"You've gotten weaker? Liar…we're totally overpowered…how dare you lay a hand on my Nomu?! YOU CHEATED! YOU'RE NO WEAKER, DID HE…DID HE LIE TO ME?"
He's speaking about some sort of boss. Someone gave him info on All Might, bad info. So there's someone behind this.
Shigaraki was wildly scratching at his neck, as if hoping to end some invisible rash, and speaking with increasingly manic tones. Against this, All Might still smiled and stood, undaunted.
"What's the matter? Where'd your bravado go? What happened to clearing the game?" he asked Shigaraki. "Try it if you can."
Against All Might's glare, Shigaraki took a step back.
"That's All Might for you," I said to Bakugou, who was staring transfixed. "Looks like we're not even players anymore."
"Midoriya!" said Kirishima, "we really oughta be drawing back now, otherwise we might end up getting used as hostages."
Midoriya was staring at All Might with a look of unrestrained worry. As if he thought All Might, the symbol of peace, the strong wall protecting all of us, was in danger. As if to contradict Midoriya's face, All Might said to Shigaraki, "Well? What are you waiting for?"
Shigaraki was still manically scratching himself. "If only Nomu were here. if it were him, we'd be able to face him without one iota of pressure…"
"Tomura Shigaraki," said the mist villain, "Calm yourself. If you look closely, you can clearly see the damage the Nomu succeeded in dealing him."
I followed their gaze and saw it was true; where the Nomu and been holding him, his side was still bleeding…
The mist continued "It would appear the children are frozen in fear. It's true that reinforcements will appear soon. But I suggest, Shigaraki, that if you and I combine our efforts, there might still be ample chance to kill him."
"Yeah," said Shigaraki, ceasing his scratching. "you're right. Completely right. After all this trouble, how could we fail to defeat the final boss?"
They were talking big, but All Might was still standing tall, and the mist guy had indicated us. It was clearly time to go. Myself, Bakugou and Kirishima turned around to head back towards the front doors.
"Let All Might handle the big guys," said Kirishima. "We gotta go see about the others."
I noticed, then, that only three of us had moved.
"Midoriya?" I asked, turning back to look at him. He was still standing there, watching the interaction between All Might and the mist villain…
"Above any other consideration, we must avenge Nomu"! screamed Shigaraki, running straight at All Might with one hand extended, prepared to seize him -
It happened in a flash, a movement so quick none of us could follow it. Midoriya seemed to disappear and reappear, legs flailing behind him utterly broken, in between Shigaraki and All Might, flying through the air towards the Mist Villain with a fist extended to punch at his armor.
"Midoriya!" cried out Kirishima, as we all watched, horrified, Midoriya moved closer and closer to the villains.
"LET GO OF ALL MIGHT!" He screamed - and as he reached the villain, Shigaraki's hand slipped through the mist, lethal fingers extended to grab at Midoriya's face, laughing manically, prepared to dissolve him into nothing…
BANG
A bullet blasted straight through Shigaraki's hand, hitting precisely in time to stop him from killing Midoriya.
"So they've finally arrived," said All Might, and following his gaze, we looked to the doorway.
"We're regrettably late," called the Principal's voice. "I came back with all the people I could scrape together."
The UA staff were lined up in the entryway, and leading them in was the Class President, Tenya Iida. Later on, we learned that 13 had ordered him to escape the USJ and fetch the Pro-hero staff to help save us. 12 in all, each and every one of them a seasoned veteran. In mere minutes, they were dispatching every minor villain and saving the lingering students.
"Ah, they came…it's game over," we heard Shigaraki ranting. "Back to the drawing board, eh Kurogiri?" he said to the mist villain, retreating into the mist as if to escape. But then, the force of 13's black hole began to draw them both inside. Still, even with that quick action, I had a feeling it was too late.
"For the time being, we've failed," we heard Shigaraki's voice through the mist and noise. "But we'll get you next time, Symbol of Peace!" And on that grace note, he and the mist villain disappeared.
Midoriya was lying on the ground next to All Might, legs clearly broken and head bowed. Bakugou, Kirishima and I could all see that much, and noticed that Bakugou looked perhaps the most concerned. For all his bravado, he wasn't heartless…
But Midoriya. What had he hoped to accomplish by jumping out like that, I wondered? Did he think he was going to be useful to the symbol of peace?
From our vantage point, we couldn't hear what they were saying. But from what little we could discern, it seemed like Midoriya and All Might were having a rather private conversation.
I turned away. Now wasn't the time to contemplate the mystery of Midoriya. Looking to the door, I thought about the Pros' swift arrival. "If they all just came here, then that must mean the villains didn't attack the entire campus," I murmured. That was a relief.
"Midoriya! You all right?" called Kirishima, running over to where head nd All Might were.
Before he could make it to them - before the dust had even cleared away from All Might's last fight - a giant cement wall burst up into being in between Kirishima and Midoriya.
"We want to check all the students for injuries," said the low, gruff voice of a familiar pro. "So we'll have everyone gather in front of the gate. Leave the injured to your teachers." The square-faced pro with the power to create and manipulate cement, Cementoss, had arrived.
"Yes, of course! Roger!" said Kirishima, rejoining me and Bakugou. With that, we left the plaza, and before long, the USJ.
"16, 17, 18…not counting the kid with the crippled legs, everyone's pretty much unharmed," said the leading Officer on the case. Class 1-A was gathered outside the USJ in police custody.
Nearby me, Hagakure, the invisible girl, was speaking with Ojiro, the tail boy.
"Ojiro, you were really fired up out there, and you were so strong, even on your own!" she was gushing.
"I thought everybody had been left alone," he replied. "I only pulled through using hit and run tactics. Where were you the whole time, hagakure?"
"The landslide zone! I was blown away by how strong Todoroki really is!"
"Well, whatever. I'm just happy you're ok."
Good thing I didn't accidentally end up freezing her.
"For the time being," continued the Officer, "you all need to head back to the classroom. We can't just go straight into police questioning, naturally."
"Sir," said Asui, "how is Mr. Aizawa?"
"His arms are riddled with commented fractures and he's suffering from facial fractures. Thankfully, out of sheer luck, he didn't receive any brain damage. It's just…well, the bones around his eye sockets, his orbital floor, have bene crushed. There's a chance it might adversely affect his eyesight. Or so I've been told."
"What about 13?" asked Ashido.
"I fear their upper arms have sustained serious lacerations. That being said, their vitals appear to be stable. The same goes for All Might…he's not in critical condition either. He's being brought to the infirmary to be given adequate treatment by recovery girl."
"And Deku?" asked Uraraka.
"How's Midoriya?" said Iida.
I turned to listen to this.
"Midoriya- oh, he seems he's fit for the infirmary too. I have business to attend to there as well."
The Police Officer turned to his second in command. "Sansa, you see to the rest!"
The Principal said "We have to focus on fortifying our security across the board."
The next day, school was temporarily closed, but it didn't take long for things to get back to normal. My old man wanted to know the details of what had happened, and big sis Fuyumi fussed and fretted over the danger I'd been in, but for the most part I avoided any newfound drama by simply not speaking with them. The whole thing had left me with a distinctive sense of foreboding. Like Shigaraki's declaration was something to be strictly attended to.
