That afternoon, an emergency meeting had been called at D.S.C.S. headquarters.
One of the main screens displayed an aerial photograph of the destroyed training camp.
Another showed images of the fifty-seven Nomus that had been captured and transported under heavy containment.
A third displayed photographs of Muscular, Mustard, and Moonfish, the only three villains who had remained in custody after the attack.
And at the center of them all was a photograph of Ryo Tanaka.
Kagemura sat with his arms crossed as the reports were presented.
Madam President, seated at the other end of the table, looked as though she had not slept since receiving the news.
She looked irritated and worried.
Morita turned to the next page of the report.
"So far, three confirmed members of the attacking force remain in custody. All three are being interrogated separately, although we have yet to obtain any relevant information regarding the whereabouts of the League of Villains."
One of the councilwomen looked at the images of the Nomus.
"Don't these creatures look familiar?"
Morita enlarged one of the photographs.
"Artificial humans modified with multiple Quirks. The designation used by the League itself appears to be Nomu. They're the same type that were captured during the Hosu incident."
Another man flipped through his own report.
"And the other attackers?"
Morita remained silent for a moment.
"They disappeared."
An image appeared showing dark residue collected from the scene.
"According to testimony from the students and heroes present, a sludge-like substance appeared around certain villains shortly before they vanished. They were removed from the camp that way, right in front of everyone."
"And Tanaka?"
Morita glanced briefly at Kagemura before answering.
"Apparently, he was taken by the same mechanism."
The room grew quieter.
The minister responsible for communications and public media, Kenji Sakamoto, adjusted his glasses.
"There is one possibility we need to consider."
Sakamoto tapped his tablet.
The main screen changed, displaying footage from the U.A. Sports Festival.
Ryo racing across the track, fighting, surrounded by his green aura...
And finally, standing as the tournament's winner.
"Perhaps Tanaka was targeted because of this."
Kagemura narrowed his eyes.
Sakamoto continued.
"The Sports Festival is broadcast nationwide. Millions of people watched that boy demonstrate abilities clearly beyond what anyone would expect from a first-year student."
He pointed toward the screen.
"He didn't simply win. During several stages, he barely seemed to need to take things seriously."
One of the women at the table sighed.
"So the League of Villains may have seen the broadcast."
"Just like the rest of the country," Sakamoto replied. "And if they were searching for powerful individuals to recruit, study, or use in some way, Tanaka would have caught their attention immediately."
Another council member looked up.
"That would also explain Hosu."
Kagemura turned toward him.
"The attempted capture during the internships," the man continued. "At the time, we treated it as a consequence of the larger attack. Perhaps it wasn't."
Madam President rested her fingers against the table.
"So we have a terrorist organization that probably identified the boy through television, became interested in him, and eventually took him for themselves?"
No one answered.
She looked at Ryo's photograph in the center of the screen.
"And they have no idea what they've taken..."
The statement made everyone in the room uncomfortable.
Morita took a slow breath.
"That is currently our greatest concern."
Kagemura's expression hardened.
Morita continued.
"We don't know what the League intends to do with him. We don't know whether they want to recruit him, study him, or somehow use his Quirk as a weapon."
One of the councilwomen spoke quietly.
"And what happens if they push him too far?"
Morita ran a hand across his forehead, tense.
"If they trigger an emotional reaction intense enough to send him into Overload..."
Madam President slowly leaned back in her chair.
"That is exactly why I opposed placing him at U.A."
Kagemura looked up at her.
"I said from the beginning that putting Tanaka in any public school and allowing him to move around freely would eventually paint a target on his back."
"We couldn't keep him locked inside the complex forever," Kagemura replied.
"Locked up?"
"You know perfectly well what I mean."
Madam President folded her hands together.
"Kagemura, that complex was built specifically to handle cases the outside world cannot handle."
"And we've seen what years of living there did to him."
Several members of the council looked toward Kagemura.
"His psychological condition was deteriorating with every passing day. The isolation, the lack of normal interaction with people his own age, and his mother's condition were directly affecting his stability."
"His mother has recovered now, hasn't she?"
Kagemura frowned.
"Yuuko Tanaka has improved significantly."
"Then she can take care of him."
"It's not that simple."
"Why?"
Kagemura hesitated for only a second.
"Because he's already built a life outside the complex."
Madam President raised an eyebrow.
"A life?"
"Friends. A routine. Goals. People he cares about."
"Those are nothing more than temporary friendships."
Kagemura fell silent.
The casual dismissal in that statement bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
Madam President continued.
"We aren't talking about pulling an adult away from an established career. We're talking about a boy who met these people only a few months ago."
"Those few months have done more for his mental health than years of containment ever did."
Kagemura opened one of the reports in front of him.
"The medical records confirm it. Reduced anxiety. Better emotional control. Greater cooperation during training. More willingness to engage socially. Fewer episodes of isolation and, most importantly, significantly better control over his own Quirk."
He looked directly at Madam President.
"None of that happened by accident."
She did not look convinced.
"Perhaps it happened because, after all those years, we finally gave him some genuine freedom."
Kagemura remained quiet.
"If that is the important variable," she continued, "then we can provide him with more freedom while he remains at the complex."
"It's not the same thing."
"We can let him live peacefully with his mother and allow controlled activities outside."
"That is still isolation."
"That is security, Kagemura."
Madam President turned toward the screens.
"And speaking of security, should we really continue pretending that U.A. has managed to provide what it promised?"
Kagemura knew exactly where this was going.
"This is the third incident involving that school."
She raised one finger.
"First, the USJ attack. Villains infiltrated a U.A. facility and nearly killed the Number One Hero."
A second finger.
"Then the internships. Another attack connected to the same organization, extensive damage throughout Hosu, and a casualty among the heroes involved."
A third.
"Now, a training camp whose location was supposed to be secret was discovered, invaded, and turned into a war zone. And a student of national interest was kidnapped."
She shook her head.
"If we had known that institution's security was so easy to breach, we would never have entrusted them with responsibility for the boy."
Kagemura breathed slowly.
"Nezu isn't responsible for the League possessing information they were never supposed to have."
"He is responsible for the students under his protection."
"He's also one of the reasons Tanaka has improved so much."
Madam President let out a quiet sigh.
"You place far too much trust in that animal."
"He has a name."
She looked at Kagemura.
"Principal Nezu, then."
Kagemura's expression remained stern.
"He understands Ryo better than many people sitting at this table who have spent years reading reports about him without speaking to the boy even once."
Several members of the council looked away.
"Nezu gave him something we were never able to give him. Normalcy."
Madam President crossed her arms.
"And where did that normalcy get him?"
Kagemura did not answer.
She looked once again at Ryo's photograph.
"Into the hands of the League of Villains."
The statement stung because, unfair as it was, there was no simple answer to it.
Madam President then closed the file in front of her.
"We can discuss Tanaka's future after we recover him from their hands."
Kagemura immediately nodded.
"Right..."
A new screen opened, displaying a map of the region covered in several marked locations.
Morita resumed the presentation.
"Our intelligence teams are cross-referencing League movements, possible transportation records, abandoned properties, and suspicious communications. The three captured villains also remain under intensive interrogation in an attempt to extract any information regarding the League's location."
Another map appeared.
"A recovery team is already being assembled. I will not go into operational details during this meeting, but the priority will be to locate Tanaka and prevent any attempt to transport him outside the region."
Photographs of the Pro Heroes assigned to the rescue team began appearing along the side of the screen.
Among them was All Might.
Kagemura immediately recognized several other names among those selected, many of them top-ranking professionals.
Madam President studied the list.
"All Might?"
"He insisted on participating."
"Of course he did."
Morita changed the screen again.
"The operation will be coordinated with the police. As soon as we have a sufficiently reliable location, they'll move in."
Kagemura looked at Ryo's photograph one more time.
"How long?"
"We don't know."
It was exactly the answer no one wanted to hear.
Madam President placed both hands on the table.
"Then they'd better hurry."
Her gaze moved across every person in the room.
"We cannot allow that organization to keep Tanaka long enough to discover what they can do with him."
Kagemura stared at the tense faces around the table, realizing that even after all those months of progress with Ryo, some things inside that room had not changed at all when it came to how they saw him.
----------------------------------------
In U.A.'s conference room, no one seemed willing to pretend anymore that they hadn't noticed the cold, tense atmosphere hanging over the place.
Nezu sat at the head of the table.
Unlike usual, there wasn't a trace of a smile on his face.
His paws rested on the tabletop, his eyes fixed on the headlines displayed on his iPad for far too long, as though he were mentally reviewing every decision he had made before sending the students to that location.
"We prepared a training camp to improve our students' ability to face future battles against villains," he began, his voice low. "And the villains ended up attacking that very camp before we could even prepare them..."
Nezu allowed the silence to linger for several seconds.
"The irony of this situation would almost be funny if it weren't so embarrassing for us."
The word sounded heavy coming from him.
Present Mic remained seated with his arms resting on the table, completely unlike the exaggerated energy he usually carried. Midnight was serious as well, while All Might silently studied the reports. Thirteen had removed her helmet, leaving her face fully visible, something unusual for most of those present. Her exhausted, worried expression only made it more obvious how deeply that night had affected everyone.
Nezu continued.
"We did not take this so-called 'resurrection of villains' seriously enough. We considered the previous attacks serious situations, naturally, but we still treated them as isolated incidents occurring during an abnormal period."
He looked down at the document displayed on his iPad.
"USJ. The Hero Internships. Now the Training Camp."
His small paw tightened against the table.
"And our carelessness resulted in a student being abducted."
Midnight took a deep breath before responding.
"Even if we had taken all of this more seriously from the beginning, do you really think we could have predicted a sequence like this?"
Nezu looked at her.
"Perhaps not."
"That's what I'm saying."
Midnight rested her elbows on the table.
"The era when large villain organizations launched attacks like this practically ended decades ago. No one expected an organized force to grow this quickly, attack the USJ, then show up in Hosu, and somehow manage to discover the secret location of a training camp."
She slowly shook her head.
"I'm not saying we didn't make mistakes. We did. But predicting all of this..."
Present Mic finished for her.
"Would've been almost impossible."
He exhaled through his nose.
"But deep down, we got way too complacent over time."
Several teachers looked at him.
"The current era is peaceful. Villains show up, heroes arrest them, life goes on. We teach these kids how to fight because we know they'll need it someday, but until recently, nobody expected them to need it in their first year."
He made a short gesture with his hand.
"If we'd really been prepared for a war, we wouldn't have needed to start scrambling for preparations the moment we realized one was already beginning."
Nezu slowly tilted his head.
"That is an unpleasantly accurate way of putting it."
He turned his head to the side and noticed All Might sitting with his elbows on the table, his hands covering his face. Since the meeting began, he had barely said a word.
Nezu watched him for several seconds.
"What is it?"
All Might raised his head slightly and ran both hands over his face one last time.
"I'm just thinking about how useless I was."
He pressed his fingers against his eyes.
"While those children were fighting for their lives in a forest full of villains, I was at home relaxing under a shower..."
The last word came out almost like an insult directed at himself.
"I didn't even know what was happening."
Midnight tried to speak.
"But you couldn't have—"
"I know."
He raised a hand.
"I know I couldn't have known."
His voice grew more bitter.
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
Thirteen let her shoulders sag.
"I understand perfectly."
She rested her forehead against one hand. She had spent the night watching soap operas.
"I had work the next morning. I decided to rest, prepare a few things, and watch television before going to sleep. Meanwhile, Ryo was being kidnapped..."
Her gaze dropped toward the table.
"Some mentor I am..."
All Might looked at her, but found nothing he could say.
Present Mic was the first to break the silence.
"I don't think we can pretend we're holding strong this time. After the USJ, we managed to move forward by holding the Sports Festival, showing everyone that U.A. was still functioning, that our students hadn't been broken, and that we weren't afraid."
His expression hardened.
"But letting a student get kidnapped... that's a serious failure."
Nezu scrolled through several pages on his iPad before raising it slightly.
"And the press is taking full advantage of the situation to condemn U.A."
Midnight grimaced.
"The opinion polls published since this morning show a significant drop in public confidence in U.A. Some of them are still changing from hour to hour, so I don't consider the current numbers particularly reliable, but the trend is clear."
He placed the tablet on the table.
"With every new report, more people are questioning whether we are truly capable of protecting our students."
Nezu intertwined his paws.
"If this continues, we can expect withdrawals, transfers, and a considerable decline in future enrollment."
Thirteen frowned.
"And the parents?"
"Several have already contacted us."
Nezu looked at her.
"Some are demanding explanations. Others want to withdraw their children immediately."
Present Mic spent several seconds tapping his fingers against the armrest of his chair before taking a deep breath.
"Speaking of losing trust..."
Mic raised one finger.
"Maybe it's time we talked about something that's getting too difficult to ignore."
Midnight narrowed her eyes.
"We have a mole."
Mic continued.
"The location of the camp was confidential. Only the teachers involved and the Wild, Wild Pussycats knew where it was."
He lowered one finger.
"But we also need to consider other suspects, like someone among the students. There are variables among them we can easily rule out, but as for the others..."
"Stop it, Mic."
"How the hell am I supposed to stop?! We need to deal with this here and now!"
"Because you have no proof that any student is involved."
"And can you prove that none of them are?"
Thirteen froze.
"No... But I'm also not going to treat potentially innocent people as suspects just because we're desperate for answers."
She looked around the table.
"The moment we start looking at one another as enemies without evidence, the League will have won another victory without even having to attack."
Present Mic fell silent.
"We can't destroy ourselves from within while trying to figure out who might be destroying us from within."
Mic grimaced.
"That sentence was annoyingly good..."
"Thank you."
He grumbled and crossed his arms.
"But I still think there's someone."
"The possibility exists."
Nezu looked at each teacher in turn.
"But Thirteen is correct about one thing. If we are going to search for a traitor, it must be done in a way that does not destroy the trust within this school."
Present Mic raised an eyebrow.
"Trust is exactly what's at stake. And with that said, I can't prove my own innocence either. Neither can any of you."
Nezu brought his little paws together.
"Our priority will be Tanaka. Ensuring that he is found and brought back safely."
Thirteen's expression tightened.
"As for the possible mole... I will only say that there is something I have been considering for quite some time."
Present Mic leaned forward.
"What?"
Nezu opened his mouth.
"It's—"
"YOUR PHONE IS RIGHT HERE! YOU HEAR ME?!"
The shrill voice interrupted the entire room, making everyone turn toward All Might.
His phone was vibrating on the table.
All Might's eyes widened.
"My apologies!"
He quickly grabbed the device.
"I-I need to take this..."
He stood and left the room while several teachers continued staring after him.
"He really needs to change that ringtone."
The door closed behind All Might.
His left hand remained on the doorknob for several seconds while the phone continued ringing in his right.
But he didn't answer immediately.
His gaze fell to his own left hand as memories of Ryo surfaced, along with every time he had been useless to him.
Every time Ryo had ended up caught in situations that should have been the responsibility of the adults around him.
And every time All Might had arrived too late.
Or hadn't been there at all.
His fingers slowly began tightening around the doorknob.
"Again..."
His grip tightened.
"I wasn't there again..."
All Might lowered his head.
For his entire adult life, he had carried the title of Symbol of Peace on his shoulders.
The man who appeared when everyone believed there was no hope left.
The hero who always arrived in time to save everyone.
And yet...
When his own students needed him, he hadn't even known they were in danger.
All Might finally released the doorknob and looked down at the phone.
"What kind of Symbol of Peace am I if I can't even save my own students...?"
----------------------------------------
The next morning, the Parr household was far too quiet.
For anyone who knew Dash, that alone would have been cause for concern.
He had been lying flat on his back on the bed for almost an hour, his arms resting loosely at his sides and his eyes fixed on the ceiling. The TV wasn't on, there was no game running on his computer, no sound of feet racing through the hallways, not even the usual restlessness that made it seem impossible for him to stay still for more than a few minutes.
Ever since he had come home, he had barely done anything.
He slept very little.
He ate because his parents insisted.
He answered when they spoke directly to him.
And after all that, he just went back to his room.
Dash kept staring at the ceiling with an empty, almost lifeless expression, trying to think about anything else.
An anime, one of Tony's stupid jokes, some argument with Jack-Jack.
Anything.
But his thoughts always returned to the same thing.
Takeda.
The image of his friend appeared in his mind again.
Dash clenched his teeth.
In an instant, he vanished from the bed as the room filled with yellow blurs.
Five, ten, fifteen perfect images of Dash appeared throughout the room as he crossed the space at absurd speed, attacking enemies that existed only inside his head.
"Take that!"
A fist sliced through the air.
"You weren't expecting that, were you!?"
Dash disappeared from in front of his desk and reappeared beside the window, leaving behind a complete afterimage as he spun around and kicked at empty space.
"You creepy Handy Manny knockoff!"
Another combination.
"I could've easily broken that big guy's knee!"
Dash's breathing began to grow heavier.
"I could've grabbed Takeda and gotten him out of there before they—"
His fist slammed into the mattress.
Every afterimage disappeared.
Dash stood hunched over the bed, breathing quickly, his small fist buried in the fabric.
He remained like that for a few seconds before his eyes began to sting.
"I could've helped..."
His voice came out low.
Dash punched the mattress again.
"I could've helped!"
He struck it again, then repeated the motion over and over until his arms began moving too fast to follow, hitting the mattress dozens of times within seconds.
"I COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING!"
Dash dropped to his knees beside the bed and buried his face in the mattress, sobbing into it.
"I was useless..."
Dash turned his face to the side, still leaning against the bed.
"I just caused more trouble for him..."
Tears streamed down his face.
"Takeda had to do everything by himself again..."
He closed his eyes, remaining like that for several minutes as he tried to calm himself down.
Until his phone vibrated.
Dash didn't react.
The device was lying a few inches away on the bed, its screen lighting up for a few seconds before going dark again.
He had been ignoring messages ever since he got back because he didn't want to talk.
Or maybe he just didn't know what to say.
A few seconds later, another notification appeared.
Dash let out a tired sigh and remained still until the phone vibrated for the third time.
Finally, after an effort that seemed absurd for someone capable of crossing an entire city in minutes, Dash reached out and picked it up.
The screen showed a message from Pony.
Pony: Are you okay?
Dash stared at it.
Another one appeared.
Pony: You didn't answer yesterday.
Pony: I'm worried.
Dash bit the inside of his cheek before he started typing.
Dash: im fine
The reply came almost immediately.
Pony: Liar.
Pony: You say "I'm fine" after ignoring everyone for two days.
Pony: That doesn't mean you're fine.
Dash remained silent for a few seconds.
Dash: just tired
Three dots appeared.
Pony: Then rest.
Pony: Just don't disappear like that again.
Pony: I worry about you...
Dash stared at that last message for a little longer.
A small smile almost appeared.
Before he could answer, another notification from a different contact popped up.
Kirishima: Hey, man. How are you doing?
Kirishima: And don't hit me with the "I'm fine" crap. That one's ancient.
Dash let out a small laugh through his nose.
Then more began appearing.
Kaminari: SPEEDSTER! YOU ALIVE!?
Sero: How are you holding up, Dash?
Mina: If you need to talk, just call us, okay? ❤️
Dash stared at the screen with a faint smile, feeling the weight in his chest lighten just a little.
That was when he heard a noise coming from the room next door.
A closet door closing, followed by quick footsteps down the stairs and his mother's quiet voice.
Dash raised his head.
"I know, Helen. I'm just saying, if we leave now, we'll get there before the meeting with the second team."
Dash frowned.
"Second team...?"
He got off the bed and quietly walked toward the door, opening it only a tiny crack.
Helen's voice came from downstairs.
"Keep your voice down...!"
"Why? Jack-Jack is asleep, Violet isn't home, and Dash is in his room."
"Exactly...! I don't want Dash hearing the details of an operation like this...!"
Dash opened the door a few more inches.
Downstairs, Bob was adjusting one of the gloves of his supersuit while Helen checked several documents and a communicator on the table.
"All Might's going with the first team, right?" Bob asked.
"The first team is heading to the hideout confirmed by the police. We're going with the second."
Dash moved closer to the stairs, keeping his body hidden behind the wall.
Bob gave a low whistle.
"That Ragdoll woman's Quirk is ridiculously useful."
Helen placed something inside a bag.
"Search recorded information about Shigaraki when she saw him at the training camp, which lets her know his exact location. She also confirmed the police's suspicions about the marked hideout because she has Takeda's location too. But Takeda and Shigaraki are in different places, so they had to split the operation into two teams..."
"The first team is handling the rescue, while the second one is responsible for arresting Shigaraki," Bob said.
"Yes."
"I still think it's weird that they're using that old warehouse as a second hideout. I mean... the place isn't exactly subtle."
Bob continued, completely oblivious.
"Especially that building near the industrial district. That abandoned warehouse on the eastern edge of that Kamino place. You can see half the building from the avenue over there—"
Helen pressed a finger against her husband's lips.
"Keep your voice down...!"
"Hm?"
That was when they heard a faint creak from the wooden floor upstairs.
Dash froze.
Helen immediately turned her head.
"...Did you hear that?"
Dash vanished from the hallway the next instant, and in less than a second he was back in bed.
He threw his phone beside the pillow and dove underneath the blankets.
Footsteps climbed the stairs while Dash tried to control his breathing.
"Yeah... I'm sleeping..."
The doorknob moved, and the door opened a few inches.
Helen poked her head inside, with Bob appearing just behind her.
Both of them stared at the boy bundled beneath the blankets.
Helen narrowed her eyes.
Dash tensed.
"He... is asleep."
Helen kept watching him for several more seconds before finally closing the door carefully.
The moment it shut, Dash heard his mother's quiet voice from the other side.
"Start talking quieter...!"
"Okay."
"I'm serious, Bob...!"
"Okay!"
"Quiet...!"
"Okay...!"
Dash remained completely still as he listened to their footsteps move away.
Then he opened one eye.
A small grin slowly spread across his face.
He pulled his phone out from beneath the blankets and immediately began typing furiously into the class group chat.