BP 13 Playground

Izuku didn't know what happened. One moment, he had spotted Akira and company—his friends, or so he liked to believe—hanging around outside his school, maybe to invite him to hang out? The next, the world sloshed around like he was drunk and Izuku stumbled, falling down onto hard gravel where there once was sidewalk.

The gravel moaned pitifully under his hands, each piece having a human face wrapped in agony as they pled for mercy.

Izuku leapt to his feet, a scream dying on his lips as he took in his surroundings. The school had transformed into a mocking parody of itself, walls now the brightly colored plastic of schoolyard equipment, metal sliding poles and jungle gyms, plastic slides and metal bridges, all towering over him like a child's attempt at a secret base. It looked ill-kept—plastic cracking, metal rusting, weeds growing through the gravel. Izuku could only gap up at it. Where had his school gone?

"Okay, I can see where this was going," a girl said to his side, and Izuku turned only to gap again. "The school bully sees the school as his playground. Sure, fine, whatever; but what are with these pebbles? They're creeping me out."

His friends had transformed too, into a dashing man in a coat, a catgirl, a biker, a fox man, a pirate, a… monster cat!? (Which, if it was the… man's[?] quirk, he wouldn't say anything about, Izuku knew visual quirks could be weird like that, but he'd never seen a quirk that made someone look like a cartoon cat before, that's all he was saying!) But he could still tell they were his friends. Their masks didn't cover that much.

The foxed figure looked around, but somehow missed spotting Izuku. "What's more concerning is that we're already transformed, despite the ruler having no idea who we are and not having entered his Palace yet. Does he think everyone as a threat?"

"Guys?" The group jumped at the sound of Izuku's voice—all except Akira, who didn't seem surprised in the slightest that he was there. "What…" Izuku looked around again, hoping the scenery would change. It did not. "What is this? Am I dreaming?"

"Shit—"

"Skull!" The catgirl—Takamaki, those ponytails were obvious—elbowed Sakamoto in the stomach before grinning at Izuku. "Y-Yep! This is all just a dream!" Her voice wavered, trying too hard to be happy. "So why don't you go back the way you came so you can wake up."

"Is that supposed to be convincing?" Izuku blurted out. "Because it's not."

"That was… really bad, Ann," the biker, who had the same metallic skin as Nijima-san, told Takamaki.

"Indeed. It appears that Ann's acting has not improved since it was last necessary," Kitagawa, he was the only one left, said.

"Hey! I'm trying my best!" She gestured at Izuku. "What else am I supposed to do, huh?"

Akira held up a hand and the others fell silent. He stood in front of Izuku, looming over him. His eyes had turned red, and they burned out from behind his mask. "Izuku."

"Akira?" Izuku hated how weak he sounded. "What's going on?"

"We're in a place called the Metaverse—"

"Wait, you're just going to tell him!?" The cat-person yowled.

"Yes—" He shot a glare at the cat-person. "—He deserves to know." A breath. "Essentially, the Metaverse is a distorted version of reality that is shaped by someone's cognition, or how they view the world. If someone has a distorted view of their place in the world or how the world works, then that world manifests here, in the Metaverse." He gestured at the school-turned-playground. "For example, if a teacher thought that he was the king of the school, then in the Metaverse, that school would become a castle, run by that teacher's shadow."

"Shadow?" What was he… Was he in an alternate universe? Did someone drop him into a sci-fi novel?

"A reflection of a person that manifests within the Metaverse. Usually they are the parts of a person that they don't want to acknowledge: insecurities, cruelties, lies. All of them filtered into one being. The Shadow self is directly connected to the real self, and influences how their actions."

His knees felt weak. What… what was this? "Is this… some quirk? Is someone doing this?" If they were, he could call the heroes, right? Get them to stop—

Akira shook his head. "It's not. Or, if it is, we haven't discovered any evidence of them."

Izuku paused. He took in their outfits, outfits that changed instantly the moment they entered this 'Metaverse.' They knew about it before… had even gone in voluntarily? None of them looked surprised to be there, nor at being dressed in those strange outfits… They didn't seem disoriented, like him, and… "Have you guys been investigating this Metaverse? Is that why you're here?"

"In a manner of speaking, that's correct." The cat-man said, speaking for the first time. Upon closer inspection, there really wasn't any similarities to the average human, except for the fact that he stood on two legs. Really, he just looked like a black and white bobble-headed cat… "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in my true form, Izuku. I am Morgana."

Izuku automatically reciprocated the greeting, only to pause and look again. "Aren't you usually… quadrupedal?" He didn't want to offend, but this was starting to seem more like a hallucination than an actual experience.

"Very astute of you!" Morgana the not-cat replied, practically purring. "It's only in the Metaverse that I take this form; out in the real world, you know me as the cat that hangs out in that guy's bag… Though make no mistake, I am not a cat!"

Izuku blinked. "Okay… that's very impressive." A transformation quirk, maybe? That's only triggered by changing realities… Izuku had read about transformation quirks that were unconscious, but this one, if documented, could change the understanding of transformation quirks as a whole!

"Indeed! A world-class disguise for a world-class Phantom Thief, if I say so myself."

Izuku froze. "You're… a Phantom Thief?"

"Mona, you idiot!"

Morgana's ears flattened against his head. "…Oops."

Akira looked at his friends again, their silly outfits now taking on a more sinister meaning. "Are you guys the Phantom Thieves?" Please say no, please, please say no—

"Yes, we are."

A bullet to the chest would have felt better. Izuku nearly collapsed. His friends, his only friends in years, were… wanted criminals? Not even petty criminals who shoplifted or stole purses, but vigilantes who's actions bordered on villainy? They… "You used me," he said, the words spilling out.

Akira flinched back. "Izuku, no—"

"You USED me!" he spat. "God, it makes perfect sense. No wonder you wanted to hang around me; I was experimenting and improving the quirks of VILLIANS!"

"Dude! We're not villains!"

"Then, what do you call this!?" He gestured violently at the playground. "You're messing around with people's minds! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What could happen if you make the wrong move?"

"Izuku—"

"You could lobotomize someone!"

"Do you think we didn't consider that?" Akira said, voice harsh. Izuku flinched. "Playing around in other's heads is dangerous, but we're not playing. We have rules to decide on whether or not to target someone; we have rules on how to behave while inside someone's Palace. We are being careful, Izuku."

"But why does it have to be you?" Izuku asked, desperate to understand. "Sure, you can, but that doesn't mean you should! Why can't you just report these people to the heroes?"

"And tell them what?" Sakamoto scoffed. "'Hey, this teacher is a pedophile. Oh, my evidence? Well, Mr. Hero, you're never going to believe this…'"

"And that's not even including all the heroes those rotten adults may have paid to look the other way," Nijima said. "My sister told me that Kaneshiro paid off several local heroes to look the other way of his 'businesses.' Not every hero is a good person."

Izuku winced. He knew that; he kept an eye on the fan forum dedicated to the hero killer Stain. Still, he persevered. "Would it have been so hard to record that teacher being abusive though? Or take pictures of that artist's stash of phony paintings?" They exchanged glances. "I… I can't let you chance this person's heart. Not without a very good reason." He frowned. "Wait, who's heart are we in anyway."

"Hey! You fucking sacks of shit!" A familiar voice shouted as explosions rang. Izuku's heart sank. "What the fuck are you doing in my fucking playground!?"

"…Kaachan?"