Chapter 15 Alliance

The first thing he registered was the lack of pain.

The burns he'd previously sported, curtsy of Bakugou's shadow, had disappeared with his transformation. The pain in his head, as well as the pain from ripping off his mask, had vanished with a burst of blue flames across his skin. Izuku inhaled, and his lungs seemed three times bigger than before.

His gaze landed on Bakugou.

The child-sized shadow gnashed his teeth at Izuku. "Deku… how dare you try to stand up to me. You think a worthless pebble like you can do anything!?"

He'd heard enough. Izuku raised his hand, Seigiichi copying him.

"Megidola."

A blinding white light burst from the Persona's hand, colliding against Bakugou with a thunderous BOOM. The force blasted him back, his back slamming against the dilapidated playground/school, bending rusted metal poles and cracking plastic. Before Bakugou had a chance to recover, Izuku unslung his sniper rifle and unleashed a quick barrage of bullets into his foe, aiming for his arm gauntlets. The nitroglycerin sweat trapped inside met hot lead and exploded, covering Bakugou's body in bright fire.

Izuku almost flinched at the sight, but with Seigiichi at his back, he stood tall.

He glanced behind him. His friends were bruised, Takamaki hunched over to protect cracked ribs, Kitagawa standing vigil over Morgana while Nijima tried to heal him. He met Akira's eyes.

They nodded in sync.

Bakugou crawled out of the rubble that used to be part playground, shaking bits of plastic from his hair like a rabid dog. "Deku…"

Izuku rolled his eyes. "Deku, Deku, Deku, all you do is call my name, Bakugou." He holstered his gun. "You don't have the right to say my name, villain."

With a roar, Bakugou lunged for him, hands sparking up for a big explosion. A grappling wire shot out of Izuku's sleeve—a part of his costume, and he instinctively knew how to use it too—and hooked onto the school structure, pulling Izuku up and away. Bakugou skidded to a stop to turn and follow, but the sudden change in momentum made him slow.

Stuck in between Izuku and Akira, unable to move fast enough to dodge.

They unleased two different blasts of Megidola from either side.

Izuku released his line and fell to the ground, rolling to negate some of the force, scattering pebbles that screamed under him. Dust cleared and where Bakugou had stood, there was nothing. He had vanished. "Is… is he dead?" Izuku asked.

"No…" Morgana said, trying to stand. The cat moaned with pain. "No, I can still sense him within the Palace; he just escaped."

Izuku scowled. "We got too close to beating him, so he escaped to lick his wounds." They might have even reminded Bakugou of the Slime Villain, trapped while his quirk couldn't help him… A few months ago, Izuku couldn't even imagine a Bakugou who'd run if a fight wasn't in his favor, but after nearly dying inside the Slime Villain… A wave of vertigo washed over Izuku, and he nearly fell. Rough hands kept him standing. "What…?"

"Your energy ran out, little dude," Sakamoto told him, pushing him back onto his feet. "Relax, it happens to everyone."

"Awaking your persona is quite a rush," Nijima admitted, playing with her hair. "But the consequences… it's akin to crashing after an adrenaline high. We should leave before that shadow comes back."

The group agreed. Sakamoto and Akira helped Izuku to the exit of the alternate world. He nearly threw up on reentering reality. "Where do you live?" Akira asked.

"I can walk…" he tried to protest.

"No, you can't. Tell us where."

They weren't about to give up, so Izuku caved and the Phantom Thieves (the Phantom Thieves!?) got him home safe. Takamaki graciously unlocked the door for them all and Izuku practically sagged into the couch. He allowed the cushions to comfort his exhausted body for a moment before peeling an eye open. "What were you guys doing there?" he asked. "That didn't seem like an accident."

"It wasn't," Kitagawa agreed. "We were tasked with discovering the identity of your main tormentor by Alibaba in exchange for their assistance in a matter of grave importance. Still, I didn't think our investigation would uncover a Palace…"

"Alibaba asked you to find out?"

The group stared at him. "You know Alibaba?" Nijima asked. "Who is he? How do you know him?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "He is Boss's daughter. We're friends." Alibaba leveraged her help to get them to stop his bully? Maybe even change Bakugou's heart? She did all that… for him?

"Boss has a daughter?"

"How come we haven't met her before?"

"That can't be her real name…"

"She's more comfortable with Alibaba. She has really bad social anxiety." Izuku pushed himself so he was sitting upright. "Like, it's so bad that she can't leave the house. And…" Izuku bit his lip. Should he tell them? Boss told him in confidence, but if they could help her, even change her heart… She was willing to help him, so he'd help her too. "She's suicidal."

Takamaki gasped. "No!"

"After her mom died, she was treated like shit until Boss got custody. She… Those rotten people convinced her that she was responsible for her mother's death and nothing I or Boss says can convince her otherwise. But… if someone could change her heart…"

They exchanged looks. "But Katsuki Bakugou…" Akira started.

Izuku shook his head. "I meant what I said; I'm not letting you change Bakugou's heart. At least with Alibaba, the change of heart would be consensual, since she's confessed to me that she wants to get better."

"We can't just let that bully get away with whatever he wants!" Sakamoto said.

"You won't. There are other ways to deal with Bakugou, so I'll handle it. Alibaba needs help more than I do."

"Izuku…"

"I'm not lying. Bakugou has actually calmed down a little these past few months. That in no way makes up for his past behavior, but I already know what I need to do regarding him."

"Besides, did you see the state of his Palace?" A high-pitched voice Izuku didn't recognize asked. Morgana jumped on the couch and continued. "It looked like it was going to destabilize at any moment."

"Oh…" The cat could talk. That was… unexpected. "What do you mean by that?"

"Palaces require three things to form: A person, a distortion, and a physical anchor. Without the physical anchor, the Shadow goes back to Mementos—where the majority of the masses' shadows reside. The playground in Katsuki Bakugou's world was falling apart, which means that the Shadow can no longer project its distortion onto the physical anchor."

"We're leaving for high school in a few months," Izuku realized. "He knows that the school wouldn't be his playground for much long."

Morgana nodded. "Of course, he could always reestablish his Palace in a new location, but that location would have to allow the same distortion to fester."

"So…" Sakamoto scratched his head. "What you're saying is that his Palace will disappear later? Since he won't be a middle schooler anymore."

"Which is why changing Alibaba's heart is more important," Izuku said to bring them back on topic. "Please, I'm… I'm worried she doesn't have much time left."

"What's her name?" Akira asked. "We can check to see if she has a Palace. If she does, we can help. But if she doesn't…"

Izuku nodded. "Her name is… Futaba Sakura."

"Candidate Found."

Akira nodded. "Then we'll begin on her Palace tomorrow, after we've gotten some rest." That was good. Alibaba didn't deserve to suffer any longer. "But Izuku, I think we'd all feel better if you helped us change her heart."

"What?" Izuku could barely believe the general statements of agreement he was hearing. "Is… Is this about me knowing you guys are the Phantom Thieves? Because I won't tell as long as you don't hurt anyone. I know I got mad in the Palace, but—"

"It's not that," Akira said. "It's because Futaba is your friend. I'm sure she'd feel a lot more comfortable with you in her head rather than us."

"She means a lot to me," he confessed. "She's my best friend and I don't want her to suffer anymore."

"Then help us. Just for her Palace if you don't feel comfortable continuing, but you have a Persona to protect you, and it's not as dangerous as it seems."

"I…" He had working out with All Might. But it was practically summer break, if he took a few hours off in the afternoon to save Futaba, would All Might really get that angry? "I'll do it. But just for Alibaba, okay?"

"It's a deal then."

The Phantom Thieves left so Izuku could recover, promising on the way out to add him to their group chat. Once they were gone, Izuku called All Might on his phone. "Hey, All Might? Sorry I can't make it to the beach today, I passed out again."

"Yeah, I need to stop overworking myself. I'll do better this time."

"Actually, there was something else. Is it possible to get in contact with Principal Nedzu through you? I need to inform him about a bully attending my school that plans to apply to UA."

"Well, that's the thing: the whole school has conspired to keep his bullying a secret so he could become a hero. They think Bakugou becoming a hero will bring honor to the school or something. Since there's no recorded evidence, I need to inform UA so that they'll at least be on the lookout for this behavior coming from him."

"Oh, his name? Well, believe it or not, you've met him already…"

This was going to be a long explanation.