Kanami sits in the corner of the infirmary, waiting for her turn to see Recovery Girl. All Might sits beside her in silence, setting the young girl even more on edge than when she and her friends had been when getting yelled at by the police force. She squirms in her seat a bit, growing more uncomfortable by the minute. Unable to take it any longer, she takes a deep breath and sits on her hands.
"Are you mad?" Her voice is quiet when she asks, but All Might has no trouble hearing her in the secluded area. He lets out a sigh, leaning back in his seat.
"No, I'm not mad." His reply is just as quiet as her question had been. Kanami feels the tightness in her chest loosen ever so slightly. "I am disappointed, however." And it's back, she winces, feeling her chest tighten right back up. "What were you thinking, Sato?" He asks, finally looking at the first-year girl. Her shoulders are slouched, her head bowed, her limbs all tucked in as tightly to her as possible, making her seem even smaller than she is.
"We just wanted to help," she whispers, "we were right there, we didn't know when one of you would get word of what had happened." When she looks up at him, All Might's heart aches at the look in her eyes. "I'm not sorry for what we did," she admits, shocking All Might with the truth of her words. "If we hadn't stepped in, it could have been a lot worse than it was. But I do accept that our actions were out of line and not allowed, and for that I am sorry. We were just doing what we thought was best." Despite their situation, All Might finds himself smiling at the now sixteen-year-old girl.
"I understand." Kanami's eyes widen in shock at his words, forcing him to chuckle. "More than you know, actually. While I cannot condone your actions, I think you should know that you behaved like a true hero today." Kanami feels the corners of her lips twitch up into the smallest of smiles even as tears sting her eyes.
"Thank you, sir." Recovery Girl pulls away the curtain, startling the two.
"You better not be making her cry, All Might," she threatens. The tall man quickly stands up, shaking his head. "Where were you hurt, dear?"
"It's just a few bumps and bruises, I was able to stay out of most of it." Recovery Girl nods, looking over the first-year student.
"You know, I was advised to let the more minor injuries heal themselves." Kanami lowers her head, more than understanding. "But, seeing as it wasn't your idea and you were able to keep a level enough head throughout the ordeal, it couldn't hurt to patch you up real quick," she adds with a wink. Kanami smiles, suppressing a chuckle, as the short woman presses a kiss to her forehead. Kanami watches in awe as her bruises and scrapes fade away within seconds.
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Thank you for getting everyone back in one piece." Kanami scratches the back of her head, nervously.
"I really didn't do that much," she confesses, feeling uncomfortable all over again.
"The others told me what you did," Recovery Girl states, gaining All Might's interest. "If you hadn't kept the L.o.V. subdued for as long as you had, or drawn them to you when you did, there would have been a very different outcome. You did well, Sato." Kanami blushes under the praise and follows All Might out of the infirmary.
"Is that true?" He asks once they are out of earshot. "Did you keep the entire league under your control?" She nods, keeping her eyes on the ground. "How did you do it?" She shrugs as they make their way down the hallway.
"We stopped for earplugs on the way for the other students so they wouldn't be affected. I was able to keep most of them in one place for a while, but I noticed a group of them sneaking up on the others. I just started singing one of the saddest songs I know. Before I knew it, they were walking away from the others and towards me, almost like they were in a trance or something," she admits. All Might feels his eyebrows draw together in concern.
"You mean, you weren't trying to influence them into coming to you?" Kanami shakes her head.
"I didn't even realise I'd started singing. I was trying to think of a way to help them and it just… came out." I'll have to remember to bring this up to the others, he decides. They reach the doors leading outside and he turns to face her.
"Think you'll be able to make it back to your room okay?" She smiles up at him, nodding her head. "Alright, make sure to get lots of sleep tonight."
"Yes sir, you too," she replies, forcing a smile out of the both of them.
"I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early!" He calls out as she starts walking away. She turns around to wave and turns down the path towards her dormitory. She soon sees the large building and sighs in relief. I'm going to take a hot shower, get some dinner, maybe read a little before bed, she thinks to herself, smiling happily even as a yawn escapes and she rubs her eyes.
"Kanami!" She turns around to find a very angry looking Katsuki quickly closing the distance between them. "What the hell were you thinking?" A look of confusion quickly takes over her previously exhausted features.
"What, what are you talking about?" She reaches over to rest a hand on his arm, trying to calm him down, and flinches as he roughly pulls away from her.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about! How could you be so stupid as to go off on your own like that?" He yells. Her eyes widen in realisation, So he's heard.
"Katsuki, it's not as bad as I'm sure they're saying," she begins, gently, trying to ease his frazzled nerves.
"No, it's worse! What was the plan, huh? A couple of first-year students go out, take on the League of Villains, and come back unscathed? You're smarter than that!" With each word he yells at her, Kanami can feel her own anger growing inside of her.
"Well, what were we supposed to do? Sit back and hope the pro heroes get there in time?"
"Yes!" He yells, loud enough to make her flinch again. His hands fist at his sides as she crosses her arms over her chest. "That is exactly what you were supposed to do! Not take off on a suicide mission."
"I seem to recall you and your class doing the same thing on several occasions, and you seemed to think it was a good idea then," she counters. Even as she tries to keep her emotions under control, she can hear how harsh her words sound, practically biting.
"That was different!"
"How? How was it different?"
"We were strong enough to handle it!" At his words, Kanami feels all the air rush out of her lungs and her face fall. Tears sting her eyes as she averts her gaze, forcing herself to take deep breaths, even as her jaw clenches and the muscles in her neck tighten under the strain of containing her distress. Katsuki then realises what exactly he had said and physically deflates, running a hand through his already dishevelled hair for the umpteenth time that evening. "Shit, Kanami… I, I didn't - "
"Don't," she cuts him off. "You've said enough." Her voice breaks. She turns around and walks into her dorm building. She walks directly up to her room, neglecting both dinner and the shower she had planned on having, choosing instead to lay in her bed as she let out all of the pent up fear, anger, and frustration from the last twelve hours. She hadn't even realised they were there until her argument with Katsuki.
Cursing, Katsuki makes his own way back to his room, his anger forming an almost tangible shield between him and anyone who may have been stupid enough to approach him. How could I have been so stupid, he asks himself once safely locked away from the others. He knew Kanami struggled with her own abilities, often feeling weaker than her peers. She worried she wasn't meant to be a hero, that her family had been right in pushing her towards being an entertainer. He knew all of her insecurities, and he had still said she was too weak to handle herself in a fight. He runs his hands through his hair again, tugging at the strands in frustration. Why couldn't I just tell her I'd been worried about her, he chastises himself, throwing a pillow across the room and knocking over his desk lamp.
Of course, he had known something was off when she didn't show up to lunch, he'd been concerned when she didn't respond to his text, but when he heard someone from 1-A had been taken, again, and that several students had taken off after that student? He knew what had happened. He was the first at the gate when they were escorted back, trying to get a glimpse of her. He'd hounded every student that had left Recovery Girl's office before her for details. Heard how Kanami had probably saved everyone there. And you still told her she couldn't handle it. He curses to himself, barely stopping himself from adding a hole to his wall. A loud knock sounds from the other side of his door and he practically snarls at it.
"What?" He yells, clearly not in the mood for company.
"Bro, we gotta go," Eijiro tells him, voice urgent. "There's been an attack, there's a girl on her way to the hospital." At his words, Katsuki's eyes widen and he throws his door open, following his friend down the stairs and out the front door to one of the ground floor classrooms. Upon entering, they find All Might, Aizawa, and Yamada waiting at the front of the room. They wait until the rest of the 3-A students are seated before informing them of their current situation.
"I'm sure you've all heard by now," All Might begins, a sense of urgency to his otherwise controlled tone, "but for the sake of clarity, I will repeat the evening's events. A second-year student, Minami Kiku, made an attempt on her life just thirty minutes ago." Several students gasp at the news. Katsuki feels his eyebrows lower, What does that have to do with us? Hitoshi picks up on where the discussion is going and feels his own bored expression harden, eyes narrowing. "We believe it is the work of the same villain we have been dealing with for the last couple of weeks."
"The music one?" Tsuyu Asui questions, a hint of fear touching her voice. Aizawa nods.
"The same."
"Are we sure he's still on campus?" Mina asks, fidgeting slightly in her seat.
"He has to be." Izuku turns a bit to face his classmates. "The campus was put on lockdown the second we found that second-year on the roof. Anyone sick enough to use his quirk to make a girl try to kill herself would have been compelled to watch it play out, and he's not going to be happy that we intervened." Aizawa nods his head in approval from the front of the room.
"Exactly, and as we are short-staffed at the moment, we need your help finding and subduing him. We don't know exactly how his quirk operates, but as music seems to be a recurring theme in his attacks, we've asked one of the other students to sit in on this meeting to offer her input." Her? Katsuki wonders. He couldn't possibly mean… "You can come in now," Aizawa calls through the door. All Might opens the door, granting Kanami entrance. Her hair is up in a messy bun, reflecting mostly greys and purples. She's straightening her tank top, a baggy pair of sweatpants hanging off her hips. She clearly just woke up, Hitoshi thinks to himself, noting the way she rubs her eyes as she tries to hold in a yawn, and just barely stops the smirk from taking over his lips. Katsuki is the first to find his voice in the group of students.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Kanami winces slightly at his tone and carefully avoids his gaze, choosing instead to stare at the photos on the projection screen. "She's a first-year, she doesn't even have a hero permit."
"She's here to consult," All Might reminds him, the warning clear in his tone. "She's the only one of us with any experience in music-related quirks and could provide a unique insight into how this man is acting." All of the third-years stare at Katsuki sympathetically, thinking he must be worried about his girlfriend getting hurt. They aren't aware of the fight they had had just hours before, so don't catch his cheeks flush in embarrassment or the way she refuses to look in his direction, none except Hitoshi. He watches the two, noting their lack of acknowledgment of each other, and shakes his head slightly.
"Are there any videos of this or his previous attacks?" She asks, voice only slightly hoarse from sleep. Aizawa nods to Yamada, who pulls up two videos, one of tonight's attack and another of the one two days ago. "I'd like to see the one from last week first." Yamada presses play and Kanami crosses her arms over her chest, leaning on one leg. The boy on the screen, another UA student from the first-year general studies class, is holding a frightened girl by the arm. The person recording is only just close enough to pick up the words he's singing.
"I'm out here all alone, I tried to call your house, can't reach you on the phone!" With each angry verse, his grip on the girl tightens as she tries to pry her arm from his hand to no avail. The people in the area are kept away by his octopus quirk, tentacles lashing out at anyone he considers too near. "I'm feeling like I keep on talking, I'm repeating myself, my words lost the meaning." He suddenly grips her throat, the girl gasping for breath, as more people try to get close enough to save her. One man tries freezing the tentacles, another attempting to attach them to random surfaces, clearly injuring the rogue student but not enough to stop him. "I keep talking, I repeat myself. I just wanna run." At that moment, he takes off down the street, girl clutched around her torso and throat by his tentacles, arms stuck by her sides. The person recording jumps on a bicycle and manages to catch up. "I just wanna run, throw it away, run before they're findin' me out, I just wanna run!" At that moment, a few pro heroes show up and manage to subdue the student and save the girl.
"Alright," Aizawa clears his throat, getting everyone's attention. "I want all of you to watch the crowds. Look for anyone that was in the last video. Sato, I want you to focus on the girl. Find any similarities between the two events." Kanami shakes her head slightly, taking a deeper breath to prepare herself for the next video, before nodding her head at her teacher. "Yamada, when you're ready."
The second-year student, a tall girl in the hero course, stands on the roof of the training facility, several feet back from the edge. Her head is turned slightly to the side, the wind blowing her nightgown around her legs and her hair in her face. She takes slow, careful steps until she's standing on the edge of the roof, her toes hanging over. The video zooms in, showing her lips mouthing the words to a song those on the ground can't hear. Kanami narrows her eyes at the screen. The girl on the roof rocks on her feet, seeming torn between jumping and backing away. The students and teachers on the ground yell for her to stay where she is, help is on the way. Despite this, right as one of Ectoplasm's clones makes it to the roof, she steps off. Several students turn their faces away, Kanami included as tears burn her eyes. Katsuki's heart drops, both for the injured student and his girlfriend, who seems to be struggling to keep it together.
"The girl miraculously survived and is in the infirmary with Recovery Girl. She should pull through." A few students sigh in relief.
"I didn't notice any similarities in the two videos," Ochako mumbles, still trying to reign her emotions in.
"Certainly no one who looked pleased or satisfied at the scene," Tokoyami Fumikage adds, voice level, though his expression betrays a certain disgust with what he had just witnessed.
"Sato, did you notice anything?" Aizawa asks, keeping his voice gentle. She's just a kid, he can't help but think with pity, she hasn't had the experience the others have. He watches as she takes a deep breath, eyes closed, and releases it before looking up at the screen once more.
"Could you play it from the beginning again, please?" She requests. She surprises nearly everyone in the room with her level voice. Even Hitoshi, who had grown used to her inability to hide her emotions, cannot help but be impressed with her control over her features and voice. As Yamada presses play, she moves closer to the screen until she's standing mere inches away.
They watch, again, as the student makes her way to the edge of the roof before stopping. The camera zooming in. The third-year class and few present teachers watch as Kanami slowly starts humming. A few of the students share confused expressions, but remain quiet so as not to disturb her. Her humming turns to quiet singing as she reads the girl's lips on the screen. "Feels like the weight of the world, like all my screaming has gone unheard. And oh, I know you don't believe in me. Safe in the dark, how can you see?" She shakes her head, turning her back on the screen, tears in her eyes. "That's enough." Yamada quickly stops the video as Kanami swallows passed the lump in her throat. She rubs her arm, expelling a deep breath, and closes her eyes. "He won't be in the video because he's on the roof with her."
"How do you know?" Katsuki blurts out without meaning to.
"In the first two and a half seconds, she isn't facing the edge of the roof, she's looking off to the side," she explains, voice low. "He talked her up there and stayed until he was sure she would comply. The song she's singing is an old rock song about depression. In both songs, the chorus acted as instructions, telling them what to do. In the first video, the girl was the boy's girlfriend, they had gotten in a fight and he was angry, which is why he took her captive before running away, just like the song said." Katsuki winces at the similarity to his own situation and quietly exits the room, suddenly finding it hard to breathe in the small conference room. "Likewise, in this instance, if we were to look into her history I'm sure there would be some kind of history of depression, or at the very least she's had a really bad time as of late. The chorus in her song talks about free falling and being let go by the ones who love her. Letting go of herself." She finally looks up at her teachers. "He's preying on people in a fragile emotional state. They have to be upset for him to get into their heads."
"Do you think he's using music to affect them?" Snipe asks from the back of the room. She thinks for a moment before shaking her head.
"No, from what I heard, there was no sign of music in either area. I think it's something that draws the music out of them," she explains. At their puzzled expressions, she sticks her hands in the pockets of her pants, an action distinctly similar to Hitoshi's usual posture. Aizawa glances between the two students, nearly smirking at the similarity. "When people around me are feeling a certain way, I can almost hear music coming from them, something that directly correlates with how they're feeling at the time." Aizawa's eyebrows lower as he glances at All Might, who's wearing a similar expression. "I don't know if he has that ability, but if he can tell they're upset, it seems like he might be able to draw out a person's song, making them the conduit for it, and amplifying that emotion to make them lash out in some way."
"So, if you're emotionally stable, then you're safe?" Izuku asks, looking concerned.
"For now, it's a theory," All Might begins, "we need to get this under control. For now, we'll look for anyone that doesn't belong on campus to rule out an intruder. If we don't find anyone like that, then we'll check all of the student records to see if anyone here might fit the description and bring them in for questioning. I don't want anyone alone, so you'll all be going in groups of three. Sato, thank you for your help, we'll have one group escort you back to your dorm. If you think of anything else that may be of use, call one of us." She nods her head, already making her way to the door.
"Hey, where'd Kacchan go?" Izuku asks, looking around the room. The others look as well, finding their classmate missing. Kanami glances down the hall, only to find it empty. She looks back in the room and shakes her head while the students share a concerned look.
"Midoriya, Shinsou, take Miss Sato back to her dorm and then go look for Bakugou," Aizawa orders. The three students nod their heads, walking out into the hallway. Hitoshi immediately picks up on Kanami's nervous energy.
"What's going on?" He asks, making her jump.
"I'm worried," she admits. Izuku rests a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at her reassuringly.
"Don't be, I know Kacchan can be a little hot-headed, but he's got a better control on his temper than he used to." Kanami shakes her head as he holds the door open for her.
"We got in a fight just a couple of hours before that girl was found." Both boys look at her in surprise. That explains why Kacchan was so tense when she walked in, Izuku realises. At that moment, a large explosion sends a mushroom cloud over the forest just to the right of the main classroom building. Kanami's eyes widen, fear taking over. "Katsuki," she whispers just before taking off in the direction of the explosion.
"Sato, wait!" Izuku yells, running after her, Hitoshi easily matching his pace. The small first-year weaves in and out of trees, jumping over bushes. She stops just before a clearing, ducking behind a row of taller shrubs. The boys catch up, about to yell at her for taking off, when they catch what she's staring at. Katsuki stands in the middle of the clearing, singed ground all around him, his breathing ragged. Kanami's heart aches at the sight of his pained expression. His voice easily carries in the silence as he starts singing to a melody only Kanami can hear.
"So call the nurse, cause it's worse when I'm alone. I've fallen prey to a curse I can't disown, is it all in my head?" He clutches his head in both hands, pulling at his hair, as he falls to his knees. Hitoshi and Kanami glance at each other, recognising the song as one Hitoshi had shown her in their last training session. "When I'm at hands of a mental filled with doubt, but this is love I just can't live without, despite the thought of the dead." Hitoshi and Izuku both look at Kanami at her quiet gasp. He loves me? She shakes her head in an attempt to clear it, It's just the song lyrics, this isn't what he's being made to do, she reminds herself. She watches in silence, trying to think of a way to counter the quirk effecting Katsuki, as he throws his head up to the sky. "So howl at the moon, oh how can it be? The softer the skin the sharper the teeth. With nowhere to go, nothing to believe, I'm counting on beauty to kill off the beast." Her eyes widen in realisation at what he was quirked to do. Without thinking, she stands up and makes to enter the clearing before two hands grab her arms on either side and pull her back down.
"What are you doing?" Izuku questions her in shock.
"I think I know how to help him." He's like this because of our fight, she realises, he feels bad about hurting me, if I can alter the song enough to change the tone of it, it should be enough to snap him out of it before he self-destructs.
"You can't go out there," Hitoshi warns, concern softening his eyes for a moment as he stares at her. "He'll kill you." Her eyes narrow as her brows lower, disappointment shining through for a moment before settling in determination.
"No, he won't." She shakes off their grip on her arms and enters the clearing before either of them can stop her.
"You bit off more than you could chew," she sings, voice carrying across the area, quickly getting his attention. Katsuki's eyes flash in recognition as she slowly makes her way over to him, keeping her eyes locked on his. Hitoshi and Izuku notice his hands glowing, warning of an incoming explosion, but don't move for fear of putting her in greater danger.
"But you taste too good to be true." She holds out her arms, earning a look of confusion from the tall blonde.
"Safe in my arms you will lay, cause every dog has its day." When Katsuki is close enough, she wraps her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.
"Dog has its day," he repeats, pulling her away, but keeping his hands on her upper arms. "So howl at the moon."
"Oh how can it be?"
"The softer the skin the sharper the teeth." As they both sing together, the heat from his hands burns Kanami's arms, forcing her to wince, closing her eyes tight, but not backing away. Hitoshi moves to run over when Izuku grabs him, eyes wide as he can see the battle warring inside of his friend.
"With nowhere to go," Katsuki starts, tightening his grip on the girl. She looks him directly in the eyes as she sings the next verse, activating her own quirk to influence the one affecting Katsuki.
"Nothing to believe, I'm counting on beauty to save us our beast." At her change in the lyrics, Katsuki shakes his head and releases her. Before he can pull away, she grabs on to his shirt, holding him in place. His expression turns pained, trying to escape but feeling compelled to stay near her, wanting to stay near her.
"So howl at the moon."
"Oh how can it be?" Kanami reaches up and rests a hand on his cheek, forcing him to look down at her.
"The softer the skin the sharper the teeth." He grips her hips, hands heating up again, quickly causing her pain, but she refuses to wince or break eye contact. "With nowhere to go."
"Nothing to believe, I'm counting on beauty to save us our beast." Just as the pain is too much, before he can sing the final line of the song, she grabs the back of his head and forces his lips to hers, cutting him off with a kiss. Hitoshi and Izuku look on, eyes wide, watching his hands glow brighter until they light up the field around them. As the kiss goes on, they can see the glow slowly fade until it disappears completely. She did it, Hitoshi thinks, beyond shocked. They finally pull apart when Kanami feels the heat from his hands recede, both breathing heavily. Katsuki shakes his head, clearing it of the haze that had taken over when he left the conference room, looking down at Kanami, When did she get here? There are matching burns on both of her arms, bruised around the edges. Her tank top burnt away where his hands still rest and, when he removes them he sees two, large burn marks there as well. He traces gentle fingers around the edges of the injuries, careful not to touch the actual burns. As the cold air hits her fresh burns, Kanami shivers, wincing at the pain it causes her arms. Katsuki quickly looks at her face, finding her pained expression moments before she recomposes herself.
"Kanami… I -"
"We should get going," she interrupts, backing away from him as she wraps her arms around her waist in an attempt to keep warm against the chill in the air. "Find the teachers." She turns away from him and heads back in the direction they had come from. When she reaches Hitoshi, he already has his jacket unzipped and in his hands for her. She smiles, gratefully, as he drapes it carefully over her shoulders, and walks with him back towards the classroom buildings in an attempt to find the teachers before they head out. Izuku hangs back and waits while Katsuki stares after the two students in shock.
"Kacchan," Izuku calls out softly, "what happened?" Katsuki shakes his head, lightly, still staring off in the direction his girlfriend had disappeared in.
"I don't know," he admits. "One minute I was in the hall, there was this voice, and then…" He looks over at Izuku, fear in his eyes. "I hurt her." Izuku's lips press together in a tight line, unsure of how to handle this new, vulnerable Katsuki. It's like finding a wild animal with an injury, he muses.
"She told us about the fight. We think that's why he was able to get you." Katsuki runs his hands through his hair, again, as he goes back to staring into the forest.
"I hurt her then, too," he admits, quietly, as his jaw clenches in frustration. Izuku shifts a bit on his feet, debating whether or not to tell him what exactly happened.
"How much do you remember?" He asks his former bully.
"Glimpses, but not enough to have a real clue of when or how I did that." Izuku nods, taking a few steps closer.
"Do you remember saying you love her?" Katsuki looks to Izuku, his expression one of complete shock. "I'll take that as a no. She knows it was just part of the song, I don't think you should have to explain it away," he explains, trying to ease as much of the boy's guilt as he can. Katsuki shakes his head, looking back and forth between the school and the green-haired boy he used to torment.
"It wasn't just part of the song," he interrupts, "it wouldn't have been in it if it was." Izuku watches Katsuki working through his thoughts. "The words are deliberate, I remember something feeling… wrong when she started changing the words, that wasn't supposed to happen. It's like… it's like he finds your biggest worries and makes them the forefront of your thoughts. All I can remember is thinking about her face when we had that argument and how scared I was to lose her." At the end of his confession, he looks up to find Izuku smirking at him. "What the hell are you smiling about, Deku?" He snarls out. Izuku chuckles, patting him on the shoulder.
"You tell her all that, you two will be just fine. Come one, maybe we can catch her before she goes to see Recovery Girl. You're no good to anyone if you're still a mess when we go on patrol." Despite himself, Katsuki finds himself smirking as he shakes his head, following his rival back towards the school.
"Thanks, Deku. You tell anyone about this -"
"And you'll kill me, I got it," he interrupts, sounding far more amused than threatened. Unbeknownst to them, the cause of all of this is sitting in the bushes not sixty feet away, watching everything play out.
"Boss will be very interested in this development," he sneers to himself, more than disappointed the boy did not blow himself up. His thoughts return to the girl who had ruined his song. "She could be a great ally," he admits, however begrudgingly. Quickly, he turns around and exits the school through a small portal disk he had borrowed for this very purpose, disappearing into the night.