The afternoon sun hung low over Aichi. The frantic rush that had consumed the industrial district an hour earlier had finally begun to settle.
Ambulances came and went beneath flashing lights and a wide police search had been employed across the prefecture in search of the League Of Villains led by Hawks.
From the rooftop of a half-repaired office building, Yuta sat cross-legged near the edge with his phone balanced against his knee. His screen was filled with messages. A ridiculous amount of messages.
Bakugo: YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
Iida: "Your announcement was extremely reckless! Nevertheless... I am relieved it was withdrawn."
Uraraka: "You scared everyone with that ..."
Kirishima: "Bro... You doing ok? I saw the stream."
Kaminari: "Hey Man! What the hell was that?"
Mina: "YOU IDIOT. That wasn't funny.
Jiro: ....
Yuta stared at the endless stream of messages before letting out a helpless sigh.
"...Did I really make it sound that bad?"
Another notification appeared.
Tsuyu: Ribbit. You worried everyone.
".."
Apparently...
Yes.
It seemed everyone now believed he possessed some sort of hidden suicidal tendency. And he hadn't even used any words that implied anything of such sort.
'I really overdid it.' He leaned back on both hands.
The sky above him was unusually clear. Or perhaps that was just his state of mind in this situation.
Truthfully... He still felt guilty. After all, the Yamanote Line wasn't something someone simply forgot.
Those thoughts hadn't disappeared simply because time had passed.
But... That had been almost a month ago. He had already blamed himself, spending countless nights wondering what he could have done differently.
The guilt remained. It probably always would.
But wanting to die? No. Not even close. If anything, he had spent the last several weeks doing the exact opposite.
Running around Japan.
Hunting villains.
Stopping attacks.
Trying to make sure fewer people ended up like the passengers on that train, even if no one else knew it was him.
"...Though maybe I took it a little too far."
A small grimace appeared on his face at the thought of the reporter's horrified expression resurfacing. She had probably realized back then that she had gone too far. Well, at least she still had a conscience. Unfortunately, she had already shot the arrow, and his impulse at that time was already too far gone to be the bigger man and consider backing down.
Now that he had calmed down, the subsequent use of public sentiment to turn that situation around was very manipulative.
The worst part? It had worked, maybe a bit too well.
He understood why she asked. He really did. The woman had likely lost someone. Countless people had and the entire country was hurting. But he was getting increasingly tired of one particular pattern.
Every discussion eventually found its way back to him.
In every talk show he watched and every online debate he saw,
If Yuta wasn't being blamed, then he was being questioned. If he wasn't being questioned, then he was being dissected. As though people kept forgetting one very important detail.
He was a victim too. The train hadn't happened to Japan alone. It had happened to him. Yet somehow the conversation increasingly revolved around what responsibility he owed everyone else.
That seemed surprisingly easy for everyone to forget. All that leading to today's eventual snap.
"..."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Do I regret it?
Yuta thought about it. Then thought some more.
"... Yeah."
However what was done was done. As awful as it sounded, this entire episode was not enough to lose sleep over it.
After all, he wasn't Midoriya, nor was he All Might. Hell, he wasn't even most of Class 1-A.
Everyone probably would've handled that interview better than he did. Well, except for Bakugo who probably wouldn't tolerate the slightest sense of injustice directed at him, the rest were heroes in a way he wasn't.
Even if they were blamed, they would have taken the high road knowing that it ultimately was partly their responsibility regardless, or just simply broke down and grieved about it on live TV.
Yuta on the other hand, had chosen psychological warfare.
"..."
A laugh escaped him.
Hopefully...
Something like today wouldn't happen again and public opinion would stop trying to sentence him to bear their burdens.
After all, his original goal had never been becoming some Symbol of Peace or even anything overly heroic.
He only ever wanted a hero license. His current actions ever since Tokyo. Helping people. Patrolling. Throwing himself into increasingly dangerous situations .. well, his shadow clone but still ... That all came from guilt. Because he knew what the future was supposed to look like.
His back was full enough as it was.
"...Though..."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly "There's a pretty good chance I accidentally ended that reporter's career."
".."
Well, he wasn't proud of it. Nor did he particularly regret it.
The feeling was...
Complicated.
"I guess I'm not that good of a person after all."
"An interesting conclusion." A voice said from behind him.
Yuta didn't turn around.
"...How long were you listening?" The newcomer stepped beside him. Tokoyami folded his arms as Dark Shadow peeked over his shoulder.
"I arrived approximately thirty seconds ago."
"I know." Yuta replied.
"Done checking it out?"
"Yes. As you expected, it was a dead end."
Yuta sighed in response, running a hand through his hair. 'To think the league of villains would have another warp quirk.'
It actually wasn't hard to picture. After all, that was All For One. There was every likelihood that he had multiple Nomu's or maybe hidden chess pieces with warp quirks at their disposal.
That Nomu he destroyed was clear proof that the league was not easily trifled with. However the plot armor of these guys were getting absurd at this point to be able to do this without Kurogiri.
This was the first time in two weeks. Who knew when Shigaraki would reappear again, when he would reappear again, and what level of chaos he would be ready to inflict when he did.
'Should I implement the plan?' He thought of his fallback plan for such a scenario in which the league couldn't be easily captured, currently trapped a long distance underground. That's right. The plan was Kurogiri who was still in Yuta's grasp this whole time.
"...May I ask you something?"
Tokoyami's words quickly drew him out of his thoughts.
"Hm?"
"...Earlier."
"When you announced your retirement...Were you serious?"
Dark Shadow looked equally curious.
"Yeah! Were you bluffing or not?" Yuta leaned back against his hands, looking up at the clouds.
"I don't know if 'bluffing' is the right word."
"...I was irritated. That much was obvious."
"And I meant what I said."
Tokoyami blinked.
"...You did?"
Yuta shrugged. "I wasn't really against the idea."
That was the honest truth. Perhaps he had been emotional and some would say he had taken things too far by manipulating public opinion. It painted the lives lost in the tragedies as nothing more than a tool to be weaponized by him without any remorse, but that wasn't the case.
Dark Shadow's jaw practically hit the floor. "WHAT?!"
Tokoyami himself remained silent for several seconds.
"...I see."
Yuta could practically hear the confusion in his voice. Sure enough ... "...May I ask why?"
Yuta thought for a moment before answering. "...Because my reason for becoming a hero was never the same as everyone else's." He smiled faintly. "I am very different from you all, and it reflects this way for me. The desire to become a hero ... Even now after everything, is exactly the same way as it was before."
"If anything, I just felt mainly guilty for everything that happened and want to see it fixed before I decide what to do next. Everyone just thinks otherwise because ... That's how society is. Every child in hero school wants to be the next symbol of peace. Be it for money, fame, or the heroic ideal itself."
Tokoyami's brows furrowed. "...Then if you had retired today..."
"I would've gone home." Yuta answered so matter-of-factly that even Dark Shadow froze.
"... Probably slept for twelve hours. Then spend more time with my mom and Eri. If I didn't contribute to cleaning up everything that happened in some way after that, then I would probably request the school's help to relocate to another country."
".."
"After that, I guess I would live the normal life. Attempt to achieve the reason I attended hero school there with my powers shouldn't be that big of a problem."
"... Maybe enroll in university later. I don't know. I would've figured something out."
"..."
Tokoyami looked at him for a long while.
"...You truly have no regrets?"
"Well? I guess I would miss you guys and the times we had however short they were. Keep in touch every now and then, though time wears everything and we would probably grow apart the longer apart we are to the point of becoming nodding acquaintances."
".."
'Damn .. that's a little sad.' Dark shadow thought.
"... Besides that? If Japan genuinely would've been better off without me as a hero and if that was the price I had to pay to stop being talked about .."
He shrugged.
"...Then yes. I'm pretty sure I could live with that." His tone carried no self-pity, nor any heroics.
It was simply his innermost truth. "... I see. You truly are burdened."
"You can say that again. " A familiar amused voice drifted across the rooftop.
Both boys looked over.
"Kid you really are something."
Hawks landed lightly behind them, folding his crimson wings. "I leave you alone for a few hours and I hear you saying you still wouldn't have minded retiring."
He placed a hand over his forehead dramatically.
"Do you have any idea how many years today's interview shaved off my lifespan?"
Yuta looked genuinely apologetic.
"...Probably several."
"Several?"
Hawks pointed at himself. "The Hero Commission almost had a collective heart attack. That interview would have plunged hero society into civil war."
"And after all that..."
"...you're still saying you would've been fine with retiring?"
Yuta scratched his cheek.
"...I mean... I would've." Hawks stared at him. Then slowly covered his face with both hands.
"...Kid... You're impossible." He knew it was too good to be true. Such a hardworking student who proactively made his life easier during such times ... Surely there had to be a catch.
He was right.
"A sixteen year old ready thinking about retiring? What would other heroes think? That they've been working for far too long?" However, be could understand why. 'This kid.' Hawks thought, looking at Yuta through the gaps in his hands. 'Sigh ... He's been through so much.'
With everything that had happened, being the center of attention of all that .... It was no surprise that the kid wanted to escape. This was just human nature.
'Sorry kid, but you can't have that right now.'
Not only would the commission not allow it, but he himself couldn't. With how short staffed they were, hero society needed not just stability, but also this kid's strength.
"Listen."