Happy new year you guys! (Please continue to stay safe and wear masks lol)
I tried to get this in before 2021 but I failed, so here's your new year's gift.
"Next chapter will be short"
So that was a lie.
8500+ words and an omake with Shigeo
"Good morning, Midoriya."
"Oh, good morning, Kageyama! You're finally here!"
Ritsu grimaced as he took his seat. It wasn't like he tried to cut it this close to the bell, he just hadn't expected to be faced with a truckload of security measures before even entering the school.
UA closed down for a day to secure the school. A day that he spent sleeping, eating, and avoiding Teruki. The latter of which he probably shouldn't have done or else he would've been prepared for the camera that followed his every move and the code he needed to enter just to open the school gate. Nezu really wasn't playing around.
"Wait a second!" Uraraka, who was on the other side of the classroom, jolted out of her seat and practically ran toward him and Midoriya. "Kageyama-kun, you're talking to Deku-kun again! I guess that getting ambushed by a bunch of villains really does make the heart grow fonder!"
Ritsu hid his laughter behind a cough. "That is definitely one way to put it."
"You guys are simplifying it way too much!" Midoriya said, his face slightly red. "We patched things up after the attack."
"Oh? You mean after you cornered me in the nurse's office?"
"Ye—Wait no!" The freckled boy swivelled his even redder face to Ritsu. "Did you feel cornered?"
Ritsu brushed him off, "No, I was just messing with you."
"You're so mean, Kageyama."
"The three of you need to quiet down!" Iida scolded from across the room. Still sitting in his seat, he gestured with a stiff arm toward them, "And Uraraka! What are you doing all the way over there? Class will be starting any second now!"
"Alright, alright," Uraraka waved her hands to calm him down while making her way back to her seat. "Don't worry so much Iida-kun! With the injuries he has, it's not like Aizawa-sensei will be returning any time soon. I bet that as we speak, he's relaxing in bed!"
"Good morning class."
With a squeak, Uraraka slammed herself into her seat behind Iida. "Aizawa-sensei! You're already back!?"
Iida shot his hand into the air, "Sensei, are you alright!?"
"I'm fine," Aizawa mumbled. A statement that Ritsu found impossible to believe when the man in question was wrapped head to toe in bandages. "The only thing you all should be worried about is the battle ahead of you."
A battle? So soon after an attack on the school? Not for the first time, Ritsu was seriously questioning the sanity of the school and those who ran it.
"By battle, do you mean..." Midoriya sounded like he wanted to go on but he stopped himself, unsure. Luckily for him, Aizawa finished for him.
"That's right, boys and girls, UA's sports festival is approaching." Aizawa directed his attention to the door, "But first, someone wants to say something to you all."
As if on cue, All Might stepped through the door, surprising the rest of his classmates and confusing Ritsu. He made his way to the front of the class and did something so out of character that it took Ritsu a while to actually process it.
The giant of a man folded over in a bow that could rival Iida's. Many of his classmates began to whisper amongst themselves and some of them even jumped out of their seats to urge the man to get up.
Midoriya, being the first to reach him, hesitantly asked, "H-Hey All Might-sensei, what are you doin—"
"I'd like to apologize to you all." So that's what he was here for. Ritsu hadn't expected him to take action this early. It was welcome, but undoubtedly strange.
All Might's voice was still as loud as ever but it didn't boom like usual, "Two days ago, I assumed that I would have time to run around the city, stopping some crime or accident here and there before meeting you all at the USJ, and I assumed wrong. While I was running around, you were all busy fighting for your lives against villains who were after me and I can't even begin to imagine how you all must have felt." Somehow, he managed to bow even lower and touch his head to the floor. "You don't have to forgive me, but I am so sorry for making you all go through that."
The class stared at him in a stunned silence. Seconds passed like hours for Ritsu and yet the hero kept his head to the floor. Could he forgive him? They were all still alive, yes, but Aizawa was covered in bandages and the mental effects of the attack couldn't even be seen.
Yet, as Ritsu looked at All Might, he remembered the promise that the man made to be more responsible. If the humility needed for the symbol of peace to bow before a group of teenagers wasn't a sign of responsibility, Ritsu wasn't sure what was. He guessed that he could forgive the man, even just a little bit. It looked like he wasn't the only one too.
"Sheesh," Bakugou marched up to All Might. "Get off the fucking floor. There's no way in hell that any of us don't forgive you, especially after punching that purple fuck into the sky! If there's anyone to blame, it's those bastards for even thinking that they could mess with us!"
"It was kinda scary," Uraraka said before adding, "but it was good practice! Plus, I feel like I'll be better prepared for future challenges!"
All Might lifted his head up slightly to look at all of them as mummers of agreement spread across the classroom. His eyes settled on Ritsu and he gave the man a small nod.
The hero then raised himself up fully and wiped at his teary eyes. "Truly, you're all so incredibly kind." He then looked to Aizawa, thanked him, and left the classroom.
"Everybody, back to your seats," Aizawa clearly wasn't going to give them any time to mull over All Might's apology. "UA's annual Sports Festival is two weeks from now."
"Uh sensei," Kaminari raised his hand, "isn't that kinda risky? What if villains try to attack again?"
"That's precisely why we must hold the festival. We need to show that UA is still confident in its security and that we won't be shaken by some villains. Although, if it eases your mind, the amount of police at the event will be five times greater than usual." Aizawa then looked out to all of them, "What you really should focus on is the huge chance granted to you by the Sports Festival."
"Huge chance?" Ritsu asked, mainly to himself, but he was heard by Midoriya who turned around in his seat to face him.
He had creepily wide eyes as he asked, "Have you never seen the Sports Festival, Kageyama?"
Ritsu leaned away from Midoriya and his accusing stare. Perhaps he misjudged the importance of the event. "W-well I've heard of it before, but I've never actually watched it." Now that he thought of it, he remembered seeing a flyer about the festival last year.
"Our Sports Festival is one of Japan's biggest events," Aizawa explained as Ritsu took out his notebook. "In the past the Olympics was the sporting event to excite the nation, but, as most of you already know, with the decreasing of the population and the emergence of quirks, it has lost a lot of its substance. So, what has taken the place of the Olympics in Japan is the UA Sports Festival."
"The country's top heroes will all be there to watch us!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed from the seat behind Ritsu's.
"Wait," he took the time to process what she said before turning to look at her. "All of them?"
"The most notable ones, yes. They'll be there scouting for us!"
The country's top heroes, all in one place, all focused on one thing. How crime didn't skyrocket during the festival was beyond Ritsu, but it wasn't his problem. His excitement at thehe opportunities the festival would allow almost made Ritsu feel like a child. He wanted to get up and tell Teruki what he'd learned immediately.
"That's right." Aizawa's stare became chill-inducing, "If you're aiming for the top, I sincerely hope that you perform to the best of your ability. Do not put these next two weeks to waste."
Everyone straightened up at his words. "YES SIR!"
"Oh, before I forget," Aizawa turned toward Ritsu's column. "Bakugou. Since you're going to find out anyway, you got the top score in the Heroics entrance exam. So you'll have to make a small speech at the Sports Festival."
Ritsu would've loved it if Aizawa hadn't said that. Bakugou had a big enough ego as it was, telling him that he came first in the entrance exam would make it grow exponentially.
"And don't get cocky," Aizawa warned, almost as if he could sense Ritsu's thoughts. "Or else Kageyama will give the speech instead."
What?
"Him!?" Bakugou swivelled around to point a finger at him. Ritsu looked the other way.
Aizawa wasn't one to randomly select people. If he was next up as a replacement for Bakugou, that meant that he had placed second in the entrance exam. He looked toward Sero's ankle and silently cursed it and the rescue points it gave him.
Aizawa didn't bother repeating himself and left the classroom. The combination of Iida and Yaoyorozu's piercing stares mixed in with the entrance of Hizashi for their next class kept Bakugou from charging at him.
The next four periods passed in an instant. Midday break had started, allowing everyone to get out of their seats and talk about the Sports Festival. Fortunately, Bakugou didn't try to bother him then so Ritsu planned to wait until it was time to head to lunch. Uraraka had other plans.
She marched over to him and Midoriya, dragging Iida along behind her. Once she reached them, Ritsu was finally able to see the unsettling look on her face.
"Let's crush this festival you guys," her smile was completely Bakugou-esque.
"Uraraka, are you okay?" Iida asked as he put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm better than okay, Iida-kun!" She raised her fist into the air, "I'm gonna go for it!"
Ritsu never would've pegged her as the competitive type. He focused in on her furrowed brows and clenched fist. Maybe competitive wasn't the best word; she had a determination about her that he was just now seeing. The look on her face made Ritsu want to know what her motivation was. Midoriya beat him to the punch however as they were making their way to the cafeteria.
"I want to become a hero because All Might inspired me, but why do you want to become one Uraraka?"
"Umm," Uraraka looked away from Midoriya and to the floor, "to be honest, I'm doing it for the money."
"Wait, really?" Ritsu blurted before slapping himself because his mother raised him better. It wasn't like he was against it but after what she said in class, he thought that her goal would be less... monetary.
"Yeah," she held her red face in her hands. "Gosh, I'm sorry. I know it sounds lame! It's not hero-like at all! Especially since Iida-kun's doing it for honorable reasons! Man, I feel so embarrassed."
"Don't be!" Iida shouted as he waved his arms in large swoops, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to live a comfortable life!"
"It's a bit unexpected," Midoriya muttered, "but not uncommon!"
"I'm working at our construction company, but there's no real work out there. We're flat broke!" She scratched the back of her head, "I probably shouldn't be talking about this."
"Construction?" Ritsu asked. "Wouldn't an anti-gravity quirk be perfect for that?"
Uraraka whipped her head around and pointed at him. "That's exactly what I told my parents!" She then looked off to the side again, "But they told me that they would rather have me make my own dream come true."
She turned to face all of them and the look she had on in class came back tenfold. "Joke's on them! My dream is to become a hero, make lots of money, and give my parents the life they deserve!"
"Bravo, Uraraka!" Iida clapped while Ritsu stared at her. Her goal wasn't monetary at all, not in the slightest. To help her parents; that's completely hero-like! It was even admirable!
"Why do you want to be a hero Kageyama?" Midoriya asked, drawing the attention of both Iida and Uraraka. He then added, "If you don't want to answer that's completely fine! I don't want to put you on the spot like with Uraraka."
Ritsu sometimes wondered if Midoriya was more cunning than he let on. But when he saw the look of complete curiosity on the boy's face, he knew that it was just Midoriya being Midoriya.
"You're fine, it's just that I'm not entirely sure myself." How could he answer a question like 'Why do you want to be a hero?' when he didn't even want to be a hero in the first place?
He looked to the rest of them and saw that they were waiting for him to elaborate, but it wasn't like he could tell them that he was practically an alien trying to save both of their worlds from super-powered, dimension-hopping terrorist groups.
"I guess it's just to gain perspective," he started, recalling his reasoning for joining Teruki in the first place. "My brother helps people a lot and I figured that doing this—hero work—would help me understand him better."
"You have a brother?" Uraraka asked, apparently offended that he never told her.
"The same one from Recovery Girl's office?"
"And Deku-kun already met him!?" Definitely offended.
"So you too look up to your brother," Iida said. "You must really admire him."
Before Ritsu was forced to respond to any of them, especially Midoriya, All Might appeared around the corner. "Midoriya, my boy!" His giant smile was back and he held up a bento bag that looked tiny compared to his bulky frame, "Would you care to eat lunch with me?"
"You sound like a school girl!" Uraraka heaved over with laughter.
Midoriya looked at the tall man with large eyes before responding, "Sure." He then waved goodbye to them and joined the hero.
"What's going on with Deku-kun?" Uraraka asked as they reached the freshman lunch line.
"I heard that he jumped in the second All Might was getting attacked," Iida answered, "so it probably has something to do with that."
"Oh yeah," Uraraka slapped her hand to her forehead. "It's like what Tsu said on the bus! Their quirks are pretty similar!"
"I bet that All Might might has started to take some interest in him."
Ritsu barely listened to their conversation as he tried to form his own conclusion. There was no way that All Might was going to stay in his muscle form for the entirety of lunch. Which only meant that Midoriya had to know of the hero's true form. It made sense since the two had known each other since before the school year started, but what didn't make sense was why. There was only one question on Ritsu's mind: What was so special about Midoriya?
"Only 50 minutes!?"
"I'm afraid so." The hero sat on the other side of the small table and let out a soft sigh. He poured some tea into a small cup and pushed it over to Izuku. "If I really push myself, I can get about an hour and a half, but 50 is my base limit and it'll only go down from here."
The thought of All Might's time limit shrinking so much worried Izuku. He looked down before mumbling, "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, my boy!" All Might's laughter soon turned into him coughing out a concerning amount of blood. He wiped at his mouth before continuing, "The only concerning news I have for you is that Young Kageyama saw me in my true form in the aftermath of the attack."
Kageyama knew of his true form? All Might didn't look too bothered, but that didn't mean that this new information didn't worry Izuku. Did Kageyama also know about One For All?
"Did you manage to talk to him?" Izuku finally asked.
"Yes," All Might then cringed, "although he did thoroughly chew me out for how irresponsible I was with my time limit. But rest assured, he promised to keep the information to himself and he has no idea about One For All nor that you also know of my true form."
Those words were like a wave of relief over Izuku. Kageyama was trustworthy and hadn't learned much. Izuku won't break his promise to All Might. Not again.
"Onto more pressing matters," All Might smiled at him. "Let's talk about the Sports Festival."
"Last year's Sports Festival was pretty exciting!" Class was over and Midoriya, seemingly still not over the fact that Ritsu had never seen the event before, was going on about which one would be best for him to start with. "Although, maybe you should watch the one from two years ago since the freshmen from then are seniors now."
"How about I watch both of them?" Ritsu walked side-by-side with Iida and Midoriya toward the door. "That way, I'll be able to compare the two and form and idea of how this year's festival will g—"
Uraraka, who had been walking ahead of him, abruptly stopped, resulting in bumping into her back. She didn't seem to register his presence however. Instead, she was staring out the open door, stiff as a board. Ritsu decided to follow her gaze.
Surrounding the door of the classroom and halting Ritsu's path to tell Teruki what he'd discovered, were dozens of students. From what he could see, there were at least 60 of them but, if he were to bet, he'd guess that the entire freshman class was there. And they all looked eager to get a good look at him and his classmates.
"There's so many of them." Uraraka gripped onto her backpack's straps tighter while frantically searching for a way out. "Why are they here anyway?"
"Isn't it obvious, Round Face? They're here to scope out the competition," Bakugou shoved past them to stand right in front of the crowd. "Fuck off, you damned mob." The mob, in turn, became much louder and much more rowdy.
"Bakugou-san!" Ritsu could hear the indignation in Iida's voice. "You can't go around calling people you don't know a 'mob'!"
Hearing that word made Ritsu's heart beat a bit faster. The first image that popped into his mind was the unpleasant visage of Reigen. The second was of his brother following closely behind the con man.
As much as he hated it, Ritsu agreed with Bakugou. These people really needed to get out of his way, because the sooner he got to Teruki, the sooner they could start building up their plan, and the sooner he'd be able to see Shigeo again.
With a renewed resolve, he too walked toward the mob. Unlike Bakugou, he kept on walking and began to push through them.
"Hey Kageyama! Where are you going?" Midoriya called out to him. Ritsu was pretty sure that what the boy wanted to say instead was, "Please don't piss these guys off anymore than Kacchan already did."
"Don't worry!" Ritsu shouted, already being swept into the crowd, "I just really don't want to deal with these people! I'll wait for you guys at the entrance!"
He got a quick "Okay!" in response and continued making his way through the mob, much to the displeasure of all the students he squeezed through. Not that he felt bad or anything, they were the ones who decided to block the door.
Just as he was nearing the edge of the mob, he bumped into someone else who was making their way forward. The plan was for him to apologize and keep on shouldering on, but the plan was stopped as abruptly as he was by a hand grabbing his shoulder. A hand that was connected to the arm that was connected to the student he had bumped into.
Ritsu finally took the time to actually look at who he had bumped into and saw that it was a boy. He was taller than him with wild purple hair and dark circles reminiscent of Aizawa. He we also thoroughly annoyed. He didn't let it show on his face but Ritsu could see it in his eyes.
"Where are you heading off to?" He sounded as tired as he looked and yet his grip on Ritsu's shoulder was like a vice. "It's kind of funny. You act so arrogant yet here you are, running like a coward. Before you crawl along, I'd just like to tell you not to get too comfortable, because all of 'these people' are looking to use the Sports Festival to get into the Heroics Department. And, with the way you're acting, your spot looks very free for the taking."
Everything this guy said rubbed Ritsu the wrong way. First, he grabs him, and now he's talking to Ritsu as though he were a child? If this guy was looking to pick out the weakest of the bunch, he was looking in the wrong direction.
"Okay," Ritsu huffed, "let's get two things straight, Mr. Monologue." He stood a bit straighter and stared directly into the boy's eyes. "First, stop acting holier-than-thou. My classmates and I weren't just handed our seats on silver platters." At that, the boy frowned and opened his mouth to retaliate, but Ritsu wasn't finished, "Second, you're barking up the wrong tree if you think that my spot will be an easy steal. I'm no coward and out of everyone here, the grip I have on my seat is tightest. I promise you, my drive is stronger than yours." He took a deep breath, "Now, can please remove your hand from my shoulder?"
He had expected that to be the end of it, but, this world being the way that it was, the boy did the exact opposite of that. His grip became tighter and his tired eyes sharp. "You think that your seat wasn't handed to you on a silver platter?" He let out a sharp laugh. "You were handed a quirk suited for hero work and you were given an entrance exam that only tested how hard you could swing; as if that's all a hero needs. That seems like a silver platter to me."
The tall boy still had his hand on Ritsu's shoulder, awaiting a response, and Ritsu struggled to form one. They stood there in silence. What could he say? There was no way that he could honestly look into this boy's eyes and tell him that everything he said was untrue. That was exactly how Ritsu felt not even a year ago! The fact that he couldn't say anything pissed him off.
"Let me go," he repeated, somewhat pathetically. "I'm done asking you."
"Of course you can only respond with a threat. What was I expecting?" The boy let out another dry laugh, only this time, it was cut off when he looked at his hand. His hand that pulled itself off of Ritsu's shoulder and slammed down to his side.
Ritsu knew that it wasn't the best course of action but he wasn't having this anymore. All he wanted to do was leave.
The boy stayed still as stone and looked to his hand with wide eyes. "Did you just force my hand away from you? They let someone with a quirk like yours into the Heroics Department?" he said, almost to himself. "Unbelievable. Here I thought that that blond loudmouth would be the one that annoyed me the most."
"If there's nothing else, I'm going. I'm tired of this."
"I promise you, no one here is as tired as I am."
Once he heard the twisting of the door handle, Teruki jumped up from his seat at the couch—thoroughly upsetting Peppermint P who had been in his lap—and all but ran to it. He had spent the day at Four Arms Hero Agency, surprise cat-sitting, and incredibly anxious. There was no way that he was going to let Ritsu escape him this time.
So, when Ritsu pushed the door open, Teruki went right to lecture mode. "Brother-kun, don't even think about trying to avoid me today! You won't be able to shake me this ti—"
"Well then let me in so that we can talk." The words were rude, but Ritsu looked to have a gleam in his eyes. Which usually meant that he was planning to attack Teruki, so no one could blame him for jumping slightly away from the boy.
This time however, Ritsu pushed past him, removed his shoes, dropped his backpack on the floor next to Sundae, went to his room, and shut the door. Teruki made his way to the door and pounded on it.
"You're not shaking me this time!" He twisted the door knob only for it to be locked. When did Ritsu find the time and money to change the handle? "You went viral for goodness' sake!"
"Calm down," Ritsu responded through the door. "I just need to change. I have the body odor of about 100 teenagers on me."
Teruki didn't want to know more. He sighed as he made his way back to the couch to wait for Ritsu. The other boy came out a few minutes later and plopped himself down next to Teruki.
With them both at the couch, Ritsu reached into his backpack and pulled out a notebook. As he flipped through it, Teruki saw that it mainly contained notes. Of course Ritsu would take notes.
Seemingly finding the right page, Ritsu looked up to him. "Okay, as you know, the USJ was attacked by villains. Among the dozens of villains there, the most notable ones there were a man covered in purple mist who can make portals, a guy obsessed with hands who can disintegrate anything he touches, and their giant monster pet-thing that they called 'Nomu' and was meant to rival All Might; it's the one that knocked me out and it has been locked away."
Teruki knew that Ritsu could handle himself—he was the one that trained him after all—but that didn't mean that he was comfortable with him getting attacked so early on.
"What you don't know is that the school was attacked the day before all of that happened."
"And whose job was it to tell me?"
"Well I'm telling you now. Did you hear of how the press got onto campus?" A nod. "I checked the area out afterwards and it turned out that the gate was turned into dust, and I bet that Mr. Hands was the one behind it."
"Do you think that it was the League?"
"I have no doubt."
"Why do you think that they would do something like that?"
"They were after All Might, I know that. But I'm not entirely sure why they would destroy the gate like that."
Teruki took his time to mull over what Ritsu told him. Then, slowly, he used the information to string things together. "Nomu was designed to kill All Might, that was the expectation the League had when they attacked the USJ. They failed, but that does show that killing him is the first step. Did you notice any espers during the attack?"
"None."
"So that means that Claw won't step in until All Might is defeated. Which, luckily, they have completely failed to do." Teruki's mood brightened a bit at that. If they could deal with the League first, that meant that Claw would be forced to step back. It was perfect!
"I wouldn't exactly say completely failed." Ritsu's face donned a look of total irritation.
"What do you mean by that?"
The boy flipped to a new page, brandished a pencil, and began to draw in quick lines. A few seconds later, he pulled away from the paper and lifted up the notebook to Teruki. "This is the gargantuan thing I was talking about."
"A...stick figure?"
"Wha—? No!" Ritsu's face flushed as he held the drawing of the lanky stick figure with a triangular face and wild hair close to his chest. "Drawing isn't my forte!" he exclaimed before taking a deep breath. "This 'stick figure' is All Might. He's actually incredibly skinny and has been holding his muscle form the same way one might hold in diarrhea, but he can only hold it in for so long."
That wasn't a pleasant picture.
"Him running around the city like for an hour beforehand and that fight with Nomu shortened his time limit to 50 minutes. If he tries to push himself too much, it'll only shorten more."
That information changed things. It definitely changed things. All Might is the first line of defense, whether or not the agencies he visits wouldn't like to admit it. Teruki was pretty sure that the people of this world could eventually learn to fight and continue on against the League without the hero, but they weren't only up against the League. They'd never stand a chance against an entire organization of powerful espers and especially not against their leader.
"When I was talking to him the other day," Ritsu broke through his thoughts, "he told me that an injury he obtained in a fight with a villain called All For One caused him to be so skinny. Have you ever heard of him?"
"The name doesn't ring any bells but if he fought All Might then there's no doubt that there's information about him online."
All of this news was far from good, so why did Ritsu have that glam in his eyes?
"Was there...anything else you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh yeah!" Ritsu then smiled. "The Sports Festival is in two weeks."
"And you're smiling because...?"
"Because all of the pro heroes will be watching. You know what that means?"
Teruki paused. Obviously Ritsu found this important, but the blond was having a hard time figuring out why. If the heroes are out watching the festival that meant that—
"Holy shit, Brother-kun!" A giant smile came into his face and he wrapped the smaller boy in a big hug. "I knew that there was a reason I brought you with me! I could kiss you!"
"Please don't."
Teruki pulled away from Ritsu and kept him at an arm's length. "If the heroes are at the Sports Festival, then they won't be at their offices!"
"Exactly," Ritsu replied with a cat-ate-the-canary grin. "Get ready to book a tour with the toughest agency you can think of. The Sports Festival will be the perfect time to strike."
Teruki let out a small gleeful laugh, "I already have the perfect target."
Endeavor Agency, here he comes.
Ritsu's Notebook 6
The Olympics are gone? They've been replaced in Japan by the Sports Festival due to quirks and population decrease.
All pro heroes will be at the event and away from their office.
There will also be a lot of cameras so I need to find a way to cover up. Shouji wears a mask so I could probably do something similar.
Uraraka's a lot stronger than she lets on. She'll be a great hero.
What's so special about Midoriya?
Avoid annoying the sleep deprived one (wild purple hair) any more at the Sports Festival.
Omake #5
2 Months till entrance exam
Ritsu sat alone in his room on a Saturday. He had spent all morning busying himself with schoolwork, but now that he was done, he was put back into the rut he had started the day with.
Teruki was out of the country visiting his parents, so that meant that there would be no training that month. That also meant that Ritsu had no idea what to do with all of this new free time.
Him being him, he did his work for student council and his homework first. To his dismay, those only got him through the morning.
He had gotten so used to spending each month working on some new technique that suddenly stopping made him feel lost. Should he continue working on pyrokinesis? Or maybe air whips? He was already at six so reaching ten wouldn't be too hard.
But, no. The idea of sitting at the piano for hours was mind numbing. He would rather have Teruki be there with him, annoying as it could be.
Maybe he could work on a hobby! He got up and paced his embarrassingly bare room. Did he even have a hobby?
No. No he did not.
He could always clean the house. Or buy some groceries. Or go on a wal—
"Ritsu."
His head snapped in the direction of his ajar door. In the gap stood his brother, dressed in a casual blue button up and jeans.
"Oh, hey Shige-nii," Ritsu responded while taking in his brother's appearance. "Do you have work today?" It wouldn't surprise him. Reigen always needed saving in one way or another.
"No actually, I have the day off." Shigeo then stalled a bit before asking, "I was wondering if you wanted to hangout today?"
Ritsu blanked at that. Shigeo wanted to spend the day with him? Between Shigeo's work and Ritsu's unconscious avoidance toward his brother, they hadn't hung out in years. He was giddy at the thought.
Unfortunately for him, he had blanked for a bit too long.
"Ritsu, it's okay if you don't want to," his brother kept his monotonous voice but had his head down. "I'll find something else to do."
"Wait no!" Ritsu practically shouted. Shigeo stopped the door from completely closing and looked to him in confusion. Quieter this time, Ritsu said, "I think that spending the day with you sounds great. Just give me some time to get ready."
At that Shigeo's face lit up with a smile. "Okay, I'll be at the door when you're ready."
As soon as he left, Ritsu practically fell out of his chair as he rushed to his closet. He threw on a shirt that had 'Dosei'* written on it and some dark jeans, then headed to the bathroom for mouthwash before meeting his brother at the door.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah." Ritsu then looked to the bag of dog food Shigeo held in his hand. "What's that for?"
"It's for our first stop," Shigeo replied, not expanding on it any further.
"You planned this out?"
His brother looked to him and Ritsu could see the quiet pride in his face. "Yes I did."
They headed out soon after that. The sun began its journey down from the sky as they reached their first stop. It was to visit a Shiba Inu that Shigeo had met during work. Apparently, some school kids went and drew on the dog's face with marker and Reigen ended up giving it a bath.
Ritsu just watched as he went completely unnoticed by the dog who ran up to Shigeo the moment it saw him. It's tail wagged fervently as one bone-shaped treat floated out of his bag and into the air.
As it ran around, jumping up and eating the treats, Ritsu watched the small smile that Shigeo had on his face. He was glad that he was able to hang out with his brother.
"Do you want to try?" Shigeo asked, holding the dog food up.
Ritsu looked at him and then to the dog that was waiting expectantly for the next treat. "Um, sure. Why not?"
He took the bag from his brother and held one treat up in the air. His only mistake was that he kept it too close to his body, so he was totally unprepared when the dog did a sprinting jump to catch the treat and subsequently knock him to the ground.
Ritsu let out a groan as the dog stayed on top of him. It sniffed his face, taking in the new scent, and then proceeded to lick him. Honestly—ignoring the smell—Ritsu kind of enjoyed the affection.
"Tero," Shigeo said, somewhat alarmed at the dog's behavior, "you're smothering him!" He went up to Ritsu and pulled Tero off of him. Once he could get to eye level with the dog, he cupped its face. "You can't just go jumping on people, okay?"
Tero just let out a happy bark, clearly not learning his lesson, and Shigeo just dropped the topic. His brother looked to the darkening sky before looking back to Ritsu. "Let's head to our next stop."
"Yeah, I kinda wanna get the saliva off of my face."
Their next stop was a ramen shop that Shigeo said he frequented as a treat with Reigen. Shigeo was somewhat worried about how they smelt after playing with Tero, but Ritsu was more focused on how they were going to pay for the food.
"I'm paying of course," Shigeo responded after Ritsu raised his concern. "I do have a job you know."
"Based on your paycheck, it's more like free child labor," Ritsu muttered under his breath.
"I heard that," his brother said, making him jump slightly in surprise. "Besides, I'm older, so I'm paying."
They took their seats and ordered. Even as Ritsu tried to tell Shigeo multiple times that he would pay him back, he was just waved off by his brother each time until he was forced to accept the fact that Shigeo was paying.
Ritsu was in the middle of enjoying his tonkotsu ramen when he felt Shigeo staring at him. Mid-slurp, he turned to face his brother whose eyes were focused on his arm.
He swallowed his food and asked, "Shige-nii? What's wrong?"
Shigeo lifted his hand and poked Ritsu's arm. "You have muscle," he said softly before looking at his own arms in dismay.
Ritsu had been training with Teruki for months, so it was only natural that he built up some muscle. It wasn't as much muscle as the blond, but it was enough for Shigeo to notice.
"It's not that much really," he said, trying and failing to comfort his brother. In fact, Shigeo began sulking even more. Ritsu followed up with, "You're still with that exercise club right?"
"The Body Improvement Club, yeah."
"Then your own muscles will build up soon enough! I've seen you running with them and you never give up. I'm sure that you'll make it."
Shigeo finally looked up with a small smile on his face. "Really? Thanks." He then pouted, "Now I feel like the younger one."
Ritsu laughed him off before returning to his own food. His food that wasn't there anymore.
"What the—?"
He looked across the pub table but it was only he and Shigeo who sat there. The only other person besides them was the chef who was cleaning plates.
"Ritsu, where's your plate?" Shigeo asked, already having finished his own.
"I—" Ritsu looked around again and saw a pink spirit, carrying a bowl of tonkotsu ramen, disappear through the entrance. His tonkotsu ramen.
Without warning, he hopped out of his stool and followed it, leaving a startled Shigeo to hurriedly pay for their food before joining him.
"What are you doing?"
"My bowl," Ritsu looked out to the busy street, "flew away. An evil spirit took it." Nobody was making a ruckus over seeing a floating bowl so that meant that the spirit wasn't on the main street. There was a park close by! It was probably empty at this hour.
"An evil spirit?" Shigeo asked. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." He made his way away from the crowded street and to the park. Just like Ritsu predicted, no one was there except for him, his brother, and a small pink spirit standing under a bridge, holding his ramen.
He stalked toward the spirit until he stood right behind it. He leaned over it and asked, "What do you got there?"
The spirit startled, almost dropping the bowl, and looked up at Ritsu. It was a little. Ritsu wasn't sure how long he had been a spirit but he definitely died young.
"Ah!" he shouted before hiding the ramen behind his back. "It's nothing! I d-don't have anything!"
Ritsu wasn't impressed.
"Give me back my bowl. You should know by now that stealing is wrong."
"I already told you! I d-don't have your s-stupid ramen!" The boy turned away from Ritsu with a harrumph.
"I never said anything about ramen."
The boy practically jumped into the air at that. "W-Well I...I—!"
"Who are you?" Shigeo finally reached them under the bridge. He knelt down to the boy's height and gave the spirit his full attention.
"Huh?" The spirit looked back to see Shigeo. He then side-eyed Ritsu, who was glaring at him. "I don't t-trust him!" The boy pointed a bright pink finger right at Ritsu.
"Oh come on, Shige-nii. He's just a spirit, let me—"
"I promise that he won't do anything to you," Shigeo assured. "Isn't that right, Ritsu?"
Ritsu huffed, "Fine."
The little spirit looked at him one more time then to Shigeo. "My name's Dag-Dagusc—Ugh! Da-gu-chi Makato."
"Daguchi Makato?" Shigeo restated.
Daguchi vigorously nodded.
"It's nice to meet you Daguchi. Would you like to tell me what you're hiding?"
Daguchi finally turned to face them properly and held out Ritsu's tonkotsu ramen. Ritsu was about to grab it from the boy—even if it had probably already gone cold—but his brother motioned for him to wait. So he did.
"And why did you take my brother's ramen?"
"It wasn't like I wanted to st-steal from him s-specifi—only," Daguchi said, somehow managing to blush. "But Obasan gets really mad if I don't feed her."
Obasan?
Ritsu looked behind the boy and saw that there was a large, orange spirit not too far away. It looked like a middle aged woman and, in almost every possible way, reminded him of a bridge troll.
"Makato!" Her voice sounded far too sweet for the harsh way she said the boy's name. "Stop your imbecilic stuttering and come here! You don't want to make me sad do you?"
"N-no Obasan!" Daguchi hollered, "I'll be right th...there!"
Daguchi ran toward his aunt, sloshing some of the ramen onto the concrete on his way. Shigeo followed right behind him. Ritsu stared at their retreating backs as they travelled further and further under the bridge. He could just stay where he was and wait, but the sickeningly sweet voice of Daguchi's aunt concerned him. He quickly followed behind.
When he reached both Shigeo and Daguchi, he was just in time to see the woman shoveling his ramen into her mouth. She beat her chest to help it all go down and then threw the ramen bowl at Daguchi. It went through the boy and shattered behind him, but her anger was clear.
"Do you expect me to eat something so miniscule!? You good-for-nothing brat! I take you in after my pathetic brother croaks and you only bring me back one bowl!?"
The tiny spirit quivered where he stood. "The sh-shop was closing! T-that was all I could s...sc-scroun—grab."
"You complete and utter idiot!" Her voice went rough and she leaned in closer, "Are you incapable of such a simple errand!?"
Of course Ritsu was right.
Shigeo stepped in front of Daguchi to face his aunt. "Miss, you really shouldn't talk to him like that."
"Oh sweetheart!" Her sweet voice returned and she reached out her hand and pinched Shigeo's cheek. "Was Makato troubling you? I've told that child copious amounts of times to keep his business to himself!" She then looked behind Shigeo to glare at Daguchi.
"Shige-nii," Ritsu whispered in his brother's ear, "why don't you just exorcise her already?"
"Not all spirits are evil," he responded. "Let me talk with her."
As Shigeo talked with the aunt, Ritsu leaned down to face the boy. He wasn't entirely confident in what she would have anything of value to say, but he might be able to get Daguchi to explain everything.
"What's going on?" He said, making sure that his voice didn't carry, "Why is your aunt so angry?"
Daguchi whispered back, "She's been like this ever since Ojisan di-didn't return from the wa-war."
"What war?"
"The one against China?" Daguchi raised an metaphorical eyebrow at him. "They w-were fighting for power in Korea."
"Which Korea?"
"Th-there's only one Korea?"
Ritsu had to keep his shock from making its way to his face. How old was this kid? The war he was talking about was the First Sinō-Japanese War. That was well over a century ago!
"Daguchi," Ritsu went to hold the boy's face but he flinched away, which only concerned the teen more, "what happened after that?"
"Obasan used to read to me all the time, but after the war, she bec-became really sad and stopped. I d-didn't like it. Eating always made her stop cr-crying so I alw-ways made sure she had food." He then looked to his own stomach. "Alth-although, I haven't eaten in a while."
Ritsu began to piece things together. Daguchi's sense of time was terribly warped so 'a while' must have been decades. He had probably died due to malnutrition and his aunt—Ritsu looked back to see that Shigeo was still talking with her—she probably died due to overeating.
"She's changed th-though," the boy said. "Now she gets mad instead of sad. Even then, I can t-tell that she's lonely, so I keep her company."
So that's why he was still here. He didn't want his aunt to be alone. It was the kind of loyalty that only a kid could have, but it was misplaced.
"Shige-nii, I don't think tha—" Ritsu turned toward his brother to find him comforting the crying mess that was Daguchi's aunt.
"I long to see him again, but he's gone!" she wailed.
"I assure you that you can see your husband again," Shigeo said, "but you need to let this hunger go."
"No!"
As she bawled, Ritsu went over to his brother and Shigeo explained that she had begun to talk about her husband once he started questioning her. Ritsu then retold what Daguchi had told him.
"That long?" Shigeo asked.
Ritsu nodded. "She's trapped Daguchi here with her."
"Miss," Shigeo addressed her again, his voice as soft as ever but unwavering, "you need to let go. You're trapping Daguchi here with you and that's not righ—"
She let out a blood-curdling scream, "I said no!"
Ritsu grabbed his ringing ears and looked to Shigeo. His brother looked unfazed at her anger. In fact, he looked almost sad.
"Ritsu, have you ever exorcised a spirit before?" he asked.
Ritsu shook his head.
"Not all spirits are evil," Shigeo repeated. "Just like how not all people are evil." He grabbed Ritsu's arm and extended it out towards Daguchi's aunt, "However, some people have trouble letting go of things that have kept them grounded for so long. Even when they're no-good for them."
Ritsu finally understood what he wanted. He seized Daguchi's aunt with his telekinesis and stretched and squashed her until she became nothing more than a memory.
"Wh-What did you do to Obasan?"
Ritsu looked to Daguchi who had tears welling up in his eyes. He let out a deep breath before crouching before the boy. He reached out again and even though Daguchi flinched, he didn't retreat. Wrapping the boy in the tightest hug he could give to make up for a century of solitude, he whispered in his ear: "Go get yourself something to eat."
The space between his arms became empty. Shigeo rested a hand on his shoulder. They came out from under the bridge. The sun had set and the stars were out as they made their way home.
"Where do spirits go after we exorcise them?"
Shigeo frowned in contemplation. "I...I don't know."
They walked side-by-side in silence and Ritsu considered his first exorcism. It was harder than he had expected. Not the technique part, but the ripping a soul out of the world part.
"Is it always like that?"
"No, it can be very difficult depending on how strong the spirit is." Ritsu stared at him with raised brows and Shigeo seemed to realize his mistake. "Oh, you mean the emotional part. It hasn't always been this hard, but you know that I've decided to start taking my feelings into account and that also includes trying to understand the spirits that I meet during work."
Huh. Ritsu had always viewed Shigeo's 'job' as menial work he did for Reigen, but his brother saw it as more than that. Not all spirits are evil. Ritsu had always known that Shigeo was much more complex than he let on, now he was finally able to see that complexity for himself.
"What do you want to do?" He asked. "I mean after you stop working for Reigen."
"As a job?"
"In general."
"I think that I would like to hang out with you and my friends more often," Shigeo started. He let out a soft hum before continuing on, "But I'm beginning to notice that a lot of the spirits I face are only 'evil' because they're unhappy with the way life treated them. Even the espers from Scar just felt lonely."
Shigeo's lips curved down slightly. "I want to keep people from feeling this way. I don't know how at the moment, but I'll figure it out."
Ritsu had admired Shigeo for longer than he had been able to walk, but it was a shallow admiration that would pale in comparison to how felt right then. His brother truly was amazing.
"What about you, Ritsu?" Shigeo focused his attention onto him. "You're about to enter high school, have you thought about what you want to do?"
"No, not really. I don't know what I want to do," the thought crossed his mind every now and again, but it never stayed long enough for him to think it through. He had always figured that with his top grades, he'd be able to slide into any career easily.
"Well, you're really good at a lot of stuff already." Shigeo smiled at him, "So, whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll be great at it."
Ritsu smiled back, "Thanks."
IMPORTANT: Season 2 of MP100 starts around the time Ritsu leaves for the bnha world. So in the months he spends training with Teruki, Mob is doing regular, mundane spirit exorcisms while also taking his feelings into more consideration.
MORE IMPORTANT: My original plan for the SF was to completely skip the obstacle race, but after that Ritsu and Shinsou scene, my brain is coming up with an idea of what to do. So now I'm stuck on whether I should write the obstacle course and use it as a RitShi chapter to develop their relationship or if I should skip it entirely because it's not really necessary for my end goal. And since I don't like thinking, I'm leaving this decision to you guys. Obstacle race or no obstacle race? Based on my readers, I can probably already guess your answer(-_-;) About 5 people saying 'YES' should be good enough. I don't really want to only write it if only one person wants it lol. (Also it's not like I hate the idea of writing it, I just don't want to get your hopes up because Shinsou won't be reappearing for a looong time after the SF)
*The Dosei shirt is the same one he wore in the childhood flashback scene in the anime. It means Saturn
Not me putting important information in the omake lol. Like with the rest of them if you skip it, it's no big deal, but this one has stuff I'll call back to later in the story. Anyway, how did you like the Omake? It was supposed to be very sweet but then I got too invested in the spirits.
There are 2 major, story-altering things I need to decide on for this fic and everytime I think of them I just wish that I had a beta reader. Or just somebody to bounce ideas off of (╥﹏╥)
It'll be fun playing around with the dynamics between Ritsu and Shinsou because their quirks ("quirks" for Ritsu) are practically the same.
I'm getting too hyped for the Todo vs Mido fight you guys. Like...waaay too hyped. I have something so big planned and even an awesome as shite title for the chapter and everything and I'm getting ahead of myself. Woo! Things will be happening during the fight and I am v excited.
Umm so yeah. Stay safe, don't be a fool just because it's 2021, a pandemic is still going on. All our problems haven't magically been solved, but things will get better. The next chapter is going to be long (I think) and hopefully I'll update sooner. Fanfiction readers, my inbox is always open and I'd love to answer any questions you have in your reviews.
It's 4am on New Year's and I'm tired. That's enough proofreading (´ . .̫ . `)
Favorite, follow, and review or else a mob of angsty 15 year olds will be outside your front door