It took most of a week to get everything in order. When the designated "meet up and be spirited away by a goofball with portal powers" day came, Hitoshi arrived in the chosen meeting place with a thermos full of coffee, a bike pack full of snacks, and the urge to sit on a swing and relive a much less fraught chunk of his childhood. It was probably indicative of both Uchiha's maturity and those of the hero students that they'd all agreed on the type of public park that had fancy play structures.

He'd been scrolling through cat videos and slowly rocking on the rubber seat of a swing for about ten minutes by the time the next person involved in the plan showed up.

"Fancy meeting you here, Midoriya," Hitoshi said when he spotted the broccoli stalk of a hero running into the park. He never thought the descriptor "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" could be used for an actual person except for maybe Ojiro, but Midoriya managed to capture the spirit if not the reality. The nervousness thrumming through the shorter boy could've probably been used for clean energy production if he sped up just a little more.

"Uh, yeah," said Midoriya, skidding to a stop just in front of Hitoshi's swing. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder for some reason—which sported All Might's emblem because of course it did—and it bounced a second or two after Midoriya finally slowed. "It's good to see you, Shinsō-kun."

"Same," Hitoshi said, nodding to him. The weight of his sleep-deprived glare was reserved for the last member of their little adventuring party, who was stomping up the sidewalk in Midoriya's wake. "And there's the ball of sunshine."

Midoriya winced, but he turned back to face the blond stormcloud darkening their figurative doorstep. "Kacchan's been pretty quiet."

"Whatever," Hitoshi said. "Uchiha could show up early, whisk us away, and I wouldn't give a damn if he ended up making goldfish faces at empty air."

"Kacchan has the same right to know what happened that night as we do." Midoriya's chin jutted stubbornly. "Shinsō—"

"I get that. I do. I just hate this," Hitoshi interrupted, ignoring the clearly dangling opportunity for an apology or backtracking. "Bakugō, what took you?"

"If I wanted to deal with you at seven in the morning on a school break, I would've said so," Bakugō replied in a near-snarl. "Fuck off, backup dancer."

Midoriya looked between the two of them, considered, and didn't stop while pressing his hands together in front of his face. If there was anyone who needed to pray for patience, it was probably him. Hitoshi and Bakugō were past the point of no return already.

If Hitoshi had to guess, Bakugō had deliberately slowed his usually-quick pace just to arrive at the playground separately from Midoriya. It was the kind of needlessly petty thinking Hitoshi wasn't above acting upon, but hated seeing in other people anyway. He suspected Kei had something to do with the contrast. Still, three days to decide who the hell was going on Uchiha's Wild Ride? Really?

But hey, everyone they cared about was alive. Otherwise, Hitoshi's parents would've gotten some kind of alert from the school. Probably.

Bakugō slouched at the base of the metal slide. If Hitoshi didn't know Bakugō was a fierce academic and wouldn't know real hair gel if it bit him, the guy could've stepped out of any old gangster movie. Probably as the unstable arsonist extra who got cut down by a girl gang at the forty minute mark.

"So, Midoriya," Hitoshi said, "I half-expected Iida after we broke that vow of silence or whatever. What happened?"

"We had a vote, and I won." Midoriya fiddled with the straps of his school bag. "Iida-kun and Yaoyorozu-san already decided against coming along, and Todoroki-kun didn't want to leave Tokyo. Since his dad's…upset." Hitoshi didn't see how that tracked, but avoided saying so. Endeavor was a can of worms all on his own. "And Kirishima-kun—he lost when we were trying to decide. Uchiha-kun was pretty clear on the three-person limit." Hitoshi's gaze landed on Bakugō, and so Midoriya added, "And Kacchan's a given."

Midoriya had texted a fair amount in the last few days. Hitoshi hadn't asked specifics about that night in Kamino Ward, and hell if he was going to waste data on Bakugō of his own volition. And even if he had, Hitoshi had a modicum of tact. He'd just sat back and watched the little typing indicator flick on and off, tossing his thoughts into the storm whenever it seemed like Midoriya needed a second opinion.

The Kamino Ward team had their own group chat, and Hitoshi did not want an invite to that club.

Whatever happened behind those dust clouds was horrible enough in Hitoshi's imagination that he hardly needed help giving himself nightmares. Starting from "Kei can turn into that" and landing on "the body count is in the double digits" didn't make for fun times. Even if most of the casualties were due to buildings collapsing when that freaky suit guy went apeshit. On the internet, people were still on the speculation stage and therefore useless for any kind of unbiased analysis.

And then there was Uchiha's little revelation; whoever that suit-wearing villain was before his defeat, Kei was the one who put him in the ground.

Bakugō, for his part, had made it through that night mostly unscathed. Physically. Hitoshi didn't know him well and didn't want to, but there was a certain…brittleness in his body language that hadn't been as obvious before Kamino Ward.

"What're you looking at?" Bakugō growled, once he realized Hitoshi was assessing him.

He sounded like he was doing a bad impression of what Bakugō Katsuki might have been, if not for the League of Villains. Brash, loud, and with all the humility of Captain Celebrity in a temper tantrum. It was a little too easy to see the cracks in his armor now.

Hitoshi didn't end up having to answer.

"Wow, three of you! I was honestly expecting more," Uchiha said when he appeared in their midst, rising out of the ground like a fucking ghost.

Hitoshi, who'd reached for a capture weapon he didn't have during a school break, briefly glanced at Midoriya and Bakugō for their reactions. Bakugō's hands smoking and sparking? Check. Midoriya blazing with green lightning for just long enough to recognize the interloper? Double check. One completely unrepentant ninja standing in a crossfire between two dangerous hero students and the only person here who knew him? Triple check.

"You were the one who set the limit," Hitoshi said, finally relaxing in the face of Uchiha's blithe smile and upturned palms. The two-tone light show at each elbow died down at the same time. "Clearly."

"Yeah, but who the hell actually expects you three to listen to rules like that?" Uchiha stepped back, bobbing a bow that barely counted even by convenience store standards. "Actually, I take it back. Bakugō hasn't broken any school rules. You two are rebels, though."

Midoriya winced, but otherwise took it on the chin. Then, green eyes focused solely on Uchiha's face, he said, "You know what it's like, don't you? When—when thinking doesn't even come into it. Like your body moves on its own."

Uchiha's grin dropped from his face. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Get to the point," Bakugō said, surly. "Who the hell even are you?"

Uchiha blinked at him, then tapped his right fist against his upturned left palm like he'd just cracked the case. "My name's Uchiha Obito. I'm one of Kei's friends! Now that I think of it, I guess we've never met." He bowed, because Kei didn't have any friends who weren't built out of sass. "So I guess it's nice to finally talk to you, Bakugō!"

Bakugō looked at him with the air of someone facing down a bad smell, his expression pinched and a little constipated. He didn't bow back.

"Sure, sure. Just take my hand, one at a time." Uchiha, taking the hint, held out his gloved right hand to Bakugō first, plainly ignoring the snub. "The air's a bit thin at first, but you'll only be exposed for a minute anyway."

Some spark of interest lit in Midoriya's eyes. "I know you have a teleportation Quirk, but does this mean we finally get to see how it works?"

Uchiha paused. His smile seemed to be more of a reflex than conscious thought. Then again, they were going to visit one of Uchiha's closest friends. It was probably a mood booster as strong as the presence of cats. "Sure? I don't mind explaining, but I think Kei's grasp on it might be better. And you've already stored up a bazillion questions for her, haven't you?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Hitoshi repeated.

"Great! Then let's get going!"

When Bakugō hesitated just that fraction too long, Uchiha grabbed his shoulder. As soon as his fingers made contact, Bakugō's entire body warped like he was being sucked down a drain, but with the center focused on Uchiha's now-red eye. Hitoshi heard him yell, "FUCK YOU!" before vanishing entirely.

"I'll try not to drop you on him," Uchiha said to Midoriya, red eye still bright but now with strange shapes. It looked like a pinwheel. "Ready?"

"No, but I can't leave Kacchan in there alone," said Midoriya, eyes narrowing half in suspicion and half in determination. He took the offered hand, managing to only turn slightly paler when he started to twist and vanish the same way.

Once that was done, Hitoshi just sighed and held out his hand to Uchiha before he could ask again. The playground and the park around them spun like the view from the inside of an out-of-control theme park ride, making Hitoshi briefly close his eyes against impending motion sickness. If he hurled on someone's shoes, he'd never live it down.

He opened them on reflex once he stumbled a bit on the landing. While it wasn't cold enough to see his breath puff in the air, Musutafu in August was definitely warmer than this. And "this" turned out to be a strange, dark world populated by gray concrete blocks, Hitoshi, and his two traveling companions. The lack of source for the half-light only let him know exactly how strange the place was when Hitoshi looked around. There were no stars. There was no sky. The distance faded into incomprehensible darkness.

Bakugō stood with his back to one of the taller intersecting pieces, with Midoriya hovering nearby. The boy Kei repeatedly called "Splodey" kept jerking his head around to take in the new space, a deep frown on his face and palms already itching for a fight. Hitoshi didn't know how similar Uchiha's Quirk was to Kurogiri's, but now he didn't want to ask.

"Ta-da!" Uchiha's voice said as soon as he could, basically inverting the eyeball drain routine while he appeared. He wiggled his hands as though to invite applause, which he didn't get."This is my personal pocket dimension. I'm the only one who can get in or out."

"I'm sure that isn't paranoia-inducing at all," Hitoshi said sarcastically.

"Do you always have to use this place as a midpoint?" Midoriya asked, as though to distract himself. When he turned his head away from Bakugō to continue the questioning, Hitoshi was sure he saw Bakugō relax slightly. "From what I've seen, you've trained with your Quirk enough that it's not obvious you had to make two stops."

"It can be a little inconvenient, but yeah," Uchiha said, as self-aware as he was completely dismissive of the possibility. Or something like that. To Midoriya, he added, "Round two will put you three in front of Kei so you can talk things out. And then I get to do this seven more times to send you all home."

"Why seven?" Midoriya asked.

"I don't need to actually be back in Musutafu to kick you directly outta here." Uchiha took a deep breath and rubbed at his reddening eye, then said, "Minor change of plans, though. Kei ditched the hospital to…okay, she's sparring with someone. I'll drop you off in a dojo, I guess."

"Is that a problem?" Hitoshi asked. His heart lifted a bit at the thought that Kei was out of any kind of medical facility, but he didn't like the way Bakugō also seemed more interested now.

Obito shrugged. "Nah, I've got it. So, who's up first?"

Midoriya set his jaw and immediately grabbed Uchiha's when he held it out this time. Bakugō went next, apparently determined not to be outdone by the manifestation of his inferiority complex. He vanished too.

Hitoshi sighed internally.

"Pick up the pace or you'll miss the screaming match," said Uchiha, as though that'd make Hitoshi a little less sensitive to being spaghettified. He was going to have one hell of a headache by the end of the day, with or without the screaming.

Hitoshi shot him a halfhearted glare, to which the older teen only grinned. Then: "You really couldn't be anything but one of Kei-san's friends. No one else could be half as obnoxious."

"Ha! Takes one to know one," said Uchiha, and pulled him through.

The world spun hard enough to make a less-acclimated person sick. When the swirling stopped, it resolved into a room that was probably the size of a ballet studio. Its floors were old, slightly scuffed wood, and the walls were traditional as all hell. Right down to the ancient paper-skinned doors and total lack of decent fluorescent lights.

Aside from noting that Bakugō and Midoriya were both there and two full meters apart, like the space between them would keep a fight from breaking out, Hitoshi dismissed most of the extraneous detail.

"Where the actual fuck are we?" Bakugō's voice demanded. Well, he'd survived this trip with his manners unscathed.

"If you were going to spar somewhere that wasn't a UA training facility, a dojo works." Midoriya's voice tilted up timidly at the end, but not because he meant to ask a question. Having Bakugō within charging distance of someone with Midoriya's personality was enough reason for caution before people got hurled across stadiums. "Especially given what we know about…ninja."

In the middle of the room, two people were clearly winding down from a sparring match. One of them was white-haired Hatake, who held a shinai in each hand and looked like he was putting them and any other equipment away while being badgered by Bakugō. He was basically ignoring the walking powder keg.

The other was Kei, in a modified kendo uniform. She crossed the room in the blink of an eye once she spotted him, coming to a complete stop less than half a meter away.

Hitoshi found himself grasping her shoulders, briefly at a loss for words. She was actually here. And, based on the thin sheen of sweat and the lack of pain in her expression or posture, she was actually better off after the Kamino Ward fiasco than people who hadn't fought there at all.

He'd never had to think about how he'd reunite with a friend who'd busted out some wild monster form and clocked a villain who gave All Might trouble. A lot of the beginner hero training he'd experienced didn't even come close to encompassing this situation. Hell, he didn't think Aizawa-sensei would know where to start, either. But if nothing else, he had his mom's example to fall back on, and not even that long ago.

Hitoshi opened his arms, unsure of what else to do.

Kei wrapped her arms around his ribs and latched on. Her "Hi again, Hitoshi-kun," was said into his shoulder.

"Hi yourself," Hitoshi managed while hugging back. It took a second or two to realize that she held him off the floor without any sign of strain. He had to stretch with his toes to touch the wood with just the tip of his shoes. He patted her back. "I see you're as terrifyingly strong as ever."

Kei set him on his feet easily as a kitten, letting him pop his spine and also get his breath back.

"Sheesh. Definitely still strong," Hitoshi said, stretching theatrically.

She tilted her head to look up at him when he stepped away, a wry smile in plain view. "I did tell you I was fine, didn't I?"

"Like I'd believe a text without seeing you in person." Hitoshi considered for a split second, then allowed Kei to lead him to the sidelines rather than trying to stick himself in the middle of the demilitarized zone that was the other option. Hatake and Bakugō practically had a doom aura radiating off them, though Midoriya wasn't contributing to the problem so much as he was trapped in its influence. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Kei said it somewhat distractedly, abruptly realizing everyone else was still locked in a bizarre stalemate. She frowned at them. "Midoriya-kun, Bakugō-kun? Come on. You wanted to talk, right?"

Bakugō broke off whatever weird glaring contest he was having with Hatake, who rolled his eyes once Bakugō wasn't looking. He turned to Kei with a scowl etched across his face. "No, I wanted you to explain what the fuck happened that night. And who the hell you really are, between all the lies. What is your real face?"

Kei's thought process visibly hitched. "…Let's go sit down, so we can talk."

While Hatake continued putting equipment on racks, the rest of them found spots to sit on cushions along the dojo's wall. Each one was as painfully traditional as everything else here, and while Midoriya and Kei could manage a pair of perfect seiza (with a hidden time limit for each of them), Bakugō and Hitoshi didn't bother. Formality could take a hike.

That left the four of them arranged in a rough square, with Midoriya's notebook out on his knees and pencil at the ready.

"That's three for three, Kei," Uchiha announced, stepping through empty air immediately behind Hitoshi. Rubbing at his visible eye with the heel of his hand, he said, "You owe me, by the way."

"The hell I do. This is you making up for the selfie you sent me. The one with the knife," Kei said, leaning forward over her knees to glare at him through her bangs like some yakuza boss delivering judgment.

From the side, Hitoshi could see the way her mouth twitched like she was trying to hide a smile.

Uchiha scoffed, even as he dragged a cushion around between Midoriya and Bakugō, making the former jump and the latter scowl fiercely. Ignoring them both, he said, "You can't hold that over my head forever. You love me too much." He yawned. "Seriously, though, I'm gonna need almost as much recharge time as Kakashi does."

Hatake rolled his visible eye as he walked back to the group. He took up the spot between Kei and Bakugō on bare wood, because he couldn't be bothered to find a sixth cushion.

"You all right?" Kei asked him.

"I will be."

Kei considered this answer, then pulled Hatake carefully closer by his right shoulder.

Hitoshi, all too aware of her total obliviousness, wasn't initially sure if Hatake's total freeze-up was due to the obvious crush.

Then Hatake muttered something sarcastic under his breath, nudging Kei's arm away so he could angle his back more comfortably. Actually, it looked like Hatake was doing his best to favor his left arm and at least part of his back. Hatake was clearly one of the shinobi—just like Kei and Uchiha—but didn't seem to have recovered from the training camp attack half as quickly as the other two.

The thoughtful frown, which had been essentially glued to Bakugō's face for the last few seconds, finally cleared a little. Then: "You're Wolf."

"Good guess," said Hatake, after finally managing to find a position that seemed comfortable. Ish. Leaning on Kei only looked comfortable once he whipped out a light novel that looked a little familiar. Something about books, just to be predictable.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Bakugō's voice got louder, because of course it did. Hitoshi was starting to suspect that either he had a problem listening when he was too busy thinking up what he wanted to say next, or he had a genuine hearing issue. Between his temper and the explosions, it was a toss-up.

"You made it out," said Hatake, apparently ignoring Bakugō's tone. His visible eye assessed for a few seconds before he relaxed. "The rest isn't important."

"The hell it isn't." Bakugō looked mulish. He never didn't, really. Hitoshi eyed Bakugō carefully until—yeah, his hands were faintly smoking. Always a great sign in an enclosed space. "You—goddamn it, you almost died —"

"I know," Hatake said firmly, cutting Bakugō off without raising his voice. He sounded like a slightly younger version of Aizawa-sensei, at least to Hitoshi, even though Kei resembled the man more. "The situation still could have been much worse."

"You literally had to have three blood transfusions," Uchiha said, while Bakugō tried to force words into order. " After first aid."

"Says the one who knocked himself unconscious," Hatake sniped, turning his attention to Uchiha with the air of someone rehashing an old argument. He subsided only to remark to Bakugō, "It didn't go as planned, but every student in the forest made it out alive."

Midoriya and Hitoshi watched the exchange like a morbid tennis match.

"Kakashi spent most of a week in the hospital after that, if you're wondering," Kei said. Not for the first time, Hitoshi scrutinized the shadows under her eyes. They were lighter than they'd been when the two of them visited Midoriya in the hospital that one time, but not by much. "So did Obito." To Hitoshi, she said, "I'm sorry I led you to think it was something else, but I was telling the truth, Hitoshi-kun."

Hitoshi rested his chin on his upturned palm, brows furrowed. "You're kind of a bad liar, Kei-san. It's not hard to tell when you're feeding me a line."

In the grand scheme of things, how many times had Kei actually lied to his face? She'd evaded, or been vague, but as far as he remembered? He'd be able to yell at her over details, but she was always careful to avoid naming specific places or people where possible. In fact, unless the speaker was Uchiha, Hitoshi didn't think she'd ever put in the effort to keep someone from spilling a secret. Even her brother seemed in on the whole thing.

Uchiha was just a blabbermouth.

"Yeah, well," Kei muttered. When she spotted Hitoshi's smirk, she rolled her eyes and said, "Shut up."

"The fact that you managed to keep a secret since February is honestly some kind of record," Hatake added, because having childhood friends apparently meant that people got insult privileges. Hatake promptly received a jab in the side. Ignoring this, he said, "I told you to lay low during the Sports Festival. And what did you do? Not that."

Kei was careful not to hit any of his injuries in the process of elbowing him a second time.

Again, Hatake ignored it. Instead, he turned his attention back to Bakugō, then Midoriya, and then Hitoshi. His half a glare seemed to drill right through to the core of them, though Hitoshi knew that Hatake couldn't possibly know them well enough to really judge. Then he said in a remarkably even tone, "Kei, how do you want to do this?"

Kei grimaced. "I don't know where to start."

Midoriya stared at her. "I don't—I mean, I can guess some of it. It might be easier that way?"

"Deku, if you want to half-ass the interrogation, that's on you," Bakugō told him. He jutted his chin like it made him look intimidating rather than petulant. "What the fuck happened in Kamino? Why were you—did you know the League was going to hit the camp? The villains scooped you up like nothing, but how much of that was a part of the plan?"

"Um…" Kei started doing math with her fingers. It didn't appear to be going well.

"You weren't supposed to take that literally," Hitoshi complained.

"But you deserve an honest answer, so give me a second," was Kei's reply. She took a steadying breath, then met Bakugō's eyes. "Strictly speaking, we didn't know that the camp was going to be attacked, but we worked it out. The likelihood of the villains attacking the hero course students again was high—considering the track record—and the school wanted you protected. That is the truth."

"Your class is like a bad luck charm," Hitoshi said, mostly under his breath. "What the hell."

"Seriously though! USJ set the whole tone," Uchiha put in, because he was apparently never one to let an opportunity for commentary pass unnoticed. "And after that and the Sports Festival showcasing all your Quirks, Stain hit Musutafu and Midoriya almost got kidnapped by a Nōmu. And then the teachers were taking you all away from the campus? After the security upgrades? It was like they were trying to make us work three times as hard." He fell back in a dramatic flourish, splayed out like a starfish.

"That's probably why you were out of contact for three days, wasn't it?" Hitoshi asked, suspicious. "You didn't go home; you went to babysit."

Kei nodded reluctantly. "Minor detail; I actually left my phone in my apartment. It was under my futon."

"Of course you did," Hitoshi muttered, rubbing his forehead.

Kei then turned her attention to Bakugō, letting Hitoshi stay trapped in a web of lies for a little longer. "When I told you I got kidnapped, I was telling the truth. After the attack on the training camp, I honestly didn't know what the hell was going to happen next. Fox—Sensei ordered me to stay out of trouble until the pro heroes got you back, so I did." She waved at Midoriya. "I sort of figured Kirishima-kun and Midoriya-kun would do something drastic, but I didn't ask what it was because I didn't really want to know if I couldn't stop it."

Midoriya let out a nervous sound, drawing a glare from Bakugō. "Uh, how quickly did you work that out?"

"I was only sure after I got home, but by that point it was basically too late to stop you anyway," Kei replied.

Uchiha sighed, tilting his head though Bakugō was on his blind side. Like he didn't really mind if the kid exploded at him. "I didn't even hear about what happened until the apartment burned down. Total information blackout until Sensei flipped out."

To Hitoshi's surprise, Hatake nodded along. "Same here." He eyed Hitoshi just briefly before going back to his book, as though bored. "Actually, you were the first one to know something was wrong, Shinsō-san. Funny how things work out."

"But," Kei said, before the other two could continue to pile on how totally not involved they were with the whole mess, "as soon as those League members showed up, I knew I was never gonna have a better chance to get at their boss." Lifting her head to sweep her gaze across the room, she concluded, "So I pretended to be terrified while Hitoshi-kun was listening, and I acted helpless while we were in that bar. I completely took advantage of the situation."

"Which was really the whole point!" Uchiha added, making "ta-dah!" hand motions with his fingers splayed out. Why was he wearing gloves indoors? "The whole reason Kei went to UA was because that super secret jerk needed to be punched out."

Bakugō blinked. "You're telling me this entire thing was about a boss villain nobody'd ever heard of."

Hatake rolled his visible eye. "That you've never heard of."

"You haven't paid attention to a single history assignment," Kei said, deeply skeptical. "Ever."

"Call it pattern recognition." Hatake shrugged. Looking over the top of his book, he added, "Undesirable facts are always buried. Especially if they believed the problem went and died six or seven years ago."

Kei's expression twisted in disgust, but only for long enough for Hitoshi to notice it. "Which always works out great." He didn't even want to know what kind of experience that tone implied. Context clues blared warnings that asking would go nowhere good.

"How the hell does someone that strong get buried under red tape? I—" Bakugō almost jerked to a stop. He briefly covered his mouth with his hand, mind clearly working furiously. "There was that fight seven years ago. The one with… Not with Toxic Chainsaw. That fucking pushover might've been a cover. It's the only time All Might was hospitalized."

"I didn't realize you were that big of a hero nerd," Hitoshi put in, because he definitely hadn't remembered that.

Then again, he'd been pretty thoroughly engrossed in elementary school drama at the time. Nothing quite like being utterly dismissed as a person with feelings by a whole school to get the introversion going. Hitoshi refused to let the reminder show on his face past his usual hostility toward Bakugō.

"Shut the fuck up. It's All Might we're talking about," Bakugō retorted. "Everyone knows he's in the news all the time. You were just living under a goddamn rock."

Hitoshi scoffed.

"That's what I thought, too," Midoriya put in, a little hesitant. When Bakugō glared at him, he stammered, "I-I asked All Might about that, the day we met! H-he didn't say the secret villain's name back then, but—"

"And?" Bakugō growled, his voice echoing around the hall despite the lower volume.

"—that villain was named All For One," Midoriya concluded. When he managed to pry his gaze off the floor, there was the slightest flicker of green lightning in them. Hitoshi doubted Midoriya even knew he was doing it. "It's because of the injury All Might got fighting him that he… he used up the last of his Quirk in Kamino." Midoriya swallowed. "And now he's retired."

Hitoshi watched Bakugō jerk his head away, like he'd just been slapped. Midoriya just looked miserable. All three of the ninja kids exchanged looks. When they failed to come up with a nonverbal accord, silence reigned.

Then Kei ran a hand through her hair and said, "Damn it."

"It wasn't your fault." Midoriya said, subdued.

"It's really healthier to just blame the guy trying to murder everyone," Uchiha said, sharper than he'd spoken before. He sat up with a grunt, shifting so he was kneeling on the cushion, and split his attention between Midoriya and Bakugō. Of the two, only Bakugō bothered pretending to be more stubborn than affected by the idea of All Might's retirement. "Which is exactly what that guy was trying to do, in case you forgot."

Hitoshi kept his thoughts on the topic to himself.

"I'm serious. Like, think about everyone who was there in Kamino?" Looking expectant, Uchiha went on, "There were a whole bunch of innocent people, pro heroes, All Might, Sensei-Fox, Kei, and the whole League of Villains. Out of everyone there, who blew up buildings and attacked a whole summer camp full of kids? More than once, since the USJ was their big debut." Uchiha crossed his arms, point made. "Seems to me it was All For One's fault, start to finish."

"But you know what was Kei-san's fault?" Hitoshi put in, eying the serious expressions on other kids' faces. When Kei glanced at him, silently confused, he said, "All the masked ninja sightings. Weren't they?"

"I mean…more of them were me than these two," Kei replied a little sheepishly, waving at Hatake and Uchiha. "It was kind of my night job, since I lived in Musutafu for the entire school year. And part of why my grades were so bad."

"A small part." Hitoshi's eyes narrowed, and Kei inclined her head in agreement. "But there were a couple cases where you couldn't have possibly—"

Now that Hitoshi thought about it, he'd never met one of these three in their shinobi costumes. Midoriya and Bakugō, on the other hand, had either seen both or only seen their work modes. He didn't even know what the Turtle persona and its animal pals even looked like, past blurry photos.

But maybe other people had a better idea.

"Hang on a second," Hitoshi said, gears sliding into place and whirring wildly. Uchiha stilled his idly kicking legs.

"What is it, Shinsō-kun?" Midoriya asked, with the tip of his pencil hovering above a page in his notebook.

"What about the phone freakout during the Sports Festival?" Hitoshi's gaze darted to Uchiha. "I didn't ask at the time, but what happened?"

"Kei was just being a worrier," Uchiha replied, shrugging with one shoulder. As though a thought struck him, he pulled up his right sleeve and exposed a milk-white forearm. "I think I've said it before, but in case I haven't, this is actually a… What'd Rin call it? A bio-prosthetic."

When he pulled off his glove, Hitoshi finally got a look at the abnormally smooth skin and the total lack of fingernails. As Hitoshi and Midoriya watched in a kind of horrified fascination and Bakugō just looked baffled, Kei and Hatake seemed mildly uncomfortable.

Nowhere near surprised.

Uchiha, for his part, might as well have been discussing the results of a recent wardrobe change. "I lost my real arm and basically everything from here to here three years ago, and the replacement doesn't feel much pain." He traced a line from the side of his neck diagonally down to the middle of his ribcage on the same side. Finally settling back to shrug, he added, "I was in Tokyo to visit and got stabbed, so Kei yelled at me for being reckless."

"I fucking hope she did," Hitoshi said, reeling. What in actual hell could injure someone with a portal-producing Quirk that badly?

Uchiha smiled with just a touch of strain.

Clearly not something that could mangle his sense of humor beyond repair, but had sure tried. Shit.

"I thought your Quirk let you phase through everything," Midoriya said, pencil scribbling like it had a mind of its own. "That day we first met, you went right into the middle of the fight without a problem." He brought his scarred right hand to his face, half-mumbling already. "Though you did disappear without a word afterward, and we never did get confirmation about what happened. The pros didn't want to even admit that you'd been there, and it wasn't like any of them saw you besides… Did anyone see you?" Before Uchiha could answer, Midoriya asked, "Can you tell us? Or is it another, um, shinobi thing?"

"Todoroki-kun did during the Musutafu thing. He just kept the secret, I guess," Kei said, when Uchiha hesitated. She jabbed a finger at the analog clock on the wall. To Hitoshi, she added, "That day I was yelling at him? What he's not mentioning is that he got stabbed by Stain." Over the sound of Uchiha's dismissive snort at the mention of the Hero Killer, she went on, "He didn't even notice until after he'd sent the photo."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Uchiha whined. "And I was fine!"

"I had to dig the knife out," Hatake put in, apparently out of a desire to see Uchiha squirm. He hid behind his book when Uchiha tried turning puppy eyes on him.

Well, eye, Hitoshi thought, and immediately felt terrible.

"Though I suppose taking a knife for Ingenium qualifies as heroic."

"Exactly!" And from the way Uchiha's smile didn't at all mesh with the way Hatake was scoffing from behind his book, he was ignoring the tone. "Shinobi to the rescue."

Hitoshi honestly didn't know what to say to that, other than something along the lines of "what the fuck." Yes, he knew logically that someone who claimed to be a shinobi, specifically of the white-masked faction that'd been haunting Tokyo for months, would probably be fine going up against someone who ate pro heroes for lunch.

It just didn't mesh with Uchiha's scatterbrained personality. If Uchiha hadn't been absolutely key to the shinobi team's mobility, Hitoshi would never have even suspected him. And even now, his immaturity still made the puzzle pieces fit together not one bit.

Maybe that was the point.

So that answered those questions, which only left one elephant in the room…

Bakugō, as usual, was the first to hit the starting gate. "So how do you come into all this? What makes a bunch of stagehands crawl out of the background and start jumping villains the second pro heroes aren't looking? Don't tell me it's out of some vigilante urge or whatever the fuck."

"Money?" Uchiha suggested.

…What?

Bakugō glared at him. "Like you expect me to believe that."

"I mean, it's true. We're getting paid to kick the shit out of bad guys." Uchiha smiled sheepishly. "It's fun and profit!"

"Yeah, but why you?" Midoriya insisted, jumping in before Uchiha could antagonize a fuming Bakugō further, "Why specifically you , Gekkō-san?"

"I had the power output for the job." Kei didn't look any happier to be put on the spot than she had any of the other times. She snapped her fingers and a globe of water formed in the air above her hand. While it sank to cover her hand in a thin film to later evaporate, she went on, "Which…isn't everything. It's hard to explain."

"Then let me simplify it for you. What the fuck is the deal with that second Quirk?" Bakugō snapped at last. He hadn't been jiggling his leg or drumming his fingers or otherwise showing the signs of his mounting impatience with the conversation tangents, but all eyes were on him now. To Kei, he said, "Exactly how much were you holding back at the Sports Festival?"

It was a question that'd been nagging at Hitoshi, too, but he had the tact not to just demand answers. He resisted the urge to say as much to Bakugō, who was already keyed up enough to start smoking.

Kei rubbed at the scar on her face. After a silence long enough to turn tense, she said, "I think I used maybe half of my full power."

"I mean, it looked more like three-quarters to—"

Hatake nailed Uchiha in the forehead with his book.

"Ow!"

"You fucking doormat!" Bakugō snarled.

Kei pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, ignoring their antics. "Power isn't a toy, Bakugō. Me holding back has nothing to do with you."

And if not for the way she was glowering at Bakugō, Hitoshi might've missed the red-gold flash in her eyes.

What the actual fuck is that?!

Bakugo, for what it was worth, actually looked disconcerted, like he was having a realization and it was flipping his world in a direction he didn't like. Still, he persisted, his jaw set as he asked, "What is that? What is Turtle, exactly?"

"The second Quirk, obviously," said Hatake, still leaning against Kei's side without a care in the world.

Bakugō, of course, shifted his glare between Hatake and Kei like he was trying to decide who to set on fire. There was a twinge of fear and uncertainty in his body language that hadn't been there before. Or at least masked by aggression.

Hitoshi was still trying to wrap his head around the light show.

Midoriya, meanwhile, looked downright spooked. He'd worked out more than Hitoshi had, hadn't he? Actually, Midoriya seemed to have a better idea of what was going on than almost anyone out of their group of friends. Kirishima might've been the first major driving force behind the rescue mission—or so Hitoshi worked out from the text explosions—but Midoriya was the one who got the group out of there with Bakugō in tow.

Hitoshi took a deep breath and tried to force himself not to view Bakugō quite so negatively. It'd take some effort. He had a lot of other alarm bells to juggle right now. If his hair hadn't already been standing on end thanks to gel, it'd be straining now.

Kei rubbed the scar again, pensive. Her dark eyes focused on the floor. "It's… complicated."

"Is it anything like the Nōmu?" asked Midoriya. When Bakugō rounded on him like he was going to punch his classmate into next week, he rattled off quickly, "T-the only people I've ever heard of with multiple Quirks were the ones who were deployed like shock troops against the pros. The one at the USJ had at least three, and so did every other one we'd seen until the training camp attack." Green eyes focused on Kei. "But they were all—All Might said that they were what happened when All For One used his Quirk on people. To move Quirks around wherever he wanted."

"Well, actually—" Uchiha began.

Kei waved for Uchiha to shut up, which meant he ended up making a zipper motion across his mouth. Very mature.

"I'm a bit different, but that's not too far off," Kei said at last. Hitoshi found himself reaching out to her, but hesitating before his hand touched her arm. "The one who made me like this went and died. He never paid for what he did. But I survived. And that, I guess, brings us back to Quirks."

"How many do you really have?" Bakugō immediately demanded, like he was waiting this whole time to spit it out.

"Three." She ran a hand down her face. "Tsunami, Isobu, and Biofeedback." Neither of the latter two names rang a bell for Hitoshi. "The last one I've had since I was five. The others...well, I think I told you the last couple of years have been rough. That bastard is the main reason why."

"Tsunami we know about and Biofeedback I could probably guess, but Isobu…" Midoriya mused, pencil tapping on his notebook, his stare a little distant. "That sounds…like a name."

Hitoshi reached for his sense of humor and found it missing.

"That's 'cause it is," said Uchiha, twisting his head to see what Midoriya was writing with his good eye. "That's his name."

" His? " Hitoshi asked, a prickly feeling starting to crawl on the back of his neck as the weight of what Uchiha just said began to manifest. She had something else sharing her body, and someone had put it there.

It was one thing to be born with it, like Tokoyami had. It was a whole new beast to have two beings shoved together into one by force.

No wonder this "Isobu" sounded so angry when he manifested.

"Isobu kinda hates people, but he and Kei get along all right nowadays," said Uchiha, as though this was in no way alarming. His face twisted in a frown all of a sudden. "Though I guess it'd be easier to hear it from him?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" For the first time since this conversation started, Hatake jerked upright in alarm.

Kei's eyes briefly glazed over. There was maybe a hint of gold in them, but it was gone before Hitoshi could be sure. Otherwise, she looked exactly like she did while daydreaming in class, at least until a teacher tried to ask her something. Or until chalk was already flying at her head.

…Wait a fucking second.

Bakugō was the only one to get to his feet as soon as Kei did. She drifted toward the center of the dojo, clearly distracted, and he followed her the entire way like a dog investigating an intruder.

Uchiha and Hatake stayed seated. Midoriya's pencil was going to start a fire sooner or later.

Hitoshi got up a little more slowly, keeping more of a safe distance from Kei than Bakugō's mere two meters.

Red-orange light gleamed in her eyes when she turned back around to face them, gold flashing just briefly in the middle. Almost like flames, more light poured out of her chest and shot across her skin until she was encased entirely in the strange energy. It bubbled.

It felt like fear made solid, and Hitoshi wasn't even close enough to touch it.

As Kei crossed her legs and slid into a perfect seated position, the aura itself detached from her and filled the air in her immediate vicinity. Dark Shadow was glued to Tokoyami's navel like a weird growth or something, but Kei's doom glow formed a snowglobe around her. And then that snowglobe started to grow arms, and three scaly tails, and finally a spike-ridden face that sat just above where Kei's would have perfect line of sight.

It didn't look like a turtle. It looked like what happened when someone who'd never seen a turtle was asked to draw from eyewitness accounts of one.

That face shifted in a clear yawn, its snapping turtle-esque mouth opening wide before clamping shut, turning its one eye on its audience. Then, its eerily reverberating voice said, "What do you want?"

"I literally just explained this," Kei said, from within the turtle-thingy. "Isobu, seriously."

"I was not paying attention," Isobu replied. It folded its legs— he folded his legs under his ribbed belly, flattening the entire aura as he leaned down to settle on the floor. Kei's head almost brushed the top of it, now. "I exist. So does Kei. We unfortunately share a body. What is the issue?"

"This, by the way, is like a halfway transformation," Kei said quickly, before anyone could actually answer that question. "It's just an easy way for Isobu to talk to people."

"Which neither of us uses much. It is only when… Wait." The spiky head turned toward Midoriya, whose pencil tip had just gone and snapped. He was erasing something, too. "What are you doing? Are you drawing me?" He puffed up like a cat, three tails cutting through the air fast enough that Bakugō had to duck or be clocked by one. "Show me!"

Hitoshi felt the fear drain out of him like melting ice. Oh, it was still there, but between the high-pitched prepubescent voice and the sudden puppy behavior out of a sapient Quirk with a bear trap for a face, Hitoshi nudged Midoriya in the back without a hint of guilt.

"Shinsō-kun!" Midoriya said on reflex as he stumbled forward.

"Show him your drawings, Midoriya!" Hitoshi said, merciless and grinning a little.

The only thing really standing in Midoriya's way was Bakugō, anyway. With Hitoshi's prodding and Isobu's whining, the shortest of them finally got within about half a meter of the outermost glow that made up Isobu. He put his notebook on the floor and spun it to face the monster, and both of them watched with interest as a half-phantom fingertip pinned the book down.

On them, spread across one lined page, was a very rough sketch of the USJ monster. So, rather than fully Isobu, it looked like an ink blot that had the full number of limbs accounted for. Opposite it, amid a number of scribbled notes that reminded Hitoshi of Kei's training journals, was a very quick outline of Isobu as he was now. To wit: A big glowy thing with a person stuck inside.

He almost looked like a gelatin dessert.

"I look impressive," Isobu said, smug as all get-out. He withdrew the spectral hand, tucking himself back into a turtle loaf. It was a suspiciously catlike behavior for something that looked like five sea creatures jammed into a single body. "I approve."

"Thanks?" Midoriya squeaked.

"I think I like you." Isobu's tails curled into lazy S-shapes as he twisted his head as far as it would go, trying to keep Bakugō in sight. "If you all died, I might be sorry."

Inside the orange glow, Kei smacked her forehead with her palm.

"Except for that chatty human with the mask," he corrected himself. "He deserved to die."

"He means All For One," Kei said, exasperated. "Not the other fifty-zillion people who also talk a lot and have masks."

"I know what I said."

"You're not helping!"

"So?"

Kei smacked her face again.

"So this is what you were doing in class? Makes sense now," said Hitoshi, going for lighthearted and actually achieving it. "Maybe 'hates' humans is a strong term, given this whole situation."

"Do not mistake my good mood for altruism," Isobu said. The eye he turned on Hitoshi was a perfect match for the eerie glow that Kei's eyes took on. "This has been a frustrating experience." Was that armored shoulder movement supposed to be a shrug? "But now I am home after a good fight, and our foes are dead. I have wanted both things for months."

Not the least bit creepy, no sir.

Midoriya froze in place.

Sheesh. "Guess you thought the Sports Festival was boring…?"

"Yes. There was nothing to kill." Isobu paused. His eye briefly closed as he thought. "Though there was a moment in the middle where she—" here, he waved in Kei's direction with two tails, "—could not be contacted. No one was in charge of our body."

When…? Hitoshi's survival instincts immediately slapped him upside the thought process with an image of Monoma's face. He didn't let the sudden bone-chilling terror show on his face as he said in a mild tone, "Must've been frustrating."

"It was. If you had not knocked that human's control loose, we would not be having this conversation." Isobu inclined his head. "So, thank you."

"He doesn't—well, okay, he totally means that as a backhanded threat." While Isobu looked oddly smug for something without facial expressions, Kei said, "But if Isobu showed up during the Sports Festival, I'd never have gotten to be a student past that point! So, uh…"

"We got what he meant," Bakugō said flatly. He was behind Isobu's projected tails by now, and slowly circled back to the front with his hands in his pockets. "So, in exchange for having this guy talking in your head, you get that kind of power."

"Basically."

"And you're using it to be black ops."

"More or less."

"With no subtlety."

As soon as Isobu said that, Kei sighed and got to her feet again, eyes firmly shut. As she did so, the Isobu-jelly popped like a soap bubble. It rushed back to her chest as though down a drain, then vanished entirely. When she opened her eyes again, they were back to plain black. She squared up with Bakugō without apparently noticing.

Bakugō eyed her carefully. Then, "You're not as much of a doormat as I thought."

"That was kind of the point of the whole 'pretending to be a normal student' thing," Kei said, snorting. "Good to know I fooled someone."

Bakugō scowled. "Don't act smug about it." But rather than elaborating on that point, he clapped Kei on the shoulder before stepping back, out of easy reach for reciprocation. Then he stalked over to Hatake and Uchiha, who hadn't moved much for the last couple of minutes.

Hitoshi had no fucking idea how they managed to stay calm the entire time, but they had.

Still, Midoriya had to have his say, too. Hitoshi figured he'd be last in line, if only because he wanted the last word.

Midoriya, of course, then used that chance to say, "Will we ever see you all again?"

Hitoshi's gut twisted and he looked away.

"Y-you'd want us back?" Kei audibly stumbled.

"Uh, yeah?" Midoriya grabbed Hitoshi's arm and dragged him back into the conversation. "With maybe less serious villain-fighting and more just hanging out? No ninja or hero stuff, and we can't pay you since that'd be really weird, but I—we haven't had friends who are nearly so far outside of the hero system, but I think I understand you. And you understand us, mostly."

Clearly baffled, Kei said, "Generally?"

"Then, um, stay in contact." Midoriya stuck out his free hand for her to shake. "Please."

Hitoshi's ears were ringing.

"Well, since we have Obito—" Kei began, a little hesitant.

Obito interrupted with, "Hell yeah!" Slapping his hand into Midoriya's and making him shriek because he was just there, when he'd been across the room just moments before. "Sounds like a vacation. A real one this time!"

Hatake, who was deep in conversation with Bakugō for whatever damn reason, spared enough attention to fling a book at Uchiha's head again. It sailed right through and skidded across the floor.

"Can't get me twice, Kakashi!"

Hatake ignored him again.

"While I can't do it all the time, I don't mind heading back to Tokyo to hang out." Uchiha let go of Midoriya's hand and patted his shoulder reassuringly. With the fake hand. "There's so much stuff to see there."

Midoriya blinked. "I mean, isn't there stuff to see here?"

"Eh. Small towns are small towns." He steered Midoriya away from Kei and Hitoshi, continuing to chatter away. "There was this really awesome pizza place—"

That left the two of them standing in the middle of the room like a pair of weirdos.

"So," Hitoshi said at last.

"So," Kei repeated.

"Please don't do that," Hitoshi muttered. He almost didn't want to look at her, but what else could he do?

His first friend wasn't coming back to school in the fall. She'd stay here, in her wacky ninja town, and beat up training dummies or something. Unless there was a special day trip planned, there'd be no more after school hangouts or trips to cat cafés. She wouldn't call him at whatever o'clock to whine about homework. Hell, she'd never even punch him in the face again.

Damn sentimentality for making even that seem bittersweet now.

Kei reached out first, gentler than she'd been even when she first broke the news. Without really asking, she drew him into another hug. Her arms around his neck tugged him down, like she knew what was going to happen even if she didn't see the tears forming.

"Damn it," Hitoshi mumbled into her shoulder, eyes stinging. "I'm going to miss you. You know that, right?"

"I do," Kei said softly, not mentioning the growing wet spot on her training shirt. Just by his ear, she murmured, "You know things will be different. They have to change for anybody to move forward." She squeezed him once, then let him partly escape her hold. With a loose grip on his hands, she concluded, "But I'll still be your friend, Hitoshi-kun."

"I believe it," Hitoshi managed. When she let his hands go, he scrubbed immediately at his eyes with his sleeve. "Ugh, I hate crying."

"Same." When he looked, Kei's eyes were bright. "But it's not goodbye forever. Just for now."

Hitoshi didn't reply until he was sure the tears had stopped. After giving his eyes another swipe, he said, "Then I'll see you later."

Kei's smile was a little watery, but genuine. "Yep."

With that, Hitoshi headed back across the room toward the pending return trip. Bakugō and Midoriya were both already gone, trapped for however long in the twilight Minecraft dimension, and Uchiha held out his hand with a grin.

"Ready?" Uchiha asked.

"Guess I have to be. We've overstayed our welcome." He shot a last look at Kei, who was a ball of tension in a fighting gi. Went to show that the parting was mutually sad.

"Maybe a bit!" Uchiha's grin didn't waver.

Of course it didn't.

And in the split second before taking Uchiha's hand, Hitoshi leaned over and whispered to Hatake, "You'd better take care of her."

Going by his widening eyes, that struck true. Getting the last word against a ninja wasn't really how Hitoshi had planned to end the field trip today, but it wasn't a bad outcome.

Especially when Uchiha joined them in the shadow world, cackling even as he sent them the rest of the way home.

AUTHOR MESSAGES INCOMING

A journey of a year and spare change ends here, clearing out the old year and the old decade. And who even knows what might happen next. :D

It's been a wild ride. Thanks for keeping up with these kids!

~ Lang

Thanks for joining us on our journey.

Much love~

Abalisk