Disclaimer:
I do not own Persona or My Hero Academia
"Yayyy! Everyone pumped up?!" Pop cheered as she began singing. She bounced up high above a sidewalk, a crowd of fans adorned in Pop Step merchandise cheering beneath her.
"Pop *sparkle* step!" Pop leapt high twirling as she ascended to the height of her bounce.
"Dive! Dive!" The freelance idol fell towards the open arms of fans before leaping up from their shoulders.
"Hipping and hopping, just for you!"
She noticed a fan cheering for her from the balcony in an adjacent building. "A handshake for you!"
By the end of her song, she leapt atop a hanging sign across another building. "Moving right along to the next song!"
"Wow, Pop is really good huh." La Brava said recording Pop Step's performance. "The way she can leap around with confidence and sing is incredible."
Akira had to agree with her. Pop had asked if he wanted to come see one of her performances and he was glad he agreed. She was amazing. He looked around at the crowd. She had a pretty big fan base, but it wasn't just them here. Random people walking by stopped, listened, stayed, and cheered.
As her song came to a conclusion, she gave a final flourish mid-air before landing next to La Brava.
"Soooo, what did you two think?"
"You were great Pop! You were all like *BOUNCE* *SWOOSH* *WOW*" La Brava exclaimed with a small bounce.
"Took the words right out of my mouth. You were amazing out there. Thanks for inviting us." Akira said with a smirk, his hands tucking themselves into his pockets.
"No problem hehe! Glad you enjoyed." Pop said with a grin. She spun on the spot, glancing around at all the laughing and smiling fans. "You know… ever since I was young, I've always wanted to reach out to people. To bring smiles and inspire. I tossed up either becoming a hero or an idol and well… as you can see, being an idol is where my passions led. To be honest, I'm not too sure how much help I could have been as a hero."
"Hey, don't forget what you did during that giant villain incident. You helped protect and save a lot of people by attracting their attention and leading them toward a safe space." Akira nudged her shoulder. "You were like a real hero out there."
"Ahhh stop it!" Pop yelled embarrassed. "But, um, thanks. I might help you and the others out now and then, but I think I'll stick primarily to idol work."
"Hey, say no more. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out."
Pop's flushed face instantly vanished, replaced by a devious smirk. "Wellllll, now that you mention it. I could use a bodyguard and a manager. I've had a couple of run ins with wild fans and some haters so it would be nice to have some protection and a look out. Oh. And a manager helping with venue setups and merchandise!"
"Ooh let me handle all that managerial stuff. I was kind of like Gentle's manager back in the day. Like with helping him find hotspots to hit, managing his YapTube channel, and what not. Oh and speaking of, I can also help spread your influence by recording your performances! With both you and Gentle, I can be your 'Fan Behind The Cam!'"
"Guess that leaves me with bodyguarding duty. Sure, I'm down."
"Thank you Akira… La Brava! That really means a lot to me. I won't make you do this for nothing of course. I, er, don't have much money but errr, oh I know! I'll teach you how to gain more attention and to improve your flair!" Pop slowly looked down, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "I-is that okay? I know it's not much but…"
Akira remembered the way she seemed to almost shine or sparkle in her performance. Not literally obviously but it felt like it, with the way she captured and drew everyone's attention. As Joker, he was pretty flashy, stylish even. On one hand, it was because it was just him being his true self, unchained and unrestricted by social norms, just him being natural.
On the other hand, he did it to draw shadows' and other enemies' attention to himself and away from his teammates. It was his way of protecting his friends and trusting them to have his back. Plus it seemed to fit with the theme of being a Phantom Thief.
It wouldn't hurt to have more flair. He could learn a thing or two from her.
Akira raised his hand to her. "It's a deal Teach."
Pop Step snapped her neck up at his agreement and gave a dazzling gleam before poking her tongue out and clasping Akira's hand in a shake. "Looking forward to it Mr. Bodyguard.
Akira chuckled at how Pop's expression was frozen as their bond grew, the world around them dimming.
A red card faded into existence depicting a woman drinking from a vase underneath a blanket of stars. Beneath it were the words, "L'e Toile".
I am thou, thou art I
Thou hast awoken an old vow.
To you the Champion of Change and Rebellion,
You have freed us from the chains of captivity within yourself.
With the freedom of the Star Arcana,
You have reobtained the winds of blessings that
Shall once again lead to rebellious change.
Shine. Shine and give those touched, Hope and Joy.
Use us, Wildcard
By now, Akira was all too familiar on what to do. Stretching his arm in front of him, Akira grasped the card and watched as the myriad of chains that suspended the card in the air shattered and burst a part. The card, like a key unlocking and opening another door.
After the past several confidants had bonded with him, Akira had expected the Ultimate Star Persona to have met him. Turning around, Akira was met with something, or rather someone he wasn't expecting.
Akira was expecting an enormous, emaciated demon floating upon 6 leathery and veiny red wings. He was expecting the Son who had rebelled against God and represented the sin of Pride. The one known as the Morning Star, Lucifer.
Instead, Akira was met with a man with long flowing golden hair adorned in a blue suit. Behind him flapped 12 wings, the 6 to his right were a golden white that appeared so gentle and soft whilst the 6 to his left were an ebony black that Akira expected those tied to Hell would have. The figure before him appeared to cast the most illuminous light whilst also devouring all light around him at the same time.
"Who are you?" Akira asked with narrowed eyes.
"My, my Nephalem. To think you could forget my presence so easily. You, who commands all from the devils and demons of Hell to the archangels and seraphim of Heaven and everything in between… to think you would forget someone of my station… I'm almost disappointed." The man's voice was calm and almost melodic.
It was the type of voice that would make those who heard it lower their guards and open their hearts to him. A voice that, once allowed entrance, would bare its true nature and chill those who hear it down to the bone. Anyone who heard it would instantly freeze from fear and danger. Akira though?
"… Luci?"
"In the flesh." He looked down at his attire. "Well almost."
"But what happened to you? You look…"
"Different? This is how I looked after I Fell but before I became the ruler of Hell."
"But why do you look like this?" Akira asked, gesturing up and down at its figure.
"I suppose it has something to do with this world. I was known as both Lucifer and Helel in this form. Those names mean 'Morning Star' and 'Shining One' respectively. My previous and more demonic appearance that you're familiar with, while normal, was a testament to how much darkness and sin coveted your world. Humans…"
Lucifer scoffed mid-sentence. "Sickening creatures really. I told Father they didn't deserve our love, let alone our worship. They're pitiful creatures that should bow-"
"Luci…" Akira sighed with a face palm. Good lord did Lucifer love the sound of his own voice. He didn't represent Pride for nothing.
"Ah, I got distracted. Anyways, where was I? Ah, now though, it appears this world has an abundance of hope and joy. Of course, there is still the presence of sin and negativity but not nearly as much as your world."
Akira thought back to all the conversations he heard on his first day here. All Might, the Symbol of Peace. Heroes. Those two must have kept 'sin and negativity' in check and not allowed it to fester and corrupt society.
"All that 'Light' is what has reverted my appearance to what you see before you. A reflection of the state and nature of the world if you will."
"Huh. So you're like a Good and Evil meter."
Lucifer narrowed his eyes while his softly flapping wings stilled. "Careful Nephalem…"
"Kidding, kidding. But still… it says a lot about my world…"
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "As much as I hate humans, it didn't help that their sins and insecurities were preyed upon and fed that Fake."
'Yaldabaoth…'
Lucifer yawned as he began to fade.
"It appears my time's up. The Sea of Souls calls…" He looked Akira in the eye. "Nephalem. You have the honour of calling upon me. You have risen from darkness and transcended the bleak world of the heart. Do not stain that honour by losing again. Grow stronger Nephalem."
With Lucifer now gone, time had once again resumed.
"Great! Now that's outta the way, why don't we get to business." Pop said before turning to her fans and called out that she was going to do a 'Meet and Greet'.
She and Koichi had told him how Knuckle Duster had been conducting his investigations into these Trigger incidents, both from his own testimony and from witnessing it themselves.
Essentially, he beat the crap out of people he thought were suspicious and then checked if they were juicing.
Yeah. Not the best method.
Surprisingly, it was Pop who came up with this 'Meet and Greet' idea to help with the investigation. He looked on as she shook hands and posed for selfies with her fans. She brought her hands into a peace sign and stuck her tongue out.
"Get this out on social media, 'kay?" She told her fans.
"It's a pretty good idea, right? It might not be perfect for finding every Trigger user but it's a start." La Brava said beside him recording and taking photos of the 'Meet and Greet', specifically of the fans. Who knows when having visuals on the people around could come in handy.
"Yeah. With how popular Pop seems to be, that photo pose can get pretty trendy. We might be able to even see any evidence of black tongues on random photos online if we're lucky." Akira responded.
Another fan came up to Pop and began posing. It wasn't anything strange until he suddenly slapped his neck.
"Ouch!"
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Pop asked.
"Y-yeah, must have been stung by a mosquito or bee or something haha, ow."
"Akira! Take a look!" La Brava suddenly caught Akira's attention. Turning to her, he came face to face with her camera, specifically a zoomed in image of the latest fan after he slapped his neck. His open mouth showing a darkened tongue.
Akira's eyes widened. He quickly spun to Pop just in time to hear screams as the fan grew long knives out of his fingers and his back. His body bulged as if he was a body builder, and his eyes lost their lustre as he began swinging his arms around wildly. It was like he had gone berserk.
The fan wasn't the only one turning. People all around were using their Quirks wildly. A woman clutched at her head as lasers began shooting out sporadically. Flames spurted out of a man's flailing palms. A woman combusted into vermillion flames. Another man fell down onto his stomach as his body bulged and grew to the size of a truck, turning a dark ebony with yellow tribal lines etching themselves all around his body.
It was pure pandemonium.
Bystanders ran away from the chaos whilst a cacophony of screams and panic arose.
Something wasn't right though. This wasn't like the giant villain incident. That villain caused havoc and knew what he was doing. These villains though… They were just as scared and panicky as those running in fear.
Akira didn't think these were villains. In a way, it sort of reminded him of Psychotic Breakdowns. He shook his head. What was he doing standing around for?
"Akira!" Pop called as she leapt and landed beside him. "What's going on?! What do we do?"
"This is a worse situation than with that Giant Villain. Everyone's too panicked to listen." Akira looked to the two girls beside him. "But that doesn't mean we can't try. Just like what you two did before, try to guide everyone to a safe enough location. You girls got this. I believe in you." With that Akira charged forward, his form being obscured and devoured by the oncoming mass of people.
The girls looked at each other with a nod before Pop picked La Brava up and leapt as fast as she could to the front of the panicking crowd. Whipping out her mic, Pop shouted for everyone to stop, to calm down but her voice was drowned out by the screams and clamour.
"La Brava, could you-"
"Already on it." La Brava interrupted as she finished connecting Pop's mic to anything and everything with a speaker around her. Pop gave a nod in thanks before returning to the crowd.
"Everyone, please listen to me! Please stop!" Some people nearby stopped to listen to her but not enough. 'Damn it… everyone is too panicked to think clearly. What do I do?'
The magenta-haired girl beside her was looking panicked herself. It was utter chaos. She had never been in a situation like this before. Unlike the incident with the giant villain, there were more villains and danger was a lot closer to the bystanders. She clutched at her head. She needed to think, to come up with something… but she couldn't. She couldn't think. It was too loud.
"…loud…" La Brava muttered before widening her eyes. She opened program that allowed her to connect the mic with everything with a speaker and cranked up with output. "Pop! Cover your ears! Do feedback!"
Pop scrunched her face in confusion before understanding the smaller girl's intentions. When both girls' ears were covered the pink-haired idol brought the mic up against the closest loud speaker, the feedback that resounded created an ear-piercing screech that made everyone stagger to a halt, clutching their pained ears.
Pop Step stood up shakily, her ears ringing despite being covered. 'Now's the time.'
"Everyone! I apologise for the noise but please listen to me! We need to evacuate in an orderly manner! Panicking and rushing away will only be dangerous to those around you! If anyone has fallen, please help them up and make your way over here!" Pop Step announced as she leapt up and down, ensuring people can see where she and the evacuation area was.
La Brava, on the other hand, hacked into the street lights that lined the streets, turning the lights off and on in intervals to make it seem like the light travelled down the street like a wave, directing those at the end of the crowd, who were too far away to see Pop, to where they were.
'We did it!'
*A few minutes earlier*
It was risky doing this here, but he had no choice. There wasn't any time to waste finding a hiding spot. Not when there was chaos and danger before him. Besides, no one was paying attention. He commanded in his head and his rebellious outfit responded, manifesting itself around him in a flash of blue flames.
As dangerous as the people on Trigger were, the most dangerous was this stampeding crowd, especially if anyone had fallen in the commotion. When everyone is panicking and overcome with fear, they become tunnel visioned and lose focus on everything else around them.
'Damnit! If only I had a persona with Energy Shower. Maybe then I could stop all this panic…'
But he didn't.
Well, no one said trying to be a hero was easy.
The world grew a dull shade of grey as Akira activated his Third Eye. He took everything in, hoping to find anything of note. Amidst the throngs of grey bodies was a girl around his age, having been pushed to the ground in the chaos. She was cowering on the floor in a foetal position, trying to escape the stamping feet of those running away.
Akira didn't hesitate. He needed to get to her fast. It was too crowded to summon any personas without causing even more panic. Reaching out to the Sea of Souls, the raven-haired teen called upon his only Tower persona. With a squawk, the arrogant vulture and king of birds of Hindu mythology, Jatayu responded.
He donned his mask and let the persona fill his mind. Normally, he would need to summon a persona into reality in order to use a skill. Luckily enough Jatayu had a passive skill that could boost his agility.
Speed Master.
While it didn't necessarily make him faster, it did automatically increase his accuracy and evasion.
With these attributes boosted, he managed to dodge and weave through the crowd effortlessly without barrelling into anyone.
Akira kept his Third Eye activated until he finally made it to the girl. She had an unruly set of hair that reached just below her shoulders and wore a tank top and shorts. He crouched down beside her, in the direction of incoming foot traffic.
"Hey! Are you hurt? Can you stand?" Akira called out above the cacophony of sounds.
She turned to him, tears streaming down her face. "N-no. I-I'm okay." The girl said with a wince. She was trying to be brave, despite the scary situation.
"Don't worry, you'll be okay now. I'll get you somewhere safe." He gently picked the girl up bridal style and leapt up and above the crowd; the girl buried her face into his chest and clutched tightly at his coat.
He wasn't as perfect as Pop when it came to leaping but with the final minutes of Speed master in effect, Akira did a decent job at evading and leaping to safety.
He let the girl down gently as he arrived at an empty pocket in the sidewalk. Now that they were safe and out of danger, he deactivated his Third Eye only to be surprised at the girl's appearance, or lack thereof. The shoulder length hair and teary face were gone. Literally. The girl was invisible.
'Huh. There's all sorts of Quirks…' Akira thought before shaking his head. There wasn't any time for that. He placed one hand on top of the girl's hands, squeezing them lightly to give her a sense of security and gave her a gentle smile.
"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now."
The girl's hands stayed in place for a few seconds longer, reciprocating the squeeze, before shakily letting go.
"Th-thank you… for saving me."
Akira gave her another smile. "Don't worry about it, it's what I do." He switched his personas and ripped off his mask, summoning from a small burst of flames his first persona after Arsène.
"Pixie, Dia."
"Roger that Boss Man!" Pixie said with a spin before enveloping the invisible girl in green light.
"Wha-" Was all the girl managed to say before the pain and bruising from the stampede of people eased before healing her to before the incident. Luckily, she wasn't too injured, and Dia was enough to fix her up.
Akira opened his mouth but was interrupted by a screech noise. Both him and the invisible girl clutched their ears in pain.
"W-what was that?" The girl asked.
Akira looked around only to smile when he saw Pop jumping up and down, the sound of her voice barely being heard from where he was. 'Nice work!'
"That was my friends over there. It sounds like they got chaos under control somewhat. You should follow the crowd heading toward my friends. It should be safe over there." Akira said before turning back to the girl. "Don't worry, hopefully this all will be over with soon." With that said, Akira spun and dashed toward the rampaging Trigger users, missing the girl stretching her hand to him and crying out to him.
Akira didn't want to hurt these people if he could try. Just based off their cries of pain, fear and anguish, Akira could tell these people were only victims. They didn't ask for this.
He decided to target the fire users first. He changed personas and once again ripped off his mask.
"Jack O'Lantern!" Bursting from azure flames was his Magician Persona, a witch like pumpkin with a grin carved into his face. "Target the combustion woman!"
"Hee-ho, you got it ho!" The pumpkin persona said before hugging the woman who had combusted into flames, his cloak enveloping her flaming body. The flames that lapped at everything around her began to slowly recede as Jack O'Lantern used his innate attribute to Absorb any and all fire.
Slowly but surely the fire went from a roaring flame, to a dying ember, to naught but reddish skin. No longer being held hostage by her Quirk, the topless woman collapsed to the ground in a slump, her shirt nothing but ash by now. With the target neutralised, Jack O'Lantern went to absorb the fire from the one releasing it from his hands. Joker followed close by, removing his coat and placing it over the woman as he passed by her.
"1 down…" Akira said tightening his glove onto his hand. 'But not fast enough.' He needed to go faster. Going after them 1 after the other is too slow. Akira decided then to split up with Jack O'Lantern, choosing instead to go after the person with knives protruding from his body, to cover more ground.
Brandishing his knife, Akira met the Knife Villain head on, parrying each swing and dodging others that were too fast or strong to parry. With Jack O'Lantern out and dealing with the walking flamethrower, Akira wasn't able to use any skills on the villain.
'Guess that just leaves knife and gun attacks…'
His opponent crouched low before leaping forward and lashing out with a serrated claw in a sweeping motion. Akira tried to parry it but the strength behind the swing caused him to fly backwards into the bulging tribal marked person, a bit of spittle flying out of his mouth upon collision.
With tears streaming down his face, the instant villain sluggishly made to grab Akira, but he managed to flip off the offending hand and land on giant's back. Akira didn't have a moment for reprieve as the woman with lasers coming out of her eyes looked in his direction , her arms reaching out to him as she let out an anguished scream for help.
Akira used his legs to push and spring off backwards, making him narrowly evade the lasers as he fell back onto the road in a roll.
'Damnit, they're too many to deal with by myself.' Akira thought as he leapt to the side, his Third Eye activating as he fired a Down Shot at the charging Knife villain, making sure to not hit anywhere lethal or that could lead to permanent consequences. The villain crashed into the ground and skidded from the sudden stop in momentum.
Akira landed in a tumble and quickly stood up. "That's 2 down…"
"All done over here-ho." Make that 3. Akira turned to see the person that had fire bursting from his palms, on his hands and knees breathing heavily, clearly having used up too much energy.
"Oh thank the gods." Akira said as he recalled Jack O'Lantern.
"P-PLEASE! MAKE IT STOPE ARGHHH!" Akira spun around to see the woman stumble towards him. Her hand covered her eyes in pain, trying to stop the onslaught of destruction only for the lasers to seep past her fingers and cause what once was one laser to split into several and fire in all directions. He spun to the left, crouched low, and leapt forward into a roll as the lasers narrowly passed him each time. One laser he dodged, passed him and hit the downed Knife villain.
'Damnit!' As Akira crouched low and prepared himself for another round of combat, the woman's eyes suddenly stopped glowing, returning to a normal brown hue.
"Wha- It stopped… IT-" The woman didn't get to finish as a length of white cloth wrapped around and bound her. Akira didn't have to wait long to see who caught her as a man in all black and long black hair came flying in with a kick to the woman, causing her to crash into the ground.
Another person came into the fray like a speeding bullet to tackle and restrain the Knife villain. When the two came to a stop, Akira noted that the new person resembled a jet-propelled knight in armour, the letters "ING" painted onto his pauldron.
The raven-haired teen had to cover his ears as a shrieking scream burst into the scene, stunning the flamethrowing man and the giant on the floor. The screech belonged to a blond-haired man with speakers around his mouth. He sauntered forward, his screaming growing louder and more potent; the already tired flame throwing man collapsing on the floor unconscious.
That left the giant who merely groaned on his spot on the ground. He wasn't left alone for much longer as what Akira could only describe as a man-made nuke crashed into the giant with a thundering punch. When this last person stood up, Akira saw a massive, muscled figure. He bore a resemblance to Koichi's hoodie, but something told Akira that it was based off this one man. A blue, red and white costume. Golden hair with some standing up and resembling horns at the top of his head and a gleaming smile.
"It's okay everyone. Why? Because we are here!" The man declared.
Akira had heard rumours, eavesdropped conversations about this man but seeing him in person was different. This was the Symbol of Peace. All Might.
He had this presence that screamed power and safety. Even Akira couldn't help but pause and stare in admiration, and he wasn't the only one.
The evacuating crowd slowed when they noticed Akira fighting to stop the Instant Villains. They stopped when he neutralised several of them. They roared with enthusiasm and joy when All Might and the other heroes arrived on the scene.
It must have made quite the picture. The Symbol of Peace carrying the giant villain above his shoulders as if showing off a trophy, the other heroes around him with their own respective villains in arms, and Joker the leader of the Phantom Thieves off to the side.
While the crowd corralled the heroes to offer thanks and appreciation, Akira made his way back to the combustion woman and summoned Pixie to heal her of any damages she sustained whilst on fire. Any semblance of searing upon her arms and body knitted together to form unblemished skin under the radiant green glow of Dia. He proceeded to do the same to the other downed villains, making sure to check their tongues and take pictures of them using his phone as evidence.
As he made his way to the Knife Villain, he was halted by a large hand on his shoulder.
"Young Man, you held off quite the number of villains just now, and all by yourself. It was quite admirable." All Might commended with a laugh, clapping the raven-haired teen on the shoulder in praise and causing the teen to stumble slightly. As All Might spoke to him, the other heroes came closer, the one with the binding scarf narrowing his eyes. "I must say though, I don't believe I recognise you. You did quite well for a new Pro Hero."
'Shoot… this is bad.' Akira thought as his eyes bounced between each of the heroes.
He was cornered… Surrounded.
"The name's Joker and thanks for the assist." Akira extracted himself from All Might's grip and shuffled away. "I believe these people were under Trigger, a black-market drug that boosts the effects of Quirk for a price. From what I've gathered they were forcibly drugged… from who? I don't know yet. But overall, they're victims, not villains… so don't be too hard on them." He took several more subtle steps back. "Oh, and that woman over there is one of them. Her clothes got burnt so it would be appreciated if someone could get her something to cover up better."
With his warning given, Akira made to escape.
"Hang on." Akira paused as the man with the cloth scarf walked closer to him. "You're not a Pro Hero… are you? You're too young even for a new Pro." His eyes narrowed further, his fingers fiddling and readying themselves around his scarf. "Who are you?"
'Welp, they found me out. As Futaba would say, time to make like a tree...'
Akira stayed silent for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "Kakoi Kuzushi."
A bright light erupting from the snap and causing all present heroes to stagger back and shut their eyes from the flash.
'Thanks for the lesson, Hifumi.'
When the Pro Heroes recovered, the black clad vigilante was gone.
Akira was back in his casual outfit, the confident posture of Joker gone revealing the slouching and inconspicuous figure texting on his phone to blend in with the hustle and bustle of the street. His stride was broken when someone walked into him.
The person, who by the looks of it was shorter and lighter than him, fell to the ground, an assortment of items the green haired boy was holding onto falling beside him.
"O-oh s-sorry about that. I er wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry." The boy began to mutter as he tried to pick up his dropped belongings.
"It's fine, I should have been paying attention as well." Akira replied picking up the notebook, glancing a look unintentionally at the open page. The raven-haired teen's eyes widened slightly at what looked like a character sheet on him, or specifically on Joker.
It had details on a few of the powers he used earlier today as well as theories on what his Quirk was.
"You're a fan of Joker's?" Akira asked amused as he handed the notebook back.
"Ah! You can say that…" The boy said nervously as he held the book close to his chest, his eyes shifting to and away from Akira as if anxious about talking about the topic. When he noticed that the teen wasn't laughing or shunning him, the green haired teen stood a tiny bit straighter.
"I-I'm a fan of all Pro Heroes. I came here because I heard Pop Step was performing. I was curious about the way her Quirk works. Like if her Quirk amplifies her leg strength or if it affects the ground below her or-" The boy paused as he realised he was getting off topic. "Oh, er, anyways, when that villain incident occurred, I got a firsthand look at what- what did you say his name was? Joker was it?- what Joker could do. I've seen videos of him in other situations but seeing it in person was incredible!" The boy's nervous stutter grew more and more confident as he continued, his ramblings almost turning into incoherent mutterings.
"I wonder what his Quirk is? A summoning Quirk? A Quirk that can create whatever he imagines? It's an incredible Quirk. He's sure to be an amazing Pro Hero the more he works! I wish I knew more about him."
Akira smiled. It seemed like he had a fan.
"You're analyses on heroes are pretty good. Gotta say, you got a talent for it." Especially from what little contact the teen had with him and Pop. If he were present for more of their patrols, then his analyses may be even closer to accurate.
"Joker's been getting a lot more active in the recent villain incidents lately, so you'll probably see more of him soon." Akira said as he began walking off to find his friends. "I got to go, but it was nice chatting with you."
"Yeah, it was nice chatting with you too!" The boy said with a wave before walking toward his home.
'That guy seemed pretty nice. He didn't even laugh at my hobby… I wonder if I'll see him again?'
"Akira, over here!" A feminine voice called.
Looking up, Akira found both La Brava and Pop sitting at table in hoodies and shades to 'disguise' their appearances.
'That's not suspicious at all,' Akira thought, chuckling under his breath before lifting a hand in a lazy wave.
"Hey, hey! Did you see? We managed to evacuate the civilians to safety again, just like before!" La Brava exclaimed with a beaming smile, puffing out her chest in pride.
"I didn't just see, I heard as well." Akira said rubbing his ears. "That was quite the move."
"Heh, my ears are still ringing too but luckily, other than that, no one was hurt in the commotion." Pop said, looking at La Brava with a sweat drop.
"Great job you two, I knew you could do it." Akira said, fist bumping La Brava before turning to Pop with a smirk. "And you try to deny being a hero…"
"Gah! I told you to cut it out!" Pop yelled embarrassedly, slapping at Akira's shoulder, and making the latter laugh.
The moment was interrupted when Knuckle Duster stomped towards them and grabbing Akira by the scruff of his collar and pulling him away.
"Wha-"
"Hey where are you taking him!"
"Oi, Old man!"
Knuckle Duster just ignored them before dragging Akira to a more secluded area. He was going to ask what the hell was up with him before he noticed the older man's face.
He wasn't giving his manic grin. He wasn't showing a cool and nonchalant expression. He wasn't even displaying a blank face.
His face was only expressing one emotion right now.
Rage.
"Master? What's wrong?"
Akira was answered by having something thrust in front of his eyes. It was an insect… no. A bee?
"Oi kid. There musta been a suspicious character 'round here. A bee user. Did you see them?!" Knuckle Duster snarled, gripping the collar of his shirt and pushing the bee closer to him.
Akira took in the details of the bee before looking past it and narrowing his eyes into those of Knuckle Duster. He slapped the hand at his shirt off of him and stepped back.
"No. I didn't." The raven-haired teen smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt. "Everything happened all at once, and I was more focused on those people injected with Trigger." The reminder of the drug and the involuntary users made Akira look back at the older man.
"But I'm guessing you know something about this." It wasn't a question.
Knuckle Duster snarled, his hands tightening into fists and crushing the bee, before letting out a sigh.
"It's none of yer business." With that, the older man turned to make his way back to the others before stopping mid step as a hand lashed out a gripped his wrist.
"Something tells me this isn't the first time this happened, nor will it be the last. You know something about this. Don't leave us in the dark. I don't want anyone else to go through what those people had to go through." Akira said, staring into and past the ebony pools that are Knuckle Duster's eyes and into his soul. The teen's words dripped with conviction.
Master stared back at his student before sighing, not in frustration this time, but in resignation.
"Like I said. It's none of yer business… but I'll let you in on somethings."
It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"Thanks."
Knuckle Duster hummed before lifting up his hand.
"As you probably guessed, those Instant Villains weren't the same as that giant Instant Villain we fought. He used Trigger on himself willingly. They however…" Knuckle Duster opened his hand to reveal the crushed corpse of the bee. "were unwillingly injected Trigger using this. A bee from a bee Quirk user."
Akira looked at the bee corpse in detail, taking note of the absence of a regular yellow and black abdomen and what appeared to be a glass vial in its place.
"I've been… looking for this Quirk user for some time now." Knuckle Duster said, dropping the bee corpse and crushing its remains beneath his boot.
There was a story behind that, that's for sure. But he already pushed quite a bit already. No need to push more… at least for now.
Akira rubbed the back of his head with a sigh, "I don't know if there was anyone suspicious at the incident. Hell, if they can control bees then you probably don't need to be that close by, but we can check La Brava's footage. She was recording most of the event. So, she might have caught something."
He stumbled forward a bit as Knuckle Duster clapped the teen on the back. "Ha! Nice job kid."
'I feel like my bond with Master is growing deeper…'
Akira saw the Tower card fade into existence, and just like with Gentle, one of the 9 remaining chains ensnaring and suspending the card shattered, leaving only 8 more remaining.
Akira rolled his eyes. "Thanks Master. Come on, let's get going. The sooner we check, the sooner we'll find any clues."
In an alley not too far away from the incident was a girl with orange hair that swooped and covered her left eye. She was walking through the alley humming a tune before grasping at her obscured eye. "Ack, that hurts…"
A harsh but quiet buzzing whispered in her ear before being joined by hissing swarm of its brethren, raking at the girl's brain, and drowning out all semblance of sound. She cradled her eye before whispering. "Enough."
The raucous roars of buzzing dropped to a growling hiss. Quieter, but still a mind-numbing noise.
She lowered her hand, revealing a trail of blood dripping down the left side of her face.
"Messing with my children is the best way… to really piss me off…"
Before she could walk off, something furry brushed against her leg. Looking down, the girl noticed it was a kitten. She knelt down and gave the cat a pat, noticing the collar around its neck.
"Mr. Neko! I told you; you have to stop running off!"
She looked up, noticing a young girl running towards her almost out of breath. Noticing her, the cat took off further into the dark alley.
"No! I was so close." The young girl cried, sniffling.
"Hey don't worry. I'll help you find him."
"Really? Wow, thank you Miss…"
"Kuin. Call me Kuin."
"Thank you, Miss Kuin. I'm Nina by the way." Nina sniffled, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. "He's always running away. I wish there was something I could do…"
Kuin looked down at the young girl before grinning. "You know…" Kuin took Nina's hand in hers, squeezing softly. "I think I know exactly how you can help."
"Really?!" Kuin led Nina by the hand toward where her cat ran off…
"Really." …and into the engulfing shadows of the alleyway.
Confidants So Far:
Hierophant: Gentle Criminal (Rank 2)
Lovers: La Brava (Rank 1)
Justice: Koichi (Rank 1)
Tower: Knuckle Duster (Rank 2)
Magician: Momo (Rank 1)
Star: Pop Step (Rank 1)
Author's Notes
Hey all,
Once again it's been awhile, sorry for the wait! The website's been acting up recently for me so that was a bit of a downer but oh well, we push through! Now, onto the story.
As you have probably noticed, I included a couple of familiar students. I figured I should introduce/tease Midoriya a bit early on to make the eventual transition into the MHA canon start a bit nicer and not just sudden. Plus as a fan of Pro Heroes, it would make sense he would come to Pop's performances and be a fan of the up and coming "hero" Joker, despite him being a vigilante.
Also decided to introduce Hagakure (Invisible Girl). I'll be honest, Hagakure is probably one of my favourite 1A student ever since season 1 lol. always loved the fact that she was just permanently invisible and could "potentially be in every scene". But anyways, I decided to include her because I thought it would be cool for her to have an interaction with Akira, whose Third Eye is able to see unseen things.
This chapter also feature's Pop Step's confidant unlock. I know Lucifer isn't really a "good and evil meter" in the games/lore but the fact he was an angel, turned demon and even has a form that has both sides' wings was an idea I wanted to explore a bit. Rather than having just this demonic looking persona, he'd be in his Helel form (more "human" or "angelic") to reflect the nature of the world they're currently in. Was also inspired by The Crimson Lord's crossover fanfic, "A Demon Among Devils", a pretty cool fanfic you should check out if you like Persona and biblical mythos and what not.
Oh, I also included Akira using a move called, "Kakoi Kuzushi", to escape the Pro Heroes. I'm not sure if many people or anyone remembers it, but basically its an ability you unlock when you reach Rank 5 with Hifumi (Star Confidant) and it allows the party to successfully escape when they're surrounded. I'm not sure how other people's playthroughs were like but I don't think being surrounded was too common so I'm not sure if many people used that ability much haha. I wanted Akira to use some old confidant abilities and thought Hifumi would be great. It also works since its an ability that she teaches Akira to do so he doesn't need anyone else to activate it. Plus it requires the party to be surrounded, so it's not totally over powered. Either way, I hope you all liked its inclusion.
Now enough of me going on and on, time for reviews~
Gamelover41592
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! You said "welcome back" yet I didn't post for like 2 months afterwards 😅 Hopefully everything will be fixed on my end and things won't act up, fingers crossed!
PittBullBytes
Yeah, while Akira still isn't completely over the whole death and transport into a new dimension, I get what you're saying. I was a bit worried how it would be if Akira renamed the store to Leblanc or a variant of it like Nouveau Leblanc (like New Leblanc) or what ever and whether or not it would be him honouring Sojiro or him lingering in the past and not moving on. Overall, I might stick with Coruscant Cafe. Thanks for the advice!
TheBeatles211
Hey, glad you enjoyed! Similar to PittBullBytes' review, yeah it sounds like Coruscant Cafe is the way to go. The idea about naming the houseblend to Leblanc blend or special is an interesting idea! In regards to the Velvet Room part, well you're just gonna have to wait and find out 😉
Zepolmoon
Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for sticking with the story, I'll try and not disappoint!
Without further adieu, that concludes chapter 7! Also, wowee, that was a lengthy Author's Note haha. Kinda went on and on lol. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed and have a fantastic day!
Ciao!