vigilante

Sixty

- Third Person Point Of View -

When the three had been located by the UA's reinforcements, the faculty confiscated Kosuke's note and all of the school's students were excused for the day because of the breach and attack. Kirishima and Kaminari found that Bakugo was more bite than bark when they returned to the dorm, and since Aizawa wasn't around for some reason, they had managed to convince him to go chill out in his room.

It wasn't until later that Aizawa returned with All Might in toe, as well as the Big Three third years and Shinso. They weren't sure why they were there, but they were told to wait outside as Aizawa went into the 1A dorm and brought out a few people.

Those people were Bakugo and Todoroki, and the former at least had some idea as to why they were all there. He knew because he had read the damn note. "There was a lot of debate among the staff about whether or not to show this to you all," Aizawa said as he stood with All Might beside him and the students in front of him. Inside, almost everyone was crowded at the windows, trying to eavesdrop as they watched curiously.

Midoriya was not one of them, since he also had a good idea as to what was going on.

"In the end, we decided to show you, but only the parts specifically addressed to you," All Might continued for the other hero.

"Show us what, sir?" Togata questioned, and then Aizawa held out a piece of paper.

"This. You each get one, and only read your own," He instructed as he handed each person their section of Kosuke's note. He had already read his, and had sworn to do as the kid had asked. He would make these amatuers into the greatest heroes he could, and he would make certain that Shinso joined the hero course so he could officially become a hero. "Once you're finished reading, we'll talk about it."

Bakugo didn't even bother to read his section, just crumpling it in his hand and shoving it in his pocket with a tsk. The others were more intent as they read the words on the paper. It started out with the general introduction, up to the part where Kosuke said he would die of embarrassment if they didn't read their own sections. Luckily he didn't need to worry, since the UA faculty had taken out the other individual notes and only put one person's individual section on their specific papers. After the individual section came the conclusion, and the signature.

Throughout the letter, each and every one of the students had felt impending dread, and that feeling was only intensified into despair at the end when their fears were confirmed. Togata looked between his friends, who looked back at him with wide eyes. Hado had a hand over her mouth, her pupils trembling as tears welled in the corner of her eyes. Amajiki felt a pain in his chest that he had never experienced before, and he wasn't sure how to react other than to clutch the area, which was right over his heart.

Shinso had started crying silently before he had even finished the note, unable to believe what he was reading. His idol, his partner in illegal hero activity, his first real hero friend, Akaguro, Kosuke, was now gone. He had killed himself. The boy couldn't bring himself to look at Aizawa, couldn't even think to acknowledge that he would need someone else to keep teaching him. He wanted Akaguro to teach him, he didn't want a new person even if they were a pro! It wasn't fair!

Bakugo just wanted to go back to his room, but he stayed since All Might had stopped him from leaving with a hand on his shoulder and a shake of his head. And then Todoroki looked up with furrowed eyebrows.

"Why is Kosuke writing a note to us that is apologizing so profusely for going down a sewer slide? That makes no sense. What even is a sewer slide, and why would he go down it? It sounds incredibly dirty. And why does it sound like he's never coming back from it?"

"You idiot," Bakugo scoffed, taking the two steps to be in front of the icyhot boy and grabbing his collar. "You really think there's such a thing as a slide in a sewer? Dream on. This is a goddamn suicide letter, IcyHot. Kosuke fucking killed himself and called it a sewer slide because it sounds like suicide but dumber. Ha," He dropped his hand, using his other to run a hand through his hair. "A dumbass to the end, right?"

"That's right," Aizawa sighed. "As to why you're getting these letters and not everyone else, we decided to let the others think that Kosuke was killed by Dabi like the news had reported. The faculty voted that since Kosuke had written to you, that it was your right to know what he said. With that said," The teacher's eyes hardened. "Don't tell anyone else about this unless you want to explain to them that Kosuke wasn't, in fact, killed by villains, but instead chose to kill himself."

"...Understood," The group eventually agreed, and with that, they were allowed to go back to their dorms.

~*~

"The air's practically made of dust here," A particular person coughed as he and Twice walked towards an abandoned warehouse. "It's gonna make me sick."

"Join the club," Twice said. "The guys inside have been sick for a while." With that said, he pushed the double doors open and the two came inside. The ones waiting were all watching with narrowed eyes. Toga twirled her knife around her hand while Compress sat above her and slung one leg over the other. Magne was on top of a crate with her support item, and Shigaraki was leaning on the wall with his signature hands attached.

"Well now," He mused. "You brought us a pretty big catch, huh Twice?"

"You think so?" The guest stood before them confidently. "Strange, coming from you. The league of villains.."

"What gives?" Magne looked to their leader. "Is this guy famous or something?"

"Master showed me a picture of him, once before and one more recently. He's what you'd call Yakuza, the young head of the Shie Hassaikai. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Shigaraki asked dryly.

"He's the number two of the whole gang?" The trans girl sounded surprised. "Oooh I've never met anyone like him before! He smells so dangerous~ How exciting."

"What's the deal?" Toga asked boredly to Compress. "We're all criminals here, so how is this guy different?"

"Ah, allow me to tell you a story," Compress went on to explain why yakuza were an endangered species. The young head closed his eyes at the comment.

"Endangered species, huh? I guess that's true."

"Yeah, what's a yakuza thug from the slums doing here? Lemme guess," Magne said. "You're excited about All Might's death too?"

"It's good that he's gone, sure," Overhaul hummed. "But I'm more interested in All For One's absence." That definitely got the league's attention. "The dark emperor who ruled over the shadows. The old timers always feared him, even after rumors of his death. Honestly though," He said. "Most people my age thought he was an urban legend. You can imagine the shock when he showed up in the flesh, but in the end, the big bad was thrown into Tartarus, only to be rescued not even a month later. Right now, those of us in the shadows and those in the light are leaderless. So," His eyes were sharp as he went to ask a single question. "Who will step up to take their places?"

"You know who my master is," Shigaraki moved from the wall, stepping closer to the young head. "But you've still got the nerves to ask that? Sounds like a challenge," He glared at Overhaul. "I'm the next leader. Even now, I'm gathering my troops, our numbers continue to increase. With our combined power, I'll turn hero society to dust. But I digress," The league of villains' leader sighed. "That's not the reason you were brought here."

"Oh?" Overhaul raised an eyebrow. This was exactly the conversation he had intended on having with these people, and yet Shigaraki wanted to go off topic? Suddenly bemused, the young head decided to play along. "Why was I brought here, then?"

The air in the warehouse suddenly tensed, and instinctively, so did Overhaul. All eyes were on him, and he wasn't sure exactly what he was seeing in their eyes. "I said Master showed me your picture recently," Shigaraki said slowly. "The reason why he did so was because I had asked him who I could find that could help us with something important."

The League of Villains' leader took another step towards the young head of the Shie Hassaikai, and then removed the hand over his face to assert full eye contact with their guest. "Can you bring someone out of a coma?"

Overhaul hadn't known what to expect, but that was definitely not a question he would have predicted. However, he answered it with ease all the same. "Of course I can."