I would save everyone.
"Satoshi," Mandalay gasped as I rejoined them. "You need to be with your classmates and teachers." I dissipated my arms and grabbed onto Pixie Bob, pulling her out from under the covered weapon, and behind her teammates. She was out cold – hopefully, her skull was still intact.
"No," I spoke sharply, letting my arms float around us defensively, "I'm getting the other students out of those woods." Mandalay stood in front of us while Tiger took on the two villains.
"Be safe, please." Mandalay said, her paws poised to attack.
I let my arms return to my body. "Of course." I stood slowly, trying to not draw their attention to me. I waited a moment before I took off running for the exit of the maze. I would have the best luck with intercepting the other students this way. Hopefully, there were not too many villains in the woods. Don't break down yet. I ran down the path that we were to use as an exit for the test of courage. I would make sure everyone was safe. I searched just off the path, calling out for anyone.
Mandalay's voice entered my mind and I felt like I had been hit by a bus. My entire body ran cold. "Everyone in Class A and Class B. In the name of the pro hero, Eraserhead, you are granted permission to engage in combat. I repeat. Use your training. You may fight these villains. Listen, we've discovered one of the villain's targets. It's a student named Ka-chan. Ka-chan, you should try to avoid combat and stick to a group. I hope you can hear me!" I stopped running and leaned off the path, letting my dinner spill out at the base of a tree. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Why were they after Katsuki? Ransom, revenge, recruitment? No. As far as I was aware his family was well off, but not well enough to pay a ransom. If they wanted revenge, Katsuki had done nothing in Hosu against Stain or their Nomu as he was not even there. If they wanted revenge at USJ, they should be going after me. Recruitment was silly – he was not a villain.
A loud voice boomed from around me, "how convenient, walking right to me." I straightened myself, dissipating my hands and forearms into atoms. A small cloud of dust floated where my elbows should be. "And it's the little defenceless wanna be. Man, you're useless, letting your sister beat the shit out of you. Easy kill for me."
I cringed. Akari had beaten me to a pulp because I had refused to fight her back then. Wait – he had seen the sports festival! Were they trying to recruit students to their side? No, that was ludicrous. "I'm anything but easy." He snorted, coming onto the path from the woods. He was a tall, thin-framed man that lacked any evidence of muscle. His dull red hair was chopped short and spiked back. He looked so frail that I could snap him just by breathing on him. There had to be more to him. "Why are you here?"
He sneered. "Some of you heroes in training would make perfect villains. Take that explosive boy for example – perfect. He's almost killed your own classmates and wants everyone around him dead."
I stopped breathing, my heart hammering against my ribcage. Recruitment – they wanted to have Katsuki on their side. If they did manage to capture him, what would they do with him when he refused to join them. I felt a chill run through me as a reel of Katsuki lying dead in an alley flashed through me. "How do you know that?" I snapped, pushing those images from my mind. They could not just get that much information from the sport's festival.
The man laughed, his smile widening as he tilted his head to the right. "How naïve of you all. Isn't it obvious that there's a traitor among you? Too bad you won't live long enough to tell your worthless classmates that one of them has been lying to everyone this whole time."
"There can't be a traitor," I shouted at the man. Most of my classmates had started to speak with me. The girls and I had spent the past few nights playing games and they were including me. There was no way it was one of them. He had to be lying. I was actually starting to make friendships with people – there could not be a traitor. There was no traitor. There could not be a traitor. But – if there was no traitor, how did they know where we were? How did they know that the test of courage would be a good time to strike while we were separated? Why did the traitor want to recruit Katsuki?
He straightened his head, "are you sure about that?" I dissipated my body, reforming behind him. I aimed my kick for his shoulder, but he ducked down partially as my foot moved closer to him. My leg arched back before it hit the side of his head. I wished he would go flying into the woods, but that did not happen. Instead, his neck cracked sickeningly, hanging loosely to the left. I reformed myself as his body fell to his knees, then into his stomach.
My hands flew to my chest as I took a few quick steps backwards. "No. No, I couldn't have killed him." I stared at the villain's lifeless body for a moment. He did look frail, but for a villain to go down from one kick? Yes, it was one misplaced kick – but how could one kick end him? "No. I'm not like them." A deep guttural laugh began to sound from the corpse. All of his joints snapped out of place, his arms twisting backwards as they grew three times their size and his skin darkened to garnet. His legs snapped back into place as his feet misshaped into hooves. His torso and chest grew larger as his arms rearticulated and his neck snapped sickly into place. Two large ram-like horns began to protrude from his skull.
His laughter grew louder. "You're my sacrifice now, child." He threw back his head and let out a deafening roar. Everyone would have heard that. He was large and burly. Twice as tall as Redemption. Just like Redemption. I had practised with a large, burly, and quick pro-hero already. I would just need to use what he had taught me. But I was already at a disadvantage with not having my suit. "For I am Death Wish and I will devour you!" He turned slowly, picking up a nearby tree. Why was he so slow? He ripped the tree from the ground and threw it at me. He was so large that his reflexes were stunted. I threw my hands up in front of me, as the tree closed in on me. Once it entered the range of my quirk, I dissipated the matter, inverted the molecular structure, and reformed it – sending the tree flying right back at the villain. Just like Hawks taught me. He let out another bellowing roar as he smashed the tree to pieces. He raised his large hand into the air and smashed it downward. I had more than enough time to dissipate my body before his fist hit the dirt and reformed behind the atrocity. A giggle and footsteps sounded from further up the path.
If he wanted death, I could not let him get anywhere near my classmates. I needed to get him away from the girl on the path. I picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at his back. He grunted when it landed, turning around to face me. "You want to devour me? You gotta catch me." I started to run deeper into the forest. The ground shook as he ran after me. I felt the air shift and dissipated my body in time for a log to fly past where I had been running. I reformed just off the path I had been running through and called for him again. It took a moment for him to turn but he continued to follow me.
He grunted, "I don't like fast food!" He let out a loud roar, the ground shaking feverously. I dissipated my feet and watched as the earth cracked and crumbled into a large cavern. His eyes were full of anger and starvation.
"Why Katsuki? What do you want with him?" I let myself float above the gaping hole in the ground that he had made.
His smile widened, "you're on the priority kill list – you're all I want!" Priority kill list? Why was I on such a list for them, and just who else is on it? That did not matter now, I needed to stop him here. I reformed behind him, breaking down the loose rocks around us. I raised my arms out and above me, small swirls of matter undulating above him. I let the rocks reform as they fell on to Death Wish. They bounced off him without leaving a mark. He laughed. It was vicious and sickening. I felt like throwing up again, but nothing would come up. "How did you ever expect to become a hero? You're pathetic." The words dripped off his tongue as he sneered.
"I will become a hero – just like my Mother." I stood, throwing out my left hand. My palm was covered in blood. The bandage wrapping that Katsuki had done for me was back on the path with my clothes.
He laughed harder. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all day. Hero, just like your Mother – ha!" I ran my tongue over my back molars. I could trap him. If I can't take him out, I could trap him by using his own body against him. I broke my body down again and moved beside his large head. I reformed my left arm and swiped my bloodied hand across his eyes. He reached up with a hand to swat at me, but I grabbed onto his fist, using his momentum to continue up and over his shoulder and into the ground. I dissipated the earth until his arm was at its elbow and returned the soil to its place. My left hand twanged with pain. Death Wish tried to punch me with his other hand – eyes squinting shut. I took his fist in my left hand and led him to and through the ground, leaving him stuck in the earth with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Now, this is funny." I said, reforming completely in front of him. He roared as he tried to pull his arms out of the earth. If he could cause a crack in the earth as easily as he did before – there was no way that this would hold up. But, it would hopefully hold for as long as I needed to ensure that all of our classmates were out of his path. I dissipated my body once more, rushing through the forest. Was Katsuki okay?
My atoms stopped moving through the woods. A Nomu was here. He wore pants and his skin was a swamp green. This Nomu had a purple helmet around his exposed brain with a bit that sat between his teeth. These creatures were almost indestructible – did any of our classmates run across his path? It walked in front of me, mindlessly stalking. I broke down my right hand and tapped the Nomu on the shoulder. It ignored me and kept walking. Maybe Shigaraki was calling his abomination back? My heart dropped into my stomach. Did that mean they had Katsuki? I dissipated my hand and followed the creature through the wood. As he walked on, we could hear a commotion in front of us.
The Nomu entered a large clearing. No way. "It's been five minutes since the signal. Let's go Dabi." Kurogiri, the large portaler from USJ stood in front of Midoriya, Shoji, and Todoroki. Small portals were open beside the villains; a high school girl with a machine on her back, a man in a black suit, a tall man with burnt skin, and a masked man in a yellow jacket. The girl had my bloody bandage and my shirt. She held them to her chest as if they were precious to her. The Nomu entered a portal as I took in the scene. One of the nodes on Shoji's dupli-arms had been chopped off. Both of Midoriya's arms had been splinted using a ripped shirt and branches. We were a mess against these villains.
I reformed from my collarbone up beside the boys, "are you all okay?" They jumped at my sudden presence but nodded apprehensively. Midoriya did not look good at all – his pupils were shaking. How was he even standing? "Where's Katsuki?" Shoji quickly flashed me the two small orbs in his hand. I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Katsuki would be fine, he was safe.
"I'm not leaving without that kid," the burnt man frowned, his back to the villain in the orange coat. His eyes shifted between each of us, sizing us up. His eyes lingered the longest on Todoroki.
"Don't worry," his cohort replied. "They were so proud of themselves for rooting through my pockets that I thought I'd let them gloat. But allow me to explain a basic tenant of magic. If I'm flaunting something shiny, it's because there's something else, I don't want you to see." He moved his mask to the side, sticking his tongue out. Two small blue orbs identical to the ones Shoji had sat in his mouth. My mouth went dry.
Midoriya and Todoroki gasped, "he's got them!" Them? What? The masked man snapped his fingers and the two orbs that Shoji held turned into blocks of ice.
"Damn it!" Midoriya shouted as he rushed toward the man. The two villains slowly backed into the portal. Those orbs in his mouth must have Katsuki inside. But they had said them, did they capture another student?
"One last bow," the masked man said as he leaned forward. A beam of light shot through the clearing and knocked his mask off. Akari? He involuntarily gagged, the two orbs falling forward. Midoriya fell to his knees while Todoroki and Shoji jumped for the orbs. Shoji grabbed onto one, but the burnt man grabbed the other just as Todoroki had it in his grasp.
"Confirm it now, release them." The burnt man ordered. The masked man slunk into the portal as he snapped his fingers. The orb in Shoji's possession turned into Tokoyami. My heart stopped as the one in the burnt man's hand turned into Katsuki. "Checkmate." The burnt man had his fingers wrapped tightly around Katsuki's neck. Midoriya yelled for the man to let Katsuki go. I dissipated the rest of my body again and rushed to the portal as it shrank. I gasped, solidifying, and fell to the ground as the portal closed. It felt like I had hit a wall. What happened?
"No. No, that can't be it. Come back! It's not over yet," I screamed, digging my fingers into the ground. I should have been able to go through the portal too. "Come back!" Why could I not go through the portal? Why could I go follow them?!
"Satoshi…"
"You can't just leave!" I pressed my forehead into the dirt, shutting my eyes as tightly as I could manage. My screams turned into sobs.
"Satoshi, we need to get out of here," Todoroki spoke after a long silence. Something draped over me. I shook my head. "The forest is on fire." I let out a breath and lifted my head. The entire forest burned with blue flames. I shook my head as I sat up. Todoroki had taken his blue button-up off and put it over me. I slipped my arms into the sleeves and buttoned up the shirt before standing. Shoji had Midoriya on his back and he was slipping into shock. We needed to get him medical attention.
"There they are," Uraraka's voice shouted a moment before she and Tsu man into the clearing. She stopped mid-stride as she took in my appearance. My face was probably red and puffy from my sobs. I tried to speak, but my lip quivered uncontrollably. "They-?" I nodded. She frowned, walking towards me with open arms. She wrapped her arms around me and I broke down again.
"We need to go," Shoji spoke after a few moments. I pulled myself away from Uraraka and nodded, wiping the tears away with my right hand. We walked back to the cabin in silence. It took a mere ten minutes to reach the cabin. Emergency crews rushed about working to extinguish the blue forest fire. We had been ten minutes from emergency response and the pros. Ten fucking minutes. Shoji handed Midoriya off to the paramedics and they rushed him and a few of the other students in worse shape to the hospital. I watched with Uraraka and Todoroki from the side of the cabin as fifteen of our classmates were rushed away in ambulances – all were unconscious.
I pulled myself off the side of the cabin, "I need to go see my sister." Uraraka followed me silently. I found Akari latched onto her class rep, shouting about how her boyfriend was taken away by ambulance. Her classmates that made it out surrounded and comforted her. "Akari – can we talk for a second?"
Her head snapped up to glare at me. "I'm utterly distraught that my precious Juzo may die, and you want to talk? Whatever you have to say you can say here."
I took in a breath as my brain told me to abort and leave it be. "Were you out in the forest?" The only way I would have been prevented from going after Katsuki through that portal was if someone with my quirk or Akari's blocked my atoms. The only person here that could do that, was my sister. The only person alive that could do that – was Akari.
Akari scoffed, let go of her hold on Kendo, and approached me – her hand smacking me across the face. "You're fucked up," Akari glowered at me, "I've been stuck here with these failures all night." She pointed to the group of students that failed their practical's. Her classmates stood frozen as they took in what Akari had just done. She was no longer acting like my sister.
"Oh, never mind then." I bit my lip and quickly tucked my head down. The only person that could block me and force me to reform like that was Akari, and if she had not done that… then who could have? I felt my body curl up on itself – I was all alone again. The quiet little girl with no friends who could not even speak to anyone.
"Hey – you can't just hit her. I don't care if she is your sister or not," Uraraka shouted, stepping in front of me. "It's not very hero-like."
Akari scoffed, "and just who are you?"
"Makoto's friend." Uraraka said those words as if it were the most obvious statement, hands solid on her hips.
Akari laughed, "she doesn't have any friends."
"And I'm surprised that you do." Uraraka shook her head.
"Uraraka, it's fine," I said, placing my right hand on her upper arm.
She did not turn to look at me. "It's not fine. Your sister just hit you for nothing!"
"Let's get your arm looked at, it's bleeding," I said quietly, biting my lip. She let out an exasperated sigh before retreating, heading with me to the paramedics that remained. Uraraka explained to the paramedic working on her arm that the girl – Toga – had used a needle attached to a machine that sucked part of her blood. Once Uraraka was done, we rejoined Todoroki. Our classmates that remained had grouped around him.
Kirishima noticed us first, looking me up and down. He pulled himself from the group and stood in front of me as Uraraka continued past him, giving him a smile before she did so. "Let's get you looked at."
I shook my head. "I'm fine. Just upset, but fine." I sighed, blinking my eyes quickly to prevent the newest wave of sadness from drawing out any more tears.
His face softened. "No. You're not fine Makoto. You need to get that hand looked at." I bit my lip as I gave Kirishima a confused look. He gently reached out for my left arm, holding my forearm between us. My finger was no longer bleeding. My entire palm and pads of fingers were covered in bright, angry skin with the start of blisters forming. How had-? Death Wish. I had touched him. His body must run at such high a temperature that when I grabbed onto him, he had burned me. I had felt some pain in my hand earlier, but I had not looked at my hand to notice that I had burnt myself on a villain.
"I-I-I didn't e-even know." I stumbled over my words. I had lost the ability to feel heat.
"I'm stealing Makoto," Kirishima shouted over his shoulder as he led me to the paramedics. I sat in the back of their ambulance in a gurney instead of the chairs like Uraraka had a moment prior. The paramedic rushed around the rig. He rinsed the dirt from my burn with sterile water, then placed a piece of gauze over my hand before laying a damp cloth over top. I had watched him prepare an ice water bath and had to dunk the cloth into that. I could not feel the cold either.
"There's no charring thankfully," he spoke after a moment of scribbling on a notepad. "You have a pretty severe second-degree burn to your hand. We'll leave the cool cloth on for ten minutes to reduce swelling, then we'll get you wrapped up and transported to the hospital to get that properly treated. If you start to feel more pain or unwellness, your friend can come to get me." He excused himself and Kirishima sat on the end of the gurney.
"I didn't even notice," I chocked out. Tears at the corner of my eyes again.
Kirishima put his hand on my calf and squeezed, "you must've had a lot of adrenaline out there. No wonder you put yourself on the back burner while trying to rescue our friend." I could not tell him – or anyone – the truth.
"Do you think Katsuki'll be okay?" I spoke after a few moments, staring at my hand.
"It's Katsuki. He'll be just fine." Kirishima squeezed my calf again. I hoped he was right.