HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all had a wonderful start for 2020!
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed this story back in 2019! I really appreciate it :D
Everyone was finally seated and ready to listen.
One of Nighteye's sidekicks began by explaining the current independent investigation that they had been conducting for about two weeks. What triggered the investigation was an incident that the Shie Hassaikai were most likely involved in. They've also been increasing their contact with other organizations who were involved in suspicious activity for the past year. It seems like they were aiming to expand their organization and their funds. They also added that they had made contact with the League of Villains. However, due to the enemy being very wary about being tailed, one of the Sidekicks could not pursue them to wherever is it that they were heading to. With the help of the police, they tracked down the place where both organizations met up and found a damaged warehouse. An altercation between the two was confirmed.
"So after all this happened, we reached out to all of your for help via HN—" explained Bubble Girl before getting cut off by her colleague.
"Skip to the next part." Centipede said.
"Right."
"HN?" repeated Uraraka.
"Hero Network." Nejire answered. "It's an online service only those with Pro Licenses can access. You can see reports of what all the Heroes in the country are working on and request help from Heroes with helpful Quirks!"
Mizuha pulled her arms away from the table and hide them underneath while her eyebrows shifted up a little. That must come in handy…
"Even if they're from U.A., why are there kids here?" the Hero at the other table facing Mizuha's pointed his finger in Fat Gum's group direction. Mizuha couldn't help but feel attacked. "We 'll never get anywhere with them here. The sun'll set before we get to the actual plan."
"Don't say that!" Fat Gum raised his voice, shooting up from his seat and knocking his chair down. The three interns looked at him, startled.
"These three have super important information!"
"Wha…?" Mizuha mumbled.
"These three…?" Kirishima repeated.
"Enthusiasm… smothering…" Amajiki mumbled after lowering his head.
"Anyway, I think I'm meetin' a lot of you for the first time! The name's Fat Gum. Nice to meet you! Oh, here's some candy!"
"We have reason to believe that one of the Hassaikai's main sources of income is unauthorized drugs." Nighteye continued. "So, I requested help from Heroes who are well-versed in those matters."
Fat Gum nodded. "Back in the day, I squashed loads of dealers like that! And then, at Red Riot's debut fight the other day…!" he clenched his fist, crushing the candies in his hand. "A type I'd never seen before was shot into Tamaki and Mizuha. A drug that destroys Quirks."
"Destroys Quirks?"
Aside from those who were involved in the incident and Aizawa-sensei, everyone was shocked. Aizawa became aware of this when Fat Gum's Agency called him and notified him about Mizuha's condition. He needed to know because she was his student and that she wouldn't be returning to the dorm for the night. Her three classmates looked at her with worry written all over their faces.
"Hyoumei—" Midoriya was cut off by Togata. It seemed like Amajiki didn't tell his friend because now it was his turn to shoot up from his seat. He placed his hands on the table and looked at the two.
"Tamaki, Hyoumei, you're both okay, right?" he asked, a little panicked.
"After sleeping it came back." answered Amajiki for both of them.
His transformed his hand into a cow hoof while Mizuha made a small wave of water that evaporated as quickly as it appeared.
"It's all good." she replied with a thumbs up.
"If it recovers, then there no need to worry." said the same Hero that pointed at them while shrugging. "It's nothing fatal."
Nighteye shook his head. "No," he pointed his hand at Aizawa. "I'll leave that explanation to Eraser Head."
"It's different than my Erasure. What we call Quirks are special additions to an ordinary body, or the Plus Alpha Elements. Everything included within the Plus Alpha are what we call the Quirk Factors. What I do is temporarily stop those Quirk Factors from activating. I can't actually cause any damage."
Fat Gum looked at Mizuha and Amajiki. "Right after Mizuha and Tamaki were shot, we had the hospital take a look at them, and their Quirk Factors were damaged."
Mizuha's discreetly looked around.
Ah, everyone is staring at us.
"Thankfully, they healed on their own and their back to normal, though."
"What about the analysis on what was shot into them?"
"There was nothin' wrong with the rest of Mizuha and Tamaki's bodies. The guy who shot them isn't sayin' anythin' either! The gun's in pieces, and the only bullet we had was the one that'd been shot!" Fat Gum smiled. He looked at Kirishima proudly. "But thanks to Kirishima's brave actions that led to one bouncin' off his body, we were able tog et one still filled with the drug!"
"Me?!" exclaimed her classmate. "That surprised me! It came out of the blue!"
"And after analyzin' the contents, we discovered somethin' that made me sick. Human blood cells were inside!"
…
...
What was inside me?! Mizuha's hand shot up to her neck. Is it still inside me...?!
"In other words," Ryukyu spoke up, "that came form a person… someone's Quirk? A Quirk that destroys Quirks…"
"Hm… I'm not really sure I'm following this." said a minor Hero seated at a table facing Nighteye's. "How is this related to the Hassaikai?"
"The man Kirishima captured," Fat Gum started answering. "and the illegal drug that guy used! The distribution channels for things like that are complex. It's gotten a lot smaller these days, but various people and organizations sell them wholesale until they finally reach the end user. There's no proof that the Hassaikai handled the goods, but they did interact with one of the intermediaries."
"The other day, when Ryukyu's team broke up a fight between two Villain groups," recalled Nighteye, "controlling one of the groups was the intermediary dealer organization."
"One of the two that turned giant had been given an inferior drug that didn't last very long." Ryukyu informed.
One of the minor Heroes picked up the papers that was distributed to each person. "Linking all this recent organized crime activity to Hassaikai…" he looked at Nighteye. "Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see? Don't you have something that implicates them more obviously?"
The screen displayed a picture, drawing everyone's attention to it. He had dark hair and he was wearing a beak-shaped mask. It reminded Mizuha of those plague doctors.
"This is the young head, Chisaki." Nighteye identified. "And his Quirk is Overhaul. The ability to both disassemble and restore any target. Disassemble… A Quirk that lets him break things and fix them. And a bullet that can break down Quirks."
Mizuha's eyes shifted to where Midoriya and Togata were sitting. She saw them lower their hands and stare at the table with a stiff posture.
"Chisaki has a daughter named Eri. There are no records or details about her birth, but when Mirio and Midoriya encountered her, she had a large number of bandages wrapped around her arms and legs."
…
…
Amajiki and Mizuha both stiffened in their seats, piecing the puzzle together.
Her hand shot back up to her neck and she looked at Chisaki's picture, mouth slightly agape. "Are you serious…?" she mumbled under her breath.
"Don't tell me something so horrific…" Ryukyu's eyes narrowed.
Gran Torino lowered his eyes, "It's society of superhumans." he reminded. "If you can dream it, you can do it."
Kirishima, who was doing his best to try and understand the discussion, looked at his friend who was still looking at the screen. By the looks of it, she knew exactly what was up. He saw that his internship supervisor was boring a very serious expression.
"What…? What are they talking about, Mizuha?" He touched her shoulder, causing her to look away from the screen.
She looked at him and pointed at his picture. "He… the girl…" she couldn't even form a complete sentence from how shocked and horrified she was.
The dark hero sighed. "Are you sure we need the kids? You should get it." he said while looking at the redhead. "We're wondering if this Chisaki bastard is turning his daughter's body into bullets and selling them."
Needless to say, hearing the Hero say it out in the open made the first years tense. They had just gotten their provisional license and they just started their internship. But they were suddenly being thrown into a part of the world that hid many ugly truths.
"We don't know if he's actually selling the bullets." Nighteye resumed. "At their current stage, their efficacy is still too uncertain. However, if they're at the test stage, and he's using them as samples to gather more to his cause…" he trailed off. "There is no hard evidence. However, if he's gathering people and funds across the nation… If the completed drug would be able to completely destroy someone's Quirk…? Many dark, dark ideas spring to one's mind."
Fat Gum started trembling. "Just imaginin' it makes my blood boil!" he growled before clenching his fist. "Let's go find him right now!"
Someone scoffed— Mizuha's eyes narrowed in annoyance— Someone who's been supporting an annoying tone this whole time.
"Wouldn't this have been resolved already if those two had just taken the child?" he said while glancing at Midoriya and Mirio.
"I take full responsibility for what happened. Please do not blame them." Nighteye urged the man. "Even though they didn't know the full story, they acted to save the girl."
Regret and frustration. That was most probably what the two were feeling. She couldn't begin to even image how that must have felt. They let the girl go only to hear days later what exactly they let her go back to. It's going to haunt them.
"Midoriya was willing to bear the risk of taking her then, but Mirio thought ahead and acted to try again when the odds were better. The ones most frustrated here right now are these two."
Immediately, they both shot up from their seats.
"We will definitely take Eri next time…!"
"We'll save her!"
Nighteye nodded. "That's right. That is our goal."
Again, the dark hero scoffed. Mizuha's eyebrow furrowed a brow while her eye squinted.
Oh freaking— god, shut up! Or at least open your mouth to say something minus that freaking attitude of yours!
"It's fine for the kids to show off, but if it's what we think, that girl's the crux the young head will want to hide, right? She got out because of some kind of trouble. On top of that, some kid Heroes saw her! You think he'll just keep her at home? I wouldn't if I were him. Even if we push our way in, it won't matter if she's not there. Have you already identified where she is?"
Ryukyu nodded in agreement, looking at business-looking man. "How about it, Nighteye?"
"That is the real issue." Nighteye admitted. "Since we don't know how far their plans have gotten, we have one chance to strike when it counts." the screen then displayed a map of the country while marking areas that are most likely needed to be looked into. "To that end, we have found groups with connections to the Hassaikai or land owned by them and made as thorough a list as possible I would like you all to investigate each place and narrow the list down to possible locations."
"So that's why you asked minor Heroes like us. The Heroes here and the localities where they work are the same! Heroes were chosen based on who knew the areas."
"You're mighty cautious for a former Sidekick of All Might." Fat Gum said before raising his voice again. "This is too roundabout! While we're takin' our time, Eri-chan is probably cryin'!"
"We cannot become All Might. That's why we must put together our analysis and predictions and try to make the possibility of saving her as close to 100% as we can."
"We can't rush." Gran Torino said, trying to calm Fat Gum. "If we make a big fuss about this and then don't get her, this could be the kindling for something bigger. Like how Stain's capture became like an ad for the League. In fact, that might've been the intent behind the distributing Quirk-destroying weapons to those hoodlums."
Mizuha flinched when Fat Gum turned towards her direction to continue speaking. He was pretty loud. "You're overthinkin' it! If we spend all this time talking about things like that, they're going to slip through our fingers!"
Oh but it didn't stop there. It got loud. Fast. More people started arguing over it. Some were agreeing with Nighteye while the rest was with Fat Gum. Mizuha and Kirishima looked at each other, then they shrugged. They could only really listen and wait for them to finish.
Aizawa raised his hand. "Can I ask a question?"
Nighteye nodded.
"I don't know how your Quirk works exactly, Sir Nighteye, but why not use your Foresight to see what sort of fate awaits us? Going forward without that knowledge… seems irrational."
"I… cannot do that. My Foresight requires a 24-hour interval between activations. In other words, I can only use it on one person for one hour each day. In addition, it's played in my mind like a flashback. Please think of it as the ability to watch a film of someone else's life for an hour after activation. However, that film is all from the perspective of that person. All I can see is that person's actions and a little of their surroundings."
"Well, that should be enough to let out find out a lot, though. What do you mean by saying you can't do that?"
"Well, for one thing… what if, in the near future, what awaited the person… was death? A cruel and merciless death, even. What then?"
"My Quirk should be used only after we have already drawn out the highest probability of success, when it can be used to ensure our victory. It shouldn't be used haphazardly when there are still so many uncertainties."
"Hah?! But death is information, too!" protested the dark Hero. "We could put a together a plan to avoid it!"
"It isn't the same as telling a fortune. There's no evidence to show that you can avoid the outcome."
"Nighteye, I don't get it! Fine, use it on me! I'll show you I can avoid it!"
He lowered his head. "I can't!"
Mizuha looked at the man who lowered his head as he refused. To her, it might have been her imagination but… was the subject of death, when it came to his Quirk, something personal? She might be overthinking it with her observation skills though.
Ryukyu sighed. "Anyway, let's do this. There's a child in need out there. That's what matters the most."
"Confirm the girl's whereabouts, and take her into our protection with the most accurate information we can get as quickly as possible. I'm counting on all of your help."
Bubble Girl started to quickly go around distributing the detailed case files.
The students who were involved in the meeting were gathered together. They sat at a table near a window where Togata and Midoriya explained what exactly happened the day they encountered Chisaki and Eri. The frustration was clear in their voices.
Mizuha was sitting at the other end of the table, across from Amajiki. From her angle, she could see their expressions. Both of them were so down that they couldn't hold up their heads while a shadow was hung over their eyes.
The sound of an elevator caught their attention.
"Is this a wake or something?" Aizawa's gruff voice asked.
"Sensei!"
Mizuha looked over her shoulder and watched her teacher come to their table. Mizuha made the effort to move her chair next to Tsuyu's so she wouldn't need to turn her head. "Oh, call me Eraser Head outside of school. But anyway, I was going to recommend all your work studies be suspended today…"
"What?!" Kirishima protested, standing up. "Why after all this time?"
"You heard them say the League of Villains could be involved, right? That changes things."
She just remembered that now. The platinum blonde haired girl looked at the side. A maniacal grin flashed in her mind. The lightning. She shuddered.
"But you know, Midoriya," he scratched the back of his head. "You still haven't regained my trust. Unfortunately, I'm sure that if I stop you now, you'll rush out again on your own." he crouched down in front of the frustrated boy. "I'm watching you. If you act again, we'll go by the formal procedures this time around, Midoriya. Got it, Problem Child?
"Mirio," Amajiki addressed the boy who still had his head down. "Please lift up your face."
"Ne, I know about this! Ne, Togata, even if you regret something and get depressed, nothing will change. Did you know that?"
"Yeah…"
"I'll say this to give you some peace of mind. The hand you missed grabbing onto did not necessarily mean despair for Eri-chan." Eraser straightened up a bit and placed a hand on his knee. "Face forward."
"Yes, sir!" Midoriya stood up.
"With that said," he stood up straight and put his hands in his pockets. "apart from the Big Three, who are at least as strong as the Pros, the rest of you probably won't have big parts to play. Asui, Uraraka, Hyoumei, Kirishima. You three aren't here of your own volition. What would you like to do?"
Uraraka and Tsuyu were firm in their decision of wanting to help Eri.
"Since the Heroes had you participate in the meeting, I think they have recognized you first years' abilities. In fact, I saw firsthand how two first years could shine much brighter than me…"
"Amajiki-kun, you start going off on that whenever you get the chance!"
"If I can help that girl with my power even a little, then I'll do it, Eraser Head!" Kirishima assured his teacher.
Everyone looked at Hyoumei, who hadn't said a word. Midoriya stared at her for a moment, wondering why she didn't state her position on this matter. But he remembered that night in the forest, where she screamed and trashed to try and get out of a Villain's hold that wanted to take her away like Bakugo. The way her eyes didn't even blink as she stared at the floor seemed like…
…
…
She did so well in hiding that fear up until now.
"Hyoumei," Midoriya called her attention. "Are you scared of Light being there?"
Uraraka looked at the taller girl with worry, remembering how she admitted her fear after that night.
"… Yeah." she admitted softly before looking up at him. "But… I don't care enough about him to not want to save Eri." she said and then looked at her teacher. "I'll just stomp on that fear and do what's most important right now."
"If it makes you feel any better, it's the opinion of the police and Nighteye that the League of Villains and the Shie Hassaikai are not in a partnership, so the chances are low that the League will be involved in this time's raid." Eraser Head said to her to try and ease her nerves.
"Our goal this time is only to rescue the girl, Eri. We won't step in further than that. But in case they're wrong and the League ends up involved, that's where your roles end."
"Understood!"
"And, Hyoumei."
Mizuha looked at him.
"If Light does happen to try and get to you again. Don't hesitate to fight back, you have your provisional license after all. But I want you to keep in mind two things: one, you won't be alone, there are other Pro Heroes ready to take him on if you don't want to fight him. And two—"
"The mission. Eri comes first." she cut him off.
"Exactly."
After the meeting, she changed out of her clothes and changed into her P.E clothes. Her mind was made up for now. She was going to work on her Point Warping for now. It might serve as a useful skill for the rescue. After all, if Chisaki found out that they were trying to rescue Eri then he would try to flee with her. Point Warping could help her move fast when she needed to catch up.
It wasn't the first time that she would be working on it after the fight with Togata. After nearly breaking her neck by falling off the pillar, she went to her uncle for some answers. Turns out the whole point of not telling her how to do it is because he didn't know if she could do it. There was a possibility that she might be able to use the skills and brother and mother had. Mizuha got terribly angry at him, thinking that she could have been wasting her time if she never had the ability to do it in the first place.
She just needed to do exactly what she did when she escaped from Togata.
"For example, if you wanted to move upwards with Point Warping then you needed to start from your feet. If you were in mid air and wanted to go down, you should turn your body into water starting from your head. Do you get it?"
"Um… do you mean like I should turn my body into water by starting with the opposite side? Like if I wanted to move backwards," she stepped back and started motioning the front of her body. "Then this part should first become the water and then like 'move' towards the back?"
"Exactly."
Mizuha placed her phone near the door and set the ringer volume at the max. Her alarm needed to be loud enough to echo so that she could head back to the dorm. Getting in trouble with her teacher because she lost track of time was the last thing she wanted.
She placed blocks of ice in different parts of the gym, designating them as destination marks for practice. This is how she trained whenever she had free time after her work study. She would practice moving from one spot to another using only her Point Warping.
She didn't know how long she spent practicing because she was so absorbed into it. But at some point, she heard one of the doors opened, signaling that there was an intruder. Instantly, she ceased her movements and looked straight at the exit. A familiar man walked into the gym while holding a folder underneath his arm, giving her a wave as soon as she saw him enter.
"Afternoon kiddo."
Mizuha smiled a little, legs running to the man who was waiting for her. She could have just warped to cut the distance, but she preferred the old-fashioned way. Family deserved it, she supposed.
"Hi, Uncle Eijin!" she greeted before stopping in front of him. "Here to help me out?"
"If you need it, but no, I'm not here specifically for that." He said, taking out the folder with one hand and leading her away from the door and to the wall.
She let him guide her until he held her shoulder firmly, stopping her in her tracks. When she looked at him, she saw him hand her the folder with no label. The girl shot her uncle a curious expression, slowly opening it when he told her to.
The moment she opened it she was greeted with a picture of a person that was clipped to the folder. A familiar one. The setting of the photo… it was dark, it was in the evening. There was a lot of rubble from the buildings that previously stood. Judging from the angle of the photo it was safe to say that it was taken from above.
It was a picture from the incident in Kamino.
In the photo, a figure was on the ground with a knife in his right hand.
"That's Light…" she mumbled. Then she looked at her uncle, not quite understanding why he was showing her a picture of the Villain that attacked her. "What's this for?" she asked while taking the edge of the picture and lifting it up.
Underneath the photograph was another one. This one was different. There was another person and it was taken in a way which the photo would be used for files and IDs. It was a young man with sand brown hair and purple eyes.
"… Who's this?"
"Rion Kyourai."
She looked at her uncle.
"Kyourai was a graduate from U.A. He was a very good student. He graduated while being one of the top students in class."
Mizuha tugged Kyourai's photo away from the clip and held it in front of her.
"His abilities were greatly recognized, and he was recruited just before he graduated. But he didn't stay a Sidekick for very long. He was experienced enough to take on missions as a full fledged Pro-Hero."
"What was his Hero name?"
"Bolt. It was a reference to his ability to move as fast as a lightning bolt."
As fast as a lightning bolt…?
"He was beginning to gain recognition for his abilities once he effectively carried out his missions. However, he disappeared during a certain mission. He was presumed missing at first and soon after dead once the police found much of his blood somewhere in an alleyway. It was also the same place where bystanders reporting seeing him last. The officials assumed he was brutally murdered by some type of Quirk that could erase any other trace of his existence."
Mizuha's eyebrows knitted, He was so young…
"The Villain named Light. The one that came after you. He started appearing some time after Bolt disappeared. His crimes consist of murder, and even torture. However, unlike most of the League of Villains, the police could not find any trace of his true identity or origins. It was almost as if he had done something to erase his past from the records." he plucked the picture out of Mizuha's hand and swiped Light's photograph away from the folder. "They had their suspicions… but it's not enough to identify someone based on the Quirk alone. People can have similar Quirks." He stepped away from her and proceeded to hold up both pictures, one in each hand, for her to see.
It didn't take neuroscience to try and figure out what he was trying to say.
"You're telling me that this guy," Mizuha pointed at Kyourai. "is actually him?!" she pointed at Light.
"That's what the police believes after piecing all the information together. They're sure, but their still leaving room for doubt. After all, things might not play out well if tell the public that a dead man was a Villain this whole time. It might cause unnecessary troubles for Kyourai's family too, if they were wrong."
Mizuha bit her lip as she stared at Kyourai's picture.
Twice moved to take a good look at Mizuha, "Why do you want this girl so much, Light?"
The villain addressed as Light only grinned wider. "She's like me."
…
…
The reason why he even thought they were alike… was it because she was attending U.A? The school he graduated from when he wasn't a Villain? That was literally the only thing that they could have in common. Light didn't even know her. How could he know anything about her other than she was attending U.A? The Sports Festival was the only thing that exposed her to the world. He only knew about her from the event…
Mizuha's eyes widened.
Then… it could have been anyone. It could have been Uraraka, Jiro, Kaminari, Kirishima, Byakuren, Todoroki— anyone really.
But he chose her, possibly at random.
That asshole—
"Mizuha?"
Her eyes darted up, looking at her uncle who was longer holding up the pictures, instead waving a hand in front of her. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied before handing the empty folder back to her uncle. "Why show this to me now? Couldn't the police just announce his identity?"
Eijin sighed, taking the folder back. "Like I said, they don't want to suddenly announce that a presumed dead man has been living the life of a Villain. They want to get rid of that doubt first." he put the pictures on top of each other and clipped them back in the folder. "I suppose they'll want to arrest him first before they can announce it. And I'd appreciate it if you kept it quiet for the time being."
"Do you think it's him?"
"At first? No. But I do now."
He put the folder back under his arm. "Now that I've told you, how do you feel now?"
Mizuha paused, staring at him with confusion written all over her face. Her provided her the answer seconds after she gave him such look.
He shrugged before rubbing the back of his neck. "From my experience, knowing more about what you're afraid of tends to ease the mind even if it's just a little."
The girl blinked owlishly. "… You get scared of things?"
He let out a puff of laughter before lowering his hand. He went over to her and rubbed her head. "Of course. Just because I'm a Hero doesn't mean I don't get scared of things now and then. I'm human after all. Now, back to my question."
She endured his affection until he stopped. "I guess it helped… I mean, I feel more irritated now that I know more about that guy." she admitted.
Eijin nodded in satisfaction. He laughed and patted her shoulder. "That's a good sign. I tend to feel the same when I learn more."
The next day, everyone was doing their best in training classes, wanting to gain more training that could benefit them for the mission. Any training is good training. But the air they carried with them pretty much gave away that they were hiding something from everyone. Whenever the internships were brought up in a conversation, all four students would give vague and simple answers, because they weren't allowed to talk about their internships in the first place. They couldn't even talk to each other about it.
They were on standby. They needed to wait for the Pro Heroes to try locate the possible facilities. During the first day of standby, Mizuha and Kirishima had to ignore Bakugo at the lunch table since he kept pestering them to tell him what they found out. When Byakuren asked her what was up, she would only shake her head and reply that she couldn't tell him or else she would get in trouble. That was all it took to not make him ask again.
…
…
…
Bakugo scrolled up in the shared document. His eye twitched when he saw something wrong. He looked up from the laptop and started typing something without looking, watching for the girl's reaction in front of him.
Mizuha, who was sitting across from him, was not really paying attention to the work anymore. She didn't even see what Bakugo was writing right in front of her face.
After school, Mizuha and Bakugo went to the library together to work on the project Midnight had given them. Needless to say, Bakugo wasn't a happy camper when he discovered that he was working with someone against his own will. Nothing he can't deal with though. They worked on a schedule together to make it work with their own busy schedules. Today was one of those days. Mizuha said she would lend him her extra laptop since she prepared the material inside of it, making his life easier. She was being considerate since he had to work for his provisional license. They went to the library in the school and worked on the document for about twenty minutes until she started getting distracted.
With an annoyed sigh, he nudged her foot with his own, causing her to blink once and look up at him.
"What?"
"Stop spacing out." he snapped.
"… Sorry."
When she looked back at her screen, her brows furrowed and she squinted. She looked back at him and found that he was waiting for her to react to it. She pointed a finger at him, "Erase that. Midnight won't like seeing your profanity."
"You should have seen it if you kept typing." he shot back without missing a beat.
"I said I was sorry." she frowned before clicking on the screen and pressing the backspace on her keyboard.
He scoffed. "Obviously whatever you just learned out there is on your mind."
"Geez, really?" he spat sarcastically. "Good job on noticing that, want a cookie?"
"Fuck you."
Mizuha didn't even look up from her screen but she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Keep doing that and I'll rip it out." he growled.
Her tongue darted back inside her mouth but she didn't hide the amused grin on her face.
The relationship between Bakugo and Mizuha was… good. The occasional teasing she did to rile him up didn't seem to bother him as much it used to. Of course, it did make him bark back but it wasn't anything too extreme. He tolerated her just like Kirishima probably because they sat at the same lunch table now thanks to the said redhead, and maybe because they frequently saw each other on the 4th floor. The same couldn't really be said about Byakuren since he was always acting sketchy which irritated Bakugo, especially since they sat next to each other during lunch.
"Tell me what you learned out there." he suddenly said, breaking the silence in the empty library.
She groaned in response. "I can't!"
"Why not?!"
"Because I can't! I'll get in trouble, doofus!"
"No one's going to find out! Just fucking tell me!"
"Shh! You're loud!"
"Oh, for fuck's— there's no one in this damn place!"
"I'm not telling you anything!"
At this point Bakugo was standing up, looking at her while she tried to hide away from his gaze by hunching in front of her laptop. He was so damn persistent!
Both the spiky hair and the mole girl wouldn't give him the answers. It was irritating him because he was still stuck without a license, while they were already doing Hero-stuff.
Bakugo dropped himself back in the chair, fingers practically digging holes into the keyboard by how fast he was typing. Mizuha gaped and pushed his head with her hand, "That's my laptop!"
Before he could say anything, she put herself back in her seat and held a finger in front of her lips, meaning he needed to stop asking. "Stop asking and so we can finish this!"
He only grunted in response. Yeah, no one was going to tell him shit.
The boy thankfully dropped the subject, sulking. For the rest of the time, they worked diligently until they finished the piece that was arranged to be done that day. They would finish the last part tomorrow after school and be done with the assignment. Seeing as they worked early on it, they might be the ones who finished first. Mizuha's standby and Bakugo's day off from License Courses made it easier for them to finish their work in two consecutive days (that is unless the Pro-Heroes locate the Shie Hassaikai's place).
…
…
…
On their way back to the dormitory, Mizuha patted his arm and stopped walking. The ash blond haired boy looked at her, questioningly. She pointed at his bag, "Pass me my laptop."
She didn't know how she managed to convince him but he was carrying the other laptop in his bag since she whined about two being heavy. And carrying it in her arms on the way there was a big fat no. She wasn't foolish enough to try and risk dropping it. While muttering something accompanied with the word 'hassle' he pulled out the device and handed it to her. She carefully took it from him and held it firmly in her hands.
" 'Kay bye." was all she said before turning to the right and marching to the gym.
"The hell?" he closed his bag, "Where are you going?"
She stopped and looked at him. Her face basically said 'what-does-it-look-like' while she shrugged and motioned her head to the gym. "I need to work on something."
Her Point Warping was doing well so far. However, she wasn't sure if it was at the level of being able to avoid an attack. The one she avoided from Togata just happened. She wasn't sure if she was able to do it now that she was aware of what she was doing. To contribute to the rescue mission, she was hoping it would be enough to avoid a real attack.
She blinked.
Wait.
Her feet dragged her back to Bakugo who stared at her weirdly as she approached. It was funny. Her hands were so determined to lock themselves around the laptop that it made it look like she was swinging her arms and laptop side-to-side as she ran. When she arrived in front of him, she carried laptop with one arm (fearfully) and tugged on his sleeve.
"Help me train!" she grinned.
"What? No." he started walking back to the dorm, leaving Mizuha standing with her mouth open.
"Please! It won't be long! I just wanna do and try something!"
"Why should I help with your dumbass training?!" he barked while shrugged off her tugging once she caught up to him.
"Because…" she looked up as if trying to find an excuse, which made Bakugo's face twitch. An idea popped in her head but she wasn't sure if she wanted to put herself in that position. No. Eri comes first. She looked at him. "I'll owe you."
He disliked having to owe someone. Always have and always will. If it ever happened that he needed to owe a favor, then he'd do it as soon as possible to free himself. However, having someone owe him was a different story. Did she really ask him to help her out with something so simple in exchange for owing him something? It seemed too easy.
"Really?" he looked at her suspiciously.
She nodded with a defeated look. "And you're like the best student in our class. You're perfect for this." she said with a straight face, knowing she was purposely feeding his ego for her own interest.
She wanted to stick her tongue out or something for the insincere flattery.
Mizuha added one more thing.
"Not even Todoroki or Midoriya can help me with this."
…
…
"Fine."
After changing into more comfortable attire and dropping off their stuff at the dorm, Mizuha explained to him what exactly he needed to do and why.
…
…
…
He scoffed. "So, you just want me to chase and attack you?"
"Pretty much."
"You could have just shoot me an insult. I would have gone after your ass before you could even blink."
She pictured Bakugo to be the perfect training partner since he was fast when he used his Quirk. She knew that first hand from their fight in the Sports Festival.
Bakugo didn't warn her and he was already flying her way, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him. The way his face started coming closer and closer towards her made a yelp escape her before she stepped back. She moved herself a meter away from the boy and gave him a reproaching look when she was back to normal. He had detonated his hand on the spot she was previously standing in.
"I wasn't ready!" she yelled at him.
He didn't even say anything. The boy was coming after her without stopping and she needed to keep Point Warping away. Mizuha moved the left and he predicted this move since she ended up lowering herself to dodge his hand. She placed her hands on the ground and swung her leg at his feet. Bakugo jumped away and she got back up and stepped back to warp away.
She was repeating what she had been doing for the past week which included enduring the dizziness of first time use. It was similar to sitting on a desk chair and having someone spin you around for a while. A person would normally lose their balance and stumble around. That's how Mizuha felt whenever she warped too much. But she was determined to try and fight it.
... If only it was that easy.
She warped away from Bakugo at least fifteen times.
As for the sixteenth… she saw him in front of her with his hand outstretched towards her. This time, she decided to get behind him by moving past him. While a little dizzy, she took a step forward and water started moving in his direction.
From his perspective, he saw her move towards him when he neared her. Water appeared behind her and started carrying her away in his direction. Figuring she would appear behind him, he started turning his upper body to the left. His head and left arm was in the process of turning until he felt a body ram into him. It felt like he just got tackled by a bull.
Due to the dizziness and the constant use of Point Warping, she made the water vanish just when she reached Bakugo, something she wasn't supposed to do. His head was at a ninety-degree angle to the left before she practically ran into him and took him down.
"WAHH!"
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Bakugo landed harshly on his back and he groaned from the impact. He was already sore from the License Courses for goodness sake.
Mizuha's head was practically spinning at this point. She was on top of him but she was lying on him diagonally. Their stomachs were the only thing that were very much pressed against one another. Mizuha saw the gym spin while she had her hands on the floor, she thought she might roll around with the gym if she removed her hands. With a click of his tongue, he lifted up his head and looked at the girl on top of him.
"Damn it, Hyoumei!"
"Sorry… I got dizzy."
"Just move before I fucking blast you away." he grumbled.
"Yeah, just a sec." she said before pushing herself up with her elbows and knees and moving her upper body closer to her legs. She sat on her legs and stared at blankly at a window in the gym, waiting for the spinning to stop.
Bakugo sat up and watched her sway a little. He narrowed his eyes when he saw her try to shake off her dizziness. He scoffed, causing Mizuha to look at him.
"What are you trying to do?! Tackle Villains like a mad woman?!" He pushed her. He didn't even push her that hard and she fell backwards.
"That was unintentional!" she retorted. "I got dizzy from warping too much."
He got up, "You're going to get yourself killed by your own dizziness. Ha, that'll be funny to see on your tombstone."
She shot him a tired look. She decided to ignore that one. "Anyway, I think I can move fast since you got me like three times out of fifteen..." she said while rubbing her back, the spot where Bakugo frequently got her.
"We done? I wanna leave already." he said impatiently, tapping his foot against the floor.
"Just one more thing…" she said while getting up. She went up to him and grabbed his arm, which made him pull away defensively. She rolled her eyes and took back his arm, telling him to bear with it. His arm was parallel to the ground and Mizuha told him to leave it like so before running away, creating some distance between each other.
Bakugo held his arm out like she wanted and kept one hand in his pocket, a scowl on his face.
Mizuha kept her eyes on his arm. She wanted to try something that she thought about not too long ago. Her uncle said that her water was a tool. She remembered specifically about how he said she might lose a part of her body if she tried warp inside water. He said she might lose a limb. Then it was safe to assume her body parts were very much still in place when she warped safely.
Bakugo saw her run to him, her water forming behind her and washing her away as it moved past her. The wave of water approached him. The water didn't move past him. Two beams of water shot out and wrapped itself around his arm. Then she reappeared appeared next to him, holding his arm with both her hands. Her eyes widened when she saw how she was firmly holding onto his arm.
So, it works.
It was a little difficult, but moving her arms while they were water was not impossible.
Her hands released Bakugo's arm and she looked at him. "Alright, that's it. Thanks for helping me out."
"That's it?!"
"What, you want to help me out for five hours?" she shot him a tired look. "I'm not trying to work on an ultimate move bucko."
"Whatever." he started walking off, leaving her behind. But not without shouting over his shoulder, "You fucking owe me now! Remember that!"
She sighed. I hope he won't ask for anything too extreme…
Two Days Later, Nighttime
Mizuha looked over her shoulder, startled. Her phone's notification tone just echoed on the entire floor, making her heart jump. Her fingers crossed in hopes that her teacher didn't hear it.
Her phone's light created some brightness in the dark common room where she was currently drinking some water.
She set down her glass and went to pick up her phone. Then her eyes widened, The date's been set…
Mizuha took a seat on the couch and stared at the message, letting the situation sink in.
I'm really going to be participating in a real mission... seems so unreal.
She bit her lip and took in a deep breath, she slumped in her seat and dropped her head back.
The elevator dinged, causing Mizuha to sit up and look. She found Uraraka and Tsuyu exiting, each one holding their respective phones.
"Mizuha-chan." Tsuyu said as she and the brunette came closer to her.
It wouldn't be long until the two other boys arrived as well.
"Did you all get the message?" Kirishima asked, looking at everyone.
"Yeah."
"The day we move."
The next day, they all left together to Nighteye's Agency. It was the day the operation was going to start. After revealing the location where Eri was being held captive and getting the final details of the mission, they all changed into their Hero Costumes and waited for the search warrant to be given. The search warrant was given was very quickly and the police was ready to barge inside the residence with the Heroes.
Taishiro distributed a paper to his interns. "Read these carefully. They listed the Quirks of those Hassaikai."
"Alright." Mizuha took the paper from him.
"Heroes! Things might get a little violent. If you see even a hint of suspicious behavior or resistance, please deal with it immediately! We're up against gangsters who have survived until now. Don't let your guard down and carry out your respective tasks. We will commence the operation at 8:30! Move out!"
…
…
…
8:30 AM
"Once they've read the warrant, charge in! I'm counting on everyone to move swiftly."
Rock Lock clicked his tongue. "He keeps saying the same thing over and over. It's like he doesn't trust us."
Celsius and Fat Gum looked at him, annoyed.
"You know that's not what he means. Stop being mean." The big Hero said with a reproachful look, making Rock Lock huff.
Celsius clicked her tongue. "He's so damn annoying…" she mumbled.
Fat Gum looked at his intern and sighed. "Don't get irritated now. We're about to start."
Celsius waited for the policeman to press the doorbell. But then suddenly the doors were blown away as a giant fist punched its way through, it sent policemen flying away in the air. As startled as she was, she didn't fail to react in time. Celsius extended her hand and her water rose up to catch two officers inside. Quickly, she set them aside and dried them off.
She looked over her shoulder to check on the two.
"W-We're fine."
"Thank you…!"
The owner of the fist was looming over them. "What do you want? Bringing all these people so early in the morning…"
"Oi, oi, oi! Wait!" Rock Lock got ready as the big Yakuza started straightening up. "They're already on to us!"
"Forget about that, let's just all pin him down!"
"I feel a little more awake now." His arm started bulging as he reeled it back.
"Get back!" Ryukyu warned.
"What do you people want?!"
The moment he swung at the officers, Ryukyu used her Quirk and turned into a dragon. The area was enveloped in smoke from the impact but it soon cleared away thanks to Ryukyu. She was keeping a hold on the enemy.
"Anyway, we shouldn't split up our forces here. Ryukyu Agency will take care of him!" Ryukyu said before slamming him down, holding him in place. "The rest of you go now, while you have the chance!" she motioned her head to the entrance.
Fat Gum ushered his interns and the police officers inside. "You heard the lady! Get in there. GO! GO!"
Celsius gulped and ran inside. Holy crap this is really happening… OKAY.
When they got further onto their grounds, Yakuza started coming out and attacking them, not caring one bit about the announced search warrant. There was a lot of members that were coming out to stop them from entering.
"Leave them to us and go on ahead!" said one of the minor Heroes.
"We're counting on you!" Nighteye pushed away the Yakuza to keep advancing.
Everyone did the same until they finally entered the residence, allowing Nighteye's Agency to lead the way.
"It's an emergency! Excuse us for not taking off our shoes!" Fat Gum shouted while shoving away another Yakuza. "They haven't done anything suspicious yet!"
"I'm getting kinda worried. We have no choice but to keep going now that we've started, though."
"I wonder if someone leaked information to them." Suneater said next to her. "I feel like they're all gathered in one place for some reason…"
Celsius glanced back and saw how more Heroes started to hang back to keep the Yakuza busy. "I think it might be a distraction…" she said while turning her attention back in front of her.
"That would be highly possible." Eraser Head said next to her. "The underlings exchange sake cups and pledge loyalty to the boss and brothers. Even with their fall from grace, these gangs have always emphasized loyalty above all else. All this push-back and the fact that we haven't seen Chisaki or the top brass haven't shown themselves yet. They're probably underground getting ready to hide or flee right now."
"Loyalty? That's a bunch of crap!" Red Riot protested. "Forcing their henchmen to take responsibility and running away themselves isn't manly!"
Fat Gum nodded. "No doubt!"
Nighteye suddenly stopped in front of a wall. It had a wall scroll just hanging there with a vase sitting underneath it. He moved the vase aside and started tampering with the panel until the wall began to move, revealing a secret entrance.
"It's like a ninja residence!" Bubble Girl exclaimed.
"if you hand't seen it with your Foresight, we wouldn't have noticed it. Be careful of Quirks we haven't see yet—"
A hand appeared on the moving wall. All of a sudden three other Yakuza climbed up with the intent of attacking them. Before they could even lift a finger, all three were restrained by Centipede and Bubble Girl who ushered them to keep going. The group rushed down the stairs and found themselves underground but with a wall blocked their path.
"It's a dead end…! You sure you're not mistaken?"
"Explain yourself, Nighteye!" Rock Lock shouted.
"I'll go take a look!" Lemillion ran to the wall and passed his head through. He pulled away after a few seconds, "It's just been blocked off by a wall. But it's a pretty thick wall."
"With Chisaki's ability to break down and restore things, even this is possible?"
"A cheap trick…"
"It's like he's telling us he'll be in trouble if we go this way."
Celsius clicked her tongue. "Lemillion. Heads up."
Lemillion looked behind him and saw a giant ice fist flying his way. He quickly phased through it and stepped away as it broke through the wall. Rock Lock and Fat Gum looked at the girl standing between them. She held in the urge to laugh when she felt the disappointment radiating off the two. They missed their chance.
Celsius clapped her hands. "Alright. Let's keep going." she said before evaporating the ice and running down the path.
"Right!" Deku and Red Riot ran with her, followed by Lemillion.
Suddenly, the floor, the walls, everything started twisting around. Celsius touched the wall and froze her hand to it to keep herself from loosing her footing. The path ahead of them was changing.
"It's not Chiaski!" exclaimed the black haired officer. "It's different… The only one it could be is the director, Irinaka! Irinaka's Quirl, Mimic, lets him go into objects and control them freely from within! He's gone into the concrete that makes up the underground, and it's turned into a living maze!"
"But it's on too big of a scale!" Rock Lock retorted. "He shouldn't be able to enter and control objects bigger than a fridge!"
"If he gets a big enough boost, it's not impossible, huh?" Fat Gum stumbled. "I was bein' careful about what he'd turn into, but I didn't think he'd turn into the underground. This has got to be hard on him physically. Eraser, you can't get rid of it?"
Eraser Head leaned back on Fat Gum to give himself support. "Not unless I catch sight of his real body…" the black haired Pro Hero looked at his female student. "Celsius! Can you locate him?"
Celsius turned on her visor and waited until she started seeing red figures. She looked away from her group and turned her head around to scan the place. The heat sensors she requested from Hatsume were effective. However, since they allowed her to see both her surroundings and the heat, she could not confidently locate him. All she saw was a figure moving along the walls.
"He's around here but… we can't reach him from here when everything's moving around!"
"Damn!" Rock Lock grunted.
"All these twisting halls don't matter as long as we know the way to the target. I can get there!" Lemillion suddenly announced.
"Lemillion!"
"Senpai!"
"It's a race against the clock! They know it too; this is all just to buy them time! I'm going on ahead!"
And then he was gone.
Celsius didn't like the idea of her friend going off all alone. Chisaki was a dangerous man, that she was sure of. They should hurry and get through this damn labyrinth. It was better to face Chisaki with at least one more person.
With that in mind, she unfroze her hand and started walking…
… until she found herself in midair.
Everyone dropped and watched as the floor (now ceiling) sealed shut when they landed below.
"We're getting further and further away from our goal!"
Everyone helped each other get up.
"Oi, oi, oi!"
Celsius whipped her head in front of her and saw three people standing away from them.
"Some government authorities have fallen from the sky. Strange things happen, huh?"
A big bald guy, an odd man wearing a sheet with holes and another who was carrying a sword.
"It looks like they're really ready for a fight." Fat Gum straightened, cracking his knuckles. "It's about time we show 'em what us Pros here can—"
Suneater stepped forward and stopped him. "Save the strength of Pros for the goal. For the ones stalling for time… I'll be enough by myself."
Celsius stared at Suneater's back. She was feeling uneasy at the idea despite hearing how fierce his resolve was. Everyone was set one helping out and taking out the three together, but Suneater was insisting that they go on ahead without him.
"Fat Gum! If it's me, I can completely shut down all three of them."
Celsius looked at Fat Gum, who stared at his intern before making up his mind. He turned to the door, "Let's go!" he said before running off.
Celsius clenched her fists. As much as she didn't like the idea of leaving him behind, she had to trust her senior. He was strong and capable, even if he constantly denies it and puts himself down. She knows this firsthand thanks to Fat Gum always assigning her to Amajiki's side whenever they had to split up during patrols.
"Everyone! Please take care of Mirio! I just know… he's going to take things too far and need saving."
She exhaled and followed Fat Gum but not without shouting something.
"Be careful!"
That was all she could give him in respect of his resolve and for the sake of the mission.
"Fat! You're going to leave him alone like that?!" Kirishima asked, feeling bad about leaving behind his senior all alone against those three Hassaikai. "What were you thinking?!"
Rock Lock glanced over his shoulder. "He's from your agency so I left that decision to you, but frankly, isn't he in trouble?"
"He's more capable than anyone else here." replied the BMI Hero. "But his heart was weak. The pressure he puts on himself to be perfect crushes him. But despite that, he still rose up to become part of U.A.'s Big Three. Someone like that declared that he could completely shut them down! So… all I can do is leave it to him!"
As they turned around the corner, the lights began to flicker. Everyone halted and became cautious of their surroundings.
"Another one of the Hassaikai?!" Rock Lock groaned.
Knifes started raining down around them out of nowhere. It seemed like they were coming from the wall and ceiling since they couldn't figure out who was throwing them. Celsius flinched when a knife landed point first in front of her boots.
"What the hell?!"
"Where are they coming from?"
"Is this Irinaka's doing?!"
That knife…
Celsius' eyes narrowed. She aggressively stomped on the knife, making it fall flat.
He's here. No doubt about it. That fucker is moving around and we can't see him!
She kicked the blade away. "Stop hiding, you lunatic!" she screamed, causing the people around her to look surprised considering how she was usually reserved and quiet.
Lightning started sparking everywhere as if replying to her.
I don't have time to mess with him! Eri is more important right now!
"I've come to collect the next pillaaaaaar~"
"That voice…!" Deku gasped. "It's Light!"
"Celsius!" Eraser Head kept his eyes locked on her to watch out for Light.
In a flash of light, Light appeared behind Eraser Head and shoved him to the side before disappearing again. The teacher blinked from the sudden force while a knife flew past Celsius' face, grazing it. She looked around frantically to try and stop his games. He was so fast.
"Irinaka… open the floor!"
All of a sudden, the floor beneath Celsius' feet opened up just enough for only her to fall through. Celsius' eyes widened. She was falling. Deku quickly grabbed her wrist before she fell, he wasn't about to let her fall and let the League do what they want once again. Not while he was still capable of doing something. Just before her could pull her up with her efforts combined, a blade flew past them, flying down below.
Light kicked away Deku, causing him to unintentionally let go of Celsius' wrist.
"Celsius!" Fat Gum cried with an outstretched hand.
Celsius saw how her allies looked down as she fell while a figure grinned below her as if to mock them.
...
...
Ryukyu. Nejire. Uraraka. Tsuyu. Amajiki. Togata. The police. They were all doing their best.
And Eri. Poor little, Eri. She needed help.
And Celsius needing help… was not important right now.
"I'll be fine!" she cried back before the ground sealed shut above her.
Unlike back in the forest, she wasn't completely alone this time. That thought was enough along with the feeling of wanting to help Eri was enough to give her courage to stand against her fear of Light. Knowing full well that he was underneath her, she used her water to change the trajectory of her fall. It wasn't the most graceful landing.
While she lied on her side, she glared at Light.
The grinning man only flicked his tongue on the blade that had her blood on it.
I wasn't quite sure about bringing back Light into the story. At first, I thought it was too early but then I thought to myself: when the heck are you going to bring back this dude, huh?! So, here he is. He's ready to mess with our main character once again!
PS. I have been giving some more thought about the ship of this story. But who do you think Mizuha should be paired with, and why? If you have more than one character in mind then by all means talk about it too. I'm just a tad bit curious.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I look forward to your reviews!