Did you miss me, my dear readers? But in all seriousness, work has been rather busy and hard lately and I had less time than I imagined. But I muscled on through and pulled out an update to the story so you all can enjoy it before the holidays. On a side note, I am still on the fence on making our invisble friends into a couple, so if you guys would like a romance be sure to add that into your reviews. With that out of the way, this week's chapter is focused upon the aftermath of the USJ with a part II in the works concerning Tooru and Midoriya specifically. Thank you guys for all the support and love to this story have shown since its inception, so let's keep that going into the new year. I hope you all have a happy Christmas/Hannanuka/Kwanza and New Year, and I look forward to writing more stories in 2021.
Hagakure let out a groan as she was finally let out of the doors of UA while rubbing the back of her neck as she walked towards the gates. Rescue had come by shortly after All Might had arrived, and had all of the auxiliary forces attend the former hostages while her teachers cleared the USJ of villains. She just wanted to go home and lie down in bed after being probed and questioned by police and paramedics for such a long time. But she really shouldn't be complaining, she didn't get hurt like her teachers or was in a bad state mentally. Momo had suffered a head injury after being warped by the mist villain, and was unconscious for the rest of the attack. Luckily, Todoroki had been warped with her, and practically gave himself quirk exhaustion trying to protect her from the villains in the ambush. Bakugou had been warped by himself, and had managed to fend off all the villains thrown at him. But they found him in a dazed and panicked state, attacking anything that moved in his sight. He had to be sedated by Midnight and put in quirk suppressing cuffs for the paramedics to even look at him.
No. She was better off than most of her other classmates. But that didn't stop her from getting chewed out by every figure of authority at the scene for recklessly running into danger. However, the scolding words were not at the forefront of the mind of the invisible girl. Hagakure was thinking about Midoriya, and all the skeletons that he had been hiding from her for who knows how long?
He was lying to me from the very beginning wasn't he?
He stays up late to do his vigilantism, and not because he has a job!
Why didn't he tell me? Am I not his friend?
Was I even his friend to begin with, or was I nothing more than a source of information?
Did he not trust me? Did he think I would turn him in?
Why was he so willing to die and leave me?
Hakagure finally glanced back up from her mess of thoughts, and to the pathway that led to the mouth of the hero school.
…
…
…
There he was. The blue haired boy was leaning back against a wall near the wrought iron gates of UA. Midoriya did not look well in the slightest, and Hagakure would've been worried sick about him had she not known how he came to look like that in the time she went to school. He was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts instead of the bulky robes of his vigilante costume, allowing Hagakure to see the damage. His pale skin was even whiter than usual, probably from the all blood he lost, while his blue eyes had a sunken and exhausted look to them. His arms, legs, and neck were lightly bruised with a couple of scars on places where she had seen him lose skin. But the most damaged feature was his face, despite the fact it had no injuries. Instead Midoriya's face contained guilt, fear, and regret. The fact that he had healed so quickly was enough of a sign to show the many secrets that the boy had hid from her.
Hagakure slowly walked up to the injured boy, giving him an expression that was neutral but contained a hidden anger beneath her visage. Midoriya tensed up at the coldness that Hagakure was giving to him. She could hear him swallow something down his throat as he opened his mouth to speak to her.
"H-Hello, H-Hagakure-san.", he greeted her in a hoarse and weak voice.
The Invisible girl shot him another piercing gaze, this time with all of her hidden anger behind it. Midoriya flinched once again at Hagakure. Deep down her heart felt like it was tearing apart as she said those words of ice. She hated this, she hated to do this, but she couldn't help it with what she learned today. But she was far from finished with him, she was going to learn the truth, one way or another.
"Follow me.", She said in a stern and emotionless voice, "You better have a good explanation to all this."
Yagi Toshinori wiped the sweat of his brow with a handkerchief as he surveyed the meeting room, and all of the UA faculty that filled it up. Today was an exciting day to say the least, but not one Yagi wished to have again in the near future. Which makes it all the more surprising that this day is being finished in an office room and not in the ICU of the Hospital. The meeting at hand was a discussion of the events that had taken place at the USJ. The meeting was centered around the damages, security, and other monotonous topics. But with those out of the way, the meeting would be coming to a close, but not before the most important of the subjects was addressed.
"And the final status of Eraserhead and Thirteen has been assessed, and I am glad to say that both are in stable condition and are expected to make a full recovery.", Principle Nezu said with his calm attitude finally returned to him.
The Heroes/Teachers all visibly relaxed at the news that their co-workers and friends will be returning back to them in the future.
"Which leaves us at the subject of the wellbeing of the students...and of the vigilante…", Nezu said a bit more softly.
Recovery girl was quick to pick up from where the principal had left off, "After my examination of each of the students and some talks with the paramedics, I came to the conclusion that most of them managed to come out of this incident without injury. However, it cannot be stated that they all came out unscathed.", the old woman added, "Miss Yaoyorozu had suffered a concussion along with a broken wrist, which I presume was the result of the way she fell from the warp gate. An afternoon of resting with treatment from my quirk should be enough for her to return home tonight."
Many of the UA Staff looked relieved at the fact that Yaoyorozu managed to get off better than was initially expected. The elderly hero continued her report after a brief pause.
"Mr. Todoroki on the other hand was suffering from hypothermia, a clear sign of overusing his quirk. From what I was told, it was in the defense of Miss Yaoyorozu when they had been separated from the others by the warp villain. It seems to be a mild case of hypothermia, but I'd think it would be best to have that child stay here overnight so I can keep an eye on his body temperature.
Endeavor was certainly going to be upset, he was rather protective of his children.
"As for Mr. Bakugou,...", Recovery Girl trailed off, "Medically speaking there is nothing wrong with him, but he was beyond anything I've ever seen."
Everyone in the meeting grew still at the elderly hero's words, and leaned in closer to hear the details.
"On the surface, Bakugou has all the symptoms of a panic attack. The trembling, dizziness, sweating, and heart palpitations were clear in that regard."Recovery Girl looked deeply concerned, "But for reasons beyond me, his body won't calm down from whatever induced the attack, in fact he is getting worse the longer time goes on. If not for the fact that many of the paramedics had quirks that could help with the stabilization of his body, then I predict that Bakugou would've eventually gone into cardiac arrest from the stress that his heart was facing."
"What would have caused such a thing?", Present Mic spoke up.
Recovery Girl looked flabbergasted, "I-I don't know. Whatever caused this either had to be extremely traumatic or was a quirk powerful enough to do such a thing. I'd recommend that Bakugou be taken to a specialist in Tokyo for treatment, he might be out of school for a week, but they most certainly could do what needs to be done."
"We will see to it that it most certainly gets done.", Nezu said sternly, "And now on the subject of the Vigilante?"
A pregnant silence filled the room as no one dared to utter a word about the final subject.
The mouse bear creature surveyed the room before finally speaking himself. "I think it will be best if we summarize first what we know about our unexpected guest among unexpected guests. From the security footage and the testimony of both the students and villains, we can confirm that the vigilante has four quirks, three of which have been confirmed and documented by local police before the incident. But the fourth quirk of this individual appears to be on a scale that appears to surpass the power of All Might, if the claims of the Villain Shigaraki are to be believed."
Yagi noticed that his coworkers paled at the mention of that detail, and to be frank, so did he. He saw the security footage. The vigilante could barely hold off the thing called Nomu when two clashed, but after he transformed into that...thing, it was no contest on which one was stronger. Right on que, Nezu passed out a printed paper containing the image of vigilante in his second form. Yagi stared into the familiar image that had been burned into his memory only hours before. In a perfect shot of photography, the vigilante was posed triumphantly while blaring a large smile towards the camera. A smile that caused shivers in Yagi's spine because of all the sharp dagger-like teeth filling every possible space in its mouth.
"The second form, as we will call it, is certainly interesting to say the least. This form is clearly adapted for an aquatic environment with only a small percentage of the body containing characteristics of terrestrial creatures. It closely resembles a lamprey in many of its physical features, but is sized on a scale that is similar to a shark's. In other words, it resembles a rather twisted and horrifying depiction of a mermaid.",
Nezu paused while he scanned the room with his scarred visage,
"This goes without mentioning the power spike in the quirks already known in this individual and the emergence of a previously unknown and extremely powerful quirk. Etc. Ect. I can go on for hours discussing every single oddity and contradiction of this individual's quirk. But at the end of the day, it is a quirk of unimaginable scale and power that belongs to someone who lies in the grey area of the law. A person that is on the threat level of a natural disaster, if not on an apocalyptic level, and now here we are. So my fellow heroes, how should we proceed?"
The silence in the room was deafening.
A swirling vortex of inky darkness materialized in a dingy and musty bar hidden away from the prying eyes of anyone looking for men of villainy. From this swirl, emerged the terrified and wounded villains known as Kurogiri and Shigaraki Tomura. The elder villain looked frazzled with his yellow eyes drooping and his clothes dirtied and charred in places. The younger of the two was much cleaner than his older compatriot, but he also looked worse for the wear. His already pale face was now a sickly yellow color, his red and bloodshot eyes bugging out of their sockets. He carefully clutched his purple and shattered hand like one would hold a piece of fragile glass. Both villains were taking in heavy breaths of air into their lungs as a television mounted on a wall by the bar counter turned on by itself.
"Welcome home, Shigaraki Tomura. I pray that your mission was successful?", a distorted voice said from the Television.
The pale villain looked like he had swallowed a lemon whole, "Sensei, the entire mission was a wipe. Our game plan was ruined from the very start by a cheating vigilante!"
The television raised a metaphoric eyebrow, "I do not understand, surely one street rat pretending to be a hero wouldn't be that much of an issue."
"You don't understand,Sensei. Ghost was the entire reason the raid had failed!",ranted Shigaraki, "He and Kurogiri fought in a 1v1 and beat him without even taking a point of damage, and ensured the brats couldn't be killed by our ads!"
The televsion remained silent as it soaked up the story that the Decay Villain was spouting.
"So i sent in our own boss to deal with the pest, and it was clear that this punk could not fight Nomu in a brawl. But…", Shigaraki's voice trailed off.
"But then the Ghost of Musustafu killed Nomu with a mere wave of his hand.", Kurogiri somberly added.
"I am afraid I do not understand.", the voice on the television remarked.
"Sensei, with all due respect, I do not know how, but all I can say is that the vigilante transformed into a monster of unimaginable power.", Kurogiri said with fear in his tone.
"Kurogiri…", the voice said with a laced warning.
"My quirk didn't work on him!"
The television went silent for a moment before 'Sensei' spoke again. "What?"
"Shigaraki Tomura's quirk did not work on the vigilante, I saw him make contact with all his fingers and nothing happened. Ghost is an anomaly that is as much of a threat as All Might is to us.",Kurogiri frantically added.
The silence of the television was eerie as the master of the League said nothing on the news that was given to him. When he finally spoke again it was soft and almost fearful in its tone, "Kurogiri and Tomura, I want the two of you to focus on healing your battle wounds and expanding the league. This time try to acquire servants that could provide the league with something more than thuggish strength. As for the Ghost you keep mentioning...I will look into him personally."
"I must say, Yamashiro-san, I think you finally managed to get the scoop that I have been waiting for!", the bombastic voice of a fat man with extra fingers said as he finished looking over a bundle of papers.
Yamashiro couldn't help but sigh in relief at the fact that her boss was finally pleased with a story that she brought in. It had been a rocky few months at the agency that she worked at and that was in due part that it was renowned in publishing the stories of many of Japan's titans of journalism on a regular basis. She by all means shouldn't have been here at all, being a college graduate with no connections or work experience before this, but she guessed that having impressed Mr. Fujita with her story on last year's UA Sports Festival was mainly responsible for that.
"The most prominent school in all of Japan was attacked by a group of villains, but was saved by the last moment by a dazzling vigilante and his arsenal of quirks. The mere fact alone that this guy has some many quirks will be enough to sell like hotcakes! I can't wait to see all the yen rolling in from this week's issue, however...it's not perfect.", Mr. Fujita said while his voice grew more somber.
Yamashiro jumped in her seat as her long hair changed into a different shade of color, "Not perfect, sir?"
The many finger man rubbed his chin as he developed a quizzical look, "Yes, this story is not perfect, and that is because of the name of this vigilante guy. Ma'ken Ris?", Fujita paused to shudder, "I don't think our readers will appreciate the issue with the whole shudder deal. Besides how does one even say that properly?"
"You want me to change it to something else?", Yamashiro said with uncertainty.
"Bingo!", the fat man exclaimed, "Just make sure it is simple and catchy at the same time! I want it to scream out like one of the Hero Names! More Pizazz means more buyers! Just be sure to get it done by tomorrow so we can get to the printing and uploading."
…
"It's done…", the tired voice of Yamashiro echoed as she stacked the papers into a neat little pile.
The little apartment that she called home was washed with darkness with the little desk lamp providing the only source of light. Yamashiro herself had bags under her eyes and frazzled hair, which contrasted with the piles of energy drink cans littered around her work area. But upon the exhausted visage of the reporter, a small smile appeared as she felt satisfaction for the completion of her best work yet.
...
...
…
Which lasted only a few seconds before the young reporter's head hit the desk with a soft thump. The light sound of snoring could be heard from the reporter as she drifted off into the world of sleep. Her manuscript on the desk was a mess of words that were undecipherable from the head of hair that obscured them, but the title of the news story was still visible.
Ghost, The Mysterious Rescuer of the UA Attack!
In a luxurious office located in the capital of the country, sat two people looking through the contents of two identical manilla folders. One was a woman who was sitting behind a heavy looking wooden desk while the other was a man sitting down in front of the desk . The man was dressed in a dark suit with a bright yellow tie, and a tired looking face combined with a head of greying hair. It was about as standard as you get for a government official. Except for the fact that this man did not look like a political leader in any sense or form. The reason for this oddity could lie with the fact that the man's skin looked like the surface of a cracked rock, or perhaps it was the fact that he was sitting in a wheelchair. The woman was the exact opposite of the man in terms of looks and age. She was youthful with a head of hair as black as ink and a shine in her eyes that spoke volumes of her gentle character. She was dressed in a similar manner to her companion, dark dress suit but with a skirt instead of slacks. She wore no neck piece but instead had a colorful flower on her collar. The two were deeply invested into the contents of the folder, but it would be the man who would finish his reading first.
"What do make of this?", said the man in the wheelchair.
The woman looked up from her reading, "I don't know. Much of the report troubles me, especially the group of villains that perpetrated the attack."
"Kyo-san, with all due respect, I think a course of action is needed to address the events of this incident. The interests of UA align with ours after all. Perhaps we should bolster the police or maybe get the Ministry of Defense to investigate.", the man in the wheelchair argued.
Kyo looked out the window for a moment with a torn look on her face, but it disappeared once she turned to face her companion. "Do you trust my judgement Yama-san."
The stone man raised an eyebrow, "I trust your decisions as much as your father's."
Those words brought a smile to the face of the woman, "Well, then. I think it is best that we leave the matter of investigating the situation to the heroes. But if things do escalate, we will involve ourselves into the matter."
The wheelchair bound man did not look pleased with the answer that he was given, but decided to keep his begrudges to himself. However, he did press another issue towards the woman.
"And what of the vigilante? He is the wildcard in this entire situation.", the man said with a serious expression, "A wild card with not just one, but at least four powerful quirks. Quirks that do not match anything in the police database, much less any quirk that has been documented in the last 100 years."
The woman looked out the window again, but decided to stand up from the desk and move towards the glass. "We should by all means, treat him on the same level as the villains in this incident. But I do not think it is best to pursue that pathway.", the man named Yama looked at Kyo with raised eyebrow, "Something deep down is telling me that we should try to get him on our side. If he were to become a hero...I think we would have the coming of another All Might."
"And if we fail, and make an enemy of him? Or who would be the ones responsible for your 'recruitment'?", the man retorted.
"We let the heroes deal with the situation, that way, if they fail or succeed; blame or praise will be directed upon them." Kyo stated.
"I thought you had trust in the heroes, Kyo-san?"
"I do Yama-san, but I even someone as young and naive as I can see the rot that has seeped into the hero system. Reform has been at the forefront of my government, and there has been no immediate call to reform that system as of late. But, if they cannot reform themselves…"
"Then we will step in and ensure that change does happen."
"Indeed, Yama-san, a large number of villains and villainous groups with extremist ideologies have emerged from this rot and they threaten to force it upon us. Whether we want it or not."
"I see, so this vigilant would serve as another All Might, a reason to allow the system to be really know how to play the game well, for a youngster."
The Prime Minister of Japan smiled at her Deputy Minister and mentor giving her a well earned compliment.
It was a calm and quiet afternoon in one of the many forgotten landmarks of Mustafu. In this case, it was a park that had its share of overgrown grass and untrimmed trees that watched over rusting playground equipment. Much like Dagobah Beach, this playground was a favorite spot of many of mustafu's middle class families back in its heyday. But as the old tech industries died in favor of ones that had thrown their lots in the hero system, the place was gradually forgotten as each of the families left for economic opportunities. It is now nothing more than a relic of what was once a prosperous community in a deserted part of a small city. It made it the perfect spot for someone to have peace and quiet or to conduct activities that required a bit of privacy. Recently, two souls had made the place a sacred ground in which they could go to places or merely enjoy each other's company without having prying eyes spy on them. Today was another one of those days.
The walk had taken a little bit more time than expected, but that was in due part because Midoriya was unable to move as fast as she would have liked. But it didn't matter in the end because the time of truth had arrived. Hagakure continued to walk until they reached the old rickety park bench that they had sat on when they met for the second time. She turned to face Midoriya in a single motion. The blue haired boy looked far from okay, in fact, his expression was that of a child cowering from their parents.
…
Izuku knew he was in trouble. Marris was keen on letting him know that he was going to need to talk to Tooru, and saw to it that he couldn't miss out on the planned meeting. Truth be told, he didn't want to do this. Hagkure's stone-like visage had reminded him too much of Bakugou's in the small moments before he unleashed his anger on himself. He had finally gone and found a friend after years of loneliness, only to ruin it like everything else that he does. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Deku! Yet, he kept his gaze locked into the brown eyes of Hagakure, if he was going to lose her friendship, then was going to do head on and reap the consequences of his stupidity. He waited for Hagkure to say those seven words that will sever their friendship, but to his surprise she did not say them. Instead she raised her hand and with lightning fast speed, she proceeded to slap him cleanly across his face.
Smack
"That is for lying to me!", Hagakure scolded.
Smack
"That is for seeing me naked!",She added voice getting weaker.
Smack
"That...is for being so damned reckless!", Hagakure balked with a breaking voice.
Izuku slowly turned his head back to face Hagakure, and saw the full scope of his actions. Hagakure was frozen in the motions of hitting him again for another one of his misdeeds. But it seemed that the emotions that had been boiling up inside the girl had finally lost their fury. Hagakure stood there, prepared to hit him again, bit only stared at him with a trembling lip and eyes growing wet from tears. Izuku had been fixated on her anger that had forgotten one important thing.
Hagkure suddenly dropped her outstretched arm and rushed forward to tightly hug onto like he was going away.
"T-That...is for...not leaving me...here f-forever.", Hagakure weakly voiced.
He wasn't the only one who feared abandonment.
I can tell you first hand on what its like being Santa's elf, and it is not fun. If you are curious, be sure to comment below about that or anything in this story that you liked, hated, or thinks needs improvement. I do hope you enjoyed this week's chapter, and I will see you in the next chapter.