Immediately after morning homeroom, the Class 1-A classroom was a confluence of eerie calm and smoldering tension—like the sea after a storm. Though everything appeared serene on the surface, the undercurrent still carried the shockwaves of yesterday’s USJ invasion.
The students sat with their books open, yet their eyes kept drifting toward the back of the room.
Yesterday’s overwhelming villain attack.
And the one individual who had played the most unexpected role in it.
Marumine Tori.
As usual, he was lounging in the back row by the window, chin resting on his hand, watching the trees sway in the schoolyard with languid interest. His demeanor suggested as if the previous day’s attempt to drive a metal spike into a man’s stomach had never even occurred.
Slide.
The front door opened softly—so unlike the usual rough entrance.
The massive blond hero, All Might, entered. But instead of his signature confident smile, his face was obscured by a heavy, troubled shadow.
"Young Marumine,"
All Might’s resonant voice shattered the classroom’s stillness.
"Could you… come to the Student Guidance Office for a moment?"
Every pair of eyes in the class fixed on Tori—filled with worry, curiosity, and a hint of fear.
Tori slowly turned his head to regard All Might.
"Ah, I figured as much," he remarked.
Reluctantly, he rose from his slouched position behind the desk.
"It would have been nice if you had just come by to ask what's for lunch," he added with a light-hearted jest.
Watching him stand, Bakugo Katsuki furrowed his brow while Yaoyorozu Momo bit her lip. They sensed immediately that this was no ordinary inquiry.
The air in the reception office was oppressively heavy.
On a table cushioned by high-quality leather sofas rested three teacups, still exhaling gentle streams of steam, yet none dared touch them.
Nezu, the Principal of U.A., sat in the center of one sofa with his legs crossed, while Aizawa Shota—his eye partly hidden beneath bandages—stood nearby. All Might, having brought Tori along, occupied the opposite sofa; he sat a short distance away rather than directly beside Tori.
Tori dropped into the seat assigned to him and loosened his tie.
"This atmosphere is brutal. It feels just like an interrogation room," he quipped.
Even so, Nezu did not smile. With a deliberate motion, the mouse-like Principal slowly traced the rim of his teacup with a finger before speaking.
"Let me get straight to the point, Marumine," he said, his black eyes piercing Tori.
"Your actions yesterday—your so-called 'negotiation' with Kurogiri and Shigaraki Tomura at the entrance of USJ."
"Yeah. Well, I did that," Tori replied nonchalantly.
"Your conduct during that encounter—what you did and said—was dangerously reckless. You thrust a lethal weapon into a subdued villain’s body, issued death threats, and essentially staged a hostage situation," Nezu stated, pushing a tablet PC across the table. The screen displayed unedited surveillance footage from the previous day along with reports from the responding police.
"Of course, your actions ultimately led to the best possible outcome—everyone survived. No one disputes that. But the means are entirely different. In today’s society, a hero is judged not only by the results but also by the legitimacy and ethics of the process. Power absent those elements only instills fear in the public."
Nezu’s calm, logical tone rendered his words all the more chilling.
"It’s inevitable—your actions will be exposed to the media. We can’t silence every student. Someone will go home and tell their parents, and someone else will message a friend. Rumors like 'Our class representative tried to kill a villain' will spread like wildfire."
All Might lowered his head, his giant fist clenching tightly on his knee. The thought that his own student was under such interrogation because he hadn’t been there weighed heavily on him.
"Young Marumine… we aren’t here to condemn you," All Might said somberly.
"We want to protect you. But the scrutiny of society is merciless. They’ll label you with terms like 'attempted murder,' 'excessive force,' and even claim that your mindset is no different from a villain’s. The media will seize upon it, twisting your words into provocative headlines."
"So,"
Aizawa interjected in a low, measured tone, his single visible eye fixed on Tori.
"The school must prepare an official statement, and your testimony is essential for that."
Nezu continued, "We plan to position you as a 'victim who, in a moment of extreme terror, acted impulsively to protect his friends.' We’ll argue that there was no intent to kill, only a panic-induced defense mechanism. We can even secure a doctor’s note stating that your judgment was impaired by mental shock."
Clasping his hands, Nezu spoke softly yet inexorably, "That, Marumine, is your way out. We need you to offer a confession that elicits public sympathy—something like, 'My actions were too violent,' 'Attempted murder was wrong,' 'But I had no choice because I had to save my friends'… something along those lines."
It was a meticulously crafted scenario.
The combination of your status as a student, the unusual circumstance of a villain attack, and the mitigating factor of fear could position you as a heroic scapegoat, ensuring you escape unscathed.
There was just one catch: you must lie.
Silence descended in the room. Tori continued to stare blankly at the ceiling until the steam from the teacups dissipated.
Uncrossing his legs, he leaned forward, a wry smile appearing on his lips.
"So, to sum it up, that's the deal, right?"
He tapped the table lightly with his finger.
"If villains claim to have human rights and heroes-in-training are accused of attempted murder… then to shield me from the crap storms of the world, you need my tears."
"The expression is rough, but you’re not wrong," observed Nezu.
"I refuse," Tori said flatly—a refusal that cut sharper than any blade.
Nezu’s ears twitched imperceptibly, and All Might looked up while Aizawa maintained his impassive gaze.
"I don’t know if you realize, but I despise big lies," Tori continued.
"A lie?"
Nezu attempted to persuade him, "This is a strategic response—for the sake of your future…"
"Strategy or not, a lie is still a lie," Tori countered.
Leaning deeply into the backrest, Tori’s posture exuded the nonchalance of a habitual slacker, yet his eyes gleamed with icy determination.
"I’m lazy. I fake illness to skip class, and I spin tall tales of magical heroics just to impress girls," he confessed.
Glancing briefly at Aizawa before continuing, he added, "I say things that anyone would recognize as lies, and I act with a shameless, untrustworthy attitude, but I’ve never resorted to cowardly excuses for my choices."
Turning his gaze to All Might, he stated firmly, "In that moment, I believed it was the best option. And if I were thrust back into that situation right now, I’d do exactly the same thing—I’d drive the spike in, threaten to pierce their spine if things went south. It was the fastest, most certain way to end that crisis."
Not a tremor marred his steady voice.
Regret? Guilt?
Neither existed. Fully aware of the violence he had committed, he did not deny that it had been necessary.
"I don’t intend to clarify which of my words are true and which are lies to the world, but I won’t deceive myself with pathetic falsehoods. Everything that happened was my choice."
The atmosphere in the Principal’s office felt as if they were submerged deep underwater—with every breath, a sticky silence clung to each lungful.
Aizawa Shota blinked his bloodshot eyes. Though dryness threatened, he knew it wasn’t the moment for eye drops. His gaze remained fixed on the student sitting off-center on the opposite sofa: Marumine Tori.
"I hate lies," echoed in the stillness.
The words Tori had just spat out lingered in the air.
The strategy of contrived repentance that Principal Nezu proposed—perfectly rational in the adult world as a survival tactic—was devised to minimize social fallout, preserve the school’s reputation, and, above all, secure the student’s future.
Yet Marumine had rejected it.
Not out of arrogance, nor from ignorance.
There was a profound weight in his refusal—a rare purity that spurned the idea of shifting responsibility for his actions onto others or circumstances.
Aizawa silently mused, 'This stubborn brat.'
To adults, such obstinacy might seem foolish.
But at its core, it boiled down to a single, uncompromising truth:
The measures he took to stop a villain intent on harming his classmates were his own. Marumine Tori had neither the cowardice nor the duplicity to offer feeble excuses by society’s standards.
He drove in that metal spike.
He threatened to pierce a spine.
He revealed his lethal intent.
Every action he took in that moment was, in his eyes, the best possible choice—and he embraced its consequences entirely as his own.
"Don’t all cool heroes say in interviews that when the moment’s truly urgent, your body moves before your mind can catch up?"
Tori tossed the remark casually, a self-deprecating smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Sure, my body might have been more inclined to puncture a villain’s gut than to save a life, but hey—haha," he added with a wry chuckle.
All Might’s broad shoulders twitched at the joke, and Aizawa’s narrowed gaze fixed intently on Tori’s face.
Despite his playful tone and light demeanor, the determination in his eyes remained unshaken.
He wore a proud expression.
This was a moment of confronting murder and owning up to violence—a situation where any ordinary student should be wracked with guilt, pleading innocence, or paralyzed by fear.
Yet not a shadow marred Tori’s face.
There was only the relief of having defended what mattered, and the calm acceptance of the price that came with it.
That face… never looked like that of a villain.
Aizawa pulled his goggles down and exhaled deeply, feeling a surge rising from within his chest—a shiver of excitement.
'This is… Marumine Tori,' he thought.
At that moment, Aizawa was peering into the depths of the boy before him.
'This is this man's Origin.'
Everyone has an Origin—a core motivation that defines their existence and compels them to risk everything on the battlefield.
All Might had his vow to be the Symbol of Peace, saving people with a smile.
Endeavor harbored a burning ambition to one day surpass All Might.
And for this boy, Marumine Tori...
'To be true to my own life.'
That was his foundation.
He despises inconvenience. He loathes putting in any effort, preferring instead to skate by with minimal trickery. Skipping class was routine. He flirted with girls, pursued pleasure, and casually ignored school rules.
To any onlooker, he appeared as a delinquent—nothing like the stereotypical hero.
Yet, he never deceives himself.
When the values he cherished were threatened, he discarded his mask without hesitation.
Unburdened by the societal facade of a “hero-in-training,” he revealed the raw, unfiltered determination of who he truly was—Marumine Tori—when protecting his friends.
And now, faced with the adults’ insistence that he deny his actions, he was choosing once again to be honest with himself.
Even if that choice led to his ruin, he would rather embrace destruction than a life built on self-deception.
What a reckless, dangerous, and astonishingly dazzling ego that was.
Aizawa had to admit it.
This brat is still a student.
He may be infamously lazy, fond of tall tales, and even one who threatened a villain—but he never lies to himself.
And because of that, he’s a bit clumsy, a single, stubborn delinquent.
Marumine Tori.
And I, for one, am a teacher.
A teacher exists to protect their students.
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