Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 179:
"Man, wish we could've got an overnight pass out," Tsuburaba Kosei called out while shredding down an icy slope on his snowboard. The boy with short spiky brown hair had it hidden under his helmet like his classmates skiing or snowboarding behind him down the black diamond trail. The trail was steep, and the fact that it was a busy day on the mountain meant all the fresh powder had long been pushed off by the people who had gone on the run throughout the morning. It was already past noon, and the easiest of the black diamonds on the mountain was still a tough trail, but it was the most frequented of all the hard ones despite its narrow path down.
"Can we go back to the blues?" Kendo called down, from near the back of the group of her friends who had convinced her to go down this trail on skis despite never trying a black diamond before. Or back to the greens, she added to herself, though she had actually started feeling pretty confident about the intermediate blues by three hours into their ski trip.
"You're doing great for your first time," Komori called to her right at her classmate who she was staying back near, even though she was a solid skier herself. "Just keep it slow. No need to chase Tsuburaba."
"I'm not trying to go that fast," Kendo agreed with a chuckle. She put her ski poles into the ground and made a sharp S turn, and Komori smiled towards her and gave a thumbs up inside her snow gloves before turning herself a little closer to the edge of the trail near the trees. Kendo was nervous about how close Kinoko was getting to them, but her friend spun around quickly and then shot across the trail with her skis close together in a pro way better than more of their friends lower down than them.
The steepest part of the trail came to an end soon enough, and the black diamond turned back into a blue-black, which the trail sign showed by having a black diamond on top of a blue square. The trail was wider too and so there were paths to go on with more snow and easier conditions, and the students went down it in a more casual way. They started talking to each other in regular conversation too as the trail flattened out even more around halfway down the mountain from the top of the chairlifts. "I still can't believe Class A lost," Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu brought up as he heard Tsuburaba and Honenuki joke about it up ahead of him. Tetsutetsu spun around a 180 twist on his skis and skied backwards for a few seconds to look at the girls behind him, "I guess we've always been the stronger class."
Tetsutetsu spun back forward while laughing and then grinning big as he still felt great about it as did everyone in his class. The rivalry had meant less to him in the past, but the more time that passed as people called Class A a 'symbol' of their society, he felt himself getting more into it. The worst part was that they would usually mention the symbols of their society, like 'U.A.,' and then they always just had to specify afterwards, 'And Class A, Deku, Explosion King, Ingenium…' like they had misspoke the first time by including all of them. As Tetsutetsu thought on the reason he felt excited though, at the prospect that people might consider more than Class A as their symbols, he thought about the most recent time he had heard talk like that even after the joint training.
Someone behind him was thinking it too, and Tsunotori skied up to Tetsutetsu's side for a moment after making a joke to Komori behind her about how disappointing it was that Kuroiro had not decided to join them. Kendo smiled while easing her head away back behind them as Komori's face had turned bright red, and a rumor Kendo had heard just the other day but decided not to pry into felt like it was being confirmed with the expression she saw on her friend's face. Tsunotori quickly got back into a different conversation though, and Komori could not risk going up and snapping at her without drawing the boys' attentions which was the worst case scenario here.
The short blonde girl whose long hair fell out of her helmet a bit like Kendo's, turned in towards Tetsutetsu and wondered, "What if it was just because of Sazaki-san?"
Kendo's eyes widened in some surprise behind them, and Komori's did too as her thoughts shifted away from a very black boy in her class to a different dark figure who appeared in her mind and made her shiver. Tetsutetsu looked to his left at the blonde girl for a second of surprise too, then he thought back on who Tsunotori's boyfriend had been for a long time and he humphed while facing forward again. "It couldn't have just been him," he muttered. Though that's the excuse Kirishima gave, he added to himself.
"You guys talking about Zach?" Tsuburaba wondered while waiting with his snowboard pushing backwards on the ground to keep him tilted back and stuck in place waiting for his friends. A few people skied or snowboarded past them without glancing at the teens for more than a single look, as the group of them were pretty unrecognizable with their hair covered by helmets and their bodies by their heavy ski clothes. A few of them were wearing goggles too, though Tsuburaba had his propped up on the front of his helmet as he had put them like that once he stopped moving so fast that the wind bothered his eyes. "There's no doubt it was all his fault, but we can still hold this over those Class A's' heads. Unless they want to admit it was just one guy who made the difference."
"I think they'd prefer that than admitting it was the Shiketsu students who advanced so much more than them this past year," Kendo countered while finally skiing close enough to speak with Tsuburaba again. "And we know that they have improved a lot, as we have seen that improvement through all of our own joint trainings with them. Remember, we will have other exercises between our class in the coming months where we could lose the current standing we have above them." Kendo smiled as the rest of her classmates grinned at the class rep actually joining in with talk about their rivalry that she usually stayed above. She said it more in a way to encourage them to win their next training session too and to focus on it, and the others all agreed with newfound determination to win.
The group of them looked back forward as there was a turn coming in the trail, with a steeper trail dropping into the one they were on that connected from a different side of the mountain. "Let's take that one next," Honenuki suggested, before grinning back with all his teeth exposed by his lack of lips.
"That's totally a double black," Komori retorted and crossed her arms still holding poles in them. "Count me out. I don't even know if you can take the lift up to that side of the mountain if you're not an expert- like look!" Komori turned her head and looked up that trail to where someone was racing down on a pair of skis in a red jacket that looked like one of the ski instructor's or a first-aid station worker. The skis were long and thin, and the person using them looked like a pro as she raced down the mountain, her black hair waving behind her on a turn before she hit a mogul and bounced up. The heroes in training opened their eyes wide as she looked to lose control there for a moment, but she was good enough that despite getting flustered, she was able to regain control and cut sharply down the trail to another bump she hit that bounced her onto their trail that she continued racing down ahead of them.
"That was, dangerous," Kendo said, a bead of sweat rolling down her face as she continued going, a bit slower now. Seeing that woman who was so good almost lose it at that speed while heading towards the trees on the other side of that narrow and steep trail, it made her question her being out there as a beginner at all. Definitely not touching that trail today. No matter how much they tell me- Kendo's eyes opened wider and her jaw dropped as she saw another pro skier, or at least she assumed they were because they came flying out of the trees a little past that connecting point of the steeper trail and their own.
"Hey! Be careful!" Kendo called to the person who she could not tell if they were out of control or not, though she suspected they were to have come out of the trees like that.
The person who landed down off the ledge they flew out of the forest above spun his head in surprise and looked up towards the group of teens skiing and snowboarding towards him. The snowboarders arrived first where the guy stopped, with Honenuki and Tsuburaba both not looking as stern as the others who were behind them. "Is there an actual tree-trail there, or were you just making your own?" Tsuburaba wondered, which made Honenuki glance to him thinking that was not what he should be asking there in a somewhat impressed voice.
As Honenuki glanced down at the person's short skis though, the person in front of him was looking through his black goggles at the bottom half of Honenuki's recognizable face in a lot of surprise. He lifted his head and looked behind Honenuki, specifically at the girl with orange hair sticking out of her helmet who had been the one to call to him. "That was dangerous," Komori scolded, skiing ahead of Kendo who just opened her mouth too. Komori skied around Honenuki and stopped more down the trail with a motion that pushed snow up in the air with her short sideways stop. "If you want to be reckless, you can do it all you want, but know other people are going to have to come save you if you hurt yourself. And I don't want to have to ski up there just to drag you out of some ditch with broken legs," Komori said it frustratedly, with a glance back up at how steep that "tree-trail" was, which was actually not a trail at all but just a forest with snow in it off of the steep double-black to its side.
"Huh, sorry about that," Zach started. He glanced around some more at the group, his face covered in a black ski-mask other than his eyes that had goggles over them with a dark orange tint in the lens. His voice was barely muffled by the thin mask but none of the others in front of him seemed to recognize him yet. He hesitated for a second, but then he smiled and he reached his right hand in its thicker black winter glove up to the top of his mask just below his goggles. He pulled his mask down and then lifted his goggles up to rest on the front of his helmet, and he looked at the group of six who stared at him in a moment of silent shock as Zach Sazaki stood in front of them. "Hey, nice seeing you guys," Zach told the group of Class B students, and he laughed at the dumbfounded looks on their faces.
Zach? Kendo stared at the black-haired boy whose helmet pushed some black bangs down over his forehead. The right side of his forehead had a scar in it though where his bangs did not push over just up at the line before the rest of it was covered by his helmet, but the rest of his facial scars were visible down to his chin where he had left the mask and covered up all the scars on his neck. "Zach," Kendo whispered, her voice stunned and her eyes huge and shaking as she looked at the teen in front of her who looked back her way before lowering his smile and getting a slightly confused look at the way she was staring at him.
Tsunotori Pony glanced to her side at Kendo too, surprised for a moment before looking back to Zach and smiling first out of her friends at the sight of him. "Hello Sazaki-san-"
"Call me Zach," Zach countered to the American girl who looked at him in surprise at the friendly way he said that to her.
"What are you-" Tetsutetsu started, before shaking his head around and finally losing the shocked expression he had. He turned and looked back to where Zach flew out of the forest on his skis, then he looked back harshly, "Just because- that warning still goes for you! You're supposed to be a hero," Tetsutetsu's friends all looked at him with wider eyes, and Zach looked at him in surprise too at what he was saying. "Doing something like that, you're going to influence others watching you to try it themselves, and they're going to hurt themselves."
"Shit, you're right," Zach admitted, glancing back up with a frustrated look forming on his face. "Didn't really think of that."
"You didn't?" Tsuburaba asked, then he shut up and shook his head around as this was such a strangely normal conversation to be having with the famous person they were just talking about. He, doesn't seem like he's, changed? I don't know- it's like he's talking to us as if we haven't not seen each other in nearly two years! Weird…
"No, I was just thinking about training," he admitted with a look back at the others. "Figure if I have to ski down a mountain in a hurry, chances are it's not going to be a ski mountain with easy trails to follow…" his explanation was not connecting with the group in front of him, and Zach sweatdropped before looking back down the mountain. "Anyway," he started, and he turned his skis back forward to continue down the trail. "I'll stay on the trail for now on, after lunch that is," he added.
"What-" Tsuburaba looked down the trail as Zach started skiing down it without saying anything else to them. He lifted a hand partially, his mouth opening and freezing like that as he wondered what he was going to call out. "What just happened?" he muttered as he finally dropped his hand back down, looking around at his friends to see if they knew what to make of it.
"Hey," Honenuki began, realizing something there that made him smile albeit hesitantly back around at the others. "Anyone else notice how he explicitly mentioned 'lunch' there at the end?" The others looked to him confusedly, and Honenuki shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why don't we make this the last run of the morning? He's probably going to break for lunch right now at the lodge, and I think he might've just invited us to join him."
Kendo's eyes opened wide, and she skied forward a little up to Honenuki and questioned, "You really think so?"
"Either that or he was just making conversation," Honenuki Juzo replied with a shrug. "But it didn't sound like he'd be against it."
"I'm down," Tsuburaba mentioned quickly. He was training? For chasing people on skis down mountains? When would he ever need that- Has he needed it before? He looked, pretty experienced.
Skiing down to the lodge at the base of Yuki Yama Ski Resort, Zach glanced over his shoulder but still did not see anyone coming up behind him. Wonder if they'll come eat with me. That was pretty surprising. I've been here all morning though, so I must have passed them a half dozen times before we actually noticed one another. I never wound up needing to know how to ski, but it was always a back-up plan if those exfils failed. Had them in Switzerland ready to extend to get me down the mountain should Scatterbox need to… Zach shook his head, frowning as he thought of a face that started to lose the skin over half of it in his mind's eye. Kendo looked pretty shaken right there. The look I gave her seemed to work though. She's actually doubting it now.
He didn't recognize- it was like- Kendo was skiing down the mountain, and she almost fell again as her thoughts were unfocused on the activity at all. Does he not remember? Was I just another… or was it even him? Iida was so confident it was. He knew Japanese, but it- it wasn't like he called me by my name. Death, called me 'Battle Fist.' He saved me first, sure, but I was the youngest one there. Maybe he just saved me first because of that? The look in his eyes, he genuinely had no idea why it was I was looking at him like that. Or- or am I just imagining things? Maybe he's that good a liar, that he can even fake a look like that?
The group of Class B students put their skis and snowboards on racks outside the back of the lodge, and they headed in and over to the line for the food stations. It was a buffet style food court, where they grabbed trays and piled up whatever they wanted before going to the register to be charged. They searched around the lodge, before locating the table near the corner of the room that Zach was sitting at with a lot of seats around him. There were people looking towards him at the other tables nearby though, as he had his helmet off and his mask down as he was eating.
Zach's hair was not spiky like it normally was, as the helmet had given him hat-hair and made it all messy and looking longer than the last time most people around him had seen him on television. The Class B students who were walking with their trays heard some people muttering around him, some looking over excitedly and others with hesitant looks. Some people had their phones out and were recording, a few of them more subtly than others. Tsuburaba glanced around and hesitated for a moment at the sight of all those cameras pointed straight where he was going, but then he looked ahead and saw the teen eating a cheeseburger turn his head and lower it with a smile coming to his face as he chewed.
Zach rose his left hand and waved it at them, and the group headed over to his table and sat with four of them across from him, two on his side of the table. Tsuburaba sat with a gap between Zach and him, and when Honenuki came to his side of the table too he was left with the option to sit across from Komori on Tsuburaba's other side or closer to Zach and across from Tetsutetsu. He chose closer to Zach, and Zach scooted over a little on the bench of the table as his right side was closer to Honenuki. "You guys been here all morning?" Zach wondered as Honenuki was sitting down, continuing off like their earlier conversation had not ended and he was just picking up in the middle instead of mentioning how they had all come to eat lunch with him.
Tetsutetsu grunted and got into his own cheeseburger, as he had responses ready for how he knew Zach planned for them to come sit with him anyway if Zach asked the question he had thought was coming. "Yeah," Tetsutetsu replied.
Kendo unbuckled her helmet and she put it down on the floor next to her, then she leaned over and unstrapped her boots that were tight on her feet too. She did not want to eat her whole lunch with them strapped on like that, but she also needed an excuse to lower her head for a moment like that to hide her face from Zach. Did he revive me? He met my eyes. He doesn't look like- Death was shorter. But so was he when he was put in prison! When he put himself, in prison, she corrected herself while sitting back up to look at Zach again.
"So Zach, Komori started, looking across everyone to the boy she sat farthest from. Zach looked over at the girl with short brown hair falling evenly around her head and who still had her bangs partially covering her eyes, though he noticed they looked a bit shorter than last time he had seen her. "Are you like, a pro skier or something?' She asked, still thinking on how he had flown out of the woods and off that drop on the side of their trail.
Zach rose his right hand and scratched the back of his head. "I've only gone a couple times before, actually," he replied. He lowered his arm and glanced around, and he lowered his smile a little as that did not get them all talking about skiing or anything. This is awkward, Zach thought to himself, as only Komori and Tsuburaba really reacted to his response there. It felt like they wanted to ask me questions when we were up on the trail, so I figured I'd give them the chance right now. Pretty weird though with people filming us. People are always watching and recording me though. At least a few have stopped since Komori glanced around at them. They probably weren't hiding how they were recording from anyone but me either, so the ones who know they were caught by them before they came over have stopped. No one's within range to catch what we're saying too, with the lodge full of as much noise as it is.
There was background music playing dully in the lodge, and people were speaking over that noise, and other people were speaking over the noise of their neighbors which made it impossible to hear people a few tables down from their own as long as they spoke in normal speaking tones. The obstacles while I was skiing made it more realistic, Zach thought while grabbing some fries and eating them with a relaxed look on his face. It was exhilarating even. Like I was in actual danger. Almost hit a tree several times there. Would have wound up killing them, so it's a good thing I managed to dodge. Even if I did fall thrice up there.
"Alright Zach," Tsuburaba started, leaning forward to look past Honenuki who glanced to his right with an annoyed look as Kosei could have just sat next to Zach if he was going to speak past him anyway. "I got to know, where were you that whole year?"
Well, that didn't take long, Zach thought as he looked back to Tsuburaba. Wonder if they know anything from what I've told my Class A friends? Probably not considering that question. "That's, a long story," he said, his voice sounding like he thought the question was a bit awkward and way too vague. "The whole year?" He repeated that part of what Tsuburaba said, checking to see if the brown-haired teen realized how difficult it would be for him to respond to that right there.
"Uh, yeah?" Tsuburaba replied, not seeing the problem in it himself as he really wanted to know. He never thought he'd find himself in this position, but with Zach acting in as friendly a way as he had been, he actually felt like Zach might tell them what he had wanted to know for so long now. "You didn't join the Army of Death, right?" Tsuburaba asked quieter, making all the others in Class B look towards him wondering if he felt at least a little bit of hesitation before asking something like that.
If he responds wrong-
Shit Kosei, what are you doing-
Idiot!
"Nah," Zach replied with a shake of his head. Internal sighs of relief went through the heads of the others sitting at his table, only for them to stop too as Zach continued, "I was a vigilante for a while though. Just, unaffiliated with any country or group," he specified.
"Oh," Tsuburaba said. He opened his mouth again, closed it, and then he just said like that was interesting, "Huh."
"Being a vigilante is illegal," Tetsutetsu started in a frustrated voice at how calmly Zach just admitted that to them, heroes.
"Not everywhere," Zach countered. "All over the Americas, not just in the U.S., the countries don't really come after vigilantes much."
Tsunotori opened her mouth, then she closed it slowly and thought of a video she saw of Zach in a convenience store in Mississippi. A couple of her friends looked at her to see if she was going to counter that, but she just glanced around at them and shrugged her shoulders as it was not untrue. "It's still illegal though," she said to Zach. Then she paused and finished, "Technically."
"Yeah, but not much else I could do," Zach replied with a shrug of his right shoulder. He glanced around wondering if they really thought he was doing anything else, which got them feeling less confrontational about his response to Tsuburaba. Being less confrontational too, made them more interested instead in what it was he was doing if they could question it without having to judge so harshly as heroes.
"Were you with that girl the whole time?" Honenuki wondered, and Zach hesitated with his lips curling down at the question.
He tilted his head to the side though as it made sense for people to question him about that considering the one time he was caught on camera while he was gone. "No," he said simply. "As for what I was doing though," Zach continued, looking past Honenuki and to Tsuburaba who he'd rather respond to. "A whole lot of fighting villains. Surprised you guys didn't hear anything about it from the others in Class A I told," he added. That addition made a point of how he had already told these things to other heroes in training, taking away more of the pressure to consider what he was doing as crimes if people had already let him off with it. They thought about asking the Class A students why they were letting Zach off with it, but for now most of them decided in that moment to just talk to Zach without feeling the need to arrest him… as long as he didn't say anything too out there.
"That's, crazy," Tsuburaba replied after a few seconds. "You just left and became a vigilante?"
"Well, I was already acting as a vigilante here," Zach countered. "I just stopped being a hero-"
"What do you mean you were already a vigilante?" Tetsutetsu asked harshly, though confusedly too.
"Fighting the War Boys?" Zach replied, as if it were obvious. The others stared at him with wider eyes at how easily he admitted that. "I went after Diamondfist too with the vigilante who saved me from the League. Skipped out of school for a weekend and took him down together-"
"What?" Kendo asked, her eyes huge as Zach admitted this to them without breaking tone. "You really- what?"
"Yeah," Zach replied with a nod at the orange-haired girl whose hair was pretty frizzy and messed up from the helmet too, making it fall behind her back curlier than usual. "Anyway, I was pretty used to being a vigilante already by the time I left. Good enough that I was able to stay hidden despite the whole world looking for me," he added with a smug grin like it was impressive how he had managed to evade everyone.
Is he bragging about that?! Komori thought with her lips parted as it was hard to listen to him talk with them closed. He's so- so- normal- Her eyes widened behind her bangs and Zach glanced her way wondering what that was for a few seconds after he had stopped talking. Normal?! This is the opposite of normal! He's so, casual though. About everything he did!
Is this why my buddy Kirishima's so pissed? Tetsutetsu wondered, as he was feeling such a strange feeling of frustration and anger bubbling under his own curiosity and interest. He pushed those upset emotions farther down though, If there was actually something to act on, he would have done something though. Which means we can ask away. "So what's the craziest thing you did out there?" Tetsutetsu asked, his lips curled up at the corners in a smile though his eyes giving Zach a different look as he faced the silver-haired teen diagonal from him.
"Craziest?" Zach wondered, saying the word specifically and humming afterwards like he was really thinking of what it would be. "Well, if it's 'crazy' you're asking about," he started, grinning as a story came to mind. The boy with scars covering the left side of his face, under his right eye, on his forehead, and splitting his ear smiled in a way that would have unnerved the others a lot more if he had not just mentioned how it was a 'crazy' story. "You guys every hear about Russian Roulette?" Zach wondered.
"Oh yeah," Tsuburaba replied, and he leaned forward more with an anxious but super curious look that Zach would start off his story like this.
"It's a stupid game, for stupid people, who want to win stupid prizes," Komoro said, mentioning 'stupid' three times in it even while giving Zach an interested look too.
"Agreed," Tsunotori said from next to Komori. She glanced to her left while saying it, then turned back right and looked across the table to Zach. "It is stupid for people to play games like that," she said. "An Alabaman man went to the hospital just this last weekend for shooting himself with an arrow while he was playing Arrow Roulette in the woods with some friends."
"That's the south for you," Zach joked in English to the girl across the table from him who opened her eyes wider in surprise at the sudden switch to her native language, and the knowledgeable joke about her home's stereotypes. "Love it down there," he added with a chuckle, as he was not meaning to disparage it just in case that was where Pony was initially from. He lifted up a cup of hot coco he had in front of his tray and took a sip after mentioning it, then he continued while lowering it with both hands, "When you play Russian Roulette though, it's got to be with a gun. At least it was when I played-"
"Are you serious?" Kendo asked in disbelief.
"No way," Honenuki started.
"Are you telling us the truth?" Tetsutetsu began harshly. "Or is this-"
"I'm serious," Zach said, looking around at the group with that unnerving smile on his face again as he was really telling a 'crazy' story here.
"What would have happened if you got the barrel with the bullet it in?" Kendo asked. Her voice was worried and she looked at him in an uneasy way that he would play such a risky game with his life on the line.
"I did," Zach replied though, surprising and confusing the others who wondered if they did not know the rules to the game or something. "Actually," Zach continued with a low chuckle. "Five of the six chambers had bullets in them so the chances weren't in my favor from the start."
At this point, Zach had everyone's attention on the story and all of them were looking at him with big eyes. "Why would you, put five?" Honenuki started in disbelief then more confusion as Zach did not seem to be making this up. Is he just fucking with us? Honenuki had to wonder, as the story sounded unbelievable. "How did you survive?"
"Were you playing a different way, from the movies?" Tsuburaba asked.
"Why would you do it?" Komori asked too, feeling like this should have come first.
Zach looked towards the short brunette girl and nodded as he figured that should come first too. "I was in disguise," Zach started. "Trying to infiltrate some really, really crazy villains in Mexico." He stopped for a second and then continued to the group who were staring at him with wide eyes at how specific this was getting, "In order to join their group I had to do something insane which normally meant for them, killing innocents or breaking some crazy laws. I showed off in a different way how messed up I was and how far I was willing to go to join them."
Zach paused and leaned his head forward over the table a bit. "I loaded up a six-barrel revolver while talking to them about joining, then I mentioned Russian Roulette while taking one of the bullets back out. I made it out like I was going to take more out, but then as I looked at the gun like that I just smirked and flicked that single bullet I took out up in the air. I spun the cylinder in front of me while all those villains stared at me getting more and more shocked at what I was doing." The others at Zach's table were looking at him with bigger and bigger eyes as he continued this story further too, their jaws dropping at what he was getting at. "And then," he continued. "I snapped my left arm out to the side so the spinning cylinder would click into the pistol."
He paused for a moment and then continued in less a story-telling voice and more like he was revealing something to them, "The secret was that in the moment everyone was distracted by my snapping of the gun out to the side, I caught the bullet I had flicked up in between my teeth and hid it in my mouth."
"Why?" Komori asked, leaning over the table herself and then realizing after she asked just how invested in this story she was all of a sudden.
Zach smirked at her and he just continued, "After I locked the revolver's cylinder back in I pressed the barrel to my temple and fired. As I said before, there was a bullet in it, but I transformed my head into Death between where the barrel was pressed and my opposite temple," he reached up and touched one side of his head and then the other with a motion of his index finger like something passing through it. "I made it pure Death for a moment so the bullet would pass through."
"You can do that?" Honenuki wondered in surprise. "Without touching your chest or head with your right hand?"
"Oh yeah," Zach replied. He lowered his left hand to right in front of his chest, and he stuck his index finger up making a small flame of darkness appear over it. He curled all of his other fingers up and then down, with tiny flames igniting and extinguishing over each one when it fully extended. Then he lowered back down his hand as he figured he should not be doing that with other people still watching him, or even just with these six watching him as it was a a risky move to make. None of the six in front of him reacted in an angry way though, more just surprised that he was able to control Death so freely like that. "I've got much better control over Death now than ever-"
"So what happened when you shot yourself in the head?" Tsuburaba asked, snapping his eyes back up from Zach's hand as he needed to know how this story ended.
"Haha," Zach laughed at the way Tsuburaba worded that question. It would sound crazy to anyone listening in, but Zach responded to him with a smirk again, "We were outside in someone's backyard, and no one saw that the bullet actually went flying out my head's other side into the dirt. They were too focused on my falling down, acting like I had just blown my brains out." He continued to smirk like that while the others dropped their jaws again picturing what Zach was describing. Back after the Battle of 6 Armies, when I had the time for more frequent long-term infiltrations. Even if this one was pretty quick, he added to himself. "I popped back up after they all thought I was dead though, spooking the men who leaned or jumped back and yelled at me. Then I stuck my tongue out with the bullet on my tongue like it was the one I just shot into my head, and I blew all their frickin' minds."
"Holy-" Tsuburaba began, but he was unable to even say 'shit' as he was too amazed by this story. He actually did something like this?!
"They thought it was magic or something," Zach added. "Some accused me of having a different Quirk, but I turned my eyes red again for them and reminded them I only had slow-mo vision." He flashed his eyes red for a second to show them how easy that was for him too, and he only turned his hazel irises red instead of even the whole whites of his eyes, though they did see those whites tinting red like he could have gone all the way there but chose not to. Zach's eyes returned to normal and he sat back with his smirk going down into a regular smile again, and he sipped his hot chocolate before finishing, "They were impressed enough by how crazy I was acting and by my magic trick that they let me join and brought me to see their boss down in Nicaragua, who I promptly turned on and took down with all the others in his gang. Then I left them for the authorities I tipped off who were already looking for them."
He finished his story, only having used a few specifics which were the countries' names alone. He never mentioned the gang's name, or the leader's, or who the 'authorities' were who Zach turned the villains in to. A couple of the Class B's noticed that at the end as they were thinking of how crazy the story was. Tetsutetsu did not realize it yet though, and he lost his shocked expression for a moment with his hands curling into fists under the table. "Telling us all that-"
"What did I really admit to?" Zach wondered. "To be charged for a crime, you have to know what the crime was," Zach started directly to Tetsutetsu who froze and stared at Zach Sazaki with huge eyes at what he was saying. "You have no specifics. There is no proof of what I've done. And admittedly, maybe I just lied about all of that," Zach said with a raise of his eyebrows at the silver-haired teen. "It would never count as a confession. Not legally. It may be a loophole," he added with a glance at Tsunotori, then to his right side at Honenuki and Tsuburaba. "But it's a loophole I use every time I talk about the stuff I was up to."
Tsuburaba started shaking his head, as what Zach said made sense to him and he decided to stop even questioning if he could do anything with this information. Of course he wouldn't just incriminate himself with stuff we could actually go on here. Damn, I can't believe he's able to say stuff like that though, and actually get away with it!
"That's, crazy though," Kendo began to Zach, speaking on his story and not what Zach just said that had Tetsutetsu confused and trying to figure out if Zach was right. Honenuki looked across at his classmate though and nodded when Tetsutetsu looked at him confusedly, checking if Zach really was right there. Kendo continued when Zach looked at her, "To have even tried something like that," she began, almost disapprovingly yet there was a tone of how impressed she was in there too.
"You were really, sneaking into international criminal groups like that?" Komori wondered, not hiding at all how impressed she was even the way in which Zach did that.
"It's what I have the most experience with," Zach joked with a bigger grin that had all the others dropping their jaws that he was joke about that. It was good work, he thought to himself nostalgically. I was doing a lot, doing stuff like that. Even how I took on Rancor was just like it. I could be doing that a lot more- but I'm not anymore. That's not the current goal. I'm getting a lot done here too. I finally told Todoroki all about Touya! That's, that's something. Zach lowered his smile down a little but kept it up for the other people looking towards him who he did not want to appear dark at all for. Even his smiles before that his classmates had thought seemed crazy only looked that way to them because of the conversation they were having, while to others it would just look like he was smiling and talking to other young heroes.
Tetsutetsu finally frowned after dropping his jaw there for a few seconds at Zach's joke. "You were still doing stuff like that, even what happened when you infiltrated the League?"
Tetsutetsu's tone was less harsh as he was saying it, more just curious despite it being gruff too. He thought about the clips he had seen at the Sports Festival while asking, as he could not believe Zach would keep trying stuff like that after what had happened the first time. Others glanced at Tetsutetsu wishing he had not brought that up too, while Kendo and Honenuki just kept watching Zach's face to see how he would respond to it. Zach shrugged his shoulders though after a moment, and he countered, "I learned from my failures. Got better at it, so those kind of consequences wouldn't happen again."
His response had Tetsutetsu staring at him in shock, and a feeling of admiration grew inside him too at Zach's response that was steady and unwavering despite their harsh questioning of what he had done. "I wasn't allied with anyone. Wasn't infiltrating alongside any other group, so there was no one who knew my true intentions, and no one to reveal to the villains that I wasn't really one of them. Just like how I first took on the League, since it was pretty obvious I didn't have the support of any heroes when I joined up with them. Before VTS, I really had gained the trust of the LoV, and if I knew how to get in with villains as crazy as them, I could infiltrate anywhere."
"No one recognized you though?" Tsuburaba wondered softly, shocked to hear all this but still trying to keep it up as a conversation too.
"Once I cover up my scars, no one recognizes me at all," Zach replied. "They pretty much define my appearance now, so removing them makes it hard for anyone to know it's me. On top of that I change up a few more things too, and bam. No one knows it's me." Which is something I could still be doing. Damn it. Stop thinking about that- All that stuff I was doing in the months before getting sent to the Void. Before I decided to come back. I came back! I can't leave now! I knew that- Zach lowered his smile a little more, and he leaned back on his seat with a sigh and then a clap of his hands in front of him. "Well, you guys look like you've still got a lot to finish," he started suddenly.
The U.A. Class B students looked down at their food and then to Zach's plate and drink, noticing only then how he had finished everything while they were too busy being shocked by him all that time. "See you guys back out there," Zach said. "Hope to catch up with you again soon. Next time you've got to tell me your 'craziest' stories of the past year and a half," he added, and he chuckled while grabbing his helmet and warmer gloves.
He stood up and almost turned away from the table, but Kendo started before he could, "Thank you-" Zach looked back towards her, and the others sitting there looked at Kendo too in surprise. Her mouth froze open like that, as she said it quickly because she had told herself for a year that the next time she saw him she would be sure to say it. "Thanks, for coming back," Kendo finished, though she yelled at herself internally after correcting herself in that way. "Don't leave again," she told him, giving him a serious look as she said it.
"Yeah," Tsuburaba agreed, smiling again and looking over his shoulder too as he said it. "Kuroiro's going to be pissed he didn't come today. You should hit him up," he added, and Zach smiled softly while looking back to Kosei.
He nodded at the Class B student, and he thought of the dark boy from Class B who had probably been his best friend in the class. "Monoma too," Honenuki added, finally looking back himself after taking in a deep breath and just letting all those sketchy things Zach said shift into the back of his mind. "They'd both be glad to hear from you."
Zach nodded again at Honenuki this time, then he rose up his left hand that had his gloves in it and made a small wave at the group of Class B students. "See ya," he said, and he turned away from them and headed back off through the lodge. He was only ten steps away, when a lot of other people at the nearby tables got up and rushed over to the Class B students. They wanted to talk to the famous heroes and U.A. students, and they wanted to ask questions about Lifebringer and if they were all friends with him still to meet up with him at Yuki Yama like this.
Zach glanced over his shoulder and chuckled while getting close to the doors back out to the mountain, then he reached up and covered his face with his black ski mask. His lips curled back down and he let out a sigh, Can't keep training like I was before. They were right about me influencing other people out there. Time to head home I guess. I'll fly off from the other side of the mountain. Good thing there's some good cloud cover today, and not that far from the top of the mountain too…
A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the story Zach told the Class B students about one of his vigilante infiltrations in the time before he was sent into the Void but after he won the Battle of the 6 Armies. Had the idea for this chapter a while back and thought this'd be a good place for it, even if it didn't advance too much of what's going on right now, though it still reveals to us more of what Zach was up to in the late days of his war. Anyway, leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter, comments, predictions, or questions for the story ahead! Going to continue writing 180 right now, but I've got a long day at work tom so doubt I'll get it up before mid-week. 'Til then though... review responses:
yasideen1 chapter 178 . 15h ago
Thanks for the chapter once again author-sama
ありがとうござい
いいえ Thanks for another review!
Momozaki chapter 178 . 11h ago
Great chapter!
That was a heavy conversation.
Is there still hope for Momozaki? Even if the conversation was earnest, I swear the ship's almost sinking now.
Never one to back y'all up on your ships, nor deny 'em, but we'll see if hope lingers there moving forward. Thanks for the review and glad you liked the chapter and conversations!
GuestP chapter 178 . 1h ago
After this chapter, I think I'd be fine if Zach just ended up finding someone else to love. Honestly, at this point I feel like even if Zach and Momo got back together, it would lead to more heartbreak than it would love. It's like how some relationships are: I don't like you but I love you. So, Zach finding someone else or just staying alone with the love of his friends, well, I think it'd still be a good ending for his relationship status.
Midoriya finally understands Zach without criticizing too much, finally tho 'cause honestly Mido was getting a bit annoying with his incorrect morals (lol) and Zach's obvious OP-ness being overlooked and not fully acknowledged or even seen. Midoriya's smart but sometimes he overthinks things and that's what leads to his 'not really understanding but understanding' thing. Luckily that's not the case in this chapter (FINALLY!).
Awesome job on this chapter, was really excited to see an update!~
Can't wait for the next chapter!~~
Didn't have to wait long for that next chapter XD! Midoriya def sees last chapter the full extent of what Zach was really doing as Zach explains taking down King, the most powerful villain in the world, in a total victory. Again, we'll see about any MomoxZach, and no spoilers! Glad you liked the chapter, and thanks for reviewing!