Chapter 7 - Invasion at the USJ: 1

Yoshihara woke up with a pang in her right shoulder. A jolt to her usual everyday affair. She didn't know why it had been acting up, but it had, and it was annoying her.

There had been times when her shoulder would hurt when she woke up in the mornings for no discernable reason. She hadn't slept odd the night prior, and she had no kinks in her neck, nor did she hurt her shoulder at U.A. during her combat training, so what was the issue?

The blond didn't know. However, there was something that was troubling her about it. The fact of the matter at hand was that her shoulder only seemed to act up when certain stimuli in her body were higher than normal. And that had been specifically fear stimuli.

She had noticed the pattern a while back, back before she met Midnight, specifically in the alleyway with the man, Wakurabra, and after his suggestion to talk to Akira. It happened again when she saw Inko in Izuku's room, though it had been so subtle that she paid no mind to it. It once again happened when she entered the forest, again, the same reason applied as to why she never bothered to think about it.

And now, it was happening again. Once was a fluke, twice was a coincidence, and three times was a pattern—a pattern the blond was not too fond of.

Yoshihara knew that something had been up. Things had been too peaceful recently, and it was something she didn't like. The supposed attack on U.A. by the press was more than it had seemed. She knew that much. The reporters couldn't have been the ones who had broken into the school. While at the time she thought that to be the case, with a couple of hours and some clarity deep within her thoughts, she knew better now.

Her mind kept going back to the guy with teal hair. He had something to do with that attack. She knew that guy had been lying about his position as a janitor, at least now she did. Yesterday he had her convinced, which in hindsight was bad.

Whoever that guy had been, he had been the reason why the U.A. Barrier had been broken. However, as much as she wanted to focus on that, and as much as she wanted her brain to run amok with ideas, she had to get to school.

"Theorize about the mysterious man later. The last thing I want is to be late to school and to have Aizawa-sensei breathing down my neck because of it."

Yoshihara left her bedroom and went for the showers, quickly doing what she normally did, and got dressed in her clean school uniform, courtesy of Nemuri doing the laundry the night prior. The blond had to hand it to the woman, she was reliable when she needed to be.

Speaking of Nemuri. The woman had been doing great in her therapy and had shown signs of recovering. However, on the topic of therapy, the older woman had been trying to get Yoshihara to see a therapist over her past—a past Nemuri knew next to nothing about outside of her previous job.

The blond had been adamant that she didn't need a therapist. However, Aizawa-sensei had explained to her that she needed it when he visited the night prior—as if he knew anything. No amount of therapy was going to fix what she had been through. But, again, the last thing she wanted was to deal with Aizawa breathing down her neck. So, reluctantly, she set up a day with Hound-dog, who was a registered therapist and counsellor at U.A., for after school today.

Still, she didn't like how she had been strong-armed into it. It wasn't as if a stranger she had never met before needed to know what happened to her to make her this way.

With that thought now firmly out of her head, and after she had finished getting changed, the blond walked downstairs, and what awaited her had something she hadn't expected.

Standing downstairs in the living room, wearing their school uniforms, was Josefumi Kujo, and to his left, was Karera Sakunami, both of whom were making small talk with Nemuri, who had been dressed in her hero costume. Yoshihara narrowed her eyes, levelling a small glare at the group as she descended the stairs.

Why were they here? The last time they had shown up unannounced, there had been a big revelation about the Stand Bullets and their existence. Did that mean that they had some new information to spread to her?

If so, had they already told Izuku and Inko? If so, why didn't Midoriya text her?

Whatever the case may have been, Yoshihara, once again, was not too fond of pop-up visitors.

"OH! Kira-san! It's good to see you again, It's been a minute, hasn't it!" Karera said, moving her hair over her shoulder. She was wearing the female school uniform of U.A., and her hair had been done up in a ponytail, though she kept the curls off to the sides of her hair.

"So, you do go to U.A.," Yoshihara said, approaching the group of three. "What class are you in, I haven't seen you anywhere in the school?" The blond asked, crossing her arms as Karera flipped her hair over to one side with a smile.

"Class 1-B, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, they're nice people, but I do miss being around Fumi-kun," Karera said, wrapping an arm around Josefumi's shoulder as he shifted due to the sudden weight. The pompadour-having teen let out a chuckle.

"It's not like we don't live together…." Josefumi said as Karera let go of her boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the green and black-haired teen said, putting her hands on her hips as she gave the blond a sharp expression. "However, I didn't come here just to talk. We did some more digging, and recently, there has been a spike in gang activity in Musutafu. We don't know why, but there is," Karera started, lessening the glare in her eyes.

"Vlad-sensei told us you and Fumi-kun were going to be on a field trip for hero training today, apparently somewhere in Downtown Musutafu. We don't exactly know where, but he's going to keep his eyes open, so I hope you do too. This might lead us to what we want to know," Karera finished, earning a sigh and an intrigued expression from the blond.

"Hmm. A coincidence, to be sure. But I wonder, does Aizawa-sensei know about the spike in activity? Probably not. It's none of my business, however, I don't think it's a stretch to believe that something is going to happen today. With my shoulder acting up, and with the gang-activity spike happening in downtown…."

"Really, now? So, do we know who or what the gang is?" Yoshihara asked as Josefumi shook his head.

"Nope, unfortunatly not. However, we did learn one thing, and that was this: They all had Stand Bullets on them," Josefumi started, a cold silence filling the room.

"The Stand bullets…! So, these guys either are getting the bullets from an unknown third party or are the ones distributing them. But if that was the case, why use them instead of selling them…? Interesting…." "Go on, please," Yoshihara said as Josefumi nodded.

"None of them were arrested, seeing as they popped out of purple swirling portals, then left after they shot their targets, but they all fired a yellow bullet with a needle tip. We know this because some of the security cameras from the buildings nearby caught them on tape. We couldn't make out any of them, not even with our Stands, and they have pretty good precision. The cloak of the night was their best cover."

As Josefumi finished explaining, Karera spoke up afterward.

"Over 100 people were killed last night, and they're still getting the identities of those who passed. Once again, those that did survive noted that they felt stronger. Either these guys are getting the bullets from someone, or…"

"…they're the ones manufacturing them. I see what you're trying to say," Yoshihara finished her ally's sentence as Karera nodded. However, before they could continue the conversation, Nemuri spoke up, interrupting them all.

"Alright, while I do love the company, you guys are going to be late for school. I can drive you all there if you want to save time?" Nemuri said as the group of three nodded in synchronization. Nemuri giggled at the action, then walked over to the kitchen counter, grabbed a pair of keys, then walked to the elevator.

The older woman turned around to face the group, a smile on her face as she twirled the keys between her index finger and ring finger. "Well, let's not waste too much time! We have places to be, young heroes, let's go!"

xxXXxxXXxx

It was in the middle of the afternoon, 12:49 PM to be exact, and Josefumi had been tired. The combination of having a surprise pop quiz early in the morning, followed by another test in Present Mic's English course did help things, but to make matters even worse, he made a stupid decision the night prior.

He stayed up almost all night with Karera researching the Stand Bullets. Pretty much everything they searched for in relation to the aforementioned drug came up inconclusive. Josefumi's father suggested over the phone that The Speedwagon Foundation might have known a thing or two about the bullets.

Unfortunatly for the pair, that had been quickly countered by the acting leader of the agency who claimed to only know a small amount about the original Stand Arrow and that they were still trying to figure out the arrows' true origin. In other words, it would be impossible for them to know about the modern equivalent, despite having access to several samples the pair had sent their way.

In other words, they were back at square one. However, something interesting did catch Josefumi's and Karera's eyes. Local gang activity in Downtown Musutafu spiked in one night, and over 100 deaths cropped up within an hour. Now, that wouldn't have been too interesting to the pair, considering what they were trying to accomplish—don't get them wrong, such a waste of life was highly disturbing, but at the time they were running off of their 8th cup of coffee and had been hyper fixated on finding information about the bullets.

But then, as if the stars aligned at that very moment. A very crucial detail had laid within the report sent to The Speedwagon Foundation by the HSPC, and by extension, them.

Each death that occurred that night was linked because of one small, very important detail; and that was the weapon that had been used.

The Stand Bullets.

Unfortunatly, there were no ties back to the gang that had them, however, now that there had been another attack, it was clear that they had cemented themselves as a true adversary to the public and all of Japan. However, among those deaths were a couple of pro heroes, notably Yorai Musha, who had been called upon to investigate.

When they brought him back to the hospital for examination, his body had been covered in welts, his eyes were bloodshot and bulging, and his lips had turned blue. However, just before he died, a spark of electricity powerful enough to destroy all the electronic equipment in the hospital room came out of his index finger.

The HSPC and The Speedwagon Foundation quickly covered it up, but the truth was now out there. Everyone knew what Yorai Musha's Quirk was. It was to sneak around with no sound to their footsteps, as well as the ability to nullify sound in general.

So for a pro hero with a known Quirk to suddenly blast out electricity straight from their fingertips? It was a cause for alarm for the public and an even bigger cause for alarm for both the HSPC and The Speedwagon Foundation. The Hero Safety and Protection Committee urged the public that the rumours were false, and like the obedient little dogs they were, they listened.

But a few knew the truth, and those few wanted to spread the word that a group of people were going around and attacking people with bullets that somehow gave people new abilities.

Unfortunatly for them, but fortunately for those involved, their efforts were faulty in spreading the information, as The Speedwagon Foundation AND the HSPC were censoring it—a brilliant move on their part.

Still, now with one of the top 10 dead, all eyes were now focused on finding the people who made the bullets, which was a relief. However, now with a wealth of resources allocated to the project, it was clear that the producers of the drug were going to go into hiding, making things much harder.

"Damnit. Well, there's not much I can do now. At least there will be more eyes on this than there were before. I just wish it didn't take the death of someone high-up in the chain of command to cause it," Josefumi thought as the clock ticked over a minute. The bell for the next class rang, and as a result, Aizawa got out of his sleeping bag, eyes narrowing at everyone before nodding to himself.

A small sigh escaped the pro's mouth as he cleared his throat, alerting everyone's attention. "Now for today's basic hero training; this time, All Might, myself, and one other will supervise," Aizawa stated, adjusting his massive scarf. No nonsense, just as per usual.

In reality, Josefumi kinda wanted their teacher to throw more oomph into how he talked, but he guessed he'd just have to be content with tired, grumpy, and always slightly annoyed Aizawa Shouta. The teen glanced over to Midoriya, who had been in deep thought. He glanced over to Yoshihara next, who was staring at Aizawa with a skeptical glare.

"I wonder what's on her mind? Is she trying to fish out any deception in his words? To be fair, these past few classes had been rife with trickery on his behalf, so I don't blame her."

Just then, one of the other students, Sero Hanta if Josefumi remembered correctly, shot his arm up into the air and asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "Um, Sensei, what're we doing exactly?!" The teen asked as Aizawa dug around in his pocket for something, then responded in his usual tired tone of voice.

"We'll be preparing you lot for disaster relief, from fires to floods," then, with as much enthusiasm as a dying balloon, Aizawa finished his sentence with a slightly less tired voice. "It's rescue training!!"

And with that, the class erupted into chatter. However, Josefumi simply glanced over to Yoshihara, who had done the same thing. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the class, there was a hint of uncertainty in Aizawa's voice when he brought up All Might. So perhaps there had been a chance for the titular number 1 pro hero to not show up.

A wave of unease was shared between the two before Aizawa spoke up, gaining everyone's attention with a sharp glare and the activation of his Quirk. "Hey. I'm not finished yet."

As the pro hero's eyes wandered over everyone, making sure that everyone stopped talking, Aizawa huffed, deactivating his ability before continuing. "Alright. Now, as I was saying," Aizawa started, grabbing a remote off of his desk and clicking the big red button in the middle. "It's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes, as some of them are ill-suited to this sort of activity," Aizawa continued as several panels from the walls opened up, revealing the suitcases that All Might hand out to them during their first few classes of basic hero training. "The training site is a bit remote, so we'll be going by bus. That's all. Get ready."

It didn't take long for the class to make the unanimous decision to take their costumes, much to Aizawa's surprise, although in the back of the teacher's mind, he smirked at the action. "They're becoming more rational. Good."

After getting changed into their hero costumes, they got outside, and when they did, they were greeted by Ida doing everything in his power to arrange a seating order. Yoshihara paid no mind to it, seeing as she used Killer Queen's enhanced eyesight to peer through the bus's tinted windows. The seating plan he tried to use failed, and everyone chose where they sat on their own.

The blond looked over to Midoriya and noticed that he was wearing U.A.'s gym uniform instead of his hero costume. Well, she supposed it made sense. Bakugo DID damage his hero costume pretty badly, so it was understandable. What she couldn't understand, however, were the gloves. What were the gloves for? Maybe it was to enhance his punches and reduce the recoil. Maybe?

Midoriya was pretty secretive about his Quirk. That would have to be something she talked to him about. His Quirk was interesting, and also very volatile. One wrong move and his entire body would crumple under its sheer strength.

"You're staring at Midoriya-kun, you know that?" A voice cropped up behind Yoshihara as she spun around, meeting face-to-face with one of her classmates, the pink-skinned one, Mina Ashido. "Do you have a crush on him~?" The pinked girl asked, a wicked smile on her face as Yoshihara's eyes darted over to Izuku, then back to Mina.

"Uh…" she paused to think. Did she have a crush on him? Was she even capable of mimicking that emotion? Love? Was that even possible?

Well, thinking back to that time when she had… fallen atop Midoriya… in her bed… with their faces having been so close to one another that she could feel his breathing on her cheek… she remembered that her heart began to race and that she felt her cheeks heat up. Did that… did that mean she had a crush on him? No. No. She couldn't. She couldn't feel that kind of emotion. It wasn't right. She wasn't allowed to. That would compromise everything.

"I… guess…." Yet her mind betrayed her as did her words. She hadn't even realized that she had said that as Mina's smile widened.

"GIRL! Okay, you, me, we're going shopping. You're not backing out of this AT ALL. We're going to get you some clothes that are going to make him want to stare at you and recognize you all day, every day! So… you free on the weekend?"

Well, there was no backing out now. That, and Nemuri did say she needed to broaden her wardrobe. Karera helped a little bit, but she had a feeling Mina was the type of person who'd make her buy every genre of clothing in any self respective clothing store she could find.

So, with a heavy reluctance that she didn't make apparent, Yoshihara responded to the overly excited pink-skinned and horned teenager.

"Yeah, as far as I am aware I am," Yoshihara responded as Mina nodded.

"Great! We'll meet at the mall in uptown Musutafu. I'm going to bring Kirishima and another friend of mine from Junior High school, sound good?" All Yoshihara did in response was nod before boarding the bus.

The bus, much to Ida's dismay, was a different kind of bus than what he had been expecting, and everyone simply sat wherever they chose, much to the class rep's disdain. Yoshihara sat to Izuku's right, while to his left sat another girl, Asui Tsuyu if she remembered correctly. To Yoshihara's right was one Rikido Sato, who seemed to be listening to music while keeping his head low.

The bus ride was silent for the majority of the time. However, that was until Asui spoke up, specifically toward Midoriya. "I generally say what's on my mind, Midoriya." Asui started as Izuku rubbed the back of his head, clearly not expecting to be addressed so abruptly.

"O-Oh! What is it, Asui—"

"Call me Tsuyu."

"Oh! Tsuyu, er, what is it?"

The green-haired frog-like girl looked over in the direction of Midoriya, and with a totally not at all unnerving bug-eyed stare, spoke her mind to the green-haired boy. "Your Quirk resembles All Might's."

And from there, all chaos broke loose. Yoshihara simply detached herself from the world around her and slumped into her seat on the bus, not keen on listening to the annoying conversation that was going to spiral about due to Tsuyu's inflammatory claims.

However, much to her mind's chagrin, Tsuyu did bring up a valid point. The only difference separating All Might's Quirk and Midoriya's was that All Might's bones didn't break upon using his power. Although, Yoshihara had deduced that it was based on control, and not just a simple drawback.

Looking back on the times Midoriya used his Quirk, both successfully and unsuccessfully, there was a clear line between him breaking his bones being a drawback, and it being an unintended consequence of not being able to control his own Quirk.

On the first day, as Aizawa was making an example out of Midoriya, the boy channelled all of his power into his index finger when he threw the ball, the result being a broken finger instead of a broken arm. Then, she compared it to when he battled Bakugo in the Combat Training exercise, where he acted on a whim, not bothering to channel his power, and as a result, not only blew up a majority of the building but also destroyed his own arm in the process.

Therefore, her theory was sound—at least that part of it was. Midoriya's Quirk's drawback wasn't breaking bones. Its true drawback was the difficulty in controlling the power. It was almost sad that nobody else picked up on it. She would have assumed that maybe Bakugo would've picked up on it, seeing as the two had a history together, no matter how unfavourable it truly was, but she must've put more thought into the boy's mental capacity than she had initially assumed.

Or maybe, like her, he was keeping his suspicions to himself. Which, in that regard, made sense.

She paused to think deeper about the implications that might have had. Midoriya's Quirk was similar to All Mights, and the drawback was inherently based around control—at least she assumed—and Izuku was a massive All Might fanboy.

Either two things were happening here. Either All Might was the biological father of Midoriya—which she didn't believe. If All Might was as bad a teacher as he is as a parent, that would mean that Midoriya would be even more socially inept, so that wasn't possible and therefore, logically speaking, that wouldn't make sense. Then again, the second option was equally as non-sensical but had a lot more merit.

Since Midoriya was Quirkless all of his life, it would stand to reason that his Quirk didn't just suddenly develop. She wasn't going to assume the possibility of that actually being the case, but at the same time, one did not simply lose a toe joint over time, develop a Quirk, then train with it only for ten months, go to the top hero school in all of Japan, and get this far without some sort of foul play being involved.

This was why, she had come to a startling realization that only made sense to her, and to her alone.

Somehow, in some way, All Might, in some fashion, gave his Quirk to Izuku to allow him to become a pro hero and take his place as the symbol of peace.

As much as she tried to deny that being the more likely option, Yoshihara knew full well that if given the chance, Midoriya would easily agree to that kind of strain just to impress All Might. However, there was just one thing that stopped her from fully believing her own theory.

How?

How did Midoriya obtain his Quirk? How exactly did he get it from the symbol of peace? Was there a trade that took place? If so, what trade? What did he give up to take the Quirk? Something was amiss with the situation, and to get the right answer, she would have to confront Midoriya about it as soon as she got the chance.

However, just as she was about to ask the all-important question to Midoriya in a whisper, Aizawa spoke up, causing her to straighten up.

"We're here. Look sharp now!"

"I guess I'll have to ask him later. But now, at the very least, I have something to think about while doing this mundane training exercise." Yoshihara thought, standing up from her seat on the bus.

Upon getting off the bus, everyone was quickly funnelled into a dome-like building, and upon entering, they were met with a truly disastrous view—in a good way. A lake with a massive whirlpool in the center next to a boat. A bunch of buildings covered in mud and half-buried buildings. A mountainous region. A dome with fire iconography, so something to do with a mass fire of some kind if it had to be contained like that. And finally, another place with a dome over the top of it with water and wind iconography—clearly, it had something to do with rain and wind.

And everyone within Class 1 – A saw it all, standing on top of a highrise platform, watching over it all with a keen eye.

Kira adjusted her tie as an uncomfortable feeling washed over her. She looked over to Josefumi, who also had the same uncomfortable expression adorning his face. In front of them was a hero, whose helmet had giant white eyes, making it look like the suit itself was alive. Speaking of the suit, they looked like an astronaut wearing an overly bulky suit. A fitting touch, considering who they were.

"There's the flood zone, landslide zone, conflagration zone, etc…." The hero paused to look over the students, a smile hiding behind the space helmet. "Every disaster and accident you can imagine, all located in one place. Not to pat myself on the back, but I built this facility myself. I call it… The "Unforeseen Simulation Joint"!!!" The pro hero said, their voice muffled, and the ability to hear what gender of the person they were was difficult due to the static radio voice they used to mask it.

And, in true hero nerd fashion, Izuku began to geek out. "It's the space hero, Thirteen! They're a gentleman hero who does their best work in rescue scenarios!" The green-haired boy said as the resident gravity-quirk user chimed in with her own opinion.

"Oooh! I love Thirteen!!!" The teen said, a massive smile on her face as Yoshihara simply looked away, shaking her head with disappointment. How the hell did they not pick up on the foreboding atmosphere the place was giving off? Was it just her and Josefumi who could feel it? If so, why?

And then, it hit her.

"I get it now. The reason my anxiety is acting up…." Yoshihara thought, looking around the massive training area, trying to figure out where it was coming from until finally, she pinpointed the blue dome-covered zone with the water and wind motifs. She glanced over to Josefumi, who was doing the same thing.

"There's a Stand User in this building. But who? And how?"

Thirteen turned to face them all, her expression unseeable due to the mask. "Before we start the lesson, I have one or two points. Or three… or was it four. Bah, whatever." As the pro hero started, Yoshihara tried to distract herself from the malice that was building up in the building, but it was unavoidable, and as a result, Killer Queen summoned itself by her side, Josefumi's Soft & Wet doing the same.

"As I'm sure many of you are aware. My Quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything," The pro hero continued as Midoriya quipped.

"And you've used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!" Izuku said as Thirteen nodded.

"Indeed… However, my power could easily kill. I have no doubt in my mind that there are some among you with similar abilities." Yoshihara could've sworn she felt Thirteen's eyes land on her specifically, and her spine tingled because of it.

"In our super-powered society," Thirteen continued, turning their attention back to everyone. "The use of Quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable Quirk for people to die. During Aizawa's physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential. Through All Might's Battle Training, you experienced the danger that your respective abilities can pose to others. This class will show you a new perspective! You will learn how to utilize your Quirks to save lives!" Thirteen made a sweeping gesture to the area around them as everyone felt their adrenaline begin to pump. Specifically, Izuku, who now sported a massive smile on his face. "Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to help people. That is all! Thank you for listening."

As Thirteen finished her speech, everyone, except for Yoshihara and Josefumi, gave praise to the speech. It wasn't because they were being ignorant, but instead, their senses were too honed in on the threat that was within the building with them.

Somehow, a rogue Stand User was in the building. One neither of them recognized, and it was throwing them off. Sweat dripped from Yoshihara's forehead as her expression morphed into one of worry and concern.

"Every second I stay here, the more danger I'm in. Something bad is going to happen here. I sensed it early this morning when my shoulder tensed up. And now, I'm getting the same feeling, but stronger. Something is wrong. I can feel it." Both Josefumi and Yoshihara thought at the exact same time as Aizawa sighed.

"Great. First off…." Aizawa trailed off, glancing down the stairs as something within the center of the USJ began to swirl to life. The object started to grow, like a portal, and it continued to do so in the span of seconds. Aizawa's eyes slowly began to widen as a hand began to grip the edge of the portal as if it were clawing its way out of a dirt hole.

And then, a manic, hand-covered face peered out of the hole, a singular eye the size of a pinprick looking up at everyone as Yoshihara's eyes widened like saucers. The killing intent coming from that one man was suffocating. And to make things worse….

"Teal-haired guy?!" She thought back to the time when she bumped into the hooded figure back at U.A. They both had the same hair colour…. They both gave off some form of killing intent, though this time it was much more egregious…. And then, everything snapped cleanly into place.

"He was the one who broke into U.A. Now he's here to attack us all? But why? No, I shouldn't think about that. He's a villain. He attacked the main building, and now he's here…."

"HUDDLE UP AND DON'T MOVE!!" Aizawa's booming, angry and terror-filled voice rocketed all around the students as everyone in class 1 – A, outside of Yoshihara and Josefumi, was blissfully unaware of what was going on.

Panic, confusion, and terror filled the room as Aizawa began to give orders to Thirteen to "Protect the students." Just as she thought, things were going wrong. Oh so horribly wrong. Everyone began to chatter as the teachers began barking out orders, trying desperately to get them out of the USJ.

And amongst it all, Yoshihara's heart was beginning to go into overdrive. The killing intent soaking off of that man was too much. It was inhuman. It was suffocatingly strong. It made it nearly impossible to breathe for the blond. Her eyes shrunk and her breathing began to labour. Her chest tightened, and her hearing left her putting in its place a loud buzzing noise as the panic attack set in.

Josefumi took notice and rushed to her side, wrapping an arm around the prone Yoshihara's shoulder as she buckled to her knees, her body shaking as she tried to keep herself from lashing out. He was speaking, but Yoshihara couldn't hear a word. People were running around, but it became a blur to her.

Why now? Why, out of all times, did she have to have a panic attack now?

It was because of that malice. That raw, inhuman hatred for everything. It was animalistic, it was suffocating. All Yoshihara wanted to do was huddle up into a ball and cry. Cry like the child she was. She couldn't take it, she didn't want to be here anymore. It was too much. It reminded her of her.

"Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit!"

That tough façade of hers shattered as she could barely make out Izuku rushing over to her. In a split second, a massive shadow cast over them, and she could feel sharp eyes zeroing in on her and her classmates.

But before she could do or say anything, all she could do was reach out, grab Izuku's shoulder, staring at him with eyes that showed nothing but pain, worry, and fear. His eyes had much the same expression within them, though far more subdued.

It was getting harder each second to fight back the urge to scream, to cry. She had only felt this kind of malicious intensity once before. But it was a memory so far suppressed that she didn't want to re-live it. But before she could do or say anything to the green-haired boy….

Everything went black.