A strange silence had settled over Musutafu City in the days following the Battle of Kamino. It wasn't a comfortable silence, but rather the kind of quiet that comes before a storm. The large display screens that had constantly broadcast All Might's heroics were now showing continuous news reports about the symbol of peace's retirement and the expected security disruptions.
In the streets, passersby stole anxious glances toward dark alleyways. The world had come to understand with bitter harshness that All Might, the shield they had always believed to be unbreakable, was merely human. A human who bleeds, who tires, and whose body can collapse before the eyes of millions. It was not merely the announcement of a hero's retirement but the collapse of a wall of reassurance. Despite All For One being behind bars, a single question kept echoing in people's minds and could be read in frightened eyes: who will protect us now? The League of Villains under Shigaraki's leadership had dissolved like ghosts into the darkness, and no one knew when or where their next strike would come. The bold headlines on newspapers were shouting a single heavy truth: the symbol of peace is no longer here.
Behind closed doors, the students of Class 1-A were fighting their own battles far from the eyes of the world.
In his room filled with All Might posters, Midoriya sat in his chair staring into emptiness, his hand gripping his pen so tightly his knuckles had gone white. He was not the same boy who had left this room days ago. The reel of events kept replaying in his head like a nightmare that wouldn't end. All Might's final stance in that frail form, and Zoro's terrifying endurance despite his lethal wounds and his absolute refusal to fall. Midoriya opened his notebook and began writing automatically. The naive rosy dream had evaporated and he had come to understand that the responsibility of One For All was no longer a dream but a crushing weight.
On the other side of the city, Bakugo was lying on his bed in his dark room. He wasn't shouting. He wasn't destroying anything the way he usually would. His silence was quieter and more dangerous than any explosion he had ever produced. Watching All Might fight until his last breath to save him had changed something deep inside him, but something else was boiling in his chest and keeping sleep away.
He closed his eyes and the image of Zoro soaking in his own blood returned, along with that terrifying pressure. That suffocating, awe-inducing sensation that had swept the space for a moment and made the air heavy as lead just before Zoro lost consciousness as Bakugo launched himself to pull him from the arena.
Bakugo opened his eyes sharply, staring at his own hands that he had always boasted about. "What the hell was that?" He wondered through gritted teeth. He began connecting the threads. That practical exam when the academy had specifically called in a pro hero to face Zoro. And that terrifying look in the swordsman's eyes.
Bakugo understood that Zoro was hiding something enormous, a power that went far beyond swinging swords. For the first time, he tasted the real flavor of weakness, and felt that Zoro might move ahead of all of them and soar to a level of power they could never reach.
Bakugo clenched his fist until his nails nearly broke the skin and rose from his bed. Sparks began flying from his palms, declaring a new unbreakable resolve. I won't allow anyone to surpass me. I'll surpass him. I'll become stronger.
As for Todoroki, he was sinking in a deeper silence on the cold balcony of his room. He was quietly connecting the fall of the great ones and the devastating void they leave behind with the tears running through his shattered family that didn't seem close to healing. Meanwhile the rest of their companions, Yaoyorozu, Iida, and Kirishima, shared feelings of shock and disbelief, for what they had witnessed in Kamino was not something memory would erase easily.
Elsewhere, specifically in the quiet of Kenji's dojo, Zoro had finally returned after long, exhausting hours of interrogation at the police headquarters with Detective Tsukauchi. He wasn't the injured student anymore. He had returned as someone the battle had forged and changed something essential inside.
Kenji was sitting on the wooden veranda watching Zoro's wounds in silence, knowing that this kind of scar is not healed by bandages alone.
In the wooden courtyard Zoro was running light exercises with his sword. Deliberate movements that lacked his usual speed but were saturated with a strange focus.
Kenji broke the silence. "What did you learn from Kamino, Zoro? Is your goal still the same as it was?"
Zoro stopped moving and looked at his hands.
Kenji continued. "Do you understand now why All For One feared you?" Then he added in a tone that reminded rather than lectured. "Haki is not merely physical power. It is discipline, will, and identity. In Kamino, you didn't fight only with your sword. You fought with your existence."
And while stars began appearing over the stricken Kamino and Kenji's words echoed in Zoro's ears, in a completely different place decisive meetings were being held behind sealed doors.
Inside Principal Nezu's office at UA High, the atmosphere was formal and charged with tension. Nezu met with All Might, Aizawa, and Vlad King.
Nezu opened the conversation with quiet firmness. "The recent events have proven that our students can no longer live freely outside our walls. The danger has reached their safe spaces, and the students have become strategic targets for the enemy."
The decision that would change everyone's lives emerged. "Dormitory living."
Nezu clarified that the goal was to protect the students from the League of Villains and Shigaraki who continued to pose an ongoing threat. All Might agreed in painful silence, understanding the necessity of the decision. Aizawa appeared to grasp the logic behind this step despite the psychological pressure it would cause, while Vlad King backed the idea strongly, asserting that the situation had shifted from mere training to a genuine state of war.
All Might and Aizawa set out on the difficult task of visiting students' homes and informing their guardians. At the Bakugo family home, after a charged discussion, his parents agreed. Despite his mother's usual screaming, her eyes betrayed her genuine terror for her son who had been one of the primary targets and had nearly been kidnapped from their grasp.
When they arrived at the Todoroki residence the situation was entirely different. The moment they entered, the reception was not calm. Aizawa and All Might stopped in the corridor exchanging puzzled looks as they heard sounds of violent breaking and crashing furniture coming from behind one of the closed rooms, followed by a muffled growl and Endeavor's voice. "Not this way! Damn it, not like this!"
They sat in the large traditional room alongside Shoto, while his older sister Fuyumi hurried with tense steps toward the closed room to calm their father and inform him that guests had arrived.
After a few minutes the door opened. Endeavor appeared, having completely shifted his composure, as if the storm that had been raging in the room moments ago had never existed. He walked with his usual imposing bearing and sat before them with steadiness, asking with complete composure. "What is the matter?"
When they presented him with the idea of dormitory living, Endeavor said in a sharp, sardonic tone while fixing All Might with a complex look. "Dormitory living? That is precisely what they need. A system that restrains them so they don't act on their own again without consulting anyone."
Shoto stood near the door and looked at his father with eyes full of cold contempt. Damn you, father, Shoto thought to himself, before turning toward Aizawa and All Might and saying in a tone empty of feeling. "I agree to moving into the dormitory. Just look into my father's opinion, as that is all that matters here."
Shoto turned to leave the room but Endeavor's powerful voice stopped him. "Did you actually believe I would cover up what you all did in Kamino?"
Shoto stopped where he was while Aizawa froze completely. Aizawa turned toward Endeavor with narrowing suspicious eyes. "What? What are you talking about?"
Endeavor smiled with biting sarcasm and tilted his head toward All Might sitting beside Aizawa. "Ask the one sitting next to you. Hasn't he told you yet about the heroics your reckless students pulled behind your back?"
Aizawa's eyes widened and he turned slowly toward All Might who had visibly started sweating. Aizawa exhaled with deep frustration and rubbed his face with his hand. "Am I always the last to know anything at this academy?"
All Might rose quickly, trying to avoid Aizawa's lethal stare. "Yes, yes, I'll explain everything in detail on the way later, Aizawa-kun. Let's head to the next home now, time is pressing!"
They left the Todoroki residence with quick steps. At the crossroads under the orange streetlights they stopped.
"Let's speed this up. We need to split here." All Might said as he adjusted his large loose coat over his thin body.
Aizawa nodded, his face still carrying traces of displeasure from what he had just heard. "Fine. I'll go confirm the agreement of the legal guardian of the student responsible for half of this headache."
The two men parted in the quiet night. All Might headed right toward Midoriya's home while Aizawa took the left path, heading toward Kenji's dojo.
.
.
For Advanced Chapters:
Chapter 106 is Available Now
Zoro in the middle of his provisional hero license exam
Pat re on.com/AZTh