Aizawa stamped his foot on the white tiles, arms folded, looking glum.

- You look angry.

“How did you guess?" Aizawa almost spat.

Behind him, he heard Nezu take a sip of his tea.

- Ah, delicious. Nothing like jasmine.

Nezu sighed with pleasure.

- You should drink it. To calm you down.

Aizawa's jaw clenched.

He turned his attention back to the chaos at the foot of the hospital, from which he was separated by a pane of glass and a few meters of height that barely muffled the cacophony. 

Journalists, TV trucks and crowds of onlookers had gathered at the foot of the hospital for more than two hours, demanding to speak to the student survivors of this "new attack" and demanding a "speech" and "explanations" from Yuei's management about this latest scandal.

Camera flashes and the neon lights of ambulances trying to make their way through the crowd cast colorful, moving shadows on the building.

- You know, jasmine has virtues such as-

- What are we doing here?

Aizawa met the all-too-intelligent look of the rat and felt his anger grow.

- Kaminari and Hagakure are in a critical condition. Iida might have lost the use of his legs. Bakugo is still in surgery. Kirishima still hasn't woken up.

Aizawa's nostrils flared.

- I have two traumatized teenage girls who refuse to be left alone, in which case they have panic attacks.

His voice lost its rough tone and became so deep that it sounded like he was growling like an animal.

- What.are.we.doing.here ?

Nezu's eyes crinkled. 

He took another sip of tea without taking his eyes off Aizawa. 

For a second, Aizawa thought he wouldn't answer.

Nezu moved his tea from cheek to cheek as if he was brushing his teeth with mouthwash and then swallowed.

A satisfied 'ah' escaped his lips.

The clock on the wall struck midnight.

- Do you know who All for One is ?

Aizawa wiped his sweaty palms on the back of his hero suit.

He was relieved that Nezu hadn't taken his insult personally, but yet he was worried that he hadn't taken it personally. 

He suddenly felt like the child he had once been, unable to stand up to this mouse pretending to be human.

- No. I don't.

- This was All Might's sworn enemy. A man capable of stealing Quirks ad infinitum and making them his own. All Might should have defeated him five years ago. But the aftereffects have left him only half as good as he once was.

Nezu took Aizawa's steaming cup of tea and sipped at it.

- All Might had thought him dead. Which of course, I didn't.

“Obviously" Aizawa almost joked. What could the great and amazing Nezu possibly miss?

- I was one of the first people All Might called right after their fight. I arrived at the scene and All for One's body wasn't there. According to All Might, he had fled at the last second, but considering his injuries, he couldn't have survived.

Aizawa lost his patience. 

- I don't see what this has to do with my students. 

Nezu clicked his tongue against his palate.

- You're worried about your students but as far as I know, neither you nor I are doctors. What do you want me to do ? Go out there and start operating them ?

Aizawa opened his mouth and closed it again.

Nezu's sparkling eyes lost their intensity. He sat down properly, smoothed his fur with one paw and continued:

- All for one, then. I followed his scent to a dilapidated building where I found a pool of blood. But there was no body. No one had ever found one. All Might was being treated, and I chose not to tell him, to preserve him.

An ambulance sped to the hospital, the driver honking to force the crowd to let him pass. 
Blue and red lights reflected off Nezu's face, flashing on eyes so black they looked empty.

- I carefully followed all the data on the missing persons. In a strange twist of fate, many people with minor regenerations or the ability to heal themselves disappeared in the months that followed. This went on for several years.

Nezu pointed to the door with his thumb.

- Uraraka gave me a detailed description of the man who took Shoto. All Might confirmed the description. The DNA tests on the limbs found at the crime scene were conclusive. It's All for One.

Nezu stood up and approached Aizawa with his hands folded behind his back.

- Do you remember what I told you last time? What's our main concern?

Aizawa almost mumbled.

- To find the traitor

- And what did I do for that?

- You isolated the two classes with the most suspicious elements and had them guarded by some teachers to keep the traitor in confidence.

1-A was given an artificial desert, and 1-B was given one of the thousands of islands in the Japanese archipelago. 

- How could I be sure that the villains would attack tonight?

This time, Aizawa remained silent.

Nezu smiled indulgently.

- You think you're ready to succeed me, but you always forget what's most important: always-

-two steps ahead-

- Two steps ahead

Nezu trotted over to the desk and sat down in the chair.

Aizawa wondered if they had permission to use the room - if Nezu had asked someone for access - or if he had done what he always did, which was to act as he pleased and ignore the consequences.

- Tell me about Shoto, please.

Aizawa frowned for a moment, not sure what the point was, but still gave in:

- He's a brilliant boy, with an excellent command of his Quirk, and-

Nezu shook his hand.

- No, that's not what I want to hear. Tell me about the conversation you had with him in the forest a few days ago.

Aizawa turned white.

- You deactivated some cameras and looped others so that I wouldn't see anything. Rather poorly executed, but you've always been the rough type when it came to executing a plan.

Aizawa hesitantly licked his dry lips.

Nezu scrutinized him with his beady eyes, like two black holes. Aizawa had the impression that Nezu already knew what he had done and was just enjoying the situation.

- I asked him to protect the other students.

Nezu's claw tapped on the desk in a steady rhythm. 

Aizawa's eyes darted back and forth between Nezu's paw and his eyes.

- And I told him that I knew. About his quirks.

The speed increased.

- I told him that you told me

Nezu slammed the table with the flat of his paw. 

The sound echoed through the room.

Aizawa remained motionless.

- And for what purpose ?

The pale light from the streetlamps shone on Nezu at an angle, only half illuminating his hard-faced face and his mouth, whose lips were curled into small, sharp teeth.

- I wanted him to help me. To protect the students.

Nezu stood motionless for a few seconds.

Then he sank back into the leather of the chair, falsely appeased. His claws dug into the moss.

- Ah. This desire to protect your fellow creatures. 

Nezu had never understood it. At least not completely.

- How did you convince him?

- Why do you think I needed to convince him?

- I've read his psychological reports. I know everything about him.

About him and about everyone who had anything to do with Yuei.

- He wouldn't have hesitated for a second to say no.

- I knew he would. That's why I told him that I wanted him to help me and that in return I wouldn't tell his father about his Quirks... singularity.

His Quirk, Quirks, or whatever that thing was that allowed him to control the weather as if he were a god straight out of Greek mythology.

Nezu shook his head as if he were eight years old again and had just made the mistake that cost him the chess match.

- He got angry.

- Yes, he did.

- And you haven't heard from him for days.

- That's right, I didn't

- So you forced a teenager to sacrifice himself for others, is that it?

Aizawa flinched.

- It wasn't-

- That's how he saw it

Aizawa fell silent.

- Do you know why we found ourselves in this media storm ? Why did everyone know about Shoto's abduction before we even arrived at the hospital ? 

Nezu didn't give him time to speak:

- One of our dear, tender traitors called the media and told them all about it.

Aizawa raised his eyebrows.

- 'One of'?

Nezu looked at him scornfully.

- Why is it that whenever there's talk of betrayal, you humans always think it's just one person?

Aizawa looked really surprised.

- There are at least two of them. Maybe even three, but that would have been very difficult to implement according to my calculations.

Nezu massaged his temples as if he was about to get a migraine.

- Do you have any idea what Shoto is capable of ?

Aizawa shook his head.

He only knew what Nezu had told him and nothing else. 

- Shoto's Quirk isn't a Quirk. At least not exactly.

Aizawa almost told him that he already knew that, but stopped himself when he saw Nezu's steady gaze.

- I don't have all the exact data on the scope and strength of his power yet, but it could well be that we are dealing with a Mystery Rank.

Aizawa's eyes widened.

- You mean-

- I said that it might be possible, not that it is an established fact. But let's get back to our main topic. All for One then. A man who's been around since the Quirks first appeared, and who was seriously injured by a Quirk five years ago. He desperately wants to heal himself so he can enjoy his full powers, but he can't. All Might hurt him too much. 

Nezu motioned for Aizawa to bring him the teapot and the cup.

- All for One wants to take revenge on All Might. As soon as he learns that he's going to join Yuei's teaching staff, he decides to attack him and his students through his "League of Villains".

Nezu added three sugars to his beverage and drank. 

- All for One watches the first year sports festival to see which student have supposedly managed to stop his 'Nomu'. He sees Shoto and pays a lot of attention to him because the boy is fast, intelligent, and most of all, he has an almost supernatural mastery of his Quirks.

Shoto's physical strength, durability, and reflexes are far beyond what an average person - without a Quirk - could achieve.

Shoto's physical strength, body toughness, and reflexes were far beyond what an average human - without a quirk - could achieve.

- All for One searched Shoto's past, his files. And he discovered a video, and the fact that Shoto's Quirks enabled him to use lightning.

It was the first time that Aizawa heard of this video.

He almost wanted to see it, but if Nezu hadn't shown it to him, he must have had his reasons.

- For All for One, Shoto is an exceptional boy. He has an enviable quirk and above all, a powerful body that can withstand such power.

Nezu's eyes sparkled.

- All for One has a ruined body and wants all his power back. He kidnaps Shoto every chance he gets. What can you deduce from that?

Aizawa felt his blood run cold. 

- He wants to steal his body. 

Nezu smiled, glad that he understood what he was getting at.

- But why him? Why not Midoriya?

Midoriya was literally immortal. 

Even if Shoto had a very strong body, it was nothing compared to someone who would probably see the end of the world.

- Remind me, who are the people who know about Midoriya's real quirk?

- All of Yuei's teachers...?

And as the words left her lips, Aizawa understood.

- It was a test ? To find out if one of Yuei's teachers was a traitor?

Nezu stroked his whiskers with a paw.

- Midoriya is a juicy catch. If he'd known about it, All for One wouldn't have hesitated for a second to blow the cover of his spy and get his hands on him.

So Yuei's teachers were safe.

- I asked you earlier. How do you think I knew that the villains would attack tonight?

Aizawa's answer came.

- You have found the traitors ?

- One of the traitors, yes. Yuga Aoyama.

Aizawa blinked, a little surprised.

The frail, princess-like teenager didn't look like he had the shoulders to back up a spy role.

- It was his Quirk that tipped you off, wasn't it?

Even Aizawa had been surprised by Aoyama's almost childlike way of using his Quirk.

If he was following Nezu's thought pattern, then All for One must have given it to him just before he joined Yuei.

- That's right. However, it's worth noting that Yuga is only a tin spy, the one who covers for and distracts the attention of All for One's real spy.

Nezu had not yet managed to expose him, but it was only a matter of time.

- And tonight-

Aizawa raised his hand.

- Wait a second.

Nezu remained silent and waited patiently.

- When you told me about Shoto and Midoryia earlier...

Nezu smiled because he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

- You mean you willingly let Shoto get kidnapped?

Nezu's eyes shone like two gleaming black pearls.

- No, of course I didn't. I planned Shoto's kidnapping.

Nezu was amused by Aizawa's horrified expression.

- Why do you look so surprised? We've done worse for the sake of this country.

Nezu took another sip of tea.

- But he's a kid. We can't--

- You asked him to sacrifice himself for the sake of your students. I don't think you're in the best position to lecture me on the subject.

Utilitarianism in its simplest and purest form, an ideology that Nezu had instilled in Aizawa's mind since his childhood, influencing his actions without him even being aware of it.

- Don't look at me like that. It's as if I sentenced this poor boy to death.

Aizawa's tone hardened.

- It's just as well.

Nezu chuckled.

- You told me that you saw Shoto tonight before he left for the desert. Did you notice anything peculiar ?

Aizawa replayed the scene in his mind.

He remembered that he'd barely had time to get out of the classroom before he saw Shoto turning on his heels, his black clothes splattered with blood and...

- His hero costume. You gave it to him?

Nezu broke off a sugar cube and chewed it.

- It was easy for Midoriya. All I had to do was put a nano tracker in one of his plates and he'd swallow it and keep it in his stomach. Shoto, on the other hand, is more unpredictable. It's impossible for me to deduce his action patterns one hundred percent. Making him swallow a tracker was too risky, since I'm not exactly sure if his Quirk could have felt it.

That and the fact that the only time Nezu had tried such an approach, Shoto had force-fed little Kenta what should have been his meal until he threw up.

Whether it was acute paranoia or a real sixth sense, Nezu couldn't tell.

In any case, it aroused admiration.

- So you put it in his clothes? Does that mean you know where he is? 

Nezu swallowed his sugar cube.

- Why do you think an angry Endeavor didn't show up to ask you how you could have lost his son?

The grains of sugar on Nezu's lips looked like bone powder.

- I know where Shoto is, and so do Endeavor and All Might

*

Author's note :

New cover for the story. I feel as if it fits more the tone and where we're going. Tell me what you think about it (if you prefer the old one better).

We did great with the power stones count last week : let's do better to get the sunday bonus chapter.

250 power stones = sunday bonus chapter

If you want to read ahead of schedule, check my P@treon by copying the link below

patreon . com/Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !