"We might not see Iris again."

~~~

"I like to think I'm pretty smart," Denki grinned.

"Yeah, smart ," Ashido parroted. They were all at a study session together - Denki, Ashido, Kirishima, Sero, Jirou, and Bakugou - and it was going quite well.

Denki shot her the most offensive look he could think of, only to smile when Ashido broke into giggles.

"Pay attention, fucktards," Bakugou said with no real heat, "I'm reteaching you how to solve for x."

"Yeah, yeah."

They worked in a surprising silence, until Sero spoke up again, "Why's it so quiet?"

Denki shrugged, "No clue, I was just doing the assignment for algebra."

Ashido threw her hands up, "Man, I'm so bored!" She picked up her phone, and as predicted, went straight to Instagram to see Yaoyorozu on her feed. "You know, Yaomomo kinda gives me a bad vibe."

Jirou was surprised, "Really? I thought it was only me."

That's when Denki realized that his classmates are more observant than he thought, "Really?? Why?"

Ashido shrugged, "It's a gut feeling."

"Now that I think of it, I think she acts strange," Sero said, "Like remember when Marigold asked us to call him Marigold?"

Jirou nodded, "It's like she was totally against the idea and surprised."

Denki frowned, "Really? I didn't see that." But he did remember the distaste he has of her after that one night. That meeting clearly didn't go as planned.

"Of-fucking-course you didn't see that dunce face," Bakugou spoke up, "It's so obvious. I don't know who the fuck she thinks she's fooling."

Clearly someone wasn't trained well if they raise a bunch of suspicion in highschoolers. Denki shrugged, "I just, don't know what you guys are pointing at?"

"Same, Gold," Kirishima agreed, "Yaomomo's completely normal. We don't know what's going on in her life so we can't assume anything."

Ashido shrugged, "I wasn't assuming anything, I just don't vibe with her. She makes me weirdly uncomfortable. I have to admit she's cute though."

"What does her appearance have to do with this conversation?" Sero asked.

"Absolutely everything!"

And like that, the serious mood that they had built up vanished quickly, but Denki knew that their suspicion didn't.

~~~

"You're telling me that your classmates randomly guessed Yaoyorozu - or Aster - was suspicious?" Hyacinth asked in total disbelief.

And honestly, if Denki hadn't been there, he would be pretty shocked too, "I swear they did." Denki continued, "It was weird. I didn't know they were that observant."

"Less observation and more intuition is what I'm guessing," Hyacinth said, "Outside of class, you guys don't seem to interact with each other. It's like you guys have different squads."

"Yeah," Denki agreed, "The class is split into two."

"Effectively cutting off Aster from the other side of the class and giving herself alibis," Hyacinth's eyes flickered to Denki, "Smart and effective - also, what are you doing?"

"Remember like, three years ago when I mentioned the experiments?" Denki asked, "I'm trying to see if I can find more info on them."

"You never told us exactly what you found down there." Hyacinth noted, "Well you told us it was experiments and -"

"Reports, a lot of reports," Denki sighed, "And - they were rating us and seeing with ones were good."

"Good for what?"

"Harvesting," Denki typed quickly on his keyboard, the sound of those taps loud against the strange silence that enveloped them.

"Harvesting, right," To be honest, Hyacinth didn't remember half of the things Denki had said to him that day, all he remembers is being pissed off yet making the decision. And that decision turned out to be the best decision of his life. "Oh."

"What?"

"The older kids always called it The Harvesting," Hyacinth realized, "Remember Lavender?"

Lavender had been a parent figure to them. Lavender saw the world most often since they were constantly on high-demand. Lavender who told them stories, who sang them to sleep, who held them when no one was there... Also tried to warn them. Denki, like Hyacinth, didn't realize until now, "They knew what was happening."

Lavender was only 16 when Denki was informed that they graduated, a tragic day for all 3 of them, knowing that Lavender would never come back - but for the wrong reasons. "That's why Lavender graduated early."

Hyacinth winced, "The real question is if they Harvested or killed, although both have the same outcome."

Denki didn't want to get his hopes up, and knowing how the Garden was, Lavender was probably dead but, "What if Lavender escaped like us?"

"Not possible," Hyacinth immediately shot it down, "Lavender was probably eliminated. If Lavender escaped, don't you think they would've contacted us by now?"

"Lavender's probably in hiding."

"Highly unlikely."

"But think about it -" Denki said, "We found out, and we weren't even as trained as Lavender and we got out. Why wouldn't they? Lavender was one of the most trained ones. We all know how high in demand they were, Hyacinth! It just doesn't add up!"

Hyacinth was silent.

"It adds up, you have to admit! Lavender escaping? More likely than ever."

"But we can only focus on one person, Marigold," Hyacinth said, "We can't even find Iris, how would we find anyone else? You have to be logical - we have limited resources and limited people. We're rusty, with the new people from the Garden? We have no chance against them. What do you want to do, Gold?"

"We'll start training again. Like the old days."

Hyacinth's inhaled sharply, "You're serious?"

"Oh god, you're serious. "

Denki stared at Hyacinth, "We have to be in the best condition."

Hyacinth sighed, "Fine. When are we starting?"

"Tomorrow."

~~~

It hurt, not as much as the Garden would do, but returning to the training did hurt. But Denki knew it would all be worth it. He was extra careful around his class, now knowing how observant they were he couldn't afford to slip up. If they connected him to The Garden, he would be done for.

Denki Kaminari and his dreams would be washed away in favor of Marigold being brought to light.

Denki couldn't risk that.

"Hey, Marigold, can I talk to you for a second?" Midoriya asked one day.

"Sure," Denki smiled and followed Midoriya, "What happened?"

"You-" Midoriya fidgeted under the gaze of Denki, "You're from the Garden, aren't you?"

In seconds, the technology in the surrounding area went out. The lights, the cameras, and any microphones possibly picking up voices. Unlike last time, he wasn't risking it. But what surprised him was how hard that little action was, he really underestimated how rusty he was. "What?"

"The Garden, you know about it," Midoriya stated, "Your name is Marigold ."

Denki's eyes narrowed, "And if I d-"

Midoriya put his hands up in surrender, "I don't want to fight, I swear-" Midoriya's gaze immediately dropped to the floor, "I was just asking."

"Why? You gonna out me or something?"

"My parents - they're from there too."

That was something Denki didn't expect from Midoriya, "So you're saying that you're a child of people that actually escaped ?"

Midoriya looked back at Denki, "They want to meet you."

"They want to meet me? "

"They know about it."

"About -"

"The Harvest," Midoriya said, "But... something was apparently added this year."

"How do they-" Denki did a double take as the situation donned on him, "Your parents infiltrated the Garden." It only really sank in when he saw Midoriya's nod of confirmation. "Your parents infiltrated the Garden."

"It sounds really far fetched but-"

"I believe you," Denki interrupted, "It's okay, I believe you."

"So you're willing to talk to them?"

Denki shifted uncomfortably under Midoriya's gaze, absentmindedly wondering when the tables had turned, "Yes. I'll try."

~~~

"You're- what?" Hyacinth had picked up the phone quickly when Denki called him.

"I'm going to Midoriya's house for a chat," Denki replied, "About that, you know."

"Ah, the flower incident?" Their paranoia ceased to end. They had different codenames for everything that they didn't discuss but ended up using automatically anyway. It goes to show how well they work together. "But are you sure this is a good idea?"

Denki sighed, "I have no idea if this is a good idea," He then added, "That's why I called you."

"Good idea," Hyacinth replied, "Now be careful with what you say, etiquette and all that."

Denki knew what Hyacinth meant, and got the message clearly. "You're acting like I didn't learn manners as a child."

"I doubt you did."

"We were raised together."

"Clearly only one of us succeeded."

"I see how it is," The familiar banter helped Denki take his mind off of the nerve-wracking meeting. These were two people that had escaped and successfully infiltrated the Garden, you can't blame him for being nervous. In Denki's mind, the Garden was this untouchable organization, it's just what he was raised to believe. The Garden was everything, and that's what they taught. To know that two people just like him managed to infiltrate it? It was a miracle, nothing Denki could've ever imagined. "I'm almost there."

"Don't be nervous."

"Wow suddenly I'm not nervous," His reply was quite dry and sarcastic, "Hyacinth, how can I not be nervous?"

"I mean, they're Midoriya's parents, they can't be that bad."

"I think you forgot that they know about the flower incident too."

Hyacinth merely replied, "We're not that bad."

"We're biased."

"And? The reason still stands."

Denki sighed, knowing he can't win Hyacinth, "Right." Denki felt his heart dropped as he realized he was there. "I'm here."

"Have fun!"

"Hyacin-"

The asshole had hung up already, leaving Denki alone. "That bitch," Denki swore, "He'll pay for that one day." Suddenly it felt like he was 5, looking up at the Overseer for the first time, except this time, it was with a house. Denki felt incredibly small.

Normally, people would think this would be an overreaction, but Denki was really not having it. Two people that managed to do something he never could've imagined and could kill him and make it look like an accident is not a good combo in his mind. Denki definitely knows why.

But he couldn't just stand out here and do nothing, so mustering up courage, he knocked on the door.

The door opened, "Welcome, Marigold!"