Toga yelled, "Jeez, fine old man! Stay alone."
She hung up and Hawks eyed her curiously. She waved, "Oh hey, Hawks. Can you believe this old guy, Kakazu? He wants weekly paychecks to be a part of the club! Like this is a job."
Hawks recalled Nagant telling him about Kakazu and smiled while shrugging, "He's stuck in his ways. He'll help out when the time comes though. He's still loyal to AFO."
She crossed her arms, "I guess, but he's an idiot. Will we even still use money after taking over society?"
"Trade will always be a thing, can't get rid of that."
She looked down, "True..." her phone rang, "Oh, it's Twice. Talk to you later, Hawks."
They waved and Hawks continued on his way, 'It's for the best if I don't meet Kakazu anyway. He might suspect me since I'm the one that got Nagant out of prison in the first place... I gotta figure out a way to get a secret message to Endeavor soon. It shouldn't be too hard though, dealing with Danzo was worse… But still, If we don't properly prepare for the fight coming, it'll all be over.'
Later that same day, Tokoyami rang up Nagant's number, and she picked up, "Hey, Tokoyami, right? What's up?"
"Hi, Lady Nagant. Do you know where Hawks is? I've been trying to call him and he hasn't picked up."
"I see... don't tell anyone this, but Hawks is doing something important. It's related to what just happened in Deika city with the heroes and villains."
"Ah... I understand. Well, tell him I said good luck."
"Will do."
While the Paranormal Liberation Front was being formed by the former League of Villains, Mt. Lady visited to help 1A students with dealing with hero interviews and the Work Study announcement. And after another few days passed, it was Christmas Eve.
The whole class dressed up and decorated the common area while sitting around the large table in the room covered in food. The class yelled in unison, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
While eating, Jiro said, "Work studies again? We've gotta be the busiest first years in history. You two going to Ryukyu's place again?"
Uraraka replied, "Yeah, how about you, Jiro?"
On the other side of the table, Iida asked, "What are your plans, Midoriya? Going back to Nighteye's agency?"
Kirishima cut in, "Didn't Centipeder take over the agency? You haven't seen any of them in a while, right?"
Midoriya touched his mouth, "I was thinking the same, but they were too busy. And Gran Torino can't take me in either."
Sasuke walked by and thought, 'Could invite him to Edgeshot's agency later...'
After the party ended and most people left, Sasuke approached Midoriya, "Midoriya, have you figured out what agency you wanna go to yet?"
"Hey, yeah, Todoroki invited me and Kacchan to the Endeavor agency, so I think I'll check that out."
Sasuke paused for a moment, "Oh, that's good. Anyway, today is the last day we'll train together, so we're gonna do something different."
Midoriya perked up, "Really? What's that?"
"Beat Saber."
Midoriya's expression glowed, "Is it the hero edition!?"
"You know about it?"
Midoriya nodded, "Of course! It was a version made specifically for the world's fastest heroes! How did you get one?"
"Edgeshot had a copy made for me. If you already know what it is then that makes it easier. Less people to explain it to."
Sasuke waved for Midoriya to follow and he did so, "Other people? You're bringing others?"
They got into the elevator and went up, "Yeah, you'll see."
The rest of the way to his room was silent, and once they opened the door, the two of them met eyes with Mina while Tokoyami struggled on a level with the headset jammed in his feathered head.
Tokoyami sat in a swivel chair, and Mina lay on the bed and waved with an odd smile, "Yo, Midoriya."
Midoriya waved back, "Mina, Tokoyami... Do you guys know about Beat Saber already?"
Tokoyami failed the level and grunted, "One of my darkest trials yet..."
Mina answered, "I played it before with Sasuke at Edgeshot's agency; it's a first for Tokoyami, though."
Tokoyami took off the headset, "It's beyond me how some of the top heroes clear the hardest levels in this game," he turned to the pair that arrived, "Hey, I suppose Midoriya should get to experience this as well." He handed the headset to Midoriya and he lifted it up.
He blinked and laughed awkwardly, "It's nice to be here... but how is this training exactly?"
Sasuke crossed his arms, "It trains reaction times. Edgeshot attributes being one of the fastest heroes due to playing this game. It'll be a good way to improve our speeds."
Midoriya made an O-shape with his mouth, "I see... that makes sense."
Mina leaned into his ear and whispered, "Sasuke mostly just wanted to spend time with us, but won't admit it."
Sne snickered and Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Mina, what did you tell him?"
She waved her hands, "Nothing nothing! Just a tip for when he plays."
"Your face says a different story."
Midoriya slipped on the headset and Tokoyami commented, "I'd recommend going for the easiest level first, although even that presented difficulties."
"Right, let's check out this level." Midoriya started one up, and as the music started, he hit all the red and blue targets as they came without much difficulty. By the end, he finished the level on his first try.
Sasuke commented, "That was good, but too easy, move up to medium difficulty."
Mina kicked her feet off the bed, "Must be used to fast hand movements with all the scribbling he does in that notebook."
"Um... thank you?" Midoriya moved up the difficulty, and the spike in hardness increased instantly, making him fail mid-level. "WHA- I swear I hit that!"
Tokoyami closed his eyes, "And this is where the descent begins."
Sasuke said, "You gotta be faster than that."
"I will be!" Midoriya restarted the level and focused harder as the targets came. He managed to hit them, but was barely scraping by while thinking, 'I need to be faster while doing this... 20%!'
Green lightning arced around him and he sped up by a bunch, managing to beat the level. He took the headset off and pumped his fist.
Mina gave him a small cheer, "Good job, Midoriya. This is way more fun than normal training."
Sasuke added, "But it is still training."
"Riiiight." She rolled her eyes.
Tokoyami asked, "Can we see the leaderboard for who's up there?"
"Yeah." Midoriya handed the controllers back to Sasuke, and he went through the menu, pulling up the global leaderboard.
In first place was the Yellow Flash, second was Hawks, then Edgeshot, and Midoriya raised a brow further down at another name in the top 10, "Tobirama?"
Sasuke asked, "Something wrong with that name?"
It's gotta be someone that just named themselves Tobirama on here. The real Tobirama retired during All Might's silver age. He'd be pretty old right now.
Mina shrugged, "Old guy with nothing better to do. Maybe we can get up there one day."
Tokoyami commented, "Since I plan to try and surpass Hawks one day, this game could be a good start. It's too bad he's absent."
Mina turned to him, "He's not at his agency right now?"
Tokoyami shook his head, "He'll be doing something too important for a while."
Mina smiled, "How about you come to the Edgeshot agency with me and Sasuke then?"
Sasuke said, "I don't see why not."
Tokoyami paused, looking away briefly before answering, "That could be a good idea... thank you."
Mina replied, "Of course. Now I call next! I'll beat the level Midoriya just did."
Midoriya raised his hands, "Wait! Before you start, considering that Minato is top 1 don't you think we could analyze what he does and—"
"—Just get good, nerd." Mina giggled and put on the headset.
While she played, Midoriya laughed awkwardly and thought, "Looks like they're all going to the Edgeshot agency... should I go?... No... I already promised Todoroki I'd check out the Endeavor agency. I doubt Sasuke wants to spend months of the Work Study with me anyway; he's gotta focus on his own training; he's been amazing help, but I can't keep using him as a guide for learning my quirks.'
The group of four continued to play Beat Saber long into the night, and the next day the class separated, going to their different desired Agencies.
The trio of Mina, Sasuke, and Tokoyami arrived at the dojo of Edgeshot and he opened the door with Tenten by his side. She stared at Tokoyami, "Another new student? Jeez, Sasuke. At this rate, you're gonna bring nine people with you when you're a third year."
Mina said, "He almost brought another guy with him, but asked too late."
Edgeshot said, "Nice to see Sasuke having so many friends. Tokoyami, right? You were strong out there when that stuff with Danzo happened. I'll make sure to help you get even stronger."
Tokoyami did a slight bow and they were brought in. While they got used to Work Study life again, deep in Tartarus Kabuto looked down at his hands in his cell and noticed that it was turning into patches of white scales.
A week passed, and an evil doctor stared at Shigaraki who was spasming in pain. Metal tubes were roughly jammed in his body and blood spurted out of him while he experienced what were only the beginning stages of his transition into obtaining All For One.
He pulled out his phone and made a call, hearing gunshots in the background, "Obito, are you there?"
"Yes, how have you been, Doctor?"
"Amazing. Everything has been so interesting lately. It sounds like you're doing something interesting yourself."
"It's not as interesting as it sounds, what's going on on your end?" Obito walked through gunfire in a menacing orange mask and touched the gunman once. Making him disappear.
"Shigaraki is turning into the perfect successor. It really is all just as AFO said."
"That's good to hear, but you don't usually call me, Doctor. Does his progress as a successor have something to do with me? I don't plan on being a backup again."
Garaki adjusted his glasses, "It does indeed. I need you to come back to Japan and make sure you'll be available when the time comes. In a little less than four months, once Shigaraki awakens, he and the rest of the Paranormal Liberation Front will make Japan bend to its knees! You can be a part of that."
There was a slight pause on the other end, "I do like the sounds of that... but are you sure you need me? With an awakened Shigaraki and a whole army, you sound like you might get by fine."
Garaki, "Key word being might, Obito. Do you remember the Quirk Singularity theory?"
"Of course, you talk about it every chance you get."
"Well, this new generation of kids is quite troublesome. Kakazu recently informed me that that boy Sasuke, with the help of Lady Nagant and another girl, managed to take out Hidan, Deidara, and Sasori all in one night."
"All three of them? Impressive. Sasuke's vendetta has always been an entertaining case to follow."
"A pain in the ass is what it is. Until we break out the rest of AFOs top brass from Tartarus along with him, the future is uncertain. And despite AFO's interest in that boy, I think he and Shigaraki will be fine without his quirks. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"
There was silence on the other end until Obito sighed, "I do. I'll make myself available when the time comes."
Garaki sighed in relief, "Great. That's all."
Obito hung up and Garaki rubbed his forehead, 'Such a troublesome man you've always been... despite your own issues with AFO, I know you want the same future AFO does...' Garaki chuckled to himself, 'And it's coming very soon.'