THIS IS THE CHAPTER YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!! :D

"You guys have your phone chargers, clothes, underwear, and everything?" Akihiko asked them as they dragged their luggage to the living room.

Shiina rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother."

"And deodorant?"

It was Ken's turn to roll his eyes. "Yes, mother."

Akihiko deadpanned at their sass and turned to Shiina to accuse, "You've corrupted him."

"I improved him." She corrected.

Koromaru barked in agreement.

Ken scoffed playfully. "Oh please, I've always been sassy, Shiina just helped me bring it out a bit."

"You're not being sassy, you're being bratty." Akihiko said, placing his hands on his hips like any typical mother would.

"Nah, you're just getting old." Shiina snickered.

Akihiko rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I can't deal with you guys this early in the morning. Just leave already."

"Sure you don't wanna come with me to Tatsumi Port Island?" Ken asked as they headed for the door and began to slip on their shoes.

"Nope," he said with certainty. "I don't wanna deal with Mitsuru interrogating me about my grades and if I'm taking care of myself and all that... If she asks, just tell her I'm doing good."

"So you don't want me to tell her about all those times you'd go out drinking with your college buddies?" Ken asked cheekily.

Akihiko glared at him as Shiina 'oooooh'ed in the background. "Just tell her I'm doing good." He repeated.

"Alright, we're off then," Shiina said once she finally finished lacing up her shoes. She bent down to pet Koromaru on the head. "Goodbye, Koro-chan!"

"See ya," Ken smiled down at the lovable dog. And then, the two of them finally set off for the subway where Aizawa and the rest of their class met up. Shouto was the only one not there since Endeavor had already driven him to his agency.

"Make sure to behave yourselves," he droned, looking at a few students in particular. "And don't do anything stupid."

"You got it, Aizawa sensei!" Kaminari saluted.

"You're the one I'm most worried about," Aizawa said bluntly and the poor blonde deflated. Shiina could do nothing but pat him on the shoulder.

One by one the students filed out and left once their trains came. Shiina, surprisingly, was joined by Tokoyami and Dark Shadow to Fukuoka, Kyushu.

"Who are you interning with?" She asked him curiously as they leaned against the wall.

"Hawks," he answered simply.

Her eyes widened. "You too? Oooh, this'll be interesting! Did you guys know that together you make one whole bird?!"

Dark Shadow popped out. "I know right?!"

"I wonder what sort of activities we will do under his tutelage..." Tokoyami mused.

She shrugged. "Hopefully the dude doesn't make us fetch him coffee or some dumb shit like that."

— ❤ —

Hawks was shorter than she expected, but then again, every picture she saw of him was when he was flying so of course he'd look a bit tall.

In actuality, Hawks was just an inch or two taller than her. He had feathery (hah, feathery) ash blonde hair that was styled messily but still somewhat cute on him. There was a faint trace of stubble on his chin and his brown eyes were sharp like a bird's. Behind him were his iconic bright red wings that Shiina kind of wanted to touch.

"Ooh, finally, the interns are here," he said jovially approaching them. He bent forward a little to inspect their faces and Shiina instinctively backed away. As for Tokoyami, Dark Shadow appeared and barked, "Hey, back off!"

"Haha, you guys seem cool," Hawks grinned, stepping back to give them space. "You guys have no idea how glad I am now that you're here."

Tokoyami perked up. "Do you need our assistance in taking down a villain?"

He snorted. "What, no! I need you," he pointed at Shiina. "To get me a latte from the nearest Starbucks and you," he moved his finger to Tokoyami. "To pick up my Wingstop order."

Shiina's eye twitched in pure annoyance. "Are you fu—"

Hawks cut her off as he ushered them out the door. "The nearest Starbucks is just a few blocks away from the left and Wingstop should be a few stores away from it. Try to be quick okay? I'm starving! Thanks guys!"

The door shut behind them.

Shiina slowly began to quake with rage. "...I'm putting arsenic in his latte."

"Wingstop..." Tokoyami shuddered. "He wants me to go to... Wingstop..."

Dark Shadow appeared, teary-eyed. "He's a traitor to his own kind!"

She winced, realizing that Tokoyami was basically going to a restaurant that fed people dead birds. "You know what, how about we switch roles, okay? I'll get the, um... food."

Both birds gave her a grateful look. "Thank you, I will owe you forever for your magnanimity."

"I have no idea what you just said, but you're welcome."

The walk to their respective stores only took about ten minutes and Shiina met up with Tokoyami in Starbucks where he was currently waiting for the latte to be made.

"He never even specified what kind he wanted," Tokoyami grumbled under his breath. "I refuse to come back here if he doesn't like what I picked for him."

"That's the spirit, Toko, stick it to the man!" Shiina nodded in approval as she slipped out a chicken wing from the bucket she held.

Tokoyami eyed her in disgust. "Must you eat that in front of me?"

"Oh shorry," she apologized with her mouth full. She turned away to be decent.

"Aren't you worried he'll realize that you ate his food?" Dark Shadow asked.

She scoffed. "Oh fuck Hawks. I can't believe he's treating us like simple interns. I thought Aizawa sensei said we'd be taught the ways of a hero or some shit."

"I'll be envious if our classmates are learning something more worthwhile," Tokoyami said and she and Dark Shadow nodded in agreement. "But perhaps this is simply an activity he is making us do today. Tomorrow we might do something more special."

"Oooh, maybe he'll have us comb his feathers," she said sarcastically. "I'm not gonna risk getting our hopes up."

The worker behind the counter announced, "Caramel latte with extra foam for, uh, Tokohime?"

Tokoyami groaned in embarrassment as Dark Shadow and Shiina snickered at him. He got up and grumbled under his breath, "It's Tokoyami..."

Shiina stood up and gave him a cheeky smile when he returned with the latte. "Okay Princess, let's head over back before Hawks starves to death."

"It wouldn't bother me as much." He said darkly as they exited the store.

Hawks was still lounging about in his office when they returned. He had his feet propped up on his desk and he was leaning back in his swivel chair, scrolling through his phone in a lazy manner. His face then broke out into an excited grin when he saw them.

"Oh finally, you guys are back! Take a seat, we're eating lunch together. Make sure to eat plenty, kay? We'll be out fightin' crime for a while after this." He said, motioning them to a chair. He looked over at one of his sidekicks. "Mind giving these kids a drink? Whaddya guys like? Water? Juice? No alcohol, sorry."

"Just water," Tokoyami answered, looking sick at the prospect of eating chicken.

"Same here," Shiina mumbled, plopping into a chair.

They were given their drinks immediately, and began chowing down. Well, Shiina and Hawks did, Tokoyami was just staring uncomfortably at the bucket of fried chicken parts.

Hawks noticed it. "You okay, kid?"

Tokoyami swallowed thickly. "Uh—"

Dark Shadow made his appearance, pointing a quivering finger at the blonde accusingly. "You traitor! You cannibal! You should be ashamed to call yourself a bird!" He wailed, utterly devastated.

Hawks was confused for a second before realization smacked him hard. He gasped, his jaw dropping as did the half-eaten chicken wing he was chewing on. "Oh my god," he said, sounding horrified with himself. "Holy shit—I mean, ignore the language but—oooh my god, kid, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. How about I just—do you like burgers? Or bird seeds or—?"

"I'll take a burger," Tokoyami said breathlessly, full of relief.

Hawks nodded furiously and turned to a sidekick. "Get the kid a burger—pronto."

The man zoomed out of there faster than Iida and was back with a burger.

Now that Tokoyami didn't have to commit the heinous act of cannibalism, the air was less tense in the office as they ate.

"So is there a particular villain we will be apprehending?" Tokoyami asked, enjoying his burger.

Hawks waved a hand. "Nah, my agency and I kinda just go with the flow. We see a villain, we take 'em down, that sorta thing. It's kind of... like a race." He said, smiling almost impishly at the word 'race'.

Tokoyami frowned in confusion. "A race?"

He ignore the boy and turned his attention to Shiina. "So your name's Kiberi Shiina, right?"

"Yep." She answered plainly.

"Cute name. Means 'precious berry' doesn't it?" He asked... somewhat slyly.

"Yep." Where the hell is he going with this? She wondered.

"And you were one of the recommended students?" He inquired. "Who recommended you?"

"Why are you asking?" She said with a tight smile, feigning confusion.

"Well I just figured whoever recommended you must have been pretty high up for UA to accept you so late." He shrugged languidly. "Sooo... who was it?"

Shit, she inwardly cursed. She didn't know why he wanted to know so badly, but he had her backed in a corner now. She couldn't outright lie to him by saying another Pro Hero's name because there was a chance that could bite her in the ass. She didn't want to say Endeavor either because she had a bad feeling about it.

Palter, she thought, remembering the brief lesson Akechi had given them during their sleep over.

"They actually made a word for it?!" Ryuji exclaimed.

Everyone was sprawled all over the floor of the attic, looking dangerously close to falling asleep until Ryuji's voice snapped them back awake.

"It's called paltering," Akechi said exhaustively. It was two o'clock in the morning and their marathon of American Disney movies were on pause at the moment. "It's the type of lying politicians use, using truthful facts to deceive. Shido," he said the name with clear distaste. "Is a master of it."

"So is Shiina." Shouto piped.

"Heyyyyy," said girl whined, pouting over at him.

He gave her a pointed look. "Remember when Fuyumi asked if you finished your homework and you told her you finished your essay on The Tale of Genji? That was an essay assigned to you in middle school."

"You don't gotta call me out, bro." She huffed, smacking him with a pillow. He was so tired that he didn't bother to dodge.

"Actually you're wrong," she said, causing Hawks to raise a brow. "The person who recommended me is low-ranking. Nobody special. The only reason UA allowed me in so late is because he's an alumni."

It was entirely true. Sort of. While Endeavor was an alumni of UA, he definitely wasn't 'low-ranking'. But Shiina wasn't ignorant to the amount of times he would bitch and whine about how being 'second place' wasn't 'enough' so clearly he saw it as low-ranking.

"Oh," Hawks deflated a bit, and she knew he bought it. "Huh... I thought for sure it was..." He trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

"So," Tokoyami spoke up, and she was grateful he did because that meant a change of topic. "When will we be going out?"

Hawks glanced at the clock and grinned. "Now, actually. Oh, but bathroom first."

After they and the sidekicks finished up in the bathroom, they gathered outside where Hawks stood waiting for them, and lazy grin on his face. Shiina was trying to hide her excitement, as was Tokoyami. The two of them couldn't wait to take down villains and even though Shiina had just defeated a god a few days ago (with the help of her friends), she was a little eager to go back down to smaller prey.

If only she knew how Hawks and his agency worked.

One of their intel gathered that there was a villain hideout in an abandoned warehouse. Neither of the villains were hardcore or anything—they were just simple bank robbers—but the warehouse they were hiding in was nearby so they headed there first.

Except... Hawks flew away without them.

Shiina blinked up at his rapidly disappearing figure before exchanging a confused look with Tokoyami. She turned to one of the sidekicks and asked them in mid-run. "Um... Where is he going?"

"To the hideout," he answered simply. "Don't worry, we'll meet him up there. We know where to go too, so just stick with us."

"Right..."

She and Tokoyami gave each other another skeptical look before following after the rest of the sidekicks.

Unfortunately, by the time they reached their destination, Hawks had already completed the job. The inside of the warehouse was trashed (or maybe it already looked like that before) and villains were scattered around with solid feathers pinning them down. And at the very center of it all was a smirking Hawks.

"I'm tellin' ya. You guys are so slow!" He chuckled, red feathers separating from his wings to pick up several silver briefcases. They floated over to the sidekicks who accepted them without questions asked. "We need to pick up the pace since everyone's favoring the Phantom Thieves over us!"

"Thank god they retired," one of the sidekicks sighed in relief.

"You—you defeated them already?" Tokoyami asked, trying to catch his breath.

He nodded. "Yep. I gotta go now. Apparently, one of the patrons at a bar in Cantina is out of control so I'm headed there next! I'll leave the aftermath here to you guys. Thanks in advance!" And with that, he spread his wings and flew out of the building.

Shiina blinked stupidly.

Wait, that's it? She thought incredulously. They ran all the way over here just so they could clean up? What were they, the janitorial squad? This was worse when she and the other Thieves had to walk up the Spinal Cord of Doom because at least they ended up with some action!

Beside her, Tokoyami was equally as shocked. "What was that?" He demanded.

One of the sidekicks chuckled at their irritated expressions and explained, "Don't take it to heart, kids. We sidekicks are generally in charge of all the cleanup work. Hawks is just too fast to keep up with, after all. So that's why this way of doing things is the most efficient for us."

"Yep," another nodded. "If he slowed himself down to match our pace and that resulted in more widespread damage and casualties, we'd never hear the end of it."

"I see." Shiina said, struggling to hide her frustration.

So this is what he meant by 'race'... she realized.

This was supposed to help her understand how to be a hero. How to rescue people, deal with damage control, etc., but this was the complete opposite of what she expected. She wasn't doing anything useful at all! She was just cleaning up after some no-good, egotistical birdbrain—

—I gotta stop thinking like that, she told herself. Not at all heroes are like Endeavor.

"Come on kids, let's hurry over to Cantina before Hawks gets too impatient!" A sidekick waved them over.

They both nodded and left the building. As they passed by the door, Tokoyami muttered to her, "What was the point of inviting us as interns if this is all we will be doing?"

"He probably just wanted more slaves," Shiina sneered, but it came out more bitter and personal than she wanted.

This was how the rest of their day went. Hours were wasted running with the sidekicks and trying to chase down Hawks as he did the real work and took out the villains. Once they'd reach a destination, Hawks would give them the same shit-eating smirk and fly away to catch the next villains.

It honestly made her want to scream. Was this what she was going to be doing the entire week? Instead of learning the core fundamentals of heroics (like she wanted and needed to learn), she was just stuck playing clean up!

Her blood was boiling by the time the sun had set. As she harshly dumped the unconscious body of a villain into the hands of a police officer (who was a little put off by the animosity she was radiating with), she wanted nothing more than to go up to Hawks and demand answers.

But she couldn't do that. Because as much as she hated it, the way his agency worked made sense. It was more beneficial for Hawks—who's known as the fastest hero—to get the shit done quickly and leave the rest to his sidekicks.

She shouldn't be angry for that, but she was because she wanted to take this seriously. She wanted to give this career a chance and she wanted to give Midoriya's view of heroes a chance.

It was just a week of this annoyance. She could handle it. And then afterwords, if her class did internships again, she'd do more research on the heroes who extended their offers to her.

And so, she suppressed her rage.

Tokoyami, however, did not.

"Why did you choose to invite me if you were only going to make me chase after you?" Tokoyami exploded once they reached the privacy of Hawks' office.

Hawks smiled cheekily as he plucked out a stray feather from the shoulder of his jacket. "Because we're both birds." He stated.

Tokoyami looked like he wanted to hit him. "Are you joking...?"

"No, I'm 20% serious." Hawks snorted. "50% of it was because I wanted to talk to someone from class 1-A about those little punks who attacked you guys, calling themselves the 'league of villains'."

Shiina narrowed her eyes at that. If that was the only reason why, than why did he give her an offer too?

Hawks continued, "And well, I figured if I had to pick one of you, it would be one who I thought could actually keep up with me. Someone with a lot of promise. So, I figured, why not that birdman who nearly reached the top three? He looks good."

Shiina couldn't hold it in anymore. "Then where the hell do I come in? I wasn't there for the USJ attack so I can't offer you any information."

He smirked at her. "You, sweetheart, are the remaining 30%."

Her eye twitched. "Don't call me sweetheart."

He went on as if she never spoke. "You see, something about you really peaked my interests," he drawled, playing around with his feather. "It started when I saw you during the Sports Festival. I was curious about you so I went and learned more."

"Dude are you stalking me?" She blurted out. Was this guy really the one who had been giving her creepy vibes all this time?

He blinked. "What? No, don't be ridiculous. Anyways, as I was saying, I read over your school file and noticed that a few things were left blank: the name of your parents and the hero who recommended you. I thought it was fishy and for a while, I suspected that you had something to do with the USJ attack, maybe you were a spy or something—"

"—That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." She interrupted.

He raised a hand. "Turns out you weren't a spy, but I started to piece something else together."

"And that is...?" She motioned for him to go on. Beside her, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were watching the both of them with intrigue.

"You reminded me of a certain hero," he began, and Shiina's stomach lurched. She knew where this was going. "You got his eyes and hair... Not to mention you look like the left side of his son," he snorted. "Am I getting warmer?" He asked her with a knowing grin.

"Get too close and you'll burn." She threatened.

He didn't heed the warning. "You're Endeavor's daughter."

Tokoyami's eyes bugged out.

Shiina glowered at Hawks and snapped, "What, were you expecting a reward or something?"

"So I'm right?" He asked giddily.

"A hundred percent," she replied snappishly. "If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut about this. Oh, and you too Tokoyami," she said the last part with less aggression.

Hawks frowned at her furious face. "Hey, what's the big deal? I'll keep my lips sealed so don't worry. Besides, I think your dad's great! I'm his biggest fan!"

That only made her angrier.

Why?! She wanted to demand. Why do you look up to him so much? You don't even know him. Do you know what he does when he's home?

But saying all those things would just bring more complications.

Nails digging deeper into her nearly bleeding palms, she bit out, "Are we done here?"

Hawks grew visibly concerned about her obvious aggravation. "Y-yeah, but did I say something wrong or—"

She cut him off with a noticeably forced smile. "—Then I'll be going now. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Hawks."

Without sparing either male another glance, she turned heel and stormed out of the office. She ignored the greetings from the agency's staff and exited the building, wanting to scream and let out her frustrations.

This wasn't going how she hoped it would be. She was supposed to learn something, not be stuck working under a Pro Hero who blindly admired her fa—him, like the millions of other people in the country.

Like what she did.

Tokoyami left the agency and quickly caught up to her.

"Kiberi-san, wait," he called out, breathing heavily. She stopped walking and turned to face him as he caught up. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Not really," she said honestly. "He wasn't supposed to figure it out. He wasn't supposed to know and you weren't either. You can't... You can't tell anyone what you just heard, please."

He nodded seriously. "You have my vow. But may I ask something?"

She hesitated a bit before nodding.

"Why are you the only one hidden?" He asked.

Oh I'm not the only one, she thought, thinking of Touya. "Let's just say I'm not his pride and joy."

"Oh," he seemed to realize what he was stepping into. "I see. Will you be returning to the hotel Hawks provided for us?"

"Nah," she turned her attention to the gateway of the shopping district that was just across the street and switched back to her casual clothes. "I'm gonna head over there."

He followed her line of sight and was stupefied.

"After what we just went through, you want to shop?" Dark Shadow asked incredulously.

Shiina looked at them as if they were the crazy ones here. "Uh, hello, therapeutic shopping?"

"I will never understand how your mind works," Tokoyami said, amazed.

"It's a scary place up here," she teased, poking her temple. "I'll see you guys later. Buh bye~" She waved at them before crossing the street.

"You're supposed to look both ways!" Dark Shadow called after her.

Tokoyami just sighed.

— ❤ —

Shiina's were weighing down from all the shopping bags she was carrying. She wished Shouto were here for several reasons:

1. To show him that she had her own special way of strengthening her arms and that was through carrying a bunch of shopping bags (hey, she carried them around for hours so that totally counted as heavy lifting). She didn't need to do icky push-ups when she had shopping bags!

And 2. To make him hold said bags.

But alas, he wasn't there. So she settled with taking a lot of selfies of herself while tagging all of her friends. Instead of commenting on the photo, Shouto texted her instead.

[Shouto: Aren't you supposed to be interning at the moment?]

[Hawks can suck my ass]

[Toko and I finished up so he let us off. I'm shopping now 🤗]

[Shouto: Alone? I don't like it when you shop alone because that means nobody's there to stop you.]

[Shouto: Please make sure to control yourself.]

[Shouto: How much money have you spent already?]

[Dont u mean how much of ENDEAVOR'S money have I spent already??? 😝 😝]

[Speaking of Endewhore, how's ur internship going nii-chan????]

[Shouto: I want to stab myself with an icicle or set myself on fire. I haven't yet decided.]

[Shouto: I'm beginning to regret doing this. All he's been doing is show off his Quirk as if hundreds of other people don't have it, beat up a bunch of weak villains, and brag about himself.

[Sounds like ur having a blast]

[Shouto: I want to blast myself to the stratosphere]

[Shouto: I have to go now. He wants me to retrieve his coffee.]

[Be a dear and spit in it for me 😊]

[Shouto: I was already planning to.]

She was brimming with pride at the end of the conversation. She picked up her frappuccino and took a satisfied sip of it.

She was just sitting outside of a Starbucks cafe, enjoying a brief break when a familiar person approached her.

"Kiberi-san!" Midoriya beamed upon seeing her.

"Shiina, remember, Izu-kun?" She reminded him, then motioned for him to sit down when she noticed he was carrying his own order.

He muttered a thanks and sat across from her, looking down at the shopping bags that surrounded them. "W-wow, are these all... yours?"

"Yep," she chirped. "My first day of internships wasn't going so well so I shopped to de-stress myself."

"Oh?" He frowned. "What happened?"

"Hawks is a piece of shit, is what happened!" She hissed icily, and Midoriya shrunk into his seat as she began her angry tirade. "First he made Tokoyami and I fetch him his stupid latte and his Wingstop order! Fucking Wingstop! Do you know how traumatized poor Toko and Dark Shadow were? And after that—just when I thought we'd finally get to beat up some villains—he made us into his stupid cleanup crew because he's too fast for any of us to catch up! And the best part is when he told us the reason why he gave us offers..."

"W-what were the reasons...?" He asked hesitantly. He felt like a bomb was about to explode.

He was right.

"He only wanted to question Tokoyami about USJ! That, and he's a bird," she fumed, crossing her arms. "And the only reason he wanted me was because he figured out who my darling dad is."

Midoriya's eyes went wide. "He—he found out? How?!"

"He just pieced it together like you did," she shrugged. "But that's not even the worst of it. Hawks... he's a fan of m—Endeavor. A 'huge fan' apparently." She mocked bitterly. "...Just looking at the expression on his face when he said that made me sick. I can't believe I was just like him. So stupid and blind...!"

Midoriya winced. "I'm sorry..." He apologized. "It's because of me that you went to him—"

She shook her head furiously. "—No, no, no, it's not your fault at all, Izuku."

"I feel like it is," he looked down. "I promised to help you and when you went to me for advice... Well, I sent you to the wrong hero."

Now it was her turn to frown. "Izuku, it really isn't your fault. Don't go blaming yourself for this. Endeavor has a lot of fans—civilians and heroes alike."

"Does Tokoyami-kun know now?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, but don't feel bad about that either. Hawks was dumb enough to spill the beans when he was in the room. They promised to keep shut about it though and I trust... Well, I trust Tokoyami."

Hawks? Not so much.

"What about you?" She swiftly changed the subject. "How's your internship going?"

He made a face and started to rub the back of his neck. "It's... going."

"That bad, huh?"

"It's not bad, per say..." He trailed off, trying to find the right words to explain. "Have you ever heard of Gran Torino?"

"Nope."

"Well, he's a retired Pro Hero," he began. "And at first I thought he was just a simple old man, but then he beat me up."

She paused in mid-sip, wondering if she heard wrong.

"I'm sorry, you got beat up... by an old man?"

"I guess I learned a lesson, haha..." He laughed forcefully. "Never underestimate someone because of their age. Gran Torino, as old as he looks, could really pack a punch... and kick."

Shiina burst out laughing after that and proceeded to tease him about it for the rest of the night until it was finally time to leave. Midoriya offered to walk her back to her hotel, and she accepted it since she wanted to spend more time with him. The happy mood went away when they passed by a television store. And the screens displayed were all displaying the same thing: missing people from Tokyo.

"Ah..." Midoriya seemed to have lost the ability to speak as they looked down at the screen. It was showcasing a picture of an eight year old girl named Kato Nari. It included more details about her and a phone number to call if she was ever found.

It also stated that she disappeared on the same day Yaldabaoth attacked.

"They're never gonna find her..." Shiina whispered as she stared at the smiling face of the innocent girl.

"...Did you lose anyone?" Midoriya asked her.

"No," she answered. But I wish Endeavor vanished, she thought to herself. "What about you?"

"I live over in Musutafu," he answered with a voice laced in relief. "And I don't have any relatives over at Tokyo. When I first heard of what happened, I immediately thought of you and Todoroki-kun."

She blinked in disbelief. "You... did?"

He nodded. "I was really scared, especially when I heard how many people... disappeared. I thought you and Todoroki-kun would be one of them, but thankfully he answered one of my calls and told me that you and your family were okay. We were all really worried."

"'We'?" She echoed.

"Our classmates, of course." He clarified. "Yaoyarozu-san set up a whole group chat once she heard the news. We found out that Sero lived in Tokyo too and Kaminari-kun, Kirishima-kun, and Ashido-chan went to check in on him."

"Yeah, I ran into him—Kaminari, I mean." She said. "He told me that Sero was doing just fine. A little shaken up, but that's to be expected."

"But how about you?" He pressed on. "A-and Todoroki-kun, of course."

"We're... okay..." She answered unsurely. She was definitely grief-stricken at the fact that over 280,000 people died because she and her friends fucked up their mission, and she knew that her brother wasn't doing so great either... But she didn't know how he truly was. He seemed okay at the sleepover, but then again, so did everyone else and she knew that were feeling just as guilty as her.

Fuyumi mentioned that he saw a bunch of people get crushed by the fallen pillars, so there was that...

"Okay, we're not really doing great at all," she said with more honesty. "Sho-nii and I were... separated when it happened, and according to Fuyumi, he saw some pretty nasty things but he hasn't talked about it." He had other things on his mind after all, like worrying about her and her friends who were literally millions of feet up in the air and fighting that stupid false god. "I don't know if he ever will—"

"—And what about you?" He interrupted.

She waved him off. "Oh, I'm dandy. I was in a more safer zone than Shouto."

HAH!

He looked a bit skeptical about that, but didn't pry any further. Shiina racked through her head in order to think of more light-hearted topics to talk about when he suddenly went pale and shot out to grab her arm.

"Shiina..." He whispered tensely, an alarmed expression on his face. "I... I think we're being followed."

She nearly froze. They followed her from Tokyo to Fukuoka?!

"What do you mean?" She said in a casual tone, hoping to god that Midoriya would catch on to it and act normal as well.

He didn't.

"I-It's just a feeling," he stammered, trying to look over his shoulder, but Shiina couldn't let that happen.

"How long have you been feeling this?" She asked, causing him to turn his attention back to her. "And don't look back, Izuku. Don't let them know that you're aware. Just stay calm and act natural, alright?"

He seemed confused at how calmly she was taking this but nodded anyways and slowly released her arm. "I sensed it just now." He said in a low voice. "W-while we were talking. And then I heard someone walking behind us so—"

"—Stay calm," she soothed, discreetly eyeing their surroundings. It was nighttime in the city and the streets were still full of people, which meant she couldn't whip out her gun and start shooting like she did last time.

"Do you think it could be someone from the League?" Midoriya wondered.

"I wish," she muttered under her breath. She'd honestly rather deal with a League member than another Shadow, or Shadow Person, or god. She was retired now for fucks sake!

"We're almost at the hotel now," Midoriya noted nervously. "S-should we call someone for help?"

She snorted. "I doubt they're gonna listen to a pair of kids claiming that they're being stalked because of a feeling."

Midoriya frowned when he noticed the clear resentment in her voice. He knew there was still a ways for her to go to truly accept the hero society.

When they reached the hotel, Shiina immediately called up a taxi to pick Midoriya up.

"But what about you?" Midoriya asked after she explained what she was doing.

"There's not much else I can do other than get you out of the stalker's radar." She shrugged. "I'm staying in this hotel for the whole week after all. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be just fine. Just get yourself to safety. There's a good chance we might be wrong about this anyways." She highly doubted it, but she needed to reassure him.

"If you're sure..." He said hesitantly.

His taxi arrived ten minutes later and Midoriya left with an uncertain goodbye. Shiina smiled and waved as he drove by, but the smile quickly fell once she reached her hotel room.

Just who in the hell was following her? And why?

Was it really someone from the League of Villains?

Unable to answer her questions, she stripped into her nightwear and ordered room service for dinner. She watched the latest news as she ate, but there was nothing new going on. It was the same topics as usual. Missing people, the Phantom Thieves, Yaldabaoth, and Stain, who was still in Hosu City.

(A part of her wanted him to meet Endeavor already)

Once she was done with everything, she went to sleep.

...Only to wake up a few hours later.

It was one in the morning when she awoke to a knocking on her door. Sluggishly, she crawled out of bed and glared at the wooden surface. Who in the hell was bothering her at one in the morning?!

"Room service for one lovely Kiberi Shiina!" A somewhat familiar voice chirped.

Room service? She thought incredulously. She didn't order any room service this late!

But she definitely was the 'lovely Kiberi Shiina' the woman spoke of.

Curious and a little cautious, she opened her door and widened her eyes at what she was seeing.

It was Elizabeth, the eccentric woman who randomly walked into their Phantom Thief meeting and walked out just as randomly as she entered.

And there was a body lugged over her shoulder.

"E-Elizabeth?!" She stammered, unable to keep her jaw from dropping.

"Yes, it is I!" The yellow-eyed woman said brightly, as if she wasn't carrying around a potentially dead body. "And I came with a delivery! One Messiah coming right up!"

"Uh, I'm not religious." Shiina said awkwardly.

Elizabeth just giggled. "Silly goose, that's not what I mean! This is your prize for defeating the Big Cheese! Be sure to take good care of him until he wakes up okay? And don't bother taking him to a hospital since he's considered 'deceased'. He's just a bit tired is all. Needs his rest."

And with that, she tossed the unconscious body into Shiina's not-so-awaiting arms and promptly skipped away.

"W-wait, Elizabeth, get back here! Elizabeth! Oh what the fuck?!"

Not knowing what else to do, Shiina dragged the body into her room and closed the door. With a heavy breath, she dropped the guy on the floor and maneuvered him around to get a good look of his face.

For the second time, her jaw dropped.

She knew exactly who this person was. She passed by his photograph every day since she had been staying with Akihiko, Ken, and Koromaru.

"Arisato Minato..."

— author's note —

MINATO IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

(▰˘◡˘▰)