Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 148:
In a government building in Tokyo, six people gathered in an isolated room from the rest of the building. The door was locked, leaving the two heroes in the room and four hero officials from any unwanted interruptions. The four officials sat in a line in front of the young man standing before them. The twenty year old hero with blond hair was the fourth ranked hero in the nation, yet he was still only the second highest ranked of the two heroes in there. Standing behind him and leaning back on the wall was a one-armed man with red wings pulled in close to his back.
Hawks was watching the younger hero before him with his lips curved down and a tired and uncertain expression on his face. I should have just kept my mouth shut. The kid's looking for trouble, Hawks grimaced more as the boy before him continued strongly in his conversation with the hero officials.
"The story I have heard from Deku does not match up with our information. And I am not talking about the information we have gathered in the Anti-Death Task Force, as we all know that is inconclusive towards Sazaki. I know this, but that is not to say we had no information about Sazaki over the period he claims to have been 'off world.'"
"As impossible as that sounds," Amazie Yuiko began. The younger of the two women on the council of officials shook her head and said, "There is no way to disprove the story he told his friends. Nor would it matter if we could, as lying to one's friends is not an offense worthy of incarceration."
"It is, if he's lying because he's talking to heroes," Lemillion countered. "He is clearly hiding what he did over the time he was gone, because what he was doing was illegal. As Death," Lemillion's expression got darker and he continued strongly to the officials before him, "he killed many people, and now he roams our streets a free man."
"A boy-"
"He's eighteen years old," Lemillion interrupted the youngest official still twice his age on the left end of the table. Lemillion's look was steady and calm, and the man who started speaking up closed his mouth and pulled back at Lemillion's strong look. "I am in the ADTF. More importantly, I am a hero of Japan. If Zach Sazaki is Death, we need to know. I have talked to Hawks about his own investigation into Lifebringer's disappearance," the hero officials looked back at the winged hero near the wall who scratched a finger on the bottom of his left cheek. "He had credible information on multiple occasions between the time when Lifebringer claimed to leave this world and when he returned, that Lifebringer was in fact here-"
"Why was this information never reported?" Hinata Juuzo said, her voice stern as she looked towards the other young hero just a little older than Lemillion.
Hawks frowned towards Mirio Togata for another second before pushing off the wall and looking to the older woman in a semi-respectful way while standing up straighter. "None of those leads ever led anywhere. They might have been credible sources," Hawks admitted, looking back at the younger blond who turned his way and frowned back undeterred. "But in the end they're nothing more than rumors if they don't pay off. I heard a bounty on Sazaki was turned in," Hawks said, shrugging a shoulder. "Thought he had died a long time ago. Obviously that was wrong."
"My interns are both very certain that Lifebringer is Death," Lemillion stated. The officials looked to the younger hero in surprise at what he just said, and Hawks looked at him too with risen eyebrows though he had heard Deku tell him that before. Lemillion's expression was harder than the others' looks in the room though. "Explosion King hasn't said it himself, but when I questioned them about it I could see they both knew without a doubt what Sazaki had been up to. We know for sure that people are hunting him."
"Whether or not he's Death," Hawks started, and he grinned when Lemillion frowned back at him. "They'd hunt him anyway because of the possibility that he was. It's not criminal to get shot at."
"I'll find proof of it," Lemillion said. He looked back at the officials in front of him, and a few of them were nodding at the younger man who looked his eyes back and forth at them all in a serious way.
Amazie frowned after nodding once at the young hero almost at the top of the rankings. "If he is Death, I hope you do find this proof. If you're caught watching Lifebringer though…"
"You'll be on the lookout for villains trying to assassinate him," Kumono Ozo began. The dark-skinned official with large black horns sticking out of his bald brown skull shook his head at the younger man. "He denied his protection detail, so the story will be that you are to prevent any collateral damage if another attack does come. Yet this is just an excuse, to be used if you are caught while you are following Lifebringer around outside of your usual hero duties."
"Your true purpose," Juuzo began. She stared at the young man right in front of her and leaned forward over her table, "Is discovering Sazaki's reason for returning to Japan. Find out what he was really doing for 13 months, and figure out if he's Death or even just one in his army. Gather proof on this and return with it."
"I will," Lemillion said, his voice confident and making the officials feel he had a good sense of what he was doing.
The oldest of the four officials, a man sitting in the middle next to Juuzo shook his head with a dark look in his green eyes. Morro Noire growled in a raspy voice, "Endeavor did not try hard enough in his investigation of Sazaki, to have removed him from suspicion of being Death so quickly. I know you are in the ADTF as well, Lemillion. However for this mission you will not be reporting to Endeavor about your tasks, as they are not officially linked with Death, and will only come to be about him should you find that proof. If you find it, you would first take it to us and we would inform Endeavor of what we find."
Lemillion nodded his head in agreement with those terms. Endeavor thinks he knows Death better than the rest of us. He's wrong about this though, and I won't allow Death to trick this entire country into thinking he's a hero.
"This is the equivalent of spying on a private citizen of Japan," Amazie began. She looked into the younger man's eyes and continued softly, "Should you find it that he is not breaking any laws, then this is against the morals of a hero."
"That is not a problem for me," Lemillion stated. The woman saying this to him stared in surprise at the young man at his response. Lemillion continued though, "As I strongly disagree with the full pardon bestowed on him. I believe Lifebringer should be returned to jail to serve out a much longer sentence for what we know he has done, alone. When I find the proof I need to send him back, I will reveal it, and the people of Japan will no longer look up to a murderer." Lemillion's expression was stern and unwavering, and Hawks sighed behind him and looked away towards the windows on one side of the room.
"We wish you luck, Lemillion."
"I hope you are wrong about him, but if you are right then we need to know."
"We will provide you with any resources you require for this operation. You must make sure though not to allow any equipment to fall into his hands that he could use as evidence against you for spying on him."
Lemillion nodded at Morro after the man said that, then he spoke up again, "I believe I already have a plan to have him confess."
"Really?" Kumono questioned in surprise.
"The country knows the students of Class A well. They trust those students as much as they trust Lifebringer. They are right to trust them however, unlike with Lifebringer. Each of those students is a young hero in the making-"
"You want them to turn on their old classmate?" Hawks questioned skeptically, stepping up towards Lemillion's side.
"Just one," Lemillion countered. "I don't need all of them," Lemillion looked at Hawks and straight into his eyes under his goggles. "Do you really think there isn't one among them who would help us?"
Help you, Hawks thought, though he did not respond against what Lemillion just said.
"Who do you have in mind?" Morro questioned, though he glanced to his side after asking as the woman on his left was staying very silent for the last minute.
"I do not believe Explosion King or Deku would be for it, but my investigation so far makes me think that Todoroki Shoto would be a perfect candidate. He has yet to meet with Sazaki from what I know, but he was at the licensing exam keeping a close eye on his former classmate." Lemillion paused and his gaze shifted to Hinata Juuzo whose expression was dark while he was talking. He looked into her eyes and finished, "I believe recruiting him for this mission would provide fast results."
"Be careful," Juuzo said. Her voice was sharp, and full of warning. The other officials looked in at the woman, and both Lemillion and Hawks looked behind the table at the older woman who had been a hero official for a very long time. Hinata Juuzo felt a hand shoving through her back and out her chest. She could see her own blood splattered out in front of her, and felt the life fade from her.
"…by the time they realized it, the villains would have already set up inside Japan. And, and the people will have already started trusting Goro… In that time of complete panic, Goro would have come to the forefront and told everyone that things were going to be alright. He'd do it for popularity, to make everyone believe in him and to get behind any policy changes that he tried to put in place. They'd believe in him so strongly as he's out there in the middle of it despite his own wounds, yelling at them that they could rise again! And after everyone believed so strongly in him, after they trusted him! If they had to learn that he was the cause of their despair the entire time… If families who had lost loved ones started believing in this man and following him and caring so much about him, only to learn that he was a monster, betraying them from the start."
The deep, modulated voice of Death echoed in Juuzo's ears. She could not say a word aloud to the others around her, as she was sworn to secrecy along with the others who had been there that day. "It would crush them. They'd never recover from it. Goro would be sent to prison, the people would be disillusioned, and the villains infesting Japan would get even stronger." She would not let what had happened the day of the Sports Festival prevent her from doing her duty, but she felt her heart race as she heard Death's pained voice before he even cut off the modulator. Juuzo looked darkly down at Lemillion and spoke in a low voice, "To use his friends to spy on him, is a very dangerous thing. If he really is Death-"
"I am not afraid," Lemillion started.
"You should be," Juuzo countered. Then she shook her head and continued before he could counter with a brave speech, "But that's not the real issue. If he is Death, it might be seen as a justifiable means afterwards how you discovered his secret. But," she paused and grit her teeth for a moment thinking about the tone of the boy shouting that day through a dark helmet. Then she thought about the face of the boy she had seen before the Lifebringer Incident on the news multiple times. "Zach Sazaki has been betrayed before. Death, has been betrayed before."
Lemillion's expression shifted, confusion covering it as it sounded to him like the woman before him was speaking from experience. "You would not only put that student in jeopardy, but you risk creating something if you're wrong. That boy, and yes- he is eighteen years old, but I am very old. To me, he is still just a boy, as you are." Juuzo frowned at the young, inexperienced man and continued, "Lifebringer's closest friend turned on him before. When that happened, you think he went and turned into Death." She paused, while the others on her sides felt chills at what they knew she was getting at already. Lemillion's plans faltered in his own mind, while Hawks cracked a smirk at the older woman's reasoning here, even if it did unnerve him. "Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but if he isn't and you do this," Juuzo paused and her expression got extremely dark. "It won't matter what your intentions were."
"Lifebringer's already lying to his friends," Kumono began, realizing something himself. He nodded towards Juuzo and then looked darkly back at Lemillion, "If the first person who manages to get him to talk, turns out to be betraying him, again… It's not only immoral, but we could very well create a monster due to our own paranoia. You must be careful not to go too far."
"Hurting Lifebringer is not just bad for him, but for you as well," Morro agreed. The older man with white hair receding back over his skull added in a more logical tone, "For your reputation, Lemillion, among a population who love Lifebringer more every day that the Lifebringer Incident gets farther behind us. And also, for our country. Lifebringer could become one of our strongest heroes, or the most terrifying villain we have seen in a long time."
"As you will be putting yourself directly in danger of facing Lifebringer, you should know this," Juuzo began. "Lifebringer is, a very dangerous person. No matter if he is Death or not, know this, Lemillion. You know of the villain known as Faith, the former leader of the Cult of Stain?"
Hawks stared towards Juuzo with his expression flattening and his eyes getting deathly serious. What is this about? Why haven't I heard about it, when Faith was my target?
"While Sazaki was in prison," Juuzo continued, the officials on her sides getting similarly dark expressions to their faces at the information they already knew. "Faith attempted an escape. What his plans were, are still unknown to us. We do know they somehow involved Lifebringer though. Faith killed several of the guards, and came face to face with Sazaki himself."
"Why don't we know about this?" Lemillion asked harshly. "How was this kept secret?"
"Because no one escaped, and no one was hurt," Morro replied, his eyes narrowed at the young hero who sounded too accusatory there. Lemillion looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened in surprise as he understood what that meant. "Lifebringer re-apprehended Faith, and he revived the prison guards who Faith had killed… all from inside his prison cell." The two heroes staring at Morro opened their eyes wider, Hawks' growing bigger than Lemillion's and his heart rate speeding up.
"That's," Hawks started, shaking his head slowly and then examining the officials' faces only to grimace harder as none of them were joking. "That's not very encouraging-"
"That is not all," Juuzo continued, her tone getting ever darker. "Faith now sits in a padded room, in a straightjacket that he needs to wear to prevent him from inflicting self-harm." Hawks' breathing sped up faster, Lemillion's eyes shaking at what he just heard which exceeded what he could accept already with just what they previously said.
"Why?" Lemillion asked confusedly. "Did, Sazaki's Quirk-"
"From the reports of the prison guards who were tasked with watching Sazaki inside of Tartaros, it was not his Quirk that drove Faith mad," Morro responded. The old man stared at the young hero with a harsh look that made Lemillion straighten up and stop looking so shocked by this development. Morro continued darkly and kept looking in that young man's eyes, "Instead, Sazaki decided to hand down his own form of justice, and played a mind game on that manipulator." Hawks lowered his bottom lip and rose up a hand that he ran through his hair with an unnerved smile breaking over his face. "What he said to that villain, caused him to lose his mind."
"The man who made Ms. Joke retire, who gave Wrangler a heart attack by…" Hawks shook his head in disbelief, before biting down harder at the looks on the officials' faces. "I'd say it's impossible, but for Death, maybe doing something like that is easy."
"Easy," huh? Juuzo's eyes darkened and shifted down to the table and where her hands were held together. They shook and she bit down hard inside her mouth. If he was really Death, then he wouldn't have done something like that, wouldn't he? He's not just a mask. There's a person behind it. I know. I know, how much it hurt him to do that. But, Faith was one of the worst villains this country has seen in years. He's certainly the one responsible for the most deaths of heroes, surpassing Stain through using his memory. But, even doing it to a man like that, to make a man go mad by just speaking a few words to him. To know that for the rest of your life, would haunt any person.
"Heed this warning, Lemillion," Juuzo began. "You are confident that you will find something and so we sanction this, but you have chosen a very dangerous enemy. The most popular man in many parts of this country, the person who many attribute the disappearance of the League of Villains to, the 'Hero of the People.' There isn't a good outcome of this investigation if you find the proof you're looking for, but we are a land of laws so this must happen. Know though, that people across the world care about Lifebringer. So make sure that if you do arrest him, you keep in mind the feelings of the people you're about to hurt."
"I understand, ma'am. However I will carry out justice. Delicacy is important, but it comes second to the truth. Justice, is truth."
Perhaps. Perhaps I am wrong for keeping my secret. It is an injustice, keeping the Sports Festival's truth hidden. If justice is truth, then truth is justice, and I'll face my punishment when I tell it. Today, is not that day though.
Zach walked down a street of Yutapu on the opposite side of Shiketsu High School as where his apartment was located. He was approaching the school from a distance of several blocks, after leaving two hours earlier and taking a walk around the city. The sky was clear, but it was frigid out and Zach had a jacket over his white school uniform. He had on his black Shiketsu hat over his black hair and a belt tight to his waist holding up his black pants.
The people of Yutapu had been hearing for days that Zach Sazaki was going to Shiketsu, so people who saw students of the prestigious high school on the regular were looking out for those black hats more than usual today. Zach nodded towards people who called out his name, smiled around at others, ignored a couple who gave him dirty looks (though even those people kept their mouths shut). No hecklers this morning. People who dislike me actually saying stuff to my face wouldn't be common. It's more of a presence online and on certain tv stations. Zach had his hands down at his sides with only his right in the thin black glove made of special material that kept his hand from killing anything it touched.
Zach's expression was calm as he headed down the street towards his new high school. He approached from a section of Yutapu with fewer residences and more businesses. The people around him were rushing into work and opening up shops and businesses for the day. The buildings around him were tall, towering skyscrapers in some places. Even the non-skyscrapers in this area of the city were still eight, ten, twelve stories high on average. There were pachinko parlors on corners, and ramen shops and bars and foreign food places all lining the streets. The second and third floors of a couple of buildings had karaoke signs sticking out of them showing what kind of businesses were above, and Zach saw a massage parlor across the road from him right next to an Indian place that looked good based off the pictures on the windows. Maybe on my way back later. There's more of a chance of someone following me from school than on my way to it. They'll be able to see me coming out easily, and follow me anywhere from then on. I've moved around sporadically and without schedule or routine this past week. Not a great time to be attacked. Today starts my routine though, and most assassins would wait until they think they have a solid grasp on what I'm doing every day and set up an attack that way.
Then again, most assassins wouldn't stand a chance against me. Zach's eyes focused down the sidewalk where he saw a van parked on the side of the road. Ones who know who I am could attack me on the first day knowing that if I get in a routine I'll know all the good ambushing spots along the way and be ready for them. I might have picked a random route today and am checking out how it looks on a weekday when there's school. I don't know where you could be attacking from yet, and if you spotted me any time over the past few hours you have a good read on where I am right now and which direction I'm approaching by. If they're really good, my actions don't factor in. Great assassins plan every last detail, amazing assassins don't need to. If they're not worried about being caught or that they'll fail if they get one or two things wrong, then attacking on the first day would be best. If you think your situational awareness is better than mine to be able to adapt in the moment, no one has time to make plans and it's just you versus me. Right here. Right now. I'm getting closer, make your choice.
"He's on this side," Kiero Kimuo called out with a hand over her earpiece. "Open the van!" She shouted at her cameraman, who slid open the side door of the van and jumped out with a large camera over his shoulder he ran onto the sidewalk with.
"Start recording," Kiero ordered after jumping out of the van after her crew member.
"Three, two…" the cameraman pointed a hand at her and moved back on the sidewalk as his coworker stepped in front of him.
"This is Kimmy Kiero with Your News at 8, coming to you from Yutapu City only a few blocks away from Shiketsu High School. In front of me now is Zach Sazaki, otherwise known as Lifebringer." She turned as the boy was walking up close to her, and she ran towards him and held her microphone up with an interrogative look covering her face. "Lifebringer! It's your first day at Shiketsu, but the country still wants to know if you really plan on becoming a hero."
"I do," Zach said, and he kept walking forward but slowed down like he was about to stop. He looked at the camera, getting the guy behind it to stop walking backwards, then he took a few more steps in while the cameraman was not moving. "I'm just trying to go to school," Zach began.
"Why don't you accept calls to have a press conference?" Kiero called at Zach, getting close on his side and then pushing her microphone up near his face after asking that question in an accusatory tone. "What do you have to hide?"
"You know," Zach started. "You really shouldn't just run up to me on the sidewalk like this," Zach said it calmly and with a small casual smile on his face, but it made Kiero freeze and her cameraman to lower his bottom lip. He managed to keep the camera pointed at Zach though, as the reporter regained her composure too and got a much more indignant look on her face.
"Excuse me?! Are you threatening me-"
"I'm warning you," Zach said, and Kiero froze with her mouth open and her eyes widening more as he did not just back down there or try defending himself. Zach continued calmly though, "People are trying to kill me. You saw it yourself when I was released from Tartaros-"
"That's no excuse! The way you worded that just now was clearly threatening!" Kiero called out.
So it's not live. They'll cut parts of this later. Zach held up his right hand defensively with a palm up to show he meant nothing by it. "It was more of a suggestion for future reference. It isn't safe to jump out at me like this, because the people trying to kill me might think I've let my guard down and try and attack."
"You say it like they're everywhere, watching you all the time," Kiero snapped, shaking her head still with an accusatory look on her face.
"Not everywhere," Zach countered. "But there are five of them watching me right now." The woman in front of Zach blinked once, her expression turning downright confused and then her eyes slowly widening, then narrowing in disbelief and anger. Zach's eyes were not focused on her though, but right between her and the cameraman who he was not looking at either but was still very close to. His expression was still calm, but a cool breeze blew between them and the air was different. "They're waiting for a moment to attack me. Oh- One of them can hear me," Zach continued, and his eyes darted up the wall of the building across the road straight at a window his red and hazel irises locked in on.
"Wait a second-" Kiero began confusedly, her heart racing at the change in Lifebringer's expression all of a sudden.
"He's alerting the others, they know I know- duck. Duck!" Zach snapped his left hand up and grabbed Kimmy Kiero, and he dove at the cameraman and tackled him down in the same movement. He had walked far enough forward after the two ran at him, that the cameraman had backed up close to being next to his own van. Zach tackled the man past the back edge of the van and on the other side of it compared to the building he saw the barrel sticking out a cracked window of. Ch- There was no gunshot, but the sound of cement on the sidewalk breaking behind them made the woman who was just dragged to the floor spin her head back to the black mark near where they were just standing.
Kiero did not know what was happening, but she brought her head up and stared with panicked eyes at the scarred-up face of the teen down on a knee in front of her. "Stay here," Zach said while looking her right in the eyes, a calm look over his face and a smile showing nothing was wrong at all which got her calming down a lot. She still stared at the boy in shock though as he rose up his right hand and steel started wrapping around his wrist and down over his hand. The watch under Zach's sleeve opened up and ripped through his jacket's cuff, as a glove of powerful material spread around his right hand and gloved blue on his palm and the backs of his fingers.
Zach turned his head to the right at the tall building closest to him, and he aimed his palm up towards a window seven stories above him. The center of his glove's palm opened up and fired straight towards that window. The thin metal spike fired from the hole opened up upon piercing the window, and the hook clamped down on the floor before the wire retracted Zach into the sky. He shot up like a missile towards the window, but instead of smashing through it, Zach pulled back his hook after speeding himself up on the incline. He rose faster and dodged a shot coming from behind that went through the same window he already cracked, into an empty room where Zach saw the edge of someone running to his left when he had gotten high enough.
Zach snapped his left hand out to the point between two rooms on the other side of the glass, and his fingers dug straight through the outer frame of the building. Then with a lot of strength he flipped himself horizontally along the outside of the building and punched his right hand straight through the glass, and his right hand wrapped around the side of a man's head as the guy was running aside. Zach yanked backwards and the entire window shattered as he tossed the man out ten feet from the edge of the building.
Shit. Glass will fall in a couple seconds. No one's straight down, opposite rooftop, original shooter, watcher, the fifth's hiding with their Quirk. Zach pointed his right hand across the road and at the rooftop where someone was running from the side closest to the block he was on to the opposite side of the building. Can't let you get too far away. I said there were five of you, so I need to catch all five. You stupid fucks. Zach landed on top of a building where he knew he was out of eyesight, and he shot forward like a black blur that made the assassin glancing over his shoulder yelp in fright before getting tossed backwards by a large black claw.
The man fell unconscious as he was falling back, while the first guy thrown out of a window was almost about to hit the ground and was screaming loudly in fright. A hook pierced through his right leg just below his knee, and his body jolted back up, his head bumping into the top of the van hard as he was tugged over the two panicked reporters. Kiero and the cameraman winced and curled up tighter as a bunch of glass shattered on the sidewalk, but the glass shatter was several meters from them and even the pieces that broke off did not get within three meters of them. "H-Hey, get up," Kiero snapped at the man next to her, jumping on her feet herself as she used that regained confidence Lifebringer gave her with his smile. "Get this on…" Kiero stared across the street and up towards a broken window of the ten story building Lifebringer just flew into. A woman's scream came out of that broken window, and then that woman came flying out of the building tied up in wire that jolted her back after she fell five stories, and just left her dangling there.
And there's the panic, Zach thought, as the fifth person he noticed showed themself. Only one comrade left, and you think I knew where you were and was just going to save you for last because you weren't running. Well now I know, Zach flipped himself over in midair, firing the other end of a wire out of a glove on his left hand that was already attached to one of the villains. He shot that wire's second end into a telephone post down below him, dangling the second man he attacked by it instead of dragging him around through the air with him.
Zach dropped down in the middle of the road where all the cars had stopped moving as the drivers leaned out their windows to see what was going on. "Stay in your car," Zach said, running past a woman in a suit who looked to the side in shock at who just ran past her after falling from the sky in front of her vehicle. Zach jumped up twenty feet in the air and pointed his right hand towards a car that started moving after emerging right out of another identical vehicle parked on the side of the road. His right palm glowed blue, staying closed this time as the fingers on the back of Zach's hand glowed blue too more with each second he slowly curled those fingers while tensing the muscles in his hand. Zach uncurled all the fingers at once, pushing his palm out and firing at the back of the vehicle near its wheels.
The back of the car flipped up, its wheels popping and the hood slamming into the pavement before it could reach the next intersection. Zach's body was already turning as he fired, and the blast spun him the rest of the way fast enough to raise both hands and catch the two wide steel spikes being jammed down at him from the person Zach thought was the watcher. The leader, Zach thought while looking into the short man's eyes, unafraid and still determined to kill him. He pulled his head back as the man's tongue snapped out of his mouth also in the form of a steel spike only this one was spinning.
Zach flipped the man over the top of his own head by the arm spikes, ducking below the spinning tongue one and kneeing the guy in the gut as they were both falling down to the road. Zach finished flipping them and he slammed his right foot down under the man's chin next, causing him to close his mouth and bite down on a spinning steel spike he was trying to maneuver after the quicker younger man. The guy screamed in pain as teeth broke, and then he slammed down into the street and his scream cut off with his whole body arching up in pain instead from the hard collision he did not brace for at all.
Zach landed next to the man and put his foot next to the guy's left arm as the man opened his squinted eyes. The toe of Zach's shoe touched the man's arm, and Zach forced some Death out of it into the guy for a brief moment before pulling his foot back away without any darkness showing. A shit first attempt, Zach thought, his eyes dark as he stared down at the man on the ground next to him. And all those who watch it won't be any more prepared to come after me.
…Three, four, and that's five. Five! "Come on!" Kiero yelled at her cameraman, and she ran out into the road where Lifebringer reached down and grabbed the unconscious man with blood all over his mouth. Zach hoisted the man up and over his own shoulder, then he started over towards a building a woman was dangling off of. Zach curled in his left index finger and made her fall, while getting questions shouted at his back by the reporter he was currently ignoring. "Lifebringer! Just- could you give me-" Kiero moved aside as Lifebringer jogged past her, needing to gather up all the villains in one place instead of scattered all over the block as they were.
Kiero started frowning at the boy again at how much he was ignoring her. "Lifebringer!" She shouted, her voice frustrated and angry this time which had Zach grimacing internally even as he just turned to her with a questioning look, while properly tying up the villains in the pile. "How did you know?"
"I saw them," Zach replied, and he glanced back down and continued tying up the five unconscious men. "They're all alright," Zach added as he continued to wrap wire around the villains. Sirens were coming from one end of the road, but there were two heroes who were faster and coming straight towards Lifebringer. "Just unconscious," Zach assured the reporter he turned back to and her camera.
"If you saw them- if you knew they were around, then why were you just walking around in public?! You knew that you were putting civilians in danger?" Kiero accused, giving Zach a dirty look that he wanted to sigh at.
I just saved you lady- well, she wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if I wasn't here. She's right about that, I guess. "Sorry," Zach apologized, standing up straight and giving an apologetic look to the reporter. "I tried to take a safe route to school to avoid being attacked, but you're right, it's my fault. I'll work on being more hidden on my way to class in the future." Zach lifted his head out of the bowed position it was in there, and he smiled again at the woman who froze with her mouth open. And now, I can avoid you reporters all I like for the rest of my days. Thank you Kimmy Kiero.
"If you knew they were up there though, right before they attacked," Kiero shook her head and started questioning again, running up closer to the boy she knew was now going to be avoiding any interviews from her again. "Why didn't you warn us sooner? Why didn't you go after them before they started shooting-"
"I only have a provisional hero license," Zach said. A hero just landed behind the pile at Zach's back, and Zach continued to the reporter, "So the only thing I can do, is defend myself when villains attack. I can't go after my would-be attackers unless they've already taken a shot at me. Like so," Zach pointed over at a black mark on the sidewalk, then he turned and looked at the female hero behind him who had a lot of questions for what just happened here. Vallentina looked to the shot in the floor, then around at some broken glass and up at smashed windows on both sides of the street, then to the five figures Lifebringer had tied up. "It was in self-defense," Zach defended himself to the pro hero frowning harshly at him.
"I-It was," the cameraman began, lowering his camera and stepping up on the side of Kiero.
She turned to her coworker with a frown for a second, before loosening it as well and dropping her mic down to her side. "Yes," Kiero agreed while looking to Vallentina. The hero in a dark red costume looked at the two in surprise and then turned back to Lifebringer in confusion as they started explaining to her about what had happened.
"Are you alright, by the way?" Zach asked the two who were now trying to defend him to the heroes who had shown up. Vallentina turned to another pro and started talking to him about what she just heard, and then to some cops who came over too and looked ready to set a perimeter.
"Yeah, fine," the cameraman told the younger man. "That was some great work."
"You still," Kiero started. She frowned deeply as Zach glanced back to her, less in anger at him and more just a frustrated way. The woman ground her teeth for a moment and then grumbled, "You shouldn't have waited. And you put us in danger-"
"But I stayed within the law," Zach said. He looked seriously at Kiero without a smile this time, and the older woman looked back at the boy with her eyes wider at his statement. "I told you. I told everyone, that I'm going to do things right this time. I'm not going to break the rules, no matter what."
"Even if lives are on the line?" Kiero asked.
"If lives are on the line, the law will allow me to save them," Zach said. He then turned from the woman and walked over towards the heroes and cops, ignoring what the woman called at his back. This wasn't an "assassination attempt." It's a mild inconvenience. Maybe a bit more than mild. Because I have to do things the right way, so I can't just run and leave this up to them. I have to clean this up on my own, and now, I'm going to be late for class. Damn, and I wanted to make a good first impression.
"Did you do all this, Lifebringer?" Recharge questioned the teen who stepped up to him and Vallentina.
As Zach started to nod, Vallentina cut in to the boy who had partially explained it to her before, "I understand your reasoning, that you could not attack these villains unless they had fired on you. However, if you saw them you should have called heroes right away. You put people in danger waiting for a change to fight them yourself."
"I didn't want to fight them," Zach countered with a shake of his head. "I thought as soon as I let my guard down they might attack, so I was hoping to go straight to school and never be attacked. Then I'd call in what had happened. If I had pulled out my phone, I thought they would attack. I even thought the reporters back there might have been part of the group acting as a diversion themselves."
The heroes and the few cops behind them dealing with arresting the prisoners all looked at Lifebringer with varying surprised looks at his intense response. Zach glanced up towards the broken windows and he frowned apologetically back towards Vallentina, "Wish I could have gotten it done with less collateral though."
"What are those?" Vallentina asked, motioning down at Zach's hands.
This is going to be my whole morning. "Parts of my hero costume, I got them registered already so…"
Knock Knock
Zach slid open the door that had a '3-1' sign above it in the hall. He looked in at the man standing near the front desk who had a shaved head and wore a black suit with his tie looking a little loose around his neck. The teacher in his mid-thirties looked towards the student in the doorway who had taken his jacket off and left it at the lockers in the front of the building. Worrod Hazano frowned at his tardy student, as he knew Sazaki's address from when the boy texted him the night they had met. "You're late, Sazaki," Hazano scolded the teen in his classroom's doorway. "I explained to you our strict late policy, did I not?"
"I'm sorry for being late," Zach said, bowing to the teacher with an apologetic look on his face. He said "no excuses," and that it would count as skipping the whole day itself so I should just go home if I think about showing up late. On the first day though, please, Zach lifted his head back up and had a regretful look but hope in his eyes as he faced the man frowning towards him.
You're already going to be a problem student. I thought I was relieved that you weren't Death, but I hadn't thought about what else it could be until I lost that stupid bet. I shouldn't treat you differently… But I guess I'd let any other student come in, since it is your first day and all. Hazano leaned back on his desk and motioned with his head into the classroom.
Zach did not want to show as much relief as he felt and instead nodded in a more grateful way at his teacher like he knew Hazano didn't have to do this. "Alright," Hazano began as the boy started walking inside. "I originally planned on you having a self-introduction this morning, but there's no time now. Put your stuff down over there, at your desk," Hazano pointed towards the empty seat in the room.
Zach looked around the classroom feeling such a strange feeling swirling around in his chest. The other students his age looking towards him all with different expressions had his stomach churning even though his heart was beating steadily and he did not feel nervous at all. Apprehension? Zach looked past a blonde girl staring at him in shock, still unable to believe Lifebringer just joined their class. There was a shorter girl next to the blond who had shorter gray hair too in a bowl-cut around her head with long bangs hiding her eyes from him. Excitement maybe? Zach saw a male student with broad shoulders giving him a stern, serious look, which was unable to hide the incredibly excited look in his eyes.
Inasa Yoarashi's hands were in fists down over his thighs, those fists shaking like crazy as he made eye contact with Sazaki. Zach glanced past Inasa after meeting that boy's eyes, and he held back his grimace at the look on the other teen's face that unlike Inasa's seemed to accurately represent the resentment he felt. The teen behind Inasa had a scar on his right cheek in the shape of a 'v' and was glaring in a dark way towards Zach from the moment he entered the room. He had bright green hair that had a flip to the right side and spiked back behind his skull and up on his bangs. His eyes were black like Ashido's, but instead of yellow irises he had green ones several shades darker than his hair.
A couple of the other boys farther back in the classroom glanced at the green-haired boy's expression before getting darker looks on their faces directed towards Zach. Zach noticed those looks, and he noticed there were twenty-nine students in the classroom on his walk towards his desk. Is this like the situation with Class B? They could just be that upset with me joining their class, but that extra level makes sense. Shinso only got accepted by B because they knew him and saw him fighting villains with Shoda the day he died. They don't know me. I killed people. Hazano sensei's giving me special treatment letting me come in here even though I'm late. Like I'm a celebrity who deserves better treatment. It's going to be an uphill battle.
"As I was saying," Hazano began to his class, only a few of whom actually looked back to him as Sazaki made his way to his desk. "Your comprehensive exams will be on Friday to make sure you've retained everything from the past two terms. We're moving forward though, so don't expect any review today or tomorrow. As for now, we'll be heading to Gymnasium A for Ranking Day."
The students started getting out of their seats, and Zach looked back towards Hazano with a somewhat confused expression as he had never heard that term back at U.A. or had it explained to him. Hazano saw the look from Lifebringer and stopped turning to the classroom's door himself. "Oh yes, Sazaki," Hazano started. "Each student in this class has a number which is determined at the start of the term. On Ranking Day, we determine what that number will be." Zach's eyes started shifting around the classroom again, as every other student in there was staring towards him now.
"One on one combat. Any student can challenge any other. The purpose is that over the course of several of these, you students will know each others' weaknesses and better prepare your own counters against opponents most prepared to fight you…" Hazano paused and then added while turning away towards the door. "I suppose it doesn't really work with you, but you'll need a class number too so you'll be taking part."
Well then, Zach thought, glancing around at the other twenty-nine students staring towards him without trying to hide that they were doing so. Best way to get to know people is through their fists. The right corner of Zach's lips curved up, and he judged the twenty-nine reactions that came when he made that slight movement. "My name's Zach, it's nice to meet you." He bowed his head to the other students in his new class. "I look forward to working together."
A/N Thanks for reading! Took a little longer than I thought to post this, but I'm pretty free the next few days so I'll try to get a couple up in that time. Lemillion's coming after Zach. Zach's got assassins mildly inconveniencing him on the way to school. And he's made it to class... for Ranking Day! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review telling me what you think below!
Naruffoku chapter 147 . Mar 22
Did someone say that Zach lost an arm? Wtf... how come I didn't know this?
Was that said? I don't really remember either...
Todorokiii chapter 147 . Mar 22
Who to ship now...? Anyway, that doesn't really matter for now but I guess when this rumor spreads I bet Momo would be jelly, hopefully. Hehe. Then again, Ashido is the captain of the Zach and Momo's ship, hehe. Anyways... I do hope no one will hurt Zach's U.A friends but it seems it still will happen sooner or later. Just hope Zach's there to protect them. Also, for the whole chapter I felt sorry for Mina, Sero and the others who actually believed Zach's story. They'll realized soon his lying again. Can't wait for that part! As for Todoroki, I love him but he's up to something after knowing the name Mark. Todoroki gotta chill. I miss AoD especially Gentle. Huhu. And Zach really lost his arm...? I didn't knew that... And if I remembered correctly, U.A and Shiketsu would have a battle something like that. Can't wait! And Kirishima, I need a battle between those two. Both of them promised but never happened. Thanks for this chapter!
Ships, ships everywhere! Lol we'll see where the romance goes in this... Couple chapters of Zach's interactions with his U.A. friends, but now his life is starting up at Shiketsu... hopefully no one goes after them while he's there. Todoroki lurking about, being all suspicious. Lemillion considers bringing him on his truth hunt, but Juuzo seems to think that's a very bad idea. If y'all didn't remember her, she was one of the hero officials in the Sports Festival attack Zach foiled, (if I didn't make that clear enough). Hazano did mention to Zach that U.A. would be coming for a joint training, so future event setting up! Lots left to do, and Death pushes on! Thanks for the reviews!
Guessst chapter 147 . Mar 24
Lovin' it. The last couple paragraphs are like crack for me. Thanks for the time you're putting into this.
XD Love to hear it! You're welcome and thanks for that review!
Super Power Sensei chapter 147 . Mar 26
I have no problem with this fic ending like a shonen. If ANYONE DESERVES to have a shonen/happy ending it's my boy Zach. I don't care what anyone says or does, he is the ultimate hero! The "KING OF HEROS"! Just please have the ending make sense. DON'T be like Fairy Tail! Or the Akame ga Kill anime!
This chapter was great in getting my hopes up for the future. If you've written anything related to Mina, it's that she trusts, loves(as a friend/best woman friend), and is loyal to Zach. This, I approve of.
Does Zach know ninja techniques?! I know you referenced some kind of ninja jumping back in the licensing exam(chapter 143) but wow. Can he take people out using pressure points as well? Can Zach use death like how "King" uses his magic in "Nanatsu no Taizai"? Make a hyper condensed sphere of death that spins like crazy...JUST LIKE A RASENGON?!(just thought of the rasengon while typing this!) His quirk really is next level. Reading and typing like his life depends on it(which it probably does), constantly on the look out for assassins while also give Mina a perfect day...Zach's work ethic multitasking skills are insane and I LOVE IT!
Also there was a review posted earlier by a guest that read "The last couple paragraphs are like crack for me." and I concur.
Good chapter and I'll be waiting for the next one.
The ending is definitely going to make sense. It's going to be the best ending ever. It's going to be huge! I know the best endings, and trust me, this is going to be great! ... Anyway, glad you like Mina in this, seems like a common trend y'all love her character. We'll see Zach's various abilities and powers as this continues on, so no spoilers of just stating it here. Saw a bit of them this time- and glad you think this is "crack" too! Lol Zach's a multi-tasking pro, and today his lookout for assassins pays off. Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!