SMRY: The League of Gamers have a talk. Explody, BHJ, Earstuff, and Hardman have a talk. EVERONE HAS A TALK! Except for Big Bad. He just stalks people, the bitch. Also, filler.

Desolation: A Tomura Shigaraki SI-OC

Chapter Eleven: Rather Be a Lover

"Damnit!" Mustard cried as his chosen character fell on to the ground, its health bar completely depleted.

"Yes!" I cried, the thrill of victory filling my veins. "I win! I am King Dick of Shit Mountain!"

Mustard crossed his arms and let out a childish huff while I danced in front of the TV like the child that I am. "You don't have to rub it in you know." He pouted.

I sat back on the couch and picked my controller back up. "Yeah, yeah, I know…Wanna go another round?"

"And have a chance at kicking your ass? Hell yeah!"

Magne stared at us from across the bar. "Really? Smash Heroes." She asked.

"What's wrong with Smash Heroes?" Mustard asked, a bit of a challenge in his voice.

"Maybe you should try playing Mortal Combat. Now that is a fighting game!" Magne said with a smirk.

"Doesn't that have twenty installments or something?"

I let out a huff. "Yeah, at this point it's kind of overrated."

(YOU FUCKING HEATHEN!)

Magne let out a dramatic and over the top gasp. "You take that back!"

"Hell no!"

Kurogiri—who was by the bar, per usual—let out an aggravated sigh. "I am working with full grown children."

Twice walked down from upstairs, wearing what looked like pajamas over his suit. "You are all being too loud! BE LOUDER!"

All laughter and chaos stopped when the door into the bar opened. Through the door came two people, a slimy-looking grey-haired man and Toga, dressed in her usual school-girl attire. "Well ladies and gentlemen…" The man said, removing a fedora from his head and placing it on the nearby coat rack. "You caused quite a stir with that attack last week."

I turned towards Giran and the serial killer. "People talking about us in the news?"

"Oh, yes." The information broker replied as Toga made her way to the bar and ordered a cup of water. "They're talking about the fact that UA was breached by a bunch of two-bit thugs…and how most of those thugs managed to escape, even with All Might there. Some of them even think that UA may not be the safest place for the students anymore."

"So they haven't gotten the message behind our attack." Mustard spoke.

"Not yet." I replied. "We'll post a manifesto soon."

"Speaking of the USJ…" Magne began. "What are we gonna do with the video."

The residents of the bar went silent and then stared at me. "Well…" I began. "I was gonna give the heroes some time to recover their image. Let UA have it's Sports Festival so that they may retain the image of the perfect status quo for a little longer." I turned back towards the TV. "Then, release the video into the web, shattering that image."

(A lie is a lie is a lie.)

"Speaking of which…" I continued. "I need to start writing said manifesto."

"Wait," Twice spoke, poking his head out from around the corner of the staircase again. "I thought you already had something going. I knew you had nothing the whole time!"

I sighed. "I do have some stuff. The speech I made to All Might for example. However, I need more than that if I want to draw followers to our cause."

"Good. You're learning."

I turned my attention towards the monitor. "Sensei." I greeted, trying to sound as reverent and respectful as possible.

"Tomura." He greets back. "I have sent Dabi as an emissary to the Shie Hassaikai. Once he is finished with his work, I recommend that you meet with their leader. We may gain valuable allies once this is done."

I treat the recommendation as an order, even though I don't want to ally myself to someone like Overhaul.

(Just like Father.)

The monitor turned back to static, and Mustard turned towards me. "Wanna go for a walk?"

Class was…different when the members of 1-A returned to school. They were quieter, or at least less rowdy than before, which many teachers found to be both a blessing…and a concern.

The other students—the ones who were not in class 1-A—also paid more attention to the members of 1-A. Some stared at them with something that looked like reverence. Others looked at them with jealousy. And a few looked upon them and saw opportunity…especially since the Sports Festival was coming up in two weeks.

This mattered very little to four students, who had something much bigger on their collective plate. A secret that needed to be discussed.

This very secret—the secret of One For All—was what was on Kyoka Jirou's mind as she—along with Kirishima—went to the rooftop of UA high school. The green boy promised that he would explain what they had seen, after all.

A few seconds after their arrival on the rooftop, Izuku emerged, dark circles under his eyelids. "Where's Kacchan?" He asked.

Kirishima shook his head. "He isn't coming."

Midoriya's shoulders sagged a little, but he looked like he had anticipated such an outcome.

Then, he explained to them all that he knew. How All Might had chosen him to wield a power that was passed down from seven other heroes, how the Number One Hero and the Symbol of Peace himself had been wounded…and how the one who had wounded him was still out there, waiting in the dark.

When Midoriya was done, Kirishima let out a breath. "That's…" There were no words that could possibly explain how the dyed redhead felt. Jirou simply nodded, unable to articulate how she felt on the matter.

"All Might said that I might have to fight All For One." Midoriya said, a sullen look on his face. "I'm…not sure I'm ready for that."

Not after Death Hand.

That part went unspoken in Jirou's mind. She knew that the villain and the successor of All Might had some kind of history. The pale-haired man talked to Izuku Midoriya with too much familiarity for there not to be.

"I'm…not sure I deserve any of this really."

Kirishima leaned forward. "Why? Because the world doesn't know that it needs you yet?"

Midoriya blinked, a look of shock on his face. "What?"

"Let me finish, dude." Kirishima said. "I've only known you for a few weeks, and I can already tell that—out of all of our other classmates—you are the one best suited to be the Next Symbol. You're kind, strong, and you emanate this feeling that everything will be fine when you are there during the training lessons. I'm not sure if that's just One For All, or you, but it fits very well with the person you want to be."

Izuku blinks, then smiles a small smile. "You…really think so?"

"We both do." Jirou said. "But I also think that in some respects…Shimura is right."

They both stared at her, stunned, but willing to listen.

"I don't agree with him fully!" Jirou stammers out, a light blush covering her face. "But what do you think will happen when hero society's one pillar vanishes?"

Kirishima grimaced. "Nothing good."

"Exactly." The punk rocker replied. "Say what you want about him, but he is right about that. Which is why we need multiple pillars. A group of heroes who are willing to be more than just members of a system. We have to be the ones to hold it up, and change it if we must."

"…Do you think I should tell the others?" Izuku asked.

"I think that decision is up to you…but with that recording…"

The three went silent.

The world will know eventually.

Dabi strode through the darkened alleyways of a nameless street. Thugs, homeless, and other such vagabonds and villains roamed the dregs of the modern world, none looking to ascend beyond what they already were, yet dreaming of being greater all the same.

The scarred man smirked. He was no dreamer. He knew the steps he had to take, and he knew how far he would go to take them.

Dear old dad didn't raise a lover after all. He raised a fighter.

He wasn't an idealist like Shimura was, or a visionary like the masked man he had met.

No, he was something else entirely.

The pyrokinetic's phone rang, listing an unnamed contact. The white-haired man answered.

"Hello, old man."

"Dabi. How did your talk with the Yakuza go?"

"Quite well. Overhaul is a really accommodating guy."

"Is he now? Funny. He didn't strike me as the type."

"Indeed. I suspect that he plans to use us for his goals."

"And those goals are?"

"Dunno yet. What's the plan?"

There is silence for a moment. Then, All For One speaks again.

"We will let 'Shimura' speak to him first. If he accepts an alliance, then we will eventually replace Overhaul and…appropriate his resources and use them for our goals."

"And if Shimura rejects an alliance?"

"Then we take what the Shie Hassaikai have by force."

AN: And now, things will be set in motion. Next shall be another encounter between Shimura and Midoriya, but this time in civilian guises.