I t s     t i m e . . .

~O~

Hitoshi Shinsou would like to blame Nezu for his current predicament. Being the traitor wasn't exactly fun, especially not when a rat was manipulating your moves, how ironic. Class-1-A was hard to get around, he would admit. At least going about Class-1-B was easier. It was way easier actually. It wasn't just the fact that since Class-1-A had always been more prone to danger, they had their instincts honed accordingly and thus every little move of his as the traitor was endangered to either get detected immediately or shrugged off as everyday things.

That made it harder for him to decide how to make a move.

He was left conflicted after the first day despite not doing much at all. He just had get out of his bed at one in the morning, walk to Ground Beta and upload some files in Nezu's computer at three. Nothing big. The problem began the very next day when the class divided the investigation and searched in every possible direction. Security cameras, computer files, the fake city itself...
Shinsou figured they would prove to be more difficult than 1-B then and there. Alas, his time of laughing at hero course students in Nezu's office while sipping grape juice from a wine glass came to an end.

If 1-A was tough, he would be too.

That was the plan but the very next day he was told the real traitor made a move.

Later on he learnt that the real traitor tempered with the files and replaced his with some others.

Rude.

He then teamed up with Hatsume to set up the case for day two. She cut off the power throughout the campus while Shinsou made haste to reach the abandoned classroom on the second floor, the one Aizawa told him that they would be using for the second case. The moment he arrived at the second floor, he heard a noise. Someone knocked something over in the classroom next to the designated one. That was strange...? There shouldn't be anyone in the main campus at that time. At least, no one other than him and Hatsume. But the pink haired girl was downstairs and he was alone. Then who was it?

'The traitor?' A voice at the back of his head suggested and honestly, that couldn't be it, could it? This easily...

On instinct, the purple haired boy stepped into the other room. He used the flashlight he brought along to study the environment of the room, to see who was there. But he found no one. The only thing that seemed to be unusual was a knocked over chair, presumably the source of the noise that drove him here in the first place. But where was the person who knocked it over? Surely someone fast as to escape the scene before he arrived from literally the next room. Who could it have been...?

Shinsou walked in further, next to the fallen chair. He looked over the desk next to it and found fresh blots of what he would like to think was red ink. The purple haired boy looked around the room more closely after that but alas, he spent nearly ten minutes there but he still couldn't find anything else. Defeated, he decided to go back and complete what he was actually here for. Yes, the abandoned classroom. He had to set up the second case.

He was about to step into the hallway but retracted back into the shadows of the dark room as soon as he heard three pairs of footsteps coming closer. From their voices he recognized them as Midoriya, Aoyama and Uraraka. They were probably here to investigate the blackout. Well then, it wouldn't take them long to leave, right? Shinsou hadn't even started his work here yet so there was nothing to investigate on the second floor.

He mentally slapped himself when he remembered the knocked over chair and the red blots. Of course, there was something wrong. That stuff didn't just appear out of thin air, there was someone else other than them on that floor undoubtedly. But they didn't know that, only Shinsou did and he couldn't just throw himself in front of them. He'd rather just consult Aizawa after this. The raven haired man surely had to have already suspected something given how he was keeping an eye on them with the rest of the staff through security cameras. The three heroes in training talked in a quiet voice, the purple head couldn't clearly hear what they were talking about but they were definitely taking more time than they should to investigate a rather bland classroom. A few minutes later, they rushed downstairs again.

Strange, perhaps they figured out Hatsume was the cause of the blackout. When the purple haired boy regrouped with the teachers who were watching everything through the security cameras, he was told that those three found a note. Shinsou didn't leave a note, that's strange. But if it wasn't him then it had to be... That person who knocked over that chair,

The traitor...?

Was it really the traitor? Or some villains affiliated with them? Whoever it was, the cameras certainly didn't catch them. The old camera trick was played again the moment Shinsou entered the other room. A loop and an overlaid timer. The trick could only be done while the person was in UA, so they had to assume it were villains who left the note while the traitor worked on disrupting the footage. Although Nezu later on added that the traitor wasn't playing with the footages manually. The malfunction launched into his computer was the reason the cameras were being tempered with. It worked with a timer, when to ruin the footage, when to play the loop. The timing of each loop was planned in accordance to the traitor's moves.

That was why they were never caught.

Thus, the mystery of the note was left tangled again. And the very next day, there was a severed appendage that Shinsou would rather not talk about. Right now he was here, hiding behind a pile of cement bags stacked on top of each other at the faux construction site in Ground Beta. Just like before, he had been setting up the case for the next day but alas, the traitor made a move again. They were here. Right there somewhere hiding above one of the steel beans. Shinsou couldn't make out their shadow, let alone a face. But at least this time, the rat wasn't alone. They might've tried to get here quick and unnoticed given by how kicked up dust was the only thing that told him that someone was even here. Fast, the traitor was so fast. Just like last time.

But what for this time?

Shinsou presumed he wouldn't have to wait for the answer much longer as the sound of explosions came closer.

~O~

Bakugou knew it. Nezu didn't even need to complete his explanation of what happened with Midoriya when it had hit him. He knew who the traitor was, the real traitor. He just didn't seem to understand the smaller details of all... All this. He had questions, too many to be contained anymore. And as he followed the mysterious figure to Ground Beta, he suspicions only became truer and truer. He gritted his teeth as he allowed himself to be airborne with his arms outstretched behind him propelling him upwards with explosions.

He stopped once he landed on a fixated steel beam on one of the higher unfinished floors of the faux construction site. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead that he was quick to wipe away as deep breaths escaped his lips. Steadying himself he narrowed down his ruby red eyes at the figure standing in the shadows, still desperately trying to get out of his sight — they seemed to realize that any further movement would give away their identity so they seemed to have decided to settle amongst the shadows, either hoping the ash blonde wouldn't notice them or silently calculating an escape.

Bakugou, however, wasn't merciful enough to grant either of those. Without wasting another second he barked out commandingly, "Stop, it's useless now. Get out of there and face me, you coward."

They didn't move, as if they didn't even hear him. That didn't sit well with the ash blonde, "The fuck are you trying to play at, huh? Ignoring me... You know it pisses me off! Get out of there and face me before I come there and kill you myself!"

There was moment of silence which led Bakugou to almost believe that the traitor wasn't going to listen him at all and he might have to resort to violence. 'Almost' because a sigh soon came from the shadows, utterly defeated and tired. Nezu's words began to ring in the ash blonde's mind at that, "Do you want to know what really happened in Midoriya's room?"

Of course he did, what kind of question even was that. Looking back on it now, that was a pretty stupid starter. Damn rat. Anyone would want to know what in the world happened in there! Just who the hell was strong enough to actually almost kill Izuku Midoriya — the boy whose determination and pain tolerance were so top notch, they wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't even acknowledge death when the time comes and simply appear victorious with a smile gracing his lips. Then who? Just who was this traitor who managed to outdo that?

There was a sound of something shifting, had the traitor really accepted their defeat now? There wasn't any point in trying to run, Bakugou would catch them any way. Guess it was the only logical option left. To come face to face and settle it then and there. "And last but not the least, this is what happened in Midoriya's room——" He knew. He knew what happened. He knew it all too well. Everything became clear back when Nezu brought up the severed appendage afterwards.

The traitor cut off their own toe.

They took a step forth, still not out of the shadows.

The traitor was forced to do all of this.

A tired smile. Dull eyes. A glint of something metallic.

The traitor didn't even know what they were doing.

A few more steps, they — he was standing only a few feet away from the ash blonde.

All For One was the second person, the one who was controlling him. Although the control was wavering.

Putting his hands up in the air in defeat, emerald green eyes locked with the ash blonde's red ones.

It was a pinky toe. With an extra joint.

~O~

"It's Deku...?" Bakugou mumbled, a hand barely covering his mouth. Nezu wasn't even halfway through his theory on what occurred in the green head's room to leave him on bed rest. The principal stopped too, figuring it wouldn't do any good to voice the kid's own thoughts to him. What he needed to hear were the things he didn't know, the one things he didn't understand.

"Unfortunately, yes." Nezu added, "Everything we've seen connects back to him."

"What the fuck..."

"It is a confusing situation, yes. But its not impossible if we consider all the small details of the case. You most likely don't know of them, but they are the actual solid proof of my suspicion." Nezu explained, "Midoriya was alone in his room. There was no other person — none that I know of. Your knife that was used as the weapon for the attack had been missing the for a whole day and a half, you just didn't notice it until you decided to make salad as you said."

"Then... What the— Why the fuck would Deku do something so dumb? If he is the traitor, what the hell was he trying to prove? It only roughed up the case for us and I damn well know it didn't do any good to All For One. Then why—" Bakugou was cut off by Nezu,

"It was a suicide attempt."

"If we follow the timed pattern of the cameras, the three files you found were also launched with the malfunction — during the time All For One's control wavered and allowed Midoriya to slip in a message for help. Afterwards, he might've forgotten about it due All For One controlling him again for the rampage in the abandoned classroom. Although you can't say the control was fully stable, there are still a lot of things to unpack there." The principal sighed before ending with, "Yesterday, he managed to figure out what was happening with him... And his first instinct was to end it himself, then and there. The only reason he wasn't successful in doing so — and why the work so desperate and sloppy — was due to All For One's interference..."

"Did he... After he woke up, did he—"

"He hasn't yet tried to do it again but I doubt that he wouldn't. He's probably looking for an opportunity where he's alone. He can't just kill himself with All Might and Recovery Girl watching over him." Nezu replied.

"He'll fucking escape the moment they do as much as blink." Bakugou grouched.

"And that's why you are here," Nezu stated,

"Follow him when he does escape, make sure he lives. It isn't over yet."

~O~

"So, it really was you, huh..." Bakugou said, something akin to a smirk slowly appearing on his face.

Midoriya's expression didn't change, not at all; a defeated and tired smile with half lidded dead eyes. Apparently he changed out of the hospital gown before running away from the infirmary as he was dressed in the bloodied rags of what he was wearing prior to his suicide attempt. With his dull green eyes and bloodied bandages underneath, he positively looked like a walking corpse.

"Caught me red handed now, didn't you... Kacchan,"

~O~

I have no excuse as to why this rushed ass chapter was so late other than the simple fact that I'm lazy—

Did I mention this story took place somewhere before the war arc tho— oops

Also 90% of the comments on this chapter would be "i KnEw It-" lmao