It didn't take Luke much time to deal a heavy blow to Iwao, Kazuho, and Melissa's minds by revealing the presence of an Evil God on the Moon, on top of the Angel they already knew about.
It took even less time for the three of them to put two and two together regarding the sudden arrival of the Monocles, who were nothing but Quirkless Beyonders, each possessing abilities from wildly different Pathways.
If the first revelation hadn't dealt enough of a blow, then Luke hammered in a second nail, making their pale faces even paler.
With the matter of the Evil God revealed, he found it useless to hide the incident related to Kannagi — the potential Vessel for the Evil God to descend upon Earth.
When all was said and done, all Luke had left to do was send Iron Mentor and Trick*Step back to their homes with crestfallen faces, while Melissa resumed her search for Mushroom with an exaggerated, clownish frown.
As Nyx needed to recuperate for several more hours, Luke bestowed a Point Teleportation Quirk upon a random tree and returned to the mainland.
…
Late evening.
Despite the joyous occasion of most of Class 2-A's students receiving their Provisional Hero Licenses, there was a somber atmosphere in the Common Hall.
Leaning against the sofa and surrounded by all his classmates, Luke finished recounting his encounter with the fake Camie, drawing gasps from all the girls while the boys exchanged heavy looks.
"So that was what the interrogation was all about," Midoriya mumbled. "She must have a Lie Detector-like Quirk…"
Before the second round of the Provisional Hero License Exam began, a team of Heroes had gathered all the students at the Takoba National Stadium.
Then, they were called into a room one by one, where a woman asked them only one question: "What is your name?"
Despite its obvious weirdness, most of the students had moved on pretty fast, thinking it was somehow related to the Exam. With the second round's pressure piling nervousness onto their minds, it would have taken a miracle for them to give it more thought.
"They found her…"
All heads snapped in the direction of the voice.
It was Todoroki, putting away his phone.
"I just talked to Endeavor," he explained. "The Pros searching for her received an anonymous tip about Camie's whereabouts."
"Anonymous tip?!" Momo repeated.
"Only the Claws would know where they hid Camie," Tenya commented, holding his chin. "It couldn't be one of them… Who else has the resources to find a kidnapped student so fast and forgo the commendation by doing it anonymously?"
Yes.
That was the question indeed.
"Definitely someone with a guilty conscience…"
Luke felt eyes on his back and turned around to find Bakugo staring right at him.
"…?" He frowned, remembering an old matter Aina had once shared with him on an evening walk. But to keep that frown from reaching his actual face, he hid it behind a smile instead. "I heard Saiko Intelli from Seiai Academy was looking for you after the Exam. Is she into explosions or what?"
"You!" Bakugo hissed.
"Oh, guys, come on!" Ochaco interrupted, blushing hard. "I almost applied to Seiai Academy, too, you know. But there are so many mean girls there… Anyway, it's not Bakugo's fault that he had to beat them up to clear the first round…"
Bakugo remained silent.
All of them could hear him grind his teeth as he stared daggers at Ochaco.
They couldn't blame him, either; not only had she brought up the taboo matter, but it also felt as though she had done so sarcastically.
Luke laughing out loud while clutching his stomach didn't help the case, either.
"Haha… Don't worry… Haha…" Luke said between laughs. "I bet you'll get to face her again next semester…"
Bakugo went so red with anger that they could almost hear tiny explosions crackling.
Then, before Luke could say anything else and escalate the situation even more, Bakugo tsked and stormed out of the Common Hall.
"You need to go easy on him, man," Kirishima said, smiling wryly. "Any one of us could have failed the second round easily. It was just luck…"
Midoriya nodded heavily at that.
"I don't know about all of you, but I am bust…" Kaminari said, forcing a tired groan out of everyone. "Good night, guys…"
After a while, the Common Hall emptied as the students retired early to bed… most of them with smiles on their faces.
"Where were you?" Momo asked Luke before leaving with Jiro.
"I had a family emergency," Luke told her, because that was the answer she and the others must have received from Eraser Head as well. "Don't worry, I saw everything that needed to be seen…"
Momo's eyes went round, Jiro giggling next to her.
Then, with a blank face, she almost ran back to her room upstairs.
Midoriya shook his head with a twitch at the corner of his mouth, suddenly finding himself alone with Luke.
"So…" Luke said, lowering his voice. "… making progress with your Quirks, huh?"
Midoriya's head snapped left and right so fast that his vision blurred. "Phew…" he nodded, smiling. "It's not… perfect. But… it's definitely something."
"What did All Might say?" Luke asked.
Midoriya's smile vanished. "I haven't talked to him since the Exam," he said. "I just got a text that he was… going to Tartarus."
Luke's brows shot up.
"I think this Camie incident shook the Heroes," Midoriya guessed. "He must have gone there to talk to All For One and Stain… no?"
Luke nodded. "Probably…"
After a brief silence, Midoriya got up. "Let's find out tomorrow…"
"Go ahead," Luke said, getting up and turning in the opposite direction. "I… need to meet someone."
Midoriya instantly frowned.
That was very much unlike Luke.
"Meet who?" Midoriya asked.
"My big brother," Luke replied without turning around. "Rikuya."
Midoriya remained standing in the Common Hall, finding it odd, as Luke had never talked about his stepbrother.
At least, not in the same way he had talked about his stepsister.
What could it be? Midoriya thought, worried for Luke.
"Oi, you damn nerd…"
Midoriya looked up and found Bakugo looking back at him with a blank face.
"… Come with me," Bakugo said, pointing over his shoulder. "We need to talk."
***************
AN: With the lowest tier, you can access 5 Chapters ahead of Webnovel + 3 Backlog Chapters + ALL original images compiled according to the Volumes.
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