Chapter 28
[Silence]
Midnight didn't leave the room, instead she just waited for the homeroom teacher to wake up on his own while she decided to stretch her arms for a bit. Aizawa eventually woke up from his nap and went back to doing his job, though he was still halfway stuffed in his sleeping bag.
"Now that everyone's decided on their Hero Names, we can go back to talking about your upcoming internships." He stated. "They'll last for one week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who are on the board will choose from among your offers. Everyone else will have a different list." He raised up one of the lists as he continued speaking. "You have a lot to think about. There are around 40 agencies across the country who've agreed to take on interns from your class. Each agency has a different specialty that its Heroes focus on. Keep that in mind."
"Imagine that you were Thirteen." Midnight said. "You'd want to choose a place that focuses on rescuing people, not fighting Villains. Understand?"
"Think carefully before you decide." Aizawa finished.
"Yes sir." Everyone said in unison.
The bell rang and everyone was passed out a sheet of paper which either had a preset list of Heroes for the people who didn't get any recommendations, or a list of the Pros who wanted a specific person. The only exception was Sora, who had gotten three sheets, because he had so many to choose from. As he was going to look on his list he heard some of his classmates chatting among themselves.
"I want to fight crime and bad guys in a big city." Eijiro told himself.
"I just hope I can intern in a place where there's a lot of flooding, or maybe a lake." Tsuyu thought out loud.
"Turn in your choices before the weekend." Aizawa informed the class.
"We've only got two days?" Hanta asked.
"Yeah, so you should start now." Aizawa recommended, as he and Midnight both left the classroom. "You're dismissed."
Once it was lunchtime, Sora started looking through his list, though it was probably a waste of time, since he doesn't really know any Heroes from this world aside from the teachers, and a few Pros. Maybe if he looked through the list he could find someone who he recognized. He didn't know anybody on the first page, the second page proved to be full of as many unfamiliar names as the first and when he finished going through the third, no dice. It was almost the end of lunch and it seemed like a few people were also having this dilemma.
"So guys," Mina asked out loud. "Have you decided what Pro Agency you wanna go for?"
"Mount Lady is my top choice." Minoru answered.
"Mineta..." Asui started. "Are you thinking something perverted?"
"Possibly?" Minoru replied.
Sora sighed and silently said. "I feel bad for her. She should not have to deal with him."
"You made it Pretty far into the tournament." Mashirao pointed out to Ashido. "It's weird you didn't get any offers."
"I know." She complained.
Ochako looked over to Izuku and asked him "Hey Deku, who's on your list?"
"There are only 40 Heroes who will take us, so after looking at their specialties and splitting them into groups, I can start narrowing them down based on consistent..." Midoriya muttered, while also slightly trembling. Sora got up and knocked on his desk, snapping his friend out of his motor mouth. "Ahh!"
"Did you hear what your friend just asked you Izuku?" Sora said.
"Huh?" Midoriya replied, clearly he didn't. "Oh, Sorry, what'd you guys say?"
"You're really thinking hard about this, aren't you?" Tsu commented.
"It'll all work out." Uraraka stated. "I've settled on my pick."
"Already?" Mina asked.
"What Agency?" Ojiro wondered.
"The one that the Battle Hero, Gunhead runs." She answered.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I'll Become A Hero]
Izuku was slightly confused with her pick and pointed out. "Gunhead is a big brawler though. Are you sure that's where you want to intern Uraraka?"
"Yep. He sent me an offer." Ochako replied as she punched the air in front of her.
"Whoa, really?" Midoriya responded, still trembling. "But I thought you were trying to be a Hero kinda like Thirteen, more into rescuing then fighting."
"Ultimately that's the plan." Uraraka explained. "But I've been thinking ever since the Festival, well at least since I've faced off against Bakugo," She then got into a makeshift fighting stance and punched the air again as she said "The stronger I am, the more possibilities I'll have. Plus, learning from a battle Hero will give me a different perspective."
"So kinda like being a multi purpose Hero?" Sora tried to summarize.
"More like just seeing both sides of the Hero job." She corrected before turning back to Izuku. "Right?"
"Yeah, totally." Midoriya saw her point.
"More importantly, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you all day." The pink cheeked girl wondered. "Why are you trembling?"
Everyone else finally noticed it and Izuku told her why. "Oh this? It's exercise." He wasn't sitting on his chair. He was in a sitting position a few centimetres above his chair and was doing that for every class.
"Exercise?" Ochako repeated. "Were you doing that the whole class?"
"There's no way." Ashido said stunned.
"That's such an old fashioned way to train." Minoru commented.
"A smart one though." Mashirao explained. "The isometric muscle contraction that's needed to hold your body above your seat, makes it an easy way to work out without moving."
Sora facepalmed and groaned at his friend. "Do you ever take a break?" He asked. "I swear I don't see you do anything but train, and we live together. Even on days off you train. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you also trained in your sleep somehow."
"Tis skill, not strength that governs a ship." Fumikage decided to add his two cents.
"Getting back on the subject before," Sora started. "I was wondering if you could help me out with deciding who to intern with, Izuku."
"Huh? Oh sure." Midoriya replied. "You do have a lot of people to look through, so you'd probably need some help with that."
"Thanks." The Keyblade wielder said. "Let's start when we get back home, okay?" Izuku nodded as a response and with that plan settled, the bell rang, signalling that it was time for the afternoon classes.
[Silence]
Once the afternoon classes were taken care of, Sora and Midoriya were about to head out, but Ochako walked over to them. "Hey you two." She said. "Wanna walk together?"
"The more the merrier." Sora replied as Izuku nodded in approval.
"Iida, come with u..." She turned and noticed that Tenya wasn't there, kinda surprising her. "Huh."
"I bet he already decided where he wants to do his internship." Midoriya guessed. "My guess is he's off turning his forms in right now."
When the green haired student opened the door to the hallway, he was greeted with an all too familiar Hero as said Hero announced "HAHAHAHAHA! I AM HERE IN A BIZARRE POSITION!"
"Um...yeah, what's that about?" Izuku questioned. "And why are you in such a hurry?"
"Does All Might always do this?" Sora whispered to Uraraka, who just shrugged her shoulders to signify that she does not know the answer to that.
"Hi. Come with me a sec." All Might sounded kinda nervous, which honestly surprised Sora, as he has never seen Toshinori nervous in his buff state.
"Uh...sure. Okay." Midoriya responded. The two of them walked off and left Sora and Ochako alone.
"Well that just happened." Sora commented.
"What do you think All Might wanted with Deku?" Uraraka wondered out loud.
"Maybe he's worried about Izuku doing any internships that involve combat because of his Quirk." Sora guessed.
"Hmm. Maybe." She agreed. "Do you think he'll be okay if he does do that though?"
"He'll be fine." Sora reassured her. "If anything, I'd say he needs someone to teach him how to fight. He can't just rely on breaking his bones all the time to win."
"I guess you're right about that." Ochako replied. "So should we wait for him here or over at the entrance?"
"We can wait at the entrance." Sora suggested. "Maybe we can spot Tenya and the four of us can walk to the station together."
Uraraka realized that was a possibility and said "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go."
"Right behind you Ochako." The Keyblade wielder told her as he followed her to the entrance.
The two of them made it to the entrance and were both getting themselves ready to go when Uraraka decided to say to Sora "Oh, by the way, good job getting so many recommendations Sora."
"Huh? Oh, thanks." The boy replied. "To be honest, I was a bit surprised that I got that many. I was expecting something like 2 maybe 3,000 but not over 10,000."
"Well you really smashed those expectations." She commented, earning a light laugh from Sora.
Midoriya walked in the area and spotted the two, looking really happy. "Hey guys. I just got some great news." That earned a very curious look from Sora and Ochako as they were eager to hear the good news. "Someone sent me an offer to intern, so now I'm set."
"What? You got an offer?" Uraraka repeated as she finished getting her stuff. "Go Deku! That's awesome!"
"Yeah, thanks." Izuku replied calmly. After who knows how long, Midoriya finally isn't freaking out when Ochako praises him or gets close and Sora silently was proud of that confidence boost.
"So I guess that means you've got some extra free time to help me figure out mine, Izuku?" Sora noted.
"Absolutely." Midoriya replied with a smile. "It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."
"Thanks again." The Keyblade wielder said as he gave a thumbs up to his friend, who reciprocated the action.
Izuku then noticed Iida's locker and decided to check and see if Tenya's rain boots were still in it. When he opened the locker, he and Sora were both surprised to see that they weren't. Uraraka noticed the looks on their faces and said "Aw man. Did Iida go home without us?"
"I guess so." Sora replied, sounding a slight bit down while Midoriya was silent. After that the three of them had decided to walk to the station, but they all felt something crawling in their stomach that made the trio feel uneasy about what was going on.
Elsewhere in the bar hideout, Tomura, Kurogiri, The man who mentors Shigaraki through a screen, and the Figure were all waiting for their 'guest' Stain to give them an answer. After a few days with no contact, the Hero Killer had decided to take up this League's offer and see if it was worth joining. After a small amount of silence, he finally spoke to them.
"Now I get it." He assessed. "You must be the ones who attacked U.A. And you want to recruit me to build up your little group again, while also testing the worth of your newest recruit by sending him to personally find me."
"Yeah." Tomura replied, deciding to go with that as his reasoning. Though the first half of that statement was true, the rest was a complete lie. The figure found Stain on their own and even though the Hero Killer was someone they were interested in, they weren't searching for him at the time and just got lucky that The Figure ran into him. Nevertheless, Shigaraki continued trying to persuade the man. "It'll be great. You've got so much experience."
"And what's your mission?" Stain questioned.
"For now, I really just want to kill All Might." Tomura casually answered. "I like to destroy anything that pisses me off, like these two brats here. Game Over." He showed a picture of a green haired boy and a brown, spiky haired boy that The Figure knew all too well.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST All for the Sake of a Correct Society]
That answer did not please Stain as he stated "I was a fool to think you could offer me anything. It turns out you're the type of person I hate most in this world." This answer confused Shigaraki. Then the blood licker explained. "Your black cloaked ally may understand my view, but the goals of your league are that of a child." He gripped the hilt of his blades and got ready to attack. "What meaning is there to kill him if you don't have real convictions?"
As Stain began to unsheathe his blades, Kurogiri stated his concerns to the man behind the screen. "Master, should I step in?"
"Let it happen." The man said. "It's possible this is the only way he'll learn anything. He needs to think about the ways he must grow, how he can mature. Only then will he reach his potential."
"Finally." The Figure said, sounding very pleased. "It's about time this brat got a lesson beaten into him." They turned their seat to get a better view and told Stain "I won't step in unless I know he won't survive. He's no good to me dead."
With everyone's position on this encounter set up, it was time to let the event play out.
[Play KH 3 OST Xehanort the Early Years -cutscene-]
Tomura didn't hesitate and got off his chair to try and go for an attack, but when he went over to where he saw Stain, he was already gone. Shigaraki had heard Kurogiri grunt in pain and he turned around to see the void man had received a cut on his arm and the Hero Killer quickly licking the blood from his weapon.
Tomura turned around and attempted to grab Stain, but the blade user easily avoided the attack and once again got behind the boy. As Shigaraki turned to face him again, the Hero Killer had taken a jagged knife out and forced the blade into the hand covered boy's right shoulder. While Tomura was distracted from the sudden pain, Stain pushed even more, forcing the boy to the ground, taking a second jagged blade out and holding it next to Shigaraki's neck.
The Figure had a very wide and sadistic grin under the hood, though nobody could see it as the cloaked person just watched with pleasure and soaked it in. It didn't matter who was going through it, the Figure just needs situations like these to happen in order to gain what was lost.
"So you want me to be a part of you crumbling little League." Stain berated, sounding very angry, but calm. "But you won't accomplish anything if you don't have conviction, and desire. Without those, you'll always be an aimless weakling, achieving nothing. That's how you got here."
Tomura tried to play it off calmly and said "Ghhheh. Hey now. You're being a little rough, aren't you? Kurogiri, take this guy back."
"I'm sorry. I can't move." The void man informed him, struggling but completely paralyzed. "It must be the Hero Killer's quirk at work."
The Figure remembered seeing that during the battle against Ingenium a few days ago, and noted the similarities as to what had happened. It was after they were cut and when Stain licked the blood from his blades. They knew that was the case because even when Ingenium got cut the first few times during that fight, he could still move just fine. It was only after the blood was ingested that the Hero stopped moving until Stain finished butchering him and, well everyone saw the result.
[Silence]
Stain the preached "The word Hero has lost all meaning in this society. The world is overrun with Fakes, and Criminals like you who chase petty dreams. They must all be purged." The Hero Killer was about to go for Shifaraki's face, but Tomura grabbed the blade with his hand.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Evil of Psychology]
"What do you think you're doing?" Shigaraki sounded serious for once. "If you touch this palm, I'll kill you." His actions backed up his words as the blade by his face was cracking from the decay and starting to turn rust. Stain had actually gotten surprised, but it wasn't from the quirk. He noticed something faint in Tomura's eyes as he continued talking. "You sure talk a lot, Hero Killer. Conviction? Maybe I don't have anything as loaded as that. If I had to choose a desire though, yeah, it'd be killing All Might. If this world wants to worship trash like him, I'll destroy their beloved symbol of peace and then crush them while they're in shock."
Stain was slightly stunned at what he heard but quickly snapped out of it when he jumped off Shigaraki and held his blade defensively. But the boy kept talking, scratching his chin on impulse while blood trickled down his arm. "You know, I was feeling pretty good for the past month and a half, and then you go and do this. You should learn not to play with knives. Our Party may have a healer, but he doesn't like being it."
"I see your nature." The Hero Killer said, sounding almost impressed. "It seems our goals fundamentally oppose each other, however this wasn't in vain. We agree that we need to destroy the present."
"I'm over this." Tomura said, annoyed. "Leave. Drop dead. I'm the kind of person you hate most, right?"
"I was testing your motives." Stain explained as he sheathed his weapon. "People always show their true colors when they're on the verge of death. It's abnormal, but there is desire, a warped sprout of conviction in you. How will it bloom in the end I wonder? Maybe I'll let you grow. If you don't turn out well, I'll take care of you later."
"You think you could get rid of me?" Shigaraki replied.
Kurogiri then finally was able to move and informed Tomura and the Figure "I-I'm free."
"Kurogiri, someone as crazy as this would be nothing but a problem for the League of Villains." Tomura said. "I can't believe I trusted that black coated asshole to find me someone useful."
"Please reconsider." Kurogiri recommended. "This man will be a great asset if he joins us. I'd say this was a success."
"My business here with you two is done. But before I leave," Stain turned to the Figure and asked "What is your conviction?"
[Play KH DDD OST The Nightmare]
Nobody moved for a few seconds and it was dead silent, then The Figure calmly got off the chair they were sitting on and walked over to the Hero Killer, not caring about any kind of personal space.
Another moment of silence before the Figure spoke up. "Just to save time, I'll look you in the eyes and let you judge my conviction and desire as well." As they said that, a very small orange glow began to appear around where the face of the Figure would be, slowly dissolving and revealing a pair of dark glowing red eyes and a pitch black aura oozing from the opening of the hood and that was all, but that was also all that needed to be seen at this time.
The look in the Figure's eyes as well as the aura leaking from them had intimidated the Hero Killer a little bit, and then The Figure spoke. "You could say that I have a similar goal to the hand faced weakling behind me, but it isn't with your precious Heroes. No, it's far more personal than that, but I'm far too weak to fight those people again right now, so I decided to move to a far off place to regain my lost strength. Normally, I would just cause some chaos on my own and get stronger that way, but there's too many would-be do gooders that would get in the way, and one of the few people who know of my existence is here as well. If I get discovered before I'm strong enough, then I'll end up dead once more."
That last part not only surprised The Hero Killer, but even Tomura. This Figure, whoever they were, cheated death, and Shigaraki only knows one other person that did that, and it was his master.
"Then I found this place while I was scraping for anything to leech off of for power and I was offered a place here. Now my current goal is to make the brat behind me into an actual threat and then let him cause chaos for me, until I'm strong enough to do it myself." The Figure finished as they walked back to their seat, the orange glow returning to cover their eyes and aura once more. "Do I pass your little test of conviction?"
"You have a personal grudge against people who have attempted to end your life, but since you aren't strong enough to face them, you came here to regain lost strength, while also remaining anonymous." Stain summarized. "While your goal only serves yourself, you believe your reasoning is justified by these self proclaimed wrongdoings brought upon you by others. And your actions back at Hosu prove to me that what you say is true, as you brought me here to help the boy grow, even choosing not to intervene in the fight as to make sure he learns his lesson."
The figure nodded. Then The Hero Killer said one final thing. "My business here is done. Now, you'll return me to Hosu." He licked his lips. "There are still several False Heroes I must attend to there."
Kurogiri replied "As you wish." and then opened a void next to Stain. "This will take you to a deserted section of the city. You will be free to do as you wish, however, should you change your mind and decide to join us, we will be in Hosu for the next few days."
Stain didn't answer and just walked through the portal, leaving the three alone once more.
[Silence]
It was night back at the Midoriya household. After the family had dinner, Izuku and Sora had cleared off the table and were trying to figure out who the Keyblade wielder could work with.
[Play KH3 Re:Mind OST Radiant Garden]
Midoriya began by asking his friend "What kind of Hero would you want to be in this world?"
"I'd say one that could do a little bit of everything. Like an all around Hero." Sora answered.
"So multipurpose...okay, that helps narrow down the list." Izuku summarized as he started crossing off names. "I'd ask if there were any favorites, but you don't really know any Heroes here other than the teachers at U.A. so...what do you think you need to improve to make yourself better?"
"Hmm..." Sora cupped his chin and took a moment to think about it. "Well, while I'm good with my Keyblade, I never received any actual training with it, kinda just making my style. But I also need to work on my spells in general, as I still need to figure out at least my Wind and Cure spells. Cure especially. So I guess maybe someone who can teach me how to fight properly and maybe teach me how to 'summon' other things."
"Someone who can teach you proper fighting form and strategy." Izuku muttered as he scratched more names out. At this point over half of the list was crossed off and a few names were circled, thanks to Midoriya's insane knowledge of all the Heroes in the world, this was going to be much easier. "Well alot of Heroes in the top ten, as well as other pretty popular Heroes are on this list. Yoroi Musha would be a good pick, considering his knowledge of weapons and he's the current number 8 Hero, but I don't think he could help out with the spells. Mirko is out of the question though, because she's a brawler who mainly uses her legs in combat. That and I doubt she could really teach you anything because this is her first time actually sending out a recommendation, so she'd be new at the subject. Hawks is a good one though. He's done this before, knows how to fight with blades and is also a laid back Hero, though it is weird, considering he's number 3. Hmm...who else?"
Sora just listened to his friend, trying his best to keep up, but then a name that Izuku circled on the list got his attention and he pointed it out. "Sir Nighteye?" That got Izuku to stop muttering. "Who's that guy?"
"Huh? O-Oh, him." Midoriya replied. "I figured he'd be a good backup choice. He's All Might's former sidekick and he's almost as good as the top ten when it comes to fighting, rescue, support, everything really. He'd be the best choice to learn how to be a multipurpose Hero, But..."
"But what?" Sora wondered.
"He's very strict." Izuku said. "His gaze is so intimidating and I heard that he's a perfectionist who's really hard on everyone he works with, even himself."
"So that's the only thing that's stopping you from making him the top pick?" Sora asked. "Just because he's strict and kinda scary? Izuku, we deal with Mr. Aizawa every day, and I've also dealt with strict leaders before. A Chinese general named Shang was a no-nonsense guy and I got on his good side. Or Triton, the king of Atlantica and his rules of the ocean. And now I'm friends with him and his family. Or Phil, who is basically a drill sergeant for Heroes, when he just has me train out of the blue when I see him, and I'm a Hero in his world."
"I get that you've dealt with strict people before, but are you sure you think you can handle a perfectionist like Nighteye?" Midoriya asked.
"I think I can manage." Sora confidently answered.
"Ok then. I guess Nighteye is your choice." Izuku gave Sora the request sheet and let his friend write down Sir Nighteye on the first spot. "What about your second and third choice?"
"I'll put that Yoroi guy as my second pick." Sora said.
"You mean Yoroi Musha?" Midoriya repeated the name.
"Yeah, that guy. And then Hawks can be the third pick." Sora told his friend as he looked for their names on the list and wrote them down in their respective spots. After that was finished, Sora thanked Izuku for his help and the two of them went to bed. It was pretty late. Nothing else happened on the weekend after that.
[Silence]
Once it was time to head back to school, instead of normal classes, the students in the Hero course were told to get their Hero uniforms and take a bus to the station. Once they were at the station Aizawa spoke up.
"Everyone has their costumes, right?" He checked. "Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet. And don't lose them or anything."
"Gotcha!" Mina energetically replied.
"Speak properly." Aizawa scolded. "It's 'Yes sir' Ashido."
"Yes sir." She said, in a sad tone.
"Make sure you mind your manners with the other Heroes during your internships." Aizawa instructed. "Now get to it."
"Yes sir." Everyone replied in unison.
While everyone else was heading to their respective gates, Shoto and Sora both looked at Tenya and noticed that he wasn't himself. The Keyblade wielder was about to talk to him, but Midoriya beat him to it as he and Ochako went over to him. Sora followed the two.
"Iida wait." He called out to his friend. Tenya stopped but he didn't turn around. "Hey. If you ever want to talk or anything, just let us know." Ochako nodded to that suggestion. "We're friends, right?"
Tenya turned around and replied with a smile. "Yes." Then he turned around and began to walk away.
[Play KH3 OST Organization XIII -cutscene-]
Sora knew that something was wrong and walked up to him. "Iida." He said as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. Tenya didn't turn around. The Keyblade wielder then said in a serious yet concerned tone "The next time we can see eachother...I think we should talk."
Iida didn't turn around, but still gave Sora an answer. "Sure...next time, we'll talk." He then walked away once more.
Sora had a very bad feeling about his friend, but for now, all he could do is hope that he can manage until they see eachother again. After that, he walked to his gate and waited to board the train that would take him to the city where the Nighteye Agency was located.
And here we go. It's time for the internships to start. I'm starting to run out of in game music and I got to resort to the cutscene themes now if I want to keep myself from reusing tracks. Time to review. So Sora is going to work with Nighteye. What will he learn, who will he see? How will it go? You'll find out soon enough. Now you guys have a small description of the Figure under their hood. Mainly the fact that they have red eyes and yet still cover their face with something else under the hood. You also know their goal. They have a grudge against some of Sora's friends, but is not strong enough to easily beat Sora, should they reveal them-self right now. And lastly, Sora and Iida have agreed that the next time they see eachother, they are gonna talk. Sora knows that Tenya is in a bad place and wants to help him as soon as he can. But how soon will he be able to? Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and until I decide to upload again. ;)