FORGOTTEN

"Wake up already!"

Tokoyami groaned. "Just five more minutes mom."

"If you don't wake up now, I'm getting the frilly dresses."

Tokoyami shot upright. "I'm burning them."

"Phew! For a second, I was worried you all got stuck in Limbo."

"What?"

"You know? Inception? Deepest part of subconscious where time crawls by in decades and you lose your marbles? That Limbo!"

"We were doing an Inception?"

"Yes! We all got sick of Bakugo's murder-boner for robots, called up Mama-doriya, and got her Inception machine she conveniently had lying around. Don't you remember?"

Tokoyami blinked away the fuzzy feeling in his brain. "Yeah, I guess I remember that part, but after that… something about pineapple pizza?"

Dark Shadow facepalmed. "Did you at least do the Inception thing?"

"How would I know?"

Dark Shadow held out a cellphone and played a clip.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave."

Bakugo twitched, but he mumbled and turned over in his sleep.

"Perfect. Now let's scram before Aizawa finds us."

"Too late."

Dark Shadow and Tokoyami screamed as Aizawa leapt from the ceiling and wrapped them up.

"You two realize how much detention I'll put you through for tampering with a fellow student's mind, right?"

Dark Shadow shouted, "I'm not even a student here!"

"Then you can go to Tartarus."

Dark Shadow shivered. "Can I think about it for a second?"

"Too late. Detention it is."

Half an hour later, Dark Shadow wished it had picked Tartarus.

Bakugo groaned and rubbed his head.

"Easy now," Recovery Girl said, "Your brain's been through a lot."

"What happened?"

"Your idiot classmates happened. Also, I had you hooked up to a heart monitor. "Please don't wreck it."

"Why would I do that?"

Recovery Girl glanced between him and the machine beeping next to his bed. "No reason. No reason at all."

Given some gummies and self-care instructions, Bakugo went back to his room. When he flopped onto his bed, a note fell out of his pillow.

THEY MADE YOU FORGET

Bakugo felt unease curdling in his gut. He checked his desk drawer.

THE MACHINES ARE WATCHING

Inside his backpack.

RECORDING YOUR EVERY MOVE

Under the peeled-back corner of carpeting.

YOU'RE HUMANITY'S ONLY HOPE

Taped on top of the ceiling fan.

THEY'VE TAKEN OVER EVERYTHING

Bakugo reached for the final note with shaking fingers. Entombed within his spiky hair, sealed within layer after layer of hairspray, resided the oldest note.

DEKU IS A ROBOT

At first, Bakugo fervently denied it. Izuku wasn't a robot, the wires and metal was all his Quirk. Wasn't it? Yet, the longer he thought about it, the less it made sense. Neither of Izuku's parents had a Quirk like it, and his behavior… the changes…

Bakugo slammed his head on the desk. Again, and again. Blood ran down his nose. With a growl, he broke through the wood. His mind screeched to a halt. Memories tumbled back into place. With a triumphant grin, Bakugo raised his head and cackled maniacally.

499

DISCLAIMER: please do not attempt to resolve any memory issues with blunt-force trauma. You never know what you might remember.

And now you know why Bakugo uses an ungodly amount of hair products.