"What a horrifying dream..." said Magne. She stroked her scruffy chin and looked deep in thought. Kiriyama had just told her all about the nightmare he had and how it came from memories as a student in elementary school. He scratched his head and took a sip from one of the bottles of lemon iced-tea he bought. Magne crossed her right leg over her left and spoke once more, "No need to worry, Ken-chan. I think you're very different now, you've got the power to protect yourself now, don't you?"
"I know... I guess sometimes I just feel like that weak and pathetic little child again, and I hate it. I was almost caught by the U.A. brats during the raid, I was this close" Kiriyama brought his pointing finger and thumb closer, almost touching, "to losing this group that I finally feel like I belong to."
"You're afraid of losing the League of Villains?" asked Magne. Kiriyama gave a single nod. "I've... made friends here, believe it or not. I guess I want to be strong enough to protect them and the group we belong to."
Magne snorted and shook his head. "I've seen how you and the other two babies of the group get along. Especially you and Toga."
"Shut it." Kiriyama replied.
"Just teasing you, Ken-chan." chuckled Magne. "But, I can definitely relate to you. I've always been an outcast in society. I was always harassed for being myself, and it always ended up with me trying to kill them and running away from some heroes or the cops. Then, a friend of mine... She was very timid and shy but she told me that she respected and admired my ability to put myself out there while being myself. She made me feel normal and I decided that's what I want... To be free from the shackles society has put me in, and this group has given me a chance to do that. And we're all so different but simultaneously... we're the same. We're all outcasts that want to change society. And we've got nobody else except the people of this group now, right?"
Kiriyama felt a lump form in his throat and he gave Magne a smile that seemed to be the only thing keeping him from shedding tears. "Thank you... thank you, thank you, thank you."
"You're my comrade now, right, Kiriyama Ken?" asked Magne.
"Yeah, we're comrades, Hikiishi Kenji-san." replied the teen. Magne gave him a friendly slap on the back and stood up. "I'm going back home now, buh-bye, Ken-chan, let's talk some more at a later date."
/
Kiriyama finished his convenience store boxed meal and was about to go to sleep when the door unlocked and a tired Mustard stumbled in, with Atsuhiro entering as well, just behind the teenager. Atsuhiro shut the front door and Mustard yawned.
"Kiriyama, talk to Atsuhiro-san, I'm gonna go pass out in my bedroom now." said the brown haired teenager, sleepily. He drowsily walked to his room and ignored the fact that he didn't close the door, and jumped into his bed. Kiriyama ran a hand through his messy, black hair and sighed. "What is it, Atsuhiro-san?"
"I just wanted to talk about the progress you're making in that high school." he replied.
Kiriyima frowned. "Yeah, about that... It's exactly what you'd expect from a public high school. All of them are wanna-be's with mediocre quirks and no one wants to be a villain. It seems that the Hero-Killer's little speech doesn't have the same shine that it used to have a couple months ago."
Atsuhiro sighed and leaned back on the door. "Shigaraki Tomura expected that to happen, he just wanted to make sure though."
Kiriyama nodded and thought about Shigaraki's other special mission that involved Toga. "Hey, Atsuhiro-san?"
"Yes?"
"There were two special missions right? Me posing as a normal high school student and one with Toga."
"That's correct."
"What was Toga's mission, is she finished? She hasn't really stayed in touch with Mustard and I, and the way we left each other was kind of... awkward."
Atsuhiro crossed his arms and his lips curled into an amused smile. "Awkward huh? Well, you are at that age, I suppose."
"Wha-" Kiriyama began before being cut off by the older man. "She went undercover as this one hero brat for the provisional hero license exam and get some blood. Her quirk allows us to have some real interesting plans, you know."
"I see, um, is she unable to talk to others during this mission?" asked Kiriyama, hoping that she was ordered not to talk rather than her choosing to ignore him thanks to that embarrassing last conversation they had. He found himself missing her more than he thought he would have, he genuinely enjoyed the bond they had and didn't want to lose it over some silly, awkward tension between them. Atsuhiro stood up straight and sighed. "She was ordered not to, she only calls if she's got some blood. She should return in a couple days."
Kiriyama nodded with a pensive expression on his face. Atsuhiro opened the door and exited the apartment room. He turned around to close the door, but before doing so, he told Kiriyama one last thing, with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about it, Kiriyama-kun. Chances are she'd call you before she'd call us."
Kiriyama smiled at the older man. "I'll see you later, Atsuhiro-san."
/
TWO DAYS LATER
It was a boring weekday and Kiriyama was getting tired of high school. He was being forced to remember and regurgitate useless information day in and day out. The young villain was getting burnt out and would rather break his arm again than spend one more minute learning about what the world was like before quirks appeared. Sorry to disappoint, but it was boring and kind of sad. He was walking home after ignoring yet again another invitation to go home together with a few of his forgettable classmates, when his phone rang. He picked up and instinctively said. "What do you want, Mustard?"
This caused the person on the other end to giggle. But this wasn't the boyish laugh that Mustard had, it was a cheerful, feminine laugh that caused Kiriyama to stop walking in the middle of a cross-walk. "Wait, Toga-chan?"
A driver honked his horn at the teenager and Kiriyama sped to the other side of the road, slightly embarrassed at the fact that her laugh had such an impact.
"Yup, it's me! Were you so glad to hear me, that you stopped in the middle of the street, Kiriyama-kun?" teased Toga. Kiriyama let his lips curl into a small smile. "Nope, the fleeting thought of Mustard turning into a girl freaked me out for a second and caused me to freeze while crossing the road."
This caused Toga to let out an even louder giggle. After she finished laughing, Toga released a sigh. "I missed you peeps!"
"Yeah, we missed you too. So, are you calling to tell me you're finished with your mission and coming back soon or did you just want to hear my voice again?" teased Kiriyama. He usually doesn't tease or joke around as much as he's doing now. He didn't know why, but he found himself wanting to now that he's talking with Toga again.
"Oh my gosh! What like happened while I was gone? It's like you're a different person now! And trust me, I know all about that."
"I don't know, I guess I'm in a good mood right now."
"Well, I hope you'll be in a better mood after I do this!"
"Do wh-" began Kiriyama before feeling a tap on his right shoulder. He looked over his right shoulder but there wasn't anyone there, then he looked to his left and was greeted by Toga, who had a wide grin that showed off her sharp canine teeth. Kiriyama was going to return the grin with his own but found himself wrapped between Toga's arms. The raven haired teen's cheeks heated up to a slight pink and because he wasn't used to physical contact like this, his body stiffened into a statue. He thought that the awkward tension they had from before normally would've made it a little difficult to do such things. But then again, Kiriyama thought that he should've been smart enough to realize that Toga's not exactly normal. And neither was he.
He quickly relaxed into the embrace and wrapped his own arms around Toga. "Well, aren't you excited to see me again? I think you've spent too much time undercover, Toga-chan."
They let each other go and both gave each other a brief glance before Kiriyama immediately looked away, embarrassed. Toga just smiled at this and replied, "Yup, the gal I was undercover as was like a super social gal."
"So that's why you're talking like that?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright, just please don't be so social with everybody in the League and hug them, I don't think Dabi is a very touchy-feely guy."
"I won't, just you." grinned Toga. Kiriyama felt a wave of relief and embarrassment. Wait. Relief? Why was he relieved to hear that? Kiriyama shook his head and thought that school must really be driving him insane. "Let's go meet up with Mustard, I'm sure he'd like to see you again."
"Alright, let's go!" cheered Toga.
/
Mustard was pissed off. 'Akuma' still hasn't showed up and he had been waiting for well over an hour, sitting on or pacing back and forth by the park bench.
"MUSTARD!"
Oh, great. A nuisance has shown up. "Toga Himiko, what are you doing here?"
"Wait for me, Toga-chan."
Although Mustard no longer thought of him as a nuisance, when he's paired with the blonde devil they fuse together to become one of the most annoying things in Mustard's life. Mustard groaned and slapped his forehead. "Get out, you frustrating idiots! I've got to wait for this 'Aku-moron', so I could try to recruit him into the goddamn League!"
"Like chill out, Mustard, oh my gosh!" replied Toga. Mustard scowled at her and turned to Kiriyama. "Why is the little psychopath talking like that, Kiriyama?"
"She was undercover as a gal." explained the taller boy.
"Great, she's going to be even more annoying now." spat Mustard.
"Yo, that's like super mean, Mustard!" exclaimed Toga. Mustard just groaned in response. Kiriyama laughed and was about to speak again but he stiffened up when he saw him. "Are you Moon's Guns Seven-Seven?"
Mustard turned and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God! You're finally here, Akuma!"
Kiriyama felt goosebumps and chills all over his body. He was this 'Akuma' guy that Mustard has been trying to recruit all this time. He's changed a lot... He wore his purple hair in a pony tail that was just above his shoulders. He had purple bangs that ended just below his eyebrows and just above his long eyelashes. He stood a good four inches taller than Kiriyama, putting him at about six feet and two inches. He wore a stylish, dark-brown, leather jacket over a plain black shirt. He wore well-fitted light blue jeans and black sneakers on. The only thing that didn't change is that same piercing stare he had that looked even more horrifying with his dark red eyes. He turned his head a little to the right and creepily leered at Toga, causing her to scowl at him, something she rarely did. Then, he shifted his blood-colored eyes to Kiriyama, who was positioned behind Mustard. He gave him the same leer before a spark of recognition came over his eyes and he gave Kiriyama a crooked grin. "Kiriyama Ken-chaaan!"
The red-eyed teen walked towards him and Kiriyama quickly pulled out a knife from his pocket.
"Oh, do you guys know ea-" Mustard began, being cut off by a hard shove from his online acquaintance. Kiriyama lunged forward with his knife pointed at the purple haired teen, hoping to stab him in the stomach. Akuma dodged the attack by side stepping while tripping Kiriyama at the same time. The black haired teen caught himself before he hit the ground and rolled out of the way, dodging a stomp. He looked up to find that the pony-tailed teen had his arm cocked back ready to punch him. Kiriyama knew he wouldn't be able to dodge the punch, so he braced himself but the fist never connected. Toga had tackled the tall boy while he was in midair and was saddled on top of him. She had her hands above him, gripping a knife. She brought the knife down with force but Akuma grabbed her wrists just before they made impact. Then, the purple-haired young man rolled on the ground while holding Toga and took the advantageous position, saddle on top of her this time with his knees holding her arms down. He cocked back his arm and just as his arm was going downward, Kiriyama horizontally swung a red sword at him. Akuma got away but a long, shallow cut appeared on the left side of his torso.
"Don't you fucking dare touch her." said Kiriyama, with a dark, blood-thirsty glare.
"Not just fear and hate this time, Kiriyama Ken-chaaaaan? You've added blood-thirst as well, huh?" replied Akuma. "Delightful! You're finally fighting back after all this time!"
"I'm going to cut open a hole inside you and make you spill your guts out of it, Mashima." replied Kiriyama, spite filling his voice.
"Don't threaten me with a good time, worm." said the purple haired teen with a smile. Just before they were about to make their moves, a loud yell was heard from behind Kiriyama. He turned to see a pair of cops running towards them. He looked back to where his opponent was only to find out he had already fled from the scene. Kiriyama ran towards Toga and quickly gave her a hand to help her up and then did the same for Mustard. After about ten minutes they finally lost the cops and stopped at an alleyway to catch their breath. Kiriyama kicked a metal trash can into the brick wall and let out enraged grunts.
"You knew... Akuma... Kiriyama?" asked Mustard, still trying to catch his breath. Kiriyama kicked the trash can one last time. "That was Mashima Ayato, and he's basically the goddamn anti-Christ."