"Welcome back, Akumi." All For One said. He stands overlooking the Nomus in a dark and ominous room. The green glow from the tanks reflected off his skull-like mask that was covering the entire head. "How was your seven-year-long excursion?"
Stepping one leg at a time through a warp gate Akumi enters the room. "So you're All For One. I finally met the person. The one who gave me life."
"I didn't do much giving. Most of it was done by yourself." All For One turns to face Akumi. "Or more like somewhere else."
"You must want to talk to her." Her eyes blinked from red to yellow. As the transition takes place Akumi's expression changes as dread falls over her. "What do you want?"
"What's with those tears? Did you not enjoy your reunion with your parents?"
"Just shut up and get things over with already!" Akumi shouts but quickly quiets down, crossing her arms and gripping them tightly. Overwhelming terror as she finds it hard to breathe, "I don't want to die again."
All For One begins walking away, "Switch back and follow me. The operation would go smoother that way." Akumi's eyes blink back to red and she wipes her tears annoyed at the weakness she had shown.
Following the man into another room sits an old man. He is completely bald and has a large and bushy mustache. He wears a set of goggles that are shaped like gears, along with a white, buttoned-up lab coat. His face lit up with a wide derange smile as he said, "Ah, the star of the show. Finally, she is back where she belongs." The man gets up and hugs Akumi.
"It seems… She's incomplete." All For One said.
"If the reports are correct she stood her own against All Might. Traits of a Nomu with the look of a normal human. " The old man grabbed hold of Akumi's arm, "The last time we saw her she was just five, now she's fifteen. Her small body shouldn't have been able to handle that many quirks, especially so since she was incomplete. But for some reason, her body is able to evolve to keep from collapsing even at fifty percent completion. Just how was she able to do it I wonder?"
"It's due to the fusion of two quirks." Blood spews out of Akumi's mouth. "This body was able to contain and seal away the different quirks." She falls to one knee. "But it's only a temporary solution because the fusion is becoming unstable due to the overuse of the quirk."
The old man still holding on to her looked down on Akumi and said, "The fifty percent seems to have made her quirks grow to have free will as well. But when we complete the full Nomu process. I'm sure she will be the perfect Nomu."
"It doesn't matter if she's perfect or not anymore. Because now, we have control of the sister of All Might's successor. Just make sure she doesn't die too early."
"Yes, of course. She is a very precious child. She will not fail under my care." The old man helps Akumi over to an operating table. "First things first. We'll have to restart the beginning process. This won't hurt a bit." The man injects a liquid into Akumi.
"Right, the death process. I'll speed up the process." Akumi said as she was about to end her own life.
"Wait just a moment." All For One said as he placed a hand on Akumi's face. "It wouldn't hurt to make a backup just in… Case…"
All For One's mind gets transferred into a dark void. There he sees Akumi kneeling next to an unconscious woman away from a version of himself. "Finally we made our way in here." The other All For One said.
"And who might you be?" All For One responded.
"I'm a version of you created by the fragmented traces of our quirk. Sadly, because I don't have our quirk, communication between us when not in contact is impossible."
"I see. And who's the woman?"
"That woman is our anomaly. The mix between the two girls along with the quirk has connected us to another world, specifically her world where all this is a—"
"Shut Up!" Akumi shouts. "I won't allow you to share any of her memories with the real you!"
"Hmmm." The other All For One vanishes. "It looks like my influence is strong even after death. Yumi Sando."
"You're here to take the quirks so just take them and leave!"
"But I still have so many questions that need answers. And it looks like now you two are the only ones who can answer me. I would hate to see anything bad happen if we are not able to communicate properly." All For One began making his way toward the two.
"This is my domain. I decide what can go in and what can go out. And now that the real you is here if you don't leave now, you won't ever get to leave, ever."
All For One laughs as he is now next to Akumi and the woman, "I'm not one to be taking risks when I don't have to. This is already a great learning experience." He grabs Akumi by the throat and holds her up, "I guess I'll just take this before I go."
All For One's mind came back and there he was his hand still on Akumi's face. He takes his hand off her face and laughs, "So that's how it is. Well, it's information that takes time for it to come."
"The preparations are finished, now we just need to place her in the tank." Said the old man after injecting more syringes into Akumi.
"I'll leave you to it. I'll be taking my leave now. I have a plan that needs reworking." All For One said as he walked out of the room.
Vlad King's reporting of the events… The ambulances and fire trucks arrived fifteen minutes after the villains left. Of the 42 students excluding Akari, 10 had lost consciousness and were in a critical state due to the gas. 10 had injuries, ranging from minor to severe. 20 were uninjured and 2 had gone missing. Because this was a covert mission, the 15 pro heroes who took part in the event had been excluded from the report including All Might. The public only knows that 6 heroes, Eraserhead, Vlad King, Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, Tiger, and Ragdoll were on the scene. And of those six Pixie-Bob suffered a head injury and was in critical condition and Ragdoll had left a heavy trail of blood and gone missing.
On the other hand, on the villain's side, three along with the many defeated Nomus were immediately apprehended and arrested. The other Villains who left them behind vanished without a trace. And so the Forest Training Camp had come to an end, with only slight changes to the original outcome.
Youta opens his eyes and jolts up. His memory is a bit hazy as he rubs his head to get a sense of his surrounding. In a hospital, the last thing he saw before he passed out was Akumi slamming Akari then Midnight must have put him to sleep during that moment of shock so that he wouldn't do anything.
"Hey guys, Okazaki's awake," Kendo said.
Youta looks around and notices a couple of his classmates were also unconscious sleeping on beds in the room. He gets up and grabs Kendo by her shoulder to her surprise, "Kendo! Izuku, Akumi, Akari! Are they ok?"
"Okazaki, calm down. I've never seen you lose your cool before," said Monoma.
Youta lets go of Kendo and take a step back and take a breath, "Sorry about that Kendo. It's just…"
"We don't know," Tetsutetsu speaks.
"What?"
"It's only the morning after the attack so we don't know," Kendo elaborates.
"But Akumi. Do you know where she is?" Youta looks at Monoma but he and everyone in the room who was awake stayed silent. "But how… Even All Might was there…" Youta grits his teeth and ran out of the room.
Before Youta could get far he bumps into Vlad King, "Where are you going?"
"To Find Akumi!" Youta replies.
Vlad King sees the anger in Youta's eyes and then places a finger on Youta's chest, "You're letting emotion cloud you again. Think for a moment. Who else should you check on?"
Youta clenching his hand and trying to calm down brushes off Vlad King's finger and said, "I still need to check on Akari and Izuku."
"That's right. Have you calmed down now?"
Youta clicks his tongue, "Where are they?"
Vlad King crosses his arms and sighs, "Akari Shimizu is on the third floor. Izuku Midoriya's room is that way Recovery Girl is attending to him right now." He points to the right hall Youta had just passed.
Youta walks into the hall passing by his classmates, who were following him, not saying a word. Then he sees Izuku's name on the nametag on the wall. He walks into the room he sees Izuku in with a look of defeat. "Okazaki, you're awake. That's good to see," Recovery Girl said.
"Yeah, thanks. How is Izuku doing?" Youta said noticing Izuku's bandaged arms.
"He's constantly going in and out of consciousness but besides that and the broken bones he's alright."
Youta slumps down on the wall, legs curled, palms placed on his forehead, "I'm so useless as heroes."
"And why are you degrading yourself like that?"
"This is the second time now." Tears start to well up in his eyes, "I couldn't do anything to help her. No, I didn't do anything to help her." Youta wipes his tears and looks at Izuku, "Akumi once said that my quirk was amazing but it's so useless when it comes to the things I really want to do. If I inherited my mother's quirk I could have stopped her. If I had my father's quirk I could have ended things before they even start."
Recovery Girl walks to Youta, "Knowing the condition of your father, would you still want that quirk? And if you had your mother's quirk how long do you think it would take for you to understand your own feelings."
"It'd take too long."
She places a hand on Youta's shoulder, "Okazaki, having a good quirk does not make someone a hero. It's their ability to keep on going even when times are rough. To bring people together and give hope that everything will be fine."
Youta chuckles and smiles at Recovery Girl, "I know that. I just wanted to vent some things out to someone. I don't want Akari to see me like this. She must also be going through a lot right now."
"Glad I could be of help. Don't blame yourself too much for what happened."
"I won't," Youta said while standing up. "It's his fault after all."
"Now don't go blaming it all on Izuku." Recovery Girl wagged her finger in front of Youta
Youta's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No no. I didn't mean Izuku. I just said something out loud without context. I meant… You know… The League of Villains." Turning to the door and about to leave he said, "Thank you for taking care of Izuku for so long. I know it must be exhausting having to deal with him. I speak from experience. I should really be going now."
"Oh, what a coincidence I am too."
"Really? Where to?"
"To see Shimizu-chan."
"Well so am I. I guess we'll go together then." Youta said, opening the door. Youta and Recovery Girl then proceed to walk together to the third floor.
Laying on the hospital bed numb to her aching back. Akari was awake staring at the ceiling unblinking. Her sister was the first to be there when she got the word of the attack. "What did you get yourself into this time?" Akari does not respond. Shimizu-San grabbed hold of Akari's hand, "Just what did you see with those eyes of yours out there. The only time you've been this quiet was when… Well." Shimizu-San pressed her palms together with Akari's hand in between and brought it up to her forehead in a prayer, "I shouldn't be saying that here."
"Mom…" Akari spoke to the surprise of Shimizu-San. "Was mom's body ever found?"
"What are you talking about? Are you seeing things again?"
"I want to know. How exactly did mom die?"
"Why do you want to know now and here of all times?"
"Because Akumi had her quirk!" Akari shouts. Tears formed in her eyes as she continued, "Not only that but she… She… She used it!"
"You're probably not seeing right. It was night and your emotions must be flaring that you mistook her quirk for mom's quirk. Akumi's quirk isn't similar to ours at all."
"I know what I saw! And I don't want to believe it either, but!" Akari starts crying. "Why! Just why…"
"Mom and dad, they were both heroes," Shimizu-San said disconnected from reality. "At the time you were only three. For me, it was a few days before I would take my hero license exam. The last time I saw them was when they were going after two runaway villains. Then after that silence. Not a single call, letter, or visit. It was only on my way to the exam I found out." Shimizu-San's voice held animosity for a moment as she continued, "Not through a call, a letter, or a visit from someone who should tell you but through a one-off comment from a news channel!"
She then forced a smile, "I didn't know how to take it, and needless to say I didn't get my hero license. My mind was elsewhere. I couldn't focus and it didn't help that my quirk stopped working how I would like it to work and it's never been the same since. It was only after the exam someone was over to tell me the news of their passing. They said dad was killed first. His body was distorted to the point of unrecognition by a villain with the villain escaping. Mom, hellbent on getting revenge by herself, tracked down the villain who killed dad then after that disappeared without a trace."
Her eyes start to glow red as a moment of silence goes by her anger building inside, "They said they wanted to keep that incident a secret! Spewing nonsense like public image and secret mission! I wanted to just yell at them but I… No, you started crying in your room. That was when you first awakened your quirk. It was just like mom's and because of that, I had a sinking realization. Mom had told me before that it was a family contract that made mom pursue the life of a hero. Without her, we would be bound by the contract. I didn't know the specifics at the time but keeping mom's disappearance a secret was beneficial for us. It bought us years before the family caught on to it. To this day mom's body is still missing. So I don't know if mom's body was found or not. Heck, I don't even know if she's alive. But if you say Akumi had her quirk, would that make Akumi our mom?" Silence in the room after Shimizu-San asked the question.
The door then slides open and Youta and Recovery girls walk in. Noticing the mood of the room Youta tries to uplift it by asking Akari a question, "What are best friends for?"
Akari looks at Youta, her eyes glowing blue and a smile on her face as she answers, "Best friends are for being late and making girls cry."
"Wrong. Best friends will be there even if they are a little late and best friends make each other cry happy tears."
Akari chuckles, "Liar."
Youta scratches the back of his head and chuckles along, "Yeah I know. It looks like we caught you two at the wrong time."
"No tact at all Youta. You'll never be able to woo Akari at this point," Shimizu-San said acting more uplifted.
Youta turns red as steam could be seen from atop his head, "it's not like I was trying to."
While this was happening, Recovery Girl made her way to Akari and kissed her on the forehead. Akari's back then heals completely as she sits up. "Thank you Recovery Girl."
"No problem at all. I hope you are feeling much better now. I'll leave you to chat with Okazaki now and I'll be on my way."
"Wait a moment, Recovery Girl. Do you know what happened to Akumi?"
"Hmmm," Recovery Girl looks over to Youta who is talking with Shimizu-San. "I think Okazaki should answer that question."
"Youta?" She looks over to Youta with hesitation. "Alright, I'll… Ask him." Recovery Girl quietly makes her way out without Youta or Shimizu-San noticing. A bit of banter goes on with Youta and Shimizu-San before Akari finally has the courage to ask Youta the question, her voice cutting through the conversation, "Hey, Youta."
"Y-yeah. What is it?" He responds worried.
"Is Akumi here?"
Youta goes quiet, a frown on his face as he can't seem to look at Akari. "No," he says bluntly.
"Figures," Akari looks away from Youta also not able to look at him. "You know what's happening with Akumi right?"
"I thought I did, but now I'll have to start from the begging all over again."
"You know what this means right."
"It would've been a lot easier if you were there from the begging but better late than never."
"To bring Yuu back," Youta said in his mind.
"To learn who Akumi is," Akari said in her mind.
New convictions were held within their minds with their defeat. And though they have different reasons. At this moment they were both thinking the same thing.
They both turned and looked each other directly in the eyes and at the same time said, "It's time for an investigation."
