I am so happy to be done with the work study. While it is more of the Todoroki trauma than the work study I am done with, I'm still happy to get my freedom back. Bakugo and Shoto are actually continuing to work with Endeavor during their free time, so not everybody got to escape that hellhole. However, I did, and that's enough for me.

With this extra time on my hands, I can focus more attention on the League of Villains (yes, I know that they have a new name. however, they didn't need a name change, so they are stuck with that name in my head.) case.

Well, at this point, it's more of war preparation than a case. They are way too big and annoying to be called a case now.

Either way, my current job is to analyze as many people that were at the Deika City incident as possible. There's a high chance that they will be at the fiesta, so we might as well know as much about them as possible. In addition, I'm also in charge of building up our technical army to some extent. I focus on a few police officers and trying to get that program going. So far, my test dummies in the program are doing super well. If this continues, I might be able to convince the police chiefs across Japan into adding this program to their training soon.

Not likely since the world hates me, but I am grasping on the tiny bits of hope I can get.

On the more important hero side, I can't do jack shit. The only thing I can really do there is advertise Akaguro's beat-up session and hope some bitches come. I could help the hero students as they are likely going to be forced into this bullshit, but the teachers are bound to do a better job there than I could.

This is all on top of being a teacher assistant. Otherwise, I would have no reason to be at UA.

It's a lot to do. I will admit to that. However, I suspect that more will be expected from me soon as we get closer to that dreadful date. This is especially true as I crawl through the amount of mother fuckers I have to analyze. Once I get through them, I have room for another task. Though, to be honest, I don't hate it. I wish there were less people, yes, but it's kind of peaceful in a way if I ignore the reason why I am doing this. It reminds me of when I used to sit on the couch as a kid and write in these stupid notebooks about the heroes I would see on the news. I eventually fell out of it, but maybe one day I'll get back into it.

For now, it's time to plan their dooms!

I've been working on these analysis for the past couple of hours or so when I receive my phone starts buzzing. Who the fuck is calling at two in the morning? I drop my pen and pick up my phone to find Tsukauchi's number. He can't wait to tell me anything? Like, I know I don't sleep, but damn.

Whatever. Maybe it's an emergency.

I answer, "Hey, what's up?"

"Knew you would be up. Are you available to come by the police station?"

I roll my eyes as I use Mister Stub to close the notebook in the works, "Yeah, what's up?"

"Just got Kurogiri's DNA results this morning. I thought you would want extra time to look at it since Gran Torino won't let be call him before 7, and I don't know when Sir Nighteye is available." Now this is something I can work with!

"I am willing to take you up on that offer. See you in...15 minutes or so." I stand up and go to turn off my computer only to find that it reads five instead of two. Damn, time must have flew by.

"Alright, I'll see you then."

Tsukauchi hangs up, and I quickly clean up my desk area before going to change into Nezu's stupid cosplay uniform. I decide against the robot arm for today. I've been wearing that some-of-a-bitch too much anyway.

I head out of my dorm to the teacher's empty lounge area. I don't really expect anyone to be up at this time. The teachers don't usually start coming out of their hidey holes until five thirty the earliest. Most of the time, you see the first person by six, which is always Cementoss. Don't ask why. It just is.

The only person who is sometimes up at this time is Shouta, and that's if he is watching me for the night. If he is with Hizashi, like now, he won't be out until later.

I have no problems with being by myself. It gives me an excuse to eat that cake Lunch Rush made last night for breakfast.

Once I finish that cake, I go back to my dorm to brush my teeth and grab my bag, come out, write a note to Shouta explaining where I am, and head out.

'going to jail! no idea when ill be back!'

- - -

The walk to the police station isn't bad. If anything, it's peaceful if you ignore the hero chasing the robber on the way there.

I walk inside, and I don't even bother with the guy sleeping at the front counter. Instead, I walk straight to Tsukauchi's door and knock.

The door opens to reveal the man with messier hair than usual, "Izuku, come in." He steps aside.

I come in past him to find his desk in a similar state that mine was in, "Workaholics squad!"

"It is too early for your excitement," Tsukauchi groans as he moves to sit behind his desk.

"You literally called me and asked me to come. I don't know what you expected from me."

"A calmer Izuku."

"If I am calmer, I probably just got traumatized."

Tsukauchi rolls his eyes, sliding the DNA results to me, "Just read this while I wake up."

I take it and open it up. The first page is simply an explanation of Kurogiri and how they got the sample. For those curious, he can make himself solid to some extent, so that worked out in our favor. I guess he has to hold shit somehow. Of course, it took a couple of quirks as well, but we're smart enough to figure that out.

I skip over that go straight to the results only to freeze.

Oboro Shirakumo

I don't have a response to that. Are you kidding me? Of all, and I mean ALL, people Kurogiri could have been, he HAD to be Shirakumo! You know, squad's close highschool friend that died too young! They still suffer some shit because of his death! Just look at Shouta! Sure, there's other parts in there as well, but Shirakumo is the base! We were looking at his fucking corpse!

Now I feel guilty for kind of forcing them to open up about him a couple of times. Apparently, I do shit similar to him, so it's bound to happen with my reckless actions. On my behalf, I didn't even know that the man existed until recently. However, when I took them to his grave, I was fully aware of what I was doing. I wanted them to remember a friend, and Shirakumo deserved to be remembered. If I had known that Kurogiri was Shirakumo, I would have never done that because that's just going to make emotions worse. It's like stabbing a knife into an open wound multiple times.

"Izuku?" Tsukauchi calls softly, and that snaps me out of that mindset. I can beg and plead for a different answer, but it will never change. That would be insane on my behalf. Instead, I consider it.

"Hood, the nomu Endeavor fought. You guys reported that his personality as a Nomu was the same as when he was alive, right?"

"Yes. He was a reckless wrestler alive that always searched for stronger opponents, and that came through as a nomu. Why?" I tap the file in front of me, giving myself a moment to formulate what I want to say before actually saying it.

"Kurogiri isn't like that. At the USJ, I was able to have a formal conversation with him. Well, formal on his side."

Tsukauchi nods, "Continue..."

"I don't know much about Shirakumo, but I do know that he was a hero student. That's the kind of personality I would expect from a nomu made from a hero student. Do we know if the Hood maintained any memories of his previous life?"

"He showed no signs of it. He was focused on defeating Endeavor."

"Okay...what if we try to trigger them? You know, bring back the original person's memories?"

Tsukauchi's eyes widen, "No, but is that a possibility? If we can do that, we have the key to winning."

"If their original personalities are there, I don't see why we can't bring back their memories. I don't know how we would do it since they are being blocked somehow, but there has to be something there."

For all I know, we could be grasping at straws. Hell, I will admit that this idea is far-fetched. If this was anyone else, I probably wouldn't be the one suggesting this idea. However, this threw me off enough to come up with this idea.

Why?

Well, this means that there is a chance to save Shirakumo. To bring him back. The chance may be smaller than my soul to live, but it's a chance that's there. We didn't get this chance with the other nomus because they were either too far gone or killers. However, Kurogiri here has resemblance of sanity. We can maybe save him. The information we get is just a bonus for me.

Shirakumo is a man who was a great friend to my closest friends 15 years ago. The least I can do is try to save him.

"We'll wait for Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino to come before we come up with a plan for that...do you know Shirakumo?" Tsukauchi questions as I look back down at the paperwork to see what else it has to say.

I sigh, "He was in the same year as Eraserhead and Present Mic." I don't bother to look up from the paperwork to watch his expression, so I have no clue what he is thinking.

"I read an article about his death. It also talked about Eraserhead. I didn't realize that they were in the same year...were they close?"

"Yeah- hold it," I look up at Tsukauchi with a glare, "If you're considering we get them try and talk to Kurogiri to get his memories back, hell no. I hate to say it, but the chances of bringing Shirakumo's memories back are small. I don't want to bring them down to try only to realize that it's not going to work. They are already going to be emotional realizing their friend is a fucking nomu. This shit? This is pushing the envelop for me. I'm not fucking up their emotional health just for information. Last resort? Fine. But we should keep Shirakumo's family and friends out of this as long as possible."

Tsukauchi frowns at me, "Izuku, they should at least be given the choice. They are adults. They can handle themselves."

"It doesn't mean that they should have to. Look, I understand that this is important. Information is important. However, I'm not going to do it at their expense. You already know how pissed off I am that the hero students are having to participate in this bullshit war. You should know my position on this." Tsukauchi watches me for a moment.

Then, he gives me a small smile, "You care about them, don't you?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up. Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"It's just nice to see," Tsukauchi sighs, and the smile drops, "You realize Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino are going to want to follow through with that, correct?"

"And I will fight them the entire way. If it ends up happening, y'all are going to be on my shit-list for a while."

"I'll just bring you hot chocolate."

"Fucker. I would kill myself a million times for those dumbasses, and you think you can lure me with hot chocolate? Disgraceful bitch," I check the time to find that it is 6 (man does time fly), "you can call Sir Nighteye now. He's at his office now."

Time goes by, and, by 8, we have the investigation squad together.

And they are already on my ass.

"Unless you can come up with another idea, we have to call them, kid," Gran Torino attempts to explain to me as we are gathered around Tsukauchi's desk.

"Hypnosis," I logically respond. This isn't shit I am pulling out of my ass either. This is possible apparently.

Gran Torino rolls his eyes, "Do you really think that is more likely to work?"

"I never said this was going to work in the first place. I just said it was possible, and Tsukauchi started questioning me. The next thing I know, my friends are being dragged into this."

"On our behalf, you gave us the idea. Your friends just turned out to be the final piece," Sir points out.

I facepalm, "That is like following me down a cliffside and then saying we should drown ourselves." Sir huffs, amused at my analogy, but I am unamused.

Tsukauchi sighs, "Izuku, I understand that this is difficult, but you have to remember what is on the line here. I trust Mic and Eraser to pull this off. Whether you like it or not, they're going to figure this out eventually. You're just delaying the inevitable. It's better to take our best chance now than later."

I remain quiet, leaning back in my seat as I glare at the file on the desk. I understand that this is important, but it's not important enough to willingly throw Shouta and Hizashi under the bus. I may do that to myself despite the shit I have gone through, but not in a million years with them.

Nobody says anything for a solid minute.

Sir breaks the silence, "We can give them the chance to decline if that makes you feel any better. We can also leave you out of this so this does not sour your relationship between the two."

"I'm part of the case. Eraser will call me out. Besides, even if we give them the choice, they will still follow through," I inform Sir.

"...you do realize that they will be more mad if you keep this from them, right?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. Doesn't stop them from being mad now."

Gran Torino stands up suddenly, "I'm calling Principal Nezu. Sitting around here trying to keep them out is wasting our time. We need to get this done. You can have your pity party later, kid. Right now, we're going to Tartarus to get this done."

He doesn't give us a chance to respond as he leaves the room dialing Nezu. Sir, it's not a pity party. You know jack shit.

I stand up, "Fucking boomer," I mutter under my breath as I follow after him. Tsukauchi and Sir are right behind me.

By the time we make it to the car, Gran Torino is already off the phone. While I may be mad at the old man, I have to admire the fact that he is already off the phone with that rat. Nezu tends to ramble on forever about bullshit, and I end up hanging up on him literally everytime.

Out of pettiness, I don't even give Gran Torino or Sir a chance to get the front seat. I snatch it up, ignoring Gran Torino's grumbles about youth disrespecting their elders.

I simply believe in equality is all.

Once everyone is in, we have an almost quiet drive to prison.

Almost.

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to find Shouta's number, "Eraser," I announce to everyone in the car before answering, "What's up?"

"Where the hell did you come up with that bullshit?" Shouta doesn't hesitate to go right at me. Unlike his usual bored tone, it's sharp now. It's something I would hear whenever he is angry. Fucking great! In the background, I hear Hizashi trying to calm him down, but that's not going to work. I know better.

"Those came from the DNA results we got. We did not make that accusation out of thin air." That just seems to piss him off more.

"He is nothing like Shirakumo! At the USJ, he did not act like him. He didn't act like he knew me. There's no way Shirakumo is in that monster!" I take a deep breath. Remain calm, Izuku. I would be acting the same way. Shouta has every right to act like this.

"This is a man that has been engineered. Of course he isn't going to act like him. I know this is personal, but we need you two to talk to him. I promise you that something is there-"

"You don't know anything, Izuku! You did not know him personally! The only thing you know about him is that he was close to us and how he died!"

"Shouta, stop attacking him! You're making the situation worse!" Hizashi's voice is finally heard clearly, though it's because he is having to scream at Shouta. I can hear that he is stressed too.

"I am telling him the truth, Hizashi! And you're expecting us to talk to that monster to try and bring back Shirakumo's memories?! That is fucked up even for you. I guess even your friends aren't safe from you getting your information no matter how outrageous-!"

Hizashi cuts him off, "Izuku, hang up! We're on our way!"

I hang up.

I-

...

Shouta and I have fought before. Shouta and I have insulted each other before. However, it has never gone that far. Even in our last fight after I went to Deika City, he called me what was practically deserved. Idiot and shit like that.

Shouta has never accused me of something like that. To think that he believes that I would do that just to attempt to get information...

I've heard a lot of shit. I've been insulted so many times.

The most painful thing I remember being told came from my mother when she was told I would be quirkless. We came home, and she had set me up to watch All Might's famous video that I was obsessed with at the time. I was still in tears from that whole shit-show by the time she came to check on me. I remember spinning around and asking her if I could still be a hero. Mom was in tears. She ran over to me and pulled me into a tight up.

I remember her words,

"I'm sorry!"

Nowadays, whatever Mom has to say doesn't bother me as much. Even when she told me that I shouldn't be a hero after losing my arm, it wasn't near that pain because I've grown used to Mom's expectations from me.

I honestly didn't think that could be outdone. I've heard shit from All Might, my baby childhood favorite hero, to Bakugo, my ex-bestfriend. Then, I get random shit from people on the streets.

Overall speaking, I'm numb to most of it.

Most. The only thing that could maybe compare to that is Shinso's insults during the team exercise, but he just caught me at a bad time. But that just pissed me off, which is normal. Besides, that's nothing compared to this.

Shouta, my best friend and brother, accusing me of using Hizashi and him in such a way is probably the most painful thing I've heard.

I understand that Shouta is emotional. He just learned that his bestfriend is Kurogiri, and he is denying. That's expected. I understand.

I guess I wasn't prepared. That really dug up some insecurities about our relationship. Insecurities that were originally passing thoughts.

But for Shouta, I'll shove them down. This isn't about me. This is about him and Hizashi. Once everything is solved, we'll be fine.

I just hope to everything above that Hizashi is able to calm him down enough to be professional once they get here. We don't need him attacking everybody.

I jolt from my thoughts when a large hand lands on my left shoulder, causing me to spin around to face the back seat to find Sir Nighteye watching me with concern while Gran Torino is looking out the window.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm doing better than Eraserhead."

Nothing else is said as I face the front again.

- - -

Author's Notes

Important Update:

Well, after getting some opinions (though most of you are way too kind and said to do what I want, which thank you for the freedom but y'all are too nice), I have decided to say fuck it.

I will be continuing the series into the manga because I have big changes that I want to make there anyway. There's no reason for me to watch the anime if I am going to change the story in such a big way. Usually, I keep close to the storyline, but I've been diverging from it quite a bit.

And I think that's what this Izuku deserves.

To simplify: if you are an anime watcher, I will be going beyond the anime in the next couple of chapters or so. We're going to the manga side of things now!

Expect some updates this summer.

Author Rambling Bullshit::)))))))))I didn't plan for that to be that bad, but I believe it's needed. Shouta needs to fuck up too, homie.