25 Rendezvous: Forest.

It has been weeks since Itsuka met the Hero Hunter in the flesh. Ever since then, her mind had been clouded with that thought. The thought that he did not seem to be a villain.

He did not display any villain-like tendencies; no killing, no maniacal laughs, and no disturbing the public. In fact, he seemed the opposite. He was heroic. He talked casually with her brother, and him recognizing her brother proved to her that it was actually him who saved her brother.

Her mind still lingered on the fact that she told him she was a hero student.

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'

She had stupidly given away sensitive information to a stranger, a villain at that. What else could happen now?

But her cloudy mind was swept away at the announcement of a joint-training in the forest with a hero team, the Wild Wild Pussycats.

They were a hero team most famous for their adorably cute costumes. However, that was not their only notable thing about them. Their teamwork was impeccable and jaw dropping. They were known to be as efficient as a bee.

She could not wait to learn as much as she can from the group of pro heroes.

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"Ah! We have this information, but we cannot do jack shit!"

Tomura's face was beet red. Months ago, he had already received information that the first years from U.A were going on a trip to the forest with their teachers.

He had already counted on Dabi and Rui to dabble in their affairs and cause chaos, but now Rui had defected.

All of his plans, including his future ones, were now thwarted. Because of one single member.

'I shouldn't have relied on him so much.'

He was in the office, now rebuilt after the scuffle. Beside him was his trusty aid, Kurogiri. Kurogiri saw what his master was going through and decided to pitch in his thoughts.

"Sir, maybe we could still continue with the plans." He suggested.

Tomura looked up at Kurogiri, his face unconvinced.

"How? We do not have anybody else as strong as Rui!"

"Remember, we have still many members, who may not be as strong but their numbers make up for it."

Tomura looked at the ground. He was mulling over what Kurogiri said, and it made sense.

"Yes, yes, yes! Alright! That's it. We have others!" he jovially exclaimed.

"You should focus less on Rui's departure, sir. That is what Master would want."

That was true. Only focusing on the past would only make Tomura's situation more hapless.

"We can send in more people this time. Who can we send?"

Tomura took out a piece of paper and a pen. On the table, he laid the paper and started scribbling on it. He was concocting a new plan to disrupt their training in the forest.

He had to take in to account everyone's quirk and overall abilities. He had no need to do this previously because he could rely on Rui to do almost everything, but now with him gone he had to think more maturely.

Twice, he noted, would be valuable. Should anything happen, he could duplicate more of the other members to overwhelm them with numbers. However, he remembered that too much duplication could result in him losing his mind. A crazy person is what they do not need more of. He would be last resort.

Dabi stays. His firepower is invaluable and overall reliability is over the roof. He could count on Dabi to light up everything on fire.

He was thinking of more people when Kurogiri interjected him.

"How about Stain sir?"

Stain. He was the only one with a history of being a hero. Despite that, he had been nothing else but imperative to the League's cause. His name reverberated throughout the underworld, and many heroes have heard of him. If nothing, he could intimidate heroes and restrain them with his quirk.

"Muscular is must too sir. After the incident, he had been more mild and relaxed, but still as destructive when the time comes."

Tomura smacked his forehead. He had totally forgotten about him. Muscular might have lost embarrassingly to Rui, but that didn't mean he was not strong. He was physically the strongest out of everyone here. Muscular was a must.

Throughout the night and till the morning, Tomura burned the midnight oil to concoct his new plan.

He had to make sure this one was perfect. He didn't want to fail again.

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A proper home was what Rui missed the most. The privilege of having easy access to water and electricity is always welcome.

Clothes were commodities he had the least problem with. All he had to do was wear a hoodie to cover his face and he was set.

But the hoodie was smelly. He could wash them at the laundromat only when he came across loose coins on the sidewalk and when old ladies didn't group up at the laundromat.

Now he had to resort to stealing from convenience stores. It left a bad taste in his mouth because this were innocent people trying to make an honest living. It wasn't something he wanted to do, but rather what he needed.

He was once again sleeping atop roofs. There were no heroes encountering him here because he was in the part of Japan where crime ran rampant and heroes were a no show. Ironically, the place with the most crime was the most peaceful place he could be.

The fight with Endeavour and Hawks however, despite it being probably the most media-worthy news did not show up on media. There was no mentions in the newspaper, no coverage on the TVs displayed by the window,

He was genuinely surprised, because the media tend to be very nosy in the affairs of heroes, both bad and good. He can only assume this was swept under the rug by the association to keep up with the heroes reputation.

Imagine the outbreak that would ensure if the general public had found out that both number one heroes had been defeated by the same person.

===============

On the roof was where the thoughts flow freely. Rui likes the roof. It allows him to recollect all memories that he experienced.

Maybe it was due to the solitary he had, or the fact that the roof might be more comfortable than expected, but he felt at ease here.

At his thoughts travel through each neuron, he recalled a single event that were to happen a few days from now.

Back when he was still in the League, he remembered Tomura giving him an order to cause chaos in a forest or something.

He may or may not want to intervene.