A.N. (4/9/22) - This contains two parts: a) Chapter 20, and b) Interlude 2.
Chapter 20 - Third Match Closes
Boredom was a perfect excuse to make reckless choices.
Realizing that he was well enough to leave on his own, Hitoshi snuck out of the first aid room, deciding that it would be best to indulge his curiosity and spectate the upcoming match between Hatsu and Midoriya. While he might get in trouble with Recovery Girl later, he figured that his decision was worth it if only to see whether Hatsu would do well against the Class 1-A student.
He wasn't bitter about his loss, honestly. If anything, it was better that he lost to Hatsu rather than anyone else. At the very least, he did not have to suffer the same burning indignation that he used to feel whenever he compared himself to someone he perceived as better than him.
Somehow, he felt that he was different these past few weeks. The change was gradual, so it took him a while to notice. But recently, Hitoshi realized that he was acting unlike how he used to before. Maybe it was due to the changes in his life, such as meeting with Hatsu and enrolling in UA. He could tell that at the very least, he was never this proactive a month ago.
Since he wanted to remain somewhat undisturbed, Hitoshi decided to sit somewhere other than where the student stands were. If anyone reported him to the staff, then there was a chance that he would get dragged off back to recovery. No, sitting with his classmates was not ideal. Better to find a better place where he could watch the match.
"Hey, Purple Hair!" A familiar voice called out to him. "Over here!"
Glancing around, Hitoshi's eyes landed on the figure of a girl he recognized as Hatsu's friend from junior high. Since Hatsu only introduced her using her first name, Hitoshi had no other choice but to mentally label her as Yumi as he approached her.
"It's Shinsou, right?" She gave him a friendly smile. "How's it going? I thought the contestants sat in another area."
"Wanted to avoid people I know," Hitoshi replied. "You're here to cheer Hatsu on?"
"First name terms already?" Yumi noticed. He remained silent out of embarrassment. "And to answer your question, kinda. I'm mostly here to check out all the interesting quirks. Speaking of which, brainwashing. That's pretty neat."
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at that. It sounded like she genuinely meant it, which was somewhat unusual for him. But since she was friends with Hatsu, the guy whose quirk was literally dying and changing bodies, he figured that she would have to be somebody who could roll with the punches.
"Thanks?" He gestured to the empty spot next to her. "Is it okay if I sit here?"
"Sure." She waited until he sat down. "The semi-final round is almost starting. I'm kind of surprised that Hatsu decided to go along with it. I figured that he would have dropped out a lot earlier in the tournament."
"There were… various reasons that he decided to continue," Hitoshi vaguely replied. "Although, even I'm a bit worried about him going up against Midoriya. Not a lot you can do against someone who can cause large amounts of damage like that."
Yumi had a curious look on her face when he said that. "What exactly was his quirk again? I thought it was wind blasts at first, but it seems more physical than that."
"Pretty sure it's some kind of super-strength," Hitoshi answered. "I've heard rumors that Midoriya's quirk is a bit similar to All Might, minus the drawbacks of getting injured after using his quirk."
"Huh," Yumi said. "That… maybe he was a stress awakening."
"I'm sorry?"
"It's a catch-all term for quirks that require an external stimulus to trigger," Yumi explained. "Hatsu's a perfect example, but there are many cases of people suddenly awakening to quirks past the usual age of four years old. Usually, in those cases, you can argue that their quirks are 'incomplete' in that there's some kind of problem with them. I used to have a classmate who didn't get a quirk until the later years of elementary school. His quirk didn't seem to work properly, so he needed a support item to help him control it."
"Support item to control… that kind of sounds familiar."
Yumi nodded. "If you're thinking about your teammate Aoyama, then that's because he's the person I'm talking about."
"You were classmates with him?"
"Yup. Like I said, I knew him in elementary school. It's been a while since I've seen him, but I recognize that belt and personality. I'm surprised that he made it into UA, although I figured he would go for the hero course if he ever did enroll."
Hitoshi shook his head. "I wouldn't know. It's not like the two of us are friends."
If anything, their relationship was closer to an antagonistic one. Even now, Hitoshi still had no idea why Aoyama seemed to dislike him so much. Most people were put off by his quirk at first, but it was still somewhat rare for people to show so much hostility as Aoyama did.
At the very least, he was amiable while they cooperated during the second event. Hopefully, Hitoshi won't have to walk on eggshells around Aoyama in the future. The fewer annoyances in his life, the better.
"Incomplete… so you're saying that Hatsu's quirk is also a stress awakening?"
"Well, yeah." At his look of curiosity, Yumi began to clarify. "Think about it, normally you wouldn't see quirks that rely heavily on such a serious condition like 'death', right? While self-biological manipulation quirks exist, most users tend to have some semblance of control over them. My theory is that the extreme trauma caused by Hatsu's first death messed something up with his quirk, causing him to be unable to properly use it."
"Huh…"
She gave a little laugh. "It's just a theory though. When I told Hatsu this, he said a bunch of random words like 'shards' and 'broken triggers'*, but he also agreed with the idea. Although, he was somewhat skeptical about the prospect that his quirk is being repressed from its full potential."
"Full potential, what exactly would that mean in his case?"
"Who knows," she shrugged. "Maybe the ability to change between each of Hatsu's forms."
As she said that, Yumi had a far-off look in her eyes that told him how much thought she put into that theory. Hitoshi recalled his earlier words to Hatsu about how Yumi couldn't see Hatsu as who he was currently during their earlier match, and was instead only seeing him as he was when he was still his former female self.
At the time, he was only saying it to make Hatsu angry. But looking at the girl now, Hitoshi wondered if maybe there was some grain of truth to that accusation after all.
"Oh! It's starting."
Shaking his head, Hitoshi watched as the two contestants walked onto the stage as the crowd around them cheered loudly. While Midoriya's nervousness was evident to anyone watching closely, Hitoshi found that the blank look on Hatsu's face made it harder to figure out what he was thinking.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Midnight shouted. "The last of the matches will now commence, starting with the first fight of the semi-finals. In one corner, we have our dark horse from the general department. The schoolboy with the fist that needs no second strike**, Hatsu Iijima! And facing off against him is the leading contestant, the broccoli boy that managed to take first place in both events before this. Give it up for Class 1-A's Izuku Midoriya!"
The crowd's tension and excitement grew higher at her words.
"This entire thing is too limiting for Hatsu," Yumi commented. "In most straight fights, he'd lose to anyone with a strong quirk. But Hatsu specializes in dirty tactics or relies on tools to bridge the gap. It's not like his kenpo*** will always help him in those kinds of fights, especially against someone who can shoot at range like Midoriya."
"He could always pull off his sock and fill it with debris," Hitoshi dryly replied. "I've seen him break concrete with that before."
"That's assuming Midoriya breaks the stage enough for debris to form. It's a bit risky to play the opponent like that if you're risking getting injured while doing so."
Midnight raised an arm. "Ready!?"
Both Hatsu and Midoriya prepared to move.
"Begin!"
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Was he bluffing?
That was the singular thought consuming Izuku's mind as he slowly raised his arm upward to aim at his opponent. Iijima merely smiled before dashing forward without any intention of dodging, causing Izuku's eyes to widen in horror at his actions.
He wasn't bluffing!
Backtracking as fast as he could, Izuku barely managed to avoid Iijima's palm flying past his face. His success was short-lived, however, as Iijima merely swept his leg out, causing Izuku to falter and allowing Iijima to strike once more.
The force of the palm strike sent him skidding several meters, but Iijima was already moving towards him even as Izuku got up to counter.
"As I said before," Iijima said. "If you do not intend to hit me using the full power of your quirk, either don't use it or learn to better control it."
Thrusting his elbow toward him, Izuku gritted his teeth as he brought his arms up to block. Still, the force behind the blow shook his bones, the shock sending waves of pain up his arms.
"T-That's," Izuku gasped. "I can't just suddenly change how I fight!"
If Iijima was just baiting Izuku to use his quirk and exhausting him, then he could understand the other boy's plan. But what was the benefit of antagonizing him to attack Iijima with his full power?
"Hmm, I thought my earlier speech would rouse you to change your approach." The nonsensical words of Iijima confused Izuku. "Maybe I should try another method… how about this? Let me ask, why do you want to become stronger?"
"Eh?" Izuku paused as he realized that Iijima was patiently waiting for him to answer. "Because... I want to be a hero. Because if I get stronger, I can protect everyone better. If I use this power correctly, I can make sure that nobody gets hurt."
Iijima nodded. "And?"
What else was he supposed to say?
"Also," Izuku hesitated. "I want to prove to someone that I am worth something. That I'm someone that measures up to the amount of faith they've put into me. I want to become like the person I've grown to see as a role model."
"Ugh, a typical answer." Iijima shook his head. "But at the same time, this answer seems more honest than the first. Alright, let's cut the pretenses. I'm guessing that you're talking about All Might?"
"Hah?!" Was Iijima psychic? But why would he ask that question in the first place? Even if it was a guess, it was too accurate of a prediction to sound so confident in answering. "How did you—?!"
"Moving on," Iijima interrupted. "From what I've seen of you so far, it feels as if you're approaching things a bit recklessly for a simple school event. Through pursuing your goal, you seem completely fine with risking your health and care for something so small and insignificant."
Insignif—Izuku didn't quite agree with that. After all, the reason he wanted to obtain victory in this event… the conversation he had with All Might. Izuku wanted to declare to the world that he had arrived, the person who would replace All Might as the Symbol of Peace.
Izuku wanted to tell the world 'I am here'.
"Honestly, I can't understand most heroes in this day and age." Iijima gave out a heavy sigh. "There's nothing wrong with pursuing power, but it feels like everyone is stuck on the idea that you can't do anything without power. Power is great and all, but the things you can solve with power alone are limited. Rather than idolizing power, it's better to idolize strength. After all, strength comes in all kinds."
Confused, Izuku wanted to ask Iijima to clarify what he meant. But before he could do so, Iijima moved forward to attack him. Caught off-guard, he was unable to bring his arms up in time to block the next blow.
Pain.
That was all Izuku could feel at the moment, as he felt something in his arms break from Iijima's attack. Dimly, he was aware that Iijima had most likely fractured the bones in his arm. With them in such a condition, could he still use his fingers as expandable resources?
No, this was a terrible thing. If his arms were like this, then how could he fight in the next round? Even if Recovery Girl managed to heal his arms, the depletion caused by her using his body's resources would mean that he would be too exhausted to fight.
With potential opponents like Yoarashi or Yaoyorozu, he needed all the energy he could conserve if he wanted to beat them.
Holding in the urge to cry out in pain, Izuku looked up with tears appearing in the corner of his eyes.
Yet again, Iijima was waiting for him. For some reason, he didn't capitalize on Izuku's injured state to quickly take him out.
Why didn't he?
If he were truly serious about winning the fight, then Iijima should have given Izuku the final blow now, and it would all be over.
"This is too easy," Iijima muttered. "You had better movements when you were fighting Ashido. Why not take me out like you did with her?"
Ashido? All he did was use his finger as intimidation before grabbing her and tossing her off stage. Iijima was a far better fighter than he was, approaching him using that method was a sure way of losing.
"You still don't get it?" Iijima shook his head in exasperation. "I'm trying to say that you should use your quirk to help you."
His quirk?
But One For All was too powerful to use properly. To use it directly on a person would be too much!
No, that wasn't what Iijima was saying. The thing he said before about circulating energy instead of pouring it into a fragile container. Why did he specifically say that? Could it be that Iijima was somewhat aware of the nature of how One For All worked?
Still, that line of thought was derailing from the main point. How exactly was he supposed to better control his quirk?
"I think I figured out the problem here," Iijima said. "Well, the main issue is probably that you're overthinking it a bit too much, but that's not the only thing."
If he was only going to wait for Iijima to act, then Izuku was going to lose. He needed to take the initiative, even if the chances of taking Iijima off guard were low.
Letting out a battle cry, Izuku charged forward and swung with his leg to attack. Since his arms were out of commission, the only methods he could use to fight were with his legs or by tackling with his entire body.
Iijima didn't even bother countering, simply stepping aside and letting Izuku pass by harmlessly.
"The main reason that you're no good right now," Iijima paused to move out of the way of another attack. "Is because your heart has been captured by a fixation."
Eh?
"Dreams, goals, ideals… they're all the same. Over-fixating on them can lead to narrowing your vision to what you're truly capable of." Iijima once again created some distance between them. "In your case, you're chasing after the back of your role model, All Might? Is that correct?"
Izuku didn't answer him.
"But if you single-mindedly pursue the path ahead of you, then you might trip over a small obstacle without realizing it." Iijima gazed at his injured arm—no, he was looking at his throbbing fingers. "Thinking that you can shrug off the damage to your body, what kind of consequence will that have later down the line?"
He was saying something similar to Recovery Girl, but was it really that bad? Izuku didn't think that it would matter that much. It was expected that a hero would get injured in their line of work, why should he complain about the pain when everyone else was so far ahead of him.
Izuku needed to be better than that. He needed to become better so that he could quickly catch up to All Might.
"Again," Izuku snapped out of it as Iijima spoke. "You're not concentrating on what's important right now, your mind is still thinking about someone else."
This was too frustrating. At this rate, there was no way he would be able to defeat Iijima. Unless he figured out a way to use his quirk to defeat him, he wouldn't be able to progress to the next round.
Iijima was staring at him with such a complicated look on his face, that Izuku paused to look at his eyes. The way they were peering at him, why did they seem so filled with such sorrow?
Those same eyes turned bitter.
"You can't see me, can you?" Iijima looked away. "You look at me, but you can't see me. Your gaze is looking past me, but your opponent right now is me. Can't you pay attention to what I'm trying to tell you?"
His words… why did they sound so pained?
"Right now, please look at me." Iijima forced a smile. "Because, standing in front of you… I am here."
Ah.
Only now did Izuku realize his mistake.
Desperate to show the world that he was here, he forgot a simple fact. There were other people here that wanted to be acknowledged too. How could he expect others to take notice of him if he was content with ignoring those same people in front of him?
I am here…
How many times did he hear his role model saying that, but did he ever question the power behind those simple words? When said by All Might, it was a message of reassurance and a promise that everything would be all right.
But as for Iijima…
It was a cry of attention, a way of saying that he existed too. That there was no good reason that he should be ignored in favor of the bigger picture.
Izuku finally looked at Iijima for the first time.
The other boy stared back at him expectantly.
"I'm sorry," Izuku said. "I haven't been paying attention to our fight. That changes now."
Forget about winning the tournament, forget about his promise to All Might.
All he needed to do was focus on the moment now.
"Here I go, Iijima-san." He faced his opponent with a determined gaze. "Right now, I'm only looking at you."
Smirking, Iijima got into a stance.
"Yes."
Something bubbled under Izuku's skin, and it was as if something clicked within his head. Rather than overthinking like he usually did, he allowed his body to relax and let the energy naturally pass through him without resistance. Instead of thinking of containing that power, he allowed it to fill every part of his body while making sure that he wasn't being overwhelmed.
Oh, so this is what he meant.
Unnoticed to either of them, nobody noticed the faint glow appearing on Iijima's hands. Had he been paying attention, then maybe he would have realized its appearance was linked to that of Izuku's activation of his newest state of One For All.
Both of them moved at the same time.
With newfound speed, Izuku simply sped forward and tackled Iijima with a loud cry. Hurling with all of his might, Iijima's body flew into the air. The other boy was unable to do anything as his body landed with a heavy thud outside of the stage.
It was a simple move, yet the results were clear.
Iijima had lost.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about the final matches, since this story mainly focuses on Hatsu and his interactions with the cast.
This was a bit of a strange chapter since I mostly wrote from other people's perspectives instead of Hatsu's. It kinda came out longer than I expected, and I had a bit of trouble writing out Izuku's mindset. But it turned out alright, so I'm rolling with this.
Note that the concept of the stress awakening is only a little headcanon that Yumi believes in, and is not actually a widely accepted fact in this universe. As far as this story is concerned, it's not a technical term that anyone else will reference that much.
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Notes:
*(broken triggers) - Term used in Worm to describe the phenomenon where a Parahuman's powers don't have the proper protections/restrictions.
**(no second strike) - A reference to Li Shuwen, whose mastery of martial arts was so great that he claimed he needed no second strike.
***(kenpo) - In the context of this conversation, Kenpo is used as a term to describe Hatsu's hakkyokuken, as its another way of saying martial arts depending on the style.
Interlude 2 - Stain
It was the middle of the day, and the bustling of the crowd was an indicator that life was going by as it would without any major changes. The normality of the scene might occasionally be interrupted by a random villain attack, but public trust meant that people could expect a hero to quickly turn up if such an event were to pass.
That is if one stuck to the populated areas.
A dirty entrance and cracked asphalt marked the boundary that separated the busy street from the alleys nearby. The only indicator of what lay beyond that was a straight narrow area, tightly confined due to the two buildings adjacent to each other closing in the space.
Due to the lack of lighting, it was easy to miss the entrance to an open space where various trash and objects littered the area. Maybe it was because of that, and the fact that the location was ideal for making noise without drawing attention, that the fight between two individuals remained unnoticed.
A blade swung through the air, and one of the fighters fell.
Stain had killed another hero.
The mission of his that drove him into culling the wicked and draw attention to the corruptness of society. Did it have any meaning if nobody else noticed his efforts? At the very least, he managed to take out another corrupt hero from the equation.
This hadn't even felt like a fight to him, and it certainly wasn't a premeditated one. He had just happened to encounter a random hero patrolling the streets who took notice of him before giving chase.
To seek glory while ignoring his circumstances, he proved too weak for Stain to properly acknowledge and allow to live.
The man's cracked mask of the dead hero lay on the floor, and a random impulse caused him to step onto it with his boot and crush it to bits.
Did he make a difference? Or did this fight change nothing in the cogs of this world?
After making sure that his opponent was truly dead, Stain sneered before jumping into the air and using the ledges to make his escape.
He did not like masks.
Stain felt that the use of a mask was only a hindrance. Once upon a time, he had been deluded into thinking that the mask would separate the red on his ledger.
But after a certain fateful day, he realized that it was a crutch. A weakness of his where he avoided facing his true calling of culling the wicked. From the guidance of that man*, he learned to resolve himself into becoming the person he was today.
Thus, he did not wear a mask.
He gave up his life as a regular person because its purpose was meaningless. The only identity he identified by now was the Hero Killer Stain.
To hide oneself was to limit your resolve into accomplishing the greater good. The facade of invincibility could easily disappear once the mask was removed. Like his former self, those without a strong enough conviction could not see their goals through.
And so, he did not like those who wore masks.
"Wow, that was a neat fight."
His blade flew up as the tip pressed against the side of the person who approached him from behind. He glanced at them from the corner of his eye, which narrowed once he took in the sight.
The person he saw was… rather odd.
First of all, it was a young girl dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform. Except the uniform was heavily modified with various accessories, to the point that no proper institute would allow such a thing to be worn normally.
The other eye-catching feature of the person was the shoulder-length white hair of the young girl. Not to mention the somewhat eerie look in her eyes as she stared at him curiously.
He spoke in a displeased tone.
"Get out of here." Stain dismissed her with his free hand. "This is no place for a child."
"No way," she pouted. "After going through all the trouble of escaping my incubator, I wanted to at least talk to you once before my minders take me back for more experiments."
Incubator?
Minders?
Experiments?
Already, he could feel a headache coming to his head. Stain resigned himself to the situation before turning around to fully face her.
"Brat, what do you want?"
If this girl was specifically seeking him out, then at the very least he wanted to hear her out before deciding what to do.
"Oh! I'm glad you asked." She puffed her chest and beamed at him. "First off, let me introduce myself. My name is [Three—Nine], a spunky kickass female middle school girl."
That… rather than a name, that sounded like a designation to him.
A label for a lab rat instead of a person.
"And the reason I sought you out…" She dramatically paused before pointing a finger his way. "...is because I want to become your disciple."
"No."
"An immediate rejection! Aren't you even going to take a second to consider it?"
"Why would I ever consider letting a schoolgirl become my disciple."
"I might be able to assist you in your goals."
"My goals… where I go around killing corrupt heroes while being chased by the authorities."
"Yeah, cool stuff like that."
Stain realized that talking with her was only worsening the headache he was having.
He gave out an exasperated sigh. "Assume that I'm open to the idea of getting a disciple, what skills do you bring to the table?"
"I know things," she proclaimed. "A ton of useful things, like… the volume of cup noodles increases if you let it soak longer than the recommended time."
"I'm leaving."
"W-Wait, that was just a joke!" She hurried to give out another answer. "I can help you act as bait for heroes for you to attack. Think about it, a young girl like me is basically asking for trouble to come to get me. I can pretend to be the damsel in distress, nobody will suspect that I'm up to anything evil?!"
That did sound admittingly useful.
But still, he was not interested.
"Also, it's a bit embarrassing for me to admit." She gave out a nervous laugh. "But I don't exactly have a lot of other options if you refuse to take me in."
"Not a lot means you still have some, go to them instead."
"Hey, wait!" She caught up to him when he tried to leave. "At least help me find a place to sleep for the night. Please, you wouldn't leave a young girl like me to sleep on the streets, right?"
"Sleep in a manga café then."
"I don't have any money."
"Then steal some," Stain replied in an annoyed voice. "Or sell some of that junk hanging off your body to a thrift store to pay for the fee instead."
"Hey, this isn't junk! I'll have you know that these are the finest of clothes that I've managed to find after rummaging out of the trash of a nearby apartment complex." She paused. "Also, stealing is a crime."
Was she being serious?
But if he turned a blind eye on her, who knows what this stupid girl would end up doing. With how dim she portrayed herself, he wouldn't be surprised if she got herself involved in an accident or tricked by the wrong crowd.
Stain finally stopped.
"...I can't believe I'm about to do this."
"Eh? Did you finally change your mind?!"
He turned around to glare at her, which she took without a flinch. Seeing the look on her face, he immediately regretted the next words he spoke.
"I will allow you to stay at my place for today, but I'll be kicking you out once tomorrow comes."
Stain hated people who wore masks, including those that wore a facade to hide their true thoughts from being expressed on her face.
And despite the cheery nature of the young girl following behind him, he was able to notice the nervous undertone earlier in her words. How her legs quivered as she approached him, and the way her hands were damp with sweat that she tried to hide while speaking.
She approached him with fear but wore a mask of bravado to face him.
He hated that.
"Let's go, Miku**?"
"Huh? Is that supposed to be a nickname or something?"
"Yeah, so what? If you don't like it, either you come up with a name yourself, or I'll call you by 'brat' instead."
"No, no. Miku is fine."
}-{
"Is this really where you live?"
The incredulous tone of her voice showed her surprise, yet it was understandable once you saw the state of the room.
First off, they were in an abandoned place that seemed to once have been a small apartment building. Stain had taken her upstairs to one of the rooms that was still in decent condition, albeit only in comparison to the other rooms.
It was difficult to describe the place as livable. The floorboards were torn up, with furniture flipped over or damaged to the point where their stuffing spilled out. Various trash and rusted nails littered the floor as well, with some areas being covered in suspicious reddish-brown marks.
There were words scrawled all along the walls and furniture, spelling out random phrases like 'don't blink' and 'beware the Bad Wolf'. One entire wall was simply covered in the same word repeated multiple times overlapping each other—'EXTERMINATE'.
Except for a corner that seemed to be kept clean regularly, the rest of the area was completely trashed.
"I'm amazed that you can seriously sleep in a place like this," Miku commented. "Aren't you scared of getting a tetanus infection?"
"There's a sofa in the other room where I usually sleep. You can use it for tonight."
"What about you?"
"I don't plan on sleeping today."
Really, he must have been out of his mind taking her to one of his safehouses. Obviously, this wasn't where he normally stayed, but the fact that he was even revealing one of his secured locations to a stranger was strange by itself.
"Alright," she nodded. "Now, I know this goes without saying. But if you think about trying anything with me while I'm sleeping, I'll have you know that there's a certain dangly bit between all men that I'm certain will hurt if I kick strongly enough."
"If you think I'm going to attack you in your sleep, then why did you follow me here in the first place?"
"Because you only go after criminals and bad heroes," Miku replied. "Seeing as I am neither, it wouldn't make sense for you to hurt me."
Such a naive outlook.
It irked him that she was right, even if not for the exact reason she stated. Targeting heroes and criminals was due to his mission, and attacking random civilians would only draw more unwanted attention to him.
There was no reason he had to be accommodating to her though, other than a strange impulse that forced him into doing it anyway.
Moving to one side of the room, he pushed several objects out of the way to reveal a television that he kept hidden to prevent being stolen. A small comfort that would pass as entertainment while he worked on maintaining his gear.
Turning it on, he switched the channel until it landed on something interesting.
"Oh, hey! Isn't that the UA Sports Festival?"
He watched as the footage showed a brief cut of the latest round between a two-colored boy and a green-haired individual. The screen shifted until it showed a close-up photo of each combatant's face, with their names displayed underneath their pictures.
Stain was suddenly aware of how silent Miku was.
"Brat?"
"That boy…" Miku stared at the image of the boy with pink and blue hair. "Something about him, I get the feeling…"
"You know him or something?"
"No," Miku shook her head. "But I think we've met before."
She didn't clarify further on that topic, so Stain shrugged and began removing some of his gear to work on. After a few seconds, he turned back to see that she was still staring intently at the screen with a strange look on his face.
Stain instantly recognized it. He sometimes wore that same expression on his face whenever he encountered a target he wanted to kill. But to see such a twisted expression on the young girl in front of him, he was confused as to why that would be the case.
At the very least, she was revealing a small part of her true intentions for the first time.
Still staring at the image of the boy, Stain already knew what she was thinking.
With one look, she instantly decided that she hated him.
A new OC introduced! This story is now headed in the AU direction!
With this interlude, I'll be changing things so that we'll be skipping past the majority of the Hero Killer arc since changes to canon have already derailed things by that much. Canon is now merely a guideline and will not be followed to the letter after this.
Again, I'm kinda worried about introducing so many OCs to a fanfic like this, especially since they're usually a hit or miss when they're not the main character. With this interlude, there are three main OCs in this story now (Yumi/Kyotaro/Miku). As for who Miku is and her role in the story, I'll be slowly adding more details to future chapters as Hatsu panics at things changing.
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*(that man) - Reference to the vigilantes manga.
**(Miku) - [Three—Nine] is said using the English pronunciation, while Stain's nickname is based on the fact that 39 can be read as "mi-ku"