The hum of the monitors filled the silence as Class 1-A watched the screens. Medical bots had just finished clearing the debris from the previous match, and the feeds were now live for the final fight of the day.
On the left screen, Team E stood outside the building. Ashido was stretching her legs, grinning at the camera, while Aoyama checked his reflection in a window, adjusting his cape.
On the right screen, deep inside the building, Team F waited. Sato was cracking his knuckles. Megumi just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking bored.
"Talk about a contrast," Kaminari said, leaning over the back of his chair. "You got Team Sparkle on one side and Team Dark and Brooding on the other."
"They definitely look the part of a villain team."
"Alright!" All Might's voice boomed over the speakers. "Villain Team, you are clear to set up! Hero Team, prepare for breach! COUNTDOWN START!"
...
The fourth-floor hideout was quiet. The air smelled like dust and stale concrete. The fake bomb sat in the middle of the room.
Megumi ignored it. He stood near the door, checking out the hallway.
Sato stood by the weapon, hands on his hips. Bottles of sugar on his utility belt.
"Sugar Rush," Sato explained, "For every ten grams of sugar I consume, my strength multiplies five times over for about three minutes. I have enough for a solid ten minutes of fighting. But when I consume the sugar my brain will turn to mush, and when my boost is over, I'll get sleepy."
Megumi nodded. "So, you have a time limit."
"Yeah. If they stall us out long enough, I'm done." Sato rolled his shoulders. "What's the plan? Do we barricade the door?"
"No," Megumi said.
"I don't plan on letting them get this far up."
Sato blinked. "You want to meet them downstairs? If they get away, then the bomb will be unguarded."
"I won't let them."
Megumi brought his hands together, intertwining his fingers. He took a breath, focusing. The shadows at his feet began to bubble, turning into a liquid pool of black ink.
"Divine Dogs."
Two shapes erupted from the shadow.
One was white, the other jet black. On their foreheads, a strange red symbol glowed faintly. They rose silently, claws clicking against the concrete, and immediately sat at Megumi's side, tongues lolling out.
Sato took a step back. "Whoa... Haven't seen those before."
"They're my combat shikigami, Kuro and Shiro" Megumi said, scratching the black dog behind the ears. The dog leaned into his touch, but its eyes remained fixed on the door, predatory and alert. "Their senses should let me track the hero team down pretty easily. They're good in close combat as well, and I'll have the numerical advantage."
Megumi stood up straight. His expression had shifted.
"My job is to win," Megumi said. "And the most efficient way to win is to remove the threat before it becomes a problem."
He looked at the timer on the wall. The countdown hit zero.
A buzzer sounded throughout the building.
"Guard the bomb," Megumi told Sato. "I'll handle the rest."
He didn't wait for a response. He signaled the dogs.
"Go."
The two beasts took off, dissolving into a blur of black and white fur as they sprinted out the door and into the hallway. Megumi followed them, his hands loose at his sides. He wasn't going to play hide and seek. He was going to hunt the heroes down.
...
Mina and Aoyama stepped inside, and the noise vanished behind them.
Mina slowed instinctively, chills rising up her skin as she scanned the hallway.
"Okay," she whispered, grinning despite the feeling. "Spooky vibes. Love it."
Aoyama struck a pose beside her, one hand already hovering near the gem in his navel. Even in the dim light, the metal accents of his costume caught and reflected what little brightness there was.
"Fear not," he murmured theatrically. "If darkness lurks, then I shall clear it with my brilliance."
Mina snorted quietly. "Maybe don't lead with the laser, yeah? They'll find us if you do that."
Aoyama hesitated, then nodded. "…Ah. Oui. Subtlety."
They moved deeper, sticking close to the walls. Mina took point, her boots silent against the concrete as she leaned into corners and stairwells, peeking before advancing.
"This is kinda fun," she whispered. "Like hide-and-seek."
Aoyama laughed under his breath. "Let us hope we do not become the ones found."
On the monitoring screens above, the class watched them ascend through the first floor.
"They're being careful," Yaoyorozu observed. "Ashido is leading, doing a good job so far."
Tokoyami's eyes were fixed on a different feed. "The villain has not revealed themselves yet."
Megumi had disappeared from all the cameras, going off on his own, while Sato was guarding the bomb room.
Back inside the building, Mina paused at the base of a stairwell.
"Third floor maybe?" she whispered. "If I were hiding the bomb, I'd go higher."
Aoyama nodded.
They started up the stairs.
Mina had just reached the landing when something moved.
Just enough to trip her instincts.
She twisted sideways on reflex as a dark shape swept across the stairwell wall, low and fast. Something solid clipped the edge of her boot, knocking her balance just enough that she had to slap a hand against the railing to steady herself.
"What was-"
A growl echoed through the stairwell.
Mina's grin vanished.
A white blur burst from the shadow beneath the stairs.
"Whoa!"
She leapt back as the Divine Dog crashed into the space where she'd been standing a second earlier, claws skidding against concrete. It turned, eyes glowing faintly, body coiled and ready.
Aoyama yelped. "Aaah! A beast!"
Another presence pressed in behind them.
Heat prickled along Mina's neck.
She spun
Only to find the darker dog perched halfway up the stairwell wall, paws braced against the concrete. Its eyes tracked her calmly, head tilted.
They were boxed in.
"Okay," Mina said, hands lifting slowly. "That's new."
From the hallway beyond, footsteps approached.
Megumi stepped into view.
Capture tape hung loose in one hand. His posture was relaxed, but there was nothing casual about the way his eyes tracked both of them at once.
Aoyama reacted. "You villain! We have come to-"
Megumi glanced at him.
The white dog shifted its weight.
Aoyama froze midsentence.
Mina swallowed. "So… uh. Those are your quirk, right? The dogs?"
"They are," Megumi replied. "They tracked you guys down."
As if on cue, the darker dog's growl deepened just a fraction.
Mina laughed weakly. "Okay. That's… intimidating. But this is training, right? You're not actually gonna-"
Megumi moved past her without a glance.
The dogs lunged in opposite directions.
Mina reacted instantly, acid flaring across her palms as she dove sideways, rolling under the railing and splashing a thin line across the floor where the white dog landed. It skidded, claws scraping, then vaulted cleanly over the corrosive patch without slowing.
Aoyama panicked.
A beam of light shot down the stairwell.
"Aoyama!" Mina shouted.
The laser lit the area like a flare.
Megumi wasn't there.
The darker dog slammed into Aoyama from behind, knocking him flat. He hit the stairs with a startled cry, breath knocked from his lungs.
Mina spun, acid shooting out instinctively.
And Megumi came out of the shadow at her side.
Not from behind her.
Not from the corner.
From the shadow cast by her own body.
He didn't hesitate.
His shoulder drove into her ribs, not hard enough to break anything, but enough to knock the wind out of her. They collided with the wall, acid splashing harmlessly across his sleeve as he slipped back into shadow before she could react.
Mina staggered, heart racing. "What.. how..?!"
Megumi didn't pursue.
He reappeared between them instead.
"Split them," he said calmly.
The dogs obeyed instantly.
Shiro pressed toward Mina again, forcing her back toward the railing. While Kuro stayed planted over Aoyama, teeth bared just enough to make the message clear.
Mina's pulse hammered.
This wasn't playful.
This wasn't like anything she had done before with her friends.
Megumi's eyes were steady. Focused. Sharp in a way she couldn't help but remember about back then...
As he moved, Megumi felt the shadows respond without conscious effort.
They had been doing it all fight.
Pooling where he stepped. Stretching when he leaned. Softening the impact when he vanished at the last second.
A memory surfaced,
Yaoyorozu standing across from him earlier, hands folded, eyes sharp with curiosity.
"Your shadows act as a medium," she said. "Since your constructs are already formed, they must come from somewhere, right? If the shadows store your constructs… have you ever considered whether they could store foreign objects or even yourself..."
At that time, he hadn't thought much about it, but now was the perfect time to expirement.
Now, as he slipped between patches of darkness without resistance, the idea settled differently.
The shadows weren't just something he used.
They were part of him, another limb he could use.
He didn't need to block explosions or overpower brute force if he could sink into the shadows.
...
Back on the stairwell, Mina raised her hands slowly.
"Okay," she said, breathless but still smiling, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "You got us seperated. That's cool. But we're not done yet."
Megumi nodded once. "I know."
He flicked his wrist.
Kuro held onto Aoyama as Megumi appeared behind him from the shadows using the capture tape to detain him.
Aoyama squeaked.
Tape snapped tight.
The buzzer didn't sound yet.
Mina's eyes widened. "Aoyama!"
She surged forward, acid bursting outward
Shiro met her head-on.
The impact knocked her back again, forcing her to slide across the floor. Acid splashed wide, hissing against the concrete, but Megumi had already appeared in her blind spot.
She twisted
Too late.
The tape snapped around her wrist.
Then her other.
The buzzer screamed.
Mina froze where she stood.
The realization hit her all at once, not from the tape tightening around her wrists, not even from the dogs flanking her so calmly, but from the quiet certainty in the space between heartbeats.
Her pulse was racing. Her breath came shallow. And for the first time since the doors had closed behind them, the smile she always wore didn't come back.
"…Wow," she said under her breath, more to herself than anyone else.
Megumi had already stepped away, the distance deliberate. The Divine Dogs moved with him, their bodies easing back into a neutral stance the moment the buzzer sounded.
Mina looked past him, catching sight of Aoyama captured a few steps away, still blinking like he couldn't quite process how fast everything had gone wrong. They hadn't even reached the upper floors. They hadn't seen the bomb. They hadn't forced him to defend anything.
They'd been stopped before they could even do anything...
Megumi turned back toward her, capture tape still looped loosely around his hand. His expression hadn't changed much from the moment he stepped out of the shadows. Like this was exactly how he expected it to go.
"I'm sorry," he said, "You told me to not hold back."
Mina let out a slow breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The tension drained from her shoulders as the weight of that sank in.
"…Yeah," she said quietly. "I did."
She thought back to the instant on the stairs, the half-second where she'd tried to gauge how serious he was, where she'd assumed there was still room to joke, to feel things out.
He hadn't given her that space.
He'd already been moving through the shadows by then, slipping in and out of sight so smoothly she'd only registered it in hindsight. Every time she'd turned, he was somewhere else.
This wasn't someone feeling it out. He already knew what he had to do.
Mina glanced down at the tape again, then back up at him, studying the way he stood, the way the shadows around his feet hadn't fully let go yet.
That was the difference, she realized.
For her and Aoyama, this had been another exercise. A chance to try things out. To learn. To have fun.
For him, it was different.
And standing there, bound before they'd even reached the heart of the building, Mina finally understood just how wide that gap was.
...
The moment the capture signal sounded, the observation room erupted.
Half the class was on their feet. The other half leaned so far forward they were practically over the railing.
"Did you see the shadows move?" Kaminari said, voice a little too loud. "I didn't even know he could do that!"
"He went straight through them," Kirishima added, eyes bright. "No waiting, no backing off. That was… manly. Like, scary-manly."
The replay looped Megumi's final push again: shadow surging forward, shikigami snapping into motion, Aoyama stumbling back under pressure while Mina skidded to a halt, acid sizzling uselessly against the floor as Megumi closed distance without slowing.
Tokoyami watched the frozen feed for a long moment before speaking.
"This was not pursuit," he said quietly. "It was a closing eclipse."
Jiro glanced at him, eyebrow lifting. "You wanna explain that in a way that doesn't sound like a villain monologue?"
Tokoyami didn't look away from the screen. "Predators chase. Hunters force movement. But shadows…" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Shadows remove options. By the time you notice them, the light is already gone."
Jiro snorted under her breath. "Great. That's somehow worse."
On the screen, Megumi stood near the captured heroes, breathing steady, shadows already settling back into place as if nothing had happened. Sato was a few steps behind him, flexing his hands, looking almost sheepish.
"I didn't even get to punch anything," Sato muttered.
Megumi's voice came back calm, unbothered. "You did what you were supposed to do. Be the last line of defense."
Yaoyorozu rewound the footage herself, eyes sharp. "He forced the heroes into a tight area where their quirks, without the space necessary, were useless."
The doors at the back of the room opened, and All Might stepped in, with the Megumi, Sato, Mina, and Aoyama in tow. He surveyed the room, then the screen, then finally the students.
"Well done," he said, voice firm but pleased. "That concludes the final battle trial."
He gestured to the paused image of Megumi on the screen.
"Team F's victory was decisive. Not because of raw power but because they took the initiative."
Mina and Aoyama stood near the front, both a little rumpled. Mina's usual grin hadn't quite returned yet. Aoyama was dusting off his cape with exaggerated care.
All Might turned to them first. "Young Ashido. Young Aoyama. You treated this exercise like a fun activity."
Mina scratched the back of her head.
All Might nodded. "That is understandable, as this is just the beginning. However your opponents did not."
"Remember, this is the Hero Course! Time to get serious!"
The room got serious, listening to All Might's tone.
"Young Fushiguro approached this scenario as if failure carried consequences beyond the classroom. That difference in mindset decided the match before the first clash."
Mina blinked. Then she glanced at the screen again. At Megumi's expression there.
"…Yeah," she admitted. "I felt that."
All Might continued. "Young Sato, excellent restraint. You trusted your partner and held position instead of chasing engagement."
Sato straightened. "Yes, sir."
"And Young Fushiguro."
Megumi looked up.
"You took command without being told. You didn't hesitate and you didn't wait for permission. You identified the fastest way to end the threat and committed to it."
All Might smiled slightly.
"That decisiveness is something many pros struggle to learn."
"However," All Might added, lifting one finger, "do not confuse decisiveness with recklessness. You must be able to fight alongside others. You succeeded today but that habit can shorten careers."
Megumi nodded once. "Understood."
All Might clasped his hands together. "As for MVP…"
A few students leaned forward.
"The MVP of this match is Young Fushiguro."
Sato blinked once, then broke into a wide grin. "Huh. Guess that makes sense."
Mina let out a low whistle, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah… can't even argue that."
Aoyama sighed dramatically. "Defeated by shadows… how tragic for meant to shine."
"Anyone want to explain why?"
There was a brief pause before Yaoyorozu raised her hand.
"He controlled the pace of the fight," she said. "The heroes never reached the objective, never regrouped, and never forced him to react on their terms. He controlled the flow of the fight."
All Might smiled, satisfied.
"Exactly."
His eyes returned to Megumi.
"Victory isn't about overpowering your opponent. It's about denying them the chance to fight at all."
Megumi met his gaze, gave a small nod.
He'd understood that long before today.
All Might glanced at the clock getting ready to leave.
"Well done, Everyone!! No serious injuries, apart from Midoriya's! Great Teamwork, Though! You all did splendidly, considering this was your first training exercise!"
With that, he turned, already halfway out the door.
"Change out of those costumes, and head to back to the classroom!"
...
Outside, the late afternoon sun bathed the campus in warm gold. Students filtered out in clusters, still buzzing from the second day of classes.
Kirishima jogged up behind him. "Hey! We're heading to the arcade by the station. Ramen, games, the whole deal. You in?"
Megumi slowed. His first instinct rose immediately.
Hospital. Quiet room. Chair by the bed.
"I can't," he said. "I'm visiting my sister."
"Oh," Kirishima said, immediately backing off. "Got it. Family comes first."
The group hesitated, then started to peel away.
Megumi took two more steps.
Then stopped.
'You don't need to hover around me, Megumi. I'll still be here even if you go have fun.'
Tsumiki's voice. Gentle. Caring. Exactly what she'd say if she could.
He exhaled slowly.
If he went now, he'd sit. He'd wait. He'd leave when visiting hours ended.
If she woke up and heard he skipped out on hanging out with his new classmates…
"…An hour," Megumi said.
They all turned.
"I can do an hour."
Ashido whooped. Kaminari nearly tripped over himself. Kirishima grinned so hard it hurt to look at.
"That's the spirit!" Kirishima said, throwing an arm around his shoulders.
Megumi didn't shrug it off.
As they headed down the path together, the noise and laughter felt strange but not unwelcome.
Not bad, he decided.
Not bad at all.