I sleep now.
— X Izuku X—
Izuku was halfway through pulling one of Gesshoku's blades back to him using Horin, the Hollow he had killed disintegrating around the blade when the quake came from the distance. Hesitating for a second, Izuku took off in a burst of Shunpo, landing on one of the buildings nearby to see the Villain attack going on below him, resealing Gesshoku as he went. Standing there, laughing, was a giant of undulating muscle howling as blood ran down the left side of his face, a shattered hockey mask on the other half.
Below him, sending Izuku's stomach twisting into knots, were a pair of broken bodies that Izuku didn't even need to check to see if they had died. The ravaged Pluses standing above them, broken Chains of Fate dangling limply from the center of their chests, gave that away.
"Getsuga," Izuku growled, tightening his grip on Gesshoku. Green energy gathered around the blade, and Izuku brought it down in a torrent of Reishi. The edge of the building he was on vanished, and the man stopped laughing as the invisible blast crashed into him and sent him flying through several walls. Izuku hopped down, walking towards the man with his grip on Gesshoku growing so tight the leather of the grip groaned in protest.
That was when the couple put themselves between him and the man, the male facing Izuku while the woman faced the man who was standing from a crumbling building, blood pouring down before more muscle formed and stitched the wound shut. He hadn't swung to kill.
That had been a mistake he wasn't going to repeat.
"Move aside, please," Izuku asked the couple softly, adjusting his grip on Gesshoku. This was technically outside of his jurisdiction beyond performing Konsō, but what Rukia didn't find out about didn't hurt anyone.
Well, anyone except the murderer.
"Who did that!?" The man demanded loudly, throwing aside rubble and marching towards the crowd. The woman rushed between them, only for him to pass through her without breaking stride. He watched her eyes widen under the broken helmet she was wearing, and Izuku planted a hand on the man's shoulder, pushing him aside. Pulling his blade back, Izuku gathered enough Spiritual Pressure in his blade and aimed for the neck.
"Getsuga," Izuku started, sliding into a pose that was so familiar he hated it. One foot back, the other forwards, his tattered Shihakusho fluttering in the nonexistent breeze as he brought the blade back. The man gaped as he stabbed forwards and released the build up of Spiritual Pressure, "Tenshou!"
The mockery of Shinsō stabbed out towards the Villain, punching through his spine and out his throat in one swift moment before fading away. His body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, leaving his Plus standing over it with a look of confusion on his bleeding face.
"Hello," Izuku said politely but mournfully, swinging out his badge with one hand and dangling it from the rope it was tied to. Medical personnel showed up on the scene behind him, and he tried his best to ignore their desperate attempts to resuscitate the pair of Heroes, "My name is Midoriya Izuku, Substitute Shinigami, and unfortunately, all three of you are now dead."
— X Kazemi X—
Izumi Kazemi blinked as the boy pushed him aside, gripping a sword with a strange, Knuckledustered grip and pulling it back. Green energy gathered around the blade, and the boy grunted, "Getsuga Tensho!"
A flash of green shot from the blade, flying over Kairi's head and sliding through the villain's neck like a hot knife through butter. The man collapsed to the ground with a hole through his throat. And standing over him, was the man again, a broken chain dangling from his chest.
"What the fuck?" The man growled, and the boy reached unto the tattered kimono he was wearing under a jacket that looked like it had been fashioned from bone. He pulled out a wooden talisman with a stylized skull engraved on it as paramedics arrived, rushing right through the boy and towards a pair of bodies and the villain. Kazemi looked down at one of the people he failed, only for his gut to drop out from under him.
That red uniform, the blue tinged plastic over the face. No… no, no, no, no…
"My name is Midoriya Izuku," the boy said as Kazemi stared at his own dead body, "Substitute Shinigami, and unfortunately, you're all dead."
"The hell I am," the man growled, swinging a muscle covered fist for Midoriya's head. The blade came up in an edge facing guard, and fist met met sword.
Muscles that had shattered buildings, that had broken Kazemi's body, exploded into blood as he sword didn't so much as budge.
"I wouldn't try that again," Midoriya said, steel entering his voice for the first time as he did. A simple flex threw the arm back and sent the villain staggering, "in the Spiritual World, the person with less Spiritual Power takes damage when they clash. Go too far, and I will accidentally inflict soul death on you."
"That's a thing?" Kazemi asked, sounding far calmer than he felt, his pulse pounding away in his ears. His pulse, how did he have a pulse if he was dead?
"That's a thing," Midoriya confirmed, "you can die again once you die."
"Which means," the Villain growled, muscles exploding across his body and turning him into a mass of red bulges, "I can kill you-"
"In your dreams," Midoriya said, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudō #9. Geki!"
Red energy gathered around the villain as he took a step forwards, sending him slamming into the ground as Midoriya walked closer to him, spinning his sword around one finger. Stopping it so the blade was facing away from the villain, Midoriya planted the hilt on his forehead.
"I'd wish you luck in the next life," Midoriya said, "but given what you were doing when I got here, something tells me- Yeah, I'm sorry."
Behind the Shinigami and the Villain, a pair of gates formed from light, adorned with a pair of skeletons holding the gate as if to pull it open.
"Goodbye," Midoriya said, the gates rumbling open and revealing a pair of ropes keeping them partially closed. A large, shadowed Something laughed from within the gate, before thrusting a sword out and impaling the Villain from throat to groin and yanking him into the gates, which slammed shut and crumbled to nothing as Midoriya turned away, "and I'm sorry."
-X Izuku X—
Izuku had, he thought, done an admirable job keeping his horror at consigning someone to Hell in check. He was sure the gate was something you got used to, but he had been lucky enough to only see it a handful of times in his life. Had only run into villains bad enough to deserve that fate less than a dozen times.
It still haunted his dreams every time it happened. From Shrieker to now, they still all showed up. And he had little doubt it would happen tonight…
He'd deal with that when it came up, now he had to deal with… with…
"What did you just do to him!?" The female hero demanded, water forming around her hands. Izuku glanced back at the spot the door had been.
"I sent him to Hell," Izuku explained, sighing, "I don't like it at all, but it isn't my choice."
He thought. Was 99% sure. Izuku might be willing to admit he liked a good fight while fighting the good fight, but he didn't think there was a bone in his body that would willingly send someone to Hell. You could become a better person in Soul Society. You couldn't do that in Hell.
"Then whose choice is it?"
"I… I don't know really," Izuku shifted uncomfortably, coughing, "But it's only for really bad people, trust me. I know some… well, some not very nice people who are in the Soul Society."
"That sounds like a cult," the woman snorted.
"It's what the afterlife is called," Izuku shrugged apologetically, "I didn't name it."
"We're really dead then," the man said, speaking up for the first time since he had seen his body, voice devoid of emotion.
"Yes," Izuku said, "I'm sorry, your Chain of Fate has been broken and that means… it means you're dead."
"You don't have a chain," the woman noted, while the man took off his helmet and bent over, heaving. Well, he clearly believed Izuku at least. Izuku wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not though.
"Shinigami don't have one," Izuku explained, "We have something different though, so it levels out. I'm sorry, but you need to go to Soul Soci-"
Izuku angled his head to dodge the wave of water sent at his head, moving so fast the wave was in slow motion for a second. Drops of water splattered across his shoulder, and Izuku stepped further away from the water.
"Please don't do that again," Izuku begged, "I don't want to do this by force, but if I have to use Kidō to perform Konsō again, I will."
Bile splattered across the ground from the man and the woman glanced back at him in the same moment Izuku used Shunpo to arrive at his side and rub his back.
"I know," Izuku said, softly, "I know."
"We're dead," the man said, sitting on a piece of rubble as his wife's body was lifted onto a stretcher and carried into an ambulance by grim-faced EMTs, "We're… Kota!"
"I'm sorry?" Izuku asked.
"Our son, Kota," the man said rapidly, heaving again as he shot up. He began to pace, stepping through his own bile and blood without noticing, "What's going to happen to him?"
"He'll… He'll go to your next of kin, presumably... You do have someone right?" Izuku asked.
"Shino," the man said, voice shaking, "my wife's… my wife's cousin. You can't do anything, really?"
"I wish I could, ah…"
"Izumi Kazemi," the man said, "and this is Kairi."
"I'd say it's nice to meet you both," Izuku said, "but I think we'd both be happier if we had never had the misfortune of meeting honestly."
"You're… nice, for the Shinigami."
"A Shinigami," Izuku said, "and I'm just a substitute. I like to think of us as closer to… do you know the term Psychopomp? It means a guide to the afterlife. We don't judge, we just, well, we make sure people get to where they need to go."
"And if we tried to run?" Kairi asked, Izuku cracked a grim smile and appeared in front of her in a burst of Shunpo.
"I'd catch you," Izuku said, "Please don't make this hard, Izumi. I just want this to be over for both of us."
"But… Kota," her voice warbled, and Izuku's heart ached for her as Kazemi took her hand.
"Shino will take care of him," he said, and Izuku split Gesshoku in two resting the hilts on both of their foreheads, "I know the chances of you meeting him are low, but if you do… tell him we're sorry."
"I will," Izuku said, "and I'm sorry too. Goodbye."
Izuku watched them fade before returning Gesshoku to it's sealed state again. Seconds later, Rukia appeared in a burst of Shunpo.
"Something happened here?"
"Villain fight," Izuku said, stepping over the blood, "three casualties. Two heroes and the villain. I performed Konsō on all three."
"...You know we're not supposed to get involved, right?" Izuku jerked his head to look at Rukia, who guiltily lifted her Soul Pager.
Right. The Substitute Shinigami Badge was a monitoring device. They probably knew he had killed the villain from the moment it happened.
"He was going to hurt civilians," Izuku said, "I couldn't just stand by and let that happen."
"That's not the type of person you are, I know," Rukia said, "Just don't make it a habit."
The silent, unspoken "I have your back this time, don't worry" hung in the air, and Izuku offered her an appreciative smile.
"Any more Hollows in the area?"
"Not at the moment," Rukia said, "back to the house?"
"Back to the house," Izuku agreed easily.
-X Ochako X—
Ochako looked up at the knock at the door of her hotel room, tensing before she stood up and glanced through the peephole. Standing on the other side was a man with a mane of blonde hair wearing a muzzle. Swallowing, she gripped the handle. He was either a Hero or a Villain, that was for sure.
"Who are you?' she asked carefully, opening the door a crack. The man's black eyes met hers, and he sighed.
"I'm the Pro-Hero Hound Dog," he said, "UA sent me to talk about the… incident, earlier. I'm sorry for tracking you down like this, but we felt it wasn't something that should wait if you didn't want it to. Can I come in?"
Ochako hesitated, before pulling the door open and stepping to the side to let him in. His steps were heavy, but not in an intimidating way. Not like the earth shaking quake of the 0-point robot.
He takes off the muzzle, placing it on the table, and falls to his knees, before planting his hands and head to the ground. Dogeza. A member of UA was performing a dogeza bow to her.
"I want to extend, on behalf of the entire faculty of UA, our apology. We should have been far more clear in advance that the Executioner class robot was programmed to pick up lifesigns and would not have harmed you."
Ochako froze in place. What.
"It… it wouldn't have-" wouldn't have stepped on her? Wouldn't have killed her if someone hadn't destroyed it and her Quirk hadn't changed?
"We would never, ever willingly put your life on the line at the Entrance Exam," Hound Dog continued, "and the fact that you would think otherwise was a sharp reminder that we should be doing better than just relying on our status as "the greatest hero school in Japan" to make people accept what we do without question. And because of that, you were hurt today."
"You just said-"
"There are multiple types of injuries,' Hound Dog explained himself, "You might not have been physically hurt, but you were mentally harmed. The fact that you underwent a Quirk Awakening shows that."
Ochako hesitated before saying, "You can stand up."
Hound Dog did so, climbing to his feet and sitting in the chair the hotel had provided with her room. Ochako sat on the large bed across from him. He looked tired, and older than he thought she was. Quiet whimpers came from his mouth and Ochako realized he was muffling his crying. He was really taking this hard.
"Quirk Awakening?" Ochako asked, "I've never heard that term before."
"We… That is, Hero Schools don't advertise it. It's not easy to cause and far easier to just train someone to be more skilled with what they have them to do one, let alone multiple. Essentially, when someone is under sufficient mental duress, a Quirk can… change. Someone with a Quirk that lets them erase gravity from something they touch-
"Can now erase the gravity of things in an area," Ochako finished, "Why are you here, Hound Dog?"
—XRyo X—
"I'm here," Ryo whimpered, trying to get himself under control. He had always been emotional, but he had no right to be crying when the girl they had scared so much wasn't, not that he would have any more right to if she was, "I'm here to discuss what you intend to do going forward. I'm UA's Lifestyle Guidance Counselor and Nezu felt you would… felt you could use my advice right now, if you wanted it. If you don't, I can leave."
"You can stay," Uraraka said, "What advice?"
"We… we weren't sure you would want to continue being a Hero," Ryo admitted, "and if you did, that you wouldn't want to do your education at UA. Both are completely understandable, given our failure."
Uraraka immediately said, "I want to!"
"You… want to?" Ryo said, part of him was unable to believe what he was hearing.
-X Ochako X—
Ochako worried the inside of her cheek, before nodding and breathing in. She had blurted that out without really thinking, but the more she thought about it… "I… when I was stuck under that rubble, I was… I was so scared I was going to die. I was scared about leaving my parents alone with the cost of having to bury me, and mourn for me and wish they hadn't let me go to UA yesterday… and now… that must be how everyone feels right? When they need a Hero?"
"I'd assume so," Hound Dog said.
"I want to be a Rescue Hero like Thirteen," Ochako continued, "My Quirk was… is great for that. A Hero, they destroyed the Zero Point robot. They didn't even know I was trapped probably, they just… they wanted to keep people safe or something. And they destroyed it. But when the villain is defeated, there are still people trapped in dangerous places. I know I won't be able to avoid fighting villains forever, but I can learn to fight before it happens while training to be the best Rescue Hero I can be. I read Thirteen has some sort of facility for that at UA?"
"The USJ," Hound Dog nodded, "ah, that probably sounds like a bad joke. "Unforseen Simulations Joint", not "Universal Studios Japan"."
"Still sounds like someone wanted it to sound like that," Ochako chuckled. Hound Dog huffed a laugh.
"I blame the Principal," he said, "We also have a place named after Tokyo Disneyland. Seems like his sense of humor, in hindsight. You really want to continue at UA? We can pull strings to make sure you get into Shiketsu or any other school in the country."
"You sound sure I'll get into UA," Ochako noticed.
"I'm pretty sure you got enough points to get in," Hound Dog said, "We won't know until the final results come in... well, outside of a few juggernauts, one of whom you're vaguely acquainted with, but I think Principal Nezu already has the results in his head, he just wants to make us feel useful with our input on Rescue Points."
"Rescue Poi- there were points for saving people!?" Ochako stood up, "You mean I could have been focused on that instead of destroying robots!? I only got caught under that rubble because I was trying to sneak in another couple of points!"
"Yeah, in hindsight, maybe it would have been best to tell people about it," Hound Dog said, rubbing the back of his head.
— X Placements X—
UA Placements
Midoriya Izuku: 63 Villain Points, 45 Rescue Points.
Kuchiki Rukia: 54 Villain Points, 53 Rescue Points.
Sado Yasutora: 32 Villain Points, 65 Rescue Points.
Arisawa Tatsuki: 42 Villain Points, 41 Rescue Points.
Bakugo Katsuki: 70 Villain Points, 0 Rescue Points.
— X Tatsuki X—
"H-Hey, this is Midoriya Izuku! I-if you got this, I can't come to the phone right now… uh, obviously, I guess? Leave a message after the tone, please!"
"You really need to update your answering machine message," Tatsuki said, jogging with wireless earbuds in as she approached the beach, "Congratulations, Number One. I'm assuming we're having a party whenever you, Inko and Yuzu stop crying? Anyways, call me when you get back from whatever you're doing, Izu!"
Tatsuki hung up, fishing her buds out of her ears and storing them in her case as she approached the cleaned up beach. Standing there was a tall, skeletal man in a long white T-shirt several sizes too big for his frame and jeans held firmly in place by a belt.
"Yagi-Sensei!" Tatsuki called, and he turned towards her, flashing a grin that would have been famous if he hadn't been skeletal.
"Young Arisawa!" Yagi called back, "You did quite well on the Entrance Exam. I'm sorry you didn't get first after training with me."
Tatsuki snorted, standing in front of the tall skeleton of the Number One Hero and craning her head to look up at him. He blinked, "I'm sorry?"
"I was up against Izuku and Rukia, Yagi-Sensei. I've told you about them, right?"
"Izuku was the one who had suffered an injury last year that he was worried would keep him from the Entrance Exam, right?" Yagi said after a moment of thought, "He definitely wasn't, well, he didn't act injured. I don't know how much I can say without breaking confidentiality…"
"He was completely busted and cut a skyscraper sized robot in two, I know," Tatsuki said, "I'm friends with him, remember Yagi-Sensei? We told each other how the exam went the minute we were done."
"Right, right," Yagi laughed, coughing up some blood as he did so. They really needed to get him checked out by Orihime, like, yesterday, "but I don't think you told me about Rukia? Is she strong?"
"Versatile, more like," Tatsuki said, "Her Quirks lets her create a bunch of effects with chants. Over two hundred of them total. And they're both dual Quirkers," well, Rukia wasn't but it would be a good excuse for Sode No Shirayuki, "I kinda considered third and fourth place the real first and second place. And while I'm kinda surprised Chad, uh, that's Yasutora's nickname among us, beat me, I'm not super angry about it. He didn't have to go to Orihime and Recovery Girl after the Entrance Exam."
"Right," Yagi nodded, "Don't be too upset about it. That was your first time using One for All. Once you get full control of it, you'll blow them all out of the water, kiddo."
Maybe assuming everyone stayed at their current level.
"Anyways, You're gonna be teaching at UA?" Tatsuki said, raising her eyebrows, "Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Confidentiality," Yagi said, like that explained everything.
Thoughts, questions, opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?