"If you light a lamp for other people,

it will also brighten your own path."

-Buddhist Saying

----------------------------------------

He craned his neck behind him, silently sighing when the 'three amigos' were still behind him. He couldn't possibly understand their thought process (who decided just to follow someone else willy-nilly like that?) but... it worked, he supposed. He might have considered the possibility of ulterior motives had it been anyone else, but these people were nuttier than the nuttiest fruit cakes. The only sane one, Dabi, had an actual reason so there wasn't any doubt; they simply wanted to follow him around and do god knows what. But since they offered themselves up like so, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

"Dabi, Toga, Twice... Since you're tagging along, you wouldn't mind doing something for me, right?"

He didn't wait for their response. If they really didn't like it, they could leave. And although it was a waste of resources, he would be spared a headache. He pondered the pros and cons of purposefully choosing an outrageous task but ultimately dismissed it. This was more important than just his head. (Although that wasn't saying too much; there was a lot of more important things than that. But this time, it was incredibly important.)

"I need you to search for a man named Yuganda Itoku. More than anything else, this takes precedence," Rage bubbled in his veins, but he didn't explode. No, he'd save that for the man himself. But first, he had to find him. "He went missing around 8 days ago; he's the culprit in the 'Bloody Mary' Incident that's been on the news recently. If you want to join me, then this task of mine is nonnegotiable. Understood?"

Perhaps it was a purposeful move on behalf of that man, just in case he hadn't stumbled upon the corpse of his mother. Because it was a major news story since each and every provider in the country knew every little gritty detail about - down to the exact volume of blood that had poured out from her body. But at the same time, Itoku never expected All for One to expose him in front of All Might of all people.

There was a private manhunt going around in the Hero social circle, one specifically aimed at taking down Itoku. The police had hemmed and hawed around, not interfering or letting the heroes intervene because technically, there was no 'proof'. All they had were the words of a villain called the Symbol of Evil; they could dismiss his words as framing Yuganda Itoku with relative ease. On the sheer basis of his profession and the fact that it would be a disgrace to the police force if it ever got out, there was no way that they would say anything in the first place. Deku had never pined any hope on those people in the first place.

"Naturally, I won't let you work for free," His face was the very definition of a cunning fiend, but as it was in most cases like this, the offer was so good that other people couldn't help but take it, in the hope that it would be every bit as good as described. "You all wish to carry on Stain's legacy or some other variant of it, correct? Or have problems with the very world itself. As long as you follow me, I promise that in due time I can do all of these things for you, and more. So, what do you say?"

"Don't worry, all of us made our choice earlier. We won't back out now; we have even more reasons to stay. We will find that man for you."

Dabi responded for all of them, but they didn't seem to have any major problems with the arrangements.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"So be it then... If you find information, just go near Milka Cafe. That'll be my base of operations in the future."

"Hmmm... Isn't that the underground cafe~? That thing's serious; what could you possibly need to get there?" Toga took that opportune moment to pop her head into the conversation, her tone quickly growing more and more serious as she approached the end. Even for her, that was a very serious issue. If the League of Villains was a gathering of creme of the crop younger generation members, the Milka Cafe was a gathering place of truly powerful veterans of tremendous experience. They were the villains who were the true elites of all of them.

None of them had chosen to join the League of Villains, simply staying to the side and observing.

They would never risk themselves if they could help it.

"There's someone else I have to find; only they will be able to solve a particular problem of mine. Don't concern yourself over it."

'The problem of All for One... Most likely, only he can possibly kill him once and for all.'

She nodded, but there was still a faint look of hesitance in her eyes. It was reasonable, after all, they had rather... unique ways of judging people. Some might be let in with a simple nod, and others might be targeted and culled. No one quite knew why they did what they did, but no-one really dared to do anything about it. They were truly all-powerful; some have even killed real Pro-Heroes before, unlike the majority that could only serve as meat bags and gain victory through a sea of numbers.

"Okay, enough of that; we each have our own unique jobs. Just make sure to be careful. That Itoku character is dangerous."

There was a faint hesitance that was shared among all of the members of the little squad, but eventually, they went their separate ways. Deku sparred one last look on the forms of the slouching Dabi, the excitable Toga, and the slight insane Twice, before turning around and heading to the Cafe mutely. There was no point in putting off the inevitable. Either he would pass their test...

Or he would die.

(Actually, he could flee. But it still didn't change the fact that he was undertaking a serious risk.

Although he didn't really care either way.)

It was a fast walk to the lightly lit little shop at the corner, with fresh daisies and tulips lining the outside of the building. It seemed almost Victorian in style, with gentle arcs and little minarets all combined together like a cabin you'd expect to see in the woods. He'd dare say that it even looked... homely. While he wasn't expecting some kind of a dark tower surrounded by screeching bats and crickety old wooden boards, he wasn't expecting it to look like that either. Without delay, he approached the door and reached to gently tap its surface.

However, before he could even make touch it, the door opened and a person's head popped out.

Quite literally, in fact. He was a floating head without its body.

"Hmmm... Two visitors in one day? How unusual... Well, don't just stand there, get in here. We'll save some time; you'll both complete a test of our choosing, understood?"

He lightly nodded. It was their turf, after all. It would be best if he didn't make too much of a fuss.

He proceeded to get blindfolded, manhandled and tossed into one room after the next. Just as he was starting to feel the creep of annoyance starting to settle in, he reached the room where he was to be tested. Lightly removing the blindfold from his eyes, he withheld the desire to crisp-ify it with Gray's help. The lightning spirit similarly wanted to burn it away, but they ultimately exercised their prudence.

Hiding your power in a den of possible enemies was never a bad idea.

Slowly, he blinked his weary eyes, only to come to the realization that the person in front of him was somehow familiar.

She looked as if she had gotta here after rolling around in the dirt a couple of times. Her hair was raggedy and unevenly cut in places, speaking of either a furious assault or a simply horrible haircut. If you just purely looked at her face, you would assume that she was a beggar. But the once pristine coloring of her coat and the sheer quality of its fabric would tell you otherwise.

"Excuse me, but do I know you?"

The lady looked up from her lap, eyes widening in surprise, not from his face, but from his voice.

"That voice... It can't be."

She stood up, and in her rush, almost knocked over the chair. Her eyes were wide and searching like she was comparing it to something she had seen thousands of times before finally coming to the conclusion that, yes, they were the same person indeed. Her voice came out choked and pinched like she didn't know how to feel about the situation at all.

"It's... you..."