Friendly Foreign Dimensional Exchange Student Spider-Man!: Academia
Within the Nightly Streets
It's tranquil within the narrow street. The only thing unique around here is the bar with the lit sign above the entrance. Kenji Hikiishi is silent and alone. A wide, muscular built man with sunglasses holding a giant object wrapped in cloth has been hiding behind a wall close to the bar. No one has come out yet. But Magne knows from the intel on her new boss is that this place is a frequent drinking place of the target and his subordinates. They should be still inside. So, just wait patiently.
Eventually, the entrance opens to reveal three well-dressed suited men looking drunk. She can overhear their conversation.
"Still, I can't believe you've actually made contact and a deal with those Hassaikai shitheads." Says one of them.
"I would've felt the same way boy, but with their new temporary boss and what they're planning, it's worth ignoring our history with them for now." The target finally reveals himself.
He's in an even better position than she had predicted. With both hands, she lifts the large covered object discretely, aiming straight at the target.
"Because soon, all of us shall witness the great revival of our clan, our way of life, and the start of a great battle against those Pro Hero maggots!"
With the help of the large weapon, Magne initiates her Quirk. Their leader suddenly glows blue, much to the three subordinates' shock. She quickly runs away while dragging the target with her. Every turn she takes in the narrow pathways slams the target into the walls. She hears him screaming, cries of pain, and the crack of bone on concrete walls.
The muscular criminal keeps moving until finally stopping at a dead end. She releases her power, making the boss land on the ground. He's all bruised up with trickles of blood from his head. He's disoriented, struggling to move. Magne unfurls the cloth from her weapon as she moves forward. Seems tonight will be another successful hit for her.
(x)
It's the usual people around the streets at night, making him feel sick… that's not true. These are decent folks. People are satisfied with their full day of work, or others are prepared to enjoy a good Friday night out before the weekend's relaxation. For Jin Bubaigawara, nicknamed Twice, it's a usual boring routine… no, this is always something special.
"Be quiet..." Speaking to himself very quietly and shaking his head a bit.
Twice continues the stroll with a cigarette between his lips at night in a fashion district. He's shaved, washed up, and well-dressed enough to not be so out of place within this area, except for his sizeable evident scar splitting his forehead.
Although, the other was right, in a way. There seems to be a big storm brewing with how some gushes of wind are pretty strong today. Not to mention there are more Pro Heroes and cops on patrol. Guess that massacre in Tokyo has kept the other cities like this on edge to keep everything safe. The news says it was a terrorist attack with no one claiming responsibility and their motive, but most are speculating it was done by the newly appeared League of Villains. Even if it was them or not, being a criminal group whose primary purpose is to attack people is definitely something he would not be involved with. Twice's expertise is different, and now he sees an opportunity to utilize his skills and Quirk.
Arriving close to a café, the blond man sees a seated fancy-looking woman is searching inside her large purse but has stupidly left her large wallet on the table unsupervised. He drops and squishes his finished cigarette, walking close to a building wall pretending to read a giant advertisement, and discretely takes out the measuring tape from his front trouser pocket. Having done this for years, Twice can now figure out the exact measurement of an object by just looking at it from a good enough distance. He creates out of nothing a mud-like substance that slowly forms into the wallet's exact duplicate.
With no one watching him, including no Pro Heroes and police present, Twice walks very near the woman's table who's still searching inside her purse. Discretely, he quickly steals the real one placing it deep inside his trousers, and switches with the fake one. As the man casually walks away, the lady finally retrieves her lipstick and puts the phony wallet in her purse. Even though he did not see it, Twice knows she will be shocked and confused that her expensive bag or hand is filthy sooner or later.
Even if his recent robbery was successful, Twice can't take any chances. Seeing in front of him the number thirty ranked hero Mt. Lady is patrolling here and receiving some love from the citizens, he begins his exit by taking the closest green-lighted sidewalk.
After few minutes of walking, now going through the narrow alleys, the blond man knows he's currently halfway back home. Being alone, he can take a look at his recently stolen valuable. Getting the wallet out of his pants to open the zipper revealing inside the usual contents of varied types of cards and a massive stash of yen bills in the center. Twice looks with a bit of a smirk.
"Guess I can be a little spendy for a while- No, you shouldn't!"
He immediately reacts from that contrary response in agony, tilting a bit forwards and pressing his hand on the forehead, sauntering. The blonde man couldn't believe this. He thought today wouldn't be another mental war with his opposite self after going through it three days straight.
"Danm it, Shut up! Not today… Yes, today!"
Twice leans on the wall shaking and breathing heavily. He must hurry up to put his mask on to keep himself whole. If not, he will split apart. While trying to get it from the back pocket, he also places the stolen wallet back inside his pants. But wanting to quickly retrieve the item, his fingers only gripped a small fraction of the stretchy material, which a massive gush of wind blows it away. He looks in horror that his sole tool of mental protection is flying further from him.
"No! Come back!" Twice screams, desperately trying to retrieve it before he goes insane.
The worn fabric continues its flight until landing, where the path splits in two. He loses his footing from the erratic running, falling face down to the ground. Twice places both hands on his forehead, his mind now feeling much worse than before, unable to retrieve the mask.
"Crap… shit… I can't…"
Unbeknownst to him, a brown-haired man appears while holding a phone to the ear and carrying a large metal object. Seeing in confusion, the blond one curled up and shaking on the floor.
"Good evening, how did it go?" Speaks a male voice from the phone. There's no answer from the still confused muscular individual. "Magne?"
"Uh hi, sorry Giran… but I'm seeing this crazy blond guy on the ground screaming to himself."
"I can't hold it! Yes, you can- Shut the fuck up!" The voice is so loud that it's heard by the crime broker, who reacts with a chuckle.
"What, incredible, coincidence… say, Magne, you see a white and black mask somewhere?"
Bemused at what the crime broker had just asked of her to do, still does as told. Looking around to eventually seeing the exact object described by Giran on the ground close to her feet. "Yes, I see it. It's his?"
"Yep, please give it to him right now. The mask helps him deal with his problem."
Magne places her large magnet on the wall. She bends down to grab the fabric and moves closer to the struggling blond man. "Hey it's alright, I found your mask."
"Ma-mask?!" Twice moves away his hands to see the vital part of his costume, quickly snatching away from her fingers and putting it on straight away. He pants heavily now in a sitting position.
"Tha… thank you. No thank you!" He replies, receiving a raised eyebrow from Magne, but then she widens her eyes figuring out who this person is.
"Hey Giran, is this man Twice?"
"Correct, the one who can duplicate anything and anyone. With some conditions of course."
Magne couldn't help but laugh, to think she would actually meet him right after her successful assassination and in this bizarre situation.
"Wow, this is hilarious!" She stops laughing and gets up, giving her hand to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Twice, call me Magne."
"Hello there…" He receives the hand and gets back up, now seeming relaxed after his recent ordeal.
"Magne, please put me on speakerphone." She does as so.
"Now then, not the way I would have introduced you two but I guess the earlier the better." Speaks Giran with the two criminals now paying attention to their employer. "You see, I have a recent and unique job offer by someone who may need both of your expertise to accomplish this."
Magne smiles after hearing those last few words. "Hmm, let me guess… is it this group called the League of Villains?"
"Oh? You know who they are?" Asks Giran, unfazed from this revelation.
"I met Geppetto yesterday. Said he's going to be in a criminal group who attacked a hero school and they need powerful criminals like him. He didn't mention the name but I put two and two together." She continues while placing a hand on the side of her torso. "He asked if I would be interested in joining but I refused, I'd rather keep myself out of the spotlight as much as possible."
"Understood. How about you Twice? I personally wouldn't recommend them but maybe you might be interested."
"Even if you did, I'd still reject. I steal, not kill." Bluntly answers Twice, this time with no opposite response.
"Of course. Anyway, I'll send you both a new meeting date ASAP for some different work. See you soon Magne and take care of yourself Twice."
"Bye/See ya." They both respond to the person on the call who hangs up. Magne puts the phone back in her pocket and retrieves the leaning magnet.
"So Blondie, doing anything or going somewhere?" She asks her now new acquaintance.
"I was just heading back home for the night." He responds, still having the mask on.
She replies by first carefully patting Twice's back. "Then I'll come along, we can get to know each other before we split up. We might start a profitable partnership."
"Sure, I don't mind." The blond man begins to walk, redirecting himself towards his apartment while the muscular criminal follows him.
(x)
Scrapping enough money to take that long journey of bus and train from his countryside home to Musutafu for the first time was definitely worth it. For at least one whole day, Shuichi Iguchi didn't have to deal with the constant looks of disgust, insults, bullying, and frequent unfair treatment in services. All because his Quirk made him have the appearance of a two-legged walking gecko. It seemed around here no one was paying attention to him. Wonder how long that will last…
The young gecko man didn't have any specific destination in mind. He was just roaming around the streets from late morning until now, checking the sites and having meals. The sky now dark and the street lights on meant that he couldn't return home until early morning the next day. It's not like it matters anyway since Shuichi preferred to stay here as much as possible until he had enough cash for a trip home, but that also meant returning to the constant harassment from those people there.
Now getting bored from listening to just music, the gecko took out his broken screened phone to see if any videos or posts would be of interest for him to see. News highlights informing about the Hosu district beginning reconstruction and the arrested hero murdering villain planned to be moved to Tartarus prison. So basically, there is nothing.
Heading towards a heavily commuted street, some were already making glimpses at his appearance. The gecko decides to take a narrow walkway to have much solitude as possible. Shuichi's thinking of what else to do tonight is cut when he feels a sudden and forceful collision with two suited men smelling booze.
"Hey guys, you alright?" A third on asks.
"Oh, I'm very alright!" Sarcastically and angrily answers the first as he gets up. He looks down and begins kicking at the gecko. "And you watch where you're going, ugly animal!"
The second one gets up, and he also joins in the kicking.
"Stop it! We need to tell the others what just happened to our boss!" But the two ignore the younger gang member.
Then the feeling of those kicks had stopped, at the same time hearing a youngwoman's voice, with the sound of a smashed glass bottle and the cries of pain by the two yakuza bullies. Both men tried to initiate counterattacks at her, but she hits back with multiple punches and kicks. Shuichi slowly tries to look up, only being able to see their legs. One of the men crouches with the side of his head bleeding and the other getting knee-kicked in the groin by the fighting lady. With both fighters down, she looks at the third one staring wide-eyed at what just happened.
"Are you next?!" she demands.
"No! No, I'm not! I didn't want to be a part of this, honest!" The third gang member desperately pleads.
"Then leave with your buddies, unless you change my mind!"
"C'mon you two, let's go! We need to inform the others now!" The third one had no second thoughts in getting his two partners to move again, although they struggle to leave due to their injuries. The man bleeding, looks directly back at her.
"Ack… Furry whore! You won't get away with this, you hear me?!"
"No prob! Next time I see either of you has-been shits it will be more than just hands and feet!" She ends by flipping the bird at them.
As the three men slowly move further away, Shuichi slowly gets to lift his upper body to see his savior. Surprised to finally see somebody like him with his own eyes.
"Guess this ain't your lucky night, huh?"
She has the appearance of a white wolf, long hair with the same color and thick fur covering her upper chest. Wearing a neck collar with a metal tag, a black shirt, black fingerless gloves with a blood-stained spiky brass, dark blue jean shorts, and over knee buckled up long boots.
"Ugh… yeah, I guess…"
"At least they didn't kick your face." She looks behind for her filled plastic bag and the smashed bottle, sighing after looking at the latter. "Won't be drinking that sake for a long time. Hey, are you of age to drink?"
Seeing that the gecko nodded, the wolf lady searches the plastic bag and gets out two long aluminum cans. She returns to Shuichi giving one of them to him. "Here, looks like you need it."
He accepts the can and opening the top to drink its content. He reacts in confusion, never drinking something like this before. "Why's this beer so sweet?"
"Not beer, it's cider." She responds, having some gulps for herself too.
"Usagi!"
Both animal Quirk users look to the side to see a normal-looking woman who is dark blonde curly-haired and dressed up in metalhead clothing with a band name on her shirt.
"You just suddenly ran like a cheetah, what's going on?! And who's he?" The curly-haired asks, looking down at the sitting Shuichi.
"He was attacked by some thugs so I came in to stop them, but had to break a sake bottle during the process."
"What? Seriously?" Her question makes Usagi look back and scratching her hair.
"Yeah… sorry…"
Shuichi couldn't believe what he sees again for the first time: a normal-looking person is socializing with an animal quirk user.
"So Kaiyo, I'm afraid I used all the alcohol for tonight, shall we head to Old Aleinstead?"
The curly woman looks disappointed but accepted the change of plan. "Okay…"
Usagi looks back to Shuichi. "Are you going somewhere? We can follow until your destination."
In reality, Shuichi still had no destination. But after what the gecko recently went through, he prefers being somewhere far from here, and having some company would also be a little safer.
"I… appreciate it, just a sec."
He picked his broken phone again and searched for the closest train station. "I'm… heading to Tatouin Station."
Kaiyo gives Shuichi her hand. "All right then, let's go."
The gecko just stares at the woman's hand. He would have been suspicious of their intentions if both were ordinary-looking people. But seeing that there is no malice from it, holds her hand, and she lifts him up. All three start their walking towards the train station.
During the journey, while the women are conversing, the gecko man is silent but calm. It took them a few minutes to arrive close to the train station's entrance. Both animal quirk users dropped their empty drink cans in the nearest recycling bin.
"Right then, we'll take our leave now. Do be careful reptile man."
"Um… sure, thanks." Responds Shuichi to the normal woman.
The wolf lady approaches Shuichi while tapping her own phone. "Wait, before you go, check this out."
Shuichi looks at the screen to see a website with a name and photos of a place he has never seen before but knows what it is.
"This is the Old Ale Pub. If you're looking for a new watering hole, try it out. Okay?"
"Um… I will, thanks for the help ladies."
"No prob, goodnight." The two say their goodbyes and leave Shuichi while he responds with a farewell wave.
He enters Tatoin Station and takes a seat at one of the benches close to the ticket booths. He can't enter the platforms yet until he knows where to go next.
He checks the map application on his phone to find a very cheap place to sleep or somewhere he can stay up until early morning to take the commutes back home. During the search, he decides to check the bar that the wolf lady told him about.
There is brief information about the place and time schedule, indicating that it is still open tonight. Shuichi checks the planned route to find that the pub is just a few minutes walk from his current location. He then sees there are photos taken of the place. The usual ones are showing the exterior, interior, and what they serve. But the following images make his eyes wide open like never before. There are photos of customers either having an appearance or having body parts coming from a specific animal and ordinary-looking people enjoying their drinks together.
Shuichi only saw stuff like this in television, magazines, and the internet, but never in his own village. A place with this much coexistence so close by felt like it's too good to be true. He gets up from his seat and begins following the directions indicated on his map. It took him half the time than was estimated to arrive at the large pub.
(x)
The fully costumed Atsuhiro Sako is standing on the top of a building, looking down at an empty pocket park noticing an old homeless woman is lying down and struggling to get up.
Mr. Compress can't protect weak people because of who he is, but at least he can give her a donation. Checking his trouser pockets, he gets out a small marble-like sphere, and he flicks it away, which begins to fall down close to the woman. He uses his Quirk to evaporate the tiny ball and release a large quantity of stolen money that lands on the ground instead.
He takes his leave. Tonight is the commencement of his next heist.
The thief jumps from one rooftop building to another until he arrived at his destination. He first had to wait patiently until all the lights are switched off and the last occupants leave the Hero Agency. He notices a white luxury car stopping in the front of the building's entrance with a person walking towards it to get inside the passenger seat. This is the target tonight.
The slim and well-haired middle-aged man's hero costume is black and gold, with the latter also including rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Mr. Compress rechecks his submitted images about this hero. His research has shown that the public and a few experts have described how much of a show-off he is, demonstrating his successful heroic career by wearing expensive accessories and bragging online to indulge in many luxurious items and services. Not even on the top twenty of the Hero Billboard Chart to deserve it.
The car drives away, and with the building now completely dark, it is time for the heist to begin.
Mr. Compress turns to walk close to the building's center. He crouches and places a hand on the roof where a marble-like object appears on a now perfectly formed crater. Seeing that he needed to use more power, the thief repeats the process, and this time he's able to create an improvised entrance inside the Hero Agency. Placing the two tiny spheres inside his overcoat pocket, he drops down into the hole. While mostly dark, the outdoor lights illuminated the area enough to not risk blind collisions. As the thief calmly explores the floor, he eventually finds the door with the Pro Hero's name in front of him. With the door having a key card type lock, all Mr. Compress had to do is touch his hand on it and create another little ball to easily have the door opened to enter inside.
Noticing that something is different about this particular office, the thief takes the risk and presses a light switch to illuminate the room. This place looks like a CEO's office, which is quite the opposite of the other side's standard layout. Clearly, this man views himself as more important than he actually is and giving all the office work to his sidekicks based on the very lack of paper and folders around. Mr. Compress effortlessly steals a whole safe situated behind the expensive office chair by using his compression Quirk. After getting out a marble that releases the detached door lock, he switches off the office lights returning to the hole on the roof he created. Rummaging around his coat pocket again, the thief takes out a different marble flicking it to reveal a self-supporting metal ladder. He sets it up and starts climbing to reach the top of the building again, putting the ladder back inside its marble. He'll keep those pieces of the roof as possible weapons in the future.
Still, this was much easier than he expected. He thinks the Pro hero should have had better security towards his valuables.
He looks up at the crescent moon. It's evident that being a street performer is no longer his future, now being proud of following the similar footsteps of his infamous ancestor Oji Harima, also known as the Peerless Thief. He too shall continue the values of fighting corruption and exposing injustices, just like Robin Hood and Nakamura Jirokichi. Tomorrow is the man's anniversary.
"Oji Harima, your blood now flows through me… I, the great showman Mr. Compress shall continue your great legacy."
Ld1449 as the editor.
And that was some FFDESS versions of the characters who are not in the League of Villains, compared to their canon counterpart. When the main story revealed the new members of Shigaraki's group, I knew I had to write something like this.
My side-story has now reached the Forest Training Camp Arc same as with the main one, but there may be other events happening outside of UA that might be mentioned here...
See you in the next chapter!