NeonHorizon: Finally All Might appears. Also...if you private message me and I come across as kinda cold or unfriendly; I'm really sorry. My social abilities are about as good as these two awkward villains. I do like talking to people. I really do. I'm just super awkward and don't know what to say. Anyway! Next chapter will have something a little different. A little calm before the storm.
"Which one was it again?" Kugutsu looked over her shoulder, frowning at her accomplice. After her reward from Shigaraki, she was more determined than ever to find a way to impress him and make him happy. Hence why she and Spinner had knocked out a pair of third year UA students to steal their uniforms. Hence why they were now lingering in the shopping area closest to the school.
He looked away quickly and frowned. "That kid with the explosion quirk, right? Bakugou something."
The female villain ruffled her hair, frowning back at him. "Shigaraki really wants to get that one?" She had been so blinded by her fan girl bliss before that she had failed to really pay attention to the plan itself. Kidnapping possibly one of the most dangerous students, who seemed kind of like they might have anger issues, to try to get them to join the League of Villains. When it was put that way, it sounded like a super risky, possibly even stupid, plan.
Shigaraki wants him though. She brought up the boy's profile on a social media website and stared at his photo. Her ears twitched forward a bit. He looks like he'll be trouble. But if we can get him for Shigaraki…Just imagining how impressed her crush would be, she started to blush pink and subconsciously smile.
"Could you stop having a fan girl moment and focus?"
Kugutsu bristled when their third, entirely uninvited, accomplice chimed in. She had been looking down at her phone, but now lifted her eyes to glare at Dabi. "Remind me. Who invited you?" Her lips pulled into a straight, tight line as she regarded the smug expression on his face. Even within the shadows of his hooded jacket, she could clearly see that smirk.
"I just wanted to see Yami in action. I've heard so much about how cool you are. You can't blame me for being skeptical." Beside him, Spinner looked guilty. Like he was probably regretting talking about her to Dabi.
She crossed her arms, about to launch into a creative string of insults the likes of which he had probably never heard before, but paused when she heard something in the distance. Something that made her blood boil. Something that made her lips twitch into a snarl as she gritted her teeth.
The villain could have sworn that she had heard someone call "I am here!" and she wanted to believe it was a mistake or a recording. The fact that there was now cheering in the distance, accompanied by people exclaiming "All Might" only confirmed it. He really was there.
Without a warning to Spinner and Dabi, Kugutsu began walking briskly to the street corner and peered around it. The hero was there, surrounded by adoring fans. It made her stomach turn. Just the sight of All Might was enough to send her spiraling into an insane rage.
Spinner jogged to catch up to her and saw the villain's shadow starting to sway. A light post's shadow had fallen across her legs, touching her skin, giving that shadow life as it touched her own shadow and passed the gift of life on to it.
To his alarm, her shadow reached toward his and Spinner's shadow started to twitch. It lengthened and shuddered as it came to life, beginning to shift to a different shape. When it was done, Spinner was staring down at a black dragon silhouette instead of his own shadow. "H-hey, Yami! Calm down!"
She turned to look at him, ignoring the smirking villain behind him. Kugutsu's expression was the picture of serenity, but her catlike eyes were narrowed and filled with a deep hatred. "You look scared."
"I'm not scared!" he protested. "But my shadow-!"
"Your shadow?" She looked down and saw the dragon silhouette. "…sorry…" It fizzled and went back to normal quickly. As composed as she appeared, she was still as bitter as the darkest coffee. With no real plan, she began walking toward All Might as confidently as if she actually had an idea of what she was doing.
"Hey! Dabi, what-?!" Spinner demanded behind her.
"Don't worry about it," Dabi assured the other villain as he hit "record" on his phone. Not that his smirk helped to ease Spinner's worries.
Normally when her heart raced it was because she was with Shigaraki. Or thinking about Shigaraki. Or looking through her massive collection of various grainy images of him caught on security cameras and saved from numerous shady websites. Or doing something cute; like searching his name online. Now her heart was racing with anticipation as she neared the crowd.
Kugutsu slipped into the group of onlookers easily. After all, she pretty much looked like she was just a high school student since she was wearing the uniform. Besides the cat ears, she could basically be considered plain. No one questioned it when she tried to get closer. In fact, some people actually moved to let her do it.
As she found herself practically right in front of All Might, she stared up at his smile. In that instant, she imagined his face carved off and stapled to a telephone pole in a shopping district. Where everyone can admire it, she thought as she forced a smile back at him.
When asked if she was in the hero class, she said "yes". She said she was a third year student and that she looked up to him. That he was the reason she wanted to be a hero. He seemed pleased, but it was hard to tell when the hero seemed physically incapable of not smiling.
That almost looks like it hurts, she thought with a giggle. I'd be putting you out of your misery, wouldn't I? And Shigaraki would be so happy. Not yet, though. I want Shigaraki to be able to see it. Maybe if I can just erase that smile for a second…
The crowd started to disperse and she lingered there, talking as if she was really a student. All the while, she imagined him dying and how delighted her crush would be. The thought of killing All Might for him made her think of how girls gave chocolate to the boys they liked.
"So what's it like?"
"What's what like?" he asked, still smiling despite his confusion.
It was now that she displayed her true smile. A smile full of malevolence and madness. She turned so she faced him completely, wanting to have this moment burned into her memory. "Everyone loves you as the symbol of peace, but no one loves you as a person. I bet it hurts, right? No one really knows anything about you so how can they really love you? What they love is just an image. They don't love you at all; just what you stand for. Doesn't that hurt?"
To her absolute delight, Kugutsu saw it. She saw a shift in his expression. The smile was now a simple straight line as he looked down at the villain. It was not the heartbroken frown she had hoped for, but this was still pretty good.
Shift P.O.V
What is this? He was tempted to not even open the attachment. After all, Dabi seemed like the kind of person that would send something horrible and annoying. As he considered just deleting the message, Shigaraki saw the caption and started chewing on his lower lip. The caption read "Pissed off kitty".
So it could be a small variety of things. It could literally be a video of a really angry cat, it could be something wildly inappropriate that would make Shigaraki want to jam all five fingers into his eyes, or it could be a video of Kugutsu. It really was anyone's guess what it might be.
Hoping it was just an angry cat, he decided to open the attachment. Red eyes widened as he saw Kugutsu making her way into a crowd of All Might fans that were surrounding the hero. As he watched, she approached the man and seemed to talk to him. He was glad when Dabi seemed to have edged closer to the area because the audio became clear at just the right time.
Hearing his fan girl speak to All Might with such venom made his heart skip a beat. Shigaraki brought the phone screen closer, his chapped lips pulling into a grin as he heard those words. She was telling All Might no one loved him and, to Shigaraki's amazement, it seemed that her words affected him. All Might's smile appeared to not be a permanent fixture because it fell to a straight line.
As he leaned back in his chair, at his desk, the villain felt pleased. Even if Kugutsu seemed to have not known that she was being recorded, she had mirrored his hatred and it impressed him. However, it would have been more impressive if she was in her villain costume. The fact that she was in a high school uniform kind of ruined any cool factor she might have had.
Why's she wearing that? She looks like she's cosplaying. Not that he hated it. Not that he was unable to appreciate how she looked in it; she looked even more like a character from a dating sim now.
It was when he heard voices echoing from the bar that he realized the video must have been taken a while ago. Twice was in the bar alone earlier and now he was greeting Kugutsu and Spinner. The blue-haired villain got up to join them. Although, he was unsure if he wanted to tell her that he saw her performance. She might take it as him being impressed, which he was, but he had no desire for her to think he would start idolizing her.
Shift P.O.V
I almost lost control, she thought with a frown. Kugutsu was slouching in her seat at the bar, ruffling her dark hair and not caring that she was losing her cool in front of the others. I made Spinner's shadow into a dragon! I don't even know what I was going to do with it! Was I going to send a shadow dragon after All Might?!
They had left soon after she got her reaction from the hero. Sticking around in that area was too risky now that she had drawn attention to herself like the psychotic, hate-driven gremlin that she was. It really was a shame. She had returned more or less empty-handed. While she had not been able to kidnap the angry, explosive teenager, she had acquired a somewhat cute school uniform.
I messed up. She released a sigh and crossed her arms in front of her on the counter. Somewhere behind her, Twice was asking what happened and Spinner was attempting to explain the situation. I can't believe I didn't get anything out of this. We were going to impress Shigaraki. I was going to make him happy. She slumped forward in defeat, sighing again.
"Hey, cheer up, Yami! It'll be okay! We've still got Shigaraki's plan. Besides, we got these disguises out of it," Spinner tried to assure her.
A glance over made her want to almost laugh. The sight of Spinner wearing a school uniform that was at least one size too big, with that choker still around his neck, was just a little too much. It just looked like really weird cosplay. She rested her head on the counter and closed her eyes, her right ear twitching a bit.
"There's probably something we can still do. Right, Twice?"
Kugutsu failed to hear his answer. She was a little too wrapped up in her feelings of absolute failure. Despite the fact that she had managed to erase All Might's smile for a second. Despite the fact that she was now wearing a rather stylish school uniform.
Goose bumps rose on her skin as she became aware of the feeling of being watched. She kept her eyes closed, knowing it was probably just Spinner waiting to see if she would stop sulking. However, this failure was pretty harsh. She had let Shigaraki down. Even worse, now there was no hope of impressing him; he would get that student using his own plan.
A paper coffee cup was abruptly set in front of her face on the counter and her nose twitched. Kugutsu pushed herself upright and caught sight of Dabi standing across the bar, drawing his hand back. "What's this?"
"Got you something." A bottle of water was put in front of Spinner and Dabi smirked. "That's what lizards drink, right?"
Kugutsu stared at the paper coffee cup and sniffed again. Her gaze shifted from the cup back to the other villain. "Seriously?" She pulled the top off of the cup, displaying the steamed milk inside. "Seriously?"
"I thought cats liked milk," he taunted.
"Hey! Don't talk to her like-!" Spinner went silent as the door to the back area opened.
Shigaraki entered the room without even looking around. As if he knew exactly what was going on and which villains were there. He sat beside Kugutsu, moving his seat close enough so that their knees touched. The villain's eyes narrowed when he looked at the cup of steamed milk. Glaring at Dabi, he started to slowly push the cup forward toward the other villain until the cup fell off of the opposite edge of the counter.
If Kugutsu was a normal person, she might have winced or asked if her fellow villain got burned by the hot milk. Instead, being the maniacal fan girl that she was, she began to giggle hysterically. She covered her mouth with a hand, bowing her head to hide how red her face was turning.
Beside her, Shigaraki simply scratched at an itch on the side of his neck. Not exactly proud of pushing a cup off of a counter like a cat. Not exactly remorseful. More than anything, he was pleased to get such a reaction from his fan girl. For some completely mysterious reason, he appeared to be in a decent mood.
She could see it from the corner of her eye. There was something different about him. Extra confidence. It made him come across as even more powerful, even cooler than before. Biting her lip, she stifled nervous laughter.
"That was a stupid joke," he muttered, glaring at Dabi. "She's off-limits to you, freak. The next time you want to play a stupid prank, pick someone else." At his side, his fan's happy, panicky laughter increased.