Everyone stared at me for a moment. Within a few hours, they had heard two things they probably thought they'd never hear. It felt like a nightmare, but this was far worse than what Nightshade had put me through. Unlike then, I knew this was real. Whatever happened now, I knew there was no running away from it.

I couldn't stand to look at them anymore. My arms wrapped around my stomach. Raiden's jacket was still clinging onto my arms, giving some sort of warmth, but it wasn't enough to fight the chill tingling down my back.

"That's impossible," Mr. Elastic's voice claimed. "I told you I was—"

"A side-kick in America," I finished. "But his Quirk, it—it manipulates what people think they remember. I think he used it on me when I was younger, but not to the extent that he made me forget my Quirk. I think...I think he knew he could use my Quirk to his advantage someday, or maybe he used it to track me down. Whatever it was, it wasn't to the extent of what other people could forget. At least, I don't think it was."

"How does that explain Mr. Elastic's case then? If he worked alongside Justice-Core—wait, you did work alongside him, right?" Kaito asked.

There was a moment of silence. I should have looked up at someone, but I just wrapped my arms around myself even more as I tried to concentrate on my breathing. A simple inhale and exhale. Nothing more. I needed to relax, but all I could feel was them doubting my own words.

Was this how Kannon was able to do what he did for so long? Because people trusted what they had "witnessed" and didn't want to believe in the truth?

And Kaito...it hurt hearing how much he kept denying it. He wasn't even alive during the time Kannon was around to be a hero. It should have been easier for him to believe me, but he didn't. I could tell by the way he questioned me.

Then again, Kaito trusted heroes; he always had. Hearing that one took a villainous path was probably the last thing he wanted to hear, especially since we had to do a project together about him. It probably didn't help that he was hearing me of all people claiming to be his daughter.

Mr. Elastic sighed. "You know, it's weird. I remember working with him, but I don't have any memories of working alongside him that I can pinpoint. How did you get your information?"

I drew in a deep breath. "From him. He was the one who wanted Nightshade, the pink-haired villain from the library, and Goro to find me. They tricked me at the Musutafu Hero Festival, and from there, I-I was taken to him, where he explained everything."

"Oh Tami-tan," Sakura's voice broke.

I looked up just in time to see my best friend walking towards me with her arms outstretched. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes, but she didn't let them go. She fought to keep them in, even when she pulled me into a hug.

"I can't believe you went through all that," Sakura softly said so that only I could hear. "That must have been terrifying."

My lips pressed together as I felt my body shaking. It wasn't because of her touch. I was shaking because she was right. Every second I had spent there, I had no idea what was going to happen. The longer I was there, the worse that fear got as I started to worry what my friends would think.

As much as I wanted to cry, I couldn't. I was too exhausted. A part of me wanted to fall asleep, but I knew if I tried, I wouldn't be able too. Not when there were other things to worry about.

"They have Ollie," I whispered to Sakura. "I can't imagine what they're going to do to him right now."

Sakura rubbed my back. "Don't think about that. We'll get him out of there. Then, that son of a bitch has hell to pay for all the shit he put you two through."

She pulled away and took a step to the side, allowing me to see Mr. Elastic, who now sat on the bed Kaito was laying on earlier. He kept shaking his head, as he looked down. His white hair flopped over his face, hiding his expression.

"From what Yamamoto and Sakai told me," Mr. Elastic said, "they're using your brother as bait to get you to return. They must need you for some reason. It has to be you, otherwise they would've left you Quirkless before you left."

"Not Quirkless," I explained. "Those people just forgot how to use their Quirk."

"Same thing when you think about it," Raiden's voice cut through. I snapped my head up, noticing him leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed. He didn't look too happy, but then again, it was rare to see him that way. "If you can't remember using a Quirk, then what is the likelihood of using it again? People usually learn about their Quirk at the age of four because their body can't suppress it anymore. If they forgot it, and their bodies are used to it, what are the chances of people rediscovering their Quirk?"

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about Oliver-kun losing his Quirk," Sakura said in attempts to lighten the situation. "And I'm sure we don't have to worry about them making him forget something because otherwise they wouldn't get your help."

Raiden opened his mouth to argue but stopped. It was almost as if he knew Sakura had a point. I could see where she was coming from, but I was still worried what Nightshade and Goro would do to him.

"Regardless, we'll need to play this safe," Mr. Elastic explained as he looked up at me. "We can't have them knowing you had help or that there will be help, so you're going to have to leave this school alone to make it look like you only got Oba here to safety. Reading that note, they'd probably want you back tonight."

My stomach tightened when Mr. Elastic said that. He didn't have to say anything else for me to realize what was about to happen. I didn't want to go back there. I didn't want to see that man ever again. I didn't want to witness one of Nightshade's nightmares again or be contorted into a human meatball one more time.

But Ollie was there.

"There has to be another way," Raiden's voice boomed.

"Really? I think this would be a good opportunity for Tami," Kaito's voice beamed. "True hero experience, who wouldn't want that?"

I glared at Kaito, but he wasn't looking at me; he was looking at Raiden. The two boys seemed to be having some sort of staring contest as they glared at one another, making me wonder what was going on. Kaito said they didn't really have time to talk to each other, but that didn't explain the tension I was feeling between the two of them.

Whatever was getting those two in a frenzy, I wanted it to stop.

All of this went unnoticed by our teacher. Either that or he simply ignored it all. He didn't react to what was going on. Instead, he just looked me in the eyes.

"Smith, I know you haven't had much training, but I need you to feel comfortable doing this. Whatever it is he wants, you have to be the one to stop it," Mr. Elastic explained. "I'll round up the other heroes to arrest him and stop all this nonsense once and for all, but until then, I need you to distract him. These villains can't have any idea that we're coming and need to believe you're only doing this for your brother."

Believe? That was all I would be doing this for. Ollie was my top priority, but I couldn't say that. Not at that moment.

"Once this is all over," Mr. Elastic added, "I'll make sure you and your family are safe from them. If you decide you still don't want to be a hero after all this is done, I'll make sure I can get you into the best school possible to get you on the right path."

It shocked me that Mr. Elastic knew. I turned my head to look at Sakura. She just smiled and mouthed the words, "we told him" to me. A soft smile crossed my lips as I looked past Mr. Elastic and saw Raiden still leaning on the doorway. He wasn't looking my way anymore. He was looking up at the ceiling with his eyes closed. With the way he reacted, I could only imagine he was only thinking of how bad of an idea this was, but I needed to do this. If not for Ollie, then I needed to do this to prevent him from hurting others.

There was no way I could move on knowing I sat around and did nothing. If I said that out loud, I knew Kaito would use that against me as to why I should be a hero, but there was a difference between being a hero and doing what was right. If I would sit here and be safe, Ollie's life would be in danger. After seeing that nightmare where he disappeared before my eyes, I couldn't let that become a reality.

That was the only reason I let myself go to this school because Ollie wanted to be a hero. He couldn't. If I continued to go down the path of becoming a hero, and if something were to happen to him, I'd blame myself for not doing enough. It would torment me.

I didn't even say a word as I looked at Mr. Elastic. A smile crossed his lips, understanding what I was about ready to do as I stood up. "If you go into your homeroom, you should be able to find your hero costume on your desk. You might find it helpful."

I nodded my head as I walked out of the room, not daring to look back at either Kaito or Sakura. I couldn't. If I took a look back at Kaito, I'd feel guilty for making him think I was something I was not. If I looked back at Sakura, she might make me not want to leave as she understood what I was going through.

Those were the only two I was worried looking at. I didn't expect my other friend to be the hardest as I past him to get through the door. As I turned to go to our homeroom, I felt his hand wrapping around my wrist. I turned around, seeing he was still avoiding eye contact as he looked away.

"Don't do anything stupid," Raiden warned.

I bit the inside of my mouth. Of all the things he could've said, I wasn't exactly surprised that he'd say that. My eyes trailed down to my wrist, seeing his hand wrapped around it. It was almost as if he was telling me to stay, despite knowing I needed to leave.

Things would have been easier if I had just stayed. In all honestly, I wanted to. There was no way I wanted to face any of them once again, especially so soon. It was just that they had my brother. As long as they had Ollie, I couldn't let myself stay still.

Raiden squeezed my hand before his hand dropped to his side. Despite being free from his grasp, I stood there for a moment, taking one more glance at everyone in the hospital wing. Kaito wasn't paying attention anymore as he was sitting beside Mr. Elastic, talking to him in a soft voice that I couldn't hear. Sakura kept her eyes on me, giving me an encouraging smile, but all at the same time, I could see her eyes trailing over towards Raiden, who still wasn't looking back at me.

My free hand wrapped around my wrist as I tried to remember his touch. Was it his way of encouraging me to get through this or was it something else? He didn't seem so keen on me going, but was that because he knew I was uncomfortable with it, or the fact that I wasn't ready? I was never ready for anything in our hero classes. Maybe that was why he seemed a bit on edge.

"Don't worry," I told him. "I-I'll come back."

Before anything else could be said, I walked away from the hospital wing and headed straight towards the 1-A classroom. I knew if I had hung around any longer, I would've chickened out. Maybe Sakura would've said something that forced me to stay or maybe Kaito would've made some comment that would've agitated me to go. In all honesty, I really didn't want to do this.

But, I had to do this, I thought to myself over and over again. I have to do this for Ollie.

Author's Note:

Hi there. Before I get to this chapter's question, I want to give y'all a heads up. I was rereading/editing the next few chapters of this book when I noticed a lot of repeats on how each chapter starts and end...I didn't like it. So, I'm reconstructing those chapters now, maybe adding a chapter or two if it changes things completely. Because of this, this story will be on a short hiatus. No worries, it shouldn't take too long as there's not many chapters left. In the meantime, I have some extra tidbits that I'll publish, so the wait won't feel too terribly long. I just can't estimate if this story will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but know that once chapter 34 comes up, there won't be anymore pauses as I'll have it finished.

What I can promise is that we will see what Tami's hero costume looks like in the next chapter. With that said, what hero costume from the anime (or Marvel/DC universe, or any hero-like character, if you're not sure) is your favorite? I have to say, there's a lot of cool looking costumes, and I'm excited to hear which one is your favorite.

Character Spotlight: Mr. Elastic
Quirk: Stretch
Likes: White Hair Dye.

Song: Rise by John Dreamer