Location: HPSC Headquarters, Secure Meeting Room
Time: Three Days Ago
Thick steel walls surrounded the underground room.
There were no windows or digital screens anywhere.
The HPSC President sat at the head of a long wooden table.
She looked at the physical paper files scattered across the wood.
"Keep all technology out of this room," the President said firmly. "I don't one anyone lcan hack any digital server in Japan."
Police Chief Kenji Tsuragamae sat across from her.
Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi sat right next to the chief.
Kenji dropped a massive stack of manila folders onto the table.
THUD.
He wiped a heavy layer of sweat from his furry forehead.
"The nationwide purge is completely finished," Kenji reported. "Woof."
The President leaned forward in her chair.
"...In a single day?" she asked in a suprise.
"Every single target on the list," Tsukauchi confirmed, loosening his tie.
Kenji let out a long, tired sigh.
"We mobilized thousands of armed tactical units across six prefectures," Kenji explained. "We expected resistance from those corporate backers."
Kenji crossed his furry arms.
"...We just breached quiet offices and found folded paper squares sitting on desks," Kenji muttered. "We picked them up and went home, woof."
Tsukauchi opened the top folder.
SLIDE.
He pushed several physical crime scene photos toward the President.
"The captures went perfectly," Agent Mera said quietly. "The aftermath is what deeply unsettles my investigators."
The President picked up a photo of an empty desk.
"...Explain," she ordered.
"Hero X literally edits human cognition," Mera stated.
He pointed a finger at a photo of an empty town car.
"We interviewed the Kyoto mayor's secretary," Tsukauchi explained. "She watched Hero X fold her boss into a piece of paper."
Tsukauchi rubbed the back of his neck.
"One minute later," Tsukauchi continued. "She was calmly watering a potted plant."
The President narrowed her eyes.
"She had absolutely zero memory of the mayor," Tsukauchi said. "She did not even know who we were looking for."
Kenji tapped his claws against the wooden table.
TAP. TAP.
"We checked their families too," another agent added. "The wives, husbands, and children."
Mera looked directly at the President.
"None of them remember the targets," he said. "Right now Liberation Army has no idea their financial backers are missing. The villains simply forgot those people exist."
"..."
The underground room went completely silent.
The President rested her chin on her hands.
She stared hard at the physical photographs.
'He bypassed the entire legal system in a few hours,' the President thought. 'And what a terrifying quirk.'
She reached down under the wooden table.
She pulled out a single, heavily classified red folder.
SLAP.
She dropped it directly in front of Tsukauchi.
"Hero X is way too valuable for basic street patrols," the President stated.
Tsukauchi opened the red folder.
He looked at the photograph inside.
His eyes widened in shock.
"...Best Jeanist," Tsukauchi whispered.
"The Number Three Hero has been missing for months," the President said flatly. "Our top underground heroes found zero clues."
She tapped her index finger against the red folder.
"Bypass standard police protocols," the President ordered. "Give this direct commission to The X Agency."
Tsukauchi stared at the picture of the missing hero.
"I want Hero X to find him before this upcoming war starts," the President declared.
--<>--
Location: The X Agency, Lounge Room
Time: 2:00 PM | Present
Mirko sat on the edge of the leather sofa.
She kicked her combat boots right up onto the glass coffee table.
"That fight wasn't finished," Mirko stated bluntly.
Kaito sat on the opposite end of the sofa.
He held a hot cup of coffee in his hand. He took a slow sip.
"I completely destroyed the warehouse behind you," Kaito replied calmly.
Mirko narrowed her red eyes.
She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees.
"You dodged for minutes and then threw one attack," Mirko argued.
She pointed a firm finger at his chest.
"But I can't stop thinking about that last technique," Mirko asked curiously. "I need to know how you generated that much kinetic force without a Quirk."
Kaito looked at her fierce, battle-hungry expression.
A sudden, vivid memory triggered in his mind.
He remembered his home reality. He remembered his private underground training room.
He remembered this exact same woman walking around completely naked after their intense quirk development sessions.
She was just as intense and obsessed with fighting back then.
Kaito felt a sudden wave of awkwardness.
He forcefully scooped the memory right out of his brain.
'I am not the Golden Manager here,' Kaito reminded himself. 'I have a girlfriend. I am not dealing with a battle-junkie right now.'
Kaito placed his coffee cup on the glass table.
CLINK.
He reached under the sofa cushion.
He pulled out a thick, usb file.
He tossed it directly onto the glass table, right next to her boots.
THWACK.
Mirko blinked. She looked down at the object.
"What is this?" Mirko asked suspiciously.
"The raw theories and training regimes for the Six Styles," Kaito explained. "It contains all the muscle tension mechanics and ground impact angles."
"..."
Mirko grabbed the file instantly.
Her wild, aggressive grin slowly returned to her face.
She saw it as a direct challenge.
"You are just handing me your techniques, X?" Mirko asked, showing her sharp teeth.
"Take it and leave my agency," Kaito said. "Do not bother me again."
Mirko laughed loudly.
"Hahaha.."
She stood up and tucked the heavy file under her arm.
"I will crack this in a week," Mirko challenged him directly. "Then I am coming back here to kick your head in. Oh, don't worry I'll pay how much was this worth."
She spun around.
She marched out of the lounge room with a confident, heavy stride.
SLAM.
The heavy front doors rattled on their hinges.
The lounge room finally went completely quiet.
Makoto walked out of the back office holding a digital tablet.
She wore her sharp business suit. She leaned against the kitchen counter.
She smiled warmly at Kaito.
"You really know how to attract crazy, intense women again," Makoto joked casually.
Kaito picked his coffee cup back up.
"You are the only woman I pay attention to," Kaito replied smoothly.
Makoto felt her cheeks turn warm.
She walked over and sat on the sofa right next to him.
She leaned her head comfortably on his shoulder.
"I am incredibly lucky I confessed to you first," Makoto whispered happily.
Kaito wrapped his free arm around her waist.
"Why?" Kaito asked.
"Because you are way too passive," Makoto teased him. "If I didn't claim you, others might. Don't forget there are countless others who liked you."
Kaito chuckled softly.
Across the room, Mirai Sasaki sat at his computer desk.
Shin Kudo stared blankly at his monitor.
"..."
He stopped typing on his keyboard. He heard some BLEEP sound every now and then. The censoring was making him weird.
But the same All Might, he was a strict, middle-aged bachelor.
The intense, lovey-dovey romantic comedy happening right behind his back made him feel incredibly awkward.
"..."
He did not say a single word.
He just slowly reached for his noise-canceling headphones.
He slipped them over his ears.
"Eve, follow up the traces and final situation of Best Jeanist"
Yep, the X-agency got a commission to find the number three hero. Whether dead or alive.
--<>--
Location: U.A. High School, Class 1-A Classroom
Time: Following Day.
Katsuki Bakugo leaned far back in his chair.
He crossed his arms and glared angrily at the chalkboard.
Pop. Pop.
Small explosions crackled in his sweaty palms. He was absolutely furious.
Eijiro Kirishima sat at the desk next to him.
"Calm down, Bakugo," Kirishima offered. "The Work-Studies are supposed to be learning experiences."
Bakugo slammed his hands onto his desk.
BANG.
"Learn what?!" Bakugo yelled. "I spent months preparing for this! I got my provisional license! I went to the Number One Hero's agency in Tokyo to fight!"
Shoto Todoroki sat quietly in the back row.
"Endeavor is very angry too," Todoroki commented blankly.
Bakugo spun around in his chair.
"We haven't fought a single villain in weeks!" Bakugo screamed. "Every time something happens, we rush over there."
Bakugo gripped the edge of his desk.
"Endeavor also joined us," Bakugo complained loudly. "But guess what?! We get there, and the villain is already a damn origami crane on the sidewalk!"
Denki Kaminari leaned over his desk and laughed.
"Hahaha... Hero X is completely crazy," Kaminari said. "The guy wears a white tuxedo to fight crime."
Minoru Mineta nodded rapidly.
"He just snaps his fingers!" Mineta added excitedly. "He took all the spotlight and girls!"
Momo Yaoyorozu held a financial newspaper on her desk.
She looked very concerned.
"It is not just the villains," Momo explained to the class. "Hero X owns Canvas Construction. He is completely changing the traditional real estate and support gear markets."
Tenya Iida adjusted his glasses sharply.
"I read about that!" Iida said loudly. "He spawns fully operational warships from blueprints. He has zero material costs. Traditional construction companies cannot compete with his work rate."
Izuku Midoriya wrote rapidly in his burned notebook.
Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.
Midoriya mumbled to himself. He tried desperately to calculate the dimensional mechanics of forcing a 3D object into 2D space.
The classroom door slid open.
CLACK.
Shota Aizawa walked into the room.
He wore his black jumpsuit and his gray capture scarf.
The entire class instantly went dead silent.
Everyone sat up straight and faced the front.
Aizawa walked behind the wooden podium.
He looked at his students. He looked completely exhausted.
'Hero X,' Aizawa thought.
Principal Nezu personally recommended the man.
Aizawa always calculated the worst-case scenario. It was his job to protect his students.
'If he goes rogue, how do we stop him?' Aizawa calculated in his mind. 'My Erasure Quirk shuts down Quirk Factors inside a physical body.'
Aizawa stared at the chalkboard.
'If he can rewrite dimensional space, my Quirk might not even register him as a target.'
Aizawa let out a long, heavy sigh. He just too worried after all they still haven't found the traitor inside UA.
He grabbed a piece of white chalk.
"Open your textbooks to page one hundred and four," Aizawa ordered.
--<>--
Location: Underground Villain Hideout, Industrial Freezer
Time: 11:45 PM
The room was completely dark.
Thick frost covered the solid metal walls.
A heavy black body bag rested on a steel table in the center of the freezer.
Best Jeanist lay completely motionless inside the bag.
He was locked in a deep, medically-induced death-like state.
A man in a crisp white suit stood right next to the steel table.
"You really don't look like a fashionable hero right now, Tsunagu."
Kaito looked down at the dormant hero and decided to take a photo for him
FLASH.
Then Kaito raised his right hand in the freezing air.
SNAP.
The Nomu-inspired chemicals keeping Jeanist asleep instantly dissolved from his bloodstream.
"Gah!"
Best Jeanist gasped violently for air.
His eyes snapped wide open.
He sat straight up on the cold steel table.
His breathing was rapid but perfectly normal.
'What's going on?'
He looked around the dark, freezing room while remembering what was happening.
'Shouldn't I be in a dead-state right now?'
"Is the war already started, Haw~~"
Instead of Hawks, he saw a total stranger in a white suit and gold glasses.
"Who are you?!" Jeanist demanded loudly.
He instinctively reached for the denim threads on his pants.
"Relax," Kaito said calmly.
Jeanist slid off the steel table. He kept his guard up.
His tactical mind raced through a hundred different disastrous scenarios.
'Hawks put me to sleep in the Central Hospital,' Jeanist thought rapidly.
"You woke me up," Jeanist said, his voice laced with pure dread.
He stepped away from the steel table.
"Dabi demanded a corpse to prove Hawks's loyalty," Jeanist argued. "I willingly agreed to this sacrifice! I let them put me in that bag!"
He glared angrily at the man in the white suit.
"If the League of Villains finds out I am awake, it will be dangerous for Hawks," Jeanist yelled. "His cover is completely blown!"
Kaito reached slowly into his suit jacket.
"His cover is perfectly safe," Kaito assured him.
He pulled out a flat piece of paper.
He casually tossed the paper onto the steel table.
The paper showed a perfect, highly detailed two-dimensional drawing.
SNAP.
It showed Best Jeanist's lifeless corpse zipped inside a black body bag.
"I will leave this right here," Kaito explained calmly.
Jeanist stared down at the body replica on the table.
"When anyone opens this door, his cognition will force him to see exactly what he expects to see," Kaito said.
Kaito pointed a finger at the paper.
"Hawks will still be on his undercover mission," Kaito stated. "And besides this was the decision of the HPSC, to let me find you."
"..."
Jeanist stared blankly at his body.
He slowly processed what the man infront of him said.
Sighh.
Best Jeanist let out a long, shaky breath and relaxed his tense shoulders.
He looked back up at Kaito.
"..."
He finally noticed the crisp white suit, the perfectly tied red tie, and the gold glasses.
"You have excellent tailoring," Jeanist complimented smoothly, trying to ground himself. "Very refined taste."
"Thank you," Kaito replied politely.
Jeanist rubbed his neck.
"What kind of Quirk is that?" Jeanist asked in pure disbelief. "You forged a dead body."
"I am Hero X... My quirk is Canvas." Kaito introduced himself. "The HPSC President gave me a direct commission to find you."
Jeanist looked around the freezing, abandoned locker.
"I cannot leave this hideout," Jeanist argued, shaking his head. "Someone will eventually recognize me."
Kaito reached up and adjusted his gold glasses.
"They will not recognize you," Kaito said.
Jeanist narrowed his eyes.
"I will change the cognition of everyone who looks at you," Kaito continued.
Jeanist stepped toward him.
"...You can rewrite human memory?" Jeanist asked softly.
"...Yes," Kaito answered casually. "Aside from few others that wanted to know you are alive and well."
Jeanist froze in place.
Kaito pointed at the door.
Jeanist stared at the young hero in the white suit.
"Are you ready?" Kaito asked.
Jeanist took a deep, steadying breath. He nodded once.
Kaito raised his right hand in the cold air.
SNAP.
--<>--
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