Koji Koda gasps, opening his eyes. Sitting up in his bed, he looks around. Smiling, he climbs off the bed and heads over to his pet rabbit sitting on his desk.
"It was just a dream."
He pulls the rabbit out of the cage and pets it on the head. "Did you miss me? I missed you." He reaches into his fridge and pulls out a carrot. "Hungry, here you go." He feeds his rabbit the carrot, who slowly nips at it. The rabbit stiffens suddenly and spits out the carrot. "What's wrong, not hungry?"
The rabbit pukes blood.
Koji Koda gasps, nearly dropping his pet rabbit before he composes himself. He looks his pet in the eye with horrified features. "Are you okay? What happened?" He sets his rabbit down before rushing into the bathroom. He comes out, carrying a roll of toilet paper with him, and pauses. Koji Koda narrows his eyes upon seeing Deku standing by his desk, stroking the bunny between the ears.
Kaminari steps into view, joining him. "Aww, look at the mess this bunny made."
"It's okay," Deku assures, "the bunny won't make a mess anymore."
Kaminari grabs the bunny by the head and powers up. He laughs maniacally as he electrocutes the bunny before him.
"NO!" Koji Koda yells. "No, stop it!" He rushes for them.
Kaminari backhands Koji Koda, knocking him to the ground.
"My turn." Deku takes out a zippo and strikes a light. He burns the bunny's tail off, laughing hysterically as the bunny screeches in pain.
"No, stop!" Koji Koda crawls to them. "Please, please!"
Kaminari kicks him in the jaw, sending him flying. "No means yes, Koji Koda!"
"Burn, baby, burn," Deku goads.
The bunny burns like toast before crumbling into a pile of dust at their feet.
"NO!" Koji Koda cries. "NO!"
Kaminari kicks the boy across the face again. Both kids advance on the scared boy as he climbs to his feet and makes a run for it.
Koji Koda runs out of the room into the hallway, pausing when he sees the walls painted with blood. Before him, the bodies of all his friends from both Class 1-A and 1-B pile up on the ground, not even leaving an inch of space for Koji Koda to step over. He backs away, tripping on something behind him. Landing on his ass, he screams when he sees the decapitated head of Iida in front of him. Crawling away, his back hit the wall. A second head falls into his lap.
Yuga Aoyama's.
He slaps the head away as Deku and Kaminari step out of the room. They smile as they lock eyes with the frightened boy, pulling out knives designed for the sole purpose of skinning him alive.
"They knew," Deku laughs, "they knew what we were capable of. Now they had to die." Deku chops off a student's head beneath him and holds it up. It's Uraraka. "I really like this one but there's no room in this world for traitors." He kisses Uraraka's decapitated head. He kisses it long and hard on the lips before sticking his tongue into her mouth. He bites down on her lips before taking a piece off. He swallows the piece of her lips, sighing. "Tasty, and juicy. Just like I like it."
Kaminari cuts off a student's head for him—Sato's head.
"This boy has had one too many sweets." He roasts the head with his electrical powers before taking a bite of his ear. "But's he still tasty and full of protein." He holds the head forward. "Have a bite, Koji Koda."
"No, stop! STOP!"
"We're going to stop," Deku replies, "stop showing mercy."
"Please, please don't do this!"
Koji Koda presses his back harder to the wall, falling through and landing on a kitchen table two stories below. Rolling off the table, he hits his knees against the ground, which causes his kneebone to fracture. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he reaches out to grab the hardwood floor before feeling something skitter in the palm of his hand.
Turning his hand over, it's a centipede. He screams once more and flicks the insect out of his hand. A tarantula replaces itself on his hand. Then, a big ass worm, and finally, a red beetle. Like a scene out of The Temple of Doom, insects of various species cover Koji Koda from top to bottom. He screams, kicks, and thrashes to get the insects off of him but they cover him from head to toe, leaving only his head clear of any arthropod abominations.
A line of ants scale the side of Koji Koda's face and build a makeshift gag to hold his mouth open. A centipede the size of a water bottle with two glowing red eyes of evil growls before crawling into his mouth, forcing itself down his throat and laying eggs.
The centipede crawls out of his mouth, and five baby centipedes follow after its agender parent. The five centipedes crawl over his face, two of them heading for his open eardrums, two others heading for his nostrils, with the last one drilling a hole into his stomach and crawling inside.
Deku and Kaminari laugh, using all of their energy in their stomachs to make the laughter echo in this dining room of insects.
"You should've kept your nose clean, Koda," Deku tells him, "you shouldn't have found out that we've been killing behind your back. But you did and now, it is time to pay the price."
"Yes," Kaminari sighs, eyes wide with mania. "Fry, fry, FRY!"
Deku and Kaminari rip their faces off, revealing a spider's face with eight eyes on their head and two fangs protruding from their mouth.
"Hungry," Spider-Deku growls.
"Food," Spider-Kaminari goes next. A spark of electricity sparks between his fangs like a tazer. "Kill you, KILL YOU!"
"DIE!" Spider-Deku roars before pouncing on Koji Koda.
Day 212, 03:21 PM
With Deku
"Where is he?" Deku demands, his matchbook in his hand as Eagle Eye stares him in the eye.
Eagle Eye, wearing his robe, holds his hands up to show he means no harm. "I came here to take you to him."
"How can we trust you?" Bakugou demands. "For all we know, this is just a trick."
Hatsume draws her rifle. "Should I put one in his knee?"
"No," Deku answers. We've been searching the suburbs for hours and turned up nothing. If he's taking us to Koda, then we need to take that risk. He steps forward. "How can we trust you that you'll take us to him?"
Eagle Eye laughs. "Because I was ordered to. After all, a deal's a deal, and Anaemia heard over the radio about you guys offering your services to us. It's only fair that we start things off on the right foot."
"You're going to take us to Koji Koda one way or another and that is final," Bakugou growls.
"That was my plan this entire time. Just follow me and I'll take you to Anaemia."
Bakugou narrows his eyes. "I'll go just to make sure you don't try anything."
Eagle Eye spots the wound on his shoulder. Blood. Anaemia will be pleased; Bakugou has A blood type and he's a heavy hitter. If Anaemia needs me to do something, when I turn back into a fly, I'll grab a sample of his blood and take it to him. Once he puts Bakugou in a state of fear, then we should be good.
After leading the group to the house where Koji Koda is, the door is opened by one Anaemia, who looks at the heroes with wide eyes before stepping back.
Bakugou shoves him against the wall, holding his hand out. "You're the bastard who's been torturing the one with the rocky head." A small explosion goes off. "You're not laying another hand on our classmate!"
Anaemia grabs Bakugou's shoulder, staining his hand with a bit of his blood.
"I'll tell you where Koji Koda is but first, you have to promise me something: let Eagle Eye go."
Eagle Eye clenches his fists. "I wish to stay."
"No, no one is getting to see Koji Koda until I see that Eagle Eye is safe. Non-negotiable."
"Like you're one to be making demands!" Bakugou yells. "You lost your entire army; they're nothing. You are nothing, asshole. Now tell me where the animal whisperer is or you won't have an open casket funeral!"
Anaemia remains calm as he pulls down his mask, revealing his face. "I can't trust you people to save anyone anymore but the least I can do is try and save my friend. I don't want Eagle Eye to be harmed."
"And we don't want Koda to be harmed either." Deku steps forward. "You're putting us in a box, Anaemia; you're making us out to be invincible. We're just a bunch of kids; we can't save everyone. We want to save our friend, just like you want to protect your friend. I understand how it feels to grieve but... please... let's just do this the easy way."
Anaemia sighs heavily. "'Save my friend', 'lost people', huh, interesting." He sighs before looking at Eagle Eye, a hard expression in his look. "I must be guaranteed Eagle Eye's safety, period."
"We'll spare him if you tell us where Koda is," Bakugou vows.
"Thank you." He pauses. "By the way, I have to ask: what about Heater? Will you release him?"
Deku's eyes widen. "Free him?" Heater knows our location. Even if we free him, there's no guarantee these guys won't come back from us. As much as I don't want to keep him prisoner, we can't just release him. With how much these guys hate us, we can't just disregard the fact they might retaliate. Especially if we just killed all their friends.
Anaemia closes his eyes. "I should've known. You killed all my friends and when I want my last two friends to be with me, you refuse to let one of them go." He opens his eyes and looks at Deku. "I can see it in your eyes. You're thinking of the fact that Heater knows where you guys live. You're thinking of what Heater might reveal about your location if you were to let him go. You're thinking if we would come back for retaliation. After all, we abducted Koda in the Musutafu area so obviously, we've been expanding our search grounds." He closes his eyes again, a tear escaping him. "We're never going to see Kazutora again. I regret sending those three out there to Musutafu but we were getting desperate; we can only scavenge this city so many times and trying to expand our territory is risky."
He looks at them, sadness welling up in his eyes. "I should've given Koji Koda back earlier instead of making it personal. I let my emotions get in the way." He licks the blood off of his hand. "But that won't happen again."
Bakugou's eyes widen as they take on a milky white color. Gasping loudly, he releases Anaemia from his grip, backing away slowly. He puts a hand on his throat, gasping for air. "No, no..."
"Kacchan!" Deku steps toward him.
Anaemia slashes Deku across the cheek with a concealed knife. Deku stumbles back as Anaemia shoves him against the wall. Anaemia grabs Eagle Eye by the hand and runs for the backdoor.
"HEY!" As Deku prepares to take off, Bakugou blasts Deku in the chest, sending him flying against the wall. "OW!" He holds a hand to his chest. "Kacchan, what are you doing?!"
"No, stay away from me!" Bakugou holds both hands up. "Get back, don't touch me!"
Kaminari and Uraraka come rushing through the front door. "What's going on?" Uraraka asks.
"Anaemia did something to him." Deku steadies himself against the wall.
Kaminari spots the two Bystanders making a run for it through the backdoor. "Oh no, you don't!"
He chases after them.
The two Bystanders climb over the fence. Kaminari wall-runs up the wall before leaping over.
Uraraka rushes to Bakugou and goes to touch him but Bakugou blasts her away. She hits the wall but quickly recovers.
"No, I'm not a failure," Bakugou whispers. "I'M NOT A FAILURE!"
"No one's saying you're a failure, Kacchan," Deku assures him, holding both hands up. "You're the number one in our class." He slowly steps forward. "You were number one in the entrance exam, and you won the sports festival. You are not a failure."
"I was beaten by that big guy from the league... I got shot... that Whiteout guy... I'm weak..."
Deku narrows his eyes. Some kind of hallucination quirk. "Kacchan, you are not a failure but you can't blast your quirk or else you'll attract zombies."
"I'm a failure," Bakugou sobs. "I'm a goddamn failure."
"I'm the useless one. Remember, it's why you called me Deku. 'Defenseless Izuku', remember?" His heart skips a beat as he recalls a certain something Bakugou said to him after he burned his notebook. He loses his will to speak before Uraraka steps out of the room.
"NO!" Bakugou blasts more of his explosive nitroglycerin around him. He fires off powerful rounds that tear the walls apart. Feathers fly out of a soft, cushy couch as Bakugou makes it his target. Deku leaps out of the way, landing on his chest. Turning on his back, he crawls away as Bakugou grabs his head, screaming in terror.
"No, why are you doing this to me?!" He yells suddenly. "Leave me alone! I'm not a failure!"
Uraraka comes back with Shinsou by his side.
Reading the room, Shinsou clears his throat. "Who is telling you that you're a failure?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Bakuou freezes in place before he can fire off any more explosions. His eyes widen and his face has a blank expression. He drops his arms to his side, his back stiffening.
"What happened here?" Shinsou asks.
"Anaemia infected him with some kind of hallucinogen," Uraraka answers, "it was probably his quirk."
"Where is he?"
"Kaminari went after him." Deku picks himself up. "Come on, we gotta search the house. Shinsou, stay here and keep an eye on Bakugou."
With Kaminari
Leaping over the backyard fence, Kaminari lands with a roll as he chases after Anaemia and Eagle Eye. They cut through several alleyways in the suburban area but luckily, the presence of zombies was kept to a minimum. Kaminari chases after them with all his might.
Anaemia and Eagle Look over their shoulders as they run, seeing Kaminari keeping up with them. Looking ahead, they bump into the front of a car, forcing them to go around. Kaminari grunts as he jumps on the hood of the car and leaps off. Anaemia and Eagle Eye run through another alleyway, one filled with cylinder trashcans. They yank the trashcans to the ground and into Kaminari's path. Kaminari leaps over them with ease. They tip over a rundown bookshelf, Kaminari speed vaults over.
The two Bystanders kick open a fence before shutting it closed behind them. They lock the gate at the top before running. Kaminari simply leaps onto the trash can and side-flips over the fence, landing on the other side.
"Stop chasing us!" Anaemia yells.
"But I made a promise never to skip leg day!" Kaminari snarks back.
Anaemia and Eagle bump into another truck. They pause briefly before running around. Kaminari slides under the truck and comes out on the other side with a roll.
"How does he do that?" Eagle Eye yells as he runs. He puts a hand on his chest. "I can't keep running!"
"Split up," Anaemia orders. "I'll go left, you go right!"
As the duo approaches an intersection, Eagle Eye begins taking off to the right. He abruptly stops when he sees a group of zombies coming around the corner and limping towards him. He turns and follows after Anaemia, Kaminari slowly closing in on them.
Anaemia's breathing becomes heavy and hard, his legs burning, and the only desire occupying his mind is the desire to rest. Sweat drenches his forehead like a waterfall, Eagle Eye suffers some of the same results but when they look back at Kaminari, they see not a drop of sweat on the electric boy.
He went to UA so it makes sense!
"Stop running!" Kaminari yells. "Today's not a day to do a marathon!"
Anaemia flips him off.
As the two Bystanders slowly run out of breath, Kaminari gains speed, almost as if he was feeding off their energy. The two scrap themselves as they climb over a chest-high fence belonging to a baseball field. Kaminari does a dive roll over the fence and rolls to his feet on the other side.
I've got an idea; I'll zap them when they're climbing over a metal fence. Metal is electricity's best friend. But I gotta pick up speed.
A walker he didn't see launches at him from the side. He manages to leap out of the way but loses his balance and takes a tumble. He manages to roll across the ground to reduce any potential harm, but when he leaps to his feet, the walker grabs him.
The duo Bystanders look back, smiling. Yes, Kaminari is distracted; now is their opportunity to escape. Anaemia and Eagle run for the twelve-foot tall fence, which is their only exit. They hold their hands out, fingertips touching the metal when-
Glue rains from the side and sprays their hands as they touch the fence, becoming stuck to the metal as a result. The duo Bystanders gasp in terror and desperately try to pry themselves off the fence to no avail.
Kaminari trips the zombie to the ground before stomping on its leg four times, shattering its kneebone and reducing it to a crawling state. Looking forward, the hostile Anaemia and Eagle stuck to the fence, trapped like flies in glue.
Glue, where did...
His eyes widen.
"Getting your cardio exercise in, Kaminari?"
Kaminari looks past the fence to see Kojiro Bondo approaching, secreting some glue from his orifices.
Kaminari smiles. "Oh, you know me; nothing can stop the energetic electricity of the Kaminari."
Bondo hits them with another stream of glue, trapping their bodies to the fence. He sighs before walking around them, reuniting with Kaminari.
"Kaminari," Bondo sighs heavily like he's out of breath. "Kaminari, I-"
"I know about Shishida," Kaminari interrupts. "He's been put out of his misery."
"You killed him? You killed a beast?"
"Uhh, no, not directly but-"
"Wow, you killed a beast." He looks down to the ground. "Thank you for putting him out of his misery."
"I didn't put him out of his misery directly but… I'm just glad he's at peace."
"He wouldn't have to be put out of his misery if it wasn't for these assholes."
Kaminari marches over to the fence and covers himself in electricity. He touches the fence, shocking Anaemia and Eagle Eye, preventing them from trying to do anything.
The two Bystanders lay limp against the fence.
Kaminari glares at them, sighing softly. "What have you done to Bakugou? Where's Koda?"
"He's still in the house like I promised. As for what I did to Bakugou... he'll be dreaming his worst nightmare. For a while." Koda on the other hand won't be able to sleep for the rest of his life.
"I wanted to be a hero," Kaminari tells him. "I thought being a hero was cool. I wanted to be awesome and popular. All Might was such an inspiration and..."
"I loved All Might," Anaemia slurs. "We all did."
"We could never measure up to him," Kaminari interrupts. "But that's not our fault; we're just a bunch of kids. You people seem to forget that. These pros you killed, Newscaster mentioned them earlier. Who were they?"
Anaemia looks at him. "Manual and Native."
He clenches his fists. "You killed them? Why?"
"They tried to seek sanctuary and when they refused to leave, a dear friend of ours tried to scare them off with a gun. Things got violent, and chaotic, and our friend was killed by Manual."
"I understand. If Manual killed your friend, even if it was on accident, I would want revenge too, man. Just like how I want revenge on you for hurting Koda and killing Shishida. And Sato. And for doing what you did to our angry Bomberman friend."
Anaemia sighs, leaning his head against the fence. "We no longer live in a society anymore, do we?"
"There are no heroes or villains anymore; only survivors."
"Please, please, just let Eagle Eye go. Please, the poor boy doesn't deserve it." He sees Eagle Eye trying to rip himself free from the fence, only to fail stupendously. He tries to turn into a fly but his quirk refuses to activate.
"And neither did Koda but you still put him through torture." Kaminari looks over to the crawling zombie closing in on them.
"No!" Anaemia struggles to pull himself off the fence as the crawler closes in. "Please, please, if you really want to be a hero then at least save the boy!"
"No," Kaminari shakes his head. "I'm done putting up with a bunch of ungrateful people like you." He turns to Bondo. "How about you, Bondo? Any objections?"
Bondo shakes his head. "No. We lost two of our friends because of these guys and they expect us to drop everything and save them?"
"Especially after they tried to kill us?" Kaminari adds. He looks to Anaemia. "You hate us for not meeting the same standards as All Might. You say we're fakers yet you still want us to save you? You ungrateful bastards." He shakes his head in disappointment. "Let's go, Bondo. Let's go."
Kaminari and Bondo walk away as the crawler is three feet away from them.
"Come back! Save the boy! Save the fucking boy and prove you're not fakers!" He narrows his eyes. "Don't you dare walk away from us, bitch! Hey!" He grips the fence hard, still trying to pry himself from the fence. "We live in a hopeless world' we need heroes to inspire hope now more than ever!"
The crawler bites Eagle Eye on the calf. The boy screams as his quirk finally activates but as soon as the zombie bites him, he turns back to normal, still glued to the fence. The crawler pushes itself to its feet and bites into the boy's neck.
"FAKERS!" Anaemia shouts one more time. "You're all a bunch of fakers! All Might would never do this! Stain was right! Fakers!"
The zombie turns and bites Anaemia on the cheek just above his eye. Anaemia screams at the top of his lungs as his eyes widen.
What have we done? Anaemia thinks. The one time we really needed heroes, we chased them away. What have we done? We should've offered Manual and Native sanctuary. Why didn't we? We could've given them sanctuary and helped them fight the zombies. Instead, we sat on the sidelines and watched, not even bothering to help. What have we done? I lost my entire family because I was selfish and when I tried to save Haruto, I chased away the only people who might save him.
With Deku
Uraraka slaps Bakugou across the face, snapping him out of his trance. Bakugou's eyes widen as he reacts to the slap and looks at Uraraka. "Why did you slap me, Round Cheeks?" He pauses as he looks around the room. "Wait, where Anaemia?"
"Kaminari ran after him. Are you okay, Bakugou?"
Bakugou blinks a few times, looking around. "Where's Mom and Dad?"
"What are you talking about?"
He pauses. "Never mind; I thought I saw Mom and Dad."
At the top of the stairs, Deku appears, holding a trembling Koji Koda in his hands. He helps the scared boy walk down the stairs. Koji Koda shakes his head, eyes closed, breath trembling.
"Don't hurt me, please," the animal-whisperer begs. "No... I won't say a thing."
"Shinsou," Deku calls.
Shinsou turns to Koji Koda. "How are you feeling kid?"
"Who's there? No, you're dead." Koji Koda's eyes turn milky white as his expression turns blank.
Deku gently nudges him, breaking him from his spell. Koji Koda gasps and looks to his left, the first person he sees out of his trance is Deku himself.
"NO!" Koji Koda yells suddenly, falling down the rest of the stairs. "No, stay away from me!"
Deku holds his hands up. "It's me, Deku!" He runs down the stairs. "It's me, your classmates!"
Koji Koda curls into a fetal position, shielding himself from the green-haired boy. Uraraka grabs Koji Koda and cradles him against her chest. "It's okay, Koda, you're safe. You're safe."
"Please don't kill me, Deku."
Deku flinches. "I'm not going to kill you."
"He must be living out his worst fear," Bakugou deduces. "When Anaemia licked my blood, I saw my worst fears."
"Shit," Deku curses. "Shinsou, brainwash him again. We'll undo the brainwashing when we get back home to the dorms. That way, when he wakes up, he'll be back home."
Shinsou sighs. "So this is the reason I was brought along." He turns to the boy. "Is Deku going to kill you?"
"Please don't let him kill me," Koji Koda begs, the brainwashing putting him in a trance once again.
Shinsou very carefully helps Koji Koda to his feet and leads him outside.
Uraraka looks through the doorway as Koji Koda is loaded into the back of the pickup truck. "What's going to happen to him?"
"I don't know," Deku admits. "But he's safe. Whatever effects of Anaemia's quirk, they'll wear off eventually. I hope so."
"What are we going to do about Anaemia?"
"Oh, you don't have to worry about them," Kaminari's voice booms through the house.
Kaminari steps through the hallway of the two-story house, a disheveled Bondo beside him.
Kaminari looks at them. "Anaemia and Eagle Eye got themselves in a sticky situation." He looks at Deku.
"Bondo?" Deku tilts his head. "Where did you come from?"
"I've been running for my life since Shishida turned into a beast. I was surrounded and I didn't know where to go. I hid in the suburbs because the suburbs would have a lower population of zombies."
"When Anaemia and Eagle Eye were about to get away, this guy came in and stuck them to a fence." Kaminari pats his back. "Like flies caught in a web, one zombie is going to be very happy and fat with them as his meal."
"Good." Deku sighs. "We found Koda; he's... he's suffering the effects of some hallucinogen but... he's safe."
"Yes," Kaminari smiles. "Yes, we did it. The Bystanders are gone and Koda is safe." His smile vanishes. "And it cost us Shishida."
"Can we please go home?" Bondo begs. "Please, can we just go home?"
Deku nods. "Yeah. Let's go. Let's go home."
The five of them walk out of the house, heading back to the pickup truck from earlier.
Jirou, Kuroiro, Mineta, Komori, and Kenta sit in the back of the pickup truck. They leap out of the vehicle and reunite with Kaminari.
"How did it go?" Jirou asks.
"Anaemia and Eagle Eye are dead," he assures them. "We won."
"We can go home now?"
"We can."
"Uhh, what about me?" Kenta asks. "I know, I'm not one of you but in case some of you forgot: I saved your guys' life from a beast. A fucking beast. And..."
"You can come back with us," Kaminari says. "Right, Deku?"
Deku looks at the tattooed boy. "If Kaminari trusts you, then I trust you."
"You're going to want a big boy like me on your team," Kenta argues. "In a world where quirks attract zombies, you're going need someone who can do some heavy lifting without quirks."
"You're coming with us," Deku promises him. We couldn't save these people but the least we can do is save this survivor. And Kaminari said Kenta here saved them from Shishida when he turned into a beast.
"Thank you," Kenta pants. He climbs back in the truck. "Thank you all."
"And as soon as we get back, you're explaining to us why you got tattoos," Bakugou warns him.
Kenta rolls hsi eyes. "Yes sir, General Bakugou, sir."
Kaminari climbs on his dirt bike. Jirou climbs on the back and wraps her arms around him tightly. She snuggles into the center of his back before closing her eyes.
"I'm so tired, Kaminari. I'm so tired."
Kaminari starts the bike up. "Yeah, I understand; that's why I let you use my back as a pillow."
We won our battle against the Bystanders that day. We saved Koji Koda but we lost Shishida in the process. In return, we gained a new friend in the process. Kenta Oshiro. Anaemia, Eagle Eye, and all of the Bystanders in Hosu City were dead. And once again, I survived ANOTHER attempt on my life by the hunter beast. When we left the house that day, we took the most scenic route to avoid the city's zombies. It was a little cramped in the pickup truck with everyone squeezing in the back but they had to make due.
We made it back to where we left our cars behind and allowed ourselves more room. As soon as we cleared out of the city, we headed home to the dorms.
UA Dorms
9:00 PM
"Where are they?" Kendo asks, looking out the window on the second floor. "They should've been back by now."
Monoma joins her. "Don't worry; I'm sure they're on their way back right now."
"We should've gone with them," Kirishima says, "I should've gone with them."
"They were the best choices to go out on a mission," Kendo assures them. "But now I'm starting to doubt myself."
"Why didn't you send more people?" Shoda asks.
"I had to be careful of who I sent out there. Stop pestering me; leading a group this big is stressful and stop-"
The sounds of a car engine in the distance make her shut up. She quickly looks out the window to see the headlights of a vehicle coming in on them. She would've responded defensively at first had she not sent the headlight on Kaminari's dirtbike in the front of the vehicles.
"It's them, open the gates!"
Outside, Tokoyami and Tsu quickly open up the gates and allow the Hosu Rescue Team to come through.
Kaminari parks his bike before helping a sleeping Jirou get off.
"Guys, you're back!" Kirishima smiles. He runs and hugs Bakugou.
"Shitty Hair..." he growls.
"He's back," Shinsou assures them, bringing a trembling Koji Koda out of the vehicle. "He needs time to adjust. Get him some water, a first-aid kit, and food."
Several students run inside with Shinsou helping Koji Koda inside the building.
Mogami, Kimura, and Shimamura come out. "MeiMei!" The three support course students ambush Hatsume in a hug and lift her off the ground.
"Did you bring us back something shiny?" Mogami asks.
"Next time but don't worry, we got plenty more babies to make." She pats each of them on the shoulders before leading them back inside.
Kendo and Monoma come out, looking around for the one missing student.
"Where's Shishida?" Kendo asks.
Deku pauses. "Kendo, Monoma... I'm..."
Kendo's breath hitches as she gulps. She clenches her fists.
"When will it end?" Kendo growls. "I'm done crying for our friends. Why? Why won't this end?" She grabs Deku by the collar. "When will this tragedy fucking end? How many more fucking friends do we have to lose!"
Uraraka was about to reach out to save Deku from Kendo grabbing him before he put his hands up.
"I'm sorry."
Kendo grinds her teeth, tears escaping her eyes. She shoves Deku away before turning back. She heads back inside and sits down on the couch, crying silently. Her fellow classmates come over to pat her on the shoulder, comforting her while simultaneously expressing their own grief.
Kenta walks through the front doors and scans the room. Gasping softly, he admires the interior layout of the place. He walks over to the TV and puts his hand on the screen. Looking over his shoulder, he sees the UA students looking at him suspiciously.
I am the outsider.
"Who are you?" Sero questions.
"Guys, this is Kenta Oshrio." Kaminari walks up and pats him on the shoulder. "Kenta here saved our life in Hosu City and... it's only fair we return the favor by having him stay with us."
"What's with the tattoos?" Tokoyami glares. "Are you part of the Yakuza?"
"Once again, I am not part of the Yakuza."
The others continue to stare at him.
"You brought in an outsider?" Mashiro asks. "How can we-"
"We're outsiders," Mogami interrupts. "Remember when you guys broke into UA to look for supplies and you found our group? We're outsiders."
"You took us in," Kimura inputs.
"But you went to UA with us and Hatsume knows about you," Mashrio argues.
"He's the same guy from the licensing exam," Kaminari tells them. "We competed with each other in a way. Besides, we could use his quirk against beasts."
"I can turn into a dragon," Kenta tells them. "I'm useful to have around."
"You're going to have to earn your place here, Kenta," Bakugou growls as he walks by. "Right now, you're a stray we took in; prove that you're worth joining us."
"Guys, we can't be saying this," Deku tells the others. "We can't just turn people away because they're worthless. If we do that... how can we call ourselves heroes."
Kaminari nods. "He's right. Guys, I know you don't trust Kenta but... we're not too far gone." His voice cracks. "We can't let ourselves be too far gone. We need to save people."
"We need to look after ourselves," Tokoyami argues.
"We can't. How can we protect ourselves if we can't protect other people?"
"How can we protect other people if we can't protect ourselves?"
Deku clenches his jaw. "We're keeping Kenta with us and that's final."
Kenta looks at them, nodding. It looks like the Bystanders really affected them. He spots Shoji in the corner and gazes upon his muscles. Smiling, he flexes his muscles to the mutant. Shoji stares at him blankly. After a few seconds, he gives Kenta a thumbs-up.
Kaminari's Room
"Hey guys, thanks for vouching for me," Kenta tells the Kamisquad as they settle in his room. "I've met other survivors but they've all turned me away because of my tattoos."
"Yeah, tattoos are kinda taboo here in this country, even in the post-apocalypse," Kuroiro snarks.
"We would suggest you get them removed but..." Mineta's voice trails off. "We don't have any tattoo removers or whatever."
"You should wear a shirt," Komori says. "Because... going shirtless isn't a good idea."
"I'm a big boy," Kenta tells them. "You won't find any shirts in my size. And shoes. I just gotta try a little extra harder to not get bitten."
"Sounds like a good idea." Jirou blushes upon seeing his six-pack.
Kenta exits the room.
The Kamisquad sit on Kaminari's bed, sitting and saying nothing, even as the silence deafens them.
"I'm so tired," Jirou says. "I just want to lie down."
"You and me both," Kaminari agrees. His brows arch when he feels her head resting on his shoulder like a pillow. Looking at the others, they smile at him with their thumbs up.
I'm so in love with you, Jirou.
And with that, our day of fighting the Bystanders was over. Our fight for survival was over. But Koji Koda's nightmare was far from over.