Hello, everyone! Been a while!
Hope you missed me.
I have been in a bit of creative slump with this one but I am finally back!
if you asked an average citizen what they thought of Heroes, you could expect countless different and yet the same answers. That they were awesome. Inspiring. A fantasy come to life.
If you asked an average citizen what they thought of Hunters, you could expect uncomfortable and awkward laughter followed by the person asking if they were in trouble. A reaction quite warranted given the recorded instances of some Hunters attacking seemingly normal people out on the streets and declaring them dangerous villains after that.
Despite having worked as one of them for three months by now, Izuku still didn't fault anyone for giving his colleagues an occasional side glance or even avoiding them while on patrols. Heroes had shining posters, brand deals and interviews. Hunters had criminal records and attitudes to go with those.
He, however, didn't hate or look down on his colleagues either. A few months ago, before he learned about the the Devils, he might have. But having worked side by side with them, Izuku saw what the public didn't.
He saw people that, for one reason or another, chose to fight the monsters that would never truly die. Not every one in their work had a noble reason to fight. Some did it for money - big enough even for rookies like Izuku. Some did it because they loved the danger. And some were here because they were actually insane.
But did it really matter when they got the job done?
Himeno-san said that everyone here was content with their work staying in the shadows. None of them were born for the spotlight and praise of Heroes. And though Izuku respected that, he couldn't help but wonder if all the secrecy was holding them back.
"Revealing the existence of the Devils would inevitably power us all up." said Kei. "It is one thing when people fear fire, for example. It is another when they know that their fear feeds an actual Fire Devil."
"Yes, but still... If people knew about the Devils, we could have better plans and support to deal with them. We could evacuate people out of the areas without faking villain attacks or gas leaks. We could work with heroes, too."
But those were all the ideas of a rookie that Izuku could share only with Kusakabe-san. The ever serious man was a suprising source of conversation for the boy as the two often spend their breaks discussing the ways the organization operation.
Even if the man shot most of Izuku's ideas down as childish naivety.
"Izuku, hurry up, you'll be late for school!"
"Coming, mom!"
Izuku looked at his new uniform, feeling the weight of the expensive material atop his new shirt and pants. Because he wasn't a student of Aldera now, was he? Not when his mission required him to transfer to some elite Shirayuri Junior High.
As he came to the door, he was faced with mom's tearful smile of pride and joy for him. He had no idea what kind of spell Himeno-san cast over mom to convince her that the transfer was something the school approached him with. Then again, it was also one of the Hunters that convinced mom that he was merely helping out at the storage in their office when he worked for some shell company.
Long as he didn't have to lie to mom's face himself.
"My baby, look at you!" mom cooed as she hugged him. "I am so happy for you!"
"Y-Yeah, me too."
He smiled before excusing himself to the exit. Getting into the car sent by the school - but driven by Arai-san - Izuku felt like a real spy. Especially when Kobeni-san handed him the folder regarding his identity at school. Curiously, she too was dressed in the school uniform.
"W-We are going to pose as siblings," the girl said as she practically shook in her seat. Kei giggled and whispered that the girl was still afraid enough of them that it was funny. "I-If you're fine with it?"
He nodded and looked at the fake documents made for them. Suzuki Sumire and Suzuki Keigo. Scholarship kids to a single mother.
"Shirayuri is more like college campus than your regular school and has the separate buildings for their students depending on the year. M-My parents wanted to send my brother to this place but I didn't qualify for a bonus at the time so I couldn't help them. C-Can't believe I can actually attend a high school at all, hehe..."
Before Izuku could ask his senior what she meant by that, Kusakabe-san drew attention to himself as he explained the details of the mission, "We have received the reports from one of our informarts in the school regarding the abnormal activity two and a half weeks ago. He suspected the involvement of a Devil and was collecting the information when communication went down."
"We have an informant in the school?"
"It is the school full of children from the cream of the crop of our country. Believe it, Midoriya, with that kind of crowd, it is only a matter of time until the money and political power are not enough and some Devil offers them more."
"Is finding an informant our first priority?" Kobeni-san asked as she looked at the man's photo.
"No. Your job is finding the nature of the abnormality and getting out of there as soon as possible."
"Booooring," Kei complained. Despite understandint that there had to be a reason for such decision, Izuku couldn't help but voice his own confusion at this. "Shouldn't we also neutralise the cause of abnormality? If we identify what it is, why leave everyone there at risk?"
"Because we have already sent someone before you to handle it. One of our best, in fact," the man didn't seem pleased with referring to whoever they had sent as such. "A man on the same level as Tsutsumi-san when it comes to sniffing out the Devils and taking them out."
He let the silence hang in there for one long minute.
"Then we lost all contact with him as well."
Izuku looked at the file on the man, Kei whistling in his mind at the record of the agent. He joined the Hunters only a couple of years ago but had already accumulated over thirty kills on various Devils. All on solo missions and with minimum injuries. So how could someone like that have been captured?
"D-Did someone find out his true identity? T-Then why are you sending us?" Kobeni-san was suddenly pale and on the verge of tears. "S-Shouldn't someone else be sent in there? Please?"
"If there was an information leak, we'd have received a message by now. Our suspicion is that our agent fell victim to the Devil rather than whoever made a deal with it," Arai-san said. "The agent was there for a couple of days before going radio-silent. We believe that having you two pose as students rather than a teacher will give you extra time to identity the nature of the Devil and report back to us."
"Plus, in the even that both of you are killed, we can retrieve Midoriya's body and revive him with blood to receive the information."
Kobeni, who could not be revived with some blood, whimpered and sobbed.
The car came to a stop and the two hid their files into their backpacks as they stepped outside.
They were greeted by a man with rare grey hair, wearing the aged brown suit and green sweater.
His lips were a small but no less warm smile as the man greeted the two, "Ah, you must be the Suzuki siblings. I am this school's Vice Principal, Kizaki Shuuya. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
What drew the attention of not only the fake siblings but the eyes of their colleagues was neither the age of the man or his title. It was his name.
The same alias their missing agent used when infiltrating this school.
W
"Could we be dealing with Time Devil or something?"
"If it was Time Devil, I would have felt him a mile away," Kei shook his head. "This is something else."
Whatever it was, it had to be tied to one of their own having aged into an old man over less than a week. Alternatively, the old man was responsible for the real agent's disappearance and took his name. But what for?
Izuku took a quick look around the classroom, making sure to not make an eye contact or give away the fact that he was looking for clues to the anomaly at this school. Thankfully, most of the kids ignored him in favor of talking to their friends.
The formation of friend groups was an occurence observable in any social circle, regardless of wealth or status. Especially in the elite schools such as Shirayuri Junior High, it was only natural that Izuku would find himself an odd presence since he was transferred practically in the middle of the year.
He wasn't a sole "scholarship student", however. Chizuri Keisuke was a kid with chestnut hair and green eyes. A fellow 'outsider' who took pity on Izuku and decided to act as his unofficial guide to the unwritten rules of the school.
"You might be asked to run and get something from cafeteria by Togashi and his friends. He usually gives you his card but if he doesn't, just buy what he asks. Chances are, he won't even eat it. That's just how he likes to assert his dominance," Izuku wrote another rule down, much to his new friend's relief. "I am glad you are taking this seriously, dude. We don't want to rock the boat, right?"
Unbenknownst to his friend, Izuku was writing down these rules not to stay out of trouble but to find the cause of it. Having the list of people he should stay away from was as good of a way of locating it as any.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of our little club."
Cafeteria was as fancy as one might have expected from such high-class school. It almost looked like an actual restaurant and the food was definitely leagues better than anything he had tasted back in Aldera. Maybe their informant went missing just to stay here and enjoy the free delicacies?
"Guys, this is Suzuki Keigo," Izuku smiled and gave a small wave, receiving the quiety and awkward cheers in return. "And these social butterflies are Tsunotori and Saito."
"Please, take care of me," Izuku said with a small and polite bow, getting a few light laughs from the table as they started their lunch. He let them lead the conversation, not wanting to draw attention to himself by asking too much.
The conversations shifted from homework to the latest rumors to some nonsense that Izuku found himself enjoying despite the mission at hand. Back at Aldera, he never had a chance to talk to other kids like this. A chance to just be a kid without anyone pointing out his Quirklessness.
"Alright, see you guys in the library," Chizuri waved his friends off as he led Izuku to their next class all the while talking about some new show he was watching until the two were stopped by another student. "Ya-Yayorozu-san? Good morning, ma'am, how may I help you?"
Yayorozu-san smiled a polite smile at the two as she answered, "I wished to speak with your friend alone for a few minutes if that's alright."
"O-Of course," the boy hastily left the two alone. "See you in class, Suzuki!"
Without saying another word, the girl led Izuku towards the Student Council room. And though he needed to focus on locating the anomaly, as a student here, he couldn't just up and run away from the member of the student council, could he?
"Please, sit down, Suzuki-san," she gestured to a fresh hot cup of tea and a plate of sweets. "Please, help yourself."
"I'm good, but thanks."
"I see, do you mind if I cut straight to the chase then?" He nodded. "At Shirayuri Junior High, members of the Student Council are always looking to support our fellow students and ensure that they receive the same education, experience and opportunities regardless of their background. But for that, we also ask that the students act understanding towards others when it comes to their personal choices. You see where I am going with this, right?"
"I don't think I do?" Izuku has just arrived here. Had he broken some kind of rule without even knowing it? "If I did something to offend you or anyone, I am willing to apologize."
"Oh, no, don't misunderstand, nobody has been offended by you so far," the girl smiled apologetically. "It is just that I overheard a few of my classmates talking about you. You have to admit, green hair is not exactly something you show up with at the new school and expect everyone to just ignore, right?"
What?
"I- I'm sorry, but what do you mean?"
"Like I said, we accept people from all backgrounds and I assure you, we support more artistic personalities here as well," the girl placed a comforting hand atop his. "I just want you to understand that it might take some time for people to understand your choice to dye your hair like that."
But he wasn't dying them?
"It is my hair, though."
"As it is your choice to dye them whatever colour you want," Yayorozu smiled reassuringly. Like the two of them were on the same page. "I just want you to know that if anyone harasses you over it, be sure to come to me or Kizaki-san. We are always here to help."
Despite wanting to dig further, Izuku restrained himself. She seemed sincere and it was not normal for a student like him to stay this long on the topic of his weird hair. For now, he needed to gather more data. Maybe converse with Kobeni-san and report their findings to the seniors.
But as he walked down the halls, he couldn't help but notice that not a single person in the classrooms had hair of any color but black or brown.
W
"None of them know about Quirks."
"Are you serious?"
Kobeni nodded, her fear of being killed by her junior being overriden by the dawning realization of just how out of depth she was here. Why her? What kind of crimes had she committed in her past life that this was her life now?
"Kobeni-san, please focus," the girl squeaked but composed herself. This boy could kill her but he could also save them from this mess. "What do you mean, none of them know about Quirks?"
"I-I was introducing myself during the class and said that my greatest achievement is getting saved by All Might seventeen times in one day. But none of them knew about All Might. I-I then said that he was the greatest superhero of Japan and they all just gave me a blank stare!" the girl sank to her knees, recalling what had to be the worst moment of her life. "I-I had to pretend that I have a middle-schoolo syndrome."
And just like that, any hopes of enjoying even a moment of being a regular high-school girl died an ugly death.
"So the Devil here has some kind of brainwashing ability?" the boy then shook his head, no doubt talking to the Devil in his mind. Which had Kobeni close to tears because it was just another reminded of how screwed she was. "Yeah, if it was just mind control, we would have people with some traits of having Quirks, at least."
"We have to get out of here," Kobeni said, her mind running thousands of thoughts a second. "We have to get out of here before they get to us, too!"
"Please, Kobeni-san, calm down," the boy placed his hand on her shoulder. Keeping in mind that it could turn into metal-plated monstrosity, the gesture did little to help. "We haven't identified the Devil yet. We have to do that first and then we-"
"Hey!"
The two turned to the intruder, an angry gym teacher.
"What are you two doing here? This is almost dinner time and you are not supposed to be outside your dorms after that without permission," he eyed the two of them for a few moments before recognizing them. "Ah, you are the new kids, huh? I'll let you off with the warning this time only. So go back to your dorms and never let be catch you again."
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you, sir."
The two shared a brief glance as they headed to their respective dorms. Shirayuri High lived up to its reputation as the elite high school even in terms of those. It was practically a castle! And she shared her room with just another girl instead of sleeping on the couch in their living room like she did back in high school, too.
When she got to sleep, that is.
Inside their dorm there were several vending machines and fridges in the common area where one could purchase some snacks or drinks. Seeing that their meal cards worked in both cafeteria and with these machines, it wouldn't be such a bad thing if she bought something to distract herself from the mess she found herself in.
Her roommate was wide awake when Kobeni crashed into the room, crushing some of the cookies she hasn't tried in almost eight years since her birthday. Oh well, they were still good enough to eat.
"Don't worry about what happened today," the girl smiled, flashing her bright teeth. "Everyone is a little weird on the inside."
"T-Thanks," Kobeni smiled as she bit into the cracked piece of cookie. "I-I just really wish I didn't make such a fool of myself in front of everyone."
As she always did. Be it her stupid Quirk messing up her life or her being such a wreck emotionally, Kobeni never fit in anywhere. And even though she knew this mission would only last a few days, she still hoped she could pretend to be normal for just these few days.
"I just wish I could be normal."
The blonde girl sat by her side and hugged Kobeni tight.
"You are already normal, Suzu-chan," the girl's voice was close. Closer than it could be, naturally. She could hear it in her head! "We are all normal here..."
Her body moved automatically, grabbing the plastic knife and jamming it in the girl's thigh enough to make her loosen the grin and cry out in... laughter?
"Blood, blood, blood~ Oh how I missed the sight of you! It's so pretty!"
"T-Toga-chan... What is going on?"
The girl turned on her with the deranged grin. The feral and hungry look that Kobeni saw only in the eyes of the Devils.
Her nails sharp and glistening with fresh blood, the girl laughed.
"I'll make you pretty, too!"
Before the two girls could clash and tear at each other, the door into their dorm slapped open and other students rushed in. The two girls she recognized from gym grabbed Toga by the arms and restrained her to the ground while another called for security. Kobeni could hear more people coming and dared to hope.
Only to be pushed to the ground and restrained all the same.
"Let go!" she thrashed and tried to break free only for more girls to press down on her. "What is going on? Let me go!"
"Don't worry, Suzuki-san," a girl with black ponytail stepped into the room. She was the one Izuku told her about before. Yaoyorozu Momo. "Here at Shirayuri High, we want nothing but the best for all the students. Even the ones who are not our actual students, Higashiyama-san."
Chill ran down Kobeni's spine at the girl's sincere smile.
She knew. All of them knew.
"Let go! Please, let me go!" she sobbed and screamed as he wrists and ankles were bound. Why wasn't her Quirk working? Couldn't it sense that she was in danger? Where was Izuku? Where was anyone?! "Please... Please... I just wanted to be a normal girl..."
One that didn't have to choose between being a hooker or risking her life against Devils every single day.
One that didn't have her fearing that her junior would kill her.
One that could buy something sweet without feeling guilty about wasting money on herself.
"Shhh, it's alright," the girl hugged her. "It will all be over soon."
There was a crash of glass followed by the gurgling sound. Kobeni turned around to see Toga standing with the shard of broken glass jammed into one of the girl's neck. Ripping it free and letting the blood spray all over them, the girl wasn't smiling.
"This isn't over, you shitty hag!" she screamed before breaking through the window. "Not by a long shot!"
The other students followed after her as if possessed. But none of them appeared to be mindless zombies or puppets controlled by someone else.
"We will catch her soon," Yayorozu smiled. "We always do. But coming back to you, Hisashiyama-san... Do you still wish to be normal like everyone else?"
She did.
She always would.
"Then this must be destiny. Now close your eyes and go to sleep."
She felt so weak. So heavy and exhausted.
"And when you wake up, we shall meet your little brother."
Yes. It was only natural, after all.
It was only normal for siblings to check on each other.
W
"I saw her going that way!"
"After her before she gets to the road!"
She waited until the last one had run into the forest before changing back. Looking down at her blood-soaked hands, she took a long lick. She hated that she had no time to truly enjoy the taste. But she had only this much time here.
Having assumed a form of one of the girls, she walked carefully through the woods. She couldn't get to the road since they would be waiting for her there. But she could collect enough blood and maybe kidnaped one of the girls and assume her identity until the heat died down.
And then she'd be free. Free like she was before that old hag got involved.
Her dreams of escape and bloody vengeance were interrupted when she picked up the movement. There, behind the tree!
She moved fast, hungry for blood but also determined to make sure whoever saw her didn't call for help. With the jagged shard of glass, she coiled around the tree and jammed into her target's face.
Her weapon shattered against the metal helmet the boy wore. Or was that his head? No matter, she could see the fresh and vulnerable flesh of his neck to tear into and drink dry! She could-
"Quiet," his voice rang through her head as the chains wrapped around her body tight. Tight enough to crush her if he so wished. She recognized the feeling of this. Not metal but something pulsing beneath it. He was one of them. "Who are you? What is going on here? Answer me and I will keep you safe."
Himiko giggled, not sure whether it was from how little air she was getting in his hold or how ridiculous it all was.
"What's so funny?"
"My parents sent me here to fix me. Thought I was crazy for believing in Devils after I told them about the one that I found," she smiled at the memory. "That's what this place is, cutie. This place is an elite school rich parents sent their disappointing kids off to spare themselves embarrassment. Or it was. Before I came here a few years back."
"This doesn't make any sense. Shirayuri has a long history of being an elite school. It hasn't had a single scandal in all the years that it existed."
"Then how come it is all the way here instead of being in the middle of the city? How come you never hear anyone famous or rich mention graduating from here?" she grinned as the boy didn't give her answers. "Because my little friend made it what it was. Followed me here and helped me live a fun and normal life! Until that old hag sank her claws into him and he turned on me!"
"Who turned on you?" his single eye burned from behind the mask. "Just what kind of Devil is in this school?"
Toga grinned, the name tasting both bitter and sweet on her tongue.
"The Routine Devil."
Izuku meets some new faces and faces a new Devil. Kobeni is finally going to have a normal life but we all know that the universe is a dick to her and will take that away.
In our case, Routine Devil is basically the amalgamation of fears of conformity, stagnation and related things. The fear of the world working as it does because we accepted something as "normal".
And sure, it doesn't so bad but think back to all the things so many civilizations have justified as "normal" even when it was something completely messed up like witch trials or human sacrifices.
Now imagine someone having the power to define and redefine "normal".
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next! If you are interested in chatting about the story, be sure to check me and this story out on SpaceBattles!
