Review Corner:
The Colonel: The time has come!
Ulquiorra9000: In normal situation he may be more receptive to jokes and teasings. But at that time he is nervous out of his mind. He's not up for light humor at the moment.
And of course, Ochaco's quirk is best for crowd control, if she can keep it up…
Chapter 9: Crowd Control
Yoyogi Park,
Shibuya, Tokyo,
July 31
"Hey!" Yosetsu shoved the guy that threw beer can. As a security guard he knew he shouldn't use excessive force when dealing with fans, but he couldn't help it. The girl he cared so much could've been hurt by such irresponsible stunt. "Watch it, man! You could've hit somebody!"
The drunken guy fell on his back but got up quickly, then mumbled something to the crowd next to him. Now 3 more fans pounced at him, repulsed by Yosetsu's 'unnecessary roughness'. Yosetsu tried to defuse the situation, but their common sense had been clouded by alcohol. They came at him, shoving and cursing, to the point where Yosetsu started thinking of using his hero skill to restore order.
The guy that threw beer can continued to spread his venom among fans, coaxing them into mugging Yosestsu. Izuku, who had settled down the other two drunken fans, realized he had to silence the troublemaker. He advanced toward him but the angry fans saw it as a cowardly attack. Half a dozen fans jumped on him and pushed him around. Izuku fought the angry mob valiantly, but without his quirk or hero skills, he fought a losing battle.
Momo and Pyrrha knew that Izuku and Yosetsu wouldn't be able to control the situation alone so they charged the crowd. Momo was still subtle in her approach, but Pyrrha was not bound by hero laws. She pushed the fans back, forcefully, until a few of them ended on the ground. Not to be outdone by a girl, two male fans swung their fists at Pyrrha, but the redhaired girl parried the attack and kicked their ankles until they dropped to their knees, groaning in pain.
When a fan burst a bottle and used it as a knife, Momo decided they needed their Plus Ultra moves.
"Quirk at will!" she shouted as she created 2 bokkens, one of which she tossed to Pyrrha.
"Oh yeah!" Pyrrha grabbed the bokken and blocked the man with the broken bottle. "Let's rock!" The man charged blindly, but Pyrrha sidestepped his attack then slammed her bokken on the man's wrist. The man screamed and dropped his bottle. Pyrrha kicked the broken bottle out of the way, then hit the man's shin. The man cried like a little girl and curled into fetal position as he nurtured his shin.
Ochaco, who kept herself out of position the entire time, now dove into the conflict. A few angry fans pushed and grabbed her but she simply touched them with her fingers, and they started floating. The more fans trying to harm her, the more of them took off the ground as if suspended by invisible strings. Panic screams echoed through the park as the floating fans had no idea what was happening to them.
It could be the end of the conflict as Ochaco could just make the troubling fans float, but the troublemaker grabbed a rock and threw it at her. The rock hit her shoulder. Her concentration broke, and her quirk deactivated. The floating fans crashed to the ground in a cascade of thumps and agonizing screams.
Izuku saw what was done to the girl he had been lusting for, and it drove him mad. His veins protruded on his forearm as he activated One For All. He was careful enough not to go overboard with his powerful quirk, and his plan was just to scare the fans with it. But when he saw the perpetrator, the beer-throwing thug that started all this mess and had the audacity to 'hurt' his dream girl, he just went with it. He jumped over a mob of fans and landed right in front of the troublemaker. The drunken guy did what he did best: he threw a rock at Izuku, but Izuku simply caught it. The guy turned around and broke into a sprint, but Izuku threw the rock like a baseball. The rock hit the guy on the base of his neck, and his body sloshed to the ground like jelly.
Meanwhile Momo held her own against three violent fans. One of them pulled a pocket knife and tried to outflank her while the other two attacked her from the front. Momo easily dispatched one fan and was routing the other when the knife-wielding fan inched closer behind her. Suddenly his knife shook violently then flew off his hand, landing on the grip of Pyrrha.
Momo threw a dirty look at Pyrrha before immobilizing her opponent. "I got everything under control!"
"You're welcome!" Pyrrha yelled back and threw the knife at the owner, who started to take off. The knife stabbed his toe, and he screamed before rolling on the ground, trying to pull the knife that went cleanly through his shoe.
All this time Aqours stayed on stage, crying and hugging each other, not really knowing what to do. None of them had experience with such a crowd before. A few quick-thinking organizers started pulling out their phones to call the police, but everything went so fast that before the police could restore order, it might be too late. And when two fans climbed up the stage, everybody knew the police would be way too late to deal with them.
Momo watched the fans climbing up the stage, and realized she was too far to do anything. The only one what was close enough to the stage was Yosetsu. "Awase! The stage!"
Yosetsu sprinted toward the stage, bypassing a few angry fans, and crashed himself onto the man closest to the girls. He pushed the man to the light structure, then used his quirk to 'weld' the man's belt buckle to the metal posts. The man pushed him back and tried to hit him, but suddenly realized he couldn't walk away from the light posts, as if his pants were glued to the structure.
"Off the stage! Off the stage!" Yosetsu waved his hands to get the girls out of trouble. The other guy started making his way to the girl, and Yosetsu cut his path. The guy grabbed a guitar stand and swung it wildly. Yosetsu backpedaled to avoid the attack but he was tripped and fell on his butt. The man pinned him to the ground and clubbed him with the guitar stand. Yosetsu had no choice but to block the strike with his left hand. A sting of pain surged through his arm, and he bit his lips to keep him from crying out.
But before the man could launch another strike, Yosetsu grabbed the guitar stand and welded it to the ground. The man was caught off guard; he tried to yank the stand off the ground to no avail. It was a brief pause Yosetsu desperately needed, and he poked the man in the eye. The man jerked behind and rolling on the ground, screaming and wailing as he buried his face in his hands.
Yosetsu pulled himself up only to see three other guys climbing up the stage, but before they could do anything, a large man with white hair, a white mask with 4 muzzle holes, a vest without shirt, and oversized arm bands that looked like the cylindrical magazine of a revolver, jumped up the stage and pushed the fans off. Several men, presumably his minions, arrived at the park and started assisting Momo, Pyrrha, Izuku, and Ochaco controlling the situation, until all the troubling fans were subdued.
The man turned to Yosetsu. "Good job on crowd control, students. Now back off. Gunhead Hero Agency will take over."
"Oh Thank God!" Yosetsu let out a long, drawn out breath. He ran backstage where Chika and the rest of the girls were waiting anxiously. "It's all over. The situation is under control. We have Gunhead Hero Agency protecting us. Soon the police will be here."
"Dono yona kyusai!" Several girls expressed their relief. "I was so scared I could die!"
"Are you OK?" Chika grabbed Yosetsu's arm, and immediately released it when he grimaced in pain. "You're hurt, Awase-san! You have to have it taken care of!"
"It's just a scratch," Yosetsu tried to downplay his injury, but Chika's stern stare melted his resistance. "Ambulance will be here any minute."
Chika managed to force a smile and leaned on Yosetsu's arm. "This is the last time we're doing a rock concert. We're strictly a J-Pop band from now on!"
