Chapter 3 – Explosive Appearance
Shokan's P.O.V.
"It's all your fault!" "Worthless!" "It would be better if you didn't exist!"
My eyelids slowly slid apart as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. I rolled over to the side at the blaring red numbers that read '01:23'. My legs swung over the bed and my feet made contact with the carpeted floors. My body moved over towards the window, silently opening it and exiting the building. I wandered through the streets, bare feet connecting with the cold pavement. I didn't know why or where I was going. I was trudging along without a thought. A puppet pulled along by invisible strings. At the end of my journey, I was standing on the roof of an apartment building. A dull thudding sound echoed in my ears as I was brought to the edge of the building, the increasing beating of my heart thrumming away at my ears. I stepped onto the ledge and looked at the floor that was separated from me by nine stories of air. "DO IT!" six voices yelled in my head. I felt dizzy as my balance shifted to and fro. The last thing I notice before I black out is the wind whipping past my face.
RRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG!
Our maths teacher, the Mathematical Hero: Algebrainiac, reminded us of our homework as he exited the classroom. Walking into the classroom was our homeroom teacher, with the same bored expression that he always wore. I picked at the bandage on my arm as he stood at the podium. "This is an important announcement." Several people tensed, probably scared of the words that would follow. "Today, you will be picking a class president" The reaction was 50/50. Half jumped up and, very noisily, yelled that they wanted to get the role. The other half just sat quietly and watched the panic ensue. I leaned back and closed my eyes as the sunshine girl yelled at the top of her lungs. The bone boy yelled something about girls showing skin and my hand somehow made contact with the back of his head. Very hard. The uproar continued until Gōon said something that got the class to settle down. My consciousness faded before I felt a pull. I opened my eyes and found a piece of paper on my desk. 'We're voting for the position now' I glanced at Reikon and nodded. I swirled my pen in my hand before lazily scrawling Gōon's name on the page. I folded the paper and left it on the desk. After two minutes, Gōon came around and collected the papers. 'This'll be interesting'. The collection was handed to Aizawa and he, with a lot of effort, rose from his relaxed position on his chair and started to tally the votes. The results were not what I was expecting.
Shōkan - / / / / / / (6)
Buki - / / / (3)
Raion - / / (2)
Kyōkan - / / (2)
Reikon - / / (2)
Sekushī - / / (2)
I closed my eyes and groaned. 'Being class rep means more work. It also means that I actually have to care about the class. What a pain…' "Who the hell…?" "Shōkan and Kikai-Teki, get up here…" the Erasure Hero commanded as he battled to keep his eyes open. I slinked to the front as metal-arms stood next to me. I noticed her glancing at me and then looking away with a scowl. "These two will be your class and deputy rep. They have authority and whatever when a teacher is not around. There's a long list of rules, but it's a waste of time to read them. Bottom line; don't abuse your power. Homeroom dismissed…" he finished as he sluggishly left the classroom. I turned my head towards my new 'partner' and she levelled me with a glare before leaving. 'Okay. That happened…'
My head made contact with the table as Sebone heaved with laughter. "HAHAHAHA! Your face when you went up was priceless!" She continued to cackle while the cold metal of the table somewhat soothed my forming headache. I felt a familiar force lift my head off the table and Reikon's worried face came into view. I picked up the rice with my hand and started eating, the other one scratching my bandaged arm. The great taste of the rice calmed me, and I could feel my headache start to disappear completely. "HEEEYYY SHOOOOKAAAAAN!" My headache returned full force as I and many other students turned to see the airhead hurtling towards our table. 'Why did it have to be me?' "Heya buddy! I said we should hang out more, and you said yeah! So Imma just sit here!" "I didn't-" "Thanks man!" I massaged my temples as the blonde ball of sunshine ungracefully dropped herself on the opposite side of the table. I pushed my tray forward and climbed over the back of the seat, mumbling an "I'm not hungry" and leaving the cafeteria. 'I am NOT going to sit down with that noisemaker at lunch!' I walked to the grassy area outside the cafeteria and found Mouthy sitting by himself. For a brief moment, my body swayed in his direction, but I moved to the nearest tree and sat down underneath it. Within three minutes, Sebone and Reikon were silently by my side. I found a chocolate bar in my lap as I glanced at the two of them. 'They're going to be able to live comfortably after all of this is over. I'll make sure it happens. Even if it's the last thing I do.' I unwrapped the bar and we ate in silence. Sitting under the tree as the rest of the world faded away.
Homeroom had come again. We all sat silently while waiting for Aizawa to open the door. The Friday classes had gone by excruciatingly slowly. I felt a gaze on me, and lifted my eyes to see the sunshine girl sitting backwards on her chair. She gave me a wide smile and a wave, and I just stared at her. After several seconds, her face remained the same, so I just sighed and cast my eyes downward. A few seconds later, and the familiar sound of Aizawa opening the door reached my ears. "Before you leave, there's one important announcement…" he began, "The entirety of Monday will be a special lesson on the Rescue section of Heroics. The original plan was to have you go to a newly built area, created by one of our interns, but it hasn't finished its construction. Thus, we will be sending you to another facility, the H.U.C.. Bring snacks and whatever for the bus. You are all dismissed."
As soon as he made his way out of the classroom, excited whispers broke out amongst the class. 'Rescue training… I wonder how that's going to work. Are they going to set buildings on fire and have us rescue people? No, that sounds stupid.' I look up and see the last few people filtering out the door. I grab my bag and head for the door, Sebone and Reikon fall into step next to me. I prepare to exit the door, but I find that it is blocked by a mile-wide smile. "Shimura…" I growled her name out and my eyes shifted to the figure beside her. The back of my head blares with pain. Images of myself being sent to the ground after a kick connects with the back of my skull flashes through my mind. The man was tall, with short and spiky grey hair. His eyes could not be seen behind his dark domino mask. His outfit was the same as the last time I saw him: a full body monochrome suit along with a yellow cape, a belt with the letter 'G' on it, very thick yellow gloves and matching boots. "What the hell are you doing here?" That damn smile of hers somehow got wider as she spoke, "Since it's the weekend…" she spread her arms out dramatically, "we're taking you guys to your first ever shopping mall!" Knowing there was (probably) no escape, I just sighed and we followed the two adults out.
"Welcome to Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!" Shimura yelled with her arms raised in the air, gaining several gasps and excited murmurs. I looked around. A massive glass building with a massive… thing that shoots water in the air right in the centre. Hundreds of people interacting with each other and various vendors in little blocks in the wall with many colours that hurt my eyes to look at. 'Everything here is so bright, compared to what I've been used to.' My eyes float over to my two companions and the smiles on their faces and their awe-stricken eyes. Well, eye, in Reikon's case. 'If everything goes well, they'll be able to enjoy this all they want.' A crowd began to form around our group and their murmurs became clearer. "Oh my god! It's Captain Smile!" "I can't believe it! I'm standing near the 4th ranked hero!" "Isn't that Gran Torino as well? He's 11th!" "We have to ask for an autograph!" Shimura seemed to notice this as well, and quickly turned to the three of us while grabbing something from her pocket. "Here you go. Take this and enjoy yourselves!" she beamed as she placed the stack of money in my hands. I did a quick count and my eyes widened. I pushed the money back at her. "We can't take all this." Her smile was unchanging as she held my hand back. "Nonsense, it's nothing." "It's ¥3 300 000!" I yelled back. "Just go enjoy yourselves!" Before I could retort, I felt something grab the back of my shirt and lift me (and from what I could see, Reikon and Sebone as well) towards the middle of the mall in a matter of seconds. I looked back to where I was and saw a massive crowd around her. 'Well, no getting back to her.'
We walked throughout the mall, occasionally stopping at several places to see what they had to offer. "Did you ever imagine that a marketplace could be so big?!" Sebone exclaimed. "I thought about large marketplaces, but I never expected them to go 5 floors upwards." I answered her question, while Reikon nodded slightly. We finally decided to sit down at a 'restaurant' that was represented entirely by English words. "WacDonalds?" Sebone asked with an eyebrow raised. I shrugged and we entered the line. We looked at the images displayed at the top and the words that came along them. "Cheese, Patties, Strawberry WacFlurries?" Sebone asked incredulously, voicing my thoughts. "All these things we don't know about just show how much we've been missing out on…" I murmured and Reikon's lidded eye shifted to me. We got to the front, ordered our food, where they proceeded to place our money in this metal box that made weird noises and we waited. After a few minutes we received our food and sat down. Immediately digging in, the taste was unlike all the other meals I had. There was this weird crispiness to what I assumed the 'chicken patty' was. Whatever a 'chicken' was, it was delicious. "Man! This is so good!" Sebone yelled out, earning a few curious stares from the other people in the 'restaurant'. "Quite down, you're making a scene." She stuck her tongue out at me and proceeded to eat her meal.
Just after we had left, I heard a gasp coming from my right. Skidding to a stop right next to us, was the airhead, with gun-guy and Rakkan following behind. "What a coincidence meeting you guys here!" she yelled out unnecessarily loudly. 'Oh my god! SHUT THE FUCK UP!' I rubbed my temple and sent a glare at the three of them. Sunshine kept her smile, gun-guy was taken aback slightly, and Rakkan seemed to shrink into herself as the light dimmed slightly. "So, what are you guys doing at the mall?!" she shouted out. 'Does she only have one volume level?' 'I wonder how loud she'll scream if I tear her arms off…' I growled, clutching my temples as I turned around. "Getting as far away from you as possible…" I walked away with my friends following me, after Sebone smirked and Reikon sent an apologetic glance towards the trio. However, it seemed as though my message didn't get through to her, as she skipped right up to us with a pout. "Don't be like that!" I just ignored her and kept walking. She persisted, but I drowned her out once I saw that Sebone had started to talk to her. Gun-man and Rakkan had fallen into line with us, the former between Sebone and Reikon, and the latter next to me. The meek girl had her hands together, shoulders slumped and eyes cast downwards. She kept glancing up at me, opening her mouth, closing, and looking downwards again. I decided to ignore her as well, and focus on what's ahead. 'We've been here for two weeks and we're still no closer to doing what we came here for. We haven't got a plan or enough info to carry it out. I believe that Eraserhead is already suspicious about why we're here. Damnit, we're haven't made any progress on our plan to-'
"Hey! You guys are from U.A., right?" My thought process was broken as I looked in the direction of the voice. A group of 3 teenagers approached us. The first was a boy with dark, messy hair that hung around his face. The back was pulled into a mini pony tail and a cluster of hair at the front stood up, as if he dragged his head down a wall and left it like that. His pupils have this weird pattern inside them that looks like little specks moving away from the centre in one direction. His lips were curled up at the corners and his eyes glinted in the light. He was wearing a black puff jacket, a red sweater, black jeans, and a pair of red shoes. The second was a girl that was slightly shorter than him. Long, brown hair cascaded down her face, while leaving her large, blue eyes completely uncovered. She wore a simple t-shirt and denim shorts, a purse over her shoulder and white flip-flops. Her face was still, lips in a thin line and eyes resting. The final teenager was a girl slightly taller than their male companion. She had snow-white hair that ended at her shoulders and blood-red pupils that seemed to have movement inside them. Her eyes were slightly lidded, but she smiled at her male companion. 'Ugh, more people, I've already reached my social limit for today.' The others didn't seem to share my sentiment, as they happily talked about something. I tuned them out completely as I heard the words 'rescue training'. I looked up at the second floor and I noticed two men arguing. My eyes widened slightly and I started running towards the stairs as one of the men took a small object with a lit fuse out of his pocket.
BOOOOOOOMMM! I covered my ears as the sound pierced through my skull, forcing me to my knees. "Hahaha! Another easy job!" the man yelled as he picked up the singed briefcase that the other man had been holding and darted off. The other man had his stomach blown open, intestines falling out while the rest of his skin was peeling off from the heat, his eyes white, without pupils, and mouth open in an eternal scream. Panicked cries rang out, everyone scurrying about while some desperately phoned for the police or a hero. I forced myself to my feet and ran after the man. He wasn't too fast, as his morbid weight slowed him down, but he tossed more of those capsules from his pocket as the upper floor was consumed by flames. I hurriedly discarded my jacket and shirt as I ran after him, the heat clinging to my skin. 'He's nearly at the exit… now's the time!' Just as my cloth unravelled from my chest, a figure landed right in front of the man, the resulting force knocking him backwards, extinguishing some of the flames and forcing me back to my knees. "This is as far as you will come, evil-doer!" The voice shouted out as the smoke cleared, their ever-present smile on their face becoming visible as the smoke vanished. "Why? Because I am here!" The villain cursed to himself and reached for his pocket, but a fist slammed into his stomach and launched him off his feet. This was followed by another fist to the chest, knocking the villain onto the floor, unconscious. 'Captain Smile' stood over him, her fist raised in victory. Before I could do anything else, I was escorted out the mall by the policemen, just grabbing my shirt, jacket and tie before we left the building. As I exited the doors, our eyes met, and her smile, once again, got wider as she held her fingers out in the shape of a 'V'.
Monday – U.A. High
Nobody's P.O.V.
The Monday had come shortly after. The 'Mall Incident' was resolved shortly, the suspect taken away and the hero, Captain Smile, was praised for another job well done. Class 1-A were lounging around in the classroom, waiting for their teacher to greet them. "I am immeasurably happy that you have returned from the site of a villain attack completely unscathed," Gōon relayed as Taiyō told them of the events that had transpired over the weekend. "I was so scared when the explosions went off," Rakkan squeaked out as eyes turned to her. The empathic girl also shared Gōon's sentiment and added her thoughts, "It is a sad sight to see. Crime rates in our country are still at a peak of 50% of our population, even though it has been several years since heroism became an official occupation." "50%!?" Exclaimed Funka at that information. Ryoku nodded with a sad smile, "Indeed. Half of our population has committed at least one quirk-related crime in the past year." The door slid open and the self-proclaimed quirkless boy, the psychic, and the water manipulator walked towards their respective desks. The sunshine user was going to call out to them, but the Gatling-gun user put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, making her pout. The three took their seats, and the midnight-haired boy glared at everyone in the room and then closed his eyes, sending the message that he wanted to be left alone. Soon enough, the Erasure Hero arrived, the class grabbed their costumes from the wall, and left for the changing rooms.
The boy's changing room was quiet. The shuffling of clothing was the only sound besides the slight scraping sound of bone on brick. "I've finally done it! Nyeh!" Most boys turned to the skeletal boy to see what the commotion was about. He pulled a long, thin bone from the wall, revealing a golf ball-sized hole. "I've spent all my moments in this room carving this hole! Nyeh! A hole that goes straight to the girl's changing room! Nyeh!" Dama immediately bounded over to the skeletal boy with a blush on his face. "Really man!?" he whispered to the other boy. "Yes! Nyeh! Finally, the heavenly visages of their uncovered breasts will fall upon our eyes! Nyeh!" Gōon picked up on this and immediately went over to his thick-skulled classmate. "How dare you try and sneak glances in such an inappropriate manner!? Desist immediately!" The skeletal boy stuck his eye to the hole and started yelling, increasing in volume as he did so, "This is too good to pass up! Nyeh! Yūwaku's glorious E-cups! Nyeh! Ejji's great DD'S! Nyeh! Mizu and Empyoku's D's! Nyeh! The modest C's of Taiyō and Kikai-Teki! Nyeh! I'll even take Kagayaku and Himei's B's. Nyeh! Even the nothing's of Funka and Tamashī's A's-!" Unknown to Yūgō, a certain boy had slowly walked over to him during his perverse monologue. He turned the boy around, and grabbed him in the gap between the skull and his eyes, and lifted him up. "Shōkan-san! What are you doing to Yūgō-san?!" Ignoring the question, the red-eyed boy slammed the other into locker, the impact reverberating around the room. He brought his face close, removed his mask and whispered something to the shivering student. He pulled away, dropped him to the floor, and exited the changing room, leaving a boy with soaked underwear on the floor.
The class boarded the bus shortly after. The mechanical-armed girl leading the class towards the bus in a single file line, sending a glare at the class president who just stepped onto the bus without bothering to help. The bus's seating consisted of 4 columns, split in the middle so people could walk further to the back, with one 5-seater all the way at the back. The atmosphere on the bus was tense. The male populace sat in uncomfortable silence, still confused as to exactly what had gone on in the changing room, while a certain boy in a onesie with a skeleton pattern on it sat alone on the back seat. The rest of the class sat in alphabetical order, but Shōkan sat as far away from the bone boy as possible, and ended up next to the Pride user, and then moved a second time, finding himself next to the lion student. A few words were exchanged between the two students, but they both fell into silence the rest of the way. The bus was mostly quiet, which the teacher seemed endlessly grateful for. He would need his rest, after all.
? ? ? P.O.V.
I watched as the U.A. students filed inside the building. It was a massive spectacle to behold, housing several different sections that were suited to vastly different environments. An industrial zone, a jungle, a rocky terrain, everything. A bitter feeling coiled in my gut. A blurry image of myself walking in with them clouded my eyes, but I shook it away and pulled my mask over my face. Crackling hit my ears and I put my fingers over my earpiece. "Is everything in place?" a voice came over the earpiece. I looked out at the students who were being instructed by the supervisor of the 'Help Us Company', completely oblivious to our presence. After his monologue, the heroes were split into five groups of four. "Yes, everything is perfect. Release…" I shivered as I recalled that crawling, screeching abomination that had been given to us to help with out mission, "...that thing once I give the signal." I grinned as I raised my padded gloves and brought my middle-finger and thumb together. "It's showtime!"
With a snap of my fingers, our plan had begun.
Hey guys! Sorry about the massive delay between chapters. Exam times have been rough and I somewhat lost inspiration for this story. I had the events of this chapter planned out, but I couldn't find a way to get to that point in a manner that satisfied me, so the creation of this chapter was delayed. However, I've been inspired again and writing will continue. Updates may be slightly slow, but nowhere near as bad as the last gap. I hope you enjoy this chapter and will continue to read it.
See you in the next chapter
-AnimeTrashPile