Chapter 20: Something's Up With Nejire-Chan
As Ochako settled down her things onto her bed within her temporary room, she looked back at her new bunkmate. "So, you were the one who recommended me to Ryukyu?"
"That's right, that's right!" the blue-haired girl, Nejire, replied. "I saw what you did to the Todoroki boy! You were like, boom! Bam! Zoom! It was like watching a pink Zeus laying the smackdown on a walking peppermint, only this time, Zeus is a girl, and that girl is you!"
If there was one thing Ochako could tell right away from her internship buddy, it was that she talked a lot, and tended to go on super long tangents. Still, it was kinda nice of her senpai to beg Ryukyu to send out an invitation to Ochako, so she would probably have to thank her.
"So, how did you pull off that final move back during the Sports Festival? You know the whole all-encompassing gravity attack?" Nejire asked. "Remember? Remember when you did that?"
"Oh, that? It was just a, uhh… spur-of-the-moment thing," the brown-haired girl confessed.
"Aww, phooey!" the older girl pouted, before her face returned to a smile. "Well, in that case, we'll just have to train you super-duper hard so you can do it on command! Yay!"
Ochako had to admit, this internship would be interesting, if not anything else.
"So… you invited me here to ask more about Touya?" Shoto asked.
When he saw that his father was one of the people who sent out an invitation to Shoto, he was under the assumption that it was because the old man wanted to make sure that the peppermint-haired boy would learn how to use his flames correctly.
Instead, he finds his father with eyebags worse than Aizawa's and Shinso's combined, with patches of whiskers actually forming on his face, and probably on his third cup of coffee.
Scratch that, his fourth.
"Yes, that's exactly right," his father replied, still trying to look cool.
"Well, too bad. I accepted to get better with my fire. Start training me, Dad."
"Shoto, please –"
"Look, old man, there were two reasons for me to spill about Touya's existence: One, to troll you into running yourself ragged. Two, because I knew that I, as a teenager, don't have jack when it comes to investigative resources," Shoto explains. "Hence, why I told you."
"Unfortunately, Shoto, aside from you and your two classmates, no one else saw Touya's face during the attack on the USJ," his old man explained. "And due to the fact that you didn't tell Detective Tsukauchi anything, there is no actual police evidence for me to use."
"So, you're starting from square one?"
"Correction, we're starting from square one," Endeavor said. "Let's make a compromise: We're going to do the most classic form of investigating; searching the streets and asking every low-life out there if they know anything. And while I'm at it, I'll train you on your fire."
"Actual on-site training? Against potentially dangerous Villains?"
"You've done it before and on UA grounds, no less," his father said.
"You know what? Sure, why not? Lead the way… Endeavor."
Stepping out of the changing room in her costume, Ochako could see that both Ryukyu and Nejire-senpai were waiting for her. "Good, you're ready. Let's head out."
"Where are we going?" Ochako asked her mentor.
"It's basically an open secret amongst the Hero community that during the Sports Festival, the League of Villains attacked the main headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission. The HPSC may have successfully prevented it from hitting the press, but it still happened."
That got Ochako's attention. "The League of Villains?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Nejire-senpai nodded rapidly. "They even brought out two new Villains! Hephaestus, a lady in giant mecha armor and Waverider, another lady in a black-hooded suit!"
"Not only that, but the Villain attack that did make it on the news, Ingenium's injuries at the hands of the Hero Killer, also happened in Hosu, meaning that crime around that place will be rising," Ryukyu explained. "We'll be going to Hosu to discourage any further attacks."
"And we'll be looking for the Hero Killer, while we're at it!" Nejire-senpai added.
"However, do please remember that you are still a first year, Uravity," the golden-haired woman said. "That means that you don't engage in any fights unless given permission. Got it?"
"Right!" Ochako said, nodding.
"On a normal day, I would just be waiting for client calls to come in. Not really exciting," Masaki Mizusjima, better known as the Normal Hero: Manual, said, as he walked along the streets of Hosu, alongside his intern. "But things have been hectic here lately."
"So, you're using street patrols to suppress crime," Iida summarized.
"Yeah, exactly. Man, I kinda can't believe Ingenium's little brother is interning at my agency. I'm sure you had offers from Pros with followings much bigger than mine…"
Tenya remained silent, as he kept walking down the street alongside his mentor. His thoughts were still on the Hero Killer. Someone so elusive that he has managed to avoid capture for his deplorable crimes. I know that I might not find him, but still…
As his mind flashed back to how broken Tensei looked on his hospital bed, it made Tenya's blood boil. I have to try and track the Villain down. I can't forgive him for what he's done!
Yuu Takeyama had to admit, she liked having an intern.
Okay, granted, she may have been a little vain when it came to picking her intern. After all, Kodai happened to have a Quirk that also altered the size of something, but c'mon!
Aside from that, the black-haired girl also did whatever she was told to do.
"You know what's a useful skill?" Yuu said, as she took a bite out of a chip. "Knowing how to pass the time while you're waiting to be called out to rescue someone. Got that?"
"Mm," Kodai said, as she finished vacuuming. "What's next?"
"Now? Basic physical training," the blonde woman said, getting up from her couch. "I may not look it, but underneath my costume is the body of an athlete. All Pros know that they need above-average athletic skills if they ever want to be successful. Quirks aren't enough."
"Understood," Kodai said, short and to the point. Yuu could respect that.
"I'm gonna gauge how far you've come in terms of physical prowess, and then give you a workout based on your needs," Yuu explained. "Don't worry, it won't be anything too intense. But anyways, after that, you're off to bed. We've got patrolling to do tomorrow. In Hosu."
"Mm."
"But enough about that! Get over here, it's selfie time!" Yuu said, as she grabbed her phone and snapped a picture. "Oh, man! I hope Kamui sees us, I'm sure it'll make his day!"
"Don't forget all of your other fans," Kodai added.
"Oh, yeah. Them as well, I guess."
"Well, today was a bust," Ryukyu groaned.
Searching in Hosu didn't pan out. Whether it was because they did it during the daytime or because seemingly every single Hero was in the prefecture, she didn't know.
"Aw, don't worry about it, Ryukyu!" Nejire-chan consoled her. "We still have tomorrow to try again! And the day after tomorrow, and then the day after that, and then –"
"Yes, I get it, Nejire-chan," the blonde chuckled. "Anyways, the sun might be setting and our patrol may be over, but there's still stuff we can do. Such as training Uravity."
"Me?" the brown-haired girl asked, pointing at herself.
"Yes, you," the Dragoon Hero said. "Nejire-chan told me about that final move you did against Endeavor's kid during the last part of the Sports Festival. I figured that we could head back to my agency and see if we can figure out how to recreate it. If you want to, that is…"
"No! I mean, yes! Augh, I mean… I would be honored to learn from you."
Ryukyu snorted, as she was somewhat amused by the younger girl's youthful inexperience. "Glad to hear it. Also, you can drop the fancy talk. Talk to me like you do your friends."
"Really? Okay, if you say so…"
"Great. Let's head back to our Agency, girls."
"The basic goal of Heroes is to control crime," Eraserhead explained. "When a crime occurs, police will contact us. These requests come in all at once, filtered by district. We file reports on the services we provided, assisting in arrests, rescuing people, etcetera, then a special agency looks at our work and decides how much we should be paid. Sounds simple, right?"
"I'm guessing there's more to it than that," Bakugou said.
"When it comes to Underground Heroes, yeah. There's more for us to do, from investigating disappearances, tracking down drug smugglers and raiding hideouts, Underground Heroes are more responsible for the darker parts of Heroics the public usually never sees."
"Got it," the blond said. "Is that why we're out here in the middle of the night?"
"It's part of it, yeah," Eraserhead said. "Smarter criminals don't commit their crimes in broad daylight, despite how TV makes it look like. They'll do them where they can't be seen. All Might already provided you with an example of such a thing during the Battle Trials, yeah?"
"Mm-hm. Backdoor dealings and shit," the explosive teen said.
"Right. The basic gist of it is that while the Spotlight Heroes take care of surface-level crimes during the day, we take care of the nastier ones that happen when all of the cameras are off."
"AIIIEEEEE!"
Both the mentor and mentee snapped into attention as they heard a scream coming from an alleyway a few blocks away from them. "Someone's in trouble."
Jumping up, Eraserhead leapt from rooftop to rooftop, as his intern followed behind him.
"I'm right behind you, old man!" Bakugou exclaimed.
Eraserhead merely smirked. "Alright, Kacchan, let's see what you're made of."
CLANG!
"Do it again."
Ochako groaned in frustration as she collapsed to the floor, panting. It had been two hours since they came back to Ryukyu's headquarters, and in that time, Nejire-senpai stayed with her in the training room to see if she could move all of the weights without touching them.
So far? Nothing.
She was getting tired. She wanted to stop, crawl into bed, and go to sleep. But her senior wouldn't allow her. Not until they got it right. And she was starting to get frustrated.
"Why are you so invested in this…?" Ochako asked, her anger rising.
"Because I can see your potential," the blue-haired girl said. "Now, again."
"Why?" Ochako asked again, as she turned towards her senior. "What kind of potential do you see in me?! Are you saying that just because you only saw me win the Sports Festival?!"
"And what if that is the case?"
Now Ochako was mad. She knew there were some teachers out there that played different roles, like Eraserhead and Gran Torino, always switching between decent folks to drill sergeants from Hell, but Hado took it to a whole different level, AND OCAHKO STILL DIDN'T KNOW HER REASONING! WAS THIS HOW TODOROKI FELT WITH ENDEAVOR?! SHE WAS SO MAD –
"Ah. There it is."
What? The brown-haired girl had no idea what Hado was talking about, until she looked behind her… to see every single weight in the training room floating. "I… I did that…?"
"Yep," Nejire-senpai said. "It appears that your expanded gravity field is only activating when you're mad or in high-stress scenarios. We'll have to work on that, but it's a start."
"Wait… were you trying to get me angry? On purpose?"
"Yeah, sorry for not telling you, but I needed it to be genuine. For science!"
Ochako simply stared at the blue-haired girl, as all of the weights behind her dropped. She couldn't tell if Hado was either a genius or evil. Or both. "You… you…"
"Yeah, I know, it was a bit of a bitch move, you can blame Aizawa for influencing my first year self on that one, but hey, it worked!" she said. "So, you can go to bed now!"
Ochako was too tired to even argue with her at that point.
Eri was finally asleep.
Hitoshi knew he probably wasn't supposed to be glad to be rid of the kid, but c'mon! She was eating away at his internship time. Plus, he knew Recovery Girl would be nice to her.
"Thanks again for doing this, Chiyo," Ms. Joke thanked the old lady.
"Not a problem, dearie," Recovery Girl said. "Now, go. I'm sure your colleagues miss you."
With a final nod, the green-haired woman headed out, followed by her intern for the week. Closing the door behind them and walking down the stairs of the apartment, Hitoshi couldn't help but wonder how Eraserhead and Ms. Joke of all people came together to raise a kid.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"You just did." Ms. Joke laughed at her own, well, joke, before she calmed down a bit. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself! But yeah, I'm your teacher, you can ask me anything."
"Okay… so… what's up with Eri? Where'd she come from?"
Hitoshi's mentor for the week was silent for a few moments, making the purple-haired boy wonder if he touched an open nerve, before she said something.
"It was over a year ago by now," she started. "Shouta and I were just chilling in our apartment, when a knock came at the door. We knew it wasn't any of our friends, but the knocking just kept persisting. We had raised our guards, thinking at the time it was some Villains that found out where we lived. Armed with our gear, we opened the door… only to a scared little girl."
"Eri," the purple-haired boy said.
"Yeah. She was dirty, wearing nothing more than rags, with bandages all over her arms. We took her in right away, gave her some clean clothes, then brought her to the police station. As it turned out, she had a note with her from whoever it was that rescued her, basically telling us that we were her parents now, and that if we even hurt a single hair of her's, every single Villain in the area would know our home address and how to counteract our Quirks."
"Yikes," Hitoshi cringed, before he realized something. "Wait, she was rescued?"
"Yeah, but not by any Heroes," Ms. Joke said. "According to her, some bad people wanted to use her Quirk, only to get bossed around by an even bigger gang, with their leader bringing Eri to us. She described him with freckles and "green fluffy hair", her words, not mine."
"I see…"
"Anyways, we should get going! Crime doesn't wait for anyone!"
"Right!" Hitoshi said, as he followed Ms. Joke, and began running after her.
Ochako sighed, as she drifted off to sleep.
Ryukyu's patrols were one thing, but the training regiment Nejire-senpai put her through before they went to bed was absolutely exhausting. She had no idea why her senior was so adamant to have Ochako master her Quirk, but she didn't stop until Ochako finally made some progress.
The brown-haired girl suspected that not even Ryukyu was aware of Nejire-senpai's training methods. But… that would be tomorrow Ochako's problems. Right now, bed time.
Ochako could feel herself drift off, lose consciousness, so… why?
Why did her eyes suddenly open?
Looking around, she saw that she was in that dark void again, with all of those people from her last dream. There was that black-haired woman, and she wasn't alone this time! There was a bald guy with goggles, a short dude who kinda reminded Ochako of Best Jeanist, some man with a scar, and a few others she couldn't make out. But where was…?
"Dear foolish brother. Why do you resist me?"
Ochako turned to see two people staring down at one another. One of them was the guy with green eyes from her other dream. But the other… she recognized his voice… from the USJ… he may be taller in her dream, but now she knew the man behind that mask.
All For One.
The world around Ochako suddenly shifted as she was now following behind All For One, the walking between the crowds of people. "I will give you everything you want, if you agree to join me. You have my word. Choice to those without power. Mercy to those who have sinned."
The city around Ochako crumbled, as it reformed into a massive, empty room. It reminded Ochako more of a vault than a room. But inside the center of it… was that guy again. The one who looked like a skinnier version of All For One, but with longer, and wavier hair.
"You've stopped eating again. You're disintegrating into nothing."
Ochako watched as All For One walked into the vault, as the other man spoke between his coughs. "Brother, I refuse to become the man you want me to be."
Brother… wait, then that means that this guy is –
"Ahh!"
Ochako's thoughts stopped as she saw All For One's hand grab his younger brother's face, and his Quirk activated. "Reality doesn't follow stock plots. I believe it's finally time you bent to my cause. I'll rewrite your story, as well. Because you are dear to me, brother."
"LET ME GO!"
"I've found a Meta Ability for you. Even your pathetic body can utilize it. You will join me."
"PLEASE, BROTHER!"
Ochako tried to reach out to help him, but she couldn't. She could feel herself being pulled back, being dragged back to the white void, as suddenly… it was all over.
"You're the ninth wielder, right?"
Ochako's head snapped up in attention, as she saw the white-haired man, no, the first One For All wielder, approach her. "I'm sorry, I wanted to show you more, but you're barely using twenty percent of the power yet. Be careful, we're long past the Singularity point."
As the First stretched out his hand, the Ninth copied him.
"Don't be afraid… you are not alone."
CRACK!
"Kohai!"
The sound of glass shattering could be heard as Ochako's eyes opened, only to see Nejire-senpai staring right at her. Literally. She was right on top of her bed.
"Umm… Nejire-senpai? What are you doing in my bed?"
"Your body was freaking out like crazy!" the blue-haired girl said. "Your veins were glowing, and you blew out the window with just one hand! What the heck did you dream of?"
"Nothing!" Ochako quickly said. "I mean… nothing you could understand."
"Bullshit." The brown-haired girl did a double-take at what she heard. She never imagined her senior would use such language, or look so mad. "Tell me or I'm getting Ryukyu over here."
"Too late."
Both girls looked towards their now-open door, to see the Dragoon Hero in her nightgown. "I was woken up by the sound of shattering glass. So, what's going on?"
Ochako remained silent for a bit, before she said, "Just a nightmare that set off my Quirk."
"I see," Ryukyu said. "Alright, gather your things and head to the next room over, you'll catch a cold in there. I'll call someone to clear up the glass. You should get some sleep."
"Thank you, Ryukyu-san."
The blonde woman acknowledged them, and left. As the two Hero students grabbed their things and went to the other room, Ochako kept wondering about the dream she had.
What the heck is the Singularity…?
Tensei Iida tried to drift off to sleep, but he couldn't.
He didn't know whether it was because of the beeping of machines in his room, or because he could still see the hallway lights leaking through the crack beneath his room's door, but for whatever reason, sleep wouldn't come until his body absolutely needed it.
Maybe it was just the pain he was feeling. Nothing too severe, just aches from laying in bed for nearly a week now. And he'd be sitting in a chair for the rest of his life. Yippee.
A flash of light appeared in the corner of his eye, as he saw his door open. It was probably some nurse coming in to check up on him. Only now that he thought about it… didn't nurses usually wear those short-sleeved blue outfits? Why was this guy's so long… and dark?
The second red flag in Tensei's head was the fact that the newcomer didn't turn on the lights in the room. Sure, that would probably be rude for any sleeping patients, but maybe they would have a tiny flashlight with them to make sure where they were going?
But then came the third and final nail in the coffin, when the figure spoke.
"It's truly a shame what happened to you, Ingenium." The voice was young sounding, like someone that was supposed to be in Tenya's grade, but… sinister. "Stain crossed a line with you. But don't worry, by this time tomorrow, he won't be in the picture any longer."
Tensei willed himself to say something, anything. "Who… are… you…?"
"Who I am is not important, at least not yet. What is important is what I'm about to do now," the figure said, placing his hand on Tensei's face. "Don't worry, the pain will be over soon."
"What –?"
Before Tensei could even finish his sentence, all of his nerves exploded in flames. The pain was horrible, far worse than anything Stain ever did to him. It hurt. It hurt so badly. And then –
And then it was over.
And Tensei could feel his legs again.
Ochako was now feeling much better than she was earlier in the morning.
It was probably due to the fact that instead of physical training, the majority of the day was spent with Ryukyu explaining the other aspects of being a Hero. More specifically, having to deal with paperwork and the HPSC, media appearances, sponsorships, that sort of thing.
In fact, it was late afternoon when Ochako did any physical training. And even then, it wasn't anything as intense as what happened yesterday. Just some quick physical exercises.
"Alright, that's enough for now. Any later, and we'll be missing our train," Ryukyu said, prompting Ochako to stop. "Nejire-chan, Uravity, get ready to head out to Hosu. It's time."
""RIGHT!""
Endeavor looked over the city of Hosu. So far, it was quiet. Too quiet.
"The Hero Killer usually has a pattern of attacking four Heroes in every city he visits," he explained to Shoto. "Ingenium was his third victim. That leaves us with one more."
"So he's still out there, somewhere," Shoto surmised.
"Exactly. We… what the hell?" Endeavor did a double-take at what he was looking at. Out in the distance, one of the buildings was… on fire. "Oh, that's not good. We need to go, NOW!"
Katsuki finished tying up the last mugger when Aizawa-sensei's phone went off.
"Hello? Emi?" Katsuki overheard his teacher talking. "Wait, where?! How many?! Okay, I'll get there as fast as I can, I'll let you know when the situation is resolved. Stay safe."
When the Pro Hero ended the call, Katsuki asked, "What happened?"
"Multiple explosions have just gone off in Hosu. We're going there now."
"What about these assholes?" Katsuki gestured to the downed muggers.
"I've already called the cops, they'll be here in a few minutes," Eraserhead said. "They can handle a few crooks, we've got a responsibility to take on the bigger fights they can't."
The explosive blond slowly nodded. "Okay… how do we get to Hosu?"
"Nedzu's got that covered."
Katsuki wasn't sure if he should be impressed or terrified when he heard the sounds of helicopter blades rotating in the distance. He just hoped that the pilot wasn't the rat.
Stain witnessed the explosion with curiosity, but not with interest.
It was probably those maniacs from the League of Villains blowing up a building. First, they attacked UA for some unknown reason, and then, they launched an even bigger assault on the HPSC headquarters during the Sports Festival. What the hell was their goal, anyways?
The Hero Killer shook his head. It didn't matter. As long as they didn't interfere in his work, he could care less. All Might would weed them out in no time. He always did.
And besides, Stain was somewhat thankful to them. If it wasn't for their attack on the HPSC headquarters, Ingenium wouldn't have found his way towards Stain's blade.
If they agreed with his ideals, he would thank them for such a generous gift. But that was for later. Right now… he had a fake to cull. Speaking of… ah, right on time.
Tonight, Native would die. That, the Hero Killer guaranteed.
From the bowels of his lab, Kai Chisaki re-watched the First Year's Sports Festival.
Normally, he wouldn't dare even think of watching something so disgusting, such as the glorification of having a bunch of disease-ridden children fight each other for glory and attention.
However, this year was an exception for one reason.
He recognized one of the participants. The black-haired girl.
He remembered the day she arrived at his old lair, alongside her boyfriend and his minions. It was all because of him that he no longer had Eri, nor his Quirk, or all of his Eight Bullets!
The day the old man kicked him out of his home, Kai Chisaki vowed to take his revenge, and now, he had the perfect lead. If this Kodai girl was still on All For One's side, then that meant she knew where Eri was. Chisaki's new… partner… would like to know, too.
Grabbing his phone, he checked all the Hero social media platforms to see where that bitch currently was. Interning with Mount Lady? She really was deep undercover.
Once he had that information, Chisaki called one of his newer associates.
"Chimera, it's Overhaul. Get Leviathan, Siphon, and anyone else who's itching to start some trouble, and fly straight to Hosu. We found her. Yes… we finally found Megethos."
Author's Note: THAT'S RIGHT, OVERHAUL IS THE STORY'S BIG BAD!
Okay, so I've just dropped another few pieces of the puzzle. Between Nejire's weird actions and Overhaul making his appearance, things are gonna be picking up speed. Also, in case you're wondering, that Siphon guy that was just mentioned is Rikiya Katsukame from the Shie Hassaikai, you know, that big guy that was being a creep towards Ryukyu and her interns. But the others… you should know who they are, and why all of them together is trouble. Anyways, here are this chapter's comments!
Dezverix: I'm gonna assume that "tickling your brain" is a good thing, so yeah, I'm glad you enjoy Bakugou's new Hero name. I've heard that plenty of people aren't fans of the whole Villain Deku thing, so I am indeed glad that I'm slowly changing your mind.
Knightmare Lord: The whole Stain thing is gonna be… interesting, to say the least. I also promise it won't take more than five chapters to get the matter resolved.
EmilMobile: I didn't change a lot of names, but I'm glad that you enjoyed the ones that I did change. I was seriously hoping for heartstrings to be pulled with the whole "Kacchan" thing, so I'm glad that my plan worked out. I'm not sure if you're referring to Shinso's name or the bit involving his name that you found funny, but yeah, Dadzawa for the win. And as for Iida and Ingenium… well… you did see what I just did. I will always try to make time for Eri in this story, and of course Bakugoiu chose to intern with the best Underground Hero the country has ever seen. Underground Heroes constantly work with dark stuff that the public never sees, which can definitely involve missing persons and runaway children. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the ones to come!
And now for the last bit of shilling…
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Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore