Life in the Alliance Heights dorms after we returned from the internships felt like living in two different worlds. On the surface, there was laughter, there were jokes, there was the comforting routine of school. We would have breakfast together, complain about Present Mic's lessons, and train together in the afternoons. But beneath that surface, there was a crack. A cold awareness that the monsters were real and they walked among us. Especially for me. Every time I saw Midoriya struggle to use his still-recovering hands, or when I saw the hidden sadness in Iida's eyes, I was reminded of the nights filled with fire and blood in Hosu and at the Humarise facility.
Heroes, as I now knew, didn't always win. And victory often came at a very high price.
A few days after returning, all of us, the entire first-year hero course, were gathered in an auditorium. The main teachers—Aizawa, Vlad King, Midnight, and even Principal Nezu—stood on the stage.
"As you all know," Aizawa began, his flat voice echoing in the silent room, "the world has changed. With All Might's retirement, the balance of power has shifted. Villains have become bolder. An unorganized threat can become organized overnight." He paused, his tired eyes scanning all of us. "You are no longer just students. You are soldiers on the front line of a new, uncertain era. Therefore, the Hero Work-Study program will be accelerated and expanded. You will be directly involved in real hero operations, learning from the best professionals."
To introduce the program, they brought out the U.A. Big Three. I saw Nejire wave cheerfully from the stage, along with a nervous-looking Tamaki Amajiki and a radiant Mirio Togata, who shone with an infectious optimism. I watched Mirio's incredible display of power, where he easily defeated half of my class without breaking a sweat. His Permeation Quirk, which allowed him to pass through solid matter, was a terrifying concept to fight against.
After that, we were all encouraged to find an agency that would accept us for the Work-Study program. For me, the choice was obvious. My connection with Ryukyu, and the secrets we shared, made her agency the only place that made sense for me. Midoriya, on the other hand, after being rejected by many agencies because of his self-destructive Quirk, finally got one chance through Mirio: an interview with All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye.
A few days later, I found myself walking beside Midoriya and Mirio. I was on my way to deliver my final internship report directly to Ryukyu, while Mirio kindly escorted Midoriya to Sir Nighteye's agency, which happened to be in the same direction.
"You seem much calmer, Tatsumi-kun!" Mirio said with his characteristic wide smile. "Even though I heard you were also involved in a major incident during your internship! Hahaha!"
"I just try to stay unnoticed," I replied flatly.
It was while we were chatting that the fateful encounter happened. A little girl with silvery-white hair and a small horn on her forehead ran out of an alley and bumped into Midoriya. She was trembling violently, her large red eyes filled with an unspeakable terror.
And then, the man appeared. Kai Chisaki. Overhaul.
The moment he stepped out of the shadows, wearing his plague doctor mask, I felt the most violent and strangest reaction from Incursio. It wasn't a resonance like with Akame. It wasn't a wary heartbeat. It was a total rejection at a cellular level. The heat in my chest felt instantly cold, and I felt a profound nausea, as if my own soul, the soul of the dragon within me, was disgusted by this man's presence. Overhaul's power to disassemble and reassemble was an insult to the very essence of life and evolution that was the core of Tyrant's power.
I watched with bated breath as the drama unfolded, exactly as I remembered. Midoriya trying to be a hero. Overhaul coldly manipulating the situation. And Eri desperately sacrificing herself to protect us. As Overhaul left, taking the trembling Eri with him, he paused and looked at me for a moment.
"And you?" he said, his cold eyes looking from behind his mask. "You don't radiate the same 'sickness' as your friends. You are... something else."
I didn't answer. I just stared back at him, letting the cold hatred of my dragon radiate through my eyes. He smirked faintly behind his mask before finally disappearing into the alley.
That night, Midoriya and I were summoned to an emergency meeting. Inside a meeting room that looked like a detective's office, we met Sir Nighteye for the first time. He was a thin, tall man, with a very sharp gaze behind his glasses. He was not impressed with us. He criticized our actions in letting Eri go, a bitter lesson about the reality of hero work.
In that room, an impressive coalition of heroes was gathered. Ryukyu was there, along with Nejire. Fat Gum was there with Amajiki and Kirishima. And of course, Aizawa-sensei was there too. They had all been investigating the resurgent Yakuza group, the Shie Hassaikai, and their target was the same: Kai Chisaki.
Sir Nighteye led the briefing, laying out all the information they had gathered. About the Quirk-destroying bullets. About their connection to Eri's blood. Every detail that was revealed made the atmosphere in the room even heavier.
"Our problem," Nighteye said in a flat tone, "is that we don't know where their main base is. They are very good at covering their tracks."
It was then that Ryukyu spoke up. "Perhaps not entirely." She looked at me. "Tatsumi-kun. You also confronted him. Did you 'feel' anything?"
She was giving me a stage. A chance to use my knowledge without having to reveal it directly. All eyes turned to me. I looked at Sir Nighteye, who was looking at me skeptically.
"Chisaki," I began carefully. "He's obsessed with cleanliness. With purity. He sees Quirks as a disease. A man like that wouldn't place his base of operations in a dirty or disorganized place. He would want a labyrinth that he could completely control. A place where he could 'cleanse' anything he deemed 'filthy'." I looked at the digital map on the table. "He wouldn't hide in a warehouse or an old factory. He would hide in plain sight, under a legitimate-looking property, most likely underground."
Sir Nighteye snorted. "A psychological analysis from a child? We need evidence, not hunches."
"Sometimes, a hunch is the only thing we have when facing a monster," Ryukyu countered coldly, defending me.
The tension between the two top heroes was palpable. That night, we were all sent back with the task of gathering more information. A full-scale investigation had begun.
The next few days were a blur of research and training. I spent my time between helping Momo and the others sift through financial data to look for suspicious properties owned by the Hassaikai, and training with Ryukyu to sharpen my control over Incursio. I focused on the armor's adaptive ability. Ryukyu had me take light energy attacks from Nejire repeatedly, and I began to feel how my armor instinctively learned to disperse that energy, reducing its impact. It was a slow and painful process, but I could feel my power growing in a new way.
The breakthrough came from an unexpected source. That night, I received an encrypted message on my secret device. It was from Akame. No words. Just an address, and a photo. The photo showed a low-level Hassaikai thug conducting a transaction with a suspicious-looking man in a suit. In the background of the photo, there was the name of a restaurant.
I immediately told Ryukyu. She tracked the man in the suit and found that he was a member of Yozakura.
"So they're connected," Ryukyu whispered. "The Hassaikai and Yozakura... they're working together."
This was the missing piece of the puzzle. Akame, on her own hunt, had discovered a connection we hadn't realized. With this new information, we managed to track the location of the Hassaikai's main headquarters. It was exactly as I had 'surmised': a vast underground complex, hidden beneath one of their normal-looking real estate properties.
Sir Nighteye, though still skeptical of my information source, couldn't deny the evidence we presented. A raid plan was drawn up.
The night before the raid, I stood on the dorm's roof, looking out at the city. I knew what would happen tomorrow. There would be a fight. There would be loss. Sir Nighteye... I knew about his foreseen future. I felt a heavy burden. Could I change it? Should I?
I sensed a presence behind me. It was Momo. "Can't sleep?" she asked softly.
"Too much to think about," I replied.
We stood there in silence for a moment. "Whatever happens tomorrow," she said, "know that we all trust your judgment, Tatsumi-san. You've guided us this far."
Her words gave me a little strength. I was no longer alone in my secret. I had a team. I had friends.
When I returned to my room, I closed my eyes, focusing on my dragon's heartbeat. I thought of Eri. I thought of Overhaul. And for the first time, the cold hatred I felt from my dragon didn't feel foreign. It felt like my own. Tomorrow, I wouldn't just be fighting as a hero. I would be fighting as someone who would protect a little girl from a true monster. And I would use every ounce of power I had to make sure we succeeded.