"Excuse me, but can I ask you some questions?" Togata asked, having finally caught up to Chisaki and Chronostasis, with Eri in his grasp. When Togata had realized that Midoriya was chasing after him, he switched between One for All and Permeation, easily slipping through the walls while creating holes that were large enough for Midoriya to use. Sure, it was more tiring than just outrightly permeating through the wall, but he couldn't just leave Midoriya behind. Plus, Midoriya's sharp mind would no doubt be useful when trying to save Eri from Chisaki.
Midoriya was panting slightly, but he climbed through the hole that Togata had just made, allowing him to catch up to the head of the yakuza. Eri's eyes widened when she saw Midoriya behind Togata, but she bit her lip, not wanting to make a sound.
"You two shouldn't have been able to get here so quickly, but you did knock down the walls..." Chisaki muttered in disdain, staring at Midoriya, clearly disturbed by the boy's presence. Togata growled, "We're here to rescue that girl."
"Now that you know the situation, you two are putting on your hero masks, huh?" Chisaki muttered, "You were pretending not to see, weren't you? The girl doesn't want you to rescue her. To her, you two aren't heroes."
"That's why we're here." Togata replied, determined, but Chisaki just sighed, "I'm not getting through to you. Let me make this simpler. I'm telling you to die."
Togata and Midoriya charged towards Chisaki, when suddenly, it felt like the entire room was shifting. Togata lost his balance and fell over, but Midoriya managed to catch himself in time.
The greenette looked around the room, noticing a skinny man with a fluffy vest drinking sake as he clung to the ceiling. The man cackled as he slurred, "Are you sloshed...? Your legs look... shaky. Mine are, too! That's why I'm... walking up here! Don't get... close... to me! You'll catch... my drunkenness..."
Sakaki Deidoro. Quirk: Sloshed. It makes people lose their sense of balance. Midoriya thought; he remembered this guy's quirk from the paper from earlier, but he really didn't think he'd be too much of a problem. Having fought villains before while being drugged, either from villains' quirks of his foster family playing tricks on him, really came in handy.
Either way, it was disgusting how the sake was just dripping to the ground, and Midoriya stepped away from the growing puddle on the ground.
"Eri's right over there... we can't let a guy like this take us down..." Togata muttered.
Suddenly, Togata activated his quirk, as a bullet shot right through him. Midoriya swerved to the side as a bullet flew right past his neck, noticing a man in a black cape and a black plague mask walking out of the shadows.
"The green haired one is quirkless, so, what's your quirk?" The man asked Togata. The blonde was about to answer, when Midoriya's hand shot out, covering Togata's mouth and preventing him from speaking. Togata didn't know why, but he felt compelled, or forced, to answer, and would have probably blurted out the truth about One for All and Permeation if Midoriya hadn't stopped him in time.
"Huh. That kid knows my quirk." Nemoto muttered, "You must have some kind of strength enhancing quirk if you can just smash your way through the walls."
"You missed. Are you drunk?" Sakaki grumbled, throwing his bottle at Nemoto, only for the latter to swat it away, "That would be you."
"Me?" Sakaki asked, confused, as Nemoto replied, "You should just be quiet and support the extraordinary me."
"Tch... they're trying to force me to talk..." Togata growled, "But you aren't the type to stand in the front lines."
"Hence, I am different from the other dispensable pawns." Nemoto smugly replied, "In the Eight Precepts, I'm the only one who's been allowed to get close to the young boss' ambition."
Nemoto fired off two more shots, but the bullets just slipped through Togata. Nemoto turned his head, confused, "The bullets went through him?"
He fired off two more bullets at Midoriya, but Midoriya was easily able to deflect them by observing where he was pointing the barrel of the gun.
"How can it be called ambition if he's using his own daughter!?" Togata snapped, Nemoto cocked his head in confusion, "Hmm? Oh, in order for things to proceed smoothly, emotions are unnecessary. You may not understand that, but you, the green haired one, you understand that well, don't you? What do you think?"
Midoriya tried to resist the urge to answer the question, but Confession forced him to answer, "Emotions are worthless. They just cloud your thought process, and disrupt your judgment."
"Ah, he does understand." Nemoto proudly declared, as Togata glanced at Midoriya, worried for the younger's state of mind. Midoriya didn't seem too bothered by the fact that he had just replied to the statement, though, as Nemoto continued, "When you first encountered Eri, you let it go once because of that, right? And then you probably guessed what our plan was, and regretted it. Rescue Eri? You just want to use her as a cover to make yourself feel better."
Midoriya easily saw through Nemoto's words; he could tell that the yakuza was trying to break their spirit.
"I live for the young boss' ambition. He needs me! I must follow him! We'll walk together! We'll share the joy when it's realized! Now! Die, nuisance!" Nemoto fired off a bullet at Togata, as Sakaki threw two knives at Midoriya, but the bullet just passed through Togata, and Midoriya deflected the knives back at Sakaki. Togata dove into the wall as Midoriya rushed at Nemoto. Sakaki was forced to swerve to avoid the knives, as Nemoto tried to shoot Midoriya down, but the boy was able to avoid the shots effortlessly; Nemoto was just too obvious in where he was trying to aim.
Togata burst out of the wall, crashing into Sakaki, before activating his quirk to bounce off the wall. He used a bit of One for All to increase his speed, as he used the unique ejective property of his quirk to repeatedly catapult himself around, phasing through Midoriya and only making contact with Sasaki and Nemoto, as the smaller boy easily snagged the two yakuza's weapons, disarming them, "Ultimate move: Phantom Menace!"
Togata nodded at Midoriya, and partially phased through Midoriya as the green haired boy stood his ground. Togata released his quirk, repelling himself forwards, directly towards Sakaki and Nemoto, knocking them both out with a punch to the gut, before shooting towards Chisaki.
Togata was pretty confident that he could have taken them down on his own with Phantom Menace, but with Midoriya's help, they probably managed to cut that time down in half. They needed to chase after Chisaki and Eri, and every second counts. Plus, Midoriya didn't seem to be too bothered by Sakaki's quirk, for some reason.
Togata quickly phased through the ground, as Midoriya raced forwards, his footsteps drawing Chisaki and Chronostasis' attention. Just as Chisaki turned around, Togata emerged from the ground behind him, attempting to kick the yakuza. Chisaki managed to dodge the blow, and was forced to jump away from Togata as Midoriya threw a knife at him, the blade just grazing the yakuza's cheek.
Togata shifted in midair, his foot phasing through Eri as he kicked Chronostasis in the face, forcing the villain to drop the girl. The blonde quickly swerved, as Chisaki tried to attack him, but Midoriya ran in, sliding past Chisaki and Chronostasis, and catching Eri just before she hit the ground.
Togata found some proper footing, and turned to check on Eri as the girl curled into herself, in fear for what Chisaki would do, "You actually... came... but you guys can't be here... he'll kill you!"
Midoriya gently patted Eri's arm, "He won't."
"Yeah. It's fine!" Togata nodded, before turning to Chisaki and Chronostasis, as the latter picked himself off the ground.
"How filthy..." Chisaki spat, trying to rub the dirt off his face, "Come back, Eri. Killed? How many times do I have to tell you? You break people. That's how you were born."
The familiar feeling of anger bubbled up from Midoriya's gut, and the green haired boy wrapped his arms around Eri protectively.
"No... you shouldn't..." Eri tried to reason with Midoriya, to make him let her go, but Togata just said, "You don't have to listen to him."
Midoriya just leaned down and whispered, so softly that even Togata wasn't too sure what he was saying, "There's no such thing as being born to do something bad."
"Aren't I always telling you? I have to get my hands dirty because of your selfishness. Each and every action you take kills people. You're cursed." Chisaki growled, and Togata turned to him, growling, "How can you say that to your own child?!"
"Huh? Oh, I see. That's the story I told you... I don't have any children." Chisaki crouched down, peeling off a glove, but Midoriya spotted the small action and flung one of the knives he had stolen from Sakaki at him.
Chisaki just leaned to the side, avoiding the blade, and pressed his hand to the ground, easily breaking the ground apart with his quirk and reshaping it into stone spikes. But ground the sound of the rumbling, Midoriya could predict where the spikes would emerge from, though he was barely able to dodge the spikes since he didn't know which direction the spikes would be facing. Togata was also able to avoid most of the damage with his quirk.
"He didn't care that she's here..." Togata growled, as Chisaki replied, "Yeah, it wouldn't have been an impediment even if she broke."
Midoriya clenched his fists, as he slid under another stone spike with Eri in his arms. He needed to relay information to Togata, but with so much dust and rocks flying around, Togata wouldn't be able to see him signing. He couldn't sign with Eri in his arms anyways.
"He kills her, he tears her apart. and immediately restores her, putting her back together. It's sickening." Midoriya hissed, holding Eri tightly as he avoided another stone spike.
"Ah, the quirkless boy figured it out." Chisaki spat, "If she dies, I can always restore her, revive her. I could always put her back the way she was. She already knows that firsthand."
Chisaki made another batch of spikes erupt from the ground, forcing the two students to do their best to avoid them. Midoriya managed to kick down a stone spike, making his way back to Togata, and passed Eri to him; Togata was much stronger than him, and would be able to protect Eri more efficiently than he could. They were forced to dodge another barrage of stone spikes, and Midoriya found it much easier to slip by all the spikes, while Togata had more flexibility on how to dodge due to his quirk.
"What will you do if Eri gets injured? Under these conditions, I'm the only one who can heal her. I've sealed off your escape. You can't slip through walls, or break them down without hurting Eri. Are you going to fight me, then?" Chisaki asked, as the dust slowly settled. There wasn't any rumbling, so Chisaki wasn't going to make any more stone spikes any time soon, and Midoriya opted to try and find Chronostasis; he had lost track of him when Chisaki had used his quirk, and even though Togata had given him a good hit to the face and was probably unconscious, he just wanted to make sure he knew where everyone was.
He found Chronostasis sitting behind Chisaki, holding up a gun.
I thought I knocked him out... was my center off? Is that drunk's quirk still in effect somehow? Togata questioned himself, not really sure of what Chronostasis was planning.
"Aim for the arm carrying Eri." Chisaki ordered, loud enough so that Chronostasis could hear him, but quiet enough so that the three kids in the distance couldn't, "I'll break the spikes to eliminate his screen."
"I didn't think he could use his quirk so precisely. He must have trained very hard. But what about the other child, the quirkless one? I didn't think he'd be able to dodge everything you threw at him, even with Eri in his arms."
"We'll deal with that later." Chisaki growled, before destroying the spikes between Togata and Chronostasis. Togata shifted backwards as the spikes disintegrated, before realizing that if Chronostasis was going to shoot with a gun, then there couldn't be any spikes in the way.
He hastily curled in on himself, holding Eri protectively, ripping his cape off to obscure his body. Two bullets flew past him, ripping his cape apart, but otherwise, did nothing.
"I thought a hero's cape was just them trying to look cool." Chronostasis growled, trying to fight Togata, as Chisaki turned, elevating the ground that Chronostasis had been standing on.
Togata's fist phased through the concrete, as Chronostasis barely managed to leap to safety, dropping his gun the in the process, "Sorry, Overhaul!"
He's good. Chisaki admitted, but he put Eri down. If I break her, then they won't be able to resist.
Chisaki put his hand to the ground, preparing to impale Eri with a stone spike, but Togata emerged from the ground again, "That's the kind of guy you are, right? A hero puts on his cape so he can use it to wrap up a hurting girl who's suffering and in pain!"
Chisaki tried to block Togata's punch, but the blonde's fist just phased through his hand, making contact with the yakuza's cheek, knocking him away. Chronostasis tried to reach for the gun, but Togata kicked him away, before diving into the ground, emerging to punch Chisaki in the cheek, "You're strong... but I'm stronger! I won't let you lay another finger on her! I'll take you both down! You've lost, Chisaki!"
Eri watched on from a distance, and while Togata was occupied with the two Yakuza, Midoriya was using the remaining stone spikes as a cover to creep closer to Eri.
"Don't use my name so casually..." Chisaki muttered, glaring at Togata, "I've already thrown that name away!"
"Master!" Nemoto yelled, having somehow managed to reach the fight through a hole in the wall, and Chisaki tossing a red box towards the other yakuza, yelling, "Nemoto! Shoot!"
"Master needs me... I must give my life... and walk by his side!" Nemoto quickly scooped a red bullet out of the box and swiftly loaded it into his gun. He tried to aim it at Togata, who was dealing with Chisaki, before changing his mind, and aimed the gun at Eri.
Eri froze up as the gun was pointed at her, and quickly tensed up, ready to take the bullet, as Togata rushed back to her. The blonde leapt towards Eri, wrapping his arms around her protectively as he smiled.
He waited for the bullet to hit his arm, except it didn't.
Togata quickly put himself between the yakuza and Eri, before turning around; he swore he had heard a gunshot.
He found Midoriya standing between him and Nemoto, as Chisaki pushed himself to his feet, glaring at Midoriya. Nemoto openly gaped at Midoriya's presence, "He was... here!? How on earth... did he manage to survive... all the spikes... without a quirk!?"
Chisaki had to admit, while he was busy with Eri and Togata, he had completely forgotten that Midoriya had also been in the room.
And he was going to pay the price for that mistake.
Midoriya just picked the red dart-like bullet out of his arm, and threw it to the ground, crushing it under his foot. The voice that had been lingering in his head was now silent; its presence was still there, but there wasn't any more noise.
He fell to the ground, feeling the drug in the bullet take effect, a cold, empty feeling seeping through his entire body.
He couldn't afford to let Togata get shot. He knew that Nemoto would aim for Eri due to Togata's Permeation, and that Togata would allow himself to get hit, and lose his quirks in the process, in order to protect her. But he couldn't let him do that, couldn't let him lose Permeation and One for All. Togata had spent a lot of time training to use his quirk and finally, had mastered it, and One for All had been passed down from Yagi to Togata.
He already failed Yagi once, being the one to end the Symbol of Peace. As much as he disliked Yagi, he couldn't bear to fail him again.
But now, he felt oddly calm. His heart was finally at peace.
"You bore it this whole time... thinking you had no choice but to accept the despair... that help would never come." Midoriya clenched his fists, turning towards Eri, his voice softening, "I'll never let you suffer anymore. I promise."
He was finally free from the shackles of the past, the voice that constantly reminded him of every single mistake that he had made, the very quirk that made him suffer, and didn't let him escape from his suffering.
Nemoto tried to reach out for the box of bullets with the need to try again, but Midoriya just let out a sharp whistle.
Ryuto swooped down from the ceiling, where Midoriya had told him to hide quite some time ago, and snatched up the box of bullets with one talon. He swiped the gun right out of Nemot's grasp, before flying out of the chamber before anyone could react.
"The diseased have been given quirks, and that lets them dream... Thinking you can actually become something... is an illness of the mind." Chisaki snapped, pushing himself to his feet. The quirkless child was ruining his plan; Togata still had his Permeation quirk, making him ridiculously hard to hit, and he somehow got a bird, of all things, to snatch away their quirk destroying bullets.
Chisaki placed his hand on the ground, frustrated, as Togata tossed Chronostasis at him, giving Midoriya some cover. The blonde punched Chisaki in the arm, and Chisaki disintegrated his other glove in an attempt to hit Togata, only for his hand to phase right through Togata, giving the student an opening to punch Chisaki in the face.
Midoriya shook his head and stood up, as Eri reached out, and grabbed his arm, tears pooling in her eyes. Midoriya gently patted her head, before slipping off his dragon pendant, and hanging it around Eri's neck, "Take care of that for me, okay?"
Wrapped in Togata's cape and clutching the pendant that Midoriya had just handed to her, Eri couldn't do anything but watch as Midoriya leaped after Chisaki, glancing at Togata "Lemillion! Go!"
Togata immediately got the message; Eri was their priority. He fell back, allowing Midoriya to kick Chisaki's arm as he ran back to scoop Eri up. The yakuza immediately made a barrage of spikes, but Midoriya was easily able to weave through the attack; Chisaki's emotions were clouding his judgment, and his movements were very obvious and easy to predict.
"Did you want to become a hero that badly? Even while quirkless!?" Chisaki growled, "It's all a filthy disease of our time! I'll fix guys like you and your friend with Eri's power!"
Midoriya expertly twisted and slid past spikes, before kicking a few apart and sending the rubble flying in Chisaki's direction. The villain's attention was on him, and he needed to keep it that way to buy Togata enough time to escape with Eri.
And keeping a villain's attention was easy; just piss them off more.
He skidded under another spike, sliding under Chisaki's hand as the villain tried to disintegrate him, and punched Chisaki in the chin. Chisaki tried to hit him with another barrage of spikes, and Midoriya was too close to dodge them, getting a spike impaled through his leg and arm, but that did nothing to deter him. The greenette just broke off the stone spike, and ripped them out of his flesh, before charging at Chisaki again.
He wouldn't let Chisaki hurt Eri again. He made a promise, and he was done breaking promises."
Togata was trying to find an exit; and while he knew he could just punch a hole in the wall, he didn't know how stable the entire building was; he didn't want to accidentally bury everyone in rubble. He quickly knocked Nemoto out, before checking the wall that the yakuza had crawled out of; it was relatively thin, and was made by Chisaki; it wasn't essential to holding up the ceiling.
He quickly used One for All to knock down the wall, and was about to escape with Eri when he heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. He tensed up, ready in case there were more yakuza to fight, and sighed in relief when he saw Aizawa and Sasaki running towards him, with Ryuto leading the way and Reiko following behind Aizawa.
Aizawa wasn't too sure what to make of it when he found a knocked out Sakaki lying on the ground; at least, they were going the right way.
They came across a wall, and weren't very sure if they should break it down when the wall suddenly fell apart, and they came face to face with Togata and a teary Eri.
Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya noticed the two heroes, and ducked down as Chisaki swiped his hand at him. Chisaki used that opportunity to grab Midoriya's arm, but Aizawa erased Chisaki's quirk, and Midoriya kicked the older man away.
"Nighteye, secure those who need treatment!" Aizawa yelled, and Sasaki laid his eyes on the unconscious forms of Chronostasis and Nemoto, and mused, "Two of Chisaki's inner circle... one on the way here... and this space wrapped in distorted walls..."
Sasaki quickly checked on Togata and Eri, seeing that they didn't have any major injuries, before turning to check on Midoriya, who seemed content that Aizawa was keeping Chisaki at bay and staggered back to Eri's side to check on her. The green haired boy was bleeding from his arm and leg, and was panting, but other than that, Midoriya just looked worse for wear.
"My quirk was erased!" Chisaki smacked his hand against the ground, before noticing that Aizawa was leaping at him, his eyes glowing, and snarled, "Get up, Chrono!"
Midoriya tensed up, and whirled around, taking out a knife and throwing it. Sasaki wasn't too what the boy had been aiming for, when a bunch of hair shot out of Chronostasis' hood, aimed at Aizawa, but the knife sliced the extended hair off.
But not in time; the arrowhead of the hair had already sliced through Aizawa's skin. Midoriya immediately leapt at Chisaki, knowing that the combination of Chronostasis' quirk, the dust, and Aizawa's dry eye would force the Erasure hero to blink sooner or later.
"Your efforts... they're all for nothing!" Chisaki growled, slamming his hand into the ground. More spikes erupted from the ground, pushing Nemoto towards him as a hole opened up under Chronostasis and Aizawa, dropping them into the room below. Togata quickly picked Sasaki and Eri up with One for All, managing to avoid the spikes, as Midoriya twisted past the incoming spikes, only getting a graze on his side.
"Nemoto... you tried your best... You would die for my sake, wouldn't you?" Chisaki growled, holding one hand against Nemoto's face, and another against his own. He activated his quirk, fusing himself together with the other yakuza, using Nemoto to heal his injuries as another pair of arms erupted from his back, "Now! I'll have you return Eri!"
Midoriya blinked, not sure what to make of this new monstrosity, as Chisaki snarled, "That was the worst feeling, but it's much better than how I felt before!"
The greenette turned his attention to Eri; he was fairly sure that Sasaki and Togata would be able to protect her easily. He wasn't too sure where Aizawa and Chronostasis were, but he was certain that Aizawa would be able to deal with him. His top priority right now was Chisaki, who was someone miraculously healed from his injuries, and had gotten a new pair of limbs to boot.
"I'm obsessed about cleanliness, so when someone touches me, it makes my blood boil. It's the first time it's gotten to this point." Chisaki growled, and turned his attention to Midoriya. He created more stone spikes, but Midoriya managed to avoid them, albeit barely; the speed at which they appeared had increased.
Sasaki quickly threw a seal at Chisaki, "Hakryuen, fall back!"
"Like I'd let you." Chisaki snarled, as Sasaki threw more seals at him. Limit the number of his moves and get close! Don't let him transform the ground!
"Where did Eraser go? Your aide isn't here, either?" Sasaki hissed, and Chisaki snapped, easily dodging the seals, "I'm interested in heroes who can erase quirks, so he's been shown to the VIP room."
"Someone who finds joy in destroying other people's quirks is afraid of getting his own quirk erased?" Sasaki growled, and Chisaki tried to swipe his arms at him, only for Sasaki to slip through the gap between the two arms, and touched his arm. He activated Foresight, allowing him to see Chisaki's future, as he easily dodged the villain's attacks, ducking under Chisaki's arm.
Mirio... you believed in my teachings and became strong... and I'm proud of you. And Midoriya... I haven't known you for long, but I know that you'll become an outstanding hero, just like Mirio... I've seen... the safety of you... and those you want to protect... Even without looking at the result, by repeating my one-second Foresight, we can reach the best conclusion that we all want.
Sasaki froze, as he felt himself being shoved to the ground.
The future where Eri is saved, and Mirio, Midoriya and the others are safe...
There's no such future.
Midoriya would die, his efforts in vain, and Chisaki would take Eri back.
