August 27th, 2011
The following day, Touma and Accelerator met up with Sumire and Todoroki to explore more of the city. Uraraka and Midoriya joined up with them, and the group left together to show the two Espers around the city.
"There's a lot less criminal activity in town because registered heroes routinely patrol the streets. This deters most villains, but there are still some that dare to commit crimes," said Midoriya.
"I bet you're loving this, Deku! Getting a chance to spill all the data you've been taking in all these years to people that aren't familiar with our city. It's like we have our very own tour guide!" Uraraka cheerfully said as she walked with Sumire.
"W-well, geez I'm not trying to come off as annoying or anything... There's just so much to the city that is worth sharing! The main attraction for Musutafu is UA High of course. There have been so many pro heroes that have come from UA; it's the top school for anyone interested in being a hero!"
Accelerator yawned, "Yeah... not interested in your school's stats, kid. I'm more interested in how these Quirks of yours manifest in the first place. You can't think I'll believe that they just magically show up out of nowhere." He didn't like that while he had to go through so much to acquire his strength, others manage to gain power just by merely existing.
"There's no magic to it, it's just the natural evolutionary course that humanity has taken. I've heard a little about how your Esper powers come into being. Experiments, drugs, and such. It just seems so artificial to me. Surely there are those among your population that have developed Esper powers or even Quirks on their own," replied Todoroki, his mood and tone very flat.
"I suppose it's possible, but I imagine if they did, they'd just disguise it as an Esper ability so that they wouldn't stand out. With all the testing, it would probably be hard for someone with a Quirk to stay hidden for long," answered Touma.
Sumire shook her head, "I had a Quirk, and no one at the SAI ever mentioned it. And as far as I'm aware they never did any testing to identify my ability's source as they did here at UA."
"Well, I guess there could be some that slip through unseen. Sorry if I offended you by saying any of that, Sumire," said Touma as he apologetically raised his hands.
"No offense taken, just figured I'd point out that it's a possibility. Anything is possible nowadays it seems," Sumire said as the group came to a stop at the entrance to the USJ.
Midoriya continued speaking, "This is one of our other training facilities that focuses on rescue training and natural disasters, the USJ."
"It's pretty impressive, I'm guessing we can't go inside though, it looks like repairs are going on," said Touma as he noted the current state of the building.
"Yeah, we had a run-in with some villains earlier in the year. They managed to get past the school's barrier and tried to kill All Might. The villains had gathered into a group and called themselves the League of Villians. It was tough, but our class managed to hold their own against them until the teachers arrived," said Midoriya.
"You weren't involved with that were you Sumire?" asked Accelerator.
"No, that happened right before I was found. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just didn't want to hear that you had gotten away from one dangerous situation and landed in another, that's all."
Todoroki glared at Accelerator with that statement. "She's been taken care of and kept out of danger just fine since we found her. Which, from the sound of it, is far more than you can say. 37 is happy here, free of the stress and pain that you and your city caused!"
"Don't use that damn number; SHE HAS A NAME NOW! You like to think of yourself as the hero that saved her from such a horrible fate, don't you?! You weren't there in that shithole with us, so you can't even begin to fathom the circumstances of our past. Of course this place looks great in comparison, but that doesn't make you any better than me!"
"Accelerator, that's enough!" said Sumire as she tried to stand between the two young men. "I don't know what's gotten into you two, but arguing isn't going to change anything about the past or the present. We're all on the same side here, so can we please try to act like it?"
"I think the fact that it took you five years to find out she was still alive should be enough to show how pathetic a friend you are to her. Instead of trying to find her after she fell you just ran away, right?! It didn't even cross your mind that you should at least check to see if she was really gone?"
"STOP IT!" yelled Sumire, her voice trembling as tears started falling across her cheeks.
"You want to throw that in my face, asshole? Well, why don't you step up again and see how pathetic I can get. Just keep in mind, that if I had been a true villain out to get her yesterday, you would have failed to save her and you know it."
"That's it; I'm done with this! I'm not going to watch you two fight again!" sobbed Sumire as she ran back towards UA High's main building.
"Sumire, wait!" yelled Todoroki as he turned away from Accelerator and watched her leave.
"You guys really should have dropped this, especially when she first asked you two to stop. She doesn't need two important people in her life at odds with each other right now," said Uraraka with a heavy sigh. "We should go after her. If you two can't manage to chill out and put an end to this bickering, then don't bother coming with us! Come on, Deku." As they left, Touma decided to go along with them as well. He wasn't exactly going to put himself in Accelerator's corner anyway.
"This is so stupid; you were the one that provoked me in the first place. Why should I apologize for defending myself?" growled Accelerator.
"I have nothing else to say to you, but for Sumire's sake, I'm willing to let this go and move on. Whether you do or not is your decision, but I'm going back now," said Todoroki as he stepped away from Accelerator and followed the others going back to the school.
"Oh, so now you can remember her name. Tch, whatever. I'll be glad when we leave this damn city," said Accelerator as he started walking back as well.
The group had almost reformed by the time they caught up with Sumire. She had just walked out of the entrance gate, her head down towards the ground, her hands near her face to catch any stray tears as they fell. Why couldn't they stop arguing? It hurt her to watch them fight the day before, and to see them starting again was too much. They both meant so much to her, and she didn't want to see them like this.
"Sumire, wait up!" yelled Uraraka as the group got closer. She stopped walking, turned to face them, and watched as they approached. She wasn't sure just what she was going to say to them once they got to her, but hopefully, their argument had come to an end.
A faint mist began to swirl behind Sumire, growing into a deeper shade of black edged with a purple tint. Suddenly from within the blackness, arms appeared and wrapped themselves around Sumire.
"NO!" yelled Todoroki as he and the others watched as Sumire was pulled backward, disappearing into the darkness that had surrounded her.
Accelerator couldn't believe his eyes, "SUMIRE!" he shouted out as he activated his Esper ability and flung himself forward towards the black mist that had taken her. The mist disappeared as he reached where she had just been standing. "What the hell! Where did she go?!"
"That mist... Oh no, it's them again!" cried Uraraka as she looked at Deku.
Accelerator stormed back towards the group and grabbed Todoroki's shirt and yanked him towards him until they were face to face again. "Where did she go, damn it! Is this another one of your fucking Quirks?!"
"Let go of him!" yelled Midoriya. "We've all seen that mist before. It's one of the villains that attacked the USJ. He can create portals using the black mist that makes up his body. We need to get back inside and let the teachers know!"
"Argh..." growled Accelerator as he let go of Todoroki and followed the rest of the group back to the school to inform the teachers of what happened.
...
Within the dimly lit bar, the black mist appeared once again, this time with Sumire and the man that had grabbed her walking out from it. She struggled against his grip, but he held her in a bear hug, compressing her arms against her torso and making it difficult for her to take a full breath. Finally, as her energy faded, he dropped her against the wall and stepped away.
"It took you long enough, Arthur. Who knew it would be so difficult for you to catch a woman," laughed Dion Fortune as Arthur Waite glared at her.
"We had to wait until she had walked out of the school, that barrier they have has gotten stronger after the USJ incident," explained Kurogiri, the source of the mist and portal.
"At least we managed to secure her once again. That was our main goal here after all. This alliance has truly proven beneficial, to both sides I presume, Shigaraki?" asked Robert Felkin, the leader of the group of Magicians currently occupying the League of Villians hideout. The man that he was addressing, Shigaraki Tomura, stepped forward and nodded. The grotesque disembodied hand obscuring the view of the man's face frightened Sumire more than being kidnapped had.
"Why... why am I here?" she managed to ask.
"My dear, you are here because we have come to claim our weapon! You are going to be the one that brings down Academy City and that heathen Aleister. I'm sure that school you've been hiding out in has been teaching you how to control your power better. We've waited quite a long time, but the time to strike that city has finally come!" exclaimed Robert.
Shigaraki stood in front of Sumire and crouched down until his face was in front of hers. She saw one scarred eye peeking out from between the fingers gripping his face. Scared, she covered her face with her hands and pulled her legs up against her body.
"I'm curious Mr. Felkin, just what Quirk does she possess that makes her such an important part of your plans? She doesn't seem especially strong to me," commented Shigaraki as he looked down at Sumire.
"Her Quirk allows her to steal another's power and use it as her own. It doesn't matter if they're an Esper, Magician, or another Quirk user, although it seems she gets injured if she steals from Espers. Doesn't matter though, if she's learned to control it, even that side effect won't stop her," said Robert in a prideful tone.
"You don't say..." Shigaraki stared at the girl for a while longer. An ability stealing Quirk, was it? He knew someone else with such a talent, someone he respected quite highly. He began to wonder if there could be some connection between the two.
"Yes, well now that we have provided you with the support you needed for your League of Villians, and you completed your part of the deal, it's time that we went back to Academy City. It was very... interesting working with you lot." Robert offered his hand out to Shigaraki to conclude their business. Shigaraki stared at his hand, and then back towards Sumire. Although unseen, a twisted smile developed on his face as he reached out to meet the Magician's hand.
"Yes, yes. This was quite an interesting revelation," said Shigaraki. He gripped the man's hand tightly and set off his Quirk. The man known as Robert Felkin quickly began to disintegrate. As much as he screamed and writhed, Shigaraki held tight to the man's hand, even motioning it up and down as though still in the middle of a handshake. He laughed wildly as the man screamed. Sumire dared to uncover her face and saw the man deteriorating in front of her. The two that accompanied him had stepped back and were beginning to each chant words in a language she didn't understand.
"Kurogiri, please see our guests out, they've overstayed their welcome," said Shigaraki as the last pieces of Robert crumbled to dust. Portals swallowed up Dion and Arthur, sending each of them to some unknown location.
Shigaraki looked around the room and took a deep breath. "Ahh! That's better, entertaining so many guests just gets to be tiring after a while." He stepped back over to Sumire and bent down in front of her again, carefully pulling her arm away from her face and forcing her to look at him. "I think it's time we got to know more about you, Sumire Yuuki. Much more."