"What?"
Yuuko's voice came out low at first.
Then the shock turned into indignation.
"My son is at U.A.?"
Nezu remained seated on the stool, his hands folded over his lap.
"Yes."
Yuuko went pale for a few seconds, but then her face hardened. Her hand tightened around the blanket over her legs.
"When? Since when has he been there?!"
"For a few months."
"Months?!" Yuuko repeated, incredulous. "You put my son in a hero school months ago and no one told me anything?!"
Tsukauchi lowered his eyes slightly.
Toshinori remained silent.
Nezu answered calmly:
"Mrs. Tanaka, you were in a coma."
"I know I was in a coma!" she snapped back, her voice becoming firmer. "But we are talking about my son. Ryo hates using his powers. He is afraid of hurting people. He needs care, not a school where they force him to use his quirk and fight dangerous villains!"
"I understand your concern, Mrs. Tanaka."
"Do you?" Yuuko looked at Nezu with tearful eyes. "He was a frightened child before I fell into a coma! A child who cried when he broke a glass because he thought he had done something wrong again! And now you are telling me that you put him in the middle of something where, if he makes a mistake, it could cost other people their lives?!"
Nezu did not look away.
"Yes. And it was exactly because he was that frightened and confined child that I decided to intervene."
Yuuko fell silent.
Nezu breathed slowly.
"Ryo was not living here, Tanaka-san. He was being kept. Observed. Measured. Contained. This complex saw your son first as a risk and only afterward as a person, and he hated that."
Her expression wavered.
"I know that because I went through the same thing."
Yuuko blinked.
Nezu lightly touched his own chest.
"I was also a victim of experimentation. I was also seen as something to be studied before being recognized as someone. I know what that does to a mind. And when I saw Ryo's reports, when I saw how he was described and studied, I felt very sick and furious."
Toshinori looked at Nezu seriously.
Tsukauchi remained quiet near the door.
Nezu continued:
"That is why I confronted the system surrounding him. The complex. The government. Everyone who preferred to keep him away from the world for the sake of convenience. Ryo needed limits, yes. But he also needed some freedom, friends. Better routines. Better goals. Choices of his own... And he feels much happier now with those things."
Yuuko struggled to breathe.
"I..." she tried to speak, but no words came out.
She felt ashamed for not having treated him better than the person she was arguing with.
"He... has he been safe at the school?"
"Safer than he would be here."
"That does not answer my question."
Nezu accepted the correction with a small nod.
"He is being supervised. Shota Aizawa is the teacher responsible for his class. He is not someone who ignores risks. In addition, other professionals are also monitoring his development. Such as his current mentor, the heroine Thirteen."
Yuuko looked at Toshinori.
"And he fights, doesn't he?"
Toshinori answered carefully:
"Yes. But not as a weapon. As a student and future hero."
Yuuko pressed her lips together.
Nezu resumed:
"Since entering U.A., he has improved his control over his Quirk significantly. He has learned to reduce damage, to think before acting, and to trust his other classmates and friends."
Yuuko's distrust weakened for a second.
"Friends..."
"Yes." Nezu softened his voice. "He has grown very close to his classmates over time. He talks more. Complains, of course, but he participates. He has people who worry about him, and whom he also tries to protect."
Yuuko looked away, remembering his reaction when talking about friends.
Toshinori took a light step forward.
"Tanaka-san, your son carries a lot of pain inside him. But he also carries an enormous desire to do what is right and to keep trying. U.A. gave him a place where that desire can grow, and where he can keep getting back up even in the worst moments to help everyone."
Yuuko closed her eyes for a moment.
"He lied to me," she murmured. "He said it was just a school in Musutafu."
"He probably did not want to worry you," Nezu said.
Yuuko let out a weak, bitter laugh.
"Idiot... just like me."
Nezu waited a few seconds before speaking again.
"Tanaka-san, I did not come here to ask you to accept everything immediately. You have every right to be indignant. But I came to assure you that Ryo is in good hands and is being well cared for."
Yuuko stared at Nezu, still tense.
"He is my son."
"I know."
"Do not let them turn him into a weapon."
Nezu answered without hesitation:
"We will not."
The room fell silent.
Then Nezu tilted his head slightly, rare seriousness weighing on his small face.
"He is a U.A. student. And while he is under our responsibility, we will do everything to ensure your son's safety and the safety of all the others."
----------------------------------------
The column of smoke was still rising into the sky when Mandalay arrived first.
She crossed the field with quick steps, her earlier cheerful expression completely replaced by seriousness. Tiger came right behind her, already analyzing the scene with narrowed eyes.
They saw Bakugo kneeling in the center of the destroyed area.
He was holding his right arm with his left hand, his teeth sunk into his lower lip with so much force that a small line of blood ran down the corner of his mouth. His arm trembled irregularly, as if every nerve were screaming at the same time.
Mandalay knelt beside him.
"Stay still, let me see..."
Mandalay held his wrist carefully, but firmly enough to stop him from pulling his arm away. As soon as she saw the state of the limb, her expression hardened.
The skin was burned in dark and reddish patches. The forearm looked disfigured after taking the full recoil of an explosion far too large for his body to withstand. His fingers were burned along with his palm. His shoulder was clearly out of place, dislocated by the force of the impact.
Tiger arrived and crouched down on the other side.
"This looks really bad..."
Mandalay turned her head to him.
"Tiger, I need you to look at this. Pixie-Bob!" She raised her voice. "First aid, now!"
From a distance, Pixie-Bob straightened up.
"I'm coming!"
The students around them began to murmur.
"Damn, that explosion was huge. Is he okay?" Sero asked, near the spot along with the others.
"But Bakugo always uses explosions", Mina said, frightened. "How did this happen?"
Kirishima took a step forward, tense.
"Bakugo..."
Midoriya was frozen.
But Ryo, on the other hand, was already moving.
Aizawa, who was farther behind, noticed too late.
"Takeda—"
Ryo crossed the distance in quick steps and reached Mandalay and Tiger's side.
"Move."
Mandalay looked at him, surprised.
"Hey, kid, get out of here."
Tiger also raised his hand.
"Go back to the others."
Ryo ignored the warnings and passed between them, going to Bakugo and kneeling in front of him.
Bakugo raised his red eyes, full of pain and anger.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Shut up and stay still."
Before Mandalay could stop him, Ryo placed his hand over Bakugo's injured arm.
A faint green light appeared between his fingers.
Tiger went still.
Mandalay opened her mouth, but no words came out once she saw it.
The glow slowly spread across Bakugo's arm, covering the burned skin, the damaged forearm, and the dislocated shoulder.
The muscles began to reorganize.
The darkened burns gradually lightened. The damaged skin closed. The swelling went down. The fingers, once stiff and trembling, began to relax. The dislocated shoulder moved with a low crack, returning to its place as Bakugo held his breath.
Tiger watched everything up close, unable to react.
So did Mandalay.
"He..." she murmured. "Is healing him?"
Ryo did not answer.
His brow furrowed, his eyes fixed on Bakugo's arm. The healing was easier than before, but it still required concentration. Bakugo's body had suffered blunt damage, caused by his own Quirk. There were irritated muscle fibers, burned skin, strained joints, nerves overloaded by the recoil.
Ryo intensified the healing.
The green light grew one last time and then went out.
Bakugo's arm dropped slightly.
Whole and perfectly healed.
"Done."
At that moment, Aizawa arrived.
He saw Mandalay and Tiger kneeling, both looking at Ryo as if they had just witnessed a violation of the laws of nature. He saw Bakugo with his arm healed. He saw Ryo's hand still on him.
Aizawa brought a hand to his face.
He had to heal him right in front of them...
Nezu had been clear.
Ryo's healing ability needed to remain a secret for as long as possible. It was for his safety. If the government, villains, or any outside group found out that Ryo could restore bodies like that, he would become a resource.
A target.
A tool.
Aizawa had forbidden the use of that ability unless it was an emergency.
And, unfortunately, this was an emergency.
But still..."
Aizawa let out a heavy sigh.
"This kid only causes me problems."
Ryo, completely ignoring the political disaster he had just created, looked at Bakugo.
"Are you okay?"
He extended his hand to help him stand.
Bakugo stared at the hand, frowning as a small memory passed through his head.
Then he smacked it away.
"I don't need your help."
Ryo frowned.
"Right? You're welcome..."
Bakugo tried to stand up on his own. His body was still trembling, but his arm responded. He clenched and opened his right hand a few times, as if he needed to confirm it was still his.
Mandalay snapped out of her trance.
"Hey, wait. We need to check if—"
"I'm fine."
Tiger narrowed his eyes.
"Kid, you almost destroyed your own arm."
"But I didn't destroy it."
Aizawa appeared right behind him.
"Bakugo."
The teacher's voice cut through the argument.
Bakugo turned his face, irritated.
"What?"
"Calm down and behave."
Bakugo gritted his teeth.
Aizawa looked directly at him.
"You've done enough for today. Go rest."
"I can still train."
"No."
"I said I can still—"
"Go rest."
Aizawa's tone became lower and more serious.
Bakugo held his gaze for a few seconds, his fingers closing into a fist. The healed arm was still trembling slightly, and that seemed to irritate him even more than any order.
Finally, he clicked his tongue.
"Tch."
He turned around and started walking, holding his right arm with his left hand.
Kirishima took half a step.
"Bakugo..."
"Don't follow me."
Kirishima stopped while Bakugo kept walking.
Ryo kept watching him.
"What got into him?"
Aizawa stopped beside Ryo.
"It seems he found a path, but is still unable to cross it."
Ryo turned his face, confused.
"What do you mean? What does that mean?"
"Figure it out."
Ryo became even more confused, but Aizawa had already turned away.
Mandalay and Tiger continued staring at Ryo.
More specifically, at his hands.
Aizawa noticed and sighed again.
"Takeda."
"Yes?"
"Go back to your training."
Ryo looked at him for a few seconds.
From his expression, it seemed like he wanted to ask if that was really all.
But he understood enough not to insist.
"Understood."
He turned and began walking back to his area.
Aizawa then looked at the rest of the field.
Everyone was standing still.
"What are you looking at?"
The students stiffened.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, his voice dropping back into that flat, merciless tone they all knew too well.
"Get back to your training."
----------------------------------------
After another day of intense training, Aizawa announced that there would be a test of courage that night.
The reaction from both classes was mixed.
Some were excited. Others looked too tired to process anything that did not involve food, a bath, or a bed. Even so, the simple fact that it was not another brutal physical exercise already seemed good enough.
After training, the students were taken to the area behind the lodging and divided into two groups: those who would prepare things for the activity and those who would make dinner. The goal was simple: fill everyone's stomachs before the nighttime activity.
Ryo ended up in the group responsible for dinner.
It was a group made up mostly of girls, with Uraraka, Momo, Mina, Toru, Jiro, and a few students from class B.
"Takeda-kun, can you cut the carrots?"
"Yes."
"Takeda-kun, can you stir this pot while I get more seasoning?"
"Ok."
"Takeda, hold this for a second."
"Sure."
Ryo moved from one counter to another with his usual calm, helping when asked and accepting help when he needed it. When Momo asked him to adjust the heat, he did. When Kendo asked him to separate the meat into equal portions, he did. When Toru almost dropped a bowl, Ryo caught the edge before it could fall.
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome."
Kendo watched for a few seconds, impressed.
"You're really good at working in the kitchen."
Ryo stirred a pot.
"Not that much."
"That's what people who are really good at something say to sound humble."
Ryo only looked at her, not understanding.
Some time later, everyone was fed.
The dishes were cleaned, the pots put away, and night finally fell over the forest. The air became colder, and the shadows between the trees seemed deeper than before.
Classes 1-A and 1-B gathered near a clearing lit by a campfire. The flames crackled in the center, casting orange light over the students' tired faces.
Pixie-Bob stood in front of everyone, paws on her waist and an excited smile on her face.
"Mew, mew! It's time for the Test of Courage!"
Mina raised her arms.
"Finally! This is going to be so much fun!"
Mandalay explained the rules more calmly:
"Class B will be on offense first. Class A will enter the forest in pairs, with a three-minute interval between each team. In the middle of the route, you will find cards with your names on them. Take the cards and come back with them."
Pixie-Bob raised a paw.
"In total, each pair should take about fifteen minutes to go in and come back out."
"Let's show them how scary we are, class B!" Tetsutetsu shouted, receiving a chorus of excited shouts from the boys in the class.
Monoma smiled theatrically.
"At last, class A will know true terror: the psychological superiority of class B."
Mina was still jumping with excitement.
"Come on, this is going to be great! I want to see who screams first! We're going to have so much fun!"
Aizawa appeared behind her like a shadow.
"Are you sure about that?"
Mina froze.
"...What?"
Aizawa raised his scarf.
"You're coming with me, Corrective Group. It's time for your extra lessons."
The despair was immediate.
"No!" Mina shouted.
Kaminari tried to run, but the scarf caught his waist.
"Sensei, have mercy!"
Rikido was pulled by the arm.
"How is this scarf so strong?!"
Kirishima resisted for two seconds before being wrapped up as well.
He looked at Ryo and Dash while being dragged into the darkness.
The redhead smiled, closed his eyes, and a manly tear ran down the corner of his face.
"Sorry, my bros... Go... without me..."
Ryo stared at him.
"It's not that serious."
Dash, beside him, had tears in his eyes.
"It is that serious."
Ryo slowly turned his face toward him.
Dash wiped away a tear that had not even fallen.
Ryo only sighed when he saw that.
His gaze passed across the clearing until it met Bakugo's.
He was standing farther away, hands in his pockets, looking directly at him. As soon as he realized Ryo had noticed, he made an irritated face, clicked his tongue, and turned his face away.
Ryo raised an eyebrow.
"Did healing him make him that irritated? This guy really needs to learn some manners..."
Mandalay clapped her hands to call for attention.
"All right! Now let's decide the pairs."
She raised a box.
"Each of you will draw a paper. The team will be decided by the same number the two people draw."
The students were called one by one.
There were celebrations, complaints, and some neutral reactions.
Ryo opened his paper.
Number one.
Beside him, Aoyama raised his own paper with a dramatic sparkle.
"Ah, magnifique! It seems destiny has joined us beneath the glow of the moon!"
Ryo looked at his number.
Then at Aoyama.
"Right..."
A little later, Dash opened his paper.
Number three.
Midoriya, beside him, raised his own.
"Ah, we're a pair."
Dash smiled.
"Nice. But I'll warn you now, if something scary appears, don't expect to find me beside you in the next second."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow, confused.
"R-Right..."
Tiger was at the entrance of the forest, arms crossed and a savage smile on his face.
"Team one! Get in there!"
Ryo and Aoyama approached.
Tiger pointed to the dark path between the trees.
"Prove your courage. Or piss your pants like wimps."
Aoyama placed a hand on his chest.
"I would never do something so inelegant."
Ryo looked at the dark trail, indifferent.
"Let's go."
He entered first, and Aoyama came right behind him.
The forest was silent.
The path was narrow, marked by weak lanterns placed at distant points. The shadows moved between the trunks whenever the wind passed. Dry branches cracked beneath their feet, and the smell of damp earth filled the air.
Ryo walked calmly.
For now, it was just a dark forest.
Nothing more.
Aoyama, on the other hand, seemed to have taken on a theatrical role.
"Takeda-kun", he said, placing one hand on his chest. "Do not worry if you are afraid. You do not need to hide it. The radiance of a true prince also serves to comfort lost hearts."
"I'm not afraid."
"Of course, of course. Denial is also a form of elegance."
Aoyama stepped ahead, striking a pose.
"Allow my radiance to guide our path."
Ryo stood still for half a second.
Then he shrugged.
"All right."
Aoyama looked satisfied and continued walking, now leading with exaggerated confidence.
Ryo followed him without arguing much.
As they walked, he began to think.
"I wonder how class B must have spread out..."
The test was simple. Scare people and make the others shit themselves in fear. Maybe visual traps, noises, use of quirks to make the whole thing scarier.
But nothing dangerous.
Ryo looked at the forest around him.
"Should I use that to find them?"
He hesitated for a few seconds.
Then let air out through his nose.
"Just for a few seconds."
Aoyama turned his head.
"Did you say something?"
"No."
Ryo closed his eyes slightly.
An invisible wave expanded from him.
It was not like the first time.
Now, the radio wave field was simpler. Less information. Less depth. He was not trying to see everything in minute detail. Just shapes, positions, masses, and movement.
Even so, the pain came.
A throbbing behind his eyes along with a slight nausea in his stomach.
But it was bearable.
The waves advanced through the forest.
First, he felt the clearing behind them.
Then, farther ahead, he found class B spread along the path, hidden in strategic points. Some were between trees. Others behind trunks. Others inside holes prepared by Pixie-Bob.
Ryo frowned slightly when he noticed something.
"Aoyama."
"Oui?"
"We're straying a little from the path."
Aoyama stopped.
"Impossible. My radiance would never get lost."
"Are you as bad as Dash with directions?"
Aoyama placed a hand on his chest, offended.
"Comparing my radiance to the error of a third party is cruel."
Ryo was about to answer, until he froze halfway through.
The field found something out of place.
One figure.
Then another.
And another.
People who were not in class B's marked points.
People who should not be there.
Ryo went still.
Aoyama noticed.
"Takeda-kun?"
Ryo did not answer.
The field advanced further.
Unknown points spread through the forest.
Some were near the clearing.
Others near secondary routes.
Others were moving with intent.
Ryo's face hardened.
Aoyama took a hesitant step.
"Takeda-kun...?"
Ryo's eyes glowed green in the dark.
Aoyama stepped back half a step.
"Ah..."
Ryo disappeared.
The wave of air came right after, shaking Aoyama's hair and snuffing out the weak glow of the nearby lanterns for an instant.
"Takeda-kun?!"
The forest entered slow motion.
Ryo crossed through the trees like a green blur, dodging trunks by centimeters. Leaves hung suspended in the air around him. Insects seemed frozen. Branches broke too slowly to keep up with his passage.
The first target was a short distance away.
A boy with a gas mask, standing among the bushes, was releasing a pink smoke that was beginning to spread through the forest in slow motion. Mustard. Ryo did not know his name, but he did not need to know it.
He simply arrived.
His fist struck the villain's abdomen before he could notice anything.
His body folded in slow motion, his feet leaving the ground as he was launched away.
Ryo had already changed direction.
The second target appeared in an open area.
A thin figure, with long teeth and a deformed posture, moved between the trees like a living blade. Ryo appeared above him and buried him into the ground with a dry blow to the head, creating a crater before continuing.
Farther ahead, he found Nomus.
One of them had purple balls on its head. Another was huge, with monstrous muscle mass.
Ryo did not stop.
He fired a gamma sphere at the larger one, throwing it toward a distant mountain. The massive explosion illuminated the night slowly.
The smaller ones were pierced by blows and blasts, bodies torn apart by the impact before falling in opposite directions slowly.
Ryo continued.
The field showed a hill.
Up there, Kota was alone.
And climbing it was a large, hooded, muscular man.
Muscular.
Ryo appeared on the side of the hill like a green specter.
The man was in the middle of a movement, one foot raised, his eyes fixed on the top.
A punch struck his torso.
Muscular was launched into the wall of the hill in slow motion. His body sank deep into the rock, cracking the entire structure.
Ryo disappeared again.
The next reading pointed to the clearing.
Two invaders nearby.
A reptilian body.
Another man carrying something rectangular wrapped in cloth.
Spinner had barely turned his face when the blow hit him in the chest. His body was thrown into a tree.
The other received a precise blow to the stomach, launching him into the opposite tree.
The two trees began to break in slow motion.
Ryo passed between the people in the clearing.
Everything was slow.
Mandalay turning her head.
Tiger frowning.
Midoriya breathing.
The campfire flame frozen in orange ripples.
Almost everyone was trapped in that slowness.
Except Dash.
The blond turned his head.
His eyes followed Ryo for a fraction of a second.
"Ryo?"
Ryo did not answer and only kept running.
His nose began to bleed.
He had increased the depth of the field.
He needed more details.
It was not enough to know where they were.
He needed to know if they were really who he suspected they were.
The radio waves stopped making a superficial reading and began opening up too much information again. Shapes, objects, weapons, breathing, clothing material, mass, posture, heartbeats.
The headache came hard.
But Ryo ignored it.
There was one more villain alone ahead.
And beyond him...
Three figures.
One of them made Ryo's blood run cold.
His face stiffened.
The green eyes shone brighter in the dark.
Killing intent took over his expression like a cold shadow.
"S𝔥iᎶ𝐚ᖇAᛕί..."
He shot forward.
He planned to hit the lone target ahead first and then cross all the way to Shigaraki before anyone had time to breathe.
But when he reached the solitary figure, Ryo froze.
He had reached the target.
Time returned to normal all at once.
The wave of wind came behind him like an explosion.
In the clearing, Spinner and the other villain hit the trees on opposite sides. The wood snapped with dry crashes, and the two fell unconscious to the ground.
Farther away, the side of the hill exploded into dust and cracks when Muscular sank into the rock, startling Kota at the top.
Mustard was thrown through the forest, breaking branches before disappearing into the vegetation.
Moonfish buried himself into the ground, motionless.
In the distance, the mountain shook with the explosion of the giant Nomu.
The entire clearing was hit by a gust of wind that extinguished part of the campfire and made the lanterns swing violently.
"What was that?!" Uraraka shouted.
"Did the forest explode?!" Sero asked, almost falling.
Dash frowned.
"Something's off."
Midoriya looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
Dash did not answer.
In the next instant, he shot into the forest.
Meanwhile, Toga Himiko coughed and waved the dust away from her face.
"What a mess..."
She blinked, confused.
"What just happened?"
Then she noticed the shadow in the dust cloud beside her.
Her body reacted in the same instant.
Several daggers came out of her sleeve and were thrown at the figure.
The blades struck the shadow.
But ricocheted off.
Toga frowned.
"Huh?"
In the next instant, she advanced with a knife in hand, aiming for the figure's throat.
A hand emerged from the dust and grabbed her wrist halfway through.
Toga widened her eyes.
"Strong..."
The strength of the grip was no joke. But it did not crush her, while also leaving no room to escape. It was as if a metal bar had closed around her hand.
The dust began to dissipate.
Ryo's face appeared in front of her.
He was standing still, holding Toga's wrist with the knife still pointed at his face. His shirt had a few cuts and holes opened by the daggers, but the skin underneath was completely intact.
Toga blinked.
The cold, murderous expression that had taken over his face before began to break apart.
In its place came surprise.
Confusion.
And... sadness?
He looked at the girl in front of him as if he were staring at a ghost from the past.
"...Himiko?"