A Moth Caught in a Spiderweb

After thinking it over, Uraraka Shige ultimately agreed to serve as bait.

After all, even if he refused, given Endeavor's personality in the original story, which had yet to change, he would probably choose to use him as bait anyway to deal with the fugitive "villain." But that would leave Shige completely on the back foot, far worse than agreeing and retaining some degree of initiative.

Besides, setting aside his displeasure at being used as bait and his feeling of being exploited, Endeavor's strength alone did provide a decent safeguard. Even if it was only for the sake of his responsibilities and performance as a "hero," he would protect Shige if that "villain" really did come after him.

"Tch..."

Rationally speaking, that was indeed true. But humans were emotional creatures, so after the young officer left, Uraraka Shige secretly muttered a couple of complaints.

"Honestly, treating someone who needs help like a piece on a board, something to be used. No wonder he could never surpass All Might and had to wait until he retired to take the No. 1 spot... I guess that's the difference between a 'professional hero' and a 'hero,' huh?"

That was what he said, but ultimately, Uraraka Shige couldn't do much about it. After all, unlike that "Quirkless" creep from before, who was a complete weakling in a fight and could even be taken down by him with a single combo...

This time, he was about to face a real "villain"!

And not like those "villains" from back then, who knew nothing but how to bombard their opponents and, even with superior firepower, had to use the presence of survivors and their greater numbers to suppress just three "heroes."

Rather, this "villain" lurked in the shadows and was meticulous, like a venomous snake that might spring out at any moment and sink its fangs into him with a fatal bite.

After all, back then, he had managed to take down three "villains" who had only been able to suppress those three "heroes" because they had enough firepower, the presence of survivors to exploit, and superior numbers.

And that had been because providence was on his side. The five "villains" had split up and never expected a kid who wasn't even a "hero" to suddenly enter the fight and attack them. Completely unprepared, they had fallen to his sneak attacks one after another.

Once the remaining two "villains" were on guard, he had been utterly helpless against them. In the end, he had been forced to provide information to the two "heroes" who could still fight, and it had taken their "Quirks" to bring down the last two "villains."

Although he had grown much stronger after a year and a half of effort, the "villain" he would face this time was nothing like those five from before.

Rather than "villains," those five were more like thugs-thugs who needed the power of their "Quirks" to be thugs at all. Without their "Quirks," they might have been no different from the creep he had taken down in one combo.

And over that year and a half, he had only grown from someone who needed to catch those three "villains" off guard with sneak attacks, as well as a bit of luck, to take them down, into someone who could face a "Quirkless" creep head-on and finish him off with one combo.

Anyone who had trained in combat for a while, even an ordinary "Quirkless" person, could do about as much as he had.

Some skilled martial artists could even incapacitate that creep with a single blow, instead of needing a series of attacks to do the same thing as he had.

Of course, that wasn't to say that was all he could do now.

But during the year and a half he had spent growing stronger, that fugitive "villain," who might soon come after him for revenge, had also planned and carried out one "man-made disaster" after another, escaping repeated pursuits by the "heroes" and the police.

Though that should have taken a toll on his condition, leaving him tired and the like, it was completely impossible for him not to have grown at all through those experiences.

What was more, the "villain" had already been back here for over a day. If he really intended to take revenge, that was enough time for him to make some preparations and give his mind a little rest.

So it was best to leave that "villain" to the professional "heroes."

"Sigh..."

After letting his thoughts wander, Uraraka Shige let out a heavy sigh. At the end of the day, there was really only one fundamental reason.

"I'm still too weak..."

He wasn't even confident that he could protect his family and win against a "villain" who had been on the run for a year and a half and suddenly returned for revenge. If that was the case, how could he possibly be strong enough to help when All Might fought All For One in another year and a half or so?

"Forget it... I'd better focus on what's in front of me for now. First I need to make sure I can survive the revenge that might be coming, safe and sound. I can worry about the future later..."

Noticing that his mood had suddenly sunk, Uraraka Shige pulled himself together and turned his attention elsewhere. Still, some lingering thoughts inevitably refused to leave his mind...

How could he ever repay All Might's kindness...?

On edge like this, Uraraka Shige spent another three days going about his ordinary routine. During those three days, just as the bait plan required, he showed no sign that anything was different from usual. He also told Ochaco and Terumi Genga, who went to and from classes and walked home from school with him, nothing about the possibility of a "villain" coming for revenge.

Then, today, Uraraka Shige was walking home from school with Terumi Genga and Ochaco as usual when the outer wall of a house beside them suddenly and silently burst outward toward the three of them, as if it had been subjected to a controlled blast with some kind of explosive.

Amid the flying rubble and billowing dust, a great opening had abruptly been blown through the outer wall by someone using a "Quirk." Or rather, it was precisely because someone had blasted a huge hole through the wall from the inside that rubble was flying and dust was billowing everywhere.

Uraraka Shige and the other two, who hadn't noticed it in time to dodge, were sent flying to the side by the sudden impact, which carried chunks of rubble with it. Through the dust spreading around him, Uraraka Shige could vaguely make out an indistinct figure beyond the hole in the outer wall.

At the same moment Uraraka Shige came under attack, a person surrounded by four police personnel in a room in an apartment building not far away suddenly opened his azure eyes and said:

"The moth has fallen into the spiderweb! It's started!"