You know what, I lied about this chapter being the conclusion of the USJ Arc, but hey, it's too long for one chapter! This chapter is almost 4500 words and it only reached the halfway point of the USJ Arc. That the complete one would take about 10,000 words! But anyway I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter so I hope you like it too! Enjoy this kinda longer chapter!

Just a warning that Shigaraki will be a bit creepy at the beginning though. I have no idea how to write him since he's childish, immature, mean, sadistic, unnerving, but kinda smart at the same time. He's a complicated character so I won't be surprised if I failed to portray his character properly.

(Also, unless I specified what Ryouka's current expression is, assume that she's making a flat, uninterested face lol.)

No. 7 Ibuki Ryouka

When the darkness swallowed her, Ryouka thought that she was done for.

Like, that was it. Her 27th life, ended prematurely because she was grown too lax in her old age. What a pathetic end for someone as great as her, she had thought dryly, but instead of death she was dropped from mid-air and landed on all fours with a pained grunt in the heart of the Villains' midst.

Shit, that hurts, Ryouka grouched inwardly, wincing in pain.

As she rubbed her hands to lessen the pain, someone crouched in front of her and grabbed her chin roughly and lifted her head forcibly to meet them.

Suppressing a wince at the pain his grip caused her, Ryouka levelled a stare at the man with the many disembodied hands clasped on his body as he checked her face—and with scepticism, if what little expression she could see behind his "mask" was true.

He turned her face to the right, left, and up before Ryouka finally got tired of being manhandled and slapped his hand away from her face.

"Hey hey… that hurts, woman," the gaunt Villain muttered without any real heat. He lazily rubbed the hand that she just slapped as he craned his neck to speak to someone behind him—a well-dressed Villain with dense black mist for a body.

"Heeey Kurogiri… are you sure this is her?" Hand-Face drawled with such a lazy tone that it honestly irked Ryouka quite a bit. Like, hey, you're the one who kidnapped her! At least act interested or something.

"I am, Shigaraki Tomura," the man with the black mist Quirk, apparently named Kurogiri, answered with a surety in his voice.

His glowing yellow eyes seemed to pierce her with his gaze as he looked her over with a nod. "Her appearance may be different from the photographs we have of her, but he had confirmed it himself. This is the owner of the Quirk: Spring of Life."

Shigaraki Tomura, the Hand-Face, hummed as he glanced her over once again, still sceptical.

"Well, if he said so," Shigaraki shrugged before he turned to face her again.

Slowly, he put his hand on the hand that he had on his face and pulled it off, revealing a fairly young face that was honestly pretty horrible to look at. Cracked lips, unhealthy complexion, and what was all those wrinkles around his eyes? It made her want to shudder.

Ryouka almost grimaced as he revealed his face, but it seemed that she didn't quite manage to completely hide her distaste, a fact that the man in front of her seem to found amusing, seeing that he was looking at her with amusement.

"Hey, Spring of Life… won't you join us? We have no healer, see?" the man asked casually, smiling down at her.

Ryoula narrowed her eyes at him, finally seeing where they were going for.

"No," Ryouka answered finally, after some time in a staring contest with the Villain. "In the first place, don't you have any manners? Is this how you recruit people to join your cause? Not even an introduction or an offer to pull me up first?"

Shigaraki smiled widely at her response.

"Feisty," he said, voice gentle but in a mocking tone. "Well, whether you accept or not, we'll have your Quirk in the end anyway, one way or another. The alternative is less… pleasant for you though. I've been told by the survivors that it left them feeling cold—like half of your soul is missing from your body."

Shigaraki gave her a small, friendly smile. "So what do you think? Isn't it better to just join us?"

Ryouka opened her mouth to retort, but didn't get the chance to when suddenly the smaller Villains around them began to scream in pain as the sound of bodies hitting the ground resonate from the middle of the plaza.

When she whipped her head towards the source of the noises, she saw Aizawa was beating them group by group with one of the most unique fighting style Ryouka had ever seen anyone using. It was honestly very impressive.

All of a sudden, an arm had snaked around her stomach and suddenly Ryouka was hauled away from where she was just kneeling on the floor as several knives were thrown at Shigaraki by the teacher. Ryouka hissed in pain from being manhandled around like that, but Shigaraki only tightened his grip on her as he put the hand—mask?—back on his face with his other hand.

"Oops, that was close. You're fast, Eraser Head," Shigaraki said, his voice shaking slightly in what seemed to be exhilaration.

In contrast to the Villain's good mood, the corner of Aizawa's mouth tightened seeing the way Shigaraki was touching her. Ryouka imagined that under his goggles he must be glaring daggers at the Villain.

"Take your hands off her."

Aizawa growled lowly, reaching for his bandages—his weapons, apparently—and fell into a fighting stance when said Villain suddenly clicked his tongue in mock disappointment.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Shigaraki asked softly as the arm that he snaked around her stomach tightened and pulled her back flush onto his chest while his other hand crept across her chest and found its way onto her neck—gripping it tightly with only four of his fingers.

Ryouka just stiffened her body so she didn't move accidentally, knowing that something was strange about the way he was touching her. Touch-related Quirk? Probably something that required all five of the fingers on his hand.

"One step closer and I'll disintegrate her. It'll be a shame if a pretty girl like her turned to dust, won't it?" the Villain crooned softly, pressing his mouth against Ryouka's hair, ignoring the way Ryouka turned her head, trying to get away from him.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red as he activated his Quirk in his anger, his hair raising upwards as he prepared himself to fight Shigaraki.

"You bastard—" Aizawa growled, but before he could say anything else or act, the Villain's cronies had teamed up again and tried to jump him from behind. Ryouka used this moment to elbow Shigaraki's stomach to get him to release her neck and shouted a warning to the teacher.

"Sensei, behind you!"

Aizawa glanced at his back and jumped away instantly, narrowly avoiding a punch from a big-bodied Villain that destroyed the floor that he was just standing on.

"Tch—"

Barely breathing her relief, Ryouka found Shigaraki's hand gripping her jaw tightly once again as the blue-haired Villain let out a pained hiss at her struggle.

"Now that wasn't very nice of you was it, Spring of Life?" Shigaraki said lazily, his voice carrying a just hint of annoyance. "If you don't behave I'm afraid I might accidentally disintegrate you, you know? I've promised himthat I'll take you to him mostly unharmed, so don't make me break my promise."

Ryouka narrowed her eyes and tried her best to glare at him despite the awkward neck angle.

"Go fuck yourself."

"Sssh, be quiet. I want to watch this," Shigaraki shushed her, not acknowledging her retort.

"Eraser Head's annoying, isn't he? Not only he's strong in hand-to-hand combat, since he's hiding his eyes with goggles you can't tell whose Quirk he's erasing. When he fights against a group, it makes it harder for them to work together to take him down."

There was a pause as Shigaraki observed the unkempt-looking Hero fight his followers with what Ryouka thought was attentiveness. Aizawa fought with quick movements; brutal, effective, and none of them wasting unnecessary energy.

"Pro Heroes are so unlikeable. Normal people don't stand a chance against them," Shigaraki mused, sulking, before suddenly his tone changed completely as he squished her cheeks playfully. "Good for him I'm not normal, right?"

This man's insane, Ryouka thought with an internal groan. Why was she in this situation, again? Shit. She should have never gotten up from bed this morning. She knew her bad feeling had never been wrong before, but this was the first time the situation was so bad she got taken hostage by a Villain.

Ryouka breathed out slowly, trying to think of a possible solution for this maddening situation that wouldn't end up making everything worse than they already were.

You know what, let's make him talk. Maybe that would work.

"Hey. Shigaraki, was it?" Ryouka began, calmly. "Why are you here, exactly?"

She heard him chuckle softly behind her as his fingers danced on her jawline, teasing her with the scenario of what would happen if he used his Quirk on her. "Why, to come and get you, of course! What else could be more important than that?"

Ryouka scoffed quietly.

"I doubt it. Do you think I'm stupid?" She said through gritted teeth. "If you just wanted me, why would you bother breaking into one of the most guarded place in Japan with all of these people? I commute here from home. Just snatch me on the streets or something, it'll be easier for you. No, I'm just the extra aren't I? The extra, and a tool for you to get to your true objective."

Even though Ryouka couldn't see it, she could feel it when the Villain holding her captive smile against the back her head.

"You're smart," Shigaraki declared suddenly as he rested his chin on the top of her head. "I like you, Spring of Life. And because I like you, I'll tell you why we're here."

Clutching her closer, he whispered to her as if it was a great secret:

"We're going to kill the Symbol of Peace today."

…Did she heard that right?

"All Might?"

Ryouka narrowed her eyes.

All Might was the strongest Hero alive and he wasn't No. 1 just because of popularity alone—it was because no Villain ever defeated him in a fight and probably no one ever will. The power he possess seemed almost infinite, it was unthinkable for anyone to even believe they could defeat him, let alone kill him.

Even though he was now physically unfit, it was a closely guarded secret of the nation. These Villains couldn't have known that, and yet they wanted to kill him? Either they were extremely stupid or they have something that made them truly believe they could win.

She hoped they were just stupid, but…

Shigaraki nodded against the top of her head. "That's right… according to the information we got the other day he's supposed to be here today, you see…"

Ryouka shook her head. "All Might said he won't come today."

That's why, please leave.

"Huh… wonder why…" Shigaraki hummed softly behind her before Ryouka felt the hand holding her neck moved and her head was suddenly being tilted sideways to face him. Seeing her blank stare, the Villain grinned widely before he leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "Is it because of his time limit?"

Ryouka's eyes widened at his words. How—

Shigaraki's grin widened, satisfied seeing her reaction that basically confirmed his suspicion and Ryouka stiffened, her mind racing.

They knew. They knew of All Might's secret. They probably knew of her real role too, which was why they took her first, believing she couldn't fight back. If she wasn't there to heal him then—

…Wait.

They knew of his secret.

Then…

.

.

"They must have some kind of objective that they're confident they can accomplish—otherwise they won't be so arrogant as to invade the nest of some of the best Pro Heroes to ever exist."

"They might be fools, but they're not dumb. This surprise attack was carefully planned with some sort of goal in mind."

"Either they were extremely stupid or they have something that made them truly believe they could win."

.

.

Oh.

Ryouka's blood suddenly felt cold as Shigaraki let out a small, unnerving chuckle. Still with a satisfied smile, he gestured at some of his followers to come closer and Ryouka was unceremoniously shoved into the arms of two Villains with mutant-type Quirks.

"Take care of her for a while," Shigaraki ordered the two Villains before he walked slowly before broke into a run midway, muttering some random numbers as he approached Aizawa who was jumping into the air and used his bandage-like weapon to tie up some villains that attacked him.

"24 seconds…"

When he noticed Shigaraki approaching him, he jumped back cautiously before he threw his capturing weapon at him. Shigaraki caught the fabric and pulled it hard, but Aizawa wasn't backing out and let himself be pulled towards the villain.

"23 seconds…"

"Let go of my student!" Aizawa growled, running towards Shigaraki with a fist in hand.

"20 seconds…"

Ryouka, who had been trying to understand Shigaraki's nonsensical muttering finally realized that it wasn't just random numbers. That moment where Aizawa's hair was down—he had been counting the seconds. Ryouka felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner.

"Sensei—!"

Ryouka shouted, trying to warn the teacher, but it was too late. Just as Shigaraki muttered, "17 seconds," under his breath, Aizawa had pulled the Villain into his orbit and ducked as he dug his elbow into the Villain's stomach.

Ryouka suddenly heard a relieved gasp from a distance and she whipped her head at the direction of the voice in surprise. She gaped, seeing the three heads peeking up at the fight from the surface of the water area.

Midoriya. Asui. That grape-looking pervert from the bus. Why were those three there instead of somewhere safe, seeking shelter?!

Another gasp brought Ryouka's attention towards Aizawa once more. The teacher's elbow that he had used to hit Shigaraki was caught in the Villain's grasp and suddenly it began to crack and crack and finally, it crumbled into small particles, revealing the muscles underneath the skin as well as the bone inside, all while the Villain was whispering something at him—the weakness of his Quirk, most probably. The man did love taunting people.

Aizawa finally managed to break free of his trap, but he was immediately swarmed by the small fries again.

Shit, shit. Everything suddenly went from bad to worse. Everything happened so fast. Too fast.

Ryouka bit her lower lip. Even if he was a Pro Hero, Aizawa's stamina wasn't unlimited. On top of that, his injury was severe. At this rate, if he insisted on keep fighting, he'll run out of blood sooner than later.

Ryouka couldn't hear their conversation since Shigaraki's voice was too dang soft, but suddenly he opened his arms wide and let out another one of his eerie laugh.

"You're so cool… you're so cool, Eraser Head! But you know what…" Shigaraki paused for a heartbeat before he smiled widely beneath his mask.

"I'm not the last boss."

At those words, all of a sudden the mysterious black figure Ryouka saw that time the Villains got there appeared behind Aizawa. It was so fast that Ryouka could only barely see it move, and when the teacher turned around to see what it was—

.

Splat.

.

.

.

.

Blood splattered onto the ground.

There was a clutter as Aizawa's goggles hit the floor, having been thrown to the air as that thing punched his head with inhuman strength.

Aizawa let out a pained cry as he tried to defend himself, but he was clearly outmatched. In an instant, the Hero was on the floor, barely clinging to life as that black thing pounded his body mercilessly with its fist. Letting out an inhuman screech, it took Aizawa's right arm and broke it in its hand—as easily as someone would crush a dry leaf.

Beneath the monster, Aizawa's battered body looked incredibly frail.

Seeing the still body of the teacher shaking from the pain he must have been in, Ryouka gritted her teeth, struggling from the grip of her captors who were holding her tightly by the arms.

"Sensei—!"

The blue haired Villain approached the incapacitated Hero, ignoring her shout.

"I'll tell you, Eraser Head," Shigaraki began, his voice holding a hint of smugness. "He's the anti-Symbol of Peace, the bioengineered 'Noumu'."

The monster—Noumu—tightened his grip on Aizawa's arm, making it broke even more.

Aizawa screamed.

Shigaraki let out a soft smile beneath his mask hearing the Hero scream. "You can erase Quirks. That's wonderful, but it's nothing impressive in the face of overwhelming power. You might as well be Quirkless."

The Noumu grabbed Aizawa's head and slammed it onto the ground.

Seeing the red pool that seeped out from underneath his head, Ryouka finally couldn't stay silent anymore. She might be playing the role of the helpless healer, but she couldn't watch this without doing anything anymore. Aizawa could seriously die if the Noumu did any more damage to him.

Aizawa's screams rang inside her mind and she closed her eyes.

Fuck.

"Shigaraki!" She yelled at the Villain, catching his attention. "Stop this! Why are you doing this? Your goal is All Might, isn't it? Leave everyone else alone!"

Distract him, distract him, Ryouka…!

The Villains restraining her panicked and tried to calm her down, whispering that it wasn't a good idea to make their boss mad, but Ryouka didn't care anymore. There were no way she could stand this. Fuck this man. Let him come to her if he wanted. She could handle it as long as they leave Aizawa alone.

Shigaraki just turned towards her, looking at her in confusion as he let the Noumu slam Aizawa's head into the ground again.

"Now why should I do that?" Shigaraki asked, tilting his head. "It's All Might's fault, you know. If you want to blame someone, blame All Might because he didn't follow the plan. And after I went through all the trouble of bringing this many people and the Noumu along… don't you think I deserve at least a little fun before we left?"

Ryouka seethed at his answer. What the hell was wrong with this guy?

"You sick bastard…"

The Villain just smirked at her behind his mask.

"Just sit tight and enjoy the show, Spring of Life," Shigaraki said. Before him, the Noumu continued to bash Aizawa into the ground mercilessly without an ounce of feelings. Seeing Ryouka's glare, he opened his arms wide again, taunting her with another smile.

His smile didn't survive long.

There was distortion in the air beside Shigaraki that now Ryouka could identify as Kurogiri's warp forming, and true enough, a second later Kurogiri was standing beside the blue-haired Villain.

"Shigaraki Tomura," the black mist greeted respectfully, but Shigaraki just turned to look at him with disinterested expression on his face.

"Kurogiri. Did you kill Thirteen already?"

"I put Thirteen out of action, but there were students that I was unable to disperse and one of them was able to run away," Kurogiri answered, sounding a bit hesitant than Ryouka ever heard him before. Probably because he knew just how unstable his partner-in-crime was.

There was a silence as Kurogiri's words registered in their minds.

Ryouka raised her head at that at the same time Shigaraki voiced his disbelief. Someone managed to escape—that meant help was coming. She glanced at Aizawa's tired, bloodied form which was trembling lightly from the pain. He was breathing heavily and looked like he couldn't move anymore.

Ryouka bit her lip.

A deep, irritated grunting brought her attention back towards Shigaraki, who had been scratching at his neck in increasing agitation since the warp gate user revealed that he had accidentally let someone escape.

"We can't win against dozens of Pros," the Villain complained loudly, petulantly, as he suddenly stopped scratching. "Aah, it's game over this time."

Shigaraki sounded terribly like a child who didn't get something he wanted then, especially when he said about game over.

Ryouka gritted her teeth in irritation, remembering the fear in the children's eyes and the way Aizawa screamed as that Noumu monster crushed his arm and bashed his head repeatedly against the ground. Was all that just a game to him?

He sighed, turning to Kurogiri.

"Should we go home?"

Ryouka's eyes widened. They're retreating?

She scanned Shigaraki's body language and narrowed her eyes. No, there were no way he was just going to accept 'failure' without getting something in return after everything that happened. He won't be satisfied just torturing some Underground Hero whose face wasn't even known to the public.

No, he'd want something grander than that.

"Oh, yeah," Shigaraki suddenly said, turning towards the three children on the water. "Before we leave, let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!"

.

.

"Take your hands off her."

"Let go of my student!"

.

.

Fuck. Okay.

Ryouka closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

When Shigaraki ran towards Asui with his arms outstretched, before Aizawa could even raise his head to freeze his Quirk, before Midoriya could sacrifice himself to protect his friend, suddenly a solid wall of yellowish light sprung into life in front of the frog-like girl and Shigaraki's hand hit it instead.

The wall sparked a little, but it didn't budge and continued to glow in front of her, seemingly resistant to his Quirk.

"What?!" Shigaraki hissed, looking at his hand in disbelief. "Who is it?!"

A movement from his peripheral vision left him leaping back and called the Noumu to his side just as Midoriya jumped out of the water and tried to punch him with a loud yell of 'Smash!'. The force of his punch created a giant shockwave that swept the entire building—making some of the fallen bodies of the Villains flew and all the light bulbs in the building crash.

Taking advantage of the situation, Ryouka stepped on the shoe of one of the Villain restraining her arms with her heeled boots forcefully, causing him to yell in pain and release his hold on the arm he was holding on.

Using the opportunity to twist her other arm around to face the second Villain, she swept his feet off with a kick to the back of his ankles and quickly shook her hands to stimulate blood flow there before she punched the first one, who had just recovered, with her knuckles in quick successions to the stomach.

She didn't give the man the chance to recover, immediately twisting her body and kicked his chest and jaw with her right feet swiftly—the force of her kick caused the Villain to fly several meters back before he fell to the ground with an audible thump, unconscious.

The other Villain squeaked, looking at her with alarm as he laid nervously on the ground, not having the courage to stand back up and face her like his partner did.

"Stay down there if you don't want me to do the same thing to you," Ryouka told him in a low tone, and the Villain nodded vigorously, quickly agreeing with her.

She patted down her clothes to smooth down any rumples that might be there from the brief fight before she turned back to the main perpetrators that were responsible for this horrible day she was having and found Shigaraki was scratching his neck again as he looked at her.

"Oi, oi… no one told me she could do that," the Villain muttered, his voice seemingly unsteady in a show of his increasing agitation. "How unfair… you're cheating, Spring of Life…"

"You're not playing fair yourself. Why should I?" Ryouka scoffed at him. "Besides, I never said that healing is the extent of my ability."

She didn't bother to see their reaction to her retort. Instead, she examined her fists. It was hurting already—and just from punching those cronies, too.

That wasn't good, she thought.

She might have remembered how to fight, but her current body was untrained and therefore unsuitable for something this extreme right off the bat.

She had to… cheat, then.

"You know, Shigaraki? I don't want to be a Hero. I never wanted to," she began to speak as she walked towards them, the heels of her boots clicked loudly against the floor to distract them from the fact that the pendant on her chest was beginning to glow with a dim light.

"But," she continued, "I will not stand down watching someone getting tortured and killed in front of me."

Ryouka stopped just in front of Aizawa's body and looked down on the blood pooling underneath his still form.

How cruel, she thought as she crouched down beside him. Gently, she turned his body and propped his upper body against hers. This man was almost killed trying to protect his students—to protect her.

She might not need his protection, but that didn't mean that his actions were useless.

No, it had moved her heart.

"Ibuki…" Aizawa croaked hoarsely. "Stop—no, it's dangero—"

"Ssh. That's enough, Sensei. You can rest now," she said, softly, before she pressed her lips against his. He resisted at first, still trying to speak, but Ryouka managed to pry his mouth open and breathed out her Life into him.

She winced when she immediately felt tired as her energy was sucked by her Quirk. The teacher's injuries weren't something to scoff at. Multiple broken bones all over his body that probably pierced his internal organs too, cuts, bruises, and loss of blood. It would take a while for him to recover enough to join the fight again, but at least he'll live.

Ryouka pulled away and looked into his eyes.

There were so many words in that one gaze from him. Mostly something like 'don't you dare do this' or 'just run the fuck away you stupid girl', but Ryouka decided to pretend that she didn't get what his gaze meant.

Instead, she smiled at him.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," she promised as she laid him back down and stood back up on her feet. Looking down at him, she waved a hand over him and a dome of pale yellow light similar to the wall she created for Asui materialized, encasing his body with her protection.

"I'll take over from here."

Looking at the furious Villains, she took a deep breath before she smirked at them.

"Come at me, Shigaraki!"

She yelled, cracking her knuckles as fire gathered on her hands.

No. 7 Ibuki Ryouka — End

Can you tell that I love Aizawa? Because I love him. He's such a great character whether it's as a person, a Hero, or a teacher.

I love him.

Thank you everyone for reading as always! Thanks for being patient with me as well, sorry I haven't replied to many of the reviews from last chapter! I'll do it as soon as I can, I promise!