Monochromatic Ideals

Episode 27- Farewells without goodbyes


It was pretty much absolute panic after the incident with Hirose Akame, as the two brothers had expected. He didn't know how it went on Hikari's end, but Kyomu assumed it had went well enough. As for him, Kyomu had gone to his class, pretended to sleep, and when they all began to wake up he acted just as groggy and confused as they were. The following panic was eventually controlled by the heroes and police, fortunately, and though nobody had answers as to what happened except the two twins, at least things were peaceful. The damage from the incident was being fixed and an ongoing investigation was being conducted towards why everybody's memories of that day had disappeared and why some had died in horrific explosions.

But on the upside the Shinkas were in the clear due to a lack of evidence towards them, so there was that.

Kyomu woke up on Friday morning more lethargic than usual. The events of that train, and all the uncomfortable revelations that came along with it, still stuck heavily to him. What stuck even more heavily was that, in the days following, Hikari had shortly come into contact with him and told him that the League of Villains were set to have a meeting on Sunday morning. So that was when they were going to commit to their decision.

Sunday morning. Two days. Which was a real shame, because he and his classmates were supposed to have moved into their new dorms on Wednesday.

Oh, well. Couldn't have everything.

So Kyomu had been slow in putting on his uniform and gathering his things in his backpack. But he'd still go, for however little time he had left. Even if he saw it as being pointless at this point. Since he was never going to see any of them again, he at least wanted to see them one last time.

Sighing, he closed his room's door behind him, only wincing slightly at the small squeak it gave as it shut. Some children ran past him, giggling among themselves as they brushed him by. He stared forlornly after them with a small smile on his face before he turned around and began walking.

"Kyomu, Kyomu!" He'd only made it through one of the halls before one of the children ran up to him. She was jumping up and down on her feet and shoving a scrap of paper in Kyomu's face in an attempt to make him look at it.

He hummed and took the paper from her hands to look at it. From the pale human shape wearing a large amount of black, he could tell right away it was him. The black circles drawn all around the figure were another giveaway. It was otherwise a pretty poor caricature of him, but compared to his own artistic skill is may as well have been a masterpiece.

"Hey, Hina, leave big bro alone! He needs to get going soon!" A larger child slipped in-between them, took the paper out from Kyomu's hands, gave it to the girl who'd given it to him, and shooed her away. The older child then sighed and turned to Kyomu with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about that, Kyomu. I know you're really busy with hero school and everything."

"It's fine, Ren." Kyomu stared after the quickly retreating girl, and then looked back to Ren. "Where're your two friends? You guys hang around each other all the time."

"Pfft. Still sleeping." He rolled his eyes. "You know how they are. They sleep almost as much as you do." Ren's head stayed pointed down the hallway, and then he turned to Kyomu. "Hey, you're gonna be leaving soon, right?"

There was a very awkward answer to that otherwise innocent question. Kyomu managed to avoid any irregular reaction and just gave a casual shrug. "Yeah, the dorms are getting set up next week. So-"

"So there's no need to worry, correct?" Both boys' heads turned to see an aged woman step out from a room besides them. "Ren, I believe it was your turn this week to go help prepare breakfast?"

Ren's eyes widened. "Oh, man! Uh, yeah! Right on it!"

The child waved a quick goodbye to Kyomu before he turned his body around and bolted down the hallway. The old lady chuckled at the sight while Kyomu silently stared after him before they turned to face each other.

"So," she began, "it's that soon, then?"

Kyomu had to hold in the frown that was threatening to show on his face. "Pretty soon," he confirmed. He rubbed the back on his head and look up at the walls. "Can't say I'll miss the place, Mizo," he said. "I swear, this building was never once up to code."

"We've always struggled, yes, but we always managed to stay under that particular line. I remember you helped out quite a bit over the years with the repairs," Mizo noted. "Except that darn door of yours. Always squeaks. Never did figure out why."

"It's a real mystery," Kyomu huffed. "Real talk, though. I never, ah, never really, y'know, thanked ya. For everything. Taking care of me and... ahem." He coughed into his fist. "Last chance for you to say anything on the matter 'cause otherwise I'll be leaving soon so-"

"You don't need to say anything, Kyomu. I know admitting these kinds of things is difficult for you. The knowledge that you appreciate it, even if you don't admit it, is enough." She tilted her head and smiled. "Besides, you can't tell me you won't want to visit the children at least once when you eventually become a hero. They all really look up to you, you know. Every single one."

"Yeah. I know." Everybody there looked up to him. Because he was the oldest one. Because he was on the hero path despite his past. Because he was so strong. How much of that admiration was he going to shatter when he ran away? "I actually am kind of running late, you know."

That was a lie. If anything, he had time to spare. But he didn't want to be here saying nothing but lies to Mizo.

"Well, don't let me keep you," Mizo said as he waved the younger teen off. "Go, go. We'll be here for as long as you need us."

"I know. I gotta go. By, Mizo." He turned around and continued to move through the orphanage. Children kept waving at him and shouting at him, and he'd give them all his own small greetings as he continued to move forwards.

He'd never admit that he would miss this buildings, because frankly, it was so close to the line of being condemned that it wasn't even funny. The children and Mizo were another matter, but he was going to have to leave them regardless of what he'd chosen. He did find himself glancing at everybody he passed as he left more than once, however, and even looked back at the orphanage once he stepped outside the gate.

"I'll miss this place," he decided, "but this is too important. I wonder how disappointed everybody will be in me." He turned around and made his way to the train station. "Ah, well. Sorry I'm letting you down, everybody."


The apartment they were hiding out in at the moment wasn't really anything that special. Small and out of the way. Nestled between a lot of buildings and for the most part was inconspicuous. In a way it was much like the bar they used to live in.

It also had a balcony. There wasn't really that great a view since it was pressed against other buildings, but Hikari didn't really have any better places to sit down and just think.

Despite having had a few days to think about current circumstances, he was still reeling. All For One and the truth about their parents. Kyomu's decision to just cut their losses as they were and just give everything up. The fact he'd gone along with it without very much thought put into it. Maybe it was a hasty decision, but he had yet to regret the choice.

Even if he wasn't a hundred percent confident.

"Stay? Leave? Leave. We have the leave. That's what we decided. All For One's gotta die." After some mental debate he'd come to the conclusion that, yes, they'd made a plan and were going to stick with it. It was the loosest plan in the world, but it was theirs. He understood his brother's desire of wanting to kill All For One- he wanted to kill the man, too, not only for what he did to their parents but for what he's done to who knew how many people. For what he was. For the fact that he was still doing all this.

He didn't even know if he could blame the hero society. Yes, it was their job to stop him. Yes, they evidently tried to stop him if he had a fight with All Might and barely survived considering he literally lost his face from what he saw. Maybe he was just too strong or crafty for heroes because he was so old and powerful.

Well, blameless or not, the two brothers had decided that they were going to deal with him because the heroes just couldn't. Was that wrong of them? Probably. The hero society would surely say it was wrong, but that same society had failed them so much that Hikari didn't think it deserved to be considered at this point. Part of the reason he even entertained Kyomu's idea of just leaving Japan was because of that. Japan's hero society was Japan's hero society. And, frankly, he didn't feel like fixing it anymore. He'd all but lost faith in his own method. Kyomu, similarly, lost faith in his method.

But them actually leaving the country, and he could see right now that it would be a headache and a half to figure out, was for the future. Right now Hikari's focus was on All For One, because he'd been the one to go and decide for the both of them that he'd be the one to deliver the killing blow. Half because he worried for Kyomu, and half because, technically speaking, it was his fault he was in prison for over a decade.

"Does he know that it was Kyomu's Quirk that erased our home?" Hikari silently wondered. "Akame was right about the fact that anybody who looked hard enough could see the truth. If Kenji was his agent, then that would be reason enough to look at the case. Geez, the fact I'm so close to Shigaraki would be enough to warrant a close look. So does he know?" The hand grabbing the arm of the chair he was sitting in tightened. "We seldom ever spoke, but I have to wonder if he always knew he was talking to an innocent person whose life was ruined because of him. Maybe he didn't? Maybe he never bothered and he really does think I did it. I just don't know.

"What about his power?" Another point of worry was that he didn't know what his power was. More specifically, he didn't know what powers he currently had. "The power to steal Quirks through direct contact. Pretty scary," he admitted. "Gonna have to keep my distance. Gonna have to prepare for anything because he literally could have anything. Does he even have a limit to how many powers he can stockpile? Agh, man..."

He couldn't really say he was hasty since there isn't much he could do to prepare even he tried to. He didn't know what his powers were besides that warping Quirk he displayed. Really, he didn't have any plan of action besides storm the building the kill him.

He'd figure it out in the heat of the moment, he decided.

"And here you are again, acting all forlorn-like." Hikari didn't bother to turn his head when he heard Shigaraki's voice behind him, though he did give him a small nod when he walked into view and sat down in a chair right next to his own. His hand-covered face turned to face his own. "You look even more sulky than usual, Shinka."

Shigaraki. All For One's successor, apparently. Hikari could see it, considering how much he openly revered that man. Really, he treated him less like a master and more like a father. The man who could disintegrate anything just by touching it.

The only man who helped Hikari when he escaped prison.

Four months in this League and he still had to wonder if Shigaraki helped him out purely because he was interested, if it was some sort of twisted camaraderie between villains, or if he was just really hoping to get a powerful member for his League. On reflection, most likely more of the latter two, though over time he had to wonder. Shigaraki was always withdrawn with everybody with three exceptions: himself, All For One, and Kurogiri.

All For One was self-explanatory. Kurogiri... well, Hikari still didn't know much about that man, or even what he looked like under all that black mist. The fact he was close and actively sought companionship with Hikari, though, was surprising. He didn't do it with any other member of the League. Just him and the other two. He had to wonder why. Was he just doing it to ensure he stayed with the League, or with it out of genuine friendship?

And even more, if All For One knew the truth about the twins, which Hikari was still unsure of, did he tell Shigaraki? Did Shigaraki figure it out himself? Was that why he was always prying into his past? Was it just curiosity? Was he testing to see if he would tell the truth or not? Did he even care if he did know? Did he believe the lie Hikari told?

Honestly, all these questions were enough to make him sick. The anxiety didn't come just from the possibilities, but the fact he'd been living with these possibilities so long and had been blind to them until very recently. The feeling was the equivalent to having walked in a minefield for hours and only learned it was a minefield five minutes ago. A deep pit in his stomach mixed with worry churning through his whole body.

But, he couldn't show any of that. He didn't want to appear suspicious at all as to make sure his and Kyomu's plan went off without a hitch. So he buried all his worries and put on a nonchalant face as he shrugged at Shigaraki.

"I'm bored. I'm really bored," he answered. "We haven't really been doing much lately."

"Ah, I see. You get antsy real easy, you know." Shigaraki slung one leg over the other and leaned back in the recliner chair. "Don't worry. We'll get more members and make more operations soon. It'll all work out."

"Always the same with you, isn't it, Shigaraki? You barely ever learn. It's the 'barely' part that's probably your only redeeming quality in the villain business." Hikari hummed and looked up at the sky. "Surprised you haven't kicked me out of the League at this point," he admitted, "especially considering how much of a failure I've been."

"Huh? Failure?" Shigaraki tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Since when? You've been great."

"Great?" Hikari repeated. "Shigaraki, we haven't had one single successful operation. Not one, and I've been with you since the beginning at USJ. I've participated in all of them. They all failed." He slumped back in his chair. "Really makes a guy feel inadequate."

It wasn't true at all. At this point, he couldn't care less about the League's failures since he would be leaving them soon. But burying his anxiety was more mentally draining than he would like, so he might as well try to glean something out of Shigaraki.

Good thing he'd been lying most of his life.

"I admit that we haven't really had the best track record. We've had ups and downs-"

"Downs, Shigaraki. We've had downs."

"Hey, now. We've made some progress." Shigaraki took a deep breath to begin again. "But you shouldn't blame yourself. I blame myself, mostly." His knees curled up to his body and his hands flopped to the side. "If anybody should be feeling inadequate, it should be me. It seems like after every failure we grow bigger and better only to fall harder the next time around. It gets so frustrating that half the time I just don't know what to do with myself." He let out a shuddering breath and shook his head. "But there's... people there. To make sure I don't fall to pieces like everything else in my life. Master encourages me to do better. Kurogiri supports me. You..." He brushed some of his light-blue hair out of his face so that Hikari could see a crimson eye peering at him from between the fingers gripping his face. "You've always been there to fail right along with me. Not matter what, you never left. I really admire that, you know."

This was beginning to go in a direction Hikari didn't see it going in. He didn't know if he liked it. "Is that so?" he airily replied. "It's not that impressive. I mean, I didn't have anywhere to go. Leaving would practically be suicide."

"Well, yeah, but you're a smart guy. You could have figured something out." His hands raised and fingers interlocked, save for the thumbs. "But I really do appreciate you. The fact you've stayed despite everything. Your strength. The fact that... you're not so bad to be around." His hands unclasped and he reached for the hand mask on his face. "Everybody else in the League are great, too. More than acquaintances. Comrades. But you're something more, especially after everything."

He pulled the hand off from his face and fully turned his head to Hikari's whose eyes had widened slightly at the sight. A young face with chapped features was looking back at him, and on his mouth was a smile. A small smile, to be sure. Incredibly minuscule, actually. But it was there.

Hikari couldn't help but be hurt by the smile, though the surprise managed to cover it.

"I... trust you, Hikari. Really. I do." He placed the hand gently to his side and leaned his head on the back of his chair. "Our League will grow. We'll take steps and bring this whole hero society crumbling down. We already have good footing. We just need to keep moving forwards." He shifted in the chair to look at Hikari. "We've been having trouble with that," he admitted. "But it comes with the territory. We're a party of low-level players up against a whole society of max-level players. It's understandable that we won't see much success. But with every failure we'll learn and be better, and work our way up to those high levels." He looked up at the sky. "We'll get there. One day. Master believes in me and my League. And you'll be right there besides me. I know it."

And there it was. He didn't know. He couldn't have, after having made a speech like that. Because Hikari could hear it in his voice- the raw trust and emotion he was putting in there. And for somebody like Shigaraki, that said a lot, because Hikari had never heard him in that tone before. He was being sincere. Which meant he truly did value him as a friend. Truly believed he would be true to him.

Him, who was days away from betraying him.

It put yet another layer of anxiety inside of his heart that he didn't want to feel. He blamed All For One for everything, but what about Shigaraki? A villain, yes. Someone who had made his own choices; he couldn't dispute that. He also couldn't dispute he was in the exact same circumstance as him, and was influenced by the exact same man Hikari detested so much. All For One.

For some reason it always lead back to All For One.

Out of everybody he ever met, Shigaraki was probably the only one besides his brother who could emphasize with him and his situation, even if he didn't know the truth. And in his own introverted way, he had acted like a friend over the months as well as a comrade and commander. The fact he opened up so much to Hikari only went to prove his loyalty to the white-haired teen. And it hurt, knowing he was going to break that trust.

He immediately gave up on the idea of trying to convince Shigaraki to leave All For One. He was dead-set on this path of his. The path to being the strongest villain. The path of that man's chosen descendant. There wasn't any convincing out of that kind of determination. So their future was set. Hikari would leave the League and betray Shigaraki, who, at the moment, probably trusted him as much as All For One. He didn't like this feeling. Lying was one thing; he never actively hurt people with the lies he told. This was something entirely different.

The more he thought on it, the more it hurt, and he was glad that it was Kyomu that would be dealing with him directly on the matter. He didn't think he had the mental fortitude necessary to so much as see Shigaraki's expression when he learned the truth, even if his face was covered by a hand at the moment.

"Low-level, huh?" Hikari murmured. "You managed to go a whole week without making a videogame reference, Shigaraki. I finally started to understand you."

"I haven't had as much time lately. But that's not a habit I'm gonna be breaking anytime soon." A playful smirk graced Shigaraki's chapped lips. "And between the two of us, you don't need to be so formal. In front of anybody else, sure, but not when it's just us. So just feel free to call me Tomura, Hikari."

Hikari smiled on the outside. He withered on the inside. "Sure thing, Tomura."


The costume hit the bottom of the gym locker with a soft flump, and Kyomu couldn't help but stare at that silly black costume he'd designed months ago.

He never liked it, in truth. It was a mandatory thing he conceived out of necessity, so it was never as extravagant as the rest of his classmates' suits. He'd never improved or upgraded it like most everybody else did. He'd never even maintained it: the once modestly-tattered coat was rife with tears, rips, and holes now, and the rest of the suit was marred with scratches and scuff marks. He'd barely ever worn it, too. USJ and his abysmal internship. Training and his first final through it all, it... kind of grew on him.

But he couldn't take it with him. It just wasn't worth the hassle it would take to try and sneak it out of school, and he'd be potentially jeopardizing everything. So it would be staying here until he abandoned UA, and afterwards... well, he didn't know what would happen with the suit. Maybe taken by the police and put in an evidence locker somewhere, or decommissioned and recycled for raw materials to make other costumes. Maybe they would forget about it and it would stay in the locker until the locker's new owner opened it and saw the suit. Maybe they'd hang it somewhere to remember him.

He snorted. No way they'd actually keep the thing.

"I didn't really think about any parting words," he muttered to the costume, "so this is the best you're gonna get. Thanks for not being completely useless, super suit. You weren't so bad."

He shut the locker.

"Great training today, Shinka!" Kyomu was jolted from his thoughts and turned around. Midoriya, who was shirtless due to having just put his costume away, was standing right behind him with a big grin on his face. "That dual-team attack you did with Aoyama where you used your Void portals to redirect his laser beam was amazing!"

"Yeah, well, y'know. It was Frenchy's idea. Can't take too much credit." He let out a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck. "But you're right. Training was... it was fun."

Fun. He was telling the truth when he was saying that. Training at UA was never challenging, not for him. He never grew alongside everybody else as a result. He'd only ever grown on his own merit. But he'd had fun, for sure. Using his powers along with everybody else, showing off... not having to fear other people get mad at him for showing off. It was always a blast.

To think he'd be abandoning it all forever in a couple of days. It was only really hitting him now that he thought about it, and now that he knew it was going away forever he realized just how much he'd come to enjoy it. The thought caused a frown to form on his face.

"Shinka?" Noticing the frown, a worried Midoriya stepped closer to him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine." He waved off Midoriya's concern and tried to avoid eye contact with the smaller teen. "I'm just fine."

How in the world was Midoriya going to react to his abrupt departure? He supposed he would never find out, as he wasn't going to stick around and see, but he imagined it wasn't going to be very pretty. Midoriya was on friendly standing with the whole class, but he interacted with Kyomu more than most. The only other two people he even talked with as much was Uraraka and Iida. He was one of the people who believed so much in Kyomu becoming a great hero.

But it was fine. He'd get over it. Become a great hero along with everybody else. Better that he do it sooner than later so they could forget faster.

There was, however, one last curiosity he wanted to get out of the way before he left. It wasn't all that important, but at the same time the burning question left an itch at the back of his mind that he desperately wanted to scratch. The itch of just what in the world Midoriya's Quirk was. Seeing as they were alone in the locker room, now seemed like a good time.

He just really wanted to know.

"You know, back in the forest when I was walking around with Bakugo, right before the attack, he told me a pretty crazy story," Kyomu began. He leaned his back on the lockers while crossing his arm and gave Midoriya a scrutinizing glare. "He told me that you told him a crazy story about how All Might gave you his own Quirk and that you never actually developed one." He noted how Midoriya froze up. "He doesn't actually believe it and thinks you lied to him. I mean, I don't blame him. Transferring Quirks? That's just outlandish. You just developed your Quirk really late is all. Happens all the time." The other teen relaxed. "I just find it odd how you so conveniently developed that Quirk right before you took the UA entrance exam. Because back then you made it sound like you applied without a Quirk, which alone is crazy, but even crazier is how your power popped up at such an opportune time. Weird, huh?"

It was such a small inconsistency. Small enough for Kyomu not to be that bugged by it, but just big enough for him not to forget about it. Ever since he'd heard it he'd kept that in the back of his mind, and Bakugo's story of transferring Quirks, while unbelievable, was interesting enough that he bothered to remember it. Just in case.

Then he found out a villain with the ability to steal Quirks existed, and suddenly the ability to transfer a power didn't seem so impossible anymore. And the more he thought on how that possibility was reality, the more it made sense. Why he developed that Quirk when he did. Why his strength was so similar to All Might's. Why All Might tried to hide the fact he paid special attention to Midoriya during class and training, because he did. It was subtle, but a few times Kyomu had noticed. The pieces just seemed to fit together too well to ignore.

"W-well, uh..." Midoriya was suddenly looking really meek, and his interest was placed solely on the linoleum tiles beneath their feet. "I didn't, well, you... why, why do you ask?"

Kyomu shrugged. "I was just wondering. Really. I'm not gonna tell anybody if it's the truth or anything. I just wanna know."

Upon hearing this, Midoriya picked his head up with a relieved look in his eyes and a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Kyomu raised an eyebrow in response, but remained silent and allowed the teen with dark green hair to get his words out.

"It's... well... I'm not supposed to really say, but you already know about All Might's condition. He trusts you, and I trust you, so..." He swallowed and nodded his head. "Yes, it's true. The Quirk I have is All Might's. He was looking for a successor since his body is failing him due to his wounds, and he gave it to me since I was Quirkless."

Silence reigned between the two after the confession. Midorya looked up at Kyomu with bated breath as he waited for a response. Kyomu, for his part, stared down at him with a blank expression before he shrugged his body off the lockers.

"'Kay, then," he mumbled. "That's wild, Mido."

"... Eh?" Midoriya blinked his green eyes as the taller teen stepped besides him. "Shinka, aren't you... gonna ask anything else?"

He shook his head, which only further baffled Midoriya. "Nah, I'm good," he said. "I wasn't lying when I said I was just curious. And I guess I can understand you lying if All Might himself asked you to keep it a secret. I'm sure the story behind that power and the relationship you two share is really interesting, but..." He sighed and shook his head. "Well, I said it before. Not really my business. And I got my own stuff to deal with."

"Like your brother?"

A sharp inhale from Kyomu. "I meant my hero studies and the fact we're all moving here next week, but sure, that too," he grumbled. He nearly panicked when he mentioned his brother, but he had to remind himself that he didn't remember the situation with Akame and the conversation he'd had with Hikari. He didn't ask him about his parents and grow suspicions about their past. He wasn't questioning the validity of their lie. He still thought his brother a villain. "What more is there to say about my brother, Midoriya? 'Cause I got nothin'."

"I guess so," he agreed. "But he is one of the reasons you became a hero, right?"

Nope. "Sure, I guess he was a deciding factor. It was more because I just wanted to and had a good Quirk. Kinda like everybody else in class. I'm not too special in that regard."

Lie after lie after lie. His only solace was in the fact it would all be over soon.

"But hey! We've been over this already. And right now I just wanna get some food after such an intense training session. So come one."

He wrapped an arm around Midoriya's shoulder and directed him to the door leading out of the locker room. Midoriya had quickly squirmed out of his grip and reminded him he was shirtless, to which Kyomu chuckled and said he would wait for him in the cafeteria. He stepped out of the locker room and closed the door behind him, and quickly the smile dropped off his face.

"Goodbye, Midoriya. You were a really amazing guy. I'm sure you'll make an ever more amazing hero."


"But, I mean, all good things have to end eventually, you know? I wasn't too... friendly towards you at the beginning. My irrational paranoia got the best of me, and it took some time for me to realize the mistake in never trusting you. But after months of being served by you and your kind here at this school, I've come to realize that you all are alright. Maybe we could have even eventually become friends."

The robot who served the students lunch gave him a gormless stare from behind the lunch counter. "Would you like extra with that?" the robotic voice inquired to him.

Kyomu chuckled. "You too, lunch bot. You too." He took his lunch tray and brought it over to the table where the rest of his class were sitting and eating. It was the routine he'd developed over the months of coming here: get food, sit down at his spot at the table, prod at food and pretend to eat, listen to the conversations going on around him, and occasionally participate.

So that's what he did, if only to respect the small ritual he'd made for himself. Unfortunately, his nerves were too high due to coming events to actually make any progress on his food, so he just absentmindedly poked at a slice of watermelon with a plastic fork as he looked at the classmates that sat all around him.

Sato was trying to goad Sero into trying what was most assuredly a homemade pastry. Sen was in a similar position where Aoyama was trying to get him to try some type of cheese he had, which caused Kyomu to do a double take. Koda was off to the side eating shyly. Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu, Ashido, and Hagakure were having a rather animated chat with Ojiro eating besides them. Mineta was sneaking glances at them while pretending to eat his own food. Kaminari was sharing a music player with Jiro and were both tapping at the table with the beat of the music. Kirishima was attempting to goad Bakugo into a arm-wrestling match, which caused the latter to yell at him. Tokoyami, Shoji, and Todoroki were eating in solemn silence off to the side. Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka were having their own conversation.

With the exception of the cheese thing- Kyomu couldn't make out what the deal with that was- this was the norm for 1-A's table. And he wouldn't be ashamed to admit that he was rather comfortable with the environment sitting at this table created. He did his best to enjoy what little time he had left with it, and so made little effort on eating his food.

"Hey, Shinka! Settle and argument for us!" His head turned away from his food to look the the side at Ashido, who was holding out a small, magenta-colored fabric case to him. The other girls who she was talking to were looking at him as well. "I got this new case for my writing stuff, but the other girls are saying it's too small! What do you think?"

"Small, huh?" He gestured for the case, and she gave it to him. A Void portal was surreptitiously placed inside the case, to which Kyomu proceeded to seemingly place his whole arm in the case. "I dunno. Seems pretty spacious to me. Girls're crazy." He pulled his arm out and tossed the case back to the bewildered girl. "If anything, you're more likely to lose something in that thing, Ashido."

Her dazed eyes flicked from him to the case, and the a burst of mirthful laughter escaped her. "Pfft! Yeah, right!" She shook her head and pocketed the case. "Nice joke, though. I'll give it an eight out of ten."

"Only an eight?" Kyomu incredulously replied. "C'mon. That kills with the kids at the orphanage. You gotta give me at least a nine."

"You're lucky I even gave you an eight. I had half a mind to deduct points for unfair Quirk usage."

Kyomu puffed out a breath of air, but otherwise gave the pink girl a smile as he bit into his watermelon. Off to the side he saw Iida giving him a small thumbs-up, which Kyomu reciprocated with a thumbs-up of his own. He slowly melded into the conversations all around him afterwards, and nearing the end of the lunch period he'd managed to speak with everybody and had even been goaded into that arm-wrestling competition with Bakugo and Kirishima. Of course he'd won.

It'd been great. The problem was that the knowledge that it would be his last kept him from truly enjoying it.


The clock on the wall clicked to the next hour, and the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. His classmates around him began packing their things away, and a few conversations began to pick up all around Kyomu as he crammed his books into his bag. His soon to be useless books, he realized as he shoved the last book into his bag.

"I've got half a mind to just chuck these in Void to save me the trouble," he thought to himself. "I'm never gonna need these textbooks again. Eh. Whatever. I'll carry them just 'cause."

"Shinka?" A tap on his shoulder brought the teen's attention behind him. A mismatched pair of eyes were staring at him with a black pen in the owner's hand. "Your pen," Todoroki explained. "It rolled off your desk and you never retrieved it."

"Oh. Thanks." Kyomu took the pen and haphazardly tossed it into the bag with the rest of his school stuff.

"It's no issue." While the Void user continued to stuff his backpack, Todoroki continued to stare blankly at him. A few moments passed, and he took a deep breath before speaking again. "Are you well?" he asked. "For the past few days you've been... off, Shinka. Especially today."

Kyomu froze, and then slowly looked back at Todoroki. "I half expected somebody to notice something wrong, but him?" he thought. "I would have thought it'd have been Sen or Midoriya. Ah, well."

He cleared his throat and stood up fully while placing the bag on the seat behind him. He admittedly hadn't been watching his demeanor all that closely, mostly due to a lack of not caring. He really didn't think appearing a bit off for a few days would jeopardize anything, and worse case he would say just that. That he was having an off day. It happened to everybody, and while his genes may have been a bit different than most, he was still human.

"I dunno. Guess I'm just having an off day or something," he answered. "Don't really know why. Can't be the flu- I don't get sick. I guess I'm still reeling from that whole... whatever that was from a few days ago. I mean, we all lost a whole day of memories and a bunch of people exploded. It's just weird."

"I can see where you're coming from," Todoroki agreed. "I suppose that's understandable. It was a fairly jarring experience. What are your thoughts on what happened?"

Kyomu shrugged. "Who knows? I sure don't. Villains're crazy, man. I stopped trying to understand them years ago." He pointed at the other teen. "How about you? Doing alright?"

"Fine enough. I've already packed all my things for the dorms we'll be moving into soon. Said my goodbye's to my family." He took a pause to clear his throat. "Otherwise, there's the provisional license exams coming up."

Oh, right. Provisional licenses. With everything that had been happening he'd completely forgotten about them. Not surprising, seeing as they were now completely irrelevant to him. "The test making you anxious?" Kyomu asked to continue the conversation. "I hear the success rate isn't too hot."

"I wouldn't say anxious, but nevertheless I'm still uneasy. The training should take my mind off it. If that doesn't, the homework will."

At that, the black-haired teen have a sympathetic sigh. "I hear that," he mumbled. "Welp. Seeya around, Todoroki. It's been an experience."

The teen gave him a cordial nod and headed out with the other students. Kyomu himself messed around with his backpack for a minute more before he finally slung it over his shoulder and began to walk out. He saw Aizawa sitting at his desk with some papers in front of him, and the two briefly locked eyes. The teacher gave him what could best be described as an approving blink, and Kyomu reciprocated with a blink of his own as he exited through the exceedingly large doors.

He passed some classmates, and they each gave their own waved and goodbyes. Kyomu continued to walk through the emptying school, weaving through the crowds and making his way down the stairs to the front entrance of the school. None of them really gave him any noteworthy looks, as, outside from those in his own class, he didn't really interact with anybody in the school.

Anybody except for the spiky blonde student that brushed past him.

"You only got lucky today, Shinka," Bakugo gruffly stated as he passed him. "It won't go the same way next time."

"Whatever you say, Bakugo, whatever you say. It's been real. See you when I see you."

At hearing that, Bakugo briefly stopped and turned his head around. His eyebrows were creased in a curious manner, but he shrugged it off almost instantly and continued walking forwards.

An uneasy breath left Kyomu as soon as Bakugo was out of sight. Thank goodness he was so competitive. He might have seen right through Kyomu otherwise, like Todoroki almost had. He was just glad all this lying would be done with soon.

"That guy's always heated, huh, man?" He wasn't even startled when the arm came and propped itself over his shoulder as its owner leaned next to him. "How're you doing?"

Shrugging Sen off of him, Kyomu gave a shrug. "Fine as could be," he coolly answered as they walked forwards. "Gonna be leaving soon, so that's, you know, up there. In the big plan. My plan, that is." He coughed to the side. "You?"

"Ah, you know, pretty much the same. Mom helped me pack some of my stuff, so when we're moving in we'll- hey, All Might."

"Young Eikyo! Young Shinka!" Right as they turned the corner, they saw their number one hero teacher walking out from the teacher's lounge, upon which he saw the two boys and began waving at them. "Off to your homes after a long day of schooling, I presume?"

"You know it." Kyomu would have thought he'd wanted some final words with All Might like he'd had with some other people since they'd confided in each other so much, but, surprisingly, he just couldn't think of much to say. So he merely turned his back to the hero, gave a small wave upon his retreat, and continued walking with his friend. "Anyways, catch you later."

All Might had given his own boisterous farewell, and the three split off, with the two teens going towards the train station and All Might going to wherever he needed to go. The pair of students chatted along the way about the normal happenings, such as school work and training, though it was mostly Sen doing the talking while Kyomu just silently listened while chiming in every once in awhile to keep the conversation going. This carried them all the way to the train station, where they awaited their train.

Sen was whistling a jaunty tune while rocking back and forth on his feet. Kyomu, meanwhile, was leaning on a nearby pillar while gloomily staring at Sen. He elicited a listless sigh and looked down to his feet.

"Hey, Mr. Melancholy, you alright over there?" Sen called, causing Kyomu to look up. He saw a pair of orange eyes above a vibrant smile looking over at him. "You look off, man. Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Training today was a bit rough is all."

"Oh, yeah. Was it that one sparring hour where Bakugo almost got you?"

"Maybe," Kyomu lied, and then pushed off the pillar to stand next to Sen. "I'm surprised they got the train up and running so soon after the incident. It wasn't even a week ago that happened. It's kind of crazy."

Sen's response was an unsurprised hum. "Eh, not really," he said. "Lotta people depend on public transportation, dude. I'd be surprised if they dragged their feet getting that thing back up and running. It's the train."

"It's hard to argued with that logic," Kyomu agreed. "Do you remember when we met, Sen?"

"Yeah, it was at the entrance exam and you were staring at my chrome dome in absolute wonder."

Rolling his eyes, Kyomu turned his head away with a sheepish grin n his face. "It wasn't absolute wonder. Wasn't even astonishment. I was wondering what in the world could be so shiny. I honestly thought that the sun had moved on me and that I was staring straight at it. The only wonderful thing about it is that I didn't go blind from seeing it."

"Keep talking, man. One day I'll find out some weird body quirk you have so I can make fun of it forever until one of us dies." Upon saying this, Sen cleared his throat. "Not, like, you know, a Quirk-quirk," he clarified, "I mean, you know, quirk as in something weird. Y'know. Original definition of quirk. The normal kind of quirk."

Kyomu snorted, but otherwise remained silent. Now that he thought of it, other than Bakugo, he never told anybody about his unique biology. It just was something that never came up. A part of him lamented that fact, but, upon reflection, he realized that it didn't really matter all that much in the end.

And really, he didn't want to be thinking about such inconsequential things at the moment. He just wanted to enjoy what little time he had left with Sen.

"Anyways, going back to your question, yeah, I remember," Sen continued. "Gotta say, we've had a pretty wild ride ever since then, Kyomu. Wild trainin' times, a couple villain attacks here and there. And it's only been four months! Four months we've been going to this school, and so much as happened. And we got three years here."

"Yeah," Kyomu mumbled. "I never thought I'd make any friends here. But everybody in that class warmed up to me, and I became everybody's friend." He looked to the side at Sen, who locked eyes with him. "But you were there with me since the very beginning. And you stuck with me, even through all the... unconventional parts. Like the villain things. You even lost a hand protecting me."

"I'm not really sure it counts considering I got it reattached," the bald teen pointed out. "But I see what you mean. We've had a hell of a time." He clicked his tongue and looked down the track. "You know... looking at the trend, we're likely to have even greater and wilder times down the line. Be a shame to have all the fun end in three years' time. I know we've been playing around with the idea for a while now, but I wanna ask seriously now." He turned back to Kyomu. "Wanna work together when we become heroes?" he asked. "We can sign up at the same agency, and maybe down the line we can make our own."

An exhale from Kyomu. "I dunno, man. I think it's a bit early for that kind of thing. And our powers aren't really that compatible. We only won against that ice villain 'cause we had a spacesuit sitting right there." He looked away from Sen. "Midoriya'd be a good match for you," he suggested. "He punches hard. You absorb hard hits. You both get along well enough. Geez, your colors even compliment one another."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure green and orange go together that well."

"C'mon, man, I'm bein' serious here," Kyomu chuckled through a forced grin. "And anyways, it's super early for that kind of thing anyways. And I'm not really thinking of doing partners."

Sen nodded. "Yeah, I get it, man. No worries. But hey. Maybe one day."

Kyomu couldn't help but frown at that, though his head was at an angle that Sen couldn't see it. He wouldn't have been opposed to working with Sen as a professional hero sometime in the future. He really wouldn't have. But the path he'd chosen just couldn't let it be. And while he accepted that, it still hurt just the tiniest amount.

After all, at the end of the day, aside from his brother, Sen was the best friend he'd ever had. And he could already see their first train coming towards them from the tracks. Pretty soon it would stop and Sen would depart for his own home

"Well, regardless of our future, I've... rather enjoyed our time together, Sen." The train had stopped in front of them, and the doors opened to accept passengers. "You were the greatest friend I could have asked for. I'm thankful."

"Uh... yeah, man." Sen's hairless eye ridge rose up in confusion as he passed Kyomu and stepped onto the train. He maintained this confused glare as he turned around to face the other teen. "Is there something the matter?"

Kyomu shook his head. "No. Nothing's the matter," he said. "I'll see you later, Sen. Goodbye."

"Sure, Kyomu. Goodbye." The doors to the train closed right after they said their farewells, and the train slowly sped away. Kyomu stared after the train, sighed, and opened a black portal in front of him before stepping through it.


Sunday arrived, and Kyomu uncharacteristically got up earlier than anybody else in the orphanage. He slinked out of the building, made his way past the courtyard, and slipped out through the front gate. He didn't need to go very far to see his brother leaning against the orphanage's brick perimeter wall with his arms crossed and head tilted in his direction. His face was set in a neutral expression and his eyes hardened in anticipation, but otherwise seemed to be waiting for his brother. Kyomu gave him a stiff nod, and Hikari pushed up off the wall to face his brother.

"So. It's time?" Kyomu asked.

"Now's the time," Hikari confirmed, and then reached into the pocket of his white hoodie to take out a slip of paper. "The meeting's being held in an old warehouse a city over from here. Address is on the paper," he instructed as he passed his brother the paper. "We're a bit early, so just go there and wait. Meanwhile I'm gonna head over to All For One's building and take care of him. I'll find you afterwards and we'll figure out what to do after."

Kyomu gave a stiff nod, read the paper, and placed it in his pocket. "So we're really doing it, then," he muttered. "Today's the day-"

"- We throw everything away," Hikari finished. "Good luck, Kyomu."

"Same, Hikari. Same."

No more words were passed between the two as they disappeared in bolts of black and white going in opposite directions.