Chapter 58: Sero and Ibara vs Gentle Criminal
It was the morning of the festival, and Izuku Midoriya was cursing himself for being such a fool.
Everything had seemed so clear last night. He'd find Nejire Hado early in the morning. He'd tell her that Eri was coming, that Mirio and him would be showing her around the festival, and that she…she was welcome to come. If she wanted to. Simple.
He told himself that he was just being polite, since Nejire had played a massive part in making this thing happen in the first place, and she had a vested interest in the happiness of the girl she'd help save. But the smarter side of him knew that he was sick of lying to himself. I lied to myself about thinking I could become a hero for years. While things turned out fine for me, I could have avoided a lot of suffering if I'd just been honest with myself…so I must be honest with myself again.
I like Nejire Hado.
It was confusing, frightening. Beyond the basic nervousness he acquired around girls (which had mostly worn off with people like Uraraka and Tsu) he'd never felt anything for a girl. A few skips of the heart and that was it. It just wasn't something that dwelled on his mind a lot. Well, Uraraka might have dwelled on my mind for a little while. At the mall, that day. But then, Shigaraki showed up and I…
Of course, he should have taken that as a wake up call. A literal representation of what he should be focusing on. Stop worrying about romance, there are villains to be dealt with.
And yet…Nejire would not leave his brain.
But how could he be so stupid?! There was no time to even FIND Nejire, let alone work up the nerve to ask her! He could lie to himself all he wanted and say that in theory, his request to her was not a romantic one, but that didn't stop his heart from racing! His heart knew what it wanted!
These thoughts raced through his head as he rushed through the hallway that morning. I probably won't find her. This school is massive. I could contact Togata and ask; I feel like he probably knows where she is. But what would be the point of that? Then Togata himself could just ask her if she wants to come with us…and…I want to do it myself. It had been a while since he'd thought something so selfish.
So now, here he was, looking for All Might instead. Maybe today wasn't the day. Maybe instead he should use this time to ask his mentor if pursuing romance was even something he'd be allowed to do as a wielder of One For All. Because, honest to God, Izuku had no idea. It was not something he and All Might had ever talked about. It'll probably be unbearably awkward.
"All Might!" Izuku declared, bursting into the teacher offices without thought or consideration. There was no time for that. "I really need to talk to you!"
Midnight and Cementoss were in the room, and gave him amused looks before casting their gaze toward Izuku's emaciated mentor sitting at a computer.
All Might looked up in surprise, his skeletal jaw falling open. "Young Midoriya, wha-"
"It's important and urgent. Please?" He didn't really expect to find Nejire after this, but he did need to get back to the dorm and help with festival preparations.
"Alright, alright." All Might rose, and the two of them went to the lounge, where no one else could overhear.
"What's this about, my boy?"
"It's about...well, err." Now that he was here, he had no idea how to word it. "It's about, romance, I guess?"
All Might closed his eyes and sighed. "Oh dear. To tell the truth, I expected this conversation to happen soon. You are, after all, a teenager."
Izuku laughed nervously. "Haha, well...I don't really know whether or not I should care about it...if I have this responsibility to our Quirk and all..."
"I believe," All Might said softly, "that such a decision is your own. I cannot help you with everything, Young Midoriya. I can assist you with your development in combat, like with your new Air Force move. But balancing hero work and personal life...is not something I was ever good at. I never had any sort of romantic partner, personally. But that doesn't mean having such a thing is wrong. My master started a family, after all. Based on what I've seen from you, Midoriya, I believe you are likely more than capable of balancing such a thing, if you desire to do so."
"Really?" Izuku relaxed. "Thank you, All Might."
"And speaking as your teacher, I'd say that a relationship may actually benefit the hero work of Young Uraraka and yourself in the long run, considering how well you work together already..."
"Oh, umm..." Izuku blushed. "I'm not talking about Uraraka."
"Oh." All Might seemed put out. "I owe Nemuri two hundred yen."
"WHAT?"
"Nothing! Anyway, I won't pry for details on who it is. Do what feels right, Young Midoriya! Follow your heart!" He gave a thumbs up.
Izuku turned to leave, but then looked back. "One last thing, All Might. Sir Nighteye is coming today. He's accompanying Eri."
"I...I know."
"You need to talk to him. He knows he needs to talk to you."
All Might's face had gone grave. "Of course."
…
Izuku went back down the hallway of UA. He thought he could hear noises outside. People getting ready for the festival? The day was going to officially begin soon, for better or for worse. Class A's concert would not be until the evening, so at least he had a while until then. But I guess I should help while I can, and then find Togata and Eri later. He sighed. It was disappointing that it didn't look like he'd even get a chance to ask Nejire if she wanted to come. I probably would have mucked it up anyway.
Suddenly, he became aware of much louder noises, coming from the hallway around the corner. Shouting and laughing and then, the sound of several people going "oooooooooh!" at once.
Confused, Izuku picked up the pace. What was going on in the school building so early when it was the weekend?
He peered around the corner, and his eyes widened.
It was a significant mass of older students, gathered in a circle around two boys. Izuku took them to be third years. One of them had two massive ethereal hands sprouting off his back, almost like Dark Shadow, and they were being controlled by the movements of his real hands. The other was a stocky, sturdy-looking boy with a turtle shell. And the two of them were fighting.
"I'm not gonna lose this time!" the turtle guy said, ducking under an attack from one of the other boy's ghost hands.
"You will. This is where our rivalry comes to an end, and I finally surpass you," the other boy said, in a calm, almost Todoroki-like tone.
The third and second years gathered around them were making bets, tossing things across the circle, and jeering. "This is their forty-sixth fight," a second year said. "At least that I've seen. It's always back and forth. Inohara wins one and Miyazawa wins the next. If Miyazawa wins this one, though…he'll have two in a row."
"I'm betting on Inohara!" someone else shouted.
Izuku was appalled, his eyes dancing around the scene in horror. This is what the older hero course students did, only a few hundred yards away from the teacher's offices? Wouldn't someone put a stop to this?
And then, she appeared.
"Oi! What's the deal!" Nejire shouted, her hands on her hips, her hair bouncing as she walked furiously toward the scene. "HEY! We have the festival today, remember! You guys can wait a day! CUT IT OUT!"
Izuku was in a daze upon seeing her. It was like she'd walked into his dreams.
Unfortunately, barely anyone was listening to her. Her voice was being drowned out.
Izuku slowly began edging his way around the circle, trying to reach her. He didn't really know why, other than that this was the direction he needed to go to get back to the dorm anyway.
A few of the girls on the outer edge of the circle had noticed Nejire. Izuku recognized them as some of her friends from that day at lunch. The ones that had laughed at him.
"Oh hey, Nejire-chan. We were just…"
"You were just gambling and breaking the rules! We DO have a thing to do today, you know!"
"Yeah, but…it's no use stopping Inohara and Miyazawa when they get going! You may as well just go with the flow!"
"Right, exactly!"
Nejire sighed, and then her eyes darted to the left. Izuku froze. She'd noticed him.
"Izuku!" she exclaimed, and he thought he detected relief, or joy, in her voice. Was that just wishful thinking? "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I had to ask All Might a question. I'm just trying to pass through and get back to the dorm so I can help with the festival…"
Nejire smiled sadly. "Sorry you had to see your senpais like this, Izuku." The other girls were looking on in curiosity. "Tell you what. If you'll spare just a minute or two for little old me, I'll pay you back somehow." She flipped him a coin through the air, which Izuku caught. "Go buy me a drink from the vending machine and come back. I need to break this fight up in the meantime."
Is she…using me? That was frustrating. Izuku didn't know what was coming over him. A mix of that frustration, confusion at the situation, and recklessness…he just sort of blurted it.
"Sure, but only if you'll have that drink with me afterward."
Time stopped. Outwardly, Izuku's face was stone, but inwardly he was panicking. WHY? WHY DID I SAY THAT?! THAT WASN'T THE PLAN! I WAS GOING TO JUST ASK HER TO COME WITH ME AND MIRIO AND ERI AND NOT IN SUCH A FLIRTY WAY LIKE THAT EITHER I…
Nejire's friends laughed, and gasped. "Did he really just…?"
Nejire's jaw had dropped, and slowly, inexorably…a blush spread across her face.
Then, she giggled. "Sure, Izuku, alright," she said. "Hurry back."
And then, with a wink, she turned around, her hair whipping, and went to break up the fight.
Stunned, Izuku began to walk toward the vending machine. His legs still seemed to work. That was good. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He wasn't sure if he was even still alive.
…
"You're not going any further," growled Hanta. "Not one step closer to my school."
"La Brava," the man said to the short woman, taking off his sunglasses and mask, revealing a white goatee and piercing blue eyes. "Start filming."
"Huh? Sero-kun? What's going on?" Ibara looked back and forth between the villain and Hanta, confused.
"He's a crazy guy from the Internet. He's going to break into our school and ruin everything!" Hanta lifted up his elbows.
"Ehhh! Well, we should go get a hero-"
"There are no hero agencies near UA. It's up to us," Hanta told her, not taking his eyes off the white-haired man.
"La Brava, whatever happens, don't stop the camera," the man told his partner, crossing his arms in front of himself. What is his Quirk? Hanta wondered.
"Of course, Gentle…but are you really going to fight here? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"DEAR LISTENERS!" Gentle declared loudly. "An extraordinary adventure is about to begin." He swept off his overcoat, revealing…a second, black overcoat. The air between them shimmered, almost like a barrier. Hanta narrowed his eyes. What did he just do?
"Don't be so dazzled that you look away. I am the gentleman thief who will save the world! Gentle Criminal!"
The woman La Brava lifted the camera up to his face. "In today's episode…I will invade UA!"
"We won't let you do that!" Ibara said sternly. "CRUCIFIXION!"
Her vines erupted out from her head, snaking their way toward Gentle. Hanta swung around her back and shot his tape low from behind her arm, aiming for La Brava.
The vines bounced against a strange, sticky barrier in the air. "Huh?" Ibara's jaw dropped.
"My Quirk is Elasticity," Gentle Criminal said with a smirk, as Hanta's tape stuck to the barrier. "I bestow elasticity onto anything I want just by touching it…even air."
"He can make barriers, like Tsuburaba," Ibara muttered. "Sero-kun!"
Hanta's tape was still attached to the barrier, and he shot out tape with his other elbow now. He had two anchors. He pretended to grit his teeth in frustration. Gentle smirked again. "We must be leaving you now, UA students!" he said with a wave, and turned to leave….
"Don't show me your back," Hanta muttered, and began retracting his tape back into his elbows at high speed.
Gentle whirled, and gasped. Hanta hurtled like an arrow toward the bouncy barrier, struck it hard, but used the adhesive on his tape to remain put, grappling against the barrier like a rock climber. He leapt upward over the top of it and shot his tape downward, intending to yank Gentle into the nearby wall.
The man created another barrier over his head, and Hanta's tape stuck to it. Hanta retracted again, pulling himself closer.
Meanwhile, Ibara's vines grew around the side of the barrier, and underground. They suddenly plunged up from below, constricting Gentle's legs, and La Brava's entire lower body. Both villains cried out in surprise.
Ibara clasped her hands together as if in prayer. "Beg forgiveness and we shall take you in quickly," she told them.
"I regret nothing!" Gentle declared, and touched his hands to the vines.
Ibara gasped. Suddenly, a strange bouncy effect was traveling back up her hair, loosening it, making it springy. Gentle and La Brave slipped free, and he released his touch just as his Quirk reached her roots, and she stumbled backward.
Hanta shot his tape at a nearby streetlamp and leapt upward, preparing to swing around and box them in. "I won't let you run towards the school!" he declared.
But Gentle was tracking his movements, and pressed his hand to the ground where Hanta landed. "GENTLY REBOUND!"
And suddenly, Hanta was flying into the air. Far, far into the air, far away from any anchor points he could use.
Ibara screamed. "SERO!"
"I am sorry, young students! Your bravery is admirable, but we must be going now!" Gentle and La Brava took off at a run up the street, toward UA.
Ibara tried to chase them with her vines, but her vines were not cooperating. They bounced uselessly, waving around like bridge cables in high wind. They would not go where she aimed them. His Quirk is still activated?! She was panicking. Or perhaps, it takes some time to wear off?!
Up above her, Hanta had reached his peak in the air, barely a speck. He's going to fall. He's going to fall and die and I DON'T WANT THAT!
"Too-da-loo, heroes-to-be!" Gentle said with a wave, and he and La Brava suddenly bounced up into the air, using his barriers to create stepping-stones into the sky that would lead them far over the buildings.
Ibara set her face determinedly. I am NOT useless without my Quirk. I will stop them. I will save Sero and stop them. This festival WILL happen today, for the grace of our student body!
Pulling her vines back to her, she began to run.
…
Outside the UA gate, the woman gave her report.
"As you can see, for the fifth weekend in a ROW there are protestors outside UA High, demanding that the school release its students. At the beginning there were many demanding the school to simply make a statement, but those demands have been met, and now it seems that we have merely the extremest of the extreme still out here, those that believe the school should be shut down entirely…"
Someone gasped, and pointed into the air. The reporter turned, and the cameraman tilted the frame up.
"OH! It appears that there is something happening in the sky…we see two, no, THREE people…is that a fight?!"
…
Hanta Sero began to plummet.
The wind buffeted at his black hair, casting it across his face. He was upside down in the sky, craning his neck to see the spot where he was going to die.
His head would hit first. He was falling too fast to do anything. His mind had gone blank.
But then…the blankness was filled by the things he'd grown to know in the past few weeks.
Ashido's words.
I want to see a smile on everyone's face again, because that's what our job is!
Jiro's words.
I'd like to do something I enjoy…even if the school ends up closing, and I can't be a hero…I'll make people happy with this.
Katayama's words.
That little girl we saved is coming. This may be the most formative day of her life. If anything gets in the way of her having the best time possible…
Hanta Sero turned in midair, and his eyes focused like furious lasers onto his targets up ahead, bouncing on their barriers up into the sky.
"GENTLE CRIMINAL!" he roared.
He saw the villain turn and look at him, just for a moment. Just a moment of hesitation, and that's all he needed.
Hanta shot his tape from both elbows, as far and as fast as it would go. It hurtled through the air, slightly put off course by the wind, but still on target.
To tell the truth, Hanta hadn't even stopped to think about what might happen if he'd missed. It just didn't occur to him as something that might happen, and it was perhaps because of this that he did not even come close to missing.
The tape struck the barrier Gentle and La Brava were standing on, and suddenly Hanta flipped, swinging in a massive low arc through the air toward them. The two villains jumped upward again, but at the low point of Hanta's arc, he began to retract his tape, and shot upward like he'd been forced out of a cannon. He reached the end of his tape right as he clipped past the barrier, and leapt up toward Gentle, grabbing him roughly from behind and tackling him downward.
"GAAAUUUH!" the man spat in pain. He tried to turn over in midair, and Hanta elbowed him across the face, hard enough to knock his head to one side.
"GENTLE!" he heard La Brava scream from above.
Hanta shot tape at a nearby steel beam that passed them as they plummeted, attached to the building next door that was under construction. Using that as an anchor, they began to slow and swing sideways, toward the wall the building. Gentle tried to kick off of him, but he used his other elbow to tape the man to him, and then began to try and wrap him up…
Gentle reached out with both hands, and elasticized the side of the building right as they smacked against it. Hanta bounced off with enough force to knock the wind out of him, his tape ripping apart.
He saw Gentle clambering up onto the beams as he fell away. The man had a sad expression. "I am sorry, young man," he said. "You did well…"
Hanta looked down, and saw that he was flying backwards. His feet skidded against the roof of the building next door. He felt a searing pain in his ankle. He quickly shot his tape out against the surface of the roof, slowing himself down, trying to stop, still skidding, the friction overpowering him…
He was caught by something soft. Plant matter. Vines.
Hanta slumped over, gasping, his body suddenly flooding with relief that it had found steady ground again. Ibara retracted her vines from his body, and looked down upon him with concern. "Are you alright?!" she asked frantically, her long eyelashes fluttering as she blinked.
Hanta gazed up at her. The morning sun was backlighting her face, giving her the appearance of some kind of angel descending down to save his life.
He smiled weakly. "It's not over yet."
…
Gentle quickly bounced up to the top of the construction site, using the beams as platforms, and rescued La Brava from her floating platform before it could dissolve.
She was still filming. "Gentle! I know who they are now! Well, I remember one of their names, at least…Ibara Shiozaki! She was in that crazy match at the UA Sports Festival! Her vines can detach from her hair as well."
"I used my Quirk on them, but it has likely worn off by now…" Gentle muttered, carrying La Brava back down to the construction site.
"I don't remember the boy's name, but he was taken out by the ice-and-fire guy in the first round! He seems…"
"More tenacious now," Gentle finished, setting her down on the stable, yet incomplete, flooring of the building's second floor. "We shall have to…"
She gasped. "WATCH OUT!"
The tape came hurtling in, striking against a beam, and the boy was shooting towards them again, fury on his face.
"SPLIT!" Gentle ordered La Brava.
The two of them separated, letting the boy pass between them, and Gentle spun gracefully, his coat whipping in the breeze. He graced his fingers against the beam the boy had attached his tape to as he swung around, and the beam suddenly waved and wiggled, throwing the hero-to-be off-course.
He detached the tape, and stood there, face-to-face with them.
"The school is behind me," he said, his eyebrows arched down, his chest heaving with breath and exhaustion. "I will stand in your way as long as I have to."
"What might your name be, boy?" Gentle asked.
"I'm the tape hero, Cellophane, and I have my provisional license. You two are wanted, aren't you? This will be your last free day as villains."
"I think not!" Gentle laughed, fully aware of how La Brava was turning the camera back and forth between them. "My plan is going to succeed. I have a gentleman's resolve, you see. A gentleman keeps his composure at all times, and that's how I make it through every situation, no matter how tough!"
"Your plan, huh?" Cellophane ground his teeth. "And what might that be? You gonna try and kill some of us? Capture us, maybe? That crowd outside the gate would sure love to see that!"
"Oh, don't I know it!" Gentle cackled. "To tell the truth, boy, I feel sorry for you. You and your classmates are merely collateral damage in my scheme. I hold nothing against UA, but it teeters on the edge of a cliff, and if I am the one to push it off, I will be remembered for years to come!"
"You're no gentleman at all," growled Cellophane. "You're a small-time crook who's out for glory. If all you plan to do is just sneak in and get some clickbaity footage, then you should just turn around and go home!"
"Not an option, boy. Now, step aside. I wouldn't want things to get any messier than they already have."
"Oh, they will." Cellophane smiled. "Because I've been distracting you this whole time."
Gentle and La Brava both turned around instinctively, expecting the girl Shiozaki to be behind them…but no, her vines were growing up from below, creeping up the vertical beams of the building. They grabbed La Brava's ankles and yanked her, causing her to yelp and drop the camera. Gentle hissed and dove for his partner, letting the camera fall and crash against the floor, breaking. He grabbed La Brava by her arms and tried to pull her back, as the vines pulled her in the other direction, toward an opening in the floor that would lead to ground level.
"GENTLE!" she cried out. "But, the camera!"
"It's alright, La Brava…" he choked out, forcing himself forward, trying to get a single fingertip on the vines to activate his Quirk. "I will…get you free…"
Suddenly, he felt two lengths of tape attach to his back, and pull him away.
The two villains sprang apart, being pulled in opposite directions. Gentle turned in midair, hoping to make a fight of it with the boy.
Cellophane released his tape and sidestepped, as if to let Gentle fly past him, and then reached out with a lanky arm, clotheslining Gentle in the stomach and slamming him into the ground. The man spat out a pained breath and rolled, avoiding the end of the boy's elbow as it plummeted toward his face. Kid fights with his long arms, huh? Man, I am getting old. As he rolled, he reached out behind himself and elasticized the floor, causing Cellophane to bounce up again.
In that split second, Gentle took his chance.
…
Hanta righted himself in midair, determined to not get bounced up into the sky for a second time, and pulled himself into a beam with his tape. When he looked back to where Gentle had been…the villain was gone.
"Huh?" he gasped, looking around frantically. Suddenly, someone kicked him in the back, hard.
"ARGH!" he yelled, falling back off the beam and onto the floor of the building again. He looked up. The beam he was just standing on was bouncing, and so was the one next to it, and the one after that, and above him, and behind him, and to his left.
Gentle Criminal was bouncing all over the place, using his Quirk on the beams. Hanta spun in a circle, trying to figure out where to aim his tape. I can't predict his movements…
He made a wild guess and shot into the air. Gentle passed the spot, but created another air-barrier, and Hanta's tape struck against that instead. Gentle leapt up onto a higher beam, bounced against it, and began removing the bolts from it.
Hanta gasped, and pulled himself up to the air-barrier he'd attached to.
"We are directly above the opening in the floor where your partner has now entrapped mine," Gentle said with a smile. "As soon as I bounce off of this beam, it will begin to slide downward. Elasticity does not make things any lighter. The beam will fall. It will fall onto your friend."
"ARE YOU INSANE?" Hanta roared, trying to get there in time, trying to reach the villain. In his recklessness, he tripped over the air-barrier, and nearly fell again, shooting out tape with his other elbow to steady himself. "YOUR PARTNER IS DOWN THERE TOO!"
"Ah, but you are a hero student, and I have respect for your ideals," said Gentle. "I know…that you will not ignore this."
He bounced off the beam. Hanta watched, in horror, as it began to slide downward, the friction of the two beams bracing it slowing it a bit, but gravity causing it to speed up…and it fell through the opening. Plummeting toward Ibara. Toward her head.
Hanta forgot Gentle, and began to drop.
I can't stop it, he despaired, as time seemed to slow down. I don't have the strength like Midoriya, or the magic like Katayama…all I have is this gross shit in my elbows. If I try to stop it, I might kill myself.
But living without Ibara…living without her…and being responsible for it…
I may as well be dead anyway.
He closed his eyes, feeling deathly calm. He shot his tape downward, knowing that the angle was all wrong, knowing that he would not accomplish much. But he would try anyway.
The tape attached to the beam. Hanta swung, wrapping it as best as he could. Its shadow passed over Ibara's face. She, and La Brava who was wrapped in vines, both looked up in horror.
Hanta pulled, with all his might. Pulled it to the side. It was so heavy. So, so heavy. The space between it and the top of Ibara's head closed. Ten meters. Five.
"Gggh...AAAAAAAH!" he roared, and yanked as hard as he could. His vision caved in, and as he managed to pull the beam's trajectory just a few inches to the left, clear of Shiozaki…he passed out.
…
The girl who'd captured her let out a wail that shook La Brava to the core. She'd never heard anything like it, except…
That's what I would sound like if something happened to Gentle.
All at once, the vines that had constricted her loosened, as the girl Shiozaki ran over to her partner, who was slumped against a vertical beam on the ground floor of the building. It was like La Brava had been forgotten entirely. Not like I am much of a threat on my own. But…still, Gentle. That was incredibly violent. He must be awfully desperate.
The vines completely released her, and La Brava landed quietly on the floor. Shiozaki had her back turned, and she was sobbing over the boy's unconscious body.
"Sero-kun…" La Brava heard her mutter. "Please…please wake up…"
La Brava looked back. The walls of this part of the building had not been filled in, and there was an open space leading to the street. That street led right back up toward the UA front gate. Beyond that was the section of woods that covered UA's steep northern flank, where she and Gentle planned to sneak in. A straight shot, an easy escape. Shiozaki was distracted.
Gentle landed softly next to her, slightly elasticizing the ground where he landed.
"Lost the camera," he muttered. "Good thing you have a backup. Come, La Brava. We must be going." He turned toward the open space that led to the street.
Unfortunately, Shiozaki had heard him. Her head slowly turned to look at them. La Brava froze in horror.
Covering the girl's face was pure, smothering hatred.
"You desire to go to UA so badly?" she asked them. "Fine then. I'll send you."
She rose up like some terrifying ragdoll, drenched in shadow. Her hair flared up behind her, her vines writhing in the air like a thousand snakes. And then, they all straightened like taut cords, and pointed directly at the villains.
"La Brava," Gentle gasped. "Mo-"
Too late. The vines came together like some horrific pointed drill, and drove into the two of them, blasting them backward out of the half-constructed building, blasting them up the street.
…
The reporters and protestors had all forgotten their previous engagements, and were now looking around, trying to follow the fight.
"It appears that the combatants MAY have moved to the construction site. It is unclear whether these are all villains, perhaps trying to bait out the UA staff, or maybe heroes that were on guard fighting these villains, but…"
A loud BANG caused everyone to jump. The protestors buzzed with fear.
"What the hell was that?"
"Where are they?"
No one was eager to move too far away from the UA gate, since they didn't know exactly where anything was happening.
Suddenly, the cameras refocused on something hurtling toward the crowd at high speed. Two people, being pushed by what looked like dozens of vines.
A reporter gasped. "SPREAD!"
The combatants zoomed through the crowd smoothly, and were on a path to hitting hard against the UA gate. The crowd watched as one of them,a white-haired man with fancy clothing, righted himself in midair and pushed off the gate with his feet. The gate suddenly buckled, making an absurd rubbery sound, and the two people bounced off of it, almost harmlessly. The vines scattered away, landing unceremoniously in little clumps on the ground.
The other person was a short little woman with pink pigtails, holding a camera. The two of them landed in the middle of the crowd with sheepish expressions.
The man folded his fingers under his chin in a thinking pose. "Well, La Brava, this is quite the predicament. I did not quite mean to become the center of attention so quickly, but now that we have these cameras…"
"I know you!" shouted a protestor. "You're that villain guy from online! I press dislike on all your videos!"
"Someone catch him!" someone else shouted.
Stunned, the reporters turned back to their cameras.
"It seems that-"
"We've had a development-"
"-There's a villain here! A famous villain from online!"
"GENTLE CRIMINAL!" the man said, declaring himself. "I believe strongly in the ideals of the media, dedicated to spreading information to our citizens. And in the ideals of protest, standing up for a cause you believe in, no matter how unpopular! I, too, have a desire to see this place fall! That is why am I here!" He twirled, his coat twirling with him.
"Gentle, wai-" La Brava was cut off.
The crowd gasped, and turned around.
A girl was floating toward them. Her vines grew from her hair down into the ground, dozens of them, lifting up and then planting themselves back down like the feet of some absurd insect. Every time they drove down into the street, they cracked the concrete with their strength. And the girl dangled at the center of it all, supporting herself with her own hair, keeping her afloat.
"It's the girl from the Sports Festival! Shiozaki!"
"A UA student! They're fighting students!"
"What are students doing out here?"
The crowd buzzed and the reporters chattered into their cameras. The girl made her way into the clearing in front of the gate, and pulled her vines back to her, landing on the ground, light on her feet.
Her eyes smoldered. "Everyone needs to clear out. I am the heroine Vine, and I have my provisional license. I shall be taking these two into custody."
"The UA student has declared her intent to fight!" a reporter shouted into their camera.
"MOVE!" someone in the crowd shouted. "BACK UP!"
The crowd began to spread, forming a wide circle around Vine, Gentle, and La Brava…
And all the while, the cameras were live, showing the fight to the world, showing a UA student defending her school at its very gate.
…
Ibara watched Gentle carefully, waiting for him to make a move. With all manner of bystanders around, and the entrance to UA to her left…this was a crucial moment.
Soon, someone from the staff will come along. I must believe that. The staff will take care of it, and I will go back for Sero.
But I can't stop holding them off. If the staff aren't here yet, that means I am still the only thing standing in their way. If they snuck into UA now, it would be…all over.
"You've held out on me, girl," Gentle muttered, sizing her up carefully. La Brava stood slightly behind him, peering around. The woman had made no attempt to escape Ibara's initial capture, making Ibara wonder what her Quirk even was.
"I assumed the boy was the more forward of the two of you. But it is clear to me now that you are quite a threat. You could have killed us, you know. Not very heroic."
"And yet here you stand, alive." Ibara straightened up. "I have neither the time nor the desire to dwell on what-ifs. All happens as God means it to. And I am meant to defeat you here, on these grounds. Cast yourself to your knees and beg forgiveness, and no one needs to be hurt anymore."
She wanted to give this man one last chance to come quietly. He was not the same as those at the League of Villains; she could sense that much. And with all of these people around, a victory without fighting would be the most safe option.
"I do not give up so easily," said Gentle. "As I said before…I have a gentleman's resolve!"
He dashed for the gate, creating an air-barrier that would let him bounce over the top of it.
Ibara flared her hair out. "VIA DOLOROSA!"
Her vines covered the ground, going under and over and planting and twisting themselves everywhere. She hadn't wanted to use this move right away, but it was the only way to keep the fight from moving too much. And the crowd would not be safe if that happened.
The plants reached Gentle and La Brava and creeped up them once again, constricting their legs and lower bodies, crawling up and up and up. La Brava screeched, nearly dropping her camera, and Gentle reached down once again to elasticize her hair.
Right as he did that, Ibara detached it.
"Huh?" Gentle's eyebrows shot up, as the vines he touched separated themselves, cutting off the "link" of his Quirk before it could spread to the rest of her hair. I must be tactical and quick-thinking, like Sero would!
Ibara brought the detached vines around and plunged them into the ground. Gentle whirled, trying to find them, and she brought them up behind him, slapping him in the back of the head with their thorned surface. He cried out, staggering.
Ibara had no time to waste. She dashed forward.
I've been working on my athleticism, my close combat. This is my chance!
Gentle quickly used his Quirk on the rest of the vines that constricted him, loosening them and freeing himself, right as Ibara arrived. He swung a panicked fist toward her, which she ducked under, and kneed him in the stomach. The crowd gasped.
Gentle stumbled back, and then slammed his palms into the air between them, creating a thick barrier that bounced them both away from each other. Ibara shook her head, dazed, as Gentle created another barrier behind himself to jump off…and over her.
"Go to sleep now, vine girl!" he declared, now preparing to slam an air-membrane into her back.
Ibara clasped her hands, closed her eyes, and turned away from him. "Faith Shield," she whispered.
A huge wall of vines grew up and detached, blocking Gentle's attack, shading Ibara in safety. Gentle pulled his hand back, bloody and torn from the thorns on the vines, and then kicked off of them with his boots, making them elastic. It did not do him much good; they were already detached.
As Ibara turned back around, Gentle was freeing La Brava again. "Gentle, we really should retreat!" La Brava was saying.
"No! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!" he said…and created a barrier that bounced him toward the crowd.
Ibara gasped. "NO!" she roared, and quickly sent all her detached vines that way. Gentle had used his Quirk on a lot of them, and their aim was poor, but it would be enough. They dived underground and then grew back up behind the wall of the crowd.
Right as Gentle reached to grab a protester, she pulled the civilian away with her vines, holding him safely, keeping him out of reach. Gentle tried another, and she did the same. He went for a reporter, while the woman was mid-sentence talking into the camera. Ibara grabbed her too.
Gentle let out a frustrated growl and bounced back, leapfrogging into the sky with his barriers once, twice. Getting some height on her. Ibara rushed forward, trying to close the distance to the other side of the crowd. "Get away from here!" she told the people. "I will keep you all from harm as much as I can, but your safety is more guaranteed further away!"
She tried to catch up to Gentle, but La Brava grabbed her leg, pulling her back and tripping her. Ibara rolled, kicking the short woman in the knee, causing her to cry out. A shadow descended from above her, and Ibara quickly slid back, barely avoiding being crushed by Gentle by inches.
The crowd was not backing away. They, like many civilians in hero society, were perfectly comfortable as spectators, as if this wasn't potentially a life or death situation for them.
"Look how well she's fighting!"
"I thought the UA students would be super depressed right now, but…she's not giving up!"
"Here we have this first year, provisional heroine Vine, defending her school from a villain, and no sign of adult pros anywhere! We will try to provide live updates as long as we can, but-"
Ibara stared Gentle in the face. He was bruised from Sero's elbow strike, and cut in many places from her thorns. Blood was dripping from him a bit, and his hair was disheveled, but he still had a rugged elegance to him all the same.
"Your tenacity is more than admirable," he gasped at her. "But I…I cannot be undone by you…"
"Gentle…" La Brava muttered.
"Surely this fight has gathered you the attention you desire," said Ibara. "If that is truly all you seek, then surrender now. I do not wish to cause you further physical pain."
Gentle chuckled, and closed his eyes. "You keep giving me chance after chance. The spirit of a heroine indeed. In another life, perhaps, we could have gotten along rather well. Such a shame."
With lightning speed, he began creating his stepping stones into the sky again, going over her head. Ibara winced, readying Faith Shield…but the attack never came.
"Huh?" she opened her eyes, looking back, pulling her vines to her instinctively, defensively.
Gentle and La Brava were bouncing onward, away from her. They were heading for the woods on the side of the UA hill.
They were continuing with their objective.
Ibara gasped. "NO!" she wailed, and her voice cracked. The crowd buzzed with worry and alarm. She prepared her vines to try and launch herself after them, something, anything to slow them down, anything to keep them off campus grounds…
Two lengths of tape shot through the air, planting themselves on the backs of the two villains, one on each.
A bloodied, filthy Hanta Sero soared past, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a raging grimace. Ibara gasped. The crowd let out an "OOOOOOOOOOOH!"
Sero met Gentle Criminal and La Brava in mid-air, and kicked them both in the back, sending them hurtling toward the forest floor. Frightened, Ibara ran to catch up. The three fighters disappeared beneath the treeline.
She ran and ran, leaving the crowd behind.
…
Gentle used his Quirk again to cover their landing. They bounced against the ground, kicking up dead leaves. He was tired, oh so tired.
"The boy will be upon us in seconds," he told La Brava, coughing. "We must hurry if we want to get a shred of footage inside the campus grounds…"
La Brava had multiple bruises. Tears swam in the bottom of her eyes. "Gentle, you're far too tired. We can't."
"We can." He grasped her hands in his. "You know how. I have never felt more exhausted, La Brava, but I have one energy source left. Yours."
"But, they're coming now, and the cameras…"
"It no longer matters. This is about pride. We cannot fall here, after trying so hard. The fact that we lasted this long without your Quirk may give us the advantage. The two children do not have a last-minute bit of energy to rely on like us. They may be exhausted."
La Brava paused for a moment, and then nodded.
Hanta Sero and Ibara Shiozaki closed in on the two villains, holding hands together under the trees.
"Stop now!" Hanta snarled, blood dripping from his face.
"Cease! You have reached the end of the line!" Ibara echoed.
They closed the distance, close enough to hear what La Brava said.
"Gentle," she breathed. "I love you."
A bright pink light burst out, and the two heroes shielded their eyes, blinded.
…
Next time: Love.