"Y'know, Dazai, sometimes I think life wouldn't be worth living if I wasn't saving others," Midoriya says to him in the quiet of the morning, looking down at the palm of his hand contemplatively. Dazai is only awake ridiculously early in order to have a smoke, but Midoriya finds him before he can make his way back to the lodge.

"Maybe it's not worth it at all." Dazai pauses, shaking his head. "I need some coffee. Goodbye, Midoriya."

The third day of training camp begins as normally as one would expect it to. They all eat breakfast, run laps, and sweat until they can't anymore. The grass is still wondrously green and the sun beats down on every person. The trees attempt to provide slivers of shade, but the blithering summer heat prevails.

The issue with the area is that it's off-grid, and therefore out of the data range. If only the League of Villains had the decency to scout out the area properly before their grand invasion! Dazai would've easily stolen their data for himself. Instead, he's had to dedicate his hard-earned break time to surveying the area himself. Escape routes, nearest landmarks, etc. He would've set up a wifi router too, but in the time span and limited space available, it's not conceivable.

If only the League of Villains prepared more, really. Slacking off provides fruitless considering Aizawa is watching him like a hawk. Dazai finds himself wondering - will he be blamed for the attack? It's not like he's the right mole in this instance, and he doubts Chuuya would be the one revealing anything about Dazai's schooling life to those crazed murderers. Dear old Chibi's brain is certainly not that small!

"I don't want to go in, I'm scared!" Dazai cries, forlorn, swatting his hands in the air and grasping onto whoever's closest. He claws his fingers into the unfortunate arm of Bakugou, who efficiently shakes him off with a grumble.

God knows what will happen when he's caught in the MIDDLE of an attack. What if this Dabi fellow burns down the forest? Cooked Dazai is not on the menu tonight.

The rest of the class clearly does not share the sentiment with him, by the variety of annoyed gazes levelled at him. Indeed, nobody values safety as much as he does, and that says something.

"Come on Dazai, don't tell me you're afraid of the dark!" Ashido goads.

"Nonsense! I am simply worried - oh, Dazai, whatever do you mean? - well, for one, it is awfully dark out here. What about the bugs? What if I trip!? My poor, scraped knee... I'm already feeling the pain!"

"I am sure the teachers have considered the safety of all the students for this exercise! The UA teaching standards are impeccably high and explicitly state on page 329 of the UA handbook that, and I quote, 'All teaching staff are required to put the safety of any and all students of the UA institution first and foremost.' -" Aizawa's blank stare provides little favour towards the supposed responsibility for students' safety. "- and as such, it would be unfair to assume that Aizawa and Vlad-sensei have not met UA's teaching standards," Iida verbosely stresses, paired with many exaggerated hand movements and an increasingly scrunched up expression.

A quaint silence cuts through the previous ranting. Dazai tries to look around inconspicuously, but stares pound into his head.

"Wow, Iida!" Uraraka exclaims and breaks the tense period, "You really know your stuff."

Nodding approvingly at Uraraka, his mouth begins to open with a tell-tale sign of another rant.

"Well." Dazai claps his hands together, interrupting the start of a boring monologue. "I now know that UA has a handbook."

"Oh, yeah, I'm adding that to my reading list," Kaminari snickers. Kirishima elbows him harshly, digging into the body of the other. Kaminari takes it badly, judging by the way he almost snaps in half. Just like a twig.

Aizawa clears his throat with a riveting effect. All the chatter dies down while the majority of the class stares at him with puzzled looks on their faces. The Pussycats were in charge of the test of courage, so what is their homeroom teacher doing there? Dazai already knows, of course.

"Those of you who failed your final exam will come with me," he asserts impartially, throwing a lazy thumb in the direction of the lodge. "Remedial lessons."

With that, Aizawa strolls away, unflinching at the fact that he's just crushed multiple young students' dreams. The few who failed (Kirishima - who ended up failing his written exam and not the practical -, Sato, Sero and Kaminari) sulk off to the main building. Dazai sees Ashido make her way to the back of the group, shushing anybody who takes notice of her. Iida shakes his head solemnly in disappointment.

Aizawa suddenly stops and turns his head very slowly towards the rest of the group. All of 1-A parts rapidly to reveal the pink-skinned student. One scowl from Aizawa leaves her scurrying like a mouse to catch up with the rest of them.

Pixie Bob explains the rules with unparalleled enthusiasm, and with each word, Jirou appears even more frightened. Tokoyami, on the other hand, looks absolutely ecstatic. Dazai is convinced he hears the bird-man nodding approvingly at the game, whispering 'Revelry in the Dark'.

Dazai shifts, feeling the cold metal of his handgun press against his shirt. It's safely concealed by his Mafia coat. Yes, people found the entire formal get-up odd, but that's their problem.

Actually, he had been properly grilled about it by Kirishima, asking him about 'the manly way', then Iida scolded him from a distance (loudly complained) and said that his attire was not suited to a training camp. Even after that, Monoma had made fun of him in the brief time that they saw each other after dinner. Dazai would describe his experiences as one of the seven layers of hell - or something. He sighs just thinking about it.

Pixie Bob waves around bunched-up slips of paper with numbers on them, hollering, "You'll all draw straws!"

Dazai trips Koda when he's just about to pick up a slip of paper. It's not personal - far from it, even. He just wants a good look at the numbers, which he gets when the Hero bends down to hold a helping hand. Dazai will not stand for being paired up - so he nominates himself to be the only one without a pair. Number 8 is the only single number, after all.

He's beaming by the time everyone has drawn their number.

"Ah first. Unlucky!" He peeks over at Tokoyami and Shoji's numbers, leaning around the latter's massive figure. Tokoyami startles slightly, shifting his feet, but Shoji only turns his head to look down at Dazai. He nods.

"This course will be most intriguing. It will truly test the darkness within me."

"Just eat a lamp," Dazai suggests, smiling maniacally. He tightens the tie across his neck. "It'll light up your digestion system."

"The metaphorical darkness in me," Tokoyami corrects his words with a sour expression. "I bid you a safe trip alone as the last group." Pixie Bob excitedly calls them over with the other three Wild, Wild Pussycats standing off on the sidelines. The two nod in sync as they leave.

"Well, it's also literal darkness, considering we don't have lights inside our stomachs. If we did, people would probably start harvesting them and it would become a large part of the black market. 'Here, here, get your rare everlasting lights! Batteries not needed!'. Wouldn't that be crazy!" Dazai realises they aren't listening to him anymore. He sends an icy glare at their backs, and he definitely sees Shoji shiver.

He spins around to meet Midoriya, paired with a seemingly calm Ojiro. Midoriya looks at him with sympathy for being the odd one out, but Dazai is ecstatic.

And now they wait. It's almost exciting, and dreadfully boring, to await this attack. He dances around the camp area with a certain jubilant skip in his step. Or maybe it's dread - he can never tell these days, really.

Right after group five - Uraraka and Asui - makes their way into the forest path, a certain fragrance contaminates the sky in the form of smoke. Dazai hates not being informed, but that's ok. He's a good strategist and an even better actor.

The burning smell soon begins a troubled domino effect between the remaining classmates congregated near him. There's panic for a few short seconds, before some pink glow encompasses Pixie Bob and plucks her into the air like she's a feather and slams her into a rock. He tries - he really tries - but he barely feels a glimmer of sadness for her.

Dazai watches with mild curiosity as two of the villains walk out. He feels ordinarily calm compared to Koda, who backs up slowly at the fallen figure of one of their instructors, or the rest of them. He's fine, because he knows Chuuya will save him if he's about to die. That slug wouldn't let him kick the bucket that easily.

The two criminals that are responsible for the intimidation are a large woman with a magnetic quirk and a lizard mutation stain fanboy. Magne and Spinner - Chuuya's reports detailed their quirks and personalities. Their monologue goes on for a while. About the League (or more specifically, the Vanguard action squad) and society's wrongdoings, and especially Stain.

Something pokes out behind Magne's body, the little grape-themed teenager - Mineta Minoru - who doesn't have an alias yet. He's a pathetic little thing, all snivelling compared to the big shots.

"Aw man, there are only men here," comes his squeaky voice. Despite the nonchalant exterior he attempts to project, his apprehension is displayed through his jerky movements. Dazai is sceptical of his villainous prowess. Among the crazed murderers and vengeful (also) murderers, his perverted nature pales in comparison.

Magne rolls her eyes at the comment. "Don't get cocky. If you weren't here so we could use your quirk, I'd be throwing darts at your balls."

Spinner wheezes, but their attention is quickly diverted when the battle begins to start. Mandalay screams for them to leave, and duly after, Spinner yells at Mineta to follow. He does obediently with tears in his eyes, just like a dog.

The five of them - Ojiro, Koda, Midoriya, Iida and Dazai - scurry away with urgent speed. They lose the useless faux villain in the thicket.

"I'm sorry!" Midoriya pants. "I have to go, Kota is out there all alone."

Iida reaches out to Midoriya, but his grasp misses and the boy disappears into the shrubbery in another direction. His fingers hover uselessly in the air as his gait slows. Iida scowls and turns to Dazai with wild, scared eyes.

"Did," he pauses, and gestures around weakly. "Did you do this?"

Ojiro and Shoji look between the two of them. Koda's expression is rather fearful, wondering why in hell they would be having an argument during this sort of crisis. Ojiro is careful and curious, Dazai reckons.

"Yes, Iida, I put this outfit on myself." Dazai raises an eyebrow at Iida. His expressionless eyes meet betrayed ones.

"You set us all up..." he mumbles. "I knew I should've told someone..."

"Iida, Iida..." Dazai tuts. "As much as you want to shove the blame on me, I didn't have any part in this awful plan," he explains cheerfully.

"Why are you accusing him of being a traitor?" Ojiro directs his question to Iida in a distressed state.

"He - Dazai - told me-"

"The small villain is coming," Koda announces quietly, letting a sparrow rest on his fingers.

"We'll discuss this later. Please?" Ojiro wrings his fingers together, but he sets out to walk with a determined gait.

Iida nods, his usual rationality taking over the swift panic he felt just a few moments early. Pragmatic as always. Dazai agrees too and happily skips away with them. They weave through the trees, taking a roundabout way back to camp in an attempt to avoid Mineta. They even have to trudge through a particularly muddy patch. Unfortunately, it takes them longer than they'd like to get through that.

"WAIT!" Dazai says.

All three of them turn to look at him, who's suddenly stopped. Iida crosses his arms.

"What is it?" Ojiro asks quickly, not wanting to dawdle anymore.

"I need to go to the bathroom. Go on ahead."

"We should stay together, considering the safety in numbers we have," Iida insists, pursing his lips. Dazai can feel Koda's quiet shaking, but he's still talking to the few animals that haven't fled from the fire.

"But... I'm shy..." Dazai trails off. There's a pregnant pause, probably because someone is about to yell at Dazai. "Ok, fine. I'll be two minutes."

He wanders into the forest to find a perfect bush to hang around in. He just needs to stay away from the lodge for a while longer and with all the forest, it makes it hard to tell where he is. Ah... if only there was a convenient signal...

...

Dazai walks through more bushes. It's stupidly repetitive. He spins around, twisting through the green shrubbery over and over again. The sky is filled with bright, shining stars - the city's ones are always too affected by light pollution. Yokohama is worse, with smog clouding over the city many mornings. Some mornings, it's so bad that a bit of it leaks into his shipping container. Yokohama was always an industrial city; long before quirks, even.

A stray hand dashes out of a bush and clasps around his wrist. Dazai lets himself get pulled down completely, feeling gravity pull him to the cold dirt floor.

"Aoyama," Dazai greets. "Hello."

Aoyama's trembling fingers loosely grasp around his. He heaves breaths, his other hand grasping at his chest with wide eyes. He tries to speak, but only strained and erratic puffs come out of his mouth. Dazai offers him no comfort.

They hide in the bushes side by side. It's a rather tight fit, but every time he tries to speak, his companion grips him so hard that he shuts up. His fingernails dig crescents into Dazai's fingers. The sound of confident voices comes into range, which causes Aoyama to pull one hand up to his mouth to suppress the panic.

"Since I'm the leader of the Vanguard Action Squad, I have to personally ensure the brat's cooperation and extend the invitation. You're more of a small-time villain who can only follow orders," someone boasts. Dabi is supposed to be the leader in the planning, so it must be him.

"Oh, really?" Chuuya clenches his jaw so hard that he pops a vein as he tries hard to contain his anger. The group comes into view. It's three people.

"I think Nakahara is great! - He has no initiative!" another voice chimes in. Twice, by the looks of it, who can't make his own mind up.

"Dazai!?" a clashing voice calls out to him. Ojiro strides cautiously nearby. "Are you over here? It's been six minutes..." he trails off, paling at the sight of three members of the League of Villains.

Ojiro stands completely still, hands balling up into fists. He sucks in a quick breath. From Dazai's position, he can see Iida and Koda approaching. As soon as Iida sights Dabi and the others, he jumps in front and holds an arm out. The attention of the three is caught.

"I knew I heard footsteps," Dabi claims lazily, walking toward the students with a flame dancing around his palm.

Twice skips around and Chuuya trails behind, disinterested.

Aoyama lets out a strangled whimper, trying to move Jirou - who is unconscious - closer to him. Hagakure is nowhere to be found, despite being Jirou's partner. Yaoyorozu is also missing, too.

Twice's eyes zero in on their bush. His eyes widen significantly in rapt curiosity.

"Is somebody peeping? How rude! - They must be skilled to spy on us!" he points to their hiding place. With a swift step, his two arms reach out into their bush and yank the two of them out. Jirou stays safe - for now.

Aoyama quivers on the ground on all fours, glancing up at Dabi and Twice, then to Chuuya. The ginger is off to the side, throwing a rock up and down in his hand, gazing at the scenario in disinterest. Dazai sprawls unapologetically on the dirt. Leaves tangle into his unbrushed hair and his gun digs painfully into his back.

Dabi looks closer at the two, illuminating their faces with his bright fire. He lights up in recognition at Dazai's face.

"Oh! Just who I was looking for!" Dabi exclaims eagerly, stretching the metal stapled to his face. "Who are you again? Yes - Dazai Osamu, you're on the list! Aren't you a lucky student?"

"Am I?" Dazai points at himself, giving Dabi a wide-eyed look. "I hope it's a hit list."

"You've been invited to our base by the prestigious leader of the League of Villains. In my opinion, you wouldn't want to meet that freaky guy." Dabi sneers.

"Shigaraki isn't that bad!" Twice defends aggressively, moving with real gusto.

"Wow, a whole entourage for me!" Dazai gushes and clasps his hands together at his chin.

"If you resist, we'll have to kill you."

"...Don't say that. What if he's suicidal?" Chuuya suggests awkwardly, scowling.

Dabi lets out a maniacal laugh, clutching at his stomach and doubling over. His voice echoes through the rage of the burning forest. Twice giggles alongside him with a kind of breathy laughter that buffers every few seconds.

"Aren't you interested, Dazai?" Dabi questions him, throwing his arms out. "Power! Your quirk - you don't like it much, do you? Shigaraki told me that he knew someone who could fix everything for you."

"Hah! It's like he's a faulty person!" Twice points at Dazai's cracking smile. A broken doll - he's heard that before.

"I'd rather die, honestly. It sounds tedious..." Dazai drawls, moving up into a sitting position. He blows a leaf off his shoulder.

Dabi's flame moves closer towards his head, catching a falling leaf on fire.

"Wait!" Dazai sputters. Dabi halts his actions with a curious expression. Dazai shakes his head. "I wasn't even done talking. I want to see Shigaraki. He sounds interesting."

"I was hoping that I'd be able to kill you," Dabi voices dully. "Oh well. Nakahara!" he calls to Chuuya, who throws the small rock into a nearby tree and splinters it.

He strides to Chuuya with confidence, looking back when Dabi mutters something about another target being captured. He catches his three classmate's stunned expressions.

"I thought you were better than this!" Iida yells tensely, eyes filled with such intense hatred that Dazai is taken aback for a second. It's an awfully pained expression - grief and betrayal strong. Koda and Aoyama both cower at the sight of Dazai as if he's a second away from attacking them. Ojiro's eyes are wide and unfocused. Iida says, quietly. "I thought... that we'd get through it all together."

He's perturbed by his own slight inner conflict. It's completely startling, just a single, tiny spark. He's not properly human, not really, so how can he feel disturbed by the betrayal?

Dazai's face is carefully blank, tired and useless as it is often. His face turns to Chuuya sporting an equally confused expression.

"Shall we go, gravity boy?" Dazai suggests with a sly grin. He bows down to Chuuya's height with dark, blank eyes.

Chuuya doesn't answer for a few moments, then murmurs to Dazai. "I said some shitty things the other day, too."

Dazai smiles even wider. Chuuya grabs a fistful of Dazai's black coat, and without warning, launches them at a speed almost parallel to one of those fancy bullet trains. He watches as his classmates are launched in the direction of the lodge as a result of their blast-off. Even while pretending to be a villain, even Chuuya has some humility.

He can see the stars better from the height, at least.