Bab 66: Chapter 2 - Final Exams: 6
The plan was simple, at least, Izuku reckoned it would be anyway. He and Kujo were going to split up, which at first seemed dumb, but in reality, it wasn't. See, Kujo's job was to make sure that Star and Stripe couldn't use her Quirk by the way of Plunder. Izuku's job was to keep her distracted long enough to do that. Should Izuku fail to do that and thereby fail the exam—because he was not going to get backup if someone of All Might's calibre, or potentially higher, beat him into submission—It was Kujo's job to make a break for it and exit the faux city, giving him the win and allowing him to go to the training camp.
At least, that was how it should have gone. Because almost immediately, the moment Josefumi and Izuku stepped into the faux city, the road that was connected to the entrance of the examination grounds began to turn into liquid. And it wasn't a metaphor, either, it was quite literal.
Izuku and Josefumi immediately felt as if they had fallen into waist-high water. Because they did. The only difference was that this wasn't water, but the street which they were all but forced to walk on during the beginning of the exam.
The gate opened to a wide street, and now, that street had become compromised. Which only made Izuku question just what Star and Stripe's Quirk was. Wasn't it Super Strength? Or did she just have that innate amount of physical ability? The green-haired boy knew that Americans were strange, but this was a whole new level of strange!
The moment they sank into the ground, Josefumi summoned Soft & Wet and pulled himself along with Izuku out of the liquified street mere seconds before it resolidified into a squishy, bouncy substance, causing the two to begin to uncontrollably bounce.
Izuku was confused, bamboozled, and caught completely off guard. Josefumi, on the other hand, was annoyed and frustrated. Izuku couldn't see Soft & Wet, but he could feel it grab his wrist and fling him onto the solid sidewalk, and upon stepping onto solid land, Izuku was only given a brief moment to catch his breath. Why? Because the onslaught didn't end there.
Only mere seconds into the starting the "fight" they were immediately being bombarded by what appeared to be jello street creatures forming out of the road, all with haunting blue eyes. They were tall, easily around 5 foot 9 inches, and they looked like they were built like mountains. It was almost as if they were staring down miniature All Mights! And then, just as the pair got into a fighting stance, one of them began to talk in the same voice as Star and Stripe.
"Having fun yet, rookies!" The street muck creature asked rhetorically, as it charged. Soft & Wet met it halfway, Josefumi narrowing his eyes in annoyance as the two fists of the creature and his Stand collided, leaving a small burst of wind in its wake. Three more creatures were created out of the street, and so, Izuku charged up Full Cowling as well as took in a deep breath, allowing Hamon to flow through his body similarly to Full Cowling.
As a result, it felt as if his body was warming up, like standing in front of a heater, just without getting dowsed in sweat. He felt muscles begin to harden slightly, and for his heart to beat a tad bit faster. He could feel his blood coursing through his veins, and on top of that his hands began to glow with bright yellow energy, followed by yellow streaks of light flowing off of his pupils.
This was something he had called – One For All, Full Cowling 12%: Sunshine.
Because Hamon had been described as being the power of the sun in the palm of someone's hand, it only made sense for him to give it that naming scheme. And, he also would admit, that he had been slightly influenced by Yoshihara showing him something called The Seven Deadly Sins, mainly because of Escanor and his ability to literally produce miniature suns.
Full Cowling: Sunshine was something he had been working on mastering for a better half of a week and much to his immense joy, it had paid off. With his complete control over Full Cowling thanks to his sparring sessions with both Yoshihara and Josefumi over the last few days, and his somewhat decent control over his Hamon thanks to Zeppelli teaching him how to do so, he was more than comfortable trying this out in a real fight.
Lunging forward at the first creature he saw, he reared back his right fist and hit the creature dead in the face with 12% of One For All, with no pushback at all whatsoever. The impact was so strong that it caused a miniature shockwave to result from the blow, causing those that were surrounding the creature to fly back into the buildings behind his first target.
And unlike how most of his attacks would have been, where he would end up breaking an arm and completely destroying his body, he felt no pain at all whatsoever. Well, that was a lie. For a brief second, he felt a tinge of pain in his hand, but that was it. Thanks to his Hamon, his potential injury healed faster than it could have potentially existed.
As a result of the attack, the creature was completely destroyed, with the others turning back into sludge thanks to the shockwave. Izuku noted that these things were incredibly weak defence-wise. While they might be strong—or perhaps they were also weak, though that remained to be seen—they couldn't take a hit worth anything.
That could've been on purpose, but that wasn't exactly something Izuku was willing to test out. Perhaps he was just that strong, or perhaps he just got lucky. Either way, Izuku had taken out the creatures, though his guard was not down, not even for a second.
Meanwhile, Josefumi had just finished turning his opponent into a wiggling mess, most likely because he had Plundered its friction away. With a solid kick to the head, the creature melted away into sludge, defeating it rather easily.
Before anything else could happen, Josefumi motioned for Izuku to duck into one of the buildings, which he did gladly. The building in question was a vacant skyscraper with nothing but support beams inside and some windows. It was made of concrete, as most of the buildings had been. Izuku wondered if Cementoss had made the buildings all on his own.
After catching their breath, Izuku looked over to Josefumi and frowned. "You didn't tell me Star and Stripe was a Stand user! She must've lied about having a Quirk. After all, she could attack your Stand using that creature she made!" Izuku said as Josefumi shook his head.
"No. That's not it, Midoriya. That's just how strong her Quirk is," Josefumi began as he looked over at the teen. "Star's Quirk is called New Order. It gives her the ability to, with all intents and purposes, manipulate reality for the things she can physically touch." As Josefumi explained, Izuku's eyes widened. Before he could speak, though, Josefumi continued.
"That sounds busted, and quite frankly it is, but it's limited to what she can touch. She can only do two things at a time, and one of those things is herself, giving herself Super Strength On Par with All Might in his Prime. That leaves her with one option. Though I guess she must've undone the first order she put on herself to give herself The Ability to see, interact with, and combat Stands. Whatever that second thing is will change on a dime, so we need to find her, and when we do, I need to use Plunder on her."
Izuku blinked. That… was a lot. And quite frankly, it was also bullshit. But, despite that, it wasn't as if he was going to make a show of it. Now was not the time to freak out. Now was the time to beat the exam, and get access to the training camp.
As soon as Izuku nodded in agreement, the building began to shake. Izuku immediately assumed it was an earthquake, and it wasn't all that wrong. Upon looking out the window, the buildings around the immediate area were being violently shaken to the point where they were beginning to collapse.
Wasting no time, Izuku and Josefumi dashed out of the building at blinding speeds, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the building they were in collapsing atop them. What they saw was a far taller, far more terrifying sludge street monster. The road leading to the entrance and stopping just before the four-way crossing had completely vanished, most likely because of this thing's creation, and now, as it loomed over them with a haunting smile, it was clear that it was the reason for the earthquake.
"You brats ready for a fight?!" The monster called out, using the voice of Star and Stripe, who Midoriya was beginning to assume was using it as a puppet. The moment the monster said that it cocked back a fist, and threw the punch at speeds that Midoriya was not expecting such a giant creature to move at.
Josefumi was quick to act, activating Soft & Wet's ability, making the creature fall over like a gravity-less tree. It crashed into the ground, causing the ground to shake in abundance, its arms and body falling through building after building, causing wanton destruction the likes of which could only be compared to a natural disaster.
Izuku paled at the thought of this being a real battle. If this had been a real fight, then civilians could have been killed, but seeing as this was a mock battle, Josefumi seemingly either didn't care or was too focused on protecting themselves rather than would-be civilians.
Midoriya knew that while this was a mock battle, it was supposed to train them to safely defeat villains. Not causing collateral damage while the fight played out. The amount of destruction that Josefumi's one attack caused was more than enough to render hundreds if not thousands out of jobs or homes.
That being said, the damage was caused by Star and Stripe. Josefumi merely took away its friction, but that was no excuse and Izuku knew it. Rather than chewing Josefumi out, though—he'd save that for after the fight-Izuku grabbed Josefumi by the waist, activated Full Cowling, and made a mad dash to the exit gate, wherever it was.
"Midoriya, what are you doing?!" Josefumi asked as Izuku narrowed his eyes, focusing on the road ahead as he bound and leapt, clearing street after street as he searched for the exit gate.
"Looking for an exit, because we can't hope to take on Star and Stripe! This is a test, not a battle trial. Our plan already failed, and I'm not taking any chances!" Izuku replied, keeping his wits keen and his attention sharp. He needed to make sure he was going to be blindsided by the hero they were up against, and as long as that happened, he would—
Izuku never expected to meet Star's fist in his face as fast as he did, and as a result, not only did his consciousness fade, he was fairly certain that it would've killed him had he not been cushioned by the now suddenly soft floor. The more he thought about it, the more it was more bed-like than what he had assumed the street to be.
Jolting up, Izuku looked around and realized that he was in the infirmary, only seeing out of one eye, and as he felt his face, he felt a giant bandage wrapped around his head. He blinked, looking over to his right as Yoshihara sat next to his bed, hand on his hand as her face was drawn up into a small smile. "Good morning, sleepyhead."
"Morning…?" Izuku groaned. Had he… been out all day? "What the heck happened?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara sighed.
"Well, you get decked in the face by Star and Stripe during the exam. Recovery Girl said that she hit you so hard that a few blood vessels in your left eye burst, and not only that but despite being weakened by the weights, the punch was more than enough to crack your skull and break your jaw. The punch sent you flying about into a building that you ended up crashing through, though nothing came from that. Medi-lady and Recovery Girl worked overtime to heal you, though your eye is severely bruised, meaning you'll need to wear an eyepatch for about a week until it heals."
As the words poured out of Yoshihara's mouth, a chill clawed down Izuku's spine. He failed the exam. Not only that, but it was his fault that he had failed. He rushed to escape and paid the consequences for it. Not only that but…. "What about Kujo? Did he fail?"
"No, he didn't," Yoshihara said, crossing her arms over her chest. It was only now that he realized that she was wearing a crop top and shorts. Underneath her crop top, she was wearing some sort of see-through shirt that had short sleeves. It looked like something that Sukunami-san would wear. "He was able to Plunder her Quirk, and after that, he was able to have Soft & Wet knock her out. It took a while because Star and Stripe was pretty durable all things considered, and it wasn't as if she didn't make him work for it. He came out of the fight with a broken rib but aside from that, he's faring much better than you right now."
Izuku sighed out of relief, feeling the guilt he had accrued wash away. "Good… at least one of us passed…" Izuku muttered, looking over to Yoshihara. "What about you? How did you do?"
In response, Yoshihara snorted, biting back a laugh. "Sheer Heart Attack made Nemuri-san look like a joke. It pretty much knocked her unconscious instantly, all the while I hid behind a rock and waited. The confrontation only lasted about 30 seconds," the blonde admitted, earning a smile from Izuku. "Oh, and pretty much everyone else passed, with the exception of Aoyama, Mina, and Kaminari."
Izuku raised an eyebrow. "You call Ashido-san by her first name?"
"She insisted as such. If I didn't, she wouldn't stop harassing me," Yoshihara muttered darkly, her expression morphing into a grimace. "The urge I had to punch her in the nose was immense, Izuku. Uraraka-san was her only saving grace," the blonde continued, before eyeing Izuku. "Come to think of it, Uraraka is a lot like you, in a way."
"In what way?" Izuku asked, confusion dancing across his unbandaged face.
"Well, for starters, she's a hero nerd though only for a few heroes, you and her both have a similar favourite colour in green, and she blushes easily when obvious things are pointed out that you don't notice before. For example, today, I called her out on not noticing the fact that Yaoyorozu has seemingly developed a crush on our gravity friend."
Izuku choked on air out of shock. That caught him completely off guard. He never expected Yaoyorozu to swing that way, not that it mattered but still, that came as quite the shock. "I… okay, well that's news to me," the green-haired teen said, clearing his throat as Yoshihara smirked.
"You should've seen Uraraka's reaction. She was caught off-guard just as bad, if not moreso than you. Unfortunately for Yaoyorozu, I'm fairly certain Uraraka doesn't like women in that sense. Though to be fair, I don't think matters. She's pretty cute, again, just like you," Yoshihara commented as Izuku deadpanned.
"Was this just an elaborate way to compliment me? Even with a chunk of my face being bandaged?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara huffed.
"Well, did you want me to be blunt about it? I thought we were trying to work around my blunt nature," Yoshihara quipped, earning a sigh from Izuku.
"Yeah, yeah… whatever," the bandaged teen muttered, his cheeks dusted with a light pink hue. "Uh… let's change the topic. Did I miss anything?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara frowned.
"Aside from me narrowly breaking the aforementioned Yaoyorozu's face in two, then no," Yoshihara said, making Izuku's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. He knew both Yoshihara and Yaoyorozu had been at odds with one another as of late, but that didn't explain why the blonde would go out of her way to potentially hurt her. At least with Bakugo, he had done some horrible things in his past, but Yaoyorozu? The most she did was say something out of pocket, but that was it.
Unless there was something he was missing…. "Why? What did she do?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara frowned. There was a hint of annoyance buried within her sky-blue eyes. Something had happened between them that escalated things, and by her Yoshihara's shoulders tensed, and how her frown was slowly turning into a sneer, it had to have been bad.
"She said something she really, really shouldn't have. Had it not been for Kaminari of all people calming down the situation, it would have broken out into a fight," Yoshihara replied, speaking through clenched teeth. There weren't many times when Yoshihara got this visibly upset. The only times that he could think of were when she had a panic attack, and recently with Bakugo.
"Uh… what did she say?" Izuku questioned hesitantly, earning a side glance from Yoshihara.
"She… found out about my past. Not my childhood, but… about my previous Job. You know the one… the one I worked for Akira," Yoshihara said, and it was at that point that everything became crystal clear. Izuku looked away, as Yoshihara sighed. "Yeah. That one. And she exposed it to the whole class. My guess is that it has to do with her parents. That's how she found out. Thankfully, most people took my side on that and called her out for going too far. Which is a rare sight, but I'm glad. That didn't stop her from labelling me as a whore."
"That's not right…" Izuku muttered. "I get that you two don't exactly get along, but that's too much. Has Todoroki-kun spoken to her about it? They are both the class rep and vice rep. I take it that he most likely was the one who reigned her in."
"Not… really. He was actually silent on the matter, but it was clear he was more than a little uncomfortable about it," Yoshihara answered, placing her hands behind her head. "She even went as far as to report me to The Headmaster for it, saying that it was a stain on the school for allowing someone like "myself" to be part of U.A. That, and the other actions I've committed."
"And… what happened? You're not getting removed from the Hero Course, are you?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara scoffed.
"No. Although, it was kind of funny to hear the headmaster's reaction. He didn't call her out or anything, but he did politely remind her that it wasn't her job to go snooping around other people's records, and that, and I quote "if we, the staff, had a problem with how Ms. Kira conducts herself within and outside of the walls the school, then we would have moved to do something about it already. Your concern has been taken into account, and has also been swiftly discarded." I can't tell you how elated I was at her ego being crushed for once," Yoshihara explained, smirking.
"Did she apologize at least? I mean… Yaoyorozu isn't rude, right? She can be a bit cold to you and the other Stand Users sometimes, but… she has to understand her mistake, right?" Izuku said, only to notice that Yoshihara narrowed her eyes.
"No. No, she did not. In fact, this brings me to what actually led to me nearly punching her in the face," Yoshihara said as Izuku raised an eyebrow.
"Not the part where she exposed you in front of the class?" Izuku questioned as Yoshihara closed her eyes.
"I don't care about that. No. What she did instead was worse, in my opinion. I think it goes without saying, but I love you, Izuku. More than anything in the world. Beyond that, if anything were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do. As scary as it is to think, I wouldn't be here without the combination of Nemuri-san, and you. I would probably be in a worse place mentally, all things considered," Yoshihara began as Izuku felt a pit form in his stomach.
"What… are you talking about?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara sighed.
"I don't know how she found out. Perhaps it was when she was digging into my past through emails and whatnot, but she stumbled upon the conversation that Aizawa-sensei had with Uncle Jojo, and… well, she put two and two together… She told everyone about that, Izuku. She told them about the abortion," Yoshihara said as Izuku's stomach dropped.
That… shouldn't have been possible. He had so many questions and no answers. How did Yaoyorozu even get access to those emails? Better yet, why did she have access? Did she hack the mainframe? Or did her parents have private investigators? If so, then why?
That wasn't just an invasion of privacy. That was stalking. She had been stalking them. And it wasn't as if what they did wasn't against the law, either. It was. It was outlawed to get abortions unless something major came up health-wise.
"Did she… report it?" Izuku asked, his tone a little shaky as Yoshihara nodded.
"She did. She reported it, but thankfully Gyro had come up with a backup plan. When he was called and was demanded to answer for breaking the law, Gyro had expressed how the pregnancy was killing me for an unknown reason, and that if I didn't get rid of it I would have been dead in a week's time. That is the only reason why I am not behind bars right now. And, again, the only reason why I didn't beat the snot out of Yaoyorozu was because of Kaminari."
Yoshihara paused, her expression turning dark. There was a gleam in her eyes. The kind of gleam she had in her eyes when she planned to all but kill Bakugo. "She's fucking lucky that he was there. I don't care what anybody says. I would have beat her on the spot, or worse. What she did was wrong… she knows it but doesn't care. All of it was to get back at me for something and I don't know what. I don't know what I personally did to piss her off, other than when I put her in her place before the Sports Festival. When she had continued to harass me for my scars and calling me a monster."
Izuku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's probably why, Yoshihara," Izuku said, exasperated. The blonde looked over at him, her expression slightly shocked. Before she could say anything, Izuku continued. "Not saying it was justified. Far from it, but, that's the reason right there. I don't know what it was you did, and frankly, I don't care. It couldn't have been enough to justify all of this."
Yoshihara frowned, looking down at the floor. Izuku noticed how she looked uncomfortable, and the way she squeezed her arms. It was clear that she was upset. It was hard for other people to tell these things. Small movements that she made to make up for her mostly unchanging facial expressions. It was how she signalled to people what she was "feeling" at the moment.
He reached out, placing a hand on Yoshihara's shoulder, earning her attention as the green-haired teen smiled. "Yoshihara… when I'm out of here, I'll make sure Yaoyorozu understands the line she crossed. You won't have to worry about her in the future. I might not be… physically demonstrational with my annoyance at her actions, but from experience, I think I can whip up something to make her understand the line she crossed."
"If she won't listen to me, what makes you think she'll listen to you?" Yoshihara asked, genuine curiosity in her voice as Izuku shrugged, letting go of the blonde's shoulder. He relaxed, looking out of the window that was in front of him. The infirmary was a place that he wasn't quite used to being in. But the view was pretty.
Even if he failed the final exam, he was more than glad that he even got this far. Never in a million years did he think he'd actually make it to this point in his life. He wondered what the younger him would be thinking. If they actually met, what would his younger self say to him? Whatever the case was, just because he failed the final exam didn't mean he was going to lose his spot in the Hero Course. Besides, that was only in The Sports Festival.
"Because she has a reason to respect me. No offence, Yoshihara, but you haven't been doing yourself many favours," Izuku stated, glancing over to the blonde, who still had a neutral expression on her face. "I mean, I know it's not exactly your fault, but you lack empathy for most things, and whether unknowingly or not, the things that you've said regarding Ida's passing haven't exactly been the best."
"But—"
"Yes, we can both agree that it was his fault for running after The Hero Killer, despite being warned that it was a bad idea. But saying it out loud is what makes people hate you. You're honest to a fault. It's something I've noticed about you. You say what's on your mind, unabashedly, and it causes your reputation to plummet," Izuku explained as Yoshihara opened her mouth to say something, only to stop, her expression puzzled, before she sighed.
"I guess you're right… but that doesn't mean I'm wrong," Yoshihara rebutted, which earned a nod from Izuku.
"I'm not saying you are. I agree with you, Ida fucked up, big time. But, at the same time, you can't just go and say stuff like that. It's why everyone sees you as a heartless woman. It doesn't help that you have a cold exterior and are like a brick wall to talk to," Izuku replied, crossing his arms. "Again, no offence, but still."
Yoshihara hummed, looking away from Izuku. He sighed. The green-haired teen was worried that what he said would've begun an argument. He was glad that it didn't. He wasn't emotionally all there at the moment, probably because of the painkillers he was more than likely on. He also needed to take his anti-depressants, or else he was going to plummet even more.
"Hey, Yoshihara, did you bring my medication?" Izuku asked as Yoshihara perked up, eyes widened for a split second before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a juice box and his bottle of pills. Handing them over to him, Izuku silently thanked her. He popped open the lid and frowned. The doctor only gave him enough to last the month. He was going to need to refill soon, seeing as he only had four pills left.
Taking a pill out, he closed the bottle, handed it back to Yoshihara, then put it in his mouth, before chasing it down with the juice box—strawberry and lime, his favourite—swallowing the pill and sighing. He could already feel his body slowly mellow out a little.
Izuku knew he was going to need to see Hound Dog later today for his bi-weekly mental health check. The last time he did, Hound Dog had stressed to him to lay off on the over-training. Izuku knew he was going a little overboard, but with everything going on, he needed to be ready for anything.
At any moment, at any time, he could be attacked. Stand Users could attack from anywhere, at any time, no matter what. What happened to Sakunami-san was more than enough proof for that. And with the security system being slowly funnelled out and the "no leaving or entering campus" clause no longer being in effect…
"Things are only going to get worse, aren't they?" Izuku wondered out loud as Yoshihara side-glanced him.
"What?" The blonde asked as Izuku sighed.
"The attacks. The villains. It's all going to get worse, isn't it? More people are going to die, and more people are going to get injured. It doesn't matter what any of us do…" Izuku muttered. He was spiralling, he noticed it before it got worse. That still didn't stop him from continuing, though. "More people are going to die. It's not an "if" but a "when." Quirk Users can't possibly hold up to snuff with those with Stands. Ida is a perfect example of it. A survivor of a Stand attack is Hado-senpai. She's barely making it out of this without being crippled."
"Izuku…" Yoshihara placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. "Stop. You don't know that and neither do I. Besides, if that was true, then all the times we've sparred you would have never won, with and without Killer Queen, you've beaten more often than not," Yoshihara pointed as Izuku shook his head.
"It's not me I'm worried about. I can feel out Stands, and I always could have. But… people like Uraraka-san, Bakugo, Ashido-san and Todoroki-kun. They can't. They're helpless against Stands and they know it. It's why Bakugo ended up the way he is," Izuku said, earning a worried look from Yoshihara. "You know it just about as much as I do. More people from our class and beyond are going to die. It's only a matter of time. The question is… who?"
The two remained silent. There was nothing else to be said. They both knew that to be true, regardless of whether or not they wanted to accept it. Death was the one thing that they could never stop, and as they would come to understand… neither of them would be fast enough to protect the ones they cared about it.
xxXXxxXXxx
A purple fist slammed into Dabi's stomach, making the fire-spewing Villain cough up saliva. Kyoka smirked. Finally! She landed a hit, that was good. The bastard was fast, and every time they sparred and trained with one another, it was clear that Dabi was more experienced than her. To her left, she could hear footsteps crop up behind her.
"Toga… she's going for a pincer attack with Dabi…" Kyoka thought, narrowing her eyes under her newly acquired visor. It was a piece of black market support equipment given to her by Blackwell himself. It gave her the ability to see heat signatures. Something she was going to need if her mission was going to be successful.
That aside, the purplette snapped her fingers, and when she did, the whole world stood still. Well, not really. For her, it did. Imagine Dragons, her Stand, gave her the ability to Slow Down everyone's Perception of Time and Speed up her movements with the snap of her fingers. Perfect for assassinations. She could only maintain this for 3 seconds, but it was more than enough to fix her current positioning.
Of course, that was just one of its abilities. It was far from all that she could do, as this had more to do with the fact that Imagine Dragons was using its Auditory Hallucination ability to make it seem as if she could do this. Basically, as far as everyone else is concerned, she Stopped Time and moved. When in reality, she was messing with everyone's heads to make their minds and body's think that was what happened.
Turning on her heel, Kyoka saw Toga mere inches away from her. She was slowly moving, face morphed into a manic grin as Kyoka smirked. Imagine Dragons appeared to her right, and its appearance was anything but friendly, something that caught Kyoka off guard when she first saw it.
It was tall, lean, and feminine in appearance. It had speakers embedded into its lower arms and legs, much like her previous hero costume, except for her Stand having them embedded in its arms, whereas her costume only had them embedded into her boots. The speakers looked like elbow-length gloves and knee-high boots. Its feet were even shaped like boots, which kind of looked strange but then again, she had seen stranger.
The Stand's upper body was purple, with the waist of the Stand being a silverish grey, with a synth wave screen in the center of the Stand's waist. The lower half of its body was draped by a black ankle-long opened skirt with several musical notes covering the piece of "clothing", though the notes weren't exactly meant to show anything.
Then came its head. Which, if she knew any better, looked like something ripped right out of Daft Punk. Its head was a helmet with a pitch-black visor, though it had a shattered heart in the center of it, and there were dragon-like motifs on either side of the helmet.
Imagine Dragons positioned itself in front of Kyoka and prepared to slam its right fist into Toga's face. Even during training, Toga managed to look more than a little deranged. But it was part of her charm, so to speak. Toga might be more than a little loopy, but at least she had more of a reason to be the way she was.
Whatever. Now was not the time to feel self-pity. Now was the time to finish this sparring match. Imagine Dragons fist met Toga's face with a vicious thud, as musical notes began to form on Toga's face. This would keep the blonde locked into this moment for longer than three seconds, giving Kyoka more than enough time to disarm her opponent by snatching the knife out of her hand.
Then, with a well-placed chop, Imagine Dragons hit the back of Toga's neck, which would more than likely knock the teen unconscious. Glancing back over to Dabi, who was beginning to regain his perception of reality, Kyoka quickly ducked out of the way of a brief burst of controlled flames. She knew it wasn't nearly as hot as Dabi could make it, considering they were training and not maiming one another, but still, just standing near it made the purplette sweat.
Activating Auditory Hallucinations, Kyoka made Dabi think that she was still standing right where she had been, before lunging forward and having Imagine Dragons punch him square in the nose. It was then that she had her Stand chop him in the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious as well. Deactivating Imagine Dragon's ability, Kyoka sighed, exhaustion quickly taking over as she slumped to the ground.
"Very good, Jirou Kyoka. You seem to do far better than you were at the beginning of these little training sessions I suggested," the illusive voice of "Sensei" vibrated around the warehouse they had decided to train in via speakers. "While I wish I could have seen most of it, it is clear that you are more than capable of fending for yourself. That is good."
"Thank you, sir," Kyoka replied, her breathing still heavy. Using Imagine Dragons' ability took a lot out of her. It was why she had to train her stamina more by activating and deactivating her Stand's ability over and over again for as long as she possibly could. When she first found out about Imagine Dragons' ability, she could only use the full thing for 10 seconds. Now she could use it up to 30.
The other part about messing with others' perception of time is that it was far more difficult to maintain. It required her to manipulate not only the auditory senses of another person, but invade the concept of Time itself. It was something that she had been practicing to maintain. While she couldn't outright manipulate time, she could tweak it.
To truly manipulate time, one must have the ability to negate every single sense. But because she could only target one, that being the sense of sound, she could only tweak the concept of Time to work in her favour. Although, hearing something can influence what you see, influencing what one is seeing, therefore manipulating what they touch and smell and even taste.
So, technically, she could theoretically gain the ability to fully manipulate time, but she knew that, while she was human, it wasn't going to happen. She had no interest in becoming a monster like her "master" so that was never going to happen either.
"See to it that you are well rested. In three days, U.A. will depart for that training camp of theirs. Blackwell has already made it clear as to who it is that must die. Should you fail, you will die. His words, not mine," "Sensei" said as Kyoka hummed in acknowledgement. Standing up from the ground, the purplette picked up both Dabi and Toga, as Kurogiri appeared before her.
As the man made of mist created a portal in front of her, Kurogiri spoke. "When you arrive, Tomura said that he wants to talk to you about something, though he didn't clarify what it was about."
Shigaraki wanted to talk to her. Why? Did she do something wrong, or was this something else? Whatever, it didn't matter. Grunting, Kyoka walked through the portal and stepped into the room. Off to her right was Stain, who hummed in acknowledgement of her existence. Over the past few days, she and Stain had become more or less acquainted with one another.
As she learned, Stain was less of an insane lunatic and more of a planning, well-mannered, thoughtful and heavily trained lunatic. According to what Stain was willing to tell Kyoka on their several excursions for on-field use of her Stand, the Hero Killer stated that he killed Heroes not just because they were fake, but because a good solid majority of them had some sort of criminal record that exceeded accidental Quirk usage.
He elaborated later, explaining that he hunted down Heroes who abused their power, or committed crimes that he couldn't agree with people committing. For example, the Pro Hero Native had a record of domestic abuse with his girlfriends and ex-wife. He also abused his interns according to one of his ex sidekicks and unfairly pushed minors into stressful and dangerous situations, all under the guise of "toughening them up."
He also had a personal, emotional stake in it. He didn't explain, but he had a friend who had died directly at the hands of a Hero for robbing food banks. They were both homeless at the time, and the hero in question who killed his friend was, lo-and-behold, Endeavour.
The more she hung around The League Of Villains, the more she began to realize that they were all somewhat justified in their beliefs.
Toga, for example, was someone who had been horribly mistreated by the system. Her mother and father abandoned her because of her Quirk, and the Quirk Counsellors forced her to take Quirk Suppressants, all but effectively making her Quirkless when she was on the drug to make her "normal" and she was constantly depressed because of the Quirk Suppressants, which made her have to take Anti-Depressants, which in turn made her no better than a sociopath.
The only reason why Toga was here was because she had decided to stop taking the drugs, and tried to live a normal life with her Quirk. But because she had been suppressed and heavily medicated for almost all of her life, she went on a murder spree, drinking the blood of everyone around her and killing anyone she saw so that she could extract their blood.
Kyoka remembered hearing about it when she was 13, as Toga was 17 right now. Tokyo Private Middle School had been the victim of a mass stabbing event, leaving 185 students killed, 489 Students maimed, and 300 students uninjured. All of the staff members were brutally killed, and the culprit was one Himiko Toga.
It had been scientifically proven that Quirks sometimes came packaged with minds and personalities of their own. Himiko's Quirk was one of them. Her Quirk gave her the ability to transform into others that she drank the blood of. Her Quirk also required her to casually sip on blood every now and again so that she can remain mentally sound.
Because she was so heavily drugged as a kid, for the first time in over 11 Years, her Quirk was allowed to become fully active. And as a result, it led to one of the worst terrorist attacks in years. Kyoka couldn't find herself blaming Toga for what she did. She was a victim in all of it, too. Had the system not failed her, she wouldn't have done those things.
Then there was Twice. Twice was a mentally ill, emotionally unstable individual who was basically forced into villainy because of his circumstances. He was plagued with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with Paranoid Schizophrenia. A nasty combination of problems that basically made him a ticking timebomb, made infinitely worse with his Doube Quirk.
With his Quirk, he can create duplicates of himself. Sounds harmless until you realize that those duplicates have personalities of their own, and constantly are of the belief that they are the real deal. It was no wonder how Twice contracted Paranoid Schizophrenia if his own Quirk believed itself to be the real person.
She didn't know much else about Twice, but it was clear that something messed him up, badly, and because no one offered to help him, not even his own family, it was clear that he really wasn't given a fair shake of things. She also noted that he was led into this life by others wanting to use him. The most he ever did was rob banks and hold up stores for food and money.
That left Tomura Shigaraki, Dabi, and Kurogiri, all of which were tight-lipped about themselves. She wasn't going to push, but she had to assume that their lives sucked for them to become what they are now.
"Good, you're here," Tomura called out, as Kyoka put the two unconscious villains in one of the nearest booths. "Come, sit. There's something I wanted to talk to you about," Tomura said, patting the seat one space away from him. The purplette raised an eyebrow, before sighing. It was probably nothing, but out of curiosity, she decided to humour him.
Walking up to the seat, the purple-haired teen sat down where she was asked to sit, and immediately after the fact, Shigaraki slid down a glass of something. She picked up the glass, sniffed it, and recoiled. "Is this alcohol?" Kyoka asked as Shigaraki smirked under his hand mask.
"Yeah, it is. Trust me, you're going to need it," Shigaraki said, earning a frown from Kyoka.
"I'm a minor, I'm not allowed to drink," Kyoka replied bluntly as Shigaraki bobbed his head to the side, the gleam in his only visible eye screaming "Are you serious".
"Are you stupid? You're going to kill a stupid NPC, you know, murder. But you stop drinking alcohol?" Shigaraki said, his tone of voice blunt as Kyoka sighed. She stared at the glass and frowned. It smelt… alright. But she assumed it was going to taste like shit. Shooting back the shot glass, Kyoka swallowed the drink, before blinking in surprise.
"What… the hell is this?" Kyoka asked, looking at the empty glass. Shigaraki scoffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets—gloved, she noted, probably so he didn't destroy his pants on accident.
"Rum mixed with Bourbon, oh and it has honey in it to make it sweet. The Rum's supposed to make the Bourbon less, uh, I believe the word was "sharp", or whatever. Honestly, I don't care. Makes it taste less like barf. Kurogiri made it, so I'll tell him you like it. He made it specifically for you, considering that you're a kid and all that. The downside is that it's strong, so two or so shots of that crap will get you wasted depending on how you can handle your drinks," Tomura rattled off as if it was secondhand knowledge.
"You… just know that?" Kyoka asked as Tomura shrugged.
"When you live in a bar for about… 10 years or so, you kinda just learn how to make good drinks and whatnot. Especially when your transport is the guy who owns and runs the place," Tomura replied, leaning forward on the counter as he took the hand off of his face.
Kyoka had to admit, what she saw underneath the hand was not what she had expected to see. His face looked… soft. Like a child's, just covered in scars. Of course, he was an adult, but the fact of the matter was that she was expecting a disfigured, ugly mug. Not what Mina would call a "Tumblr Sexy Man" or whatever the hell she called them.
"I've been thinking," Tomura began, "I want to expand the League. To make it bigger and stronger. I'll admit, I'm influenced by Blackwell. Sensei seems to think that I'm stupid, and a pathetic man-child. But I'm not a level 1 noob, nor I am some stupid whiner that bitches and moans whenever I don't get my way. Not anymore, at least.
"The Hosu City incident has taught me something. That it doesn't matter how much destruction you cause. It's the motivation and reasoning behind that destruction," Tomura paused, scratching his neck. "I can say that I want to destroy all the things I hate. But what will that do? I hate a lot of things, and with my Quirk, I can destroy a lot of things. I can kill whoever I want to kill. I can destroy anything I want to destroy. But what is my motivation? Other than destroying stuff?"
Kyoka struggled to answer because she had no idea what he was going on about. Was he… venting to her? Why not vent to Kurogiri? She bit her tongue, trying to figure out something to say that wasn't a witty quip that would more often than not get her killed. But then, he spoke.
"Then I saw what the rat bastard Vampire did to you," Tomura spat, making Kyoka recoil. Not out of disgust, but out of shock. It was around that time that both Toga and Dabi woke up from their forced nap. "The League Of Villains is a place for anyone who had society spit on them. Who have been hurt by the world, and want to stab that world over and over again."
It was then, that Tomura's voice picked up in volume, and his scratching got worse. It got to the point where he was beginning to dig into his skin. "When I saw what that Vampire did to you. When I saw you writhing and crying on the floor, it reminded me of what my father would do to me. As far as I am concerned, you're a member of The League. Perhaps not in name, but in spirit.
"It reminded me of hearing about what Toga went through. What Twice had to go through. What I can only assume Dabi to have happened to him. Even Stain, who is in the same position as you. Everyone has been beaten down by the system in some way shape or form. Every single member of The League Of Villains is someone who has known nothing but suffering, all thanks to the hypocritical system that we live in.
"Thus, I know what my motivation is. What I want The League Of Villains to be about. Our goal is to do unto the world what they did to us. Hurt us. Stabbed us. Mocked us. Discriminated against us. To show those who think that they're the good guys that they aren't, and that all they are and will ever be are privileged little shits.
"This is no longer about All Might, or whatever the fuck else I was about earlier. I've levelled up. I'm not just a Barbarian Class anymore. I'm a Warrior Class. And the first step is to put U.A. in its place. Attack the system where it makes the most of those brainwashed fools. Those who have lived a privileged life, all of those in Class 1 – A and Class 1 – B, will know our pain."
Shigaraki paused, looking over to Kyoka. His eyes looked manic, but even so, Kyoka could feel her heart race. Not out of fear, not like it would normally be. For some reason, Kyoka felt… motivated. Not only did she feel motivated, but she also found herself agreeing with Shigaraki.
She might not have been in the same situation as anyone else here, but after hearing the horror stories of these people, she found herself relating to them. Those with mutant Quirks were discriminated against. It was the same for her, but it wasn't as bad as those who had animal parts. That being said, she still experienced it.
"Oh… would you look at that, the freak is still here."
"I heard she can sprout those ugly things out of her fingers, too."
"Aren't all mutants dumb? That explains why Jirou can barely get an assignment in on time."
It wasn't just words. She was hit a lot by those in her school. Bullied into submission time and time again. The teachers tried to mediate the situation, but they eventually gave up. Every school she went to, every store she entered, every place she went to, she would always have to hide her earphones so she didn't have to deal with the bullying.
"Your kind is not welcome here! Leave, before I call the police!"
"Listen, young lady, you're not in trouble, but can you please put those things away? They disturb others."
"Don't most mutant Quirk users become Villains? What about you, Jirou, are you gonna kill a family of five like the last guy I saw on TV?"
"Mutants are a scourge on our society! I say we kill them all!"
"Hey, Jirou, do us all a favour and just—"
Kyoka gritted her teeth, her expression twisting into a scowl. She remembered who said that. It was years ago, two or three years ago. She'd never forget that bitch. Her name was Sasaki Otohime, and she was one of the worst people that she had ever met. But that was not the only person who said those vile things. Their car used to get painted on, mostly by stupid Anti-Mutants, told to leave the country or to just die. She preferred to call them Nazis because that was what they were.
If she removed the blindfold that she had put on herself, she realized that all of her life she had been harassed by the people around her, told that she was less than sapient. Only because of those stupid Earphone Jacks. Now she no longer had them, but that didn't change the fact she was still a victim of that kind of abuse.
And the fact of the matter was that no one seemingly cared about her plight. The police weren't on her side, some heroes were openly anti-mutant, and most other people were apathetic to mutants in general.
It boiled her blood. It made her realize that Shigaraki was right. Even if deep down she didn't want to agree with him, he was right.
"So, Kyoka Jirou, I'll ask you this once, and only once. Do you want to be part of The League Of Villains? After this mission is over, we'll ask Blackwell to let you swap parties. Besides, you already have one foot in the pool, why not jump in fully?" As Shigaraki reached out with a hand in front of Jirou, Kyoka couldn't help but stare.
Kyoka looked back at Shigaraki, and for the briefest of seconds, she wanted to say "no." To slap away his hand and call him a moron. Because deep down she wanted to be a hero. But after this mission, what was the point? After all of what she heard. After all of what she had experienced. After all of the fat lot of nothing that Kujo did to come to find her. What was the point?
So, she grabbed his hand and shook it. Both smiled and on that day, it was official. Kyoka Jirou became a member of The League Of Villains, and on that same day, a single strand of purple hair fell out and was replaced by a bright, electric blond.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone