"my silence is not weakness,

but the beginning of my revenge."

-Unknown

Each and every person (thing?) was visibly still; it was like they were statues. Perfectly frozen in place with not a single tremor or movement. Deku's eyes managed to see a few capable of movement, a look of shock in their eyes. It didn't seem like they were the same type of creature that the surrounding puppets were. It also confirmed his conjecture. Not all of these puppets were, well, puppets. There had to be at least one controller among them.

He just hadn't expected two-, no, three of them in total.

But it made sense the more he thought about it, as that knight had flinched when Gray's voice rang throughout the hall. That was reacting to a stimulus, and reacting to stimuli was an undeniable sign of a living being. It was one area where puppets were inferior, but that also begged the question; why did they react to the name Zero? It was a complete and utter mystery. Usually, a puppetry quirk of this quantity operated based on coding in information beforehand as there was no way that a human could possibly control and get back all the input at once from this quantity of them (Quite a lot had tried, but quite a lot had gone insane).

Either the guy who coded the puppets was an unbelievably cautious bastard that planned for each and every situation possible (highly unlikely), or he was controlling his many puppets manually. That left only one possible person suspect. There was only one person who could do this-

"...Kozuke Ieyasu? I didn't think you were in affiliation with this Cafe?"

A skinny figured covered in a thin and tattered robe at the back twitched, just slightly, but it was enough for Deku to notice amid the sea of statues.

"I definitely know you're here now. But it all makes sense... You're the reason that this cafe can seemingly be in so many places at once and why dead members can 'come back to life'. There were even widescale gossip and conspiracy theories about the existence of a 'revival quirk' for a period of time. It was only was put to rest when one of you, I'm guessing real members, died. Your leader."

The whole room was drenched in such silence that not even crickets if there were any, would dare to make a sound.

And then it was broken.

The figure at the very back, Kozuke Ieyasu themselves, slowly walked forward, each footstep resounding throughout the sound starved room. It was like she was a monarch as the creatures fell to their knees in a kneel as she walked in their general direction. Slowly, she made her way to where Deku sat shakily upright, the pool of blood still underneath him and growing larger from the cut on his stomach.

"...I won't talk about how you know my name. But why, how... How do you know his name? How do you know our leader's name?"

That... That threw everyone for a loop.

"That was the leader's name?"

"Ieyasu actually spoke of him... I never thought the day would come."

And, of course-

'Zero?! Zero was the leader of the Cafe?! That... If that is the case, then why did he fake his own death?'

"Silence!" It was amazing how fast sound fled the room. "Tell me, stranger; how do you know that name?!"

'...I was two options. I can lie to her face, or tell her the truth... Lying wouldn't be conducive to my aims, at the moment. I have no doubt that Ieyasu knows a great deal about this leader of theirs from her reaction. The chances that I can get away with a lie are minimal at best. The truth it is.'

"I met him a long time ago. He was my teacher, for a period of time. I'm seeking him out now because I have a job for him."

Deku could only see a pair of eyes narrow into slits before a lightning-fast specter appeared in front of him.

But it didn't make it far.

A hissing, almost animalistic torrent of lightning flared wildly around him, the human members of the Milka Cafe looking behind them on instinct with astonishment; the little lightning spirit had funneled out of the walls of metal so subtly that no-one had even noticed. Now, it was back by its master's side to protect it and she would ensure one thing; none of these bastards would ever touch so much as a hair on his head again.

In truth, Gray was feeling very guilty about the whole situation, more than she should, considering the situation she was entrapped in. But still, she was his quirk. She was supposed to protect him. But in the face of smart, powerful enemies, her usual wasn't enough. And she had been hopelessly trapped while her master walked the tightrope of death and almost died - the only reason he was alive was because of sheer luck.

She honestly didn't even know what she was saying when she motivated him to spit out that fateful word. Even after absorbing several human's worths of intelligence and memories, she still didn't know how his mind worked at times. Despite living in it. Despite doing her best to manipulate it, even changing it at times in the hope that he would just get better.

(It was a fact that without Gray's efforts to patch up and increase certain volumes of feel-good hormones in Deku's brain, that he would be even worse. The depth of depravity and despair that she saw each time she did her best to fix it scared her. It made her scared for him.)

But she had been trapped by that atrocious formation of metal and could only watch as he suffered and almost died.

And her situation wasn't some retarded novel written at the hands of a 15-year old (it was just a semi-retarded one); she wasn't going to gain some insane burst of power from sheer emotion. Power needed energy and she had already been putting in her max when that sword fell down on Deku; there simply wasn't enough time for her to get there. But now that she was here...

She'd be damned if she let anyone else touch him ever again.

The figure in the robe stepped back with only a slight grimace visible between the folds of their robe. Despite the fact that they had managed to contain Gray earlier, it was only with the combination of several puppets and a headache on Ieyasu's part that Gray had been able to be contained. And it was common knowledge that elemental types were more powerful the closer they were to their master; that was the reason that quirk users for ice or earth didn't just snip everyone from afar and also why the people that could do that were seen as a nightmare.

Deku was kind of at that level, but the separation was just enough to make it hard for Gray to break through barriers.

The figure in the robe seemed to have made her decision, though-

"...If you were indeed his student, I wouldn't have stopped you but there's one thing that I cannot permit, no matter who you are. I won't let him assassinate someone ever again. If you don't want that kind of task from the leader, I will tell you... But if it is, you die here, green boy."

-there was no guarantee it would be beneficial to Deku.

'...Dammit, that's exactly what I want him to do. But he's the only one who can do it. He's the only one that can kill All for One. I could lie, but I'm fairly certain that the zombie at the back can tell if it's truthful or not. It's the other reason that I chose to tell Ieyasu the truth. I wasn't certain, but there's definitely a green glow that shows up when I speak. That fact that she looks back proves it as well.'

"Ieyasu-san, before I say anything, will you promise to listen to everything... I say in its entirety?"

He was finally starting to feel the blood loss intensely, but he didn't let it distract him. He'd have to live through this before he could worry about that.

"'If you are planning to make him do something like that, I don't need to listen to you, just die-,' is what I would normally say... But since you're his student, say it. I'll kill you once you're done. I will never let him kill anyone ever again. It would just be pointless words, green boy."

His red eyes were full of, what seemed to be, unfounded confidence. But there was a reason for it.

"Even if I said that Zero, your leader, and my teacher, could finally have the chance to have the revenge he always wanted against All for One himself? I'm sure that you, being Kozumi Ieyasu and all, would appreciate the opportunity I'm giving to the two of you as well."

There was dead silence throughout the room. Ieyasu's eyes were wide and filled with complete and utter surprise.

"Miss Ieyasu. Do you want to kill me now?"