"They didn't antagonize me much in the conference. Not linking the two incidents was normal as they can't show that the same people were able to create two big incidents in the same city under their supervision. Normally, they would've blamed me entirely for the second incident, defending the police while accepting the criticism 'of not being able to suppress the gangs' for the first incident. They could've done that, but they went with this."-Shido

Shido was telling his thoughts to the team, as they were also confused by the move of HPSC in the press conference. They were also expecting something like the entire blame being pushed on them but HPSC pulled the unexpected.

"I never expected they will just mention that you are a Vigilante and how are you breaking the laws by being a Vigilante. I thought you will be chased by the heroes and police for some weeks."-Knuckleduster

"Yeah, the worst result could be, you being registered as a Villain."-Danjuro

"But they didn't do any of it."-La Brava

Shido was also thinking something but couldn't reach to any conclusion.

"They also showed his picture but not ours, I think it was not that difficult to obtain our pictures from the CCTVs near the Shie Hassaikai base."-Knuckleduster

"Yeah... like they wanted only Night Slash to be seen by the people for the incident."- La Brava

"Like..... Publicity. They revealed his pictures because he was mysterious and very less was known about him but after releasing his pictures he will be trending in the news for some time."-Danjuro who knows very much about publicity (but couldn't get some for himself) presented his thoughts to the others.

"But why would they do that. Isn't it good for them as soon as the news dies and they can get away from the outrage. They also could have suppressed the news channels if the spread of news was getting out of control, but they decided to ignite it more."-La Brava

The members of Night Raid were in discussion when Shido had a sudden thought

'Are they luring me to become a hero?'

He turned towards Knuckleduster, who used to be a Pro-Hero in the past (This is not known by any of the members except Shido)

"Hey Knuckleduster, let's say if a vigilante is caught or they surrender what happens to them?"-Shido

Knuckleduster was a bit confused by the question as it came out of nowhere.

"Don't tell me you are going to surrender?"-Knuckleduster

"Just give the answer!!"-Shido

"Normally, they will be put in a specialized prison for some time, while their report is submitted to the court, which determines the punishment and the duration of imprisonment is chosen as the punishment. They will be sent for a trial in the court just to announce their punishment, there is no hearing, then they will be sent to serve their punishments. It is basically same as the trials of villains but with less severe punishments, mostly being imprisoned."-Knuckleduster

Shido took some time to digest the information given by Knuckleduster.

"... You said Normally."-Shido

Knuckleduster nodded and continued

"..There are some exceptions. If the caught Vigilante is highly skilled at dealing with villains or some other area of expertise (Example- Hacking, Stealth, etc.), they will be given an option, if they want to serve the government. The option changes to 'become a hero' if the caught Vigilante is good at combat or has a good combat-related quirk. When they choose the option of serving the government, They will be under constant supervision of the police. If you choose the hero option, you will be under the supervision of HPSC. This option is used to exploit the skills of the Vigilantes and in return, The capture Vigilante can reduce their punishments."-Knuckleduster

Shido after listening to this, now had an idea, maybe not accurate but he might have guessed what the HPSC did in the conference.

"I think I may have an idea what the HPSC wants?"-Shido

Now the entire attention of the team members was now at Shido.

"They want to lure me in, to become a 'hero'... They think I am some kind of edgy Hero-wannabe who wants to do deliver 'justice' in his own way by taking law into his own hands. They are giving me publicity, thinking I want public attention for the deeds I have done till now, and not blaming me entirely, in the conference meant they are trying to make me owe them a favor. They clearly don't want to hire me through normal ways."-Shido

"How...? You might be skilled in dealing with villains but the government won't have any shortage of pro-heroes as they have a lot of skilled new heroes like Kamui Woods not to mention All Might's presence alone acts as a deterrence to the villains. The number of heroes presents there is enough to deal with the villains"-Knuckleduster

"No... They have a shortage of skilled heroes under the HPSC, But they don't want skilled heroes under them to deal with the villains, they want someone who can do things they can't publicly reveal."-Shido

" ...' Dirty Things' for the HPSC... "-Knuckleduster

Shido nodded. It was clear that HPSC cannot hire the 'dirty worker' directly like the last time, which led to the 'worker', who lost her faith in hero society after facing the dark side of the society, became unstable, and killed the previous president of the HPSC. Now, They needed someone who is already familiar with the dark side of society.

"Umm... What is the ''Dirty Work' you two are talking about?"-La Brava

"Things like suppressing rising 'rebels', 'silencing' some heroes who are 'distracted' from serving people, etc."-Shido

La Brava was still confused as she couldn't understand the vague explanation Shido gave.

"You don't have to think about that."-Shido

Knuckleduster was now worried as if the HPSC was normally investigating the case then they had to stay low for a few weeks and the situation might have subsidized but now the situation is different as the HPSC is after Night Slash. They will not leave their trails easily.

"What to do now?"- Knuckleduster

"Just do as planned, go home and stay low. No need to do Vigilante work for some time. HPSC will leave you after some time."-Shido

"What about you Chief?"-La Brava said as she noticed the 'you' in the sentence not 'us'.

"I have a plan, I will take care of it."-Shido said while patting the head of the 'little girl.

"But Chief, we are a .."- La Brava

"I know, we are a team, but it's not that big of a problem, I will just have to 'talk' to them and everything will be fine."-Shido

Knuckleduster wanted to ask what he meant by 'talk', but before he could he ask. Shidi stood up from the couch.

"I think we leave this topic here, I am going to leave."-Shido

He then turned to La Brava and Danjuro

"Thanks for your hospitality, you allowed me and Eri to stay in your apartment. And thank you for making Eri happy and open to us during the stay in your apartment as I didn't know what to do to remove her vigilance against us."-Shido said and bowed a little towards the two.

The two stood up from the couch after receiving sudden and sincere gratitude.

"No..No... You don't have to be thankful, we did it because we are a team and we couldn't see the little girl sad"-Danjuro

"Yes... Yes. Same answer."- La Brava

After that, Shido went to a room and changed into normal clothes with his face covered with a mask, shades, and a beanie (Usual Disguise used when meeting Giran), he left the apartment with Eri and he hired a taxi for the Musutafu City. He was just silent as the little girl, who was watching cartoons on the tablet, didn't have any interest in talking to him or she was just shy.

'I think it's the latter, as she is not very familiar with me.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------

They reached Shido's home at around 8:30 PM. They went inside the home. Shido took Eri to his room upstairs while carrying luggage containing Eri's clothes which were bought by La Brava.

"You will sleep here on the bed tonight."-Shido said while pointing towards his bed.

"What about you?"-Eri asked.

"I have a futon, I will sleep down here."-Shido said and pointed to the floor

Eri nodded. Shido prepared a sumptuous dinner for them, as it was to celebrate Eri's first day in his home. The food was good but the girl didn't show much expression on her face. Shido wouldn't worry that much if she didn't show any expression at all as it was normal for her to be vigilant against strangers or be traumatized after experiencing inhumane experiments, but she is like this only to Shido. She was open to La Brava and Danjuro, while a bit reserved towards Knuckleduster for some time, but she opened up to him later and started calling him 'Uncle Knuckle'.

Eri ate her dinner and went off to sleep when Shido was cleaning the dishes.

'She must be tired of the travel.' Shido thought and took out his phone.

'As I promised to Fuyumi, Everything is now over. I think it's time to tell her.' He thought and messaged her.

:: Can you come to my house tomorrow?::

_____________________________________

Night Raid's Logo.