The black sedan dropped Megumi off at the front gates of U.A. just as the morning sun began to clear the treeline.
Having a private driver was not something he had asked for, but Naobito had insisted that someone from the clan handle his transit between Kyoto and Musutafu. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, checking the single notification on the screen.
It was a brief text from the Kyoto medical coordinator: Patient transfer completed at 06:30. Vital signs stable. Dr. Kanzaki assigned as primary neurologist.
Megumi stared at the screen, letting out a quiet breath.
'She is there,' he thought. 'Clean facility, better doctors. And the Zen'in have their receipt.'
Before he could put the phone away, another notification popped up. It was an email from Naobito.
Sent your costume case ahead to U.A. Would you mind if we adjusted the design a bit so it fits the clan style more closely?
Megumi stared at the message. He assumed that meant something small, like a crest stitched onto the shoulder or a reinforced utility belt.
He typed back: I don't mind as long as it's functional.
Three seconds later, Naobito's reply arrived:
Good, because the redesign was finished two days ago and you couldn't have stopped it anyway.
Megumi's eye twitched.
'That old bastard,' Megumi thought, shoving the phone deep into his pocket.
He walked through the school gates and headed up the stairs toward Classroom 1-A.
...
The hallway was already loud by the time he reached the door. When he slid it open, the chatter cut off for a fraction of a second before picking up again.
Megumi pulled out his chair and sat down, glancing across the room. That was when he noticed Bakugo sitting at his desk, arms crossed, staring furiously at the chalkboard. His usually explosive spiky hair had been parted neatly down the middle, flattened into a smooth, glossy comb-over that looked completely unnatural on him.
Sero and Kaminari were bent over nearby desks, clutching their stomachs and laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
"Look at him!" Sero wheezed. "Best Jeanist turned him into a model citizen!"
"Shut the hell up!" Bakugo snarled, though his usual violent shouting sounded muffled because he was trying to keep his head completely still. "I'll blow both of your faces off!"
Megumi caught sight of the slicked-down hair from the side, and a small, quiet snort slipped out before he could stop it.
Bakugo's head whipped toward him instantly. Red eyes locked onto Megumi with pure venom.
"You got something funny to say, Fushiguro?" His voice dropped low and dangerous.
"No," Megumi said, pulling his notebook out of his bag.
"Liar! You laughed!" Bakugo shoved his chair back, palms sparking with sharp pops. "I'm gonna kill you!"
Kirishima was there in a second, grabbing Bakugo's right arm. Sero lunged in from the other side, bracing his boots against the floor.
"Whoa, easy, man!" Kirishima shouted, straining against Bakugo's thrashing. "He didn't even say a word!"
"That smug look on his face said everything!" Bakugo yelled, thrashing violently. "Let go of me!"
"Your hair looks fine," Megumi said quietly, still looking down at his desk.
The classroom went dead silent for a beat.
Then Bakugo lost his mind, screaming profanities while Kirishima and Sero dragged him back toward his desk. It took another full minute for the chaos to settle, Bakugo still muttering death threats under his breath while the others returned to their seats.
Across the room, the rest of the class was catching up on their internships.
Uraraka looked noticeably sharper, standing in a low combat stance while talking to Asui and throwing quick, precise knife-hand strikes into the air. "Gunhead taught me close-quarters martial arts! It really opened my eyes to self-defense!"
"You look like you're ready to break someone's ribs, Ochaco," Asui croaked, tilting her head.
Kaminari slumped over his desk with a groan. "Must be nice. I spent half my week handing out safety flyers in the rain and listening to lectures about brand awareness."
Then Mina's eyes landed on Megumi, and her face lit up. She bounced over, slapping both hands onto the front edge of his desk.
"Wait, Fushiguro! You went to Kyoto with Naobito Zen'in! The Number Six hero!"
The surrounding circle closed in immediately. Hagakure, Kaminari, and Sero all turned toward him.
"Yeah, dude, the Zen'in Agency is legendary," Kirishima said, walking over after finally securing Bakugo. "Did you take down major villain rings? Chase people across the rooftops?"
"Not really," Megumi said. "I dealt with a guy holding a knife in a convenience store."
Mina slumped against the desk, deflated. "Seriously? Just one knife guy?"
"Kyoto is quiet," Megumi said. "Too many top heroes are stationed there, so villains avoid the city. Most of the week was just training."
"What kind of training?" Yaoyorozu asked, curious. "The Zen'in clan has centuries of documented hero history. Did they have you work with advanced simulation equipment?"
"Gravel," Megumi said.
Jiro, who had been leaning against the edge of the next row with her hands in her pockets, let out a soft snort. "Gravel?"
"Open dirt and gravel behind the main house," Megumi continued, looking up at her. "No mats, no protective gear. Jin'ichi taught hand-to-hand in a dojo, Jinya ran quirk exercises in a library, and Naobito broke a wooden bench over me out in the yard."
Kirishima winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Man, that sounds brutal."
"It was," Megumi said
Kaminari tapped his chin, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, dude! Why weren't you answering your phone during the internship?"
"Yeah!" Mina jumped in, throwing her hands up. "I texted you like five times! We all did!"
"I was training," Megumi said flatly.
"Training doesn't mean you ignore your entire class," Kaminari said, leaning forward with exaggerated offense. "But that's not even the weird part. When Naobito picked you up, he literally called you his grandson! His grandson, Fushiguro! And then you just... left with him like it was nothing!"
"Great Nephew. Not Grandson." Megumi retorted.
Mina's eyes went wide. "Wait, wait, wait. You're related to Naobito Zen'in? The Number Six hero?"
"How are you related?" Yaoyorozu asked, genuinely curious.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Kirishima added, looking hurt.
Megumi rubbed the bridge of his nose. He'd known this was coming the second Naobito had said that.
"Because I didn't know until two weeks ago," Megumi said, his voice steady and completely unbothered. "My father came from the Zen'in clan before he left. Naobito is his uncle, which makes him my great-uncle."
"So you're telling us," Kaminari said slowly, "that you're just casually related to one of the top ten heroes and you didn't think that was worth mentioning?"
"I barely knew they existed," Megumi said. "My father didn't talk about them. I grew up on my own. It's not a big deal."
Mina slumped against the desk, deflated. "Not a big deal? Fushiguro, that's literally the opposite of not a big deal!"
"I'm still Fushiguro Megumi," he said simply. "Nothing changed."
"Still, the guys who went through the most were you three, right?" Kaminari asked, glancing toward the back rows.
"Oh, definitely," Sero said. "The Hero Killer."
"Man, I'm just glad you guys made it back in one piece," Kirishima said, shaking his head.
"We were all so worried," Yaoyorozu added, looking between Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida with genuine concern.
Sato crossed his arms, nodding. "Endeavor came in and bailed you out at the end, right?"
"That's so amazing!" Hagakure chimed in. "As expected of the number two hero!"
"Yeah," Todoroki said evenly. "He saved us."
"Right," Midoriya agreed, nodding quickly.
Ojiro frowned slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I saw on the news that the Hero Killer might've been connected to the League of Villains. Just imagining someone that dangerous showing up back at the USJ gives me chills."
"He's definitely scary," Kaminari said, tapping the back of his neck. "Though... did you guys see that video floating around online?"
"Video?" Ojiro asked. "Of Stain?"
"Yeah. When you actually watch it, you can't help but see how focused the guy was. Completely single-minded and tenacious. Doesn't it kind of make you think he's a little cool?"
"Kaminari!" Midoriya warned sharply.
Kaminari froze, his eyes darting toward Iida's desk. The color immediately drained from his face. "Wait, ah, Iida, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!"
"No, it's fine," Iida said calmly.
Megumi watched from a few desks away. Iida sat with his usual rigid posture, his bandaged left arm resting motionless against his leg, but the desperate, frantic edge that had choked him before the internships was completely gone.
'He isn't shaking anymore,' Megumi thought. 'He's actually facing it.'
"It is true that he possessed undeniable tenacity," Iida continued, meeting Kaminari's gaze without flinching. "I can understand why some people might view that resolve as admirable. However, he chose murder and purging as the outcome of his beliefs. Regardless of what he thought, that choice was undeniably wrong."
Iida pushed his chair back and stood up straight, his chin lifted.
"To prevent anyone else from ending up like me, and to ensure no other lives are ruined, I will walk forward on the path of becoming a true hero once more!"
"Yeah, Iida!" Midoriya said, smiling.
Iida immediately began chopping the air with his uninjured right arm in violent, ninety-degree arcs. "Now then! Morning homeroom is about to commence! Everyone, please return to your assigned seats immediately!"
"He's so loud," Tokoyami muttered, leaning slightly away from the noise.
Jiro sighed, twirling one of her earphone jacks between two fingers. "That's what happens when you bring up weird stuff out of nowhere, Kaminari."
"I said I was sorry!" Kaminari groaned, slumping over his desk.
Before anyone else could speak, the classroom door rattled open on its tracks. Aizawa stepped into the room, his capture weapon draped loosely around his neck and his usual exhausted stare fixed on the class.
"Quiet down and take your seats," Aizawa said, setting a stack of folders onto the lectern. "Your one-week workplace training is officially over. Some of you gained practical experience, some of you survived reckless situations you had no business being in, and some of you barely scraped by. We will review your individual reports this afternoon."
His tired eyes swept across the room, lingering for a split second on Megumi, then on Midoriya and Iida, before moving on.
"For basic heroics this morning, change into your costumes and report to Field Gamma. We're running a rescue training exercise before final exams catch up to you."
...
In the locker room, Megumi pulled his newly delivered metal case from the storage rack and popped the latches.
When he lifted the lid, he stopped completely.
'You have to be kidding me,' he thought.
His old dark utility jumpsuit was gone. In its place lay a high-collared black haori, a crisp white yukata, a fitted black shirt to wear underneath, loose white hakama trousers, white tabi socks, and durable brown sandals reinforced with hidden grip soles. Embroidered on the back collar and sleeve edge of the haori sat a small, subtle Zen'in clan crest stitched in charcoal thread.
"Uh, Fushiguro?" Kaminari blinked from the next bench. "Did they send you a costume for a period drama by mistake?"
"Naobito redesigned it without asking me," Megumi muttered, his jaw tight.
Kirishima grinned, looking at the fabric. "I don't know, man, it looks pretty cool! Like an old-school samurai!"
"It's completely unnecessary," Megumi grumbled, pulling the black shirt on. But as he tied the hakama and threw on the haori, he noticed the cut was practical. The shoulders and waist had plenty of room for movement, tailored for high-speed martial arts rather than ceremony.
...
When Class 1-A gathered at the edge of Field Gamma, Megumi's new look immediately drew attention.
Mina pointed, snickering. "Look at you! You look like a clan heir out of an anime!"
"Shut up," Megumi said, crossing his arms.
Jiro walked past, adjusting the amplifier jacks on her gloves. She glanced at him, taking in the haori and hakama with a brief, casual look. "Looks fine on you, honestly. Better than the plain gear."
Megumi looked over, caught slightly off guard. "Thanks."
She gave a small shrug and kept walking toward the front of the group.
...
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