8:31 am, the UA Culture Festival had officially begun, and a certain gentleman criminal and his partner-in-crime had just finished their morning tea. It was time the two of them resumed their plan.
Danjuro (Gentle Criminal) and Manami (La Brava) were covered head to toe with their disguises, which hid their matching villain outfits underneath as they left the small lovely cafe.
Everything was going smoothly, almost no one was nearby to see them. No heroes were patrolling and no civilians either. If nothing goes wrong, the two of them should be able to infiltrate the UA Culture Festival just before 10am.
If nothing goes wrong.
"Danjuro Tobita and Manami Aiba, I presume?"
Danjuro and Manami froze upon hearing their names and their eyes went wide. They had just left the small cafe's lot and yet there was already something going wrong.
Danjuro and Manami looked over to whoever uttered their real names, and they were surprised to see a man with a light blue complexion wearing a black dress shirt and white vest, along with a chauffeur's hat. And... rope? Wrapped and secured around his left arm.
The man was wearing a very friendly smile on his face, but the fact that he knew who they were made Danjuro and Manami extremely cautious.
The disguised duo didn't respond, or rather, they couldn't think of a proper response, so the man then asked, "Oh, I apologize. Should I refer to you two as 'Gentle Criminal' and 'La Brava' instead? I know that a few villains much prefer their aliases be used instead, perhaps you two are part of that group?"
The duo still didn't respond.
"Well, whichever case you are, please heed my words because I will only say this once," Adohira told them, then in a slightly more serious tone, he added, "Abort your plans of infiltrating UA."
Danjuro finally snapped out of his shock, then he grinned as he told Manami, "My dear partner, I believe it is time to start the camera."
Manami quickly obliges, then in a show-y fashion, the two of them grabbed their diguises and threw them away, all while striking a pose that screamed eccentric.
Adohira heard a faint 'boing' and immediately took note of it, as his master had told him to.
"Dear viewers," Danjuro began, referring to the camera, "Let me give a little bit of context. Our latest scheme will be to infiltrate UA's Culture Festival, however it looks like we have a challenger before us... a chauffeur-themed hero, it would seem."
A scowl on Adohira's face appeared, "So you choose this path."
Adohira made his move and brought down a kick from above. Danjuro had sensed that the man was about to attack yet he didn't get away. He was either confident or arrogant.
Whichever it was, it paid off after Adohira's kick was caught by a near invisible barrier. The barrier merely bounced at the impact and made more of the 'boing' sound the chauffeur had heard earlier.
The chauffeur acted surprised, amusing Danjuro.
But then Danjuro noticed something that made him raise his guard, The barrier is bouncing already? Didn't he put any force into his kick?
Danjuro then saw the chauffeur's body shift to prepare for an attack.
"La Brava, watch out!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his partner and got themselves out of the way, exactly as the chauffeur released a wind blade which was able to cut through the aerial barrier and snip a tiny bit off of the tail of Danjuro's suit.
The villain duo's eyes were wide after seeing the chauffeur's Quirk cut through Danjuro's aerial barrier.
The chauffeur straightened his posture and afterwards, he examined the barrier that was split into two. Adohira slipped his hand between the split barrier, then he pulled his hand back, making the two separate pieces bounce independent of one another, before looking over to the villain duo.
Danjuro furrowed his brows at the man in front of him, while Manami immediately got worried for their current situation.
This is bad. Manami thought, Gentle's biggest advantage in a battle is the seemingly near unpredictability of the objects he uses his Quirk on, but if he ends up facing an enemy who can cut through the elasticized objects--and even his barriers, then he's the one at the clear disadvantage.
"Gentle, are we going to abort? Let's abort. This guy can cut through your barriers! We might not be able to beat him!" Manami told her beloved with worry in her tone.
Gentle confidently smiled, however, and as he straightened his posture, he told his partner, "Hoho. You must have more faith in me, La Brava."
"I apologize, chauffeur hero-san," Danjuro said, referring to Adohira, "But I cannot do as you say, and I won't simply retreat because I'm at the disadvantage. I will successfully infiltrate the UA Culture Festival, and my name will be known throughout this hero society."
Adohira simply stared at the villain gentleman before letting out a sigh.
"Then I would like to apologize as well," Adohira told the man, "The young master doesn't need any more stress adding on him today, and my master wishes for any and all who'd dare ruin his sons' special day pay for it."
"I'm sorry, Gentle Criminal, but you'll just have to stay unknown for one day more."
-
Gym Gamma's transformation into the perfect stage was already finished. Now all that was left was for 1-A to get into their outfits and wait for their time to shine. A number were outside spending their free time with their friends and families, while a few were just at the backstage.
One of which was Izuku, who tried calling his brother again for the nteenth time that hour, but just like the nteen previous calls he had tried before, it didn't get answered. It was always that automated message that had become frustrating to hear for Izuku.
Izuku's worries became bigger and bigger the more time passed, and he began to panic.
Tenko hasn't returned any of them, he's not answering his phone again. It's already 9am, our performance is in an hour, he's gonna be late-- wait, what if he doesn't make it? What if he doesn't come? What if he suddenly disappear again?
Izuku was muttering non-stop. His mind was swirling with all these thoughts. His hands and lips were trembling at the thought--at the fear that his brother won't arrive.
Izuku's eyes were starting to tear up as he continued his futile attempts at contacting his brother.
You promised. You promised. Izuku kept repeating in his head. He was on the verge of crying but he was fighting to keep it all in.
"Izuku." Then Izuku suddenly felt someone place their hand on his shoulder. Izuku tried looking over to whoever it was, only to realize that person had pulled him closer for a hug.
Izuku was expectedly taken aback, but the warmth he felt from the person calmed him.
Then the person began rubbing his hair, the same exact thing his brother does to calm him down, and Izuku couldn't help but just break down at that moment.
The tears he'd been holding back just overflowed.
Shouto didn't mind at all, and he just quietly let the greenet cry it out.
Eri, along with Tenya watched from a few feet away as Shouto comforted Izuku. They'd noticed Izuku getting restless by the minute, and this was the idea they'd come up to try and help their brother and friend.
Eri looked up at Tenya, and with a smile, she thanked him, "Thank you, Iida-niisan, for helping, and Todoroki-niisan too."
Tenya smiled at the little girl and he told her, "It's nothing, Eri-chan. Izuku is our friend, and this is our way of making it up to him. Please, if you need any help, don't hesitate to ask."
Eri nodded at him, then looked over to her Izuku-nii. The smile on her face faded into concern for her brother. It was like he turned back to the way he was after he came home four weeks ago, a nervous and emotional wreck.
She couldn't help but get worried, Tenko-nii, where are you? Izuku-nii needs you.
---
NOTES: This arc was supposed to be a break from the mess that was N*ghteue! WHY IS THIS SHIT HERE?!
Also, there! Another hint as to what happened after Izuku came home, are you people happy?! 'Coz I've been getting questions inquiring about the two-week gap between the first book's final chapter and Izuku's return to UA!
Someone's also been commenting wondering if Izuku lost his memories or something, and to that I say, he clearly remembers the shit with N*ghteue, if he did lose his memories, then why does he still remember that piece of shit?!
PS I'm not angry! I'm just excited because I finally updated again! XD