There was a fire within Luke's heart, burning so hot that his entire face had gone red.
He didn't know how he reached the Conference Hall and sat down in his seat.
But when he did, Nyx and Melissa were already there.
[Not the time to lose your cool, Luke,] Miss Justice constantly chatted with him, placating his mind. [You are not only Luke. You are Dr. Blessed—Leader of the Apostles of Mr. Fool. There is much at stake here. Remember.]
Luke closed his eyes.
His hand rested on the table's edge, brushing against it over and over.
[Use it…] Miss Justice said with a sigh. [… Divine. Decrypt. Deliberate. That's who you are.]
Luke took a deep breath and looked at the two girls. "I am alright," he said, bringing a smile to his face. "Leave me alone for some time. Ms. Shield, find the recent sightings of the Claws and Shie Hassaikai members. Raven, try to see a pattern if you can. I am granting you a High Intelligence Quirk."
With that, Luke snapped his fingers.
Sharing a concerned glance, the two Apostles nodded and stormed back toward the Control Room.
Luke slowly got up, brought out a notebook and pen, and began writing.
First things first, he noted down all the details he had on the Claws and the Shie Hassaikai.
Iron Mentor had already reported how the groups had ended up fighting with each other, resulting in a loss of life.
Luke noticed a discrepancy instantly.
Why would Overhaul visit the Claws and not the other way around?
Decrypting, Luke concluded that it must be related to a Claw who would have taken Overhaul to meet Shigaraki.
He hurriedly scribbled a question in the notebook and divined its veracity.
Yes, the pendulum said, rotating clockwise—it was Twice.
The Hero Public Safety Commission must have reached out to Father, Luke deliberated. Twice has already shown that he can summon a copy of Stain—the one with multiple Quirks. Unlike the Nomus, the multi-Quirk version of Stain is not only intelligent, but much smarter than many Pros. Not to mention, he also possessed inhuman killing instincts, especially when it comes to Heroes. I see…
He remembered the Training Camp Incident, where not one but two copies of Stain had appeared.
The Commission must have been aiming to take out Twice ever since then, Luke decrypted. Instead of using their blade—Pro Hero: Hawks—they went for Sand because of the latter's lack of presence in the Hero records. Combined with the fact that Sand had already worked with the government to assassinate high-value targets, the Commission went straight to the Head of Saionji Co. to activate the sleeper assassin once again.
This meant that if not All Might, then Nezu, at the very least, knew of this assassination plot.
Luke divined the statement and received a positive result, nodding to himself.
Decrypting, he concluded that it must have been the Principal who had not only authorized the strangely lengthy leave of absence, especially around the time when the Provisional Hero License Exams and Semester Exams were taking place, but had also acted as a backup if Sand needed further assistance.
Deliberation told him that the UA students' involvement in several incidents related to the Claws of Conformity must have driven Nezu's decision.
Writing everything down, Luke could see a path opening up for him.
Recalling the video footage, he decrypted that Sand must have cornered the target after realizing that Jin Bubaigawara was indeed Twice.
That was where things became a little complex.
Luke distinctly remembered Sand's MO—strike first, think later.
There was no way Sand had recognized that Jin was Twice and hadn't instantly attacked to kill the Villain.
Even if Overhaul and the others had been around, they couldn't have teleported right next to Twice to save him.
Both Decryption and Deliberation told Luke that the only way Twice could have survived Sand's assassination attempt was if someone else had been there with the two of them—someone who had been keeping an eye on either Twice or Sand, but clearly in Twice's favor.
Definitely not another Claw, Luke concluded, as it would have caused a great ruckus.
But there was no such report.
This meant that this third person belonged to the Shie Hassaikai.
That was why Twice must have taken Overhaul to meet Shigaraki—as a thank-you.
That made the identity and status of the third person extremely crucial, as it would give clues not only to Sand's situation, but also to why the Shie Hassaikai had been following either Sand or Twice.
Luke hurriedly wrote down several questions, divining which member it could be.
All came back negative.
That left… only one.
Luke's eyes narrowed.
It couldn't be Kannagi, as the boy was just too precious to Overhaul. Moreover, given the boy's abilities, following someone without knowing the destination was pretty much pointless. That meant…
Luke didn't even need to divine.
Decryption was enough to tell him that it was the Sequence 5 Wraith!
[And remember that Compound Erasure is not perfect,] Miss Justice added. [The Wraith's possession is enough to keep Sand imprisoned. Also, even if Overhaul used the drug on him, it wouldn't be permanent. When you divined Sand's state, the outcome was hopelessly negative just because of the possibilities surrounding the Wraith and Erasure, I guess… no?]
Luke nodded heavily.
There was no doubt about that.
This suggested that despite being doomed, Sand… was alive and well… for now.
"Overhaul would definitely use Sand as a bargaining chip to draw the Claws or as a shield against the Heroes," Luke deliberated. "So, until the Pros raid the Shie Hassaikai…"
[… they cannot harm Sand!] Miss Justice shouted.
Luke tapped the table's edge, his eyes narrowing further.
This entire development had made the situation even more complex for him.
If he later went after Sand as Dr. Blessed, the Wraith would rather discard him and disappear instead of continuing to use him and his Quirk against the Pros to make them think Sand himself had defected to the Villains.
So, he must save Sand not as Dr. Blessed, but…
"Sigh…" Luke wrote a final question and divined. "Let's see who will accept a delinquent like me for an Internship…"