The Spectacular Spider-Student

Chapter 11

"Whoa, that's a bit extreme, isn't it!?" Kumo was met with silence as his physical companion, Keiji Parker realised the extent of what he had to do.

"Don't act so surprised." He answered after a pause. He looked down at the ground, refusing to meet the spider's eight eyes. "It's always been the plan for when…" He hesitated, some confusion in his eyes that mixed together with some kind of sorrowing. He looked as though he was mourning himself already, like his body was buried beneath where he stood.

"When I lost control again." He finished. Where he capable of such, Kumo would be giving quite the disapproving frown in response. As it was, his best attempt was still passable.

"Look, I know things are bad, but it's not hopeless!" Kumo tried, but Keiji only responded with a bitter glare. He pressed on regardless. "Even if…if you change-" Keiji cut him off.

"If I change, everyone will die!" He cried, tears across his face. "No matter where it happens, I'm a ticking time bomb right now! What if it happens in class? What if I can't stop it next time?!" Kumo couldn't tell whether he was trying to argue with him, or plead with himself in search of the answer to his questions. He collapsed onto the ground again, sobbing into his hands.

"I'm scared..." His voice came out as barely a whisper.

"I know, but this isn't right." Kumo answered, speaking in a soft yet firm tone. Their situation was already rough, and whilst he didn't want to add any further fuel to the fire of their tense relationship, he couldn't agree to this plan – if it could be called that.

"Think of what you'd be putting on him – on anyone with this."

"Think of what I'm putting on them just by being here."

"Even if it comes to that, there's got to be someone else!"

"I wish." Keiji chuckled, finally standing. He had a small smile. An empty smile. But it was at least some form of smile, so that was progress. "There's no one else we could even tell about all this, let alone ask for them to…" He couldn't quite seem to finish.

"It might not come to that!" Finally, Kumo seemed to get through to him, and his smile showed just a flicker of warmth.

"I hope not. I don't think I'm ready for it, let alone anyone else." He let out a sigh. "But we still need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. It's only logical." Kumo 'frowned' yet again.

"I'm starting to think you shouldn't listen to your Uncle so much…" Keiji raised an eyebrow. "Besides, this isn't exactly the best plan."

"If you feel that way, I'm open to any better ideas." Keiji said. As much as Kumo wanted to protest, he found no words.

"Yeah." Keiji said. "That's what I thought."

Once he felt that he could at least appear calm to an outside glance, Keiji found his way to the changing room. He held his torn mask in his right hand.

"I'll have to get it fixed…" He muttered to himself as he entered. It seemed a few students had already finished changing and went to leave, as the room was rather sparse. Deku was also absent, most likely at the nurse's office. He had injured himself rather severely after all. Keiji made a mental note to check on him before he left.

"You're back. What happened?" He looked over to see Pokémon-Hair speaking to him. "You missed the end of class."

He scrambled his brain to find an excuse for his absence. After all, he couldn't just tell a complete stranger that he had just experienced a massive panic attack and begun to make plans for his own death.

"Actually, you could. Millions of people do that sort of thing. It's called therapy." Kumo remarked. Keiji resisted the urge to frown and swat at his shoulder.

"I just had to use the bathroom." He lied. "Lunch doesn't sit so well after you've been flung through concrete." He added, chuckling a little. Pokémon-Hair seemed to accept this answer, shrugging before returning to changing.

"What's your name, by the way?" He asked. "I should probably get everyone else's, after I was so insistent on mine."

"Oh, yeah. It's Kaminari." Pokémon-Hair- or rather, Kaminari – smiled and thrust his hand out for a handshake. After a brief moment of hesitation, Keiji shook it slowly.

"Keiji Parker. But you probably already knew that." He introduced himself, a little awkwardly. "Also, you should probably put some pants on." He added, noticing that he hadn't finished changing.

"Huh?" Kaminari took a second to notice that, in fact, his trousers were conspicuously absent. "OH CRAP!"

"Well, now that I've made it awkward, I'll take my-" Keiji went to leave and get changed himself before finding his hand was stuck. He rolled his eyes.

"(Shit, not this again.)" He muttered. It wasn't the first time this had happened. His Quirk tended to act up when he was stressed, and given that stressed out pretty much summed up the entire day, it was hardly unexpected. At least this was one of the least dangerous outcomes.

"Uh, can you let go of my hand now?"

"Nope."

"Wait, what?"

"Just a sec. This might hurt. A lot, actually."

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

Keiji took hold of his right arm in his left, dug his feet into the ground and pulled with all his might.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL?!" Kaminari protested.

"Sorry about this. Stupid sticky hands…" Keiji said through gritted teeth as he continued, and eventually he managed to release his hand, causing both boys to collapse onto the ground.

"Heh. Sorry about that. Happens way too much." Keiji said. After a moment's pause, he added, "You, uh, might want to wash that hand, by the way." Kaminari looked down at his hand, his eyes now filled with fear. Keiji scratched the back of his head nervously.

"So that's what you were doing in the bathroom." Keiji looked down to see a pile of grapes attached to a small boy, who was yet again making inappropriate comments.

"Ew, no! It's just my Quirk acting up." He said, before turning back to Kaminari. "It's just a few tiny, spider hairs at worst. I'm not diseased enough for anything contagious." Keiji tried to reassure the poor boy, who thankfully let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean 'enough'?" Iida, who had been busily removing his armour, looked over at Keiji, asking an uncomfortable question.

"Later." He brushed it off, finally going over to change out of his costume.

"Roughly how much later? Were you thinking maybe, I don't know, a week?" Keiji flinched at his companion's words. He may or may not have been planning to further delay the topic as much as he could. Despite his previous resolve to explain the situation, he found it far easier said than done when seeing someone else's face.

For some time, the room was quiet, everyone focusing on changing so that they could go home. No one seemed to have much desire to stay around further after All-Might had left.

"He seemed to be in quite a rush, didn't he?" Kumo said, seeming suspicious. Keiji sighed.

"(I'm sure he was just worried about Deku.)" He quietly replied. Were Kumo to possess eyebrows, one would have been raised in a suspect and curious fashion. Unfortunately, eight separate eyebrows for each eye would be horribly inconvenient for a spider to have to deal with, so Keiji's imaginary companion was left more limited in his expressiveness.

"I suppose. But he seemed a bit too worried in that case." Keiji hesitated. He did seem to sprint off to the Nurse's office, which was rather strange considering that even with Recovery Girl's Quirk; Deku likely wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. He seemed far too injured for that.

"Exactly! So, why the rush? I bet he's hiding something." Keiji nodded along thoughtfully, now intrigued. However, he quickly shook his head a moment later.

"(I think we're the last people who should go digging around other people's secrets.)" He half-joked. The hypocrisy of investigating a seemingly rather private circumstance whilst refusing to even properly explain his own situation would be so strong that it would make him sick.

"I know. But aren't you curious?" Kumo pleaded, and Keiji smirked. The spider seemed so childish at times. He supposed that made sense, given that it first appeared in his childhood. In fact, now that he thought about it, he didn't know what age the spider actually was. Did it even age? It was a hallucination, or so it seemed. Yet there were some strange inconsistencies, like its ability to observe what Keiji couldn't see, its separate perception of events and most peculiarly, its memory.

Though he was yet to interrogate the spider fully, it had certainly implied that it had a greater degree of knowledge regarding certain events that Keiji couldn't – or perhaps didn't want to remember. He had no idea how it could possibly possess such knowledge, but then again, he could count on one hand all of the things he did understand about his imaginary companion.

Yet another thing to add to his ever-growing list of concerns and problems that he called 'life'.

"Hey, you know we still need to take the costume off, right?" His speculations were interrupted by the very topic of his thoughts, and Keiji realised that the spider was correct. He still had to get properly changed out of his costume. And, considering the damage from the battle, he would probably need to get it repaired somehow too.

"Should you try asking Aizawa about it?" Kumo suggested. Keiji shook his head at the idea. There was no way that he would be able to face his uncle any time soon. Things were going downhill for him fast, and he was sure it wouldn't take too long for it to be noticed. If that happened, he would be pulled out of UA faster than you could say "It's only logical." Whilst that was most likely the safest thing to do, Keiji disliked the idea…

"(I don't want this to end yet…)" H said, more to himself than his companion. He realised that he was probably being selfish, since he was currently a major potential hazard for those around him, but he still couldn't bring himself to essentially ruin his life's dream as a result.

Selfishly, he wanted to at least die trying.

"You're really inconsistent, you know that?" Kumo said, seemingly a little bitter. Keiji glanced over as he changed. "You're so scared of hurting the people around you that you're considering a planned suicide, yet you're still desperate to be around them and pretend everything's fine. I just don't get it." Keiji tried to think of the right words to convey his feelings, but he struggled. He was rarely good with words out of character, and he was hardly any better at expressing his feelings to other people. He was convinced that he would always end up hurting someone by telling them any sort of truth about himself.

So, he tried not to be himself.

Someone who wouldn't be a risk to everyone around them, someone who could actually improve a situation by being present. As far as he saw it, Keiji Parker wasn't that. Peter Parker, maybe, but not Keiji. Ever since that fateful day, he just… couldn't see himself like that.

It was strange, but he couldn't remember the exact reason for the change. Like most things from that time, it was very blurry.

"I…" He eventually tried to speak, but still found it difficult.

"I just don't want to be alone again…" He settled on. He felt some kind of guilt for it, but being with other people helped him. It made him feel like things were okay, a feeling he hadn't really had much of after his father's death. Back then, it was okay for him to be himself. Nowadays, it wasn't exactly easy in the same way, but it was easier to look like it was. To pretend that he was fine. That Keiji Parker was fine. It helped him to forget his problems, if only for a little while.

"Keiji?" He almost leapt right out of his skin at the sound of Iida's voice from behind him, interrupting his less than pleasant thoughts.

"O-oh, Iida!" He said hurriedly, turning around. He had finished changing, though he had no idea how long he had stood there afterwards, lost in thought. "Time to go, I guess?" Iida regarded him with a raised eyebrow.

"I know you dislike this question," A part of Keiji was glad to see where this sentence was going, whilst the other part was panicking and checking for escape routes again. "But, are you sure you are okay?" He began to answer, and then stopped himself. He couldn't just say 'yes' every time when it wasn't true.

If he was committed to his plan, he had to at least take a step forward.

"No." He said, after a sigh. "No, I am sure that I'm not okay." Iida went to speak again, but Keiji held his hand up to stop him. "And there's a whole bunch of reasons as to why, and it's complicated and confusing and scary, and even I don't really understand it and-" He stopped himself from continuing to ramble for a moment, taking another deep breath.

"I want to talk about it, but… It's hard. I don't think I can say anything about it here, so…" He hesitated, fidgeting with his hands for a moment. Of all the things he had to say, this part really shouldn't have been the most difficult, but it was.

"C-can I maybe get your phone number?!" He said, a little panicked. Iida stared at him for a moment.

"Pardon?"

"W-well, I was hoping I could maybe call or text you, invite you over to the restaurant where I work, and I could… explain stuff." He said, suddenly embarrassed. "I-its fine if not, but-" He began to backpedal before noticing Iida had taken out a small piece of paper and began writing on it. After a moment, he handed it to Keiji.

"There you are. Feel free to call me at any time." Iida smiled, and Keiji looked like he was about to cry. A strange response from such a small interaction, but it meant a lot to him.

"Well, congrats. You have a boy's number." Kumo said, seemingly joking. "Ready for a dinner date?"

"Well, IgottagoandmaybecheckonDekusothanksbye!" Keiji hastily panicked, grabbing the piece of paper and rushing to the door, trying to stop his face from going any redder in the process.

"Wait!" Keiji had unfortunately run off in a panic again before he could hear Iida call out to him.

"He looked like he had caught a fever." Iida said, now to himself. "I hope he's not getting worse."

"Oh, come on," Kumo said, still giggling about their quick-witted joke. "You have to admit, that was funny!" Keiji simply glared at the spider. Evidently, he was unamused.

"(Glad you're having fun,)" Keiji growled. "(But if you haven't forgotten, we might have to die soon, so I'd appreciate you not screwing up potentially my last days on Earth.)" He sighed bitterly at the reminder. Kumo rolled their eyes, a strange feat for a spider.

"Don't talk like that. I'll find another way." Keiji scoffed at the response.

"(Yeah, because I'm sure you have a better plan rattling in that non-existent skull of yours.)"

"Well your plan is awful, so one of us needs to come up with something, and you're too… resigned!" Kumo threw up two tiny spider arms in frustration. Keiji paused for a

"(Yeah.)" Keiji said, still bitter yet also with a hint of sadness. His eyes felt wet. "(I kinda have to be…)" He took a deep breath to compose himself. It would be a bad idea to risk having another breakdown. He had probably already guaranteed a talk with his uncle about the battle training. Hopefully he could postpone that until later.

He didn't feel like talking about his problems.

"When do you ever?" Keiji held back a flinch from the spider's words.

"(How about we just… don't right now, Ok?)" He said dismissively. It was an easy thing to say. Kumo seemed dissatisfied, but remained silent, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fine. Let's just check on Deku. But we'll come back to this!" The spider's attempts to speak in a disapproving tone were rather more amusing than anything, and Keiji let out a small chuckle.

"(Don't worry. I'm not dropping this completely.)" He reassured. "(It's just hard to talk about. Besides, we've got other plans for today, remember?)"

"You mean the vigilante costume?" Keiji nodded. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea anymore."

"(Well, it was your idea in the first place, so I'm holding you to it.)" Keiji smirked at the spider, which looked uncertain. "(Besides, we should be okay as long as we're not anywhere too busy. A late night is actually pretty safe for us. Everyone'll be sealed away in buildings if anything happens.)"

"I guess that makes sense. Still seems risky though." Kumo remained at least a little unconvinced.

Quite the ironic turn of events, Keiji thought. He shrugged.

"With us, what isn't?" He was only half-joking. Kumo let out a small giggle in response, and Keiji smiled before opening the door to the nurse's office.

Nausea. That was the first thing Keiji felt as he stepped into the white room. It was immediate, and felt overwhelming. He tried not to show it on his face.

Hospitals made him uncomfortable. This room was similar enough to trigger the same response. Albeit to a lesser degree. If it were an actual hospital, he would've likely been gagging by now.

Fortunately, this was more bearable. He just carried on smiling.

"Hey, Recovery Girl?" Keiji glanced over to find a small old woman standing next to a bed. She carried a comically large syringe as a walking stick and wore a visor over her face. He wasn't sure if it helped her eyesight or was just aesthetic. Based on the overly large lab coat she wore; he suspected the latter.

"Ah, Keiji! I was wondering when you would turn up here." Keiji shuffled awkwardly at her greeting. This was not the first time the two had met, though their previous interactions were always somewhat tainted by the situation. The exact details were blurry, but needless to say that they had only really interacted in bad times.

"Yeah, it's… nice to see you too." He tried not to sound too uncomfortable, but Recovery Girl simply frowned at him.

"No need to be nervous, boy. I won't bite." She said. "My dentures aren't that tough!" Keiji chuckled politely, the tension in the air dropping. He relaxed his body a bit, and tried to ignore the slight shake in his hand.

"So, how's Deku- er, Midoriya doing?" He asked, turning his attention to the bed by Recovery Girl. Deku still appeared to be in costume, though there was now a cast over one of his arms, the other being connected to an IV drip. Keiji gulped at the sight.

Those things were never a good sign.

Recovery Girl looked over to him.

"He should be stable now, he's just asleep." She said. "He'll regain his energy and wake up any minute now though." Keiji sighed in relief and stepped closer to the bed.

"That's a relief." He said. "It was pretty scary when he got his arm so damaged." Recovery Girl nodded along with his words.

"Quirks can be rather destructive. Especially if the body is unprepared." She glanced over at Keiji as she spoke, who flinched for a moment. He looked carefully at Deku's arm, trying to analyse the damage.

"True, but that much damage? It's almost as if his Quirk is new to his body." He thought aloud. Most people learned how to control their Quirks from a young age. Apparently four was the norm for it to first manifest, though Keiji only barely fit that pattern, the first appearance of his powers being mere minutes before his fifth birthday. Surprisingly, he didn't actually know anyone with more standard rules applying to their Quirks besides his current classmates. Then again, he tended to avoid most other people. He rarely ever got close enough to someone to even ask any questions regarding their Quirks, so the bulk of his knowledge came from online sources.

"It's either that or…" He paused, glancing up to Recovery Girl, who shook her head slightly. He frowned.

"I can already tell what you're thinking, and no. He doesn't have the same condition you do." Keiji hung his head slightly in disappointment.

"However," she added, bringing his attention back. "The situation is at least somewhat comparable. In fact, you make an excellent reference point to compare for dealing with his circumstances." Keiji's eyes widened in shock.

"R-really? How so?" Recovery Girl simply chuckled in response.

"I'm afraid the exact details are a bit too technical for you, dear." Keiji grew what he thought was a scowl, but what actually resembled more closely a childish pout.

"I'm sure I could understand. I'm not a kid anymore, you know!" He protested. She smiled at him.

"It's only the young who actively wish to be older, dear. Youth is never fully appreciated until it's lost." Her words stopped Keiji for a moment. He looked down at his hands thoughtfully.

"(Only the young?)" He thought to himself. "(That doesn't sound quite right…)"

"Only the young and the ill?" Keiji frowned and glanced at his shoulder, where Kumo regarded him with a more curious expression than he was expecting. He might have responded had his attention not been drawn to a groan coming from the bed he stood beside.

"Deku!" Keiji turned to his friend whose eyes had just opened. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Are-" his questions were quickly interrupted by a sudden bonk to his head.

"Ow!"

"Calm down, dear!" Recovery Girl complained. "He's only just up." Keiji nodded and took a step back, massaging the back of his head with one hand.

"Sorry about that." He apologised. "This place just makes me nervous." Deku seemed to take a moment to get his bearings before responding.

"I-I think I'm okay…?" He said, looking around the room. "Although I can't feel my-" His words stopped once he noticed his arm in the cast.

"Oh." Was all that he said. Keiji could sympathise. Words always came uneasily after seeing one's injuries. Especially after a battle, where both the mind and the body were too busy handling the adrenaline to feel the full extent of it.

"Yeah, you really did a number on yourself." Keiji said. "On the bright side though, you won the battle! Congrats!" He smiled, lightening the mood. Deku looked uncertainly at his arm.

"This doesn't look like much of a victory." He said.

"It's rare that victories ever look right." Keiji replied without thinking. Deku looked at him strangely, but before he could comment, Recovery Girl brought herself to the centre of attention once more, clearing her throat.

"Regardless, it's not a strategy you should try again, young man." She warned. "It's your third trip to see me in fewer days. That isn't something you should try to keep up." Keiji nodded along whilst Deku listened intently. He seemed to only grow more uncertain at her words.

"I-I understand." He said to her, and then more quietly to himself, he added "I'm just not sure what else I could've done…"

"(His control could use some work.)" Keiji thought. He kept quiet, as Deku seemed as though he would prefer not to talk about his Quirk very openly, and he could respect that. It wasn't uncommon for people to be insecure regarding their Quirks, and it seemed this was more so the case in Japan than America, at least as far as Keiji could tell. Based on Deku's problems relating to his Quirk, and their apparent similarities with his own situation, he could understand the desire for privacy regarding such matters.

"I'm still curious about it." Kumo commented. "I mean, that power is remarkable, but he doesn't seem to have any control over the output at all! It's almost like it's…" Keiji raised an eyebrow as the spider trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

"Keiji, why are you here?" His attention was returned to the present moment by Deku. He couldn't say for obvious reasons, but he was rather glad. That was starting to get unnerving.

"Well, mostly just to check on you," He said, before suddenly remembering something. "Buuut, I also kinda shot acid out of my web shooters today, so I could do with getting that checked." He turned to Recovery Girl, who looked at him shocked for a moment before sighing angrily.

"Unbelievable. You didn't open with that?!" She berated, before beckoning him to show his wrists. He did so, rolling up his sleeves. There were small and shiny red stains on them, but the bleeding itself seemed to have faded. She examined his web shooters closely.

"Well, they've already stopped bleeding, and I can't see any external damage." She said. Keiji let out a sigh of relief. "How do they feel?"

"A little itchy, but fine now." He explained. "Earlier, it felt a lot worse. I guess it's only painful when it's active…" He trailed off into muttering about the potential of his new ability.

"New?" Kumo seemed to question. "I'm starting to worry for your memory…" Keiji tried his best to not look as though he was completely caught off-guard.

"Anyway," He turned back to Deku. "Can you walk okay?" He asked, already moving to support him in the event that he said no. Thankfully, Deku nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He said, managing to get up onto his feet.

"Alright then. Wanna head to the classroom together? I left my bag there, and I can tell you all about how the battles went." Deku smiled at his words.

"Sure."

Izuku found himself wishing quite badly that he had brought his notebook with him as Parker – Or Keiji, as he admittedly preferred, though he was still uncertain about using his classmate's first name – recounted the events of the battles that he had missed. He made a note of any of the names mentioned, though Keiji apparently had difficulty remembering a lot of them, typically only remembering the MVP of each match off the top of his head.

When he got to describing his own battle, however, he seemed much more reluctant to talk about it, especially his own actions. He almost had to force the details out of him, as harsh as it seemed. There was something he seemed eager to hide about the battle. Then again, based on how he apparently fought Kacchan and Iida, he wasn't too surprised. It seemed apparent that he had lost the match.

Still, he seemed to be hiding something else. Something big. He kept glancing at his right shoulder as they were talking. Sometimes he smirked at it, other times it was a frown, and once he even had to stop himself from suddenly laughing. It was clear he was having some kind of one-sided conversation, but there wasn't anyone or anything he could have been speaking to.

Overall, Keiji struck him as quite the secretive person, which he definitely wasn't expecting. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing – He also had his own secrets, thanks to All-Might and One for All – but it was certainly unusual. He couldn't help but wonder what he was hiding.

"So, that's how I lost." Keiji concluded his recounting of the battle. "At least it wasn't to Baka-gou." Izuku couldn't help but let out a shocked laugh at his particular choice of nickname for his old childhood friend. It still didn't exactly please him to hear, however.

"H-he really isn't that bad…" He half-heartedly defended. Admittedly, Bakugou certainly had his flaws, but Izuku still couldn't bring himself to feel any particular dislike for him. If anything, he still found himself admiring his old friend. Not much had changed since they were young as far as he could see. Keiji frowned at him before giving a reluctant shrug.

"If you say so." He said. "I mean, you seem pretty smart. I guess you're a good judge of character." He seemed very reluctant to say much that would show Bakugou any sort of respect, even incidentally. Yet again, Izuku found himself wondering about the exact particulars of their battle. Or the class in general, to be honest. He still wished he had been able to stay for the rest.

Upon reaching the classroom, he found himself suddenly greeted by some of his classmates, who had all kindly stayed behind to wait for him. However, there was a notable absence from the crowd.

"A-actually, I think I should go, so…" He trailed off, suddenly turning and leaving.

He had to see Kacchan.

"Hey, Deku! Wait a sec!" Keiji tried to call out, but Deku seemed to not hear him as he left. Keiji found himself a little unsure of what to do about the situation. However, Uraraka, who happened to be next to him, pointed out something important.

"He left his bag." She said, and Keiji turned to find a yellow backpack near his own bag. He quickly jumped over to it, in a perhaps unnecessary fashion, before hastily retrieving it.

"Keiji that is another student's property! You shouldn't touch it!" Iida protested. Keiji met his eyes for just a moment, and the earlier conversation they had appeared in his head. His cheeks felt just a little red.

"I'm just going to return it to Deku. Don't want him to lose it." He said. Iida looked at him for a moment, before nodding his head.

"Very well. Do make sure it reaches him." Iida encouraged. Keiji smirked.

"Don't worry." He shot a bolt of webbing out to the wall outside the classroom.

"I work fast."

"I got my Quirk from someone else." Keiji stopped moving the moment he found Deku. He was standing just at the entrance to the UA building, with Bakugou only a few steps ahead of him. Keiji himself had taken to hiding on the small patch of roof just behind the two.

"'Someone else?' You heard that, right?" Kumo had taken a keen interest in the conversation occurring just beyond them. "He's talking about a Quirk transfer…" Keiji shook his head frantically. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be.

"(That's not a real thing…)" He wasn't sure whether he was referring to his spider companion or himself as he whispered. "(I-it's just… made-up nonsense. Someone must've tricked him or-)" Kumo cut him off.

"LISTEN!" They insisted. "Does it sound like he's making this up?! Either he's as crazy as you are, or this is for real!" Keiji still couldn't quite believe it, but Kumo definitely had a point. It certainly didn't sound like Deku was lying. From the sound of his voice, he could only conclude that he was speaking from his heart. He was definitely convinced of the truth of what he was saying.

Whether that actually made it true or not, he couldn't say. Only that it was believable. And, for some reason… familiar?

"You noticed that too?" Kumo asked. "I've heard this before. I'm sure of it. I don't know where, but this idea came up before. Who said it…?" Keiji was thoroughly disturbed by his companion's sudden revelations.

"(Well, I don't remember anything about this,)" He said, a mix of shock and anger weaving their way into his words carefully. "(So, I don't know what you're talking about. Is this some kind of repressed memory?)"Certainly, it would be the most plausible out of the explanations he could come up with off the top of his head. Kumo seemed frustrated by the question.

"I DON'T KNOW!" They yelled. "Listen Keiji, I wasn't lying when I told you that I didn't know why I was here. What I do know is that ever since I came back, things have been adding up in weird places. I remember stuff you don't; I see what you can't… Something's changed, and I can feel what on the tip of my metaphorical tongue. It's just a little out of reach." Keiji had no idea how to process what he had just heard, so he remained silent.

It seemed that everything he learned was just getting tangled up inside his head. The only consistent element seemed to be how it was stressing him out.

"BY THE WAY," His attention was taken away from his head and into the present by the unmistakably loud sound of All-Might's voice. "WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU TELL YOUNG BAKUGOU?" There was a strong presence in his voice.

It sounded threatening.

"(I really don't like this.)" Keiji said to himself. He began to lower himself slowly by a strand of web, careful to hide himself behind one of the stone pillars by the door. "(Should I-?)"

"I know what you're going to say and NO." Kumo interrupted. "It's too risky. All-Might seems pretty serious about this. If he sees us, we're either dead or…" The spider trailed off, but Keiji could tell what he was going to say. Still, surely, they were exaggerating.

He slowly raised his right arm-

"I SAID NO!"

And Kumo thrust it down.

"Argh!" Izuku turned around after hearing a sudden cry of pain from a familiar voice. It wasn't particularly well timed for him. All-Might's warning regarding the nature of his new Quirk already had him rather unsettled. Not that it was unimportant. It was vital that no one figured out the true nature of One For All. It would attract too much attention; possibly even shatter the idea of the Symbol of Peace.

He dared not imagine what a world like that would be.

Keiji appeared to be standing by the gate, leaning on a pillar. He was breathing rather heavily, as though he had just expended far too much energy far too quickly. Izuku quickly noticed that he had his bag in one hand, whilst the other was being pressed up against the pillar. He was looking at it with an odd mix of distress and betrayal.

"K-Keiji?" His eyes widened in shock for just a moment.

"Deku!" He said. "You left your bag! Just…wanted to return this." He tossed over the bag lightly, and Izuku fumbled trying to grab it with his still functional arm. Keiji seemed to notice the mistake.

"Oh, sorry!" He said. "For a moment, I kinda forgot about your arm..." Izuku raised an eyebrow, but accepted the apology. It was at that moment that a sudden and alarming thought entered his mind.

"So…" He began cautiously. "You didn't happen to hear anything, did you?" Keiji froze for a moment and Izuku's heart sank.

"Nope!" Keiji said all too loudly. "I heard absolutely nothing about your Quirk-" He paused for a second. "Or! Whatever you were talking about that I definitely didn't hear. So, there's no reason for All-Might to come back and kill me…" He let out a chuckle, then looked around with a panicked expression. He seemed to be genuinely scared of All-Might.

After a moment, Keiji let out a sigh and seemed to relax.

"I'm a terrible liar…" He groaned. Again, he looked around frantically. All-Might failed to appear, no doubt because he was practically out of time for his Muscle Form. Izuku was simultaneously relieved and frightened by the implications of his words.

"How much did you hear?" He tried to keep his voice level, fixing Keiji with a stern expression. He didn't seem impressed by the result, and let out a sigh of apparent frustration.

"Here?" Keiji said, glancing around in an oddly patient manner. "I only heard what you wanted me to hear." Izuku tilted his head, suddenly confused.

"But-" Keiji interrupted his response quickly, and he noticed that he had taken a few steps closer. He tensed a little, unsure of how to react.

"However, hypothetically," Keiji winked at Izuku as he spoke. "If I were to hear that your Quirk was the result of a transfer with an unknown individual, I would only discuss such a thing if you were comfortable, and even then, in some sort of private space." Izuku let out a sigh of relief as Keiji smiled.

"T-that's a relief." He said quietly. "I-if such a thing was the case, you understand no one could know, right?" Keiji grinned back.

"Of course!" He seemed visibly more relaxed. "Believe me, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's not telling people about stuff. Something of a specialty of mine." Izuku laughed nervously at what was clearly intended as a joke, though the statement seemed off in some way.

"What do you mean?" He couldn't help but ask. Keiji looked at him curiously and paused for a moment. He eventually let out a small, bitter sounding sigh.

"It's kind of a long story." He said reluctantly. "Suffice to say, I've had some… issues with my Quirk in the past, and it's taught me the importance of silence." A part of Izuku wanted to reach for his notebook and write down the information, but that would hardly be appropriate. Still, it left him with more questions than answers.

"Issues?" He asked. "Like that Acidic webbing?" He was shocked at Keiji's response, a barked out laugh that sounded almost delirious.

"Yeah." He seemed disturbingly amused. "Let's leave it at that." He shook his head quickly after a moment's pause.

"Sorry, don't know what came over me." He apologised. Izuku nodded, still concerned but wanting to avoid pressing the issue. "Where was I?"

"We were talking about…" Izuku found it difficult to bring the conversation back on track. "You know, what you heard?" Keiji snapped his fingers at the reminder.

"Right, that!" He said, before quieting his voice. "How about we talk about it as we get to the station?" He looked around a little frantically.

"After all, I'd kinda like to avoid the possibility of All Might punching me into tiny pieces." He half-joked. They both found themselves laughing at the remark. It was still a little awkward, but it managed to ease the tension.

"Understandable. Ready to go then?" Izuku asked, smiling. Keiji nodded back.

"Yeah." He said. "It's been a long day."

AN: I've actually been sitting on this chapter for quite a while, but I haven't released it mainly because, despite being proud of it, I felt it was a lot of set up that didn't really pay off on the chapter itself. So I wanted to wait until Chapter 12 was finished before releasing this.

Then, well… most of 2020 happened. And I kinda lost a lot of motivation to work on this. And work generally, something I'm sure a lot of people can relate to.

I still intend to see this story through to the end, or at least as far as I can. I've got far too many ideas for this story to ever abandon it. So, both to help motivate myself and to hopefully entertain all of you for a little while longer, I'm releasing this chapter now, or else I probably never will.

I hope your year has been going better than mine, my dear readers. I hope that, like me, you also find plenty of good amongst all the bad we've had lately. And of course, I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Sincerely,

Lord Terronus