Hello!
So 8 years is a long time to not post anything, but here we are! It's been a struggle for me to write these past few years. I've been on and off from it for a while now, but the idea for this fic came to me all at once, and I haven't stopped writing it since I started. I thought this would be a great opportunity to get my feet wet and start publishing things again. So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
I do not own BNHA
Hikari Ria had never been late to school in her life.
Until today.
What was it that people said? "There's a first for everything"? Or was it: "Bad things are blessings in disguise"? Something along those lines. Ria supposed that there was some truth in those sayings, though old and cliché—cultivated from lessons learned over generations, most likely.
But, at the very moment, as orange hair flew behind her catching in the wind, as a cat hissed as she passed, or as a hasty apology left her lips when she nearly hit an elderly couple with her bag,
Ria decided could care less about either of them, lessons and all.
Today was a beautiful day to ruin people's mornings, her own included.
In addition, she was fully convinced that the award for "Worst Class President in Tokyo" could have been given to her at that moment. There were quite a lot of things she had to do and think about that day, so many responsibilities she had to uphold. With the ending of the provisional exams a few days prior, she, her classmates, and her homeroom teacher were more than eager to get back into the thick of training. So, missing a day of school was not an option, even if she wanted to.
On a normal day, Ria thought that she was good at setting an example for her classmates. She was a stickler for the rules, and she made sure they all got to where they needed in time. It was her job as class president, wasn't it? To be there for her classmates and to ensure they were all fine and on track? Unfortunately, today was not a normal day.
Today, she was late.
And she was not late by a few mere minutes, mind you. By now, class had most definitely started. At this point, Ria fully expected to get kicked out the minute she stepped into the room. If not, she would probably be punished with a task that was both incredibly difficult or deeply taxing. Kanazawa-sensei was a bit of a sadist, after all. However, she knew she at least had to try to go.
So why was she late anyway? The answer was simple: she was babysitting.
Sleep is usually just a suggestion when one lived with a baby that woke up in the middle of the night and seemed to need something every two hours.
If anything, Ria was impressed. Her nephew had so much lung power and was able to cry so loudly and for so long that it really exceeded her expectations. Maybe that's what his quirk would be. She honestly had the utmost respect for all parents that loved their children.
Regardless. She shook her head to herself. With all those days she spent telling her fellow classmates to be punctual, how could she allow herself to be late? Ria could already hear them all making fun of her.
Eventually, she finally reached the gate of her school. Ria allowed herself a few seconds to stop and breathe, her hair a mess and sweat dripping from her forehead. Natsukashii High School was one of the smaller high schools she'd ever seen, and by now, its courtyard was empty.
It was a weird sight to see it so devoid of students that if Ria had not been in this distressing situation, she would probably enjoy the quiet. Grey eyes trained upward to look at one of classroom windows. Her class's window. Kanazawa-sensei would be mad and Ria could only imagine the punishment she'd receive at training that day. She cringed at the thought. But I'll live.
Having finally caught her breath a little, she began walking toward the front steps of the school. Her hand reached out to open the doors.
And then the world around her exploded.
That day, classes in U.A had already started when they were suddenly cancelled.
Class 1-A gathered around the television that morning, horror spread across all their faces. Midoriya could hear his classmates around him, as gasps and comments of surprise flitted around the room. Despite the noise, he could not bring himself to look away from the screen.
All he could see was fire.
"What we know so far is that three high schools in Tokyo have been simultaneously attacked by an unknown group. All three schools have been subjected to massive explosions, causing devastating harm to the victims and the surrounding areas. We are now receiving word that the death count has risen to two hundred people in the wake of this tragic attack. Civilians are asked to stay away from the area and evacuate as heroes respond to the situation."
"What the hell…" Kaminari said from beside him, his eyes trained on the devastation.
"Who the hell would do this?"
Ojiro's stared at the screen in unease. "Those schools…Do they sound familiar to anyone else?"
Yaoyorozu frowned sadly, "They are not particularly known for anything, though they did participate in the provisional exams this year."
"She's right!" Kirishima shouted. "I remember seeing them on the rosters."
Midoriya nodded. The lump in his throat made it hard to say anything. On screen, shots of the schools were being shown. Two of them were reduced to mere rubble, so much so that it was almost hard to believe that they were once buildings and not just giant piles of rocks. The third school, lucky in comparison, only had half of the building wiped out. It was as though someone had taken a flaming wrecking ball to the structure, then gave up on the task of demolishing it. Deep green eyes narrowed seriously at the screen, as victims started to come into view. People were running out of the scene, some of them covered in flames. Others were heavily injured and bleeding and needed medical attention immediately.
These people were the lucky ones. On screen, amidst the wreckage and screaming, one fact glared at Class A and sent a shiver down Midoriya's spine.
There weren't a lot of victims seen on TV, which could only mean they were under the rubble.
Suddenly, the front door of their complex opened. Only then did Midoriya allow himself to tear his gaze from the screen. Seeming to get the same idea, everyone immediately turned towards the sound as well, tense.
"Sensei!" Some of them exclaimed as Aizawa stepped in. Their homeroom teacher was silent for a moment, almost as though he hadn't heard them at all. Then, he closed the door behind him, clicking it locked.
"Is everyone here?" he asked, his voice calm. Iida stood from his seat abruptly, as if he were being asked directly.
"Yes!" he swiftly raised his arm to give a stiff salute. "Asui and Jiro are calling their families in other rooms, and everyone else is here with us."
Aizawa nodded and after scanning the room to give a quick headcount, he slid open a hidden panel near the front door. "Good."
Suddenly, a siren blared inside the dorm. Everyone looked around as the steel plates lowered in front of all the windows, making the room slightly darker. Metal bars appeared on the front of each door, effectively blocking their entryways.
"What's happening?" Asui said, bursting into the room, her phone in hand.
"Are we under attack?" Jiro followed, coming in behind her. Aizawa raised his hand reassuringly and shook his head.
"This is to keep you all safe," he said once the sirens stopped. "U.A. is officially on lockdown. No one goes in or out until further notice."
"But sensei," Sero asked, "Couldn't someone with a teleporting quirk come in anyway?"
"Or perhaps a quirk that allowed one to squeeze in through the tiniest of spaces?" Iida added. Aizawa shook his head and showed them his phone, where a series of switches and alerts were displayed.
"Since the USJ attack and the training camp incident, U.A. has taken measures to improve security. As soon as the lockdown feature is turned on, an alarm will alert us if anyone but Class 1-A comes inside. The cameras around the complex are constantly scanning the rooms for movement, heat signatures, and abnormal occurrences."
Mineta perked up, suddenly interested. "A-All the rooms, sensei?"
He shrank back as a dark aura enveloped his teacher, scarf floating threateningly. Mineta could have sworn Aizawa-sensei's eyes were glowing red. "The bathrooms offer a different motion sensor without a camera, so no. Do you have any more questions?"
A purple-balled head sank down in disappointment. "N-no, sensei."
"I say we should just keep the security system off," Bakugo quipped, his eyes glinting. "I'll fight them all!"
Kirishima rested his head on his palm. "Well yeah, but you wouldn't be able to fight anyway because you don't have your provisional license yet, right?
"Hmm, that's a good point," Kaminari agreed, nodding sagely. Bakugo whirled to look at both of them. "If anything, you'll have to be the one to go get help, like Iida did before."
"Shut up, Shitty Hair and Phone Charger!" he snarled, "I'll take both of you on right now!"
"That's enough," Aizawa said, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly. His eyes landed on the television. Most of the class had already turned their attention back to it.
"I see you've all been keeping tabs on the news," he commented.
"Those schools…" Ashido started. "They…"
"They all had hero training programs." Aizawa stated as he walked closer towards the television and narrowed his eyes at the damage. "Which is why classes have been suspended until further notice, and why we're all being instructed to stay here until everything blows over."
"All those people…" Hagakure said sadly. "It hasn't even been an hour yet, and the death toll is already very high."
"Is there any news about who is doing this yet? Is it the League of Villains?" Uraraka asked.
"I know just as much as you guys do," their sensei answered calmly, "We won't know until we hear more reports about it, but it's possible."
Midoriya's hands tightened into fists. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Follow instructions." Aizawa said without missing a beat. "And prepare for a fight. If they're targeting hero schools, then U.A. could be one of their next targets."
Ria stirred in her sleep, burying her face deeper into her pillow. It was a Saturday, and she had a rare day off from her extracurricular activities, which meant that she didn't need to get up early. She smiled at the thought. I could stay here forever.
Suddenly, the door to her room opened, banging loudly against the wall. Or not, she thought in irritation as she heard soft footsteps running towards her. Two tiny hands gripped her blanket, but Ria grabbed the other end before it could be yanked away from her.
"Onee-chan!" her sister whined, "Mom said to wake up!"
"It is Saturday, Hana." Ria said, voice still thick from sleep. Huffing, she turned over to face away from her sister. "Leave me alone."
The was a sound of rustled clothing, and she could only imagine that her sister now had her arms crossed over her chest. Ria could feel her eyes boring into the back of her head and already knew that Hana had an enormous pout on her face.
"But it's my birthday!" Hana complained again, not giving up.
"Five more minutes," Ria promised.
"That's what you said last time, and then you slept for an hour."
"I mean it this time."
A whine came out of her sister's mouth, small feet stomping on the ground in childish frustration. Ria sighed. In her half-awake state, she had no patience to deal with a temper tantrum. Just as she was about to look back at her, silence filled the room again. For a moment, Ria wondered if Hana had given up when all of a sudden, she felt one side of her bed depress. Her sister climbed up to stand next to her.
"Wake up!" Hana then began to jump on top of her. Ria let out a yelp of surprise and shielded her face from the onslaught of little girl weight.
"Hana!" Ria yelled, "Stop it!"
"Wake up, Onee-chan! Wake up! We're going to the Universal Studios today!"
"What are you—Ow! Mom and dad aren't even going to be here—" her sister then resorted to smacking her in the face with a stuffed animal.
"Aki-nee and Kosei-san are taking us!"
"Ouch! Stop jumping on me!" Ria barked before grabbing the stuffed toy from her hands and throwing it on the ground.
"Not until you wake up!" Hana answered, laughing at her now. "Please! They told me we could go to Bani Café and buy me a birthday cake too and-" Ria paused.
"Wait, where?" She asked. Something in her mind clicked.
Her sister continued to jump on her. "Bani Café! That place where we saw the cake with a pink rabbit on it!"
Bani Café... Ria's heart began to pound loudly in her chest, her eyes opening now. They landed on her sister who continued to jump on her enthusiastically. Her mind became painfully alert of her surroundings.
"Onee-chan! Get up already! It's been five minutes—"
"What day is it?"
Hana laughed, "I already told you, silly! It's my sixth birthday!"
And then Ria felt her blood go cold. The gears in her head began turning with realization as she reached up and grabbed her sister's hand. Hana squirmed as she was pulled in for a hug, clearly not happy with being held so tightly.
"Onee-chan," she complained.
"Let's not go," Ria whispered shakily, "Let's just stay here and make a birthday cake."
"What do you mean? I don't want to make a cake. I want to go to Bani Café!" Ria closed her eyes tightly at the words. Her body began to shake. Hana didn't seem to notice as she continued to shift in her sister's arms.
"We can't go there today," Ria urged, her voice breaking. "If we go, you, Aki-nee, Kosei-san…You'll all—"
"But we HAVE to go! It's my birthday, so I get to decide!" Hana was facing her now and she began pulling at Ria's deep amber hair.
Ria took in her sister's appearance. She took in her brown hair and tiny fingers, her voice, and her tiny shirt with the elephant on it. She rested her forehead on Hana's as matching grey eyes stared into her own curiously. That was when she let the tears fall.
"Why are you crying, Onee-chan? It's a happy day! C'mon, it's my birthday, so wake up!"
Her sister's face began to blur now, and Ria's body began to grow heavier. She held on tighter.
"Wake up, Onee-chan!"
Please, she begged to anyone who might be listening. Please just give me a little more time with her.
"Wake up!"
"Onee-chan, wake up!"
Wake up
"Iincho! Wake up!"
A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes fluttered open in shock. Ria panted, chest heaving and heart pounding as her mind struggled to keep up with the events around her. She could hear the chaos—all the screaming, running, crying, and other panicked noises waking her up in an instant. Smoke filled her lungs, and she rolled over to her side, coughing hard. The hand that grasped her shoulder moved to pat her on the back gently.
Her eyes focused on the faces in front of her, taking in mussed overly-waxed blue hair from one person, then green hair and brown eyes from the other.
"Hibiki? Nami?" she said hoarsely. They nodded at her, visibly relieved.
Nami rubbed the tears out of her eyes "Thank God! I thought you were dead!"
"No way!" Hibiki snorted, "There's no way something like this could take down our class president!"
Ria allowed him help her sit up, groaning as every muscle in her body throbbed. She raised a hand to touch the sticky substance on her forehead.
Blood. She must have hit her head pretty hard. That explains why it hurts so much.
"What happened?" she asked, finally taking her surroundings in.
Her eyes widened in horror.
The school building didn't even look like a school anymore. Half of it was gone. The right wing looked worse for wear, but it was still standing. The entire left wing, however, had been reduced to nothing more but rubble and fire. Ria's heart dropped.
"That's the entire hero department!" She blurted out, head beginning to spin.
"We were in class," Nami had said mournfully, "I left the room to use the bathroom, and the next thing I knew, I got knocked back by this huge explosion. It was insane. The whole left wing just came crashing down."
Ria shook her head in disbelief before bowing down to rest it in her hands.
"What about you, Hibiki?" she asked wearily.
Hibiki scratched the back of his neck, "I was late, so Kanazawa-sensei made me go get our supplies for today's training session from the teacher's lounge."
"I was late too," Ria confessed, sighing.
"That's one hell of a first time to be late, Iincho."
"And the general department?" Ria questioned, ignoring his remark. She shifted her eyes towards the right wing of their school. People were looking out through the windows.
"It doesn't look like it blew up there. Most people there are being told to evacuate, but I think the upperclassmen on the higher floors are stuck."
Ria nodded, taking all the information in. She began looking around again, her mind now more alert.
"Have you seen anyone else from class or from the other hero classes?"
Hibiki shook his head, "Nami found me. We went looking for people as soon as we could, but you were the first person whose thoughts I could hear."
Slowly, Ria stood up, making sure nothing was broken. Her head throbbed as she moved, but she pushed the pain back. Around her, people were running frantically towards the front gate. Gauging their panicked reactions, she realized that majority of them were probably from the general department. Many were screaming, some in pain and in fear. It was chaos.
"Stay alert," she said, cautious. "We don't know what could happen."
Nami stood up right away, but Ria paused when she saw the wince on Hibiki's face as he got up.
"What the hell is going on?" Nami wondered aloud, and Ria's eyes narrowed as she scanned the rubble.
"This wasn't an accident," she surmised shortly, "Schools don't simply explode, and when they do, they don't reduce an entire wing to rubble."
"We need to call the pros then."
"They're coming."
"How do you know?"
"It's probably the first thing they all did." Ria nodded her head towards all the students in the general department, some of whom were stuck on the higher floors. Many of them held phones to their ears. She shot Hibiki a stern look, "Where are you injured?"
He froze, hesitation passing on his face as Nami looked at them in confusion. Finally, Hibiki sighed and shot them a sheepish smile.
"Figures that you would notice, Iincho," he chuckled nervously. Pulling up his shirt, he revealed a terrible wound in his stomach. It was covered with some sort of cloth, but the blood was seeping through it. Nami gasped while Ria narrowed her eyes at him.
"You need to get to a hospital," she ordered.
"No."
"Hibiki, that looks serious. You could be—"
"With all due respect, Prez. I appreciate your concern, but if you two get to stay here and help people while your head's all banged up and Nami's wrist is broken—"
Nami furrowed her brows "Hey! Don't read my mind!"
"—Then I get to stay here and help you." He smirked, "And you're not going to stop me."
Ria glared at him, unimpressed and clearly not happy with the idea. He looked back at her and grinned stupidly as they stared each other down.
"Careful now," he told her, "Stare at me more and you might just fall in love with me."
Nami rolled her eyes at him and made a gagging noise. Eventually, Ria sighed. "We're wasting time here. Fine, stay. But if you feel like collapsing, I will personally throw you into the first ambulance I see. You're no use to us dead."
Hibiki nodded, flashing her another wide grin. "You got it, Iincho."
For all her words against him, Hibiki's quirk was critical in helping them find people. Having a telekinetic quirk like his meant that he could listen in on people's minds and hear them through the rubble. Nami, on the other hand, could shapeshift her arms into anything she wanted, which meant she could move survivors easier by making stretchers. They had found the school nurse soon enough and had decided to set up a temporary medical bay in the auditorium for people who were not strong enough to leave on foot.
The time seemed to wind on as they worked, but in reality, not much time had actually passed at all. There were no pros yet.
"Be careful when you move debris! We don't know how stable this area is. Some of the concrete could fall further down into anyone that's buried," Ria shouted as she emptied what was left of the fire extinguisher she held onto an open flame. It died down, and she tossed the tool behind her. "And let me know if you find anyone from our class."
"Roger that!" Hibiki said, focusing on the rocks. Nami was walking back from the auditorium, one arm in the shape of a stretcher. Her other arm stayed in its normal form, bandaged now at the wrist. She had just come back from assisting the trapped general education students evacuate. This was probably the only instance that she had ever been thankful for the climbing ropes they used in P.E.
Something caught her attention, and Nami turned her head towards an area by the bottom of the rubble. Through the rocks, there was tiny glimmer. That's all it was. There were a hundred things she needed to be doing, a hundred other things she had to think about. How did glittering underneath the rubble distract her? She had no real answer to that, and yet a shudder ran through her spine.
And then something dawned on her. She bolted towards it.
"Ria-chan!" she yelled out suddenly, panicked. She began to dig frantically at where she thought she saw the glimmer, and Ria jogged over to her.
"What's wrong? Did you see anybody here?" Hibiki asked as he reached them.
"I could have sworn I saw something!" Nami said, turning her hand into an excavation shovel to scoop out the rocks. After a bit of digging, she unearthed a hand. She squeezed it and pulled gently.
The problem was that it wasn't attached to a body.
"Shit!" Hibiki yelled when he saw it. On reflex, Nami screamed and let it fall to the ground as Ria's fists tightened and bunched in her skirt.
"Whoever this belonged to must have been fairly near to the explosion," she surmised grimly.
"That is messed up," Hibiki noted, staring at it. She shook her head in somber agreement.
"Nami?" Ria called, putting her hand on her classmate's shoulder when she realized that her friend had suddenly grown quiet.
"That bracelet…" Nami breathed out, "It's Kanazawa-sensei's."
Hibiki's face contorted. "What?"
Nami's body began to tremble. "I'd never seen her wear it before, so I asked her about it this morning. She said her fiancé gave it to her for their anniversary."
"No way," Hibiki said. He began to dig again, faster this time, unearthing rock after rock as fast he could.
Ria joined him, and they each ignored the sting of some of the sharper, more jagged pieces digging against their hands. She helped him carry out a heavy slab of concrete. "Are you sure?"
Nami didn't answer, her eyes beginning to form tears as she stared at the amputated hand in shock.
Ria turned away from her. "Can you hear her?" she asked Hibiki.
"Of course, I can't! But that could just mean she's passed out. I mean, she lost a fucking hand! And if she's not dreaming, I can't find her."
They dug until they caught site of some purple fabric. Upon seeing it, Nami sprung up and began to help them. They all knew that color and style. All three of them saw it every day when its wearer came into their classroom. Nami had always thought that Kanazawa-sensei's hero costume was pretty.
And finally, they found her. Except, she wasn't Kanazawa-sensei anymore.
Her body had been crushed by the debris, limbs bending at wrong angles. Her blood was on every stone beneath her, and her face… It didn't even look the same, having been broken in various places by the rubble. Her mouth hung open, and it was almost as though she was about to yell at them, like she always did. And yet, her eyes were wide and unseeing.
Ria heard Nami scream, but the sound seemed so far away. Hibiki had stumbled a few feet from them to throw up.
As for Ria, she felt numb. She didn't notice the tears in her eyes until she felt them drip down her neck. She reached out a hand and placed it over her teacher's eyes, closing them. Of course there would be casualties. She knew that.
But Kanazawa sensei…Their homeroom teacher… The woman that had trained them every single day, berated them, believed in them.
Now she was dead.
Ria looked over at the expanse of rubble in front of her, her chest tightening as more revelations revealed themselves in her mind. Freshmen were situated at the second floor, which meant that there were still two more floors above them for the upperclassmen. At the bottom of the rubble, with all the weight pressing over her, Kanazawa-sensei didn't stand a chance.
Which meant her classmates didn't either.
"Hibiki," Ria's voice was weak, and he didn't hear her. He was pounding his fist on the rocks, while Nami sobbed loudly.
"Hibiki!" she tried again, furiously wiping the tears from her face, "Hibiki!"
He faced her suddenly, eyes wild and filled with tears. "What?! What is it, Iincho? Our teacher is dead. She's fucking gone. What the hell do we do now?"
She paused momentarily at his outburst and swallowed. "Scan this area."
"What?"
"Scan this area," she repeated, her grey eyes meeting his dark ones.
"Iincho—"
"Now isn't the time to cry," she said, getting up. Part of her wondered if she was talking to herself instead of her classmates. Nami's head lifted a fraction to look at her.
Ria tilted her head up to look at the sky, eyes focusing on one of the white clouds. "If Kanazawa-sensei was in our classroom at the time of the explosion, and she was here—"
"—Then the rest of our class could be here too." Nami finished quietly, her eyes lighting up.
If they're alive, Ria mentally smacked herself for the thought and chose to keep it to herself. Instead, she nodded, finally looking at both of them seriously.
"We need to prioritize saving the victims," was all she could say.
"Right," Hibiki stared at Ria for a long while, his face passing through various emotions in the span of a few seconds. Finally, he got up and furiously wiped his face on his sleeve, "Let's get to work then."
"We're not giving up," she told both of them. "We're going to keep going because it is what we're supposed to do. At this moment, while the pros are coming, we are not students, we're—"
"Well, this is a surprise," a voice behind them said. All three of them turned towards the gate—their only exit—to find it crowded by a mob of people. "They told us all the living ones would be under the rubble."
"Who are you supposed to be?" Hibiki asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Well you see," the same guy said, his fingers turning into knives, "We were ordered to help dig up the bodies."
Nami rose from where she was sitting. She took a step forward, and Ria held an arm up to block her from going any nearer. They exchanged glances. Ria scanned the crowd, taking in the weapons that they held in their hands and the hostility with which they directed towards them.
"You don't have to worry now," another one of them said, "Come on over here so that we can help."
"Bullshit," Hibiki snarled. He stared at them in contempt, focusing on one of the men in the center. "How stupid do you think we are?" The man with the knives for fingers smirked.
"I was hoping you'd be really stupid, to be honest. It would be more fun that way. Fine, you want the truth?" He raised his arms to gesture at the damage in front of him. "We're here to kill whoever is left alive from the explosions."
"Why?" Hibiki grit his teeth. "What's the fuck is the point of killing the ones that are already helpless?"
The villain absently twirled a knife in his hand. "We're trying to send a message. Can't have any survivors."
"Is that so?" Ria asked, her voice low. Hibiki and Nami turned their heads towards her. She ignored their stares and gestured towards the fallen building behind her. "So I assume that you are the ones that did this then? Do you have a name or should I simply call you Villain?"
A wicked smile creeped onto the man's face. Ria's fingers twitched when she saw the dangerous glint in his eyes.
"You can call me Saber. And we didn't do this," he said slowly, dragging his tongue along one of his knives. "But a few of our friends did."
Nami chimed in. "Assholes! There were innocent people here, people who had families, friends, lives! How the hell could you do this?"
In the blink of an eye, a knife shot out and flew past Nami, slicing her in the cheek. She brought her hand up to her face in alarm.
"I don't know who you think we are, Girly, but there are three things you need to know," he said, keeping three finger knives up for them to see. "One is that you don't talk to us like that."
Another knife shot out. This time, it stopped right at Hibiki's feet, "Two, is that you aren't innocent. You're all training to be able to kill us one day. We're just getting a head-start before you can."
"And three," He threw three more knives, "Is that you're all going to die today."
Each knife flew towards each of their faces this time. Hibiki and Nami readied themselves to dodge them, but before they could, two orbs of light shot out and hit each knife, propelling them from their targets.
A large ray of light shot out from the sky, landing down on Ria, bathing her entire body in brightness and warmth. She held a knife out in front of her, having caught it.
"Alright," Ria said, her voice deadly, "Change of plans. Nami and Hibiki, rescue any stray survivors you can into the auditorium and guard it. Keep everyone there until the pros come."
"We are not leaving you alone," Nami answered, keeping her eyes glued to the mob at the gate. "You need us here."
"Other people need you more. Hibiki may be standing, but he was too injured to stay at all, let alone fight. That means you need to go protect the survivors until the pros come, and you need to take him with you or else he'll be vulnerable when someone comes after him," Ria said calmly and with authority, "Take care of any strays that slip through my defenses. I'll be fine."
"Besides, we won't be leaving her at a complete disadvantage," Hibiki said, mustering a tense smirk. He cupped his hands on either side of his mouth, calling out to the crowd in front of them, "Hey! What are your quirks?"
He was met with mocking laughter. Someone piped up, "Like we'd fucking tell you!"
Hibiki smirked, "You already did."
Pointing to each one of them, he stared at them in intense focus. "Alright Iincho, from left to right: Body enlargement, Poison fog, Mirror-image duplication, Secret arm, Slippery Slime, Knife fingers, Binding Cloth—"
"What the hell… How did you—" He ignored the yell from the crowd and continued listing down their quirks.
"—Aaand finally…Banana Peel Emitter? That one's new." Hibiki clasped his hands behind his head and began to walk away, "Come on, Nami. Iincho, don't slip on any banana peels."
"Hibiki," Ria said, putting a hand on his shoulder as he passed her to grab Nami, "Thank you…for having my back."
She let go and stepped forward, her back to him now. He paused for a second and eyed her thoughtfully. "Don't die."
"You too."
And with that, they began to take their leave. One villain stepped forward to fire something at them.
"Where do you think you're g—" A beam of light shot out and hit him square in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Ria stepped away from the mount of rubble, her palms glowing with light, "You don't need to worry about them."
Slowly, they began to surround her as Saber shot her a menacing glare. "You must have a death wish, Girly. This is the stupidest case of underestimation I've ever seen."
She narrowed her eyes at them, "We'll see."
"Your funeral," the villain shrugged, "Get her."
An eruption of light engulfed them all.
The streets were empty as Halley Comet flew above them at top speed. She adjusted her stance on her rock and peered down. She knew that the residents of the area had been asked to evacuate, but it was still alarming to see. Far behind her was a crowd of ambulances and hero colleagues. She made sure that help would be on the way, but they didn't know the shortest ways to get there. She did.
Today was supposed to be a normal day. She sent her kid to school, dropped the other one off, visited her husband for breakfast, then left for work.
And then three schools blew up.
She left the minute she heard the news. Comet—as many of her fellow heroes called her—was one of the first heroes that asked which schools needed help. She had never gotten into her costume as fast as she had that day, yanking it on even as she had the phone to her ear.
Her jaw tightened. Who the hell would do this to a bunch of kids? They were young, and they still had more life in them to live. The world gets worse with every minute that passes.
In the distance, she could see the school. It wouldn't take long now.
All of a sudden, a huge flash of light engulfed the entirety of the courtyard.
Normal people would have been afraid. It did, after all, look like another explosion. Perhaps a second attack on the same school? Maybe they had gone to blow up the other half of the building after all?
But Comet knew that light, and for a moment, she allowed herself to let out the giant breath of air she didn't know she was holding. She blinked away the tears of relief as she flew past a news helicopter.
When she finally got close enough, she sent boulders flying down onto the school courtyard.
As blinding light filled the courtyard, Ria rushed forward and kicked the villain nearest to her in the stomach. The blinding wouldn't last long, she knew. She'd have to work fast. Her two hands swung out in front of her diagonally, shooting two beams at the villains at her sides.
She sidestepped as an arm tried to grab her, only to jump away when the same guy grew another arm to try to grasp at her again. An orb of light attached to her hand, she ducked underneath the punch he threw at her and moved to strike him in the chin with her palm, knocking him out.
Fighting alone in an unfair, outnumbered match had its perks. Because they were surrounding her, it was fairly hard for them to run at her without hitting each other with their attacks. Ria knew better than to let anyone touch her. Every movement she made was with purpose. Never was she in one place for too long. Knock them out as quickly as possible, then move on to the next, she recited to herself.
Maybe she could do this.
Maybe.
Ria slid across the ground to kick a guy in the knee. Still though…
She groaned as she slipped on a banana peel and landed on her back. I can only keep this up for so long. The knife that she had snatched earlier flew at a woman who tried to rush at her, burying itself in her shoulder. Ria was aiming for the chest. Oh well.
"Getting tired, little girl?" One of the villains said. Poison gas, she remembered immediately. "Why don't you take a little nap?"
Ria sucked in a breath and held it before a mist of purple smoke began to enveloped her. She hurled an orb of light at him, then at a man to her left.
Gritting her teeth at the lack of oxygen she was taking in, she grabbed the next villain's hand and twisted his arm back until she heard a pop in his shoulder. He let out a howl of pain, but she couldn't bring herself to care as she kicked his face in the ground.
She reached around his side to grab the weapon he was using. A crowbar, huh?
Pushing up on her legs, Ria ran until she could no longer see any traces of poisonous gas around. She hit the nearest villain with her crowbar, ignoring the crack of bone.
How long had she been fighting at this point? It could have been mere minutes, or it could have been hours. She sprinted forward again. Another hit with her crowbar went to the man that tried to sneak up behind her, while she sent a beam of light to the woman that ran towards the auditorium.
Suddenly, a stabbing pain manifested in her lungs. Ria coughed violently. She shot another beam of light in the direction of three men coming towards her. Jumping up immediately, she managed to dodge a barrage of glass shards being shot her way.
Another beam of light, aimed to the villains in front of her, tore out from her palms before she sank down to one knee, wheezing out a breath. What…?
"Looks like some of my gas got you, after all," came a familiar voice to her side. Poison Gas, Ria named him. She jerked out of the way as a hand reached out and grabbed her arm, "What a shame. You were actually doing pretty well."
"What did you do to me?" she demanded, sending another beam of light towards him and the two others next to him. She successfully separated herself from his reaching grasp, but she grit her teeth when he managed to dodge her attack.
"Not much, unfortunately," he answered, "But it seems you've inhaled enough to weaken your abilities."
Ria forced herself up on shaky legs, "I won't let you win."
"It looks like we already have," Saber said almost casually as he approached her. A beam of light shot towards him, and he evaded it easily. Ria hacked out a cough.
"The more you use your quirk, the harder it will be to breathe," Poison Gas said. "Spare yourself the pain and surrender."
"I don't need my quirk to fight you," she said, rushing towards him with painfully held breath. A fist covered with purple smog grazed the side of her face as she deftly moved out of its path.
Her knee came into contact with his gut.
"Fair enough," Saber said, his voice low and cold. "But you do need it to protect them."
And suddenly, he sprinted away from her, a few men following him. Ria didn't need to look to see where they were running. The auditorium, her mind screamed as she began to run after him.
"I won't let you—" A body blocked itself in front of her, cutting off her view. She quickly jumped back when Poison Gas tried to grasp her neck with a clawed hand shrouded in smoke.
"Have you forgotten me?" he asked as he swiped at her again. Ria jumped flipped back to kick him in the face, sucking in large gasps of air when she was far enough away.
"I don't have time for you," she grunted, sending multiple beams of light at him. A pang of relief hit her when he failed to dodge one of them, hitting him square in the head. As he fell from the impact of her attack, however, so did she. Her lungs burned. This isn't good.
"Nami!" she yelled, catching sight of her friends. Hibiki was helping a survivor into the auditorium, the bleeding in his stomach showing through his shirt now whilst Nami began fighting off the crowd of villains that came her way.
Ria rolled out of the way as someone tried to crush her with a giant slab of concrete he'd been carrying.
"Get out of my way!" she ground out, swinging her crowbar at his neck.
There were too many of them. Too many were slipping past her towards the auditorium. She needed to do something or else—
She braced herself for another attack as another villain rushed at her, but before she could even touch him, a boulder fell from the sky and landed on his back.
Ria gasped as she caught sight of the fire that engulfed the boulder. Her gaze shifted to the sky, and she grinned as a familiar figure arrived overhead.
"Mama!"
"We are now looking in at Natsukashii High School, one of the schools that has been attacked in the series of bombings that happened today," a reporter recounted from inside a helicopter, "As you can see, the damage is absolutely devastating. Half of the building has been reduced to nothing. Currently, no heroes have arrived at the scene yet, but we are getting reports that both heroic and medical help is on the way."
Class 1-A continued to gather at the living room in front of the television, all of them dressed in their hero costumes now. Some time had passed since Aizawa-sensei had come and still, nothing had happened. He would leave the room to take phone calls from time to time, but otherwise, he would come back without many updates for them. As far as they knew, U.A. was not under attack. The lockdown, however, was still up.
Eventually, they had all simply returned to the living room to watch what was happening. The reporter seemed distracted by something down below.
"Hold on," she said suddenly, "Is that…? Zoom into the school. Ladies and gentlemen, an unidentified group has suddenly appeared in front of the school gates! Who could they be?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Sato breathed in disbelief, seeing the weapons and demeanor of the crowd that had gathered, "Villains?"
Ashido shuddered, "What are they doing there? Most of the students left are either under the rubble or have run away from the building by now."
Uraraka shook her head in shock. They all watched as students by the rubble conversed with the villains.
Finally, a girl with orange hair stepped forward from her group and approached the crowd, while her two companions ran off out of frame. Her palms glowed with light. Villains began to surround her on all sides.
"Is she seriously going to take them all on by herself?" Sero asked in disbelief.
"That's suicide!"
The screen suddenly went white, blocking their view of any action. "Unbelievable! A bright light has overcome the courtyard of the school. Could this be another explosion?"
When the light finally faded, they watched as the girl rushed forward, taking advantage of the momentary blindness that she had given her opponents. She knocked out three at once and quickly moved on to the next ones. They watched as she sent out orbs of light and dodged attacks that came her way. Kaminari leaned forward in surprise.
"I mean, she looks like she's doing okay…"
"Forget that! Look at all the backflips she's doing in her skirt!"
Nobody flinched when loud smack rung out in the room.
"They made a mistake," Todoroki observed after a while.
Uraraka glanced over to him. "A mistake?"
"He's right," Ojiro said, eye narrowing at the evens on-screen.
Todoroki leaned back onto the sofa, his arms crossed. "Back when they attacked us at USJ, the villains made the mistake of underestimating us." He nodded towards the screen.
"It's why I was able to fight them off on my own," Ojiro added with a nod. "They did the same thing to us and sent in weak villains."
"I don't think they expected anyone to be alive," Midoriya commented, his brows furrowing. He frowned at the screen, watching the fight and the girl seemed to be unfazed by the attacks that were thrown at her.
Yes, but… "She's outnumbered."
They watched for a few more minutes before Jiro jerked in her seat suddenly. She let out a gasp, bringing everyone's attention to her.
"Guys! Look at this video!" She said, turning up the volume on her phone. "It's being shared everywhere!"
Anyone that was near enough crowded around her until they could all see the screen of her phone. Jiro unplugged her earphone jack from the device as a man in a black cloak appeared in front of the camera. He wore a blue mask that appeared old and dirtied, gold inscription etched around the edges of the face. The eyes were blacked out, while heavy tears of gold were painted underneath them.
"Citizens of Japan, the age of heroes is over. You have been warned countless of times, and yet you continue to cling to your stubbornness and pride."
"Who is this guy?"
"Shhh!"
"Heroes are nothing more but individuals that seek fame and fortune. They seek out those down on their luck, people with families and friends. They punish the oppressed by killing them or throwing them in jails. The hero killer Stain's ideals have opened our eyes to the truth. Heroes are not what they appear to be."
Aizawa shifted closer and listened intently. Something in his expression changed, but none of his students took notice of it. On Jiro's phone, pictures of the devastated schools flashed before them.
"Today, we show you that we will be silent no longer. We declare war on heroes." Midoriya's eyes widened as everyone around murmured and gasped. He exchanged a worried glance with Iida before turning back towards the screen.
"For our first act of retaliation, we have begun to target the most dangerous and despicable establishments of mankind: hero schools. You brainwash these kids and train them to kill us, and because of your arrogance, they will pay. The time for mercy is behind us. Close down all hero schools or watch your children die. Parents, I urge you; if you want your children to have a future, release them from this despicable system. Heed these words. This is not the end."
The screen turned black, signaling the end of the video. For a while, silence swept over the room. Aizawa took each reaction in, observing. On the television, the fighting between the girl and the villains continued.
"So what did you think about the video?" their teacher asked casually. So casually, in fact, that you would think that they were in the classroom going over a training video.
"Who the fuck was that?" Kaminari breathed out.
"They're going to be targeting hero schools now?" Hagakura stuttered, "So we're going to be in constant danger?"
Mineta began pulling balls from his head in fear. "U.A's the biggest hero school in Japan! They're sure to target us again!"
A crackle sounded in the room. Everyone turned their attention towards Bakugo who held his hands out, palms already sparking.
"Bullshit! Let them come! I'll kill them all!" He pointed towards his classmates, glaring at them. "And if any of you are scared, walk out now! I don't need you here, you extras!"
"You still wouldn't be allowed to fight if they came here…"
"Quiet! I'll kill you too!"
"Bakugo's right!" Iida suddenly yelled, standing up from his place on the floor, "We have faced this before and we shall face it again! Let us not be afraid!"
Tokoyami chimed in coolly from his place leaning against the wall, "Our foes will weep in the midst of our victory."
"We'll crush all of them in a manly battle!"
"Wow, looks like Bakugo got everyone fired up," Mina whispered to Jiro, "That's different."
"Shut the fuck up!"
Aizawa took this moment to stand up now, allowing all his students to turn their attention towards him and wait for his words.
"Like you said, this isn't anything new from what you kids have already experienced. You guys already know what it's like to face villains," he said, "There is something far more dangerous than a possible attack on us."
"There is?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow. "That seems pretty serious to me."
"Yeah, sensei."
"It is pretty bad."
Midoriya's hands tightened into fists and he felt his shoulders tense. "That's not it!"
The background chatter silenced once again. Uraraka tilted her head at him. "Deku-kun…?"
His eyes trailed down, and Midoriya felt his jaw clench. He could already hear the words in his head, the image of his mom's crying face popped in his mind.
"Izuku…don't go to U.A."
"With the state U.A. is in, I cannot in good conscience entrust my son to your school."
"What's really scary is that—to anybody else—they could have made sense," he stated finally, head bowing down. "This won't affect the heroes. It'll affect the schools and any student that wants to be a hero."
Sero chimed in, placing a hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "Come on, man! There's no way people will just buy into this bullshit."
"Think about it, guys," Midoriya said, "Regardless of whether they believe in it or not, a lot of parents—and maybe even students—are going to be scared. It's like how our parents were when we got attacked at the training camp."
"Come to think of it," Hagakura said, raising her gloved hands. She shivered. "It took me days to convince my parents to let me stay in the dorms."
Aizawa nodded, arms crossing over his chest. "Midoriya is right. It's very likely that a lot of families are going to be scared after this, especially parents who don't have any hero experience whatsoever."
"B-but! Aizawa-sensei! These parents already knew that their kids would be in danger. That's what a hero does." Kaminari reasoned.
Tsuyu pressed a finger to her cheek in thought. "That was before they threatened their untrained kids and blew up three hero schools during classes, kero."
"Many schools do not carry the same benefits as U.A as well" Shoji lamented, "Most are not guarded with the same levels of security."
Ashido sighed. "I guess it makes sense. If I were a parent, I'd probably be stressed out too. Heck, I'm stressed out now."
"To have someone you love, let alone your own child, be threatened with death," Yaoyorozu lamented, "It must be very hard."
"Yeah…"
"The actions of everyone surrounding this incident will affect the next few weeks to come," Aizawa said, turning back to the television, "Let's see what happens."
And so, they did. They watched the fights from each school, one remaining on TV where the red-haired girl fought. Two laptops were set up to show the events of the other two schools, where the pros had just started arriving to the scenes to fight off villains.
"She's down!" the reporter on TV suddenly shouted, and the camera panned back to the courtyard. The girl had sank down to one knee and was now coughing. "Could this be the end of our valiant hero, ladies and gentlemen?"
"Oh no!" Ashido gasped, "What happened to her?"
"There was a villain that let out poison gas," Todoroki observed, "She must have inhaled some."
"Dammit! Don't give up, whoever-you-are!" Kirishima yelled, "Fight!"
"Yeah! Kick their asses!"
"You do know she can't hear you guys, right?"
"Doesn't matter!"
They watched as the girl let out two more beams of light, before she sank to the ground again, her hand to her chest. She was panting heavily now, but she seemed to have enough strength to call out to someone off-screen. The crowbar in her hand smashed into someone's knee.
Suddenly the camera shook and they heard a loud whoosh sound. It was only for a moment, the sound growing softer in a few seconds.
"Oh my god. Is that…?" The reporter recounted, though the audience could not see what she was talking about. "It is! Ladies and gentlemen, Halley Comet is on the scene! She is the first pro hero to arrive."
"Finally!" Ashido yelled, "It's about time a pro arrived to help."
"And look!" the camera panned off a few streets away, where people in hero costumes—as well as ambulances—were rushing in the direction of the school. "More help is coming!"
Uraraka sighed in relief, leaning back on the sofa. "Thank goodness."
Many of them felt relief for the situation. After all, help was on the way now and the unknown girl was already with a pro. All she needed to do now was cooperate with the authorities and hold off until the battle was over.
The minute Comet arrived on the scene, it took all her willpower to stop herself from hugging her daughter and shielding her from any harm. Instead, she landed in front of Ria and hurled a flaming rock at the nearest bunch villains to them.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, not looking back.
Ria cleared her throat, but her voice still came out raspy from the effects of the gas, "I inhaled poisonous gas, and using my quirk appears to make breathing more painful. I also hit my head in the explosion, and I'm not sure if I have a concussion or not. I'm still alive though."
"Very observant."
"You asked," Ria turned around so that she faced away from her mother, hitting the next guy that came near them. "The survivors. They are under attack in the auditorium."
Comet nodded. She unhooked a whip from her belt and handed it to Ria. "Go. Most of them are here, so I'll take them on. Help should be on the way soon."
Ria grasped the item in her hand and tilted her head. "Your whip."
"There was no time to fetch any other weapons," Halley Comet said, hurling rocks from the rubble, "You are free to use the crowbar, if you'd like."
Without a thought, Ria swung the crowbar into another villain's ribs before dropping it entirely. It was heavy and she didn't have much strength left to wield it anymore. "Thanks mom—I mean, Halley Comet. You're the best."
Comet hurled a flaming boulder to her left, opening a path of villains in its wake. She glanced back at Ria for a brief moment. "Be careful."
Nami ducked and sank her arm into the side of another man's head. She had transformed it into a war hammer now, while her other arm remained incapable of transforming into anything.
"Hibiki!" she called out, "Are you okay?"
"I've been worse," he answered back. His jacket was pressed to his leg where he had been hit with a flying knife. "Don't worry about me!"
Nami swung her hammer again. "You need to get back into the auditorium!"
"I can't leave this guy here!" he yelled back.
Nami cursed under her breath. Next to Hibiki was a semi-conscious second-year student. They had found him shortly before multiple villains came running in their direction. Hibiki was helping him get to the auditorium when the back of his leg got hit, sending them both down. Technically, it was possible for him to crawl to safety on his own, but he couldn't do it without leaving his upperclassman open to attacks.
There were three men around them now. She had just taken out one guy, but now she was forced to stay in front of Hibiki, lest they hurt him or make him a hostage.
"Nami, left!" Hibiki said, and Nami immediately followed his instructions. "Duck!"
"Got it!"
"Jump! Also, stop swearing so much! Do you think of your mother with that mind of yours?"
"Shut up, Hibiki!" She said, landing a hit to one of their ribs. "This is not the time."
"Hey—Right—I'm just trying to add humor—Jump back—into your life!" he quipped, chuckling. "Besides, you're about to get your butt saved."
"What are you—"
A whip coiled itself around the neck of one of the men, and he was pulled back forcefully, screaming. Ria pulled until his head landed hard on a rock in front of her, effectively knocking him out. Taking advantage of the distraction, Nami hit the guy nearest to her on the head, sending him down as well.
"Sorry I'm late," Ria croaked out, undoing the whip on the guy's neck.
"Are you okay over there, Iincho?" Hibiki asked, taking in the way she heaved with every breath.
"Help is on the way," Ria said instead of answering. Her eyes trained on the last villain that they had to face. Saber. He stared back at her ferociously.
"Not bad, Girly." He said, fingers now becoming knives once again, "You still haven't won though."
Ria's grasp on her whip tightened, and she readied herself for his attack. "The pros are nearly here. Surrender before it's too late."
"See, here's the thing, kid. I have nothing to lose. You and all those heroes you look up to, you guys have a code, right? Well, villains have one too," he explained, leering. "I don't run, and I don't surrender."
Suddenly, Nami jumped in front of him, aiming a swing to his chest. He dodged it and fired a string of knives in her direction, which she evaded with another swipe of her weapon.
"That's enough talk," Nami said, her arm turning into a sword now, "I don't care about your code or what you do or do not have to lose. All I know is that you killed my friends, so you're not leaving this place a free man."
"See? That's what's wrong with all you heroes. So quick to take away our freedom"
"Ria, let's finish this."
Ria nodded. They had the advantage in numbers, that much was for sure. She silently took in the way he moved, noting how he glanced between the two of them as they began to circle around him.
Nami let out a cry as she moved first, rushing forward to slash at him. He jumped back to evade it, hurling a spray of knives at her. Ria's whip flew forward, catching him in the wrist. She pulled, making him face her.
"Iincho! Watch your left!" Ria glanced over and stopped the hand that was about to stab her in the neck. He held on to the whip and pulled her forward, closer to the knife. She grit her teeth and held his hand as far away from her as she could.
Nami skidded across the ground to place a slash on the back of his legs. He grunted and separated himself from Ria as the sword was thrust towards his stomach. A growl escaped his lips, and he aimed a kick at Nami's face while the knives at his fingers shot at Ria.
"Nami! Incoming from above!" Hibiki barked, "Iincho! Go backwards!"
Both girls evaded the respected attacks with ease, with Ria catching him in the face with her whip and Nami nearly slashing him in the foot. The villain whirled around, his eyes locking with Hibiki's a few yards away.
"You," he said, his voice deadly. Hibiki's jaw clenched. "You've made things pretty unfair, haven't you?"
"Uh, Iincho?"
"Let's see you handle this!"
Hibiki turned quickly, his body draping over the victim beside him. He closed his eyes in anticipation, waiting for a knife to dig into his back. Shit!
"I've got you!" He heard someone yell in his mind.
Only when he heard the sound of metal clashing did he think to raise his head again. Nami stood in front of him, her attack arm now bleeding. She raised her sword to deflect the next flurry of knives that came her way. Farther away, Hibiki watched as Ria kept one of the villain's arms tied with her whip while she fought him off.
"Get Hibiki and the victim inside!" she ordered, swiftly bending back to avoid the slash to her face.
"But—"
"Come back for me after!" she tried to knee him in the gut, "They're safer inside!"
Nami stared at her for a moment, brows furrowed. Sighing exasperatedly, she begrudgingly turned around to face Hibiki. Crouching down, she put the victim's arm over her shoulder and heaved as she pushed up with her legs. It wasn't much, but she managed to lift his body enough so that he was somewhat off the ground. He was bigger than she was, and much heavier than she thought.
"What are you waiting for?" she barked at Hibiki, "Get your butt off the ground and get the door."
Hibiki swiftly braced himself on the wall and made sure to lean on one foot. "Geez, you're cranky."
"This guy is heavy."
"I know, I was just carrying him."
"Hibiki, if Ria gets stabbed because of you, I will personally shape-shift my arm into a rod and shove it up your—"
"Okay! Okay!" he said quickly limping to where the door was. "Relax, it's Iincho we're talking about."
Iincho herself, however, was growing very tired of the events that played out. She gasped as Saber landed a punch to her chest, knocking the breath out of her. Every step she took felt like a stab to her lungs, even if she wasn't using her quirk. She pulled his whip-bound wrist to shield her as his knife came towards her face.
She had to admit, he was a strong opponent—stronger than most of the other villains he brought with him. He had a quirk that was very suitable for battle, and if she had been injured more seriously, Ria knew that she wouldn't have stood a chance.
"You don't give up, do you?" her opponent asked, slashing her in the arm.
"Not today."
"You know, it's too bad." He said, "If the rest of your class was as talented as you and the other two, you might have made pretty good villains. So much potential wasted."
Ria slid across the ground, pulling him down with her. She grit her teeth as she kicked his leg as hard as she could. "You don't get to talk about them."
He groaned and attempted to get up, but Ria yanked him down. Climbing on his back, she attempted to choke him with her whip, but he raised his hand to block his neck.
"They were weak, and your school was stupid," he ground out, "No quirk powerful enough to help them survive a measly explosion, and no security system to stop our guys from planting bombs where we wanted."
She kicked him hard in the side. "You talk too much."
"It's better that they're dead. Best to give up now before you end up just like them!" As he said this, he threw her off him, flipping her over on her back. Saber unfurled the whip from his wrist.
She quickly rolled out of the way, knives just grazing her uniform every time she moved.
Give up, Ria repeated to herself bitterly. And in that moment, she thought of everything that she had been up against that day. All the grief and anger and pain.
Her school was gone. Her homeroom teacher was dead. Her friends were probably dead.
She was the class president. If anyone was supposed to die, shouldn't she have been the first one? She would have volunteered to be the first one. Her class worked harder than any people she knew. She trained with them, grew with them, and laughed with them. Their school wasn't big with fancy training simulations and celebrity teachers, but it was theirs.
"And you tore it away from us."
So no, she would not give up.
The pain that she felt from losing everybody manifested itself in her bloodstream, turning itself into something that gave her strength to get up and keep going.
You were all cowards, she thought. Cowards that planted bombs when no one was looking, cowards that went against untrained heroes instead of pros. You are nothing compared to them.
"They were braver than any of you were," was all she could whisper as she slammed her fist in his face.
"And now they're dead."
He swung at her again. She was prepared this time and caught one of his knives in her hands. Ria twisted it and made to jab at his neck, catching his ear instead as he twisted and lurched away from her.
Something flashed in the corner of her eye, a shine different from the knives he'd been slashing her with. A beat of caution passed as she spared it a glance, before recognition settled flickered in her eyes. For a moment, a pang of disappointment and frustration bubbled in her, and she frowned as she pushed the feeling down.
Immediately, she stepped back from Saber and did a series of backflips away as he sent a barrage of knives at her. Sprinting, Ria dodged each weapon that flew at her. Her whip crackled out as she used it to deflect a few that flew to her face, evading once again. She made no move to attack him.
"Finally running away?" Saber asked, rubbing the soreness in his wrist from where her weapon had gotten him. His back faced the courtyard now. "I thought you were better than that."
"I am."
He aimed another series of knives at her, and she dodged each one carefully, ducking and side-stepping when she could. However, she did not move from her spot. Saber scowled at her, noting her switch in tactics.
"What are you—"
Ria blinked when glowing red tendril suddenly shot out and pierced him in the gut.
The villain's eyes grew wide. Suddenly, tendril after tendril flew out, piercing one of his shoulders, his thighs, and his knees. He slashed at another one before it could pierce his other arm. Saber's gaze snapped to Ria, who now stood wordlessly a good distance away from him.
"The fuck—"
"Perhaps," a voice cut in, dangerously calm. "Before you use your abilities to terrorize heroes in training, you should remember to take in your surroundings in battle as well."
Silent steps padded towards them, a hero arriving in battle. The red and blue fabric of his shinobi outfit crinkled, and a dull light reflected off his spiky silver hair. Behind him, a rather one-sided battle broke out, as more pros came to the scene to fight off what was left of the conscious villains.
Edgeshot pulled down, effortlessly bringing the villain down with his tendrils. A strangled cry escaped Saber's lips. He sank down to his knees begrudgingly.
Ria tilted her head at her opponent "I told you that reinforcements were coming."
Edgeshot peered over at the girl that stood a few feet away from him, taking in her bloodied and disheveled appearance after the fight. "Are you alright, citizen?"
Ria shook her head slowly at him. "I'm not injured badly," she said softly. As her disappointment at not being able to defeat the villain herself subsided, her chest filled with relief. She allowed herself to let out a shaky breath.
Relief was rather short-lived when her body began to grow numb again, and at that point, Ria finally let the weight of the day bear down on her completely. Her shoulders slumped, as though heavy loads had been stacked upon them. It's over, a small voice in her head said. Passing a hand over her face, she furrowed her brows when she noticed the blood smeared all over parts of her uniform. And all of a sudden, she felt gross.
Around her, she could hear various sirens blaring, getting nearer and nearer until they finally arrived at the school. Ria sank to her knees, hands shaking.
"You did well," Edgeshot told her, "You have no need to worry now. Help has arrived."
"No need to worry now", she echoed in a quiet whisper. Her head lifted to lock eyes with the hero, and from one glance, Edgeshot understood the weight of his words. She shook her head at him because he was wrong. Because she felt like her worrying had just begun.
"You are safe," he clarified, voice remaining neutral and calm.
"Yes, you are," her villain sneered. Edgeshot moved his hand down a fraction, and Saber cried out in pain as he pressed a hand to where a tendril had pierced his stomach.
"You have lost your right to speak, Villain."
A wicked smile crept along Saber's face, and he slowly turned his head to look at Ria. He was…smiling? A shudder travelled up her spine, and she mentally berated herself for feeling anything. She stared back at him, plastering a mask of calm on her face. She sat up as straight as she could and didn't look away.
"You know your friend—the one with the mind-reading—he's got a good quirk," he stated, "But he got something wrong." Ria blinked in confusion but kept her face still.
"What are you talking about?"
"My quirk isn't to make my fingers into knives. He probably just assumed that and skipped reading my mind."
Suddenly, his arms flew up and pointed away from her, "I don't just use knives!"
It took a split second for Ria to follow the line of sight of his hand, and she felt her eyes widen. The auditorium. Both she and Edgeshot fired at the same time, his tendril reaching the villain faster than her orb of light could. Still, she heard Saber's arms fire something.
Stabbing pain filled her lungs once again, blood coming out of her mouth as she coughed. She clutched her ribs and doubled over as she immediately looked back up to Saber.
Thanks to their efforts, the villain's arm had been knocked to the left as he fired. Ria glanced up to look at his hand. Bullets. She looked over to the auditorium and sighed in relief when she realized most of them had simply strayed off away from it. There were a few bullet marks on the wall, but it did not appear to have penetrated all the way through the concrete.
Suddenly, Saber howled in pain and slumped to the ground, unconscious. It was then that Edgeshot released his tendrils from him. He walked over to Ria.
"You are hurt," he observed, putting a hand to her shoulder and patting her back to ease her coughing. Ria waved him off gently. Her lungs burned, but she would live. She let him help her stand on shaky legs before she wiped the blood off her mouth with her arm. By the gate, she spotted the ambulances.
"There are injured survivors inside the auditorium," she croaked out, and Edgeshot nodded at the information.
"We should get you medical attention," he stated, but Ria shook her head.
"I'm fine. The victims in the auditorium have more severe injuries."
The hero's eyes travelled to the direction she motioned. "I shall notify the medical authorities of this information. It would be best if you allow yourself to sit and rest for a moment, lest you collapse."
"I'm alright," she reasoned again, though her voice had grown soft and hoarse. "I'll inform the victims that it's alright to step outside now."
He regarded her for a moment, as though he was trying to decide whether or not he should let her go. After a moment of contemplation, he seemed to quietly agree with her. He bowed his head slightly in consent before turning back to jog to the gate.
Ria trudged towards the auditorium and lifted a heavy arm to twist the doorknob. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, ignoring the dirt on her hands.
"Students and faculty," she announced hoarsely, "I apologize for the wait, but reinforcements have arrived, and it is now safe to—"
"Ria," Hibiki's voice called her, and she looked down at him.
Her blood grew cold at the sight.
Laid in front of him was Nami, blood seeping through her uniform and onto the floor. The nurse had her hands over her stomach, which is where most of the bleeding seemed to be coming from. Nami's face was pale, contorting in a pained expression.
"What happened?" Ria demanded, her eyes widening in fear. Instinctively, she crouched down, placing her hands over the nurse's.
"She was shot," Hibiki held his classmate tighter, ignoring the blood that began to seep into his clothes. "Bullets just came flying through the door. Nami was in front of it."
"But I—" Ria whirled around to peer at the auditorium entrance.
Sure enough, looking back at her with sunlight streaming through…were two bullet holes. And then a horrifying thought struck her.
"Come back for me after!"
Ria felt bile rise up to her throat as her brain put the pieces together. She was going back for me. That's why she was in front of the door.
"Ria-chan." She turned back around at the weak voice. Nami looked back at her, a weak smile plastered on her face.
"She's losing too much blood!" the nurse said, putting in as much clean gauze as she could get her hands on onto the wound. None of it seemed to make much of a difference as blood oozed out from the white material.
"Help!" Ria shouted as loudly as she could, "We need paramedics in here now!"
"I'm sorry," Nami said, her voice small, "I was supposed to go back to help you."
Pain twisted in Ria's chest as she immediately shook her head. "You did everything right." She grasped Nami's hand in her own tightly before moving to get up. "I'm going to get help-"
A weak squeeze stopped her, and Ria was startled by how she could barely feel the gesture. She stared back as blood began to seep into her classmate's green hair as well, "Please don't leave me."
Ria's expression softened, and she moved back to sit and grasp her hand. She brushed the hair from her friend's face, settling her hand on her cheek. "Somebody help! Edgeshot!" she yelled out desperately, where she knew the medics were coming from.
"Help us!" Hibiki joined in, his voice cracking.
"Why do you guys sound so far away?" Hibiki squeezed her tighter, and Ria sucked in a shaky breath. The nurse continued to work on her as best as she could.
"We're right here," Ria assured, her voice wavering. "Just hold on a little longer. Help will be here soon."
"Yeah! Um…" Hibiki trailed off, "I still owe you that ice cream at that new desserts shop, remember? I'll even get you a whole cake, just…stay awake."
"That..sounds great," she said with eyes that didn't seem to see them anymore, eyes that no longer had light in them. "You guys…are the best…"
"Nami, keep your eyes open," Despite Ria's begging, Nami's eyes began to slowly close. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
Nami shook her head weakly. "It isn't." her voice sounded tired and so very small now.
"But it's too bad," she continued, "I really…wanted…to live too."
A breath left her, and the hand that Ria held went limp.
"Nami? Nami!"
"Please…"
"Fuck! Please Nami! Open your eyes."
"Don't die!"
"Don't leave us!"
The doors burst open, and Ria was pushed away. She stared at her hand as it was pried away from her friend's. Quickly, she scurried to a nearby wall and clasped her hands to her mouth. Soon, Hibiki was separated from Nami as well. He limped over to where Ria was and immediately grabbed her hand when she held it out to him.
They watched as the medics worked on their friend, watched as they hooked her up to a small monitor, as they packed in more gauze and even as they placed a defibrillator on her chest. Things seemed to move in maddening slow motion. Hibiki's hand squeezed hers tightly.
Together, they watched. Tears came freely down Hibiki's cheeks as Ria struggled to breathe, struggled not to scream. The shaking in her body intensified, while sobs racked his body because deep down, they knew.
Why is this happening?
A strangled cry escaped her lips, and Hibiki held her close as a paramedic shook his head and announced Nami's death.
And so our story begins.