Chapter 254 - 253: Leave It To Me

Location: U.A. High School, Class 1-A Dormitory

Time: 2:15 PM

Dropping heavily onto the common room sofa, Denki Kaminari snatched up a gaming controller.

He let out a massive sigh of pure relief.

"I can finally play that new RPG without feeling totally guilty," Kaminari admitted openly.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Minoru Mineta wiped actual tears of joy from his eyes.

"Fighting a crazy cult that uses chemical weapons is a total nightmare!" Mineta cried, hugging his knees. "I just want to survive high school!"

Pulling a strip of cellophane tape from his elbow, Hanta Sero nodded in agreement.

"Going up against an international terrorist cell sounds way above our pay grade," Sero pointed out nervously.

Twirling her earphone jacks around her finger, Kyoka Jiro leaned against the back of the couch.

"Trying to organize a coordinated raid across twenty-five different countries is just a logistical disaster anyway," Jiro added.

Pacing furiously near the kitchen island, Katsuki Bakugo ground his teeth together.

POP. POP.

Tiny explosions sparked aggressively across his sweaty palms.

"I don't need some arrogant extra fighting my battles for me!" Bakugo roared, kicking the edge of the coffee table.

He glared directly at the muted television screen.

"I spent weeks busting my ass at the Endeavor Agency," Bakugo yelled. "I'm not sitting out a global raid just because one guy thinks he can solo the world!"

Sitting quietly on a barstool, Izuku Midoriya stared down at his own heavily scarred hands.

He chewed nervously on his thumbnail.

"...It just feels wrong," Midoriya muttered, his voice full of conflict.

He looked up at his furious rival.

"Sitting here doing nothing while people are in danger goes against everything we learned," Midoriya added softly.

Chopping his arms wildly through the air, Tenya Iida marched right into the center of the room.

"We must respect the official chain of command!" Iida announced loudly. "The Hero Public Safety Commission legally grounded us!"

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Shoto Todoroki stared blankly at a glass of ice water.

"...I kind of wanted to eat authentic European soba," Todoroki said genuinely.

The entire room went completely quiet.

Bakugo twitched, his intimidating momentum entirely derailed by the random comment.

SLIDE.

The front door to the dorm building suddenly opened.

Walking into the common room, Shota Aizawa scanned the area with completely bloodshot eyes.

He stopped near the entryway, glaring at the chaotic crowd of teenagers.

"Sit down and shut up," Aizawa ordered, his voice completely flat.

Every single student instantly froze in place.

Bakugo stopped pacing, scowling heavily as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

Adjusting his thick capture scarf, Aizawa walked slowly toward the center of the room.

"You are not deploying," Aizawa stated firmly, looking directly at Bakugo and Midoriya.

Midoriya gripped the edge of the kitchen counter.

"But Mr. Aizawa... we have our provisional licenses," Midoriya argued respectfully. "We can at least help the WHA with the evacuation perimeters."

Aizawa let out a tired, exhausted sigh.

"You are sixteen years old," Aizawa corrected bluntly.

He looked across the room, remembering the sheer terror of the USJ incident.

'I'm not letting my students get injured again on a foreign battlefield,' Aizawa thought grimly.

"Hero X is entirely right," the underground hero continued. "You need to focus on passing your upcoming midterms, not disarming international chemical bombs."

Turning around, Aizawa headed back toward the sliding door.

"Leave the global terrorism to the working adults," he ordered over his shoulder.

--<>--

Location: U.A. High School, Class 1-B Dormitory

"Hahaha!"

Standing right on top of the common room dining table, Neito Monoma laughed maniacally.

"Do you see this, Class A?!" Monoma shouted at the ceiling.

He pointed an accusatory finger toward the window.

"Our glorious debut on the world stage was ruined by a rookie hero!" Monoma gloated loudly.

SMACK.

Expanding her right hand, Itsuka Kendo chopped the back of his knee.

Monoma yelped and collapsed straight onto the floorboards.

"Stop embarrassing us," Kendo sighed, rubbing her temples.

Standing near the refrigerator, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu crossed his metallic arms.

"I really wanted to punch some cultists," Tetsutetsu admitted, looking down at the floor. "But fighting toxic gas doesn't sound very manly anyway."

Clicking his sharp mandibles together, Togaru Kamakiri leaned against the counter.

"I just wanted to slice something up," Kamakiri complained aggressively.

Adjusting his thick glasses, Jurota Shishida shook his furry head.

"Joining a twenty-five-country raid would be pure logistical chaos for students," Shishida pointed out logically.

Slouching deeply into a beanbag chair, Shihai Kuroiro let out a dark chuckle.

"Those Humarise cult robes are incredibly tacky anyway," Kuroiro muttered.

Floating her detached hands across the room, Setsuna Tokage laughed nervously.

"I really didn't want my separated pieces melted by chemicals," Tokage joked, grabbing an apple from a fruit bowl.

Sitting on the nearest couch, Juzo Honenuki nodded in agreement.

"We would just get in his way," Honenuki pointed out smoothly.

Yosetsu Awase crossed his arms with a grim expression.

"Yeah," Awase muttered. "He folded those Nomus into origami last week."

Awase swallowed hard, remembering the viral footage.

"If a bomb goes off, he'll probably just turn the explosion into a flat cartoon," Awase added.

Standing near the hallway entrance, Vlad King watched his students closely.

The massive, muscular teacher gave a sharp, approving nod.

"Listen to Kendo and Honenuki," Vlad grunted loudly. "The X Agency has full jurisdiction over this issue."

He pointed toward the study tables.

"You will remain on campus and study for your exams," Vlad instructed.

--<>--

Location: Otheon, Humarise Subterranean Headquarters

The massive underground hall remained completely silent.

Standing on an elevated metal platform, Flect Turn stared blankly at a giant digital monitor.

The screen displayed the breaking Japanese news broadcast.

Beros, Leviathan, and the Serpenters stood at perfect attention right below the platform.

A low-ranking cultist rushed into the room, holding a digital tablet.

"Grand Leader," the cultist announced nervously, bowing his head.

Flect Turn didn't even look away from the glowing screen.

"Japan has officially pulled their provisional licensees," the cultist reported. "The X Agency claims they will handle the entire country's quota."

Flect Turn kept his cold, sorrowful eyes locked on the monitor.

"It changes absolutely nothing," Flect Turn stated smoothly, his voice echoing across the dark metal walls.

He slowly turned his back to the screen.

"Whether they send seasoned professionals or diseased children, they will all burn in the Trigger gas exactly the same," he added.

BANG.

The heavy steel doors at the back of the hall violently burst open.

Another cultist sprinted into the room, gasping heavily for air.

"Leader!" the man yelled, completely ignoring protocol.

He tripped over his own dark robes, sliding onto the cold metal floor.

"Allan Kay just breached the eastern exit!" the cultist panicked.

Flect Turn narrowed his eyes slightly.

A rare flicker of genuine irritation crossed his face.

"He stole the primary briefcase," the cultist continued frantically. "He took the system kill switch!"

Stepping forward to the edge of the platform, Flect Turn looked directly down at his elite subordinates.

He locked eyes with the woman wearing the dark green archer uniform.

"Beros," Flect Turn commanded coldly.

Beros instantly dropped to one knee, clutching her specialized longbow.

"Take your gear and hunt him down," Flect Turn ordered.

He stared at her with absolute conviction.

"Do not return to this facility without that briefcase."

--<>--

Location: Hero Public Safety Commission Headquarters, Tokyo

Time: 3:00 PM

A massive circular hologram projector hummed loudly in the center of the dark conference table.

BZZZT.

Blue light flickered upward, creating dozens of translucent, life-sized figures across the crisis room.

Top-ranking Pro Heroes and WHA commanders from across the globe projected directly into the Tokyo office.

Standing near the control console, the Madam President watched the international assembly quietly.

Agent Yokumiru Mera stood right next to her, nervously adjusting his glasses.

The Japanese Top 10 heroes occupied the actual physical space in the room.

Endeavor crossed his massive, flaming arms.

Hawks casually leaned against the wall, while Mirko cracked her knuckles with a wild grin.

Ryukyu, Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, and Fat Gum stood quietly nearby, listening to the global chatter.

"We have officially pulled all Japanese provisional licensees from the deployment roster," the WHA Commander projected from Geneva.

The Commander swiped a hand across his digital console, pulling up a map of twenty-five red targets.

"To cover the gaps left by the students, we are reassigning the veteran strike teams," the Commander announced firmly.

He looked directly at the Japanese Number One hero.

"Endeavor, your elite team will handle the primary headquarters in Otheon," the Commander instructed. "Hawks, you are deploying to the United States East Coast."

Hawks gave a lazy, two-finger salute.

"Ryukyu will lead the strike team in Paris, France," the Commander continued reading. "Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady, you will reinforce Salaam in Cairo."

Mt. Lady gave a confident thumbs-up.

"Majestic will back up Big Red Dot in Singapore," the WHA leader finished. "Fat Gum, you will hold the domestic front here in Tokyo."

The Commander finally lowered his digital clipboard.

Turning his holographic gaze, he looked toward the back of the Tokyo room.

Leaning casually against the wall, Kaito kept his hands tucked inside his pristine white suit pockets.

"Hero X," the Commander addressed him respectfully but firmly.

The international chatter died down slightly.

"We honored your legal override," the Commander stated. "But we are tracking twenty-five live chemical bombs spread across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa."

He leaned forward over his holographic podium.

"If a Trigger Bomb suddenly detonates in London or Brazil... how exactly do you plan to cross the ocean fast enough to stop the gas?" the Commander asked logically.

Kaito pushed himself off the wall.

Offering a polite, reassuring smile, he completely understood their perfectly valid logistical concerns.

"I don't actually fly across the ocean," Kaito answered smoothly, taking a few slow steps toward the glowing projector.

The entire crisis room went incredibly quiet.

"My Canvas Quirk folds three-dimensional space into a flat, two-dimensional plane," Kaito explained, keeping his voice entirely casual.

He raised his right hand, gesturing smoothly through the air.

"When you remove the Z-axis from reality... physical geography simply ceases to exist," Kaito added.

He looked around at the glowing, translucent heroes from across the world.

"I can step into a concrete wall here in Tokyo," Kaito offered as a simple visual. "And I can step out of a digital billboard in Paris or Cairo a few seconds later."

A chaotic murmur instantly rippled through the international holograms.

The foreign pros struggled to comprehend a power that completely broke the known rules of travel.

"Are you claiming you can bypass international borders instantaneously?" Big Red Dot asked from the Singapore feed, crossing his massive arms.

Salaam rubbed the back of his head from Egypt.

"Global teleportation is a literal fairy tale..."

Salaam laughed nervously, totally baffled by the sheer absurdity of the claim.

Kaito just stood there, offering a calm, confident smile.

Standing a few feet away, Endeavor let out a heavy, tired groan.

The Number One Hero aggressively rubbed his face with his massive hand.

Ryukyu sighed softly, staring down at her own boots.

Edgeshot simply nodded, his arms crossed tightly against his chest.

They all clearly remembered the feeling of being sucked violently into the asphalt last week.

Mirko completely broke the tension, throwing her head back and laughing loudly at how insanely overpowered Kaito's range actually was.

"He isn't exaggerating," Endeavor interrupted, his deep voice cutting through the international doubt.

The foreign holograms all turned to look at the Japanese Number One.

"He can fold reality," Endeavor confirmed to the global audience, his tone full of bitter resignation. "I've personally been trapped inside it."

The WHA Commander stared at Endeavor in stunned silence.

Knowing the intense pride of the Number One Hero, the Commander realized this wasn't just a rookie boasting.

He looked back at Kaito's relaxed, confident posture.

"Understood," the Commander relented softly, slowly nodding his head.

He tapped a few keys on his digital console.

"The X Agency has full international backup jurisdiction," the Commander finalized. "You are our ultimate global wildcard."

--<>--

Location: The X Agency, Tokyo, Front Lobby

Time: 4:30 PM

Late afternoon shadows stretched across the pristine white marble lobby.

Sitting comfortably behind the reception desk, Makoto casually filed her nails.

She took a slow sip of her iced tea, completely unbothered by the global panic.

Having already survived a literal apocalypse in her original timeline, a cult with a few gas bombs barely registered on her radar.

Through the open glass doors to the back office, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Mirai Sasaki and Tsunagu leaned over a massive digital tracking table.

Both veteran heroes were sweating slightly, their eyes locked on the scrolling data streams.

"Cross-reference the shipping manifests from the Port of Otheon," Mirai ordered quickly, adjusting his glasses.

[Processing maritime logs from the past six months, Mr. Kudo,] Eve 0.2's synthesized voice echoed smoothly from the ceiling speakers.

Tsunagu tapped a specific cargo ship route on the digital map.

"Look for dummy corporations operating near the Klayd border," Tsunagu suggested, tracing the line with his finger.

[Searching for highly suspicious companies, Mr. Tanaka,]

Slouching comfortably on the nearby lounge sofa, Kaito watched them work.

He took a slow sip of his black coffee, looking incredibly bored. "Don't you want my help?"

Mirai didn't even look up from the glowing monitor.

"Absolutely not," Mirai refused immediately.

Tsunagu nodded in firm agreement.

"I need to do actual detective work, Kaito," Best Jeanist explained, typing on the console. "I've been hiding under these aliases for weeks."

He glanced over his shoulder with a serious expression.

"My professional skills will get completely rusty," Tsunagu finished.

Kaito just smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Suit yourselves," Kaito replied lazily, letting them enjoy their manual labor.

BING.

A soft chime echoed through the lobby.

[Sir, you have uninvited guests approaching the primary elevators,] Eve 0.2 announced calmly.

Makoto stopped filing her nails, looking up at the ceiling camera.

"Who is it, Eve?" Makoto asked.

[Facial recognition identifies the entirety of U.A. High School's Class 1-A,] the AI responded.

Hearing the massive headcount, Kaito let out a long, exasperated sigh.

He massaged his temples, feeling a dull headache already forming.

'Teenagers,' Kaito thought, shaking his head.

DING.

The polished steel doors of the private agency elevator slid open.

Izuku Midoriya stepped out into the lobby, looking incredibly nervous but entirely determined.

Katsuki Bakugo marched right out behind him, glaring aggressively at the pristine white walls.

Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, Momo Yaoyorozu, and fifteen other teenagers completely packed into the reception area.

The sheer number of students filled the entire marble lobby shoulder-to-shoulder.

Makoto set her nail file down, giving them a polite, highly practiced business smile.

"Welcome to the X Agency," Makoto greeted smoothly. "Do you have an appointment?"

Bakugo shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"We don't need an appointment," Bakugo barked loudly, looking past the desk. "Where is the guy in the white suit?"

Hearing the yelling, Kaito slowly pushed himself off the lounge sofa.

He walked out of the back office holding his coffee.

"Aren't you kids supposed to be studying?" Kaito asked, stopping near the center of the room.

Midoriya stepped forward, clenching his scarred hands into fists.

"Hero X, Sir..." Midoriya started, bowing his head slightly in respect.

He looked back up, his green eyes burning with raw determination.

"We know you blocked our deployment today, and we respect your reasons," Midoriya continued.

He swallowed hard, holding his ground.

"But we came here to ask for a direct favor," Midoriya explained firmly. "We want to join your raid on the Japanese Humarise branch."

Kirishima punched his hardened fists together right behind him.

"We want to prove ourselves as heroes!" Kirishima cheered.

"..."

Kaito stared at the twenty determined teenagers for a long, quiet moment.

Step. Step. Step.

Walking slowly over to Makoto's desk, Kaito set his ceramic mug down on the polished counter.

CLINK.

He turned back to face the packed lobby.

A wide, relaxed, almost playful smile spread across his face.

"You want to prove yourselves," Kaito repeated, his tone genuinely amused.

He looked at the twenty determined faces packing his lobby.

"Eve," Kaito called out casually. "Pull up the major incident file for U.A. Class 1-A over the past year."

[Accessing student records now, Sir,] the AI responded smoothly.

BZZZT.

A glowing holographic screen materialized directly above the reception desk.

It rapidly flashed through a series of terrifying images.

The USJ villain invasion. The Hosu City Nomu attacks. The Kamino Ward kidnapping.

The students stared at the floating screen, their expressions immediately tightening.

"Your predecessors got to actually sit in a classroom and train properly," Kaito pointed out, gesturing to the violent footage. "But you guys have been fighting for your absolute lives since your first week of school."

He reached up, casually loosening his black tie.

"Your generation's Quirks are getting stronger than the last," Kaito admitted smoothly. "You are probably already stronger than half the veteran pros out there."

He stepped back into the open floor space, looking directly at Midoriya.

"But that doesn't change the facts," Kaito stated firmly. "You are still kids."

He looked across the crowd of teenagers.

"You shouldn't have to carry the weight of a global disaster just because the adults are struggling," he added.

Bakugo gritted his teeth, his palms sparking aggressively.

Pop. Pop.

Midoriya didn't look away from the white-suited hero.

None of the twenty students stepped back.

They were completely stubborn.

Seeing that absolute, unyielding drive in their eyes, a wide, playful grin suddenly spread across Kaito's face.

"Words and provisional licenses don't mean anything in my book," Kaito warned.

He cracked his knuckles, rolling his shoulders to loosen up.

Midoriya blinked, completely thrown off by the sudden shift in energy.

"We have exactly one hour before the Humarise raid begins," Kaito announced.

He raised his right hand, pointing a single finger at the massive crowd of teenagers.

"So let's play a game," Kaito challenged, his eyes shining with pure confidence.

He lowered his hand, dropping into a relaxed, open stance.

"If all twenty of you working together can land a single, solid hit on me before the clock runs out..." Kaito offered.

He grinned directly at them.

"I'll personally bring you on the raid."

--<>--

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