Fell On Black Days
A voice spoke to Jiro in a familiar, condescending tone.
"Wait, so your quirk is earphones?"
"Yeah…"
There was a long pause before a second, shriller voice chimed in.
"But like, why?"
"What do you mean why?"
Jiro sat stiffly at her desk as a circle of fellow students began to gather around her. The conversation had taken an unexpected turn, giving her a sense of whiplash. More and more people began inserting themselves into the conversation, with her at the center.
"Sorry, not why. But like, how?"
"I don't know… All quirks are kinda weird, don't ya think?"
"Yeah, but why would a quirk be about something so… specific? It's weird."
More voices joined in, finding her quirk interesting, but also strange. They asked her what it felt like to plug into things, and if the signals went straight into her brain.
Jiro had never really given it much thought until she started going to school. Most people had pretty strange quirks, but for some reason hers stuck out the most to people.
A boy with glowing blue hair and fish-like eyes joked about how lucky she was that she hadn't been born in an era before phones. Another commented that she was like a walking aux cord.
Many of the student's started laughing around her. Jiro did her best to smile along with them, like she was going with the joke. She couldn't get the idea that they were laughing at her out of her head though.
Eventually, the thoughts became too much. Jiro stood up, walking away from the table without saying a word. She heard the faint echoes of students calling to her in the background, but it didn't matter to her. Walking away just seemed like the easiest solution at the time. Ignoring the problem and keeping to herself, that was how she dealt with people who just wanted to be difficult.
She kept walking, not really knowing where she was going. She didn't really care, until she was eventually snapped back to the present.
Kyouka's eyes shot open. She sat up so quickly that she hit her head against a steel drum. A loud bang echoed throughout the empty music room she had been napping in.
"Ow… What the hell…" Jiro muttered as she rubbed the back of her head.
She tried looking around, that was when she realized she couldn't see a thing. She waved her hands in front of her face, curiously.
A sudden jolt of pain caused her to double over. At first she thought she had hit her head harder than she thought, but she realized it was her quirk, flaring involuntarily.
She groaned, grabbing at her ears. Her jacks twitched in her hands. It felt like somebody was screaming into her skull with a hundred speakers at once.
Her fingers fumbled desperately for her phone, but there was no signal. Every electronic device in the room flickered erratically, then shut off.
"What the hell…?" Jiro mumbled.
Sirens blared overhead
CODE 602: INTRUDER PROTOCOL ACTIVE. ALL STUDENTS REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE.
Jiro desperately unplugged her jacks, letting her phone clatter to the ground as she cried out in pain. She had to find someone, or at least get to a part of the building where her head didn't feel like it was being used as a subwoofer.
The metal shutters slammed down with a bone rattling CLANG.
Bright red lights cast long shadows across the rows of tables. Students scrambled in a panic, confused. Midoriya stood in place, his mind racing.
'A 602… That's a real emergency!'
Iida and Uraraka were trying to calm some of the other students down, all to no avail, it didn't help that they were just as confused as the others. He could see other members of class 1-A, either looking around like they were lost or gathering to Mr. Aizawa, who had appeared with several other members of the faculty.
Izuku took in as much information as he could. He didn't know much about the school's defense systems, but if something strong enough had been able to breach them they must have had an army, or at least a very powerful quirk.
As he was lost in his thoughts, a sound amongst the chaos stood out to him. It sounded strange, like a scream of pain.
Midoriya's eyes darted around. Everyone else was so occupied by the breach they didn't seem to notice. He scanned the cafeteria, focusing on the doors leading down the hallway.
Without thinking, he ran.
The hallway outside was darker than the rest of the building. The power grid must have been knocked out further down this wing.
The shadows of the hallway gave Midoriya a creeping feeling, as though he were in a horror film. The darkness combined with the occasional flashing red alarm lights made every corner look like it could house something eerie. Papers were strewn along the floor, evidence of the panic that had filled these halls moments ago.
He didn't have time to dwell on the thought, he could have sworn the scream had come from this direction. If something threatening was further down, he had to be ready for a fight, or to at least flee for a teacher.
Izuku shook his head quickly. Whoever was in danger was the priority, running was not an option here. He had to handle this the way a real hero would.
Midoriya rounded a corner, finding himself facing another long hallway. This time however, he could barely make out two shadowy figures at the end of it.
He cautiously approached them. One of the figures knelt near the other, holding them in their arms. Midoriya finally got a better look at them. Two girls, upperclassmen.
The first girl was holding the other, who was trembling violently on the floor, her hands pressed against her temples.
"Are you hurt?" Izuku asked. He tried to sound gentle, but he couldn't hide the unease in his voice.
His voice made the heads of both girls shoot up in alarm.
"GAH! Get away!" The kneeling girl waved her hands towards Midoriya in a panic.
He quickly took a few steps back, putting his arms up in surrender. "Wait! I'm only a student!"
The girl stared at Midoriya wearily, she seemed to have trouble finding her words. She was clearly shaken up, her eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
Her friend started trembling violently, letting out a scream of pain as the first girl put her arms around her for comfort. Midoriya's stomach turned.
As the kneeling girl comforted her friend, a tear streaked down her cheek. "She just… collapsed when the lights went out. Said her head felt like it was splitting open…"
Izuku didn't know what to make of this, he offered to help bring her to the cafeteria, explaining everything to the faculty the moment they arrived.
Recovery Girl had a few bots come and place the girl on a stretcher. She and Cementoss stayed behind and talked to her friend, trying their best to piece together what could be happening.
"My quirk had no effect… I can't help her if we can't figure out the cause of this…" Recovery Girl spoke softly.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about her?" Cementoss asked the girl's friend. "Think, Hinako. Please."
Hinako looked shaken, but responded. "Um… Her quirk, it's radio based… She uses audio waves as sonar…"
"Let me take a look at her." A flat voice called out from behind the two teachers, Mr. Aizawa. "Bring her here."
Midoriya's homeroom teacher approached the girl. He parted his hair, activating his quirk with a glare. The moment his power came into effect the girl stopped trembling. She gasped, sitting up and holding her head.
Cementoss rubbed his chin inquisitively. "Interesting… Her quirk was the cause?"
Aizawa's eyes reddened as he kept his quirk active. "We need to find out if this has anything to do with the breach. Keep an eye out for any other students behaving strangely."
Ashido, Kaminari, and a few other students ran towards their teacher in a panic.
"Mr. Aizawa!" Ashido cried out. "Jiro isn't in the cafeteria!"
"She just disappeared!" Kirishima stepped forward, "And I'm worried that we were the cause… We were arguing, and…"
"Don't worry." Aizawa said with a calming tone. "There are a few other students that are unaccounted for. We'll make sure they all get here safely."
Midoriya couldn't help the sinking feeling that was forming in the pit of his stomach. He felt like there was something about this situation that was eerily familiar. He was almost tempted to search through his notebooks for an answer…
Whatever was going on, Midoriya knew he couldn't help sitting here with the other students. Finally, he decided. When most of the other teachers left to search for the breach, he would slip out and get some answers.
Ashido and Kirishima had said that Jiro was missing… Why did he get the feeling that she was in more danger than they thought?...
Jiro stumbled down the hall, blinking away the spots that were forming in her vision. Her hands were pressed against her ears, like somebody was drilling into her brain. The room spun for a second before evening out, but the nausea lingered.
She took a moment to catch her breath. The pain had been on and off since she'd woken up, but it was still enough to hinder her movement. She didn't get very far from the music room due to having to stop every few steps.
"Get a grip, will you?" She muttered under her breath.
The hall outside the music room was pitch black, save for the pulsing red glow of the emergency lights. Every flicker of the lights made Jiro flinch, bending the shadows into strange, creepy shapes.
She kept her hands low, brushing her fingertips along the walls to guide herself. Her phone still wasn't working, and she didn't dare plug back into it for fear of making her pain worse.
"I swear… If this is some stupid prank…"
But even as she said that, she knew it wasn't true. Whatever this was, it couldn't have been good if it was affecting her quirk like this.
Jiro felt her breath waver for a second. Why hadn't she run into anybody yet? This was a big school, yet it was still far too quiet.
'If only I hadn't run off like that, this is all my fault…'
A breeze brushed against her, shifting her hair slightly and causing her to shiver.
Feeling miserable, she leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. It had been a while since her quirk had flared up, but she still anticipated another episode with dread.
Her eyes widened 'Wait… A breeze indoors?'
Her realization came too late. The wind grew stronger, blowing past her and causing her to stumble. A thick, unnatural mist followed it, flowing into the end of the hall near the stairwell. It crept up the walls and spilled over the floor, its movements almost a little too smooth to be considered natural. It wasn't mist… it was a shadow in a gaseous form!
Jiro took a few steps back towards one of the empty classrooms. She just barely managed to hide inside before a shape began to form in the shadow.
Her vision blurred painfully as a tall figure, slightly obscured by the darkness and flashing red lights, emerged from the fog. Even though her vision was obscured, she was barely able to make out the figure that stepped out. A tall, muscular man wearing what looked to be jagged, metallic armor. He had slicked back blonde hair, and the lower half of his face was hidden behind a mask. He also wore a strange gauntlet on his left arm that pulsed faintly in the dark.
He held the arm up to a wall panel, and the emergency lights flickered wildly in response before completely shutting off. Jiro felt her quirk twitch, quickly realizing that she was looking at the person causing all of this chaos.
There was a spike of pain, like needles being jammed into her temples. Her knees buckled as she quickly crawled behind a door, biting her lip and shutting her eyes to avoid screaming. The static in her head was getting louder and hotter. It took every ounce of willpower for her not to make a sound.
"I told you." A warped, echoing voice came from the hall. "We've already overstayed our welcome. There are surely still students scattered throughout the facility."
"You said we'd have ten minutes." Another voice growled. This voice sounded almost synthesized, like it was coming out of broken speakers with a robotic effect. "I've barely managed to map out this floor, and we still need the third floor servers!"
Jiro was confused. She was certain she'd only seen one person step out of the shadows… So why were there two voices? A knot formed in her stomach.
"I don't like this. The entire wing was sealed almost immediately." The first voice replied. "This is not the optimal time to be defying him…"
There was a loud sound, followed by a bright yellow light. The light reminded Jiro of Kaminari's electricity.
"Pfft. Wasn't the point of this mission to test the response time of this school's shiny security system? Maybe Tomura should-"
"Silence!" The other voice hissed. "How dare you say his name when there could be ears nearby!"
His companion didn't reply. At first Jiro wondered if it was out of fear, but then something happened.
Jiro's jacks jerked forward violently against her will. They were about to slam into the wall in front of her before she managed to yank them back. She pulled her knees together and tried to fight through the increasing pain.
Metal began moving and electronics started going haywire. There was a tense heat in the air between the two figures in the hall.
"You tell me what to do again, Kurogiri…" The first voice said firmly, "and I'll make sure I'm not the one who's silenced…"
The first voice, Kurogiri, spoke in an exasperated tone. "You fool… We'll be discovered. Do you want me to leave you behind?"
"You can't do that and you know it. Unless you want your little club's game to end before it even starts!"
Another flare from the user's quirk, which sent another rush of pain directly into Jiro's skull. She couldn't hold it in this time, she whimpered in pain, letting out a pained choke as she let go of her jacks and they slammed into the wall. Jiro covered her mouth as everything went silent.
"Huh? Did you hear that?" The robotic voice spoke up first.
She heard a step in her direction. Her heart was racing. Every cell in her body screamed at her to run, but she couldn't even get her legs to obey her.
"I believe," Kurogiri said quietly, "that was a student."
"How lucky." His ally replied.
"No. We must leave."
"Come on. They heard us! What kind of scout would I be if I left a witness?"
"The faculty will be here any moment now because of your recklessness! We are not prepared for conflict. You were meant to observe, not engage!"
Jiro pressed herself lower, her chest heaving silently. Every movement triggered a wave of nausea in her skull. She was completely helpless…
The door pressed open, and boots clanked forward. The villain's gauntlet sparked to life as he came into view.
"Well, what do we have here?" The villain smirked down at her, his blue eyes glinting in the light of his gauntlet. "A student with an electronic based quirk…"
Jiro looked up at him with pure fear in her eyes.
"You know what happens when my quirk comes into contact with a quirk like yours?" he said with a chuckle. "I'm sure you've figured it out on your own… It's like broadcasting agony straight to the spinal cord. Pretty fun to watch."
Jiro flinched as a spark danced up her jack and into her skull. Her vision blurred even more.
The villain grabbed her by the hair and dragged her out into the hallway. She couldn't fight back as she was placed before the heavy wall of fog. She was confused when the fog moved consciously, even more when it manifested glowing yellow eyes.
This must have been Kurogiri, the second voice. He wasn't trying to stop his companion anymore. He was watching, waiting.
"We can take her back to the hideout." The unnamed electric based villain said. "If we leave her body here for the faculty to find it would only start a manhunt."
"At least you're thinking now…" Kurogiri muttered, clearly unhappy with how things were transpiring.
Was this it? Her dreams and ambitions were really about to end in this one, pathetic moment?… She couldn't even get through one lousy week of the hero course before dying…
As she was dragged towards the cloud of fog, she wondered if any of her classmates would even remember her for long. Mina, Kaminari, and Kirishima might, but soon she would just be a tragic footnote as they continued on their journeys to become heroes. She thought of her parents, and how devastated they would be… And then, that green-haired weirdo's face flashed in her mind. That stupid look he gave when she complimented him. Why was she thinking of him now? And why were those feelings mixed with so much regret?
Maybe if she had done things differently, things wouldn't have happened this way. Maybe there was a universe out there where she had never ended up like this, whimpering and being dragged away by a psychotic villain, thoughts of self-pity being the last things on her mind.
She shut her eyes, and heard a sound. Fast, heavy footsteps. And a voice.
"Jiro!"
A green blur launched itself into the hallway. Jiro could only make out a flash of messy hair and wild eyes.
Midoriya. He slammed into the villain with his shoulder, forcing him to let go of Jiro. The villain stumbled backwards with surprise as Midoriya got between the villain and Jiro, his arms out in a defensive pose.
"Get away from her!" He shouted, his voice cracking due to the adrenaline.
The villain's eyes glinted with half annoyance, half amusement.
"And who's this brave little idiot?"
Kurogiri's body began to shimmer again, destabilizing slightly.
"We are leaving. NOW!"
Midoriya didn't move, but his legs were clearly shaking. He didn't budge an inch in spite of this. When Jiro looked up at him through her fading vision, she could feel her heartbeat start to slow down in spite of the pain.
The panic in her chest dulled just enough for her to breathe. And she realized why. It was because he was standing there.