Beneath the Hero's Mask

Chapter 10

After class was over, Ren went to the faculty office to speak with Mr. Aizawa. He tried his best to sneak around the hallways in order to avoid the noxious whispers and judgmental eyes of the student body. He reached his destination and thanked a nonspecific deity when he found his homeroom teacher alone, doing some paperwork on his desk.

Ren walked up to Mr. Aizawa, who did not notice his presence thanks to the boy's catlike footsteps. He cleared his throat to get his attention.

Eraserhead didn't look up from his paperwork. "Oh, you're still here."

"Yes, I was actually looking for you. Seeing as how the Sports Festival is fast approaching, a couple of us wanted to train in preparation. We were wondering if we could use the school's gym."

"I applaud your dedication, but you are not the only ones with that idea. Any student is allowed to use U.A.'s facilities to train outside of school hours, you only need to submit a form. But precisely because the Sports Festival is upon us, all the gyms and P.E. grounds are fully booked up. You should've thought about it sooner."

Ren frowned. Of course everyone at school would want to train hard to show off at the most anticipated sporting event of the year. He started brainstorming possible places to train when he noticed the teacher sliding a sheet across the table.

"Fill this in, I'll see what I can do."

Ren took the form in his hands and quickly examined it.

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Don't mention it."

Ren started walking away, but Mr. Aizawa stopped him.

"Take a seat." The teacher said, offering him the chair next to his.

Ren accepted the seat, intrigued by his teacher's intentions. "What's wrong?"

Eraserhead paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Are you… How are you holding up?"

"I've faced worse." Ren said with a shrug.

"Don't try to act tough, kid. I've heard the rumours, and I've seen how the other students are treating you."

"I'm hanging in there, really." He quickly replied. "It's just that… I wish everyone was as openminded about me as you and principal Nezu."

Eraserhead pushed his paperwork to the side and rotated his chair to sit face-to-face with Ren.

"I'm not going to sugar-coat this, things are going to suck for a while. There will be people that want to see you fail, people that think you don't belong here…" He said. "I'd tell you to not let other people's opinions get to you, but I know you are strong. You've been handling these past few days remarkably well, but if you just keep turning the other cheek then nothing will change. Remember, you are here to become a Hero, but you can't be a Hero if people have no faith in you. That is why you have to change their minds, and you can't do that with only words. At the Sports Festival, all eyes will be on you; this is your chance to prove them all wrong."

The teacher put a hand on Ren's shoulder and looked him firmly in the eyes.

"The competition will be fierce, but you've got something that no one else has. The other students are simply fighting for a chance to get noticed by Hero agencies; you are fighting for yourself, to leave your mark on the world. Go out there and show everyone that you're going to be the best Hero of your generation."

Ren felt a myriad of emotions in reaction to the speech. Inspiration by the encouraging words, surprise at Mr. Aizawa's nurturing side, but above all, determination to not let down everyone that believed in him. He resisted the urge to hug his homeroom teacher, and instead opted for a simple nod.

"I promise I'll prove everyone you were right to give me this chance."

The first few rays of sunlight of the day washed over U.A. High School. Despite spring being in full swing, the early morning air blew gelid. Although there were not many to complain about the cold, for only a few people were present in the school at such an early hour.

"I can't believe he made us get up so early…" Uraraka said.

"I didn't even know trains started running this early." Toru said.

Izuku tried to lift their spirits. "Cheer up, guys. Ren is doing us all a big favour by agreeing to train us. The least we can do I show some enthusiasm."

The group consisting of Izuku, Uraraka, Jiro, Toru and Tokoyami met in front of the school gates. Ren had instructed them show up at 5:30 in the morning in their gym uniforms for their first training session.

"I'd be a lot more enthused after a full eight hours of sleep." Toru said.

"No one forced you to stay up until 2 a.m. watching hidden-camera prank shows on TV." Jiro remarked.

"Yeah... It was totally worth it though." She replied. "Never mind, let's just go in."

They entered the school gates and made their way to the P.E. grounds; once there, they saw Ren standing next to the running track.

"There you all are! Ready for training?"

He was wearing a black bomber jacket over his gym uniform and aviator shades in place of his usual glasses, a metallic whistle hanged from his neck and he held a cup of coffee in his hand. His voice was way too lively for the usual night-owl that he was.

"Hey Ren! I can't believe you're so full of energy already."

"Yeah… Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate that you took the time to train us, but couldn't we have done this at a more reasonable hour? I mean, they are still showing adult anime on TV."

"Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do, but this was the only free timeslot for us to use the school's facilities." Ren chugged the last of his coffee and discarded the cup. "Alright, less crying and more sweating. First thing's first, let's do some warm-up and stretching to prepare. Put your hands to your hips and repeat after me, one… two…"

Ren guided his new pupils through a rudimentary warm-up routine, who placidly followed his instruction. After the warm-up was done, their friend/coach blowed his whistle to get everyone's attention and signalled them to take position in the running track.

"We're going to start by running 10."

"10 minutes? That's not too bad."

"No" Ren said. "10 kilometres."

"What?! You surely can't be expecting us to–"

"Ready, set, go!" Ren quickly blurted before blowing his whistle. He then immediately took off running. Izuku followed him shortly after without skipping a beat, the rest of the students behind him. Ren had already completed his run after 30 minutes, while it took the others nearly an hour to finish. Afterwards, the group was visibly exhausted; a couple of them panted heavily, others dropped to the ground to catch a breath.

Ren applauded the effort of the group. He pulled a thermos and a few plastic cups from his bag and started handing out fresh LeBlanc coffee. "Nicely done, young grasshoppers. Not bad at all. Remember, the key to a good training regime is consistency. I might have started a bit too strong, we should probably roll back to 5 kilometres and slowly build up until you can run 10 daily."

Toru did a spit-take with her coffee. "You run 10 kilometres every day?!"

"Of course not. Some days I do 20."

"I regret every decision that has led me to this point…"

They took a short break to rehydrate before resuming their work-out. Ren once again lead them in a series of exercises encompassing crunches, squats, push-ups, etc. After another break, they finally headed to the inside of the gym to start the actual combat training they all came for. Inside, the group lined-up and Ren took off his jacket and sunglasses to address them.

"I'll preface by saying that I am not in any way a trained expert of martial arts. Everything I know I've learned by force, and I don't mean that figuratively. I'm going to teach you the techniques I've developed while fighting for my life in the streets. I must warn you, this fighting style will not win you any exhibition matches; it's violent and it's dirty, but when winning an encounter is literally a matter of life and death, words like fairness and sportsmanship mean absolutely nothing." Ren said in a sobering tone.

His pupils looked at him with impervious determination. They were not dissuaded by the warning. Instead, they were inspired with respect for Ren and the combat knowledge they were about to receive. Ren smiled with satisfaction.

"We're going to pair up for this exercise." The instructor said. "Tokoyami, you're with me; Toru, you're with Jiro, and Izuku, you go with Uraraka."

Tokoyami walked up front to stand with to Ren. Toru and Jiro positioned next to each other; Izuku just blinked twice and stood by, staring blankly at his new partner as if he was unable to understand Ren's directions.

"Deku?" Uraraka asked with a tinge of worry in her face.

"Oh, s-sorry! I just got kinda distracted there."

"With a quirk like mine, long-range combat is highly favoured over close quarters confrontations. But every now and then there is an opponent that manages to close the gap and get up close." He explained. "Ideally, you would do something to create some distance between you and your opponent, but that can be difficult if they insist on sticking to you. In those cases, you can use the close distance against them."

"I'm going to teach you a basic hip throw to swiftly take down an opponent that comes in too close. The trick is to take an initial step with your dominant foot and quickly pivot on it. Then, you wrap your arm around your opponent's waist and you use the momentum to throw them off-balance and propel them over your hip. Like this…"

Ren quickly performed a perfect hip-throw on Tokoyami, dropping him softly on the matted gym floor before helping him back up again.

Izuku raised his and to ask a question. "Wait, Ren. You mean we have to–"

"Now try it yourselves with your partner." He said, ignoring him.

The pairs proceeded to try their hand at the technique. Uraraka turned to Izuku.

"You can go first, Deku." She said.

"O-okay."

She pulled him in unexpectedly close. Izuku faced away instinctively; he could smell her shampoo from that distance.

"Now you have to take a step and put your arm around my waist."

"R-right!"

He slowly slithered his arm around her, painfully aware of the physical contact; heat started to rise to his face.

Izuku attempted the hip throw, but he was so distracted by his direct proximity to Uraraka that he ended up tripping on his own foot, falling with his back against the floor and pulling his partner on top of him in the process.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

"Don't worry, your body actually broke my fall. Are you okay, though?" She asked while still lying atop him.

The boy did not respond right away; his train of thought had been completely derailed. He could not focus on anything other than the warmth and smell she irradiated.

"I've never been better… I-I mean, totally! Perfectly fine!"

The pair stood back up while the rest of their friends stifled giggles.

"Don't worry Izuku, you'll get it eventually. Keep trying as many times as you need…" Ren said.

Izuku could have sworn Ren gave him a lighting fast wink before returning to his solemn coaching face.

They training carried on, and after a couple more attempts, the five of them were able to do a half-decent hip throw.

"Excellent work today, young grasshoppers. Keep this up and you'll be Vigilante material in no time!" Ren said. "Now let's hit the showers and get ready for class."

The three boys and three girls left the gym and parted ways to head to their respective changing rooms. After a short shower, Ren, Izuku, and Tokoyami started changing into their regular school uniforms. Remembering the interaction between his friend and Uraraka, a mischievous smile appeared on Ren's face. It was the perfect time for 'boy talk'

"So…" He started. "We really lucked out, didn't we? The girls in our class are all very pretty."

"Well, I can't say for sure because I am not able to see Hagakure, but I suppose you are right." Tokoyami said.

"Anyone in particular caught your attention?"

"I hold no such interest."

As Tokoyami was buttoning his shirt, Dark Shadow emerged from him.

"Fumikage thinks Asui is very cute~" The shadow monster said.

"Silence! Get back in here, you insolent creature!" Tokoyami said as he hurriedly pushed Dark Shadow back into himself.

"Asui, huh? She's certainly cute, and also very sweet; I can see why you're into her." Ren said, causing Tokoyami to blush. "What about you Izuku?"

"Umm… w-well, there's a girl…" Izuku trailed off

"Ooh, a girl~? I wonder who it might be…" He said in an exaggerated sing-song voice. "Does she happen to have brown hair, perpetually rosy cheeks, and the ability to bend the laws of physics?"

Izuku's eyes widened. "Wha– how did you know?!" he asked. "Wait a second… did you pair us on purpose?"

"No comment." Ren replied "And please, you aren't exactly subtle about it."

"Do you think she knows?"

"I doubt it."

"Ugh, I'm really out of my element here, Ren. What should I do?"

"Well, what do you want to do?" He replied. "What is your goal here?"

"I'm not exactly sure myself… I guess for now I would like to get to know her better; get a bit closer to her."

"Closer than having her pressed on top of you?"

Izuku threw a towel at Ren in retaliation for his cheekiness, but he dodged it effortlessly.

"Don't worry, Izuku. Just take it slow and be yourself. She obviously likes you as a friend. Keep at it and see if there is room there for more than friendship."

"Thanks a lot, Ren. You really know a lot about this stuff."

"Anytime. You too, Tokoyami. Just say the word and I'll be your wingman with Asui, no pun intended." Ren said. He finished donning his blazer and started walking to the exit. "We should hurry, class will be starting soon."

Izuku got up to block his path. "Not so fast, Ren. Now it's your turn! Tell us, do you like someone from our class?"

The question stopped Ren right on his tracks. The first thing that came to his head was the flashing image of a certain ponytailed tall girl. Her laugh at his jokes, her intensity during their chess match, her eyes when she returned his coat… and her disappointment in him after the USJ incident, when she couldn't even look at him. He felt his chest tighten and his shoulder tense; with the numbness from that day gone, he could now feel the full extent of the pain of rejection without attenuation. He stood motionless in place for a few seconds; he didn't turn around before he spoke.

"No… not really."

That night, Ren collapsed into bed without even changing into his nightwear. The training of that morning wasn't anything new for him He wasn't particularly tired; Not physically at least… The rumours around school and hostility from other students persisted, and it was getting increasingly harder to ignore. The Sports Festival couldn't come soon enough. He was dying to finally show the world just exactly what Joker was capable of.

He took off his glasses, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted into a deep slumber…

"Welcome back, trickster."

Ren stood upright in his bed and saw a blue butterfly once more fluttering about.

"Marvellous!" The voice in his head echoed again. "You have been creating and strengthening new relationships. The effect on your power is already noticeable; it is now greater than ever! Keep nurturing your bonds, trickster –and one day you may be able to unlock your hidden potential."

The butterfly hovered a couple of rounds around Ren before flying away.

He stood up and touched his face; he noticed he was wearing his Joker outfit, mask and all. He strayed far from the bed, wandering into the mystical place that had become so familiar to him in recent years. A barren city sunk in perpetual twilight. He turned over the words of the mysterious voice in his mind.

"Greater power, huh? I should give it a test…"

He turned on his heel and picked up the pace with a destination in mind. After a few meters, Arsène manifested next to Ren.

"Are you really going back there? After what happened last time?" The Persona asked.

"If what that voice said is true, then we can probably take him on now."

Arsène hummed. "Very well, young rebel. Let's see what you can do."

He traversed the urban maze until he reached a secluded alley. The empty space between concrete walls was obscured by the shadow of a titanic monster towering above Ren. The boy was now face to face against another demonic beast.

"Is it me or does he look bigger than last time?"

Arsène chuckled. "Getting cold feet?"

"Never." Ren said as he summoned his weapons. "Arsène, ravage him!"

The Persona and its wielder launched a simultaneous attack. Arsène's curse magic proved to be ineffective against their opponent, but with a combination of physical attacks and Ren's strikes with his own dagger and pistol, they were able to defeat it after a brief but intense fight. The monster fell to the ground and Ren held it up at gunpoint.

"Lend me your power." He said.

"Become your mask...? *chuckle* Very well, but if you let your guard drop, I shall crush you!"

The creature transformed into a ball of light, which was subsequently absorbed into Ren's mask. He sighed with a mix of relief and pride; his many attempts at recruiting this particular persona had been unsuccessful, but all his recent training and bond forming had paid off.

"Well done, Arsène." Ren said, patting his other self in the back. "Maybe we can recruit some more Personas while we're here."

Content with the new addition to his compendium, he skipped merrily outside the alleyway. As Ren crossed the corner, an eerie shiver ran through his body; he could feel something in the air was different. He looked around using his Third Eye, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and yet the change in the atmosphere was evident. It was then that he spotted it; at the end of the street stood a strange figure, but it was too dark to discern any details about it.

Ren readied his blade and slowly approached it. The closer he got, the more distinguishable features he could make out in the figure. It was definitely a person; they were about the same height as him and they had long, shaggy brown hair, but their face was nothing but a blur. Ren took another step forward, but then the stranger turned their back to him and disappeared into the shadows.

Two weeks had passed since his dream and Ren still couldn't get the mysterious figure out of his mind. He had been thinking about the encounter ever since it took place, and now he was ruminating about it again as he got dressed into his uniform.

"It must have been a Shadow, right?" He thought. "But it didn't feel like any Shadow I've seen before…"

He had no reason to be worried, but he couldn't help but feeling an uncanny itch about it that he just couldn't scratch.

"Breakfast is ready! Come down here, kid." Sojiro called from downstairs.

Ren realised there was no point in dwelling on it. He grabbed his school bag and headed down to the café, where a hot plate of curry awaited him on the bar. He sat down and dug right into the meal.

"Eat up, kid. It's a big day today." Sojiro said. "Are you excited? I sure as hell am. I invited Inko over, we're going to watch it on TV."

"Oh, I'm more than excited."

Today was finally the day, the U.A. Sports Festival. Ren had been training with his friends relentlessly for the past weeks. It was all leading up to this day; the expectations were sky-high, and he fully intended to deliver.

Ren wolfed down his breakfast in an instant and rushed to the door. Right before leaving, he turned around to look at Sojiro.

"Stay tuned, boss..." He said with a wink. "…I'll make sure to put on a good show."